~I was always able to lose myself in reading. Books were a necessary escape I always gladly jumped into headfirst-Jennifer L. Armentrout, Obsidian~
This is the conclusion to The House of Hades by Blondie B. Happy. I hope it helped the wait for the actual book.
For the final time, sorry for typos/OOCness. Enjoy the final chapter! WARNING: You may cry a little. Even I cried while I wrote this chapter:(
Happy Reading!
Epilogue
Nico
This was the end.
Nico knew it for a fact as he walked through the swirling gray mist and into the perpetual darkness, as if he were going straight into Tartarus. His stomach felt queasy and his head hurt. He wondered why.
Nico felt nervous, so he turned around to look at his friends, or whatever they had been to him. He could pretty much call them friends. But they were all gone. He blinked, positive that he had seen something wrong. But no, there was nothing there. Just fog and mist and darkness, swirling all around him in a never-ending tornado. He wanted to call out, but for some reason his voice refused to work.
Then he remembered stabbing Gaea and the Doors slamming shut on either side of him, but now, immediately afterwards, Gaea was gone and he'd been transported to this purgatory of places. He didn't feel like he had drowned in the earth or like he'd just had two giant doors thrown against his body. He felt like a young, very confused teen. What was his father going to say when he found him?
He had never died before, and even though he was a son of Hades, he had no idea what the sensation would be like. The only clues he had were what souls had told him before, but they all said different things, so Nico had no idea what to believe. The dead souls always liked to lie.
There's a bright light like they always told us, one had said.
You still feel like you're alive until you see the other dead people.
The DOA is immediately in front of you, he remembered.
Nothing at all, another one had told him.
Jason, Frank, Hazel, Leo, and Piper were gone now. He was all alone.
They weren't the only ones that were gone. Percy and Annabeth were too. Nico had never even had the chance to see them again. At least, not face to face. He could only hope that they had made it out of Tartarus together. And then there was Thalia and Taygete, and Bellona and Triton, and Chiron and the campers and everyone that had ever meant anything to him.
Bianca was gone too. He wouldn't even be able to visit her now that he too was dead, because she had gone to rebirth long ago.
Once again, Nico felt like he was all alone in a vast world.
He continued to walk though, knowing that stopping and stalling would get him nowhere. He hoped that he would be judged fairly when it came time to go to the Judgment Pavilion. The bad part about that was the fact that one of the judges was King Minos. Hopefully, being Hades' son would help.
He did feel a little bit of relief though, knowing that he probably wouldn't have to face Gaea and the Giants. That was selfish, but the idea of fighting them had terrified him more than he cared to admit. But he knew for a fact that they would face their end. The Seven Half-Bloods of Prophecy were powerful and strong and chosen for a reason. They each would have a special contribution to downfall of Gaea's army. He knew it.
A thought crossed Nico's mind. Was he actually dead?
Was this the end, or was this only the beginning of something bigger?
When the prophecy had predicted his end, had it actually meant that he would die, or that this was just a new start for him? He had no idea. He would just have to talk to some of the wiser spirits in the Underworld. They would give him the wisdom that he needed.
The fog was starting to dissipate, and he knew that he was getting closer and closer to the end of his role in this quest.
The House of Hades Hold the Key, To Destroying The World and Restoring Peace.
The House of Hades had actually been in Tartarus the entire time, at Where the Lost are Revealed. He could remember that clearly now. All of his memories had been returned to him, thank the gods, but they wouldn't even be needed anymore, which sort of sucked, but there was nothing he could do about it.
The House had the Doors of Death inside, but it also held the rising body of Gaea. Half of it had been on one side of the Doors, and half on the other. Half of her had been alive in the tombs of Epirus and half had still been still condemned to Tartarus.
At the End of Battle's Foretold Strike, The Two Enemies Will Fight to Unite.
The Greeks and Romans had fought against each other for many days. Lives had been lost. Much of Camp Half-Blood had been destroyed and would have to be rebuilt for a second time. But with a little bit of loss, there had been a lot of gain.
The two opposing sides that had long been enemies had finally joined together and started their long journey to Greece, to the original Mount Olympus. The two armies would be needed to stop the world from falling apart. Like Nico and Piper had said, they were stronger together than they were apart.
The Giant Stalks the Six Waiting For War. The Earth Mother Haunts at the Doors.
Tityos, the giant, only got stronger from death and destruction brought on by the biggest of wars. He had almost risen again because of the battle between the Greeks and Romans, but the six of them had put a stop to that. He wouldn't be able to rise again so soon, but a bigger and stronger war was inevitable.
Gaea had haunted had the Doors of Death. The small bit of hre still in Tartarus, that part of her body that was still in the pit, had wanted to stay as close to the Doors as possible. She really had haunted that place, and wanted a death from a demigod in order to rise. A soul for a soul, in a way.
For Though the Eight May Stay, There is One too Many for Giant's Decay.
The Giant's couldn't fall unless one of the eight remaining gave up his or her life to stop them. The screwed up part was that even though this would help stop Gaea's rising, it only made Gaea stronger. The sacrifice had been just what she needed. But the only way for the rest of them to escape was for one to stop Gaea, and at the time, the only way to stop her was to end that person's life. But she would be back soon, stronger than ever.
She'd be back with revenge on her mind.
Fire and Ice will Oppose the Threats, Made by Man Who Conquers all Death.
The fire from the explosion and the ice from Gaea had caused Nico to stop where he had been. He hadn't been able to move. He hadn't been able to close in on Gaea and to end everything. But that hadn't worked for long, because he had reached Gaea and jumped on her, sinking her back into the pit with a weapon through her body.
Lost in the Wind as Whisper's Tell, The Ghost King Will Forever Reign in Hell.
So the entire prophecy was indeed coming true, as it always did.
Hopefully, Nico had done all that he could to help his friends. He had led them to the Doors of Death, just as Percy asked. Nico had done too many wrong things in his life, and now he was repaying the debts that he owed. He had been a leader and done the best that he could. In the end, that was all he could do.
He kept on walking, and the smoke kept on disappearing, but that was okay. The closer he got to blackness, the closer he came to rest. A smile crept over his face. It was a watery, sad one, but he smiled nonetheless, because now he had no reason to be scared. He was the son of Hades. Death was nothing new to him, but everyone else in his family had also died. The di Angelo's were no more.
He hoped that his friends would be okay, and that maybe someday he would be able to see them again. Maybe this wasn't his only role in the war. Maybe he would have another, bigger part from the dead guy's point of view. He had only just begun to unlock the amazing powers that were trapped inside of him.
He wished that he could go back and change some of the things that he had done wrong, or tried better. He just realized how much he would miss all of the little things that life had to offer. He'd miss his friends. Heck, he'd even miss a few of his enemies.
For a second, Nico thought about everything that he'd done on the quest.
He'd jumped into a volcano, a geyser, and off the side of Mount Olympus. Most people couldn't say they'd done that during their lifetime. Most people didn't even dare dream of those things.
He had journeyed from Italy to Greece, then had been whisked across the globe to Hawaii and then into the Yellowstone. Then he had ended up in Camp Half-Blood, then on Olympus, and then back in Epirus, Greece once more.
And he had fought as much as he could, battling Greeks and Romans, the sea god Triton, the goddess of war Bellona, and countless monsters that had only wanted to see him dead.
Were they happy now?
Bad times aside, he'd had a pretty good life. His early years had been great with his mother and sister, and though for a while he hadn't done much except stay with his sister in the Lotus Hotel, it hadn't been too bad. There had been that period of time after his sister had died that he had wondered what he was doing with his life, but soon all of this bad thoughts had changed.
Nico had made friends. He'd finally had a family, of sorts.
Now, all of the smoke and fog was off behind him. One more step and he'd be with the other dead souls. But that was okay, because there was nothing else he could do. Because he knew that in the end, he had done everything that was possible. Because Gaea was going to die and return to Tartarus forever, and he knew that he had been part of making sure that her downfall went through.
Everything was going to be okay. Nico could say that with a small smile full of positivity.
And now, there was only darkness, and that was okay, because. . . This. Was. The. End.
Coming in Fall, 2014
The Heroes of Olympus, Book 5
The Seamstress of Earth
*Final Author's Note (Important!) So Please Read*
~My thoughts are stars I can't fathom into constellations—John Green, The Fault in Our Stars~
First. Well, it was NOT supposed to end like that, but I got carried away and BAM! There you have it! Please don't kill me. I can't write when I'm dead, and then I won't be able to post anything on FanFiction. It's just… you guys know I like writing depressing stories and character death's… And then this happened. Remember, it's just a FanFiction... Please don't hate on me too much. After all, in never clearly stated that he died... who knows? Is he REALLY dead? That's for you guys to decide.
Second. I will not be writing a story called The Seamstress of Earth. It just sounded like a really cool title for the final book. Instead, I'm going to be finishing many of my other stories, so go check those out. I promise you that they aren't half bad. This includes Revenge, Summer Love, Hell and Silence, Dear FanFiction, Love is a Four Letter Word, etc.
Third. I want to give a HUGE thanks, once again, to my best friend and big supporter from the very beginning, Kimmie G914. She's my cousin, as many of you guys know, and she's not that big on FanFiction, but her stories are amazing. If you want to read another House of Hades fanfic, go check out hers.
Fourth. I will be writing my version of the Heroes of Olympus Book 5, once the title is released in the real House of Hades in October. I'll post an author's note on here telling you guys when that is posted. Also, add me to author alert so that you'll get an email when it is posted.
Fifth. If anyone wants me for some reason, or if you just want to chat, or you want to hear about new stories, updates, and be sent cute fan art, my email is: bookiethunder (at sign) gmail (dot here) com.
Sixth. This is your last review challenge: Ask me a question. Any question at all. Make it crazy and amazing or stupid and short, I don't care. I'm going to answer them all in a short chapter. But I've been asking you guys questions throughout the story, so why not ask your own?
Seventh. I want to give you all my everlasting thanks. You all mean the world to me, and it breaks my heart that I have to end this story. I feel like I've been through everything with you guys. As many of you know, I'm going through some very hard things in my life now, but you guys always manage to make me feel so much better. You guys are the best medicine in the world. Together, we have reached over 3,000 reviews (it's the second most reviewed story!), 400,000 views, 600 followers, and 500 favorites. I love you all more than I can ever express in words. Thank you for making these past 10 or so months the best ever.
Reviews are always and forever loved, especially since this is the final chapter. Farewell, my dear readers.
-Katie, Daughter of Athena, aka Blondie B. Happy, or BBH, or whatever... :)
