Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson or any of it's characters.
AN: The final battle has arrived folks and hopefully it's going to be a roller coaster that you all create a love hate relationship with me because of. WARNING! CHARACTER DEATH!
Finals went surprisingly well for how much it almost killed everyone in the apartment, everyone escaped with only a few bruises and one broken nail on Reyna's part from scratching Bryan. Everyone passed with almost flying colors besides one makeup test that Jason had to do for Chemistry. "WE DID IT!" Piper was dancing on the coffee table on a high that was probably because of the three A's she got and the B+'s on everything else. "Woah, am I dizzy." She fell off onto her poor boyfriend who looked like he was going to throw up.
There was a mess of celebrations going on, some passed out on whatever surface was closest while others danced on the same while screaming their joy at the top of their lungs. Annabeth had piggy backed Rachel and was getting swung around, singing, "Who's going to go to college? To college!" to the tune of "Chandelier" by Sia. She was laughing drunkenly in between solos, the sober high of getting straight A's washing through her. No, finals didn't matter as much for senior mortals. But to pass high school with Honors….it was the greatest feeling she had ever dealt with flowing through her nerves and electrifying her blood. "Who's ready for some…?" An odd expression passed over her face as she dropped to the floor, something actually boiling in her stomach. "I'm gonna puke…" It was a whisper but usually those are what scream the loudest, at least four buckets shoved in her face before she was even finished getting out the "yuke'.
"I can't believe the three of you all got sick...Actually I can because you know stress affects the immune system in the worst way." The poor kid looked like he was going to have a mental break down if he didn't sleep soon but he was still on a crash from the four cups of coffee mixed with a monster and redbull each before his last exam. "I mean really, Death Boy. You had to go and get the only two people that can handle leading our bunch sick."
Nico rolled his eyes before groaning about the world spinning and grabbing for the mixing bowl the gagging daughter of aphrodite had shoved at him and not it was not Piper; who was currently cleaning up from Annabeth's terrible aim. "I didn't get us sick thank you very much, I haven't ever been sick before and I wasn't expecting to start now."
"Your body isn't ready for all these diseases, you don't have an immunity. And no,just because you dealt with other stuff when you were young doesn't mean anything because that was the forties and this is the two thousands and isn't it really weird how I don't know what people call the tens? Like we call things the twenties, thirties but what do we call the...?" Will was quite literally dragged under the blankets with him as his boyfriend nuzzled into his chest. "Puke breath." But he was asleep soon after, they both were and everyone breathed a sigh of relief as they left the room. The sick kids were staying in Nico and Will's room for the time being so none of the others became ill, they had dealt with enough that you very much.
Piper finished cleaning up from the random explosion in the living room, sharing a look with her sister as they raced to the bathroom to see who could get to the last of the soap first. Really, they did need to go to the store.
They were sick all the way into the next week which was occupied with emptying lockers, make up tests and tearful goodbyes. Graduation was that Thursday, so wednesday was the last day of school with all of the seniors. Besides maybe three.
"I am so ready for this to be over, I want summer time with campfires and braiding Lacy's hair...no having to deal with jobs that take away from date nights." She was smiling brightly as her arm slipped around Connor's waist, relaxing into his touch as he responded in kind. It had taken some getting used to, showing affection in school that wasn't a guard. But it was Connor; she was safe with him. "Don't give me that look sis, you know it sucks that your boy is gone half the time for sports and such." Drew beamed as she watched a glare pass over Piper's eyes, she was right and they both knew it. "I have to go grab projects from the Art Room, anyone want to come with me?"
Nyssa and Rachel both raised their hands like they were in class, but the redhead was the one snapping her fingers as she spun around to lead. "You know I always forget something and I'm graduating so I better have everything." She spun arpund and looked at her girlfriend with pouty lips to try and convince her to go with them. But it was all for not. "Why? I need someone big and strong to help carry my stuff!"
"I'll be in the FACS room so if you want I can walk over after I'm done." After everything was settled, the girls seperated with Clarisse dragging her poor boyfriend along to go grab the rest of their stuff in the cooking room. On their last trip back to the room, Clarisse called to them in the hallway, which still sounded threatening, and jogged over with a smile. Right as she falled into step with them, an alarm went off that they hadn't heard before and the mortals all of a sudden started pouring in from every direction mindlessly. "What the fuck?"
Drew felt sick as she was pushed into the masses, separated from the girls and dragged along with them as they went across the hallway into the auditorium. At some points during the whole ordeal, she caught flashes of the other demigods. Some red hair here, a growl there and a lot of yelling. She was forced to sit by some freshman with glazed over eyes. "We must listen. Mother is angry."
"That's not ominous or anything." She spun around, happy to see a familiar face even if it was Travis. "I saw Calypso somewhere. Jason is close to the stage and I think Hazel was with him. Do you know who else is here?"
"Nyssa, Rachel and Clarisse were with me but then we got seperated. I don't know if Nyssa is here but I know the others are. And I think I saw Emily but to be honest she's such a wallflower I struggle to remember what she looks like sometimes." A bright light flashed in her eyes, forcing her to glance further behind the son of Hermes she was talking to. "And apparently Will is here, using his powers like an idiot."
A quiet laugh seemed to radiate around the room, whispering it's way into silence as all heads turned to the stage. "You shouldn't insult your friends, Drew. Or are they still not your friends? Are you still scared that one day they'll look at you the way the male student teacher in your gym class did? Are you worried they'll flirt with you relentlessly like that girl in your math class? Or are you worried they'll abandon you like everyone else? Where is your boy toy? Where are your friends?" Darkness, that's all there was. When she reached out, she couldn't feel Travis, only the girl next to her who was as still as stone. A spot light turned on, blindingly for a second as a figure appeared on stage. "Poor demigod, the useless daughter of Aphrodite. I shouldn't be angry with you, I could let you walk away. But you see…" Yellow eyes seemed to follow her as she tried to hide from them. "...it's more fun to force you to watch everyone die while you can do nothing to stop it."
All they wanted to do was empty out their lockers. It was just easier to go with the other girls, dragged behind the one would someday become a legal part of her family and the one who had became a confidant. "Here, this is yours."
"No it's not, it's Jason's." Piper was blushing as she stuffed the shirt into her bag, the redness reaching down to her collarbone as she heard Thalia mutter Same Thing. Of course everyone knew at this point that it was true, There was nothing that they didn't share, there was almost no time that they weren't attached at the hip. Of course they didn't spend a lot of time together in school, they tended to separate even in the classes they shared so that they could hang out with other people and create other relationships. To watch someone want to be near him because they loved him, to see someone give him space to be himself and not just something on her arm...There was always that fear growing up that they were being used or going to be, as demigods they were. But with their family… "Are you okay, Thals? You spaced out on us for a minute."
She shook her head to clear away the sentimental and dangerous thoughts rolling around in her head. She had a responsibility, but to who was the question. "Yeah, I guess I'm just surprised that Percy hasn't blown this place up yet."
There was a squawk from someone eavesdropping, the pattering of feet running out of the locker room. There was a snort from the other side of the lockers as a head poked around to grin at them. "You guys just scared a poor little freshman, I hope you're happy." Green eyes flashed with amusement as Katie stood to sling her bag over her shoulder. "We should get going, we need to finish clearing out all our stuff by tomorrow. Seniors day off before graduation and all." She was beaming brighter than those sunflowers she planted on the roof, the ones that stood almost as tall as Frank. "I still can't believe we're graduating, I mean I didn't ever expect to leave camp let alone go to college and live like a normal person!"
"You're excited about school, you aren't normal babe." The girl next to her was laughing, bouncing on her heels for a second before straightening up to stand. She tightened her braids and changed the feather to a different spot in her hair, grinning as she scooped up her coat for what would hopefully be the last time. She was done with fitness credits at least.
They made it out of the door of the locker room, the girls hustled out of the room as the next group walked in. They made it to the center of the gym, hearing the click of the door as it shut behind the people walking into the locker rooms. They made it past the bleachers on their left, following the line of the ones on the opposite gym to their right. They made it to the door to exit the gym, they made to open the door to get themselves out. They didn't even get to touch the handle before the door burst open in their faces, people moving like the faster version of TV zombies with lazy smiles on their faces and concern in their eyes. Their limbs moving of someone else's accord, someone else's will was overriding theirs. She'd seen it before, once. This wasn't the sly manipulation of Kronos, no he was deity not matter how much he fought it and the only way they can force you into something is physical, mental or emotional manipulation. This wasn't manipulation. This was out right control. She wasn't sure what terrified her more.
"Hello Thalia Beryl Grace. It seems you brought friends this time, I'd love to see how you defend this bunch."
He didn't know when it happened but suddenly he was seated in a plush chair with hundreds of other kids, staring at the back of someone's head. "Where's Ezmar?" Will turned his head to find three girls freaking out, the only non demigods to be awake as far as he could tell. "Was she with Leo? I thought he wasn't talking to us. Shit, where's my daughter?"
"She's going to be fine, Mariana. If she's not with us, she's with Leo. Or you dropped her off with one of our aunts or her dad…" There was a visible flinch. "You handed her off to Leo, we'll go with that." Rosie shrunk into her chair as her cousin glared at her, glancing around before finally noticing him. "What are you staring at, blondie? You got a problem with us you want to share or are you just a pervert?"
He didn't have time to properly respond before the lights were off. "Will Solace, the ray of sunshine with a dark streak. How are your arms by the way? Did the scars you made finally disappear?" His fists twitched in pain as the feeling of the knife came back, less pleasant this time. "Do you still like the way it takes? Takes away the other thoughts of pain, the other important things and the feelings of being so tired yet you can't get rid of it when you sleep…Son of Apollo, do you miss the way it made you feel normal?" She was sitting on the edge of the stage with a soft glow around her, laughing like she didn't have a care in the world. "I like pain too, it's okay. I wonder if you can survive without your boy toy to save you. You never could stop yourself without him, could you?"
The scars from that first day in the apartment were just small white lines by now, but there was two new ones on his wrists. They were scabbed over: red, angry and itchy. That was supposed to be okay because he needed the reminder, but Nico didn't. They were curled up in a movie theater waiting for a movie to start, one of their first dates. While they waited, Will had thrown an arm around the other boy with a yawn move that made them both laugh. But now...now Nico just picked at the bandage on the blonde's wrist. "When can you take this off?"
"Soon." There was a tense moment of silence before he broke. "I know you wanted to get back to a better mental state before you started anything and me being a mess isn't helping that. I wanted to apologize for pushing this while being a complete mess myself."
There was this look on Nico's face like when he was trying to learn something new, technology wise or even a school lesson. "Thank you for apologizing…" His eyebrows scrunched his face into more of a pout, his face relaxing as the lights dimmed for the trailers. "You know I am not upset with you for trying to cope, I'd be a hypocrite." He took a deep breath like he was steadying himself, turning so they could look each other in the eye. "Just remember that what you're trying to do is let something out and there are more ways to do that than through your skin. Aunt Sally helped me find someone to talk to. They're a child of Ares and they specialize in working with people that have PTSD. I think you should try talking to them too. I mean, it doesn't matter if it works or not I just thought it might help."
Will beamed at him nuzzling his cheek to make him blush. "You like me. You care about me." He got shoved away for his efforts, but he got a kiss on the cheek at the end for his efforts.
"You never would have stopped without him because no matter how much you take care of other people, you have no idea how to take care of yourself. Without him you are nothing, you are no one. How are you going to fight me, Will? Are you going to blind me? Heal my wounds?" She laughed again, her teeth elongating slightly as she glowed brighter. Our fear was making her more powerful, our doubts. Every word that she crafted perfectly to touch already frayed nerves made her stand taller, made her teeth longer and allowed her to push through the magic the gods had placed on the school to protect them. But no matter how much he knew that, it didn't stop the pain from swirling around in his stomach and pounding in his head. There was nothing he could do to stop it and she knew that more than anyone.
It wasn't Will's memory this time. It was someone else's. "Hey man, what's going on?" He was seeing through someone's eyes, someone who lived in the apartment with them. "You waiting for Piper to get back from cheerleading?" Oh, so it was Jason. Percy slid down to rest against one of the chairs as he picked up a controler.
"Yeah, is Annabeth helping out at school right now?" It was all quiet talk, about the video game they were playing and what was going on at school. It was like fast forwarding a VHS, squeaky noises and all. Until it stopped when Jason put down the controller to say hi to Piper as she walked in. She passed out as soon as she collapsed on the couch. "Sometimes I can't even believe she exists." Somehow Will knew he blushed when Percy hummed in agreement and looked at him. "Did I say that out loud?"
Percy laughed. "Hey, I get it man. I mean Annabeth is absolutely terrifying, I'm not sure how Hera let someone more powerful than her take their first breath." It was almost comical to watch from a first person point of view as Jason blanched. "Come on, what is she going to do to me? Send me to Tartarus? Send Annabeth?" He shrugged as he went back to the video game, his eyes never leaving the screen. "Annabeth is terrifying but I'm not scared of her, we got equal standing on everything. Cause she don't take my shit."
"None of us take your shit, we deal with enough already." There was a pause as Jason looked down at his girlfriend, the way she breathed and curled her fist into his shirt. "Piper doesn't take my shit either. She respects me, but she sure as hell doesn't look at me the way everyone else does. Like…" There was a look as they both whispered, "...I'm supposed to save everyone." They went back to arguing over video games.
Liz danced across stage making coo noises. "Aw, you are your family. But you don't have any of them in here do you Jason! You don't have that pretty girlfriend of yours to make you feel special or protect you. You don't have your sister to make you feel normal. You don't have the one person who understand because someone made sure he was sick today. She thought she was helping them, the three that were hurt the worst. But what about you? They abandoned you because they had it worse or so they think. Does that make you angry?"
"Shut up." Will could see him now, sitting by the front with his head in his hands. "Liz, I don't know what's wrong with you or what you really are but you need to stop. Please." He sounded broken, like the day he had to help Piper.
She snarled at him as she moved off the stage to where he was. "Saying please won't do a damn thing because animals don't understand please. When I am at full strength I will gladly watch as the poison works its way up into your heart, burning you alive from the inside." She pulled away once she started foaming at the mouth like a dog...like a dog. Shit. "And don't call me Liz. Or Lizzy or anything other than my name. It's Chimera, asshole. And Mom is the one toying with your girlfriend right now, how does that make you feel?"
If only looks could kill...but no, looks could only pin you to your chair so you could only watch. All of us could only watch.
It had been a few years since the hunt, since she had fought these monsters. She was Artemis' top girl, always doing as she was told to protect the hunters at all costs because she was the best of them all. "Hello again. It seems that you just can't stay away from me, can you?" She tilted her head as she stood to meet the monsters eyes. The only one able to do so, immune to the poison leaking off them like a worse smelling body odor because she had survived the real venom, the one that was injected into her for her troubles. "I remember when you two crossed paths with me,the mother son trio of every century. Better than Achilles and the woman who dipped him in the River Styx with one arm." She moved slowly down the rows to where the beast was waiting, right where everyone could see them.
"You were never one for compliments. Not even for your fellow hunters, you never wanted to be with them. You were forced into it to save your own skin because you had a destiny that you couldn't handle." Claws extending as the fear made them stronger, broke through the barrier created by the gods. Because one of them was so much older.
"And you were never one to talk." The arrow was flying through the air before the person next to her could even blink but it wasn't fast enough, it was embedded in the wall instead of in that monsters forehead. "I assumed you came for a fight. Now that the formalities are out of the way…" She was lucky she'd learned self defense or she would have been dead. Practising against knives made it easier to fight against claws because they were basically the same thing, always aim to get it away from them and always stay in close where they can't cut you. Either stay out of reach or be close enough to kill.
When the world paused as some of the others broke loose, she took check of her injuries. The inside of her thigh was bleeding heavily, she most likely had a concussion and her entire body ached worse than that time she got into a fight with a god that wasn't Apollo. It was almost impossible to believe she ever liked him. "Gods damn it."
"Not right now, you gotta breathe." When did the rest of them show up? "Come on, please breathe. Sis look at me. Please." Those pretty blue eyes, she never could get over how much they looked like Beryl's. "Come on, you can't die on me. You got one of them now you gotta help us. You were always the stronger one, you gotta help me. I can't do this on my own."
"Make sure both of them rot in Tartarus for us. For me and Zoë." She was so tired, she was ready to close her eyes. She was okay with not opening them again.
AN: I hope you enjoyed this special addition of Oh, Bloody Hell! I apologize for the cliff hanger...Well, not really.