Disclaimer: Percy Jackson is property of Rick Riordan and League of Legends is owned by Riot Games
Chapter 9
Thalia heard the sound of crashing waves as she slept, the waves tickling her feet as a soft breeze caressed her in its warm embrace.
"Wa… ...p…"
A whisper on the wind fills her ears. A niggling in her mind that stirs her from the comforting embrace of Morpheus' realm.
"C..me…ake…p!"
"No, five more minutes…" Thalia mumbles as she turns over into the sand. The grains acting as a soft pillow for the demigoddess.
Well, at least it was before a boot struck her in the back, sending her face first into the sand. "PFFFT! What the Hades!" She snarls as she spit the sand out of her mouth.
Zoe stood over the dark-haired demigoddess with a slight smirk. It wasn't a new experience waking up someone who didn't want to. Many new hunters always had a difficult transition with the early wake up call and as the Lieutenant to give them the 'proper' motivation. And if that motivation happened to include three gallons of honey, the hunt's wolves, their left socks and a pineapple.
…Well the less said about that incident the better.
"Thou wouldn't wake." Zoe said with a shrug, but the faint smirk was still there, showing that she wasn't sorry in the slightest. "Tis the easiest solution."
Thalia grumbled under her breath with Zoe only hearing a few choice words, most having to do with shocking and various body parts.
Thalia looked around to the rest of the beach. "So, did we make it to California?" She asked as she ran her hand through her hair to get more of the sand out.
"Unless the west coast decided to grow jagged mountains over the span of a few months, then I would say no." Zoe spoke sarcastically though her words were laced with awe. Thalia was about to respond with her own snarky comment until she turned around. Her eyes looking out to sea just like her companion, just staring at the massive monoliths out at sea. They rose out of the water, looking like the sharp pointed teeth of a predator, and their size made it seem like they were scraping the sky itself. Some mountains, as there was no other way to classify them as, had large holes through the middles, large enough that a cruise liner might be able to squeeze through. Some had large stone bridges that connected them, and many of them were covered in green jungles.
"Bilgewater." Thalia muttered under her breath as she stared in awe.
"What did you say?"
"What?" Thalia looked over at Zoe, in confusion. Her mind so jumbled that she didn't even realize she spoke.
"Thou said Bilgewater." Zoe pressed, getting closer into Thalia's personal space. "How does thou know that name."
"I don't know." Thalia said as she shoved Zoe away.
Zoe refused to back down, trying to dig out any information that the daughter of Zeus had on the name that she shouldn't even be aware of. One of many names that had been permanently ingrained into her mind, no matter how many years had passed. She had brought up such topics with her goddess, but even that was a dead end as the goddess had never heard of such places nor seen them from any pictures that Zoe drew.
Now here stands before her a demigoddess. A child, far younger and less traveled than even the newest hunter who seems to recognize the places in her head from just a mere glance. "Do not lie to me!" Zoe snaps. "Such a thing, not even the gods know of. Yet thou are able to recognize it with but a glance."
"I told you I don't know!" Thalia bit out. It was like something was on the forefront of her mind. Like sunlight trying to break through storm clouds, but for whatever reason it just wouldn't. The knowledge was foreign to her, yet she could feel it. Like a fond memory that she could picture clear as day despite the fact that she had never been there, and it was honestly starting to freak her out.
"Damn. They really argue a lot." A voice spoke. Her voice had held a blend of teasing confidence. Like you could hear the smirk in her voice.
"Now now, it's not like we didn't have our own problems." A second voice spoke. Hers was youthful and laced with mirth.
"Yeah but we never looked like we were about to rip each other's throats out." The first voice said.
Immediately Thalia and Zoe were on edge. Looking around the empty expanse in order to find the observers.
"Why have you brought us here?" Zoe shouted. She had found herself on this beach many times in her dreams over the centuries, but never with another person.
"Wait? Do you know who this is?" Thalia asked.
"No, but she will." The second voice spoke as a vague figure appeared.
The two girls fell into combat stances as they observed the vague figure. They guessed that it was a woman by the voice and the rather generous curves on the body, however the lower half of her body was one large limb rather than a pair of legs.
"Or rather, you both will." A second figure appeared. This one belonging to the first voice. This one being obviously female like her associate but fully human. Her hands rested on her hips as she stood in a very way that would turn many heads.
"Oh. I just love how their dreams can connect." The oddly shaped female said with a bit of enthusiasm. "I haven't seen you in so long."
"Yeah, yeah. The love is just spreading around." The other woman waved her off, but you could hear the genuine care in her voice.
The oddly shaped woman lets out a sigh as she shifts around in the air, revealing her lower half to actually be a tail like those of Poseidon's citizens.
"Thou is a mermaid." Zoe said, but the answer felt wrong in her mouth as she said it.
"Your so close." The 'mermaid' said. "Just a little more." She goaded, like a teacher coaxing a child.
"You're a vastaya." Thalia spoke up. Almost immediately a painful headache struck them both. It felt like a sharp nail being repeatedly hammered into their skulls. Images flashed through their minds at blinding speeds, too fast to comprehend but a sense of nostalgia and familiarity existed before it ended.
Both girls were kneeling on the sand, their breath haggard from the experience. Zoe was the first to regain herself as she looked up at the shaded individuals. Even though their faces were obscured she had a feeling that they had sorry smiles.
"Gah! What the fuck!" Thalia however had a much livelier reaction. The demigoddess began to curse up a storm as the stabbing pain in her head lessened. "What was that?"
"Maybe it was too soon." The normal looking female said to her associate, completely ignoring Thalia.
"A lifetime of experiences is not something easy to digest." The 'vastaya' said with a sigh. "
I'm afraid the process may have jumbled them."
"Hey! I'm talking to you!" Thalia shouted, not liking the fact that she was being ignored.
Zoe however kept a level head as she listened to them. "What process has the done? What are thou talking about?"
The two shadows glanced back and forth, having some kind of silent conversation which the mermaid won if the exaggerated throwing of the normal woman's arms were anything to go by.
"You see—" The mermaid started before the world began to shift. "It seems we are out of time." She said as she looked at the sky.
"But thou hasn't told us anything!" Zoe shouted as everything began to dissolve.
"Just remember. Stick together." The shadowed woman said before she strut away.
"Trust yourself. Trust the memories." The mermaid called out as everything faded away. The two girls tried to call out to the two shadowed figures, but their voices were swallowed by the void. There was no feeling or sound around them. No matter how much they screamed they nothing came out.
Then everything faded to black.
X
The two questers woke as they were violently thrown into the air only to land awkwardly on top of each other in the back of a truck bed. They picked themselves up with a groan as their heads pounded due to an unfortunate headbutt.
"Well look who finally decided to wake up." A sarcastic voice shouted from the front. Both Zoe and Thalia turned to see Annabeth hunched over the steering wheel while Bianca hung out the passenger window with her bow drawn. "Now if you'd so kindly HELP US!" Annabeth snapped as Bianca let an arrow fly.
The two girls looked to where the arrow flew. A large pack of Hellhounds was chasing their truck as they shot down and empty road.
"What the hell happened?!" Thalia shouted as she shot a bolt of lightning into the pack that killed a few of them, but that was quickly filled in with more hounds.
"I told Annabeth that we shouldn't have stopped at the Hoover dam. But then again when does anyone listen to me." Bianca griped.
"It was a national monument. How could we not stop and look around."
"Very easily. All you had to do was dri—"
"As helpful as thou arguing is," Zoe shouted as she hit a Hellhound between the eyes. This caused the ones behind it to trip over its corpse as it fell before turning to gold dust. "Someone please explain how we have come to this situation?"
Annabeth called out a warning before jerking the steering wheel to the left and ramming into a monster that got too close. "After you both passed out, we took turns driving—"
"Until somebody decided to take a detour." Bianca sassed.
"Not now!" The blonde snapped before turning back to the road. "We were ahead of schedule and it was right there." Annabeth exclaimed as if it made perfect sense. "A monument to human ingenuity."
"Your lucky that red head bailed us out!"
"Girls!" Thalia snapped. "Bianca just focus on firing those arrows." The huntress didn't argue and started firing arrows once more. "I'm going to guess that this pack was nearby and found you?" She asked. Annabeth jerkily nodded at Thalia's assessment. The daughter of Zeus looked over to the Lieutenant. "You got another tidal wave in you?" She asked, looking at the mystic staff that the huntress had strapped to her back.
"No." Zoe spoke with disappointment. She had already tried to pull something off, but the staff had become dormant after that massive release of magic. It felt almost lifeless in her hands and she just had this overwhelming urge to fix it.
Thalia bit out a curse as she sent another bolt into the pack. Her mind began to race as she tried to figure out how to get out of this situation. Countless enemies were nipping at their heels. Like a black mass with countless eyes they were so close together.
BANG!
They were grouped together.
BANG!
She was surrounded.
BANG!
The smell of cheap booze and gunpowder filled her nostrils.
.
.
.
BANG!
In that moment Thalia's body began to move as memories flashed through her skull. The pain was almost unbearable, but the demigoddess grit her teeth and endured it. She moved with precision and finesse of someone who practiced the move thousands of times yet not once in her life had the girl done this. He vision flickered, her targets shifting between people and monsters, not that it made any difference.
They were all going to die anyways.
No one crosses the bounty hunter and lives.
Thalia's hands tighten into fists as she raises them towards her pursuers, her pointer finger and thumb forming into finger pistols. Electricity sparks off her as it travels and condenses at the tips of her fingers.
She didn't have bullets, but when had that ever stopped her. She had always used whatever that was around her to complete her task and now wasn't any different.
Her mind was already making the calculations as the world seemed to fade out of her focus. Figuring out where to strike for maximum devastation in split second glances.
Then as if a trigger was pulled Thalia went into action. The collected energy was released in a wave of powerful bolts, as if she had fired from an automatic weapon and taped down the trigger.
There were no wasted movements in her form. If one side got too close, she would zap it into oblivion before it could even get close enough to try something. The electricity arcing from one hellhound to another like a ravenous beast only added to the devastation as the horde dwindled to nothing.
The entire massacre only lasted 5 seconds.
Each of the girls looked in awe at what the daughter of Zeus managed to pull off. That level of control over lightning was not something that even Zoe had seen amongst the countless spawns of Zeus that she had met. If anyone would ask, she would deny the genuine smile that spread over her face as she watched it occur. After all, her friend was always known for her unique flare of drama.
Zoe shook her head as she realized she had just called Thalia her friend, even if it was in her own head.
"Holy shit." Bianca said breathlessly as she watched the carnage disappear behind them. "That was ama—Thalia!" She screamed.
Zoe immediately leapt up to catch the demigoddess as she fell like a lifeless puppet. Her eyes were rolled into the back of her head as a trail of blood flowed out of her nose.
"Is she okay!" Annabeth demanded as she kept looking between the rearview mirror and the road. She looked about ready to pull over at that moment just to check on the girl.
Sadly, Zoe couldn't let her do that. They were already behind schedule as it was. To make any more stops would only jeopardize the mission further. "She is fine." Zoe quickly replied. "She just needs more rest." She takes off her jacket so that Thalia can use it as a pillow. The problem was that the amount of rest that she would need probably wasn't enough for the amount of time that they had available. "How much longer till we arrive?"
"A few hours?" Annabeth replied unsurely.
"Keep driving. I shall watch over her." Zoe spoke in a tone that shut down any argument, but also conveyed as much care as she could.
The huntress let out a sigh as she watched the demigoddess sleep, brushing a few strands of hair away in a rare moment of care that even she didn't know she had. 'Where are you Perseus?'
X
"Talk." It was one word, but it carried a weight when Percy spoke it.
Soraka nodded and moved next to Bard. She gracefully lowered herself onto a stone with a flat surface. With a simple wave of her hand she inclined Percy to do the same as this conversation would be better down as comfortably as possible. "This new body of yours is quite appealing." Soraka tries to lighten the mood but Percy remains stoic. The celestial lets out a sigh. "The gap between dimensions has weakened." She says in a serious voice.
Percy raises a single brow, the only display of intrigue. "Gap?"
Soraka nods before motioning over to Bard. The dimensional traveler makes a wide wave of his gloved hand, creating a glowing mural of light. The mural is solid blue and red on opposite ends, with only a thin golden strip to separate them. "The dimensional gap is the boundary between existences." Soraka motions to the golden strip. "It is normally what separates and prevents two dimensions from colliding. If two dimensions were to come into contact, then they would grind against each other until neither remained or the highly unlikely chance that they mix together to create something new."
"Something new?" Percy wondered as he listened to Soraka explain. It wasn't too hard to understand. Dimensions just weren't meant to mix together naturally. It wasn't until the concept of mixing came into play that he was confused. He was originally just comparing the separate dimensions to oil and water. Two substances that just don't mix but the idea of mixing scrapped that visual.
"You need to understand Nautilus," Percy took an extra deep breath at the mention of his former name, but the celestial payed no mind or didn't notice. "The dimensional gap is a place of impossibility. A realm of chaos and endless energy that distorts and warps everything it comes into contact with it. It is not impossible for the energy of the dimensional gap to shift two dimensions until they become compatible with each other, though the process is usually artificial or caused by events of great magnitude. Something with enough energy to warp reality and punch a hole in the gap itself."
"What are you implying?" Percy asked though he had an idea that he knew where this was going.
"Tell me wanderer, what was the last thing you remember before waking up?" Soraka gently asked, trying not to provoke the titan. If a conflict were to arise, she doubted she would come out the victor. As strong as her abilities were, she has and always will be a healer first.
Percy closed his eyes as a wave of memories flood his mind against his will. His teeth clench as his fingers leave grooves in the stone.
He felt nothing yet everything.
He saw nothing yet everything.
Up was down.
Hot was cold.
The world twisted in agony and madness. It seemed to scream in his mind with an insatiable hunger that tried to claw away at his sanity and devour it. To corrupt it.
The titan's power flared in response. Its rage as vast and deep as the ocean. Such parasites would never consume it.
No, it would CONSUME THEM!
Powers collided and the gap shattered.
"Conflict." Percy murmured, but his voice was heard through the silence. "The gap tried to consume. To destroy. But it couldn't. IT CAN'T!" Percy ground out in anger at the memory. "We cannot be consumed. We cannot be broken. So. We. Fought. Back!"
Soraka watched with visible interest as the demigod in front of her seethed with rage at the memory. The mountain began to tremble, and the blizzard howled with renewed vigor. When she first felt the soul of the titan, she needed to make sure that it was actually him. Over her many, many years in this realm she had become entuned with how different the life forces felt as compared to those of Runeterra. With the exception of a small group, compared to the planet's population of course, the life forces of humans were greatly weaker. Only those that had managed to ingrain themselves as legends were able to compete with the warriors of her own home realm. Not to mention the deities, monsters, and other supernatural things. But when she found the titan of the deep, she found something that she had never thought possible.
Pure symbiosis.
No. Even that was wrong as that implied that they were two separate entities working together. They were one being. Inseparable. One with the raw primal power of born from the darkest abyss of Runeterra, and another descended from divinity as a bright beacon of power. Two beings at the opposite spectrums of power not finding balance, but rather breaking it and reforging it into something stronger.
"You fought against the gap?" It was as much a statement as it was a question. "Then that is likely where this all started." She noticed the look on Percy's face, or rather barely noticed. "I was able to watch your battle with the tormented souls of the Harrowing, BUT," She held out her hand, halting the burning temper. A temper that was a lot more complex than simple fury that she remember the titan was known for. "I was not able to help since I was on Mount Targon. Your fight and the resulting energy that you as well as the countless souls of the Harrowing were outputting was astronomical. It created a gaping hole in the fabric of reality, taking you and random parts of Runeterra with it. Including those of your companions and when you fought against the gap itself. That only created a larger tear that took even more pieces with it."
Percy visibly deflated, his stoic frown deepening. "I killed them."
(No.) Percy looked up at the mass of fur and cloth that until now had been completely quiet. His voice still sounded like an otherworldly melody, but it was no longer indecipherable. (You. Saved. Them. Perish. Otherwise. Souls. Lost.)
"Bard is right Nautilus." Soraka gave a genuine smile. "If you hadn't done what you did, they would have been torn apart by the raging souls. And if you hadn't fought against the gap they would have ceased to exist within the gap. As it stands because of you both realities have bleed over into one another safely…well relatively speaking."
"So, it really is them." Percy asked with a spark in his eyes. A spark that Soraka could only call a spark of joy. An amusing look on the stoic face of the giant teen. "I will find them again."
"Yes. Those without the inability to age like ourselves have gone through this realities cycle of reincarnation but I know without a doubt that the souls of those from our realm are far too strong to be erased so easily."
Percy didn't even wait as he stood up, not caring that the snow and dirt clung to him. He turned around, ready to make the impossible walk to catch up to his companions.
"Wait." Percy had to suppress the annoyance that was bubbling up. He had finally received a full-blown admission that they were here with him after all these years and these people still wanted to hold him up. Percy turned and gave her a look. Not a scathing or irritated look, they had helped him far too much for him to be so rude, but one of impatience. "Here." Soraka reached into one of her pouches and pulled out a bundle of cloth. "You'll know when you need this." She handed the cloth to him and he was faintly surprised to feel how cold it was. Percy hadn't felt cold in many years, but this had managed seep past his body's natural defenses.
BWWOMM
A large swirl of gold opened past the edge of the cliff.
(One. Final. Gift.) The bard spoke as he gestured to the golden rift. It was a gateway through space, right to where he needed it to go.
Percy gave a nod of thanks and didn't even hesitate to jump through.
Here's another chapter. Sorry that this was so late. I was focusing on my main story that I forgot what I had in mind for this until recently. Anyways I hope you leave a review and some criticism on if there's anything I need to improve.
Happy Halloween
Momentei