NOTE: So, it's been a while, and I can't really offer much of an explanation other than I've been very busy. I'm in college now and I'm still trying to cope with the changes and whatnot. I mean, I don't even have SATURDAYS anymore! But, it's less than likely for me to stop writing. So here's chapter thrity-five of Gamble with Fate. Things are getting heated as the end draws near. Hope you enjoy!
Chapter 35: The Journey's End…
Her vision blacked out and ripping from her throat came a guttural scream. An explosion of energy exploded from her, sending waves of shadows rising from the ground and curling around her. The force of it all had managed to knock everyone, save for Atlas and Artemis, off of their feet and to the ground.
Slowly, Seria rose from the ground; her face shadowed and a menacing scowl curled her lip. At her feet, the shadows of the area had accumulated around her, her anger personifying through them, as they writhed like wispy, pitch black snakes. She traced one wriggling trail and watched it curl against her fingers, awaiting her command – awaiting for her to point at a target to skewer. And she knew just the person…
"Stop her!" Atlas bellowed.
The dracaena guards that Atlas had stationed around the area and around Kronos's sarcophagus slithered forward, spears drawn and blood lust in their eyes as they aimed their weapons at the lone demigod. Seria's head snapped forward, revealing a similar glint in her eye, and with an upward motion, the shadows around her formed into a black wall and solidified under her command. The sound of countless dracaena smacking into the shadow form sounded like a million tin cans knocking against one another; a few of the snake women had skewered themselves against the spears of their sisters' and had exploded into puffs of golden dust in seconds; they got out easy. The others, were condemned to a worser fate; Seria thrusted her palm forward and spikes jutted out from the outer surface of her shadow wall, impaling the remaining dracaena until there was nothing but a mass of gold dust on the ground.
"Gods…" Cleo murmured, entranced and frozen with fear as she watched Seria stride over the remains of Atlas's guards with her shadows following in suit, wriggling like actual snakes. It was like Seria was a smaller, younger version of Medusa – minus the hair full of snakes and horrid features.
A slight glint caught Seria's eye as she strode over the dusty remains. At her feet was a simple celestial bronze sword; nothing special – just typical workmanship with strips of leather wrapped tightly around the hilt for a grip. She picked it up without a second thought, feeling the weight of the blade and the shine of its surprisingly sharp point. It made her more comfortable – her powers were handy, but she preferred a good sword, even though this one was once wielded by those pathetic monsters.
She twirls it for good measure and locks onto Luke. He was frozen stiff with fear; his hands were shaking and he had dropped his hold on Annabeth, who had the chance to get away but stood just as still as him, her eyes reflecting the same fear. Seria smirked and let out a laugh that sounded a tad bit too insane for its own good.
She lunged. Luke barely had enough time to block, and he stumbled on his feet. He pushed against Seria, but for once, she didn't budge. She stood steadfast, her eyes nearly pitch black and she bore her teeth like a wild animal. Seeing him look so afraid sent a thrill through her – almost a sick pleasure. And in the darkest corner of her mind, she wondered what his blood would look like stained on her stolen blade.
The minute Seria and Luke had clashed, Percy and co. bounced into action; Percy and Zoë made their way to Atlas, Thalia trailed after Seria and Luke, and Freya up and went decided that now would be a great time for a disappearing act, leaving Cleo to make a bee-line for Annabeth, who remained frozen where Luke had dropped her, her eyes still trained on Seria and Luke's fight as it got more and more brutal. The daughter of Aphrodite dropped to her knees without a second thought and slightly skidded next to Annabeth before she grabbed at her cuffs and jabbed her blade into the lock as she desperately tried to free her quest-mate.
"You okay?" she asked. But one look at Annabeth's face, Cleo knew the daughter of Athena was most definitely not okay. Fear was etched onto the blonde's face as she watched Seria hack away at Luke; the blonde boy barely able to block in time and would occasionally get a good cut from slow movement.
The look of absolute malice and the animalistic shine in Seria's eyes was almost enough to make Cleo lose her grip on her rapier. She wasn't looking at the weak, defenseless traitor who had been pinned by Atlas a few moments ago. No – she was looking at a monster; an honest to gods, monster in human clothing, who was fueled by an unlimited supply of rage and whose only thought was to kill and destroy.
Gods, help us, Cleo prayed.
A sharp SNAP broke through her thoughts; Cleo glanced down and realized she had managed to break Annabeth's cuffs. Grabbing the blonde's hand and hoisting her back up to her feet, Cleo forced Annabeth to look at her and shook the girl for all she's worth. "You have to snap out of it! We can't afford to lose our nerve now, Wise Girl. C'mon – stay with me!"
When Annabeth didn't respond and her stormy grey eyes slowly made their way back to the crazed daughter of Hades, Cleo had to resort to drastic measures. She slapped her.
"Ow!"
"Good – you're back and ready for some-"
Cleo tensed; she spotted a familiar bushel of fiery red hair spring up near a pathway opposite of the one they had taken. Freya was facing off what looked like to be an oncoming army of both monsters and demigods, all by her lonesome, using powers that she wasn't aware the red-head even had. Mist – the magical kind – was circling her feet; fireballs were being lobbed at monsters and at enemy demigods left and right. With the look of things, Freya looked like she could handle the hoard easily, but the sweat dripping from her brow and the unusual tremor of her hands said otherwise.
"C'mon, Annabeth. We have to help Freya push back Atlas's reinforcements." She tugged at Annabeth's hand, but the girl didn't budge.
"But, Luke and Seria—"
"Now!"
Annabeth jolted, and reluctantly, she nodded in agreement. The two blonde ladies quickly drew their weapons and threw themselves into the fray with Freya.
Seria was deaf to the sounds of her friends and their own battles. She zeroed in on Luke and focused only on him and their own fight. She only heard the clang of their swords colliding against one another, their labored breathing, and only saw the fear and determination to not die by her hand mingle in his eyes. But she could see he was growing tired; his movement was sluggish and he barely had the strength to do a proper parry.
She pushed her right hand forward, palm out, sending a rush of shadows coiling around the boy's waist and with the snap of her wrist, she threw him across their little battlefield. Seria watched as his body collided harshly to the ground; the wind promptly knocked out from his lungs. She tsked, a little disappointed that he went down that fast. She almost felt sorry for him – so sorry that she considered just leaving him be…
Not.
The rage coiled inside her and she brought the blade of her sword down, but Luke was able to roll out of the way at the nick of time. Frustrated, she repeated the action again, and again, and again, until she screamed, venting: "You dirty little scum, get up! If you can't accept your end then get up and fight me! Like Hades I'm going to let you scramble away with your life barely hanging by a thread."
"Seria, stop!" He was pleading. How cute.
An angry fire burned in her eyes. "Stop? Why should I stop when you never did! Playing with my feelings, making me think I actually mattered to you – you're scum! I hate you!
She brought her sword down again, this time a lot more ferociously than before. A gasp of pain escaped Luke's lips; he clutched his wounded shoulder, his fingers slick with his own blood – he looked like he was going to be sick. Good – now he won't be going anywhere.
Seria raised the blade, intending to bring it back down on the liar's heart – maybe twist it for good measure. Oooh, maybe his stomach instead, so that he could suffer. The twisted thoughts mingled in her mind, egging the girl on, feeding more to the bloodlust that desperately sought to be quenched.
Just when she was about to bring the sword down…
"Wait!" Luke threw his hands up; his sky blue eyes were wide with panic. "Seria, don't do this," he pleaded. "Please, just…listen to me."
She scowled. "I've listened to you enough." She decided to point the blade's edge at Luke's neck; the same position he had her when they had fought. "Now die…"
She swung, only to have Luke swipe at her legs, sending her crashing to the ground. He straddled her, raising Backbiter to strike, but Seria quickly pushing him over until she was on top – the situation repeating, until they're fight just became the two of them rolling around on the ground like petty children.
As they rolled, Seria caught glimpses of what was going on with everyone else. She saw Percy bearing the sky, taking the place of Artemis, who was now fighting against Atlas with deadly fury with Thalia and Zoë at her flank, and at the far left, she could see Freya with her hands rising up as she conjured some sort of barrier between them and Atlas's oncoming reinforcements. Seeing the hoard of demigods and monsters marching their way, Seria knew they had little time left – she had to finish this fight now, while she had the chance.
Focusing back on Luke, she punched him right in the kisser, successfully throwing the man off of her. She scrambled back onto her feet, sword drawn and lunged. Luke dodged, and their swords clashed once again.
Her attacks became more and more brutal as she became all the more desperate to cut Luke down. Instead of swinging a sword, it looked more like she were pounding it against Luke's like a hammer on hot metal. All reason was thrown to the wind as Seria let her rage consume her.
"Seria, stop!" called Thalia. The daughter of Zeus had pulled away from the fight against Atlas and had taken notice of Seria's animal-like behavior. "You have to calm down! This isn't like you."
Seria didn't listen. She and Luke continued on swiping at each other; their blades slicing through clothes and cutting through skin. But as soon as they heard Atlas's enraged cry boom through the air, their battle haze came to an end, snapping both demigods back to reality.
Through the corner of her eye, Seria could see that Atlas was now back under his burden, and she could also see, if she glanced down, that she had Luke at the edge of the mountain. The heels of his feet were barely over the edge and she knew that she finally had him where she wanted him. His life was in her hands and it can all end with just one push. The fear in his eyes just made this all the more better.
Behind them, Percy and the others had gathered, wide-eyed and fearful of what Seria would do next. They had already seen her at her worst today; they had seen a darker side to her that they never knew even existed and they knew that side was still very much in control even now. Seria, at the moment, was unpredictable and dangerous.
Annabeth stepped forward. "Seria, no! Don't do it! Don't kill him! Please!"
She didn't even turn her head.
Cleo scowled at Annabeth. "Give me one good reason why she shouldn't push Luke off the mountain. He's a traitor – then again, so is Seria, but he's done horrible things to everyone at camp, and even to you, Annabeth. He's lied, cheated, betrayed – he's done every bad thing in the book and I bet all of my drachmas that he doesn't regret a single thing."
"For once, I agree with you," Seria said, startling the daughter of Aphrodite.
"What?"
"I agree with you." Seria repeated, this time pressing the point of the blade dangerously close to Luke's neck. He squirmed and tried to shuffle away from the blade, but he knew there was nothing behind him but a steep drop to his demise.
"Skull Girl, stop!" Freya came bounding over to the scene, tired and drenched in sweat; the fiery haired young woman was pale – the barrier she had erected with the Mist had taken much of her. She locked eyes on Seria, despite that the girl's back faced her. "Seria, this isn't like you. Listen, I know he hurt you – I know he lied and did all this crap for his own gain – but you're no killer."
The young demigod tensed at her words, but her anger certainly did not subside. Looking at Luke's face, the terror in his eyes – he deserved what he'd going to get. All it'll take is one little push...
"Don't stoop to his level," said Freya. "Just…slowly back away from the ledge, alright? We'll figure this all out, Seria. I'm sure what you did…you didn't do willingly. The things you told him – you just didn't know what he was up to. You're not the bad guy here."
Not the bad guy… Freya's words echoed in her mind. Her anger began to recede. Slowly, her sword fell from its place on against Luke's neck as she took a tentative step back. It was like she'd woken up from a hazy dream – the anger like fog that clouded her mind. When reason slowly began to settle back in, the shock of having been so close to killing someone had finally hit her.
Gods… She took in a shaky breath; the shadows that had once curled and writhed against her feet and fallen limp, receding back to their original places.
It was like everyone had released a huge sigh of relief when the menacing aura that Seria had been giving off.
"We can bring him to Mt. Olympus," said Percy; from carrying Atlas's burden, there was now a white streak in his hair, which was very similar to the one in Annabeth's. "I'm sure the gods will know what to do with him."
While everyone had decided to calmly assess the matter, Cleo, on the other hand, bristled with an anger of her own. Her eyes remained a bright red as she glared daggers at Seria, who stood in a daze, her sword now pointed at Luke's chest, albeit lazily. "So what? Are we just going to ignore Seria's little double-agent stunt? Hm?" Every word she spouted dripped with animosity, sending a chill down Seria's spine. "Since we're going to Mt. Olympus anyway, I wonder what the gods will think about her conspiring with the enemy."
The chill down her spine had now spread throughout her body. The gods… She'd forgotten about them. She'd forgotten about their eventual stop at Mt. Olympus. Her rage was replaced by fear as her mind conjured up possible grim scenarios to the gods' judgment on her wrongdoings. Total obliteration via Zeus, immediate sentence to Tartarus (that could be a long-shot, but she did give information to one of Kronos's generals), a one way trip to the Fields of Punishment, or torture for the rest of her mortal life. All-in-all, very bad ends. All of them fitting for what she'd done, but Seria…very much unwilling to experience any.
"C'mon, Seria," Cleo seethed. "Grab Luke and let's leave before Freya's barrier decides to break."
Seria hesitated. Her mind was spinning with the consequences she may face. Her hand moved to grab Luke's arm in an iron grip, but it faltered. She didn't want to go to Olympus. She was too scared.
As if sensing her hesitation, Luke locks his eyes with hers, a horrible smirk on his face. "You know, you really should've taken Atlas's offer," he whispered mockingly into her ear. "It would've been so much easier if you did. You'd be with me, we could've tried the relationship idea out," he chuckled, "I mean…I'm game for it. You're not so bad looking."
Seria scowled. She never realized how much of a jerk Luke actually turned out to be.
"…And you wouldn't have to be in this situation." His smirk grew wider when he caught sight of the fear on Seria's face. "Now you have no choice but get down on your knees to those "gods" and beg for the mercy you'll never get."
Freya overheard him. "He's lying!"
Seria's grip on the bronze sword loosened as her resolved diminished, giving Luke the opportunity to lunge at her, grabbing hold of the weapon and pushing his weight against her in an attempt to dominate over her strength and, hopefully, escape. But Seria's grip was tight and her own strength managed to keep Luke where he was.
The minute she looked over the edge of the mountain, catching a glimpse of the long fall below, she knew what she had to do and when she locked eyes with Freya, it was like the daughter of Hecate knew what she was thinking.
"Seria-!"
Using all the strength that she had, Seria pushed Luke and herself over the mountain's edge and they fell.
NOTE: If you enjoyed this chapter, feel free to leave a review for me to read. Share anything - what you thought of the chapter, reactions of what just transpired - anything! The final chapter (maybe) will be posted/written as soon as I am able. Seeing as this is the first fanfic that I had ever written on this website, it's sort of sad to see it come to an end, but stories need their conclusions whether we like it or not. So you can look forward to that sometime soon...hopefully.