I don't own any characters in the Percy Jackson universe which is rightfully owned by Rick Riodan. However, the Greek gods and/or other mythological figures are used in my imagination and well you can't claim copyright on history.

Chapter 33

I wake up to a pleasant taste. I groan as I get up and suddenly pain travels through my body. I collapse back onto the floor and grab my left shoulder in pain. I feel it wrapped in bandages and remembered what had happened.

"Don't get up too quickly! We couldn't fully heal you even with nectar." Thalia quickly tells me helping me up.

"We can't fully heal him. Were going to need the power of an immortal being if we want that to happen." Nico tells us.

I don't what diseases I was affected by but I felt fine.

"Come on we need to cross the river. You two get along the riverbank, I'll hold the water up for you."

"Are you sure? You're in no condition to do anything. You're severely injured and inflicted by some random diseases." Thalia protests.

"And the flower is slowly dying by the second. We don't have time to be standing around arguing about what we should and should not be doing." I argued.

"He's not wrong but Thalia's definitely right as well. Percy, are you sure you can handle this?" Nico adds.

"Yeah, just get ready."

They walk to the riverbank and stand there waiting for me to lift the riverbank. I concentrate and the river lifts but suddenly my left shoulder flares in pain as I lift it. The others run to the other side and my legs almost fold like an omelet.

"Alright, we're across! Start walking, Percy!" Thalia calls out.

I start walking but my limbs feel like overcooked spaghetti. It reminded me of the song lose yourself. Expect if I can't make it safely across the river I would literally lose everything. I would be pressing the hard resetting my entire life. I was about halfway across and my friends were shouting encouragement. I was busy focusing on the idea f just one more step. I kept walking and I just passed the halfway mark when suddenly, my shoulder gives and the water falls on me. The last thought I could focus on was 'dry'.

"PERCY!"

The water hit me and all I could think was how cold it was. I try my best to swim with one arm and I break the surface. There was a layer of air separating me and total brainwash. I heard Nico and Thalia sigh in relief. I wasn't safe yet. Even the thought of making myself dry was incredibly taxing. Even as I managed to keep walking I could see the pocket of air slowly shrinking. I struggle to make it to the bank and when I do I collapse, panting and sweating.

"Don't move, I'm going to try and clean out the wound," Thalia tells me worried.

Nico hands me a square of ambrosia and I try and focus on the taste as Thalia pours nectar into my wound. It was painful and made me nauseous. She finishes and tightly wraps a bandage around my shoulder making me wince.

"Come on we need to get a move on," I told them.

"Are you sure?"

"Look at the flower. It's almost half dead right now. If we don't hurry, this entire thing was a waste."

I got up and slightly winced at the pain. We followed the flower to another field. However, this one has a little cave towards the back and we entered. As we watched a flash of light, a goddess appeared. She was pale on one side, the other was cracked and mummified like the oracle mummy sitting in the Big house attic.

"I am Melinoe the goddess of ghosts. I'm afraid I can't let you pass." She groans out.

"You work for my father. Move, now." Nico orders.

"No. Your father imprisons me here and forgets me. I feed off of fear and sorrow and yet I can't. Only when I'm needed to punish someone for badmouthing the gods. That does not appeal to me and I was given a better offer by Kronos. He will allow me to threaten any human as I please and I will finally feed to my heart's content!" She wailed.

Something was wrong with her voice. It sounded like many people were speaking to me at once, all of the people I know or once knew. However, that wasn't it. It was the people that died. Nico and Thalia collapse to their knees crying and blubbering like babies. From what I could hear, they seemed to be speaking to their mothers. For me, it was Zoё.

"You let me die. You tainted me and left me in the dirt." She hissed.

Though it hurt, I quickly snapped out of it. Zoë hadn't died bitter. She died happy and forgiving. I finally realized what was going on. She was using the people that died bitterly in our past to traumatize us.

"You can drop the act. She did not die hating me. She died proud of who I was. Leave my friends ALONE!" I yelled.

She flinched and my friends stopped shouting, although they still were crying.

"Impossible. My powers don't affect you. How is that even possible?" She asked with fear.

"Because I lived a happy life. No one that I knew died in vain, so your powers are useless against me. Now release my friends unless you want a cut cleanly between your 2 different bodies."

She looks at me in fear and disappears. I wasn't going to lie but it was a bluff. The pain was so bad that I don't think I could even hold the blade correctly, much less cut her. I ran over to the side of my friends. They were pale and shivering with wild eyes glancing everywhere.

"Hey, guys it's fine now. But we do need to keep moving, the flower is at two petals right now and we need to find the culprit." I told them.

My voice snaps them out of their trance and they started crying. I knew some of the stories with both of their mothers. Thalia's mother hated Thalia for being born and Nico's mother died in a direct reason for him being born. Not everyone was fortunate to have a good relationship with their parents as I did. Suddenly, all the petals on the flowers fell off and were left with a tilted stem.

"Guys, we really need to go. Flowers dead, so we need to find him now or Kronos has a new toy to play with."

That gets their attention and they get up. As we got ready to leave we heard a thundering sound. The ground shook and trembled, making us lose balance. I cried out as I fell on my injured shoulder.

"Shit, this is bad. This only happens when something is forced out of Tartarus." Nico informs us.

Thalia holds me to avoid any more injuries to my shoulder.

"We need to change this bandage."

"No time, just get ready to go," I replied.

"Go where demigods?"

We turned to the voice to face a titan and Ethan Nakamura.

"Ethan, I should have known it was you," I growled.

"Hey, Percy. Don't look so good. It's fine, we'll make you feel better by killing you."

"You are not leaving here without surrendering that blade."

"He is not your concern. I am, however." The titan threatens.

"I don't even know who you are."

Ethan hands him an item wrapped in cloth. He unwraps it and a shimmering spear is now in his possession. I then realize who it was.

"Iapetus," I said.

"Finally remembered. My body hurts from being in Tartarus. I'll get back into shape by practicing on you."

He levels his spear and barrels towards me.

End of chapter 33. The next chapter will conclude this sword of Hades segment. Thanks for reading!