Sorry for taking a bazillion years. Happy Thanksgiving to any USAans. Because that is a term. Yes. Eight reviews for a new chapter! Teehee.
Nico's POV
Nico had never seen so many risen spirits and skeletons in all his life. Even in his father's palace. And they all came from him. His chants, reanimation spells, bringing them to life and Lyssa's magic multiplying and keeping them alive.
He could feel the dead being taken from his control soon after he summoned them, sustained by the goddess' power rather than his. Nico had been working for hours. Lyssa was determined to work him until he physically couldn't go on. He slumped to his knees, barely able to hold his head up. Lyssa glanced over at him from her throne, and snapped her fingers sharply. Nico was dimly aware of being back in his cell before he blacked out.
He wandered aimlessly through dream after dream, not even able to comprehend what he was seeing. What little part of his consciousness was active was vaguely aware that he'd probably reverted to the near shadow state he'd been in after the war. He didn't know if he could get through this army raising even if he tried to. But he had to, if he was going to get Kole out of this mess. He'd gotten her in, and he was determined to get her out.
"Nico."
He heard a soft voice, breaking through the haze of dreams.
"Nico, wake up."
He tried desperately to gather his consciousness enough to open his eyes. When he did, his fuzzy vision took in a comforting sight. Kole's anxious face hovered above him, and when he looked up at her, she broke into a grin and hugged him.
"Thank the gods! I thought you were dead!" She cried.
"C-can't breathe!" Nico groaned. Kole released him, and he pushed himself into a sitting position. "Wait, how are you in here? The wall…" He looked over her shoulder to see a roughly rectangular section of glass missing out of the wall, then he noticed the screw sitting at the base of the wall.
"Forget that. Eat this." Kole shoved some ambrosia at him, and he choked it down. Already he could feel his energy returning. "Do you feel any better?" Kole asked, her eyes wide and hopeful.
"Yup. How in Hades did you get that?" Nico asked.
"I have my ways…" she said, quirking her eyebrows.
"You never cease to amaze me." Nico chuckled.
ß-now to skip three days to get to the actiony part cuz this is boring-à
Nico had had barely four hours of rest since the last time Lyssa had forced him to raise her soldiers.
But the goddess obviously had no respect for the need of sleep, for she came bursting into Nico and Kole's now combined cell, beaming in a most disturbing way.
"At last, my army is complete! Now, I will take my two little rats with me on my conquest of the entire universe!" Lyssa announced. Kole's eyes shone with fright, but she held her emotions in check, facing the madwoman bravely, appearing undaunted.
"But then you'll let us go, right? You swore." Kole reminded her.
"Oh yes. You will indeed be, er, let go." The goddess said. "Now anyway, back to my conquest of the universe!" She snapped her fingers sharply, and uncomfortable tight straitjackets appeared on both demigods. Another snap, and they were above ground, in an enormous, open back Greek chariot. They were chained, each to an opposite side, with heavy chains around their waists. Kole actually grinned when she saw the pale gray sky, filled with heavy clouds and took a breath of the rain scented air. Seeing her smile again made Nico feel like his heart had begun beating after weeks of being cold and dead.
They were in a neat park, the chariot sitting on a circle of concrete that was surrounded by tall, bare trees and picnic tables. The winter air chilled Nico, and his warm breath hung in the air. Kole shivered, her face pale and sallow from a week of losing blood and eating little.
The goddess barked a command at her skeleton horses and they charged straight into the crowd of people hovering at the edge of the park. They fled in all directions, screaming in terror. As the skeleton horses ran, hundreds of zombies came from the earth all around the chariot.
"You raised all of those?!" Kole asked incredulously.
"Yeah." Nico winced a bit. Kole's face morphed into a mixture of awe and disgust. Nico wished she didn't have to see all that. She probably thought he was creepy. But he had bigger problems to worry about at the moment. Like a psychopath goddess attempting world domination, for starters.
"So do you have a plan?" Nico hollered over the wind rushing through the chariot as they raced towards the Empire State Building.
"Only if you can take control of all these zombies." Kole yelled back.
"We'd have to distract Lyssa, so her hold over them is weakened!" Nico told her.
"Okay, leave that to me. When we stop, I'll distract her, you take over the zombies. I have a way to get us out of the straitjackets, but can you do the other part?"
"Anything for you." Nico winked.
Not even half a minute later, they were somehow zooming through the streets of New York. Kole gaped. The chariot screeched to a stop, almost flipping over. The goddess let out an inhuman screech and blasted a bolt of magic into the air. It expanded and became an enormous purple bubble surrounding the entire city of Manhattan, going high enough that it even enveloped Mount Olympus. Another blast of magic hit the paved road in front of the chariot and a purple and black wave of mist grew from it. As the cloud grew, tendrils of the smoky substance chased after mortals, making them flee their cars and run for their lives.
Those unlucky enough to get caught breathed in the smoke and collapsed on the ground, and their bodies writhed and thrashed. Nico kept his eye on one man, who appeared to be a business man, wearing a suit. The poor mortal lay still after a whole minute of thrashing, but after a moment he started running at an inhuman speed, crashing into things and attacking people, jumping on them and biting arms, necks, fingers, anything he could reach.
Nico shuddered. The mist made the people go mad. A bubble of safety surrounded the chariot, though. The goddess laughed a sharp, hysterical sounding laugh. With a wave of her hand, Nico and Kole were free from their bonds.
"Run, if you like. Your choice is eternal bondage to me, or being taken over by madness." Lyssa teetered like a drunk.
"No. I am done listening to other people. You don't get to decide what my life will be like, or force me to choose between choices of your invention. I will make my own path! I get to choose what I want!" Kole shouted at the immortal. The goddess stumbled back a step, as though Kole had struck her.
"I am in control of you! I am!" Lyssa screamed, but she sounded more like she was convincing herself.
"No! I want a cookie! Let me talk to Elle. Can I talk to Elle?!" Kole hollered, stepping closer and getting in the goddess' face. Nico looked at her like she was crazy, but she waved for him to take control of the zombies.
Nico focused his energy and reached out his senses.
Kole's POV
The goddess clutched her head, screaming nonsense.
Kole kept screaming things about cookies, and Elle, and wanting to play. She thought back to the day she first was taken by Lyssa, when the goddess' image had shimmered dramatically and she'd screamed something about her name being Elle, and asking if she'd wanted cookies.
Finally, after five minutes of yelling, the goddess changed form. "MY NAME IS ELLE. Do you want some cookies?"
"Yes! Yes I want cookies, please get me some cookies right now!" Kole cried, relieved. "You can get some cookies right now, but only if you get rid of this cloud and all of these zombies."
A single wave of her hand, and the smoke disappeared from sight, and the mortals returned to normal. Nico quickly dispersed the zombies and fell to his knees form exhaustion almost immediately after. Then the goddess switched back to her usual form.
"NO! NO, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!" Lyssa screamed, tearing her hair out.
Kole grinned triumphantly, and ran to Nico's side. "YOU DISGUSTING LITTLE WRETCH, YOU RUINED ALL OF MY PLANS!" Lyssa turned on Kole and blasted a bolt of her smoke right at Kole. The girl crumpled to her knees, covering her ears with her hands and screaming protests. Another blast of magic hit Nico, paralyzing him within a bubble of purple.
He could only watch Kole fight the madness trying to possess her, her slim body wracked with pain and tortured screams coming from her. Nico beat the magic walls with balled fists, protesting at the top of his lungs. And Lyssa looked over the scene triumphantly, grinning with a terrifying skull like expression.