Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians. All rights go towards their respectful owners (Rick Riordan and the dudes from "down under").
A Demon's Wrath
The Underworld certainly didn't have any Christmas cheer. And it was desperately needed.
The Fields of Asphodel still looked seriously depressing, and possibly still would look the same with tinsel and flickering rainbow lights littering every black poplar tree which stretched on indefinitely. Percy could even imagine a flying Santa Balloon or a glowing snowman standing there. Then again, mortals did always take the festive season extremely seriously. The grass was a sickly yellowish-brown, and was dryer than the Sahara Desert. The Shades aimlessly drifted, coming and going nowhere; all damned souls of the dead, trying to remember even a glimpse of their past lives. High above them, the cavern ceiling of the Underworld Kingdom glistened darkly.
The son of Astaroth and Artemis were slightly behind their demigoddess companions. "Is it me, or was Persephone holding something back?" Percy asked Artemis, a knowing glint in his eyes.
"You know something, don't you?" She turned to her companion.
"Hades would have come and got me in person, and not send his wife instead. And not even Hades is stupid enough to allow his new symbol of power out of his sight." Percy answered truthfully.
"Even I know when you're holding something back." Artemis' silver eyes glowed through the heavy, dark air of the Underworld.
Percy inhaled deeply, and looked ahead. "My father's true domain is coming out. The one he obtained in Hell: Secrets. I know every secret about everyone I meet. And I could see that Persephone had the sword forged, not Hades. So there is a chance that not even Hades is aware of the sword's existence."
The ex-goddess nodded weakly. "So for all we know, we're running into a massive trap." She suggested.
"Pretty much. Which is why I'm ready to make Spring come a little later next year." His eyes darted around the scenery around them.
Thalia was looking around, as if she was searching for someone. Artemis knew who. But she didn't say anything. She knew Thalia would be better off with her secret not known by anyone.
The four heroes followed the way the carnation faced - the Fields of Punishment. They noticed Percy pale and pull his hood back up, as if he was dreading entering torture central for the endless plains Erebos. They jumped over a stream of lava and weaved their way through the gruesome scenes of endless torture. Some were shades getting dunked into pools of lava or hydrochloric acid every thirty seconds. Another one was some man getting punched and kicked by a bunch of heavily scarred girls. To make it worse, 1980s music blared throughout the Fields of Punishment. The worse one Percy wanted to look at, was a man who looked like an overgrown, tuskless walrus. He had three strands of grey hair on the top of his head, and Percy knew him all-too-well.
To make matters worse, the carnation was facing him.
Percy snarled, and drew his daggers. Artemis tried to stop him, but the son of Astaroth marched towards the torture "victim". The torture was definitely not enough, getting a drill in a few parts of his body. Okay, every limb in his body and every few centimetres on his torso. Percy grabbed the man, and ripped him from his torture. Blood spurted everywhere as the metal drill pieces either snapped or tore gaping wounds into the morbidly obese man.
"Get off of me ya bastard!" The man cried out, making a futile attempt to lash out.
Percy just punched a drill piece deeper into the man's flailing arm, causing him to scream out in pain.
"Percy -" Artemis began, trying to get Percy off of the vile male.
"Shut. Up." He snarled, not turning to face his three companions.
"Oh fu-" Percy stamped his foot on another drill piece that was in the man's leg, sending it all the way through - bone included. This started another round of endless screams of sheer pain.
"Shut it you worthless piece of shit." Percy's eyes were purely black, revealing the demon within him.
"Percy, who is this slob?" Thalia asked, not daring to go near the rather pissed son of Astaroth.
"My ex-stepfather." Was all the Cambion answered, before remembering when he first met the scumbag, and everything the man did to him.
Flashback
A ten year old boy with dark sea green eyes and a mop of raven black hair sat on the couch, watching the TV. He was waiting for his mother to come home from a date with someone. He just hoped and prayed that the man was decent. And not a demon. Or a pagan god of any kind. And, let's not forget, an Angel or Nephilim - they truly were the worst.
The sound of a key being inserted into the lock reached the young boy's ears. In an instant, he shot up out of his seat and rushed to greet his mother. It had only been a few months since he had first found his mother after being exiled from the only home had known.
"Percy! I'm back!" Sally announced from the doorway as the front door to the apartment creaked open. Percy was instantly in front of her, his dark eyes twinkling in the sunlight.
Sally reached down and picked her son up. "I want you to meet someone, Percy. This is your soon to be step-father." Sally turned around, and a large man came into view. A shit-eating grin was on his face, and he reeked of mouldy pepperoni pizza, garlic and stale beer. His teeth were blackened, as if he either smoked a lot or had never brushed his teeth in his life. Three strands of hair stuck out on his greasy forehead, and were combed over as if he was to look handsome. His shirt was two sizes too small and a lower part of his overly large abdomen hung out of his shirt as if he was pregnant with the entire U.S Army. Maybe even every citizen in America.
Percy instantly knew something was off about him. Something incredibly wrong.
"Gabe, this is my son, Percy. And this is Gabe's daughter, Gertrude."
End of Flashback
Before anyone could do anything, Percy grabbed Gabe by his many chins and dug his other fist deep into the fat layer where the Adam's Apple should be. Gabe fell to the floor, choking for air and he felt as if his windpipe had been crushed.
"Where's the Sword of Hades, jackass?" Percy demanded. Only a gasp of air came in reply, so he stamped another broken drill piece through Gabe's already mutilated leg. A cry of pain tore through the endless plains of Erebos, shattering all peacefulness.
"So, where is it?" A whimper was the reply, and Percy sighed. But not in despair. No. Excitement. Enjoyment.
Before Artemis could stop him, Percy picked up a fallen power drill and pulled the trigger. It worked. Drill pieces littered the floor, and the son of Astaroth fitted the drill together before drilling into the tip of Gabe's big toe. Blood and flesh splattered out from the wound as Percy drilled all the way into the bone of the toe.
Artemis and Thalia then dragged Percy away from the sobbing male.
"Let me GO!" The Cambion roared, his left arm ripping from Thalia's grasp. Percy thrust his hand forwards and a bolt of sickly green energy shot from the outstretched hand. It hit Gabe dead-on, and he began shaking violently and vomiting bloody bile.
Artemis forced both of his hands behind his back before he could cause any more harm to his twisted and deranged stepfather. A few minutes later, all that could be heard was the many cries of anguish from the Fields of Punishment and the ruckus caused by Gabe's endless gurgling and choking on his own acidic stomach contents.
"Done with you're little strop?" Artemis demanded from Percy as he continued to struggle against the ex-goddess. For a mortal, she still seemed to have retained her godly strength.
She released Percy, and he shrugged her off of him. "Just tell me when you're done here." He snapped harshly, coldly regarding all three of his companions. With a snarl, the son of Astaroth stormed away from the scene.
The second he was out of ear-shot, Artemis turned to the vile male. "Who came by here, boy?" She demanded, drawing her bow and notching an arrow in its string.
All that they got in reply was the sound of gurgling. Thalia just stamped onto his large abdomen. White puss leaked from the multiple drill holes across his body as the daughter of Zeus' foot made contact with the skin. Blood exploded from his mouth, already clotting in Gabe's oesophagus. "Now: speak!" The punk-girl threatened, raising her foot once more.
"Some kid... Asked for Sisyphus..." Gabe managed.
"Where is he?" Bianca asked for the first time. She had turned away when Percy had kicked off, not wanting to see what the son of Astaroth was capable of.
"Somewhere over... There..." He gasped for air as a lung possibly collapsed.
Bianca looked down at the carnation. It was facing in the direction Gabe was weakly pointing at.
In the distance, a large hill loomed over the surrounding area. A distant BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! echoed in the distance. "Oh no..." Artemis grumbled, realizing who it was.
Bianca also had an idea who it was, since her father often checked upon this particular soul. "Who is it?" Thalia asked, also looking at the steep hill.
"The number-one expert on cheating death, and a massive slime ball who'll do anything to save his own skin." Artemis huffed in annoyance. "Now, start making your way over there while I find that blasted idiot."
Thalia whispered something into Bianca's ear and both giggled lightly, looking at Artemis a few times. The said ex-goddess cocked her head, her temper rising again.
"Something you want to tell me?" She demanded, flustered. Both girls shut up instantly and turned around, now walking towards the large mound with the spirit supposed to help them there.
Artemis turned around, her eyes narrowed as she looked for a certain male.
A second later, she was snatched into a shadow. Quicker than you could say "cheese", Artemis was spat out of the shadow in front of Thalia and Bianca, whose eyes were wide with surprise.
Screams of endless anguish could be heard from where the twin of Apollo had just been, and all three instantly knew what was happening.
Percy was having fun with his new plaything.
"Go on ahead. I'll cut Percy's fun time short." Artemis told the other two girls before turning on her heel and making her way back to the torture scene she would want to use brain bleach for.
With Percy...
More screams of pain and agony erupted from Gabe's gullet and into the air as a needle penetrated his middle finger from the top. The needle was pressed in deeper and more cries echoed through the Fields of Punishment. The nerves were stabbed by the piece of medical equipment, and a little blood seeped from the other end of the needle.
"You like that, don't you, Gabe?" The torturer mocked, whipping out another needle. "Me teaching you the wonders of Hell. Maybe you could become my test subject along with Alistair after this war is over with." Another needle was slowly pushed through Gabe's finger, and Percy laughed in hysterics, somehow finding torture comical. "Well, that's if you survive today."
Another cry tore across the Fields of Punishment, silencing most of the other inmates to Hades' playground. Now, Percy's new playground.
"Now, you're going to tell me everything you know about the Specter." Percy smiled innocently, picking up another needle. "Or these lovely little creations will be implanted in every sensitive place on your body. And if you still don't talk... Well... Then I guess we'll need to extend the needles in your fingers with a drill. Or maybe even a screwdriver..." Percy trailed off, and Gabe's eyes widened with fright.
"Okay! Okay! It takes host in one body at a time, driving them down a path to their death! The examples were Adolf Hitler, Cleopatra and Romulus Augustulus!" Gabe cried out.
"What is its agenda? NAME?!" Percy punched a needle into Gabe's thumb.
"I don't know..." Gabe mumbled weakly, unbearable amounts of pain roaring up his left arm.
"YOU KNOW! WHO?! WHO IS HIS HOST?!" Percy's eyes turned pitch black before they were set ablaze by a wild, relentless fire. One that didn't radiate heat, but icy, artic cold that would make even the most evil specimen in the Universe freeze.
"The Child Born of Darkness! The Prophecy of Eridith, the Unknown Creation of Ezekiel and Mommon!" Gabe recited quickly. With a agonizing scream, his eyes rolled to the back of his head and began to steam. They were slammed shut and Percy leapt away. Fiery red cracks snaked across Gabe's spasming body before he opened his mouth to unleash an unearthly roar. His eyes then flew open, and harsh, white flame flew out of them as if a flamethrower was in his head.
A few moments later, Gabe went completely limp before his body turned stone grey and then crumpling to dust.
Percy turned his head slightly before looking back at the ash floating in the air. "Good riddance." Percy said to no one before turning around and making his way towards... Wait... Where did he have to go again?
"Bianca and Thalia are currently on their way over to Sisyphus." Artemis called out to Percy, and he ran over to her.
"Where?" He asked, and Artemis pointed to a very large hill were a loud crash could be heard.
Percy took off running towards the hill, but Artemis grabbed his arm.
"What is wrong with you lately, Percy?" She asked, and he looked away.
"How much did you see and hear?" He asked quietly, and Artemis' calculating silver eyes locked with his dark sea green eyes.
"Just enough to know something is troubling you. Who is the Spectator, as you asked Gabriel, and what is the Prophecy of Eridith?" She gripped his arm tighter, and Percy looked away.
"I don't know. I heard of both, but that is all. I'm sorry though, Arty." A small bolt of lightning leapt from Percy's fingers and struck Artemis in the temple. "But I cannot allow you to know this information." Percy was quickly consumed by shadows where he then reappeared with Artemis in her own cabin in Camp Half-Blood. Quickly placing her on a bed, the Cambion left with haste.
A Demon's Wrath
So... er... Hi guys, I guess...
Okay, okay! I have been a knob as of lately, and a two month hiatus went unannounced. I'm sorry. Really. I actually feel some form of remorse for being such a cock to you guys. And then I give you a crappy chapter.
But, as you guys are probably wondering, my life has been pretty shit as of lately, and its stuff that is really close to home. And by close I mean, like, life-changing bad. And where I carried so much anger towards the world I found it impossible to write anything until my life was set straight. It still hasn't been, however.
Anyway, enough about me! It was time I stopped procrastinating and post this truncated chapter and reply to some reviews! Through PM of course...
Anyway, just a little heads up:
Don't expect a chapter for a while. Like, a month. Maybe I'll pick myself up, but keep your eyes peeled for an update A/N!
I'm off to sleep now!
~The Prince of Souls