Soul Rescuer
Sorry, this took longer than expected because I happened to pop AC Valhalla in the other day to see if they'd finally added New Game Plus, only to get smacked with gigabyte updates, and after those finished, I discovered Mastery Challenges (never again) and more River Raids.
I have since discovered that wearing the Brigantine Armor, socketed with armor runes and damage runes, equipped with Gungnir for the main and Mjolnir for the second, makes for an unstoppable juggernaut of a build.
Anyway, this is the promised last chapter before this comes down for the eventual revamp. It probably seems strange, posting a new chapter just for this to come down, but I just really needed to get this out of my system.
You might recognize the chapter title from the Hellsing soundtrack.
Bit of a warning, if you really like Nico, you will really not like this chapter.
To the The Wind Warrior: I need you to log in or make an account or something, because you bring up some interesting and good points that I would love to debate and discuss, but I'm not doing through a bunch of Author's Notes in my chapters.
Disclaimer: I don't own PJO or any other crossovers herein
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Seeing Tobi soundly sleeping atop the sleeping Sally was good enough for Shin'en. That was one less thing he had to worry about, the little psycho going way out of his way to claim the soul of this alternate version of his lethally and monstrously abusive mother. Shin'en shut the door of Sally's Hotel Valhalla Suite.
With that out of the way, Shin'en went on to his next stop, that being his own suite where he'd left the Asteria and Annabeth from the Xenophobic dimension that he didn't destroy. He appeared before his door with a swirl of water, gave it two knocks, and entered.
It hadn't even been a full two minutes since Shin'en dropped the married couple off before going to check on Tobi. As such, Asteria and Annabeth were still huddled on his couch, pale and holding onto each other.
Asteria's eyes flicked to his. "Our son," she said, referring to her and Annabeth's child. "If we were brought here, our son…"
"He's safe," Shin'en assured. "You two were brought here because Chaos allowed it. He won't allow your son to be endangered. As far as he goes, he's asleep, and it'll be like nothing ever happened when he wakes up."
"How can you be sure about Chaos like that?" Annabeth asked.
"Because I know him."
"When can we go back to our home?" Asteria asked.
"I don't know. I already tried sending you back with my own power."
"So, we're here indefinitely?"
"Yes."
"Great."
"It's not all bad," Shin'en said. "You have all the videogames you could ever want to play, all the food and drinks you could ever need, you can't die here or age. Honestly, it's the closest thing to heaven you're going to get without actually dying."
The two knew Shin'en well enough to spot his sarcasm, and correctly guessed he was successfully keeping his smile off his face.
"Yeah," Asteria answered without veiling her sarcasm. "The only drawback is the army of muscle mountains, all our old high school friends are here, but now they have superpowers, we're being used as pawns in some divine comedy of a game, and our son isn't with us. Fun stuff. Happy to be here."
"Are we expected to participate in any of this?" Annabeth asked. "I mean, we're not brilliant tacticians or anything—kind of—and we don't have any kind of special powers. Telepathy isn't going to help much."
Asteria shut her mouth.
"What part either of you has to play, if any, won't be based on whether you can devise outstanding battle strategies, or how much weight you can lift. Since this is all more or less just a game to Chaos, anything he comes up with for you to do will be based on something you can do, like street race."
"We can play Guitar Hero like professionals," Asteria offered.
"God, I hope not," Annabeth muttered. "That'd be embarrassing."
"Why?" Asteria grinned. "Just because we're both 25 doesn't mean we can't school the kids on how to play plastic instruments."
"Yeah, but all the kids are our old classmates, and they're still a bunch of teenagers. It's like they never aged while we aged up seven years. It's weird."
"I'm a transgender telepath, you still have a period that almost threatens to kill you of blood loss every month, my brother is this guy, and that counts as weird?"
"Yes."
"I agree. This is all very weird and I want it to be over. Shin'en, little brother, make it be over."
"I'm doing my absolute best."
"Do your absoluter better."
"I will throw you through this wall."
"I do not doubt it."
There was a knock at the door, and Shin'en let out an annoyed growl.
"Who is it?" Annabeth asked.
"You," Shin'en answered flatly. He went and opened the door. "Yes?" he asked tersely.
On the other side was this world's Annabeth, C-Annabeth, and this world's Percy, though because Asteria and Shin'en were distinct and individual enough, Percy will not be getting any kind of prefix. And the two had an entourage behind them consisting of Piper, Leo, Frank, Hazel, Thalia, Reyna, and predictably Alex. Along with Magnus.
At the sight of Shin'en, there was a sudden loss of confidence in whatever idea they had.
"What are you doing here?" C-Annabeth blurted before she could stop herself. Stupid ADHD.
"This is my room," Shin'en answered flatly. "What are you doing here? Besides being a general nuisance that doesn't know how to keep her nose out of other people's business."
Percy bristled. "Hey-"
"-is for horses," Shin'en cut him off. "You're all here to grill the two behind for information on who they are."
"Well, yes," Annabeth started.
"Well, nothing," Shin'en finished before she could open her mouth back up. "I don't even know why any of you bothered coming up here. Now, leave. You're unwelcome on this floor."
Shin'en made a mental note to have this particular floor barred from anyone that wasn't a Master.
"Hey, we just wanted to meet them!" C-Annabeth insisted.
There'd been all these different Percy's showing up, and now a different version of herself was here. How could she not be driven to acquire more information?
Everyone else was here for mostly the same reason, except for Alex, who was here to talk with Asteria about what she'd seen displayed on the computer down in the Command Center that was the Feast Hall.
However, Shin'en was not inclined to let his friends be interrogated. They also had no right to ask anything in the first place.
"Darn shame," Shin'en said dismissively.
And he shut the door in their faces.
Behind him, he heard Asteria snicker and Annabeth sigh.
"What?" Asteria asked his wife. "Are you saying you want to have to talk with our old classmates?"
"Not really, but that could've been handled with less rudeness."
"I'm not here to be nice," Shin'en said. "I'm here because of them, and I'm not happy about it. And there's nothing in my contract about how I need to be friends with them."
"True, but that doesn't mean you have to literally shut the door in their faces."
"They will keep hounding you until they are satisfied. It's literally you, but younger. You know yourself."
Annabeth shuddered in recollection of her younger self. "In that case, it's probably best to just open the door and answer them till they're satisfied."
"No, thanks," Asteria said. "I think it's probably best we just relax in here and hope this nightmare ends that way we don't have to go through anymore trauma than what we've already been through."
Shadows crossed over Annabeth's face.
Shin'en looked away.
They might've been 25 now, but the memories of their youth, from the time they met in the private school as eighth-graders, to when they were liberated by Shin'en and the Xenomorphic Asteria, were fresh as ever. All the times they were raped, all of the sexual humiliation, all of the nasty and disgusting things they were forced to do in the name of the other's safety—all fresh as if it had all happened yesterday.
Having photographic memories didn't help.
"You just had to bring that up," Annabeth muttered. "Now I can't stop thinking about it."
"Yeah," Asteria said distantly. She was lost in her horrific memories now too. "My bad."
Then the magic radio buzzed. "Shin'en, we need you down here. Something's come up."
"On my way, Wheels." Shin'en looked at the two. "Think you two can stay out of trouble while I'm gone?"
"Please," Asteria sniffed. "We're not children anymore. We are adults. Parents, even."
"Right," Shin'en said flatly.
"Don't worry," Annabeth said. "I'll look after the little one."
"That's funny. What underwear do you have on right now?"
Shin'en cleared his throat before they could get into it.
They sobered up.
"We'll be fine," Asteria said seriously. "Go save the world or whatever."
"Something like that, anyway."
Shin'en took his leave, vanishing in a swirl of water.
With him gone, Annabeth burst into tears, and Asteria was quick to hold onto his wife.
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Shin'en appeared down in the Feast Hall. The canon half-bloods had made their way back down after being so soundly rejected, and so all of the important people were present sans Tobi and Sally, who were still up in her room, sleeping. Standing on either side of Wheels was Asteria, Leviathan, and Kraken.
The Hall was abuzz with whispering and chatter as speculation flew around about whatever the systems had blared about.
"What happened now?" Shin'en asked.
"A riddle," Wheels answered. "Courtesy of Chaos."
"Wonderful. What is it?"
Wheels hit a button on showed the message on the big screen.
The Twins failed with people of victory
The Metal Man did not with white
Find her
Rapidly
Shin'en stared at the riddle of an assignment, and then he let out a long sigh. "Fuck," he said.
"You make any sense of that?" Wheels asked.
Shin'en ignored him. "Do you get it, Asteria?"
'Not really. I feel like I'm missing information.'
"Leviathan?"
"Oh, I have an idea."
"Kraken?"
"I'm with Asteria on this one. I'm missing info."
Can you figure it out? Probably not. Luckily, the answer will be given to you.
"It's a play on two different languages," Shin'en said. "People of victory and white. The capitalized letters, Twins and Metal Man point to history. Leviathan knows it because he lived through those events, while you three didn't."
"Awesome," Wheels said. "Get to the point."
"The Twins failed with people of victory," Shin'en repeated. "In the Greek language, people of victory is the meaning behind a name. In Italian, the same is true about white. The Twins and the Metal Man are beings tied with the names."
"Yes, go on," Wheels prompted.
Up in the stands, Annabeth had gone rigid and pale as she figured out the riddle. Those around her could figure out she had figured it out, and whatever the answer was, it wasn't good. When Annabeth looked at Nico, horrified, a massive pit opened in the boy's stomach as he began to catch on.
"Nico?" Reyna asked, putting a hand on his shoulder.
But Nico shrugged it off and refused to look at her.
Will and Hades both frowned, while Reyna sat back, stunned and stung.
"The Twins is a reference to Otis and Ephialtes. The Metal Man is a reference to Talos." Shin'en said. "In Greek, the name Nico can be translated as people of victory. In Italian, the word white is also translated as a name."
"Oh, shit," Wheels breathed.
Up in the stands, the color drained completely from Nico, Will, Hades, Reyna, Annabeth, Hazel, and especially Percy. Anyone else that knew the story of Bianca and Nico di Angelo also found themselves barely able to breathe as a huge gravity seemed to settle over them.
"Otis and Ephialtes failed to kill Nico, but Talos didn't fail in killing his sister. After her death, she chose rebirth for the chance of a new life. Wheels, find the soul of Bianca di Angelo."
Nico let out a sound between a keening cry, a horrified moan, and an agonized scream.
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Wheels hit some buttons on the keyboard, apparently able to get his machine to scan the whole planet not just for signals and signatures, but for the very souls of other people. On the big screen, an image of the Earth was shown. It spun and spun, a little crosshair darting wildly around while strings of characters went running down the side of the screen.
The seconds ticked by in silence, Nico hyperventilating, being held onto tightly by Will, before the computer dinged.
"Found her," Wheels said. He hit a button and the Earth spun around, the crosshair settling over a spot on the planet. The image zoomed in several times until an island was took up the whole screen. There were several expensive yachts docked in the island's harbor, with several buildings around the port. One big building stuck out from all the others. "Oh, damn."
"Yep," Shin'en said.
The teleporter activated, and without another word shared, Shin'en disappeared in the light.
"Here we go…" Wheels said.
He hit some buttons and got the computer to show all that was happening.
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Shin'en appeared behind a building. He immediately expanded his senses, feeling out all the water from the surrounding ocean to the microscopic droplets in the air. His lips parted as a low, rumbling growl left him.
A long time ago, his reaction to this situation would've been a resigned sigh, like, Great. Here we go again. But after his sister…after his sister, he had a newfound fiery fury for situations like this.
A voice spoke in Shin'en's head through the magic radio.
"Hey, man. You good? Your vitals just spiked."
"I'm fine, Wheels. Is Nico still there?"
"Uh, yeah, he is. Why?"
"Oh, just wondering. Is Hades there, too?"
"Yeah…"
"Hmm. Oh, Asteria? Leviathan?" Shin'en singsonged.
"What?" Leviathan asked.
Asteria's questioning hiss sounded through the connection.
"Keep them from doing something stupid. I imagine they will have very strong reactions to what they're about to see."
"And what is it they're about to see?"
Shin'en answered Leviathan, "Their failure."
Shin'en took the main street. Everything was closed since everyone currently present on the island was up in the main building, a large facility as big as an NFL stadium. As Shin'en walked, the temperature dropped rapidly. Glass froze over and shattered. The pleasant warmth of the tropic night turned to a blistering arctic chill. Ice appeared across the ground, patches appearing with each fall of Shin'en's foot.
He eventually made it to the front steps of the main building, and the armed guards outside all looked at him as he approached.
Shin'en had a very pleasant smile on his face. He hadn't bothered with changing his appearance, looking like a young man in his early 20's, his black hair pushed back over his scalp. His clothes were still the same, with the black pants, black boots, and the black coat cut into three tails at the waist, buttoned over his chest, a red cloud emblazoned over his sternum. He looked very official, very regal, and very rich.
The wild child son of wealthy parents spending their money.
"Good evening, gentlemen! I apologize for my tardiness. The guests I brought with me required some special attention in order to keep them calm. I trust you know how it goes in this line of work."
There were some chortles between the guards.
"We sure do," said one, the leader. "Your invitation, sir."
Shin'en smirked, and all the guards dropped dead on the spot as their hearts exploded in their chests. The bodies never hit the floor, because they went flying high into the sky where they were deposited on the domed roof of the building. Shin'en's smirk was gone from his face as he walked through the front doors.
It was warm inside, the walls and floors and ceilings all a calming color. The décor was elaborate and ornate, made of expensive materials. The entire placed screamed "elite." Speaking of screams, Shin'en's hearing picked up those of children from deeper within. His hydro-sensing picked up why they were screaming.
Shin'en growled yet restrained himself. He took a deep breath and calmed down, using techniques taught to him long ago for these exact situations.
"Are you-"
"Wheels, I swear to God that if you ask me if I'm okay, I will rip out your heart when I get back."
"Noted, but I was going to ask if you were feeling nostalgic."
"…yeah. A little bit."
Shin'en started making his way through the halls to the auditorium, allowing Wheels to distract him. It was probably Asteria telling the legless demigod what to say.
"Illegal sex rings of the Land of Water, right?"
"They have you covered," Shin'en said, lips almost twitching upwards.
"Grody stuff."
"Every fetish imaginable and then some. There was no such thing as too much. As long as someone was willing to pay, it would be done. You don't want to know, Wheels."
"Unfortunately, I am a denizen of the dark web. I have seen my fair share of shit."
"Get ready to see some more."
Shin'en reached the doors, also guarded by more gunmen, but this far in they didn't ask him for an invitation. They opened the doors for him.
"Enjoy the auction, sir," one of them said.
"I certainly plan to. I've heard this auction is to die for."
The guards laughed.
"Some of them do!"
Inside was nothing but money. Arranged like a theater with very fancy, very comfy seats for all the men and women dressed in finery, with private seating in the levels above. There was an open stage, lights shining on the empty podium. More armed guards stood by in the shadows of the lights, hugging the wall, their eyes darting around.
A feminine voice sounded through speakers, "Ladies and gentlemen, please take your seats. The auction will begin in five minutes!"
The chatter exploded with excitement as talk groups and circles broke up, women returning to their men, men returning to their women, some young, some old, most in their middle years. Seats were occupied, and the chatter steadily quieted down as the minutes ticked by.
Shin'en took an open seat at the very back of the theater, next to the aisle. He politely stood back up and let some people not as rich as others move past him to get to their seats.
In the Feast Hall of Hotel Valhalla, the tension there was rising. Some had figured out what was going on. Some had their guesses. Others were still trying to figure it out. Those that knew refused to speak of it.
Nico was as pale as he was two years ago when he'd been recused from the Giant twins. He couldn't believe it. He refused to believe it. This wasn't happening. This could not actually be happening! His sister, his Bianca, she couldn't…there was just no way. Nico was shaking in his seat, and no comfort offered by Will or Reyna helped calm him down.
Hades was faring no better. His daughter…just…no…
Annabeth had a death grip on Percy's hand, squeezing so tight that if he had been a regular teenage boy, his bones would've splintered under Annabeth's strength.
"What is it?" Percy asked desperately. "What's going on?"
Annabeth shook her head. She couldn't talk right now.
Similar reactions were taking place across the Feast Hall. Even down on the center stage with the Masters, things were not right. Kraken kept looking between Asteria, Leviathan, and the screen, getting the same vibes from what he was watching that he got whenever the Gourmet Ghouls decided to get together and watch some poor human get butchered alive. Leviathan had his muscular arms crossed over his barrel chest, and Asteria's tail was totally still, a disturbing contrast from its usual idle dance.
Back in the huge theater building, the auction began with dazzling lights and orchestra fanfare played through the speakers. There was much oohing and awing, and thunderous applause and raucous whistling broke out when there, up on the stage, behind the podium, a woman rose on a platform.
She wore a white topless white dress that had a white rose tucked by her left breast. The dress went all the way down to her ankles, and split up her left leg almost up to her glute. Her hair was pulled into a bun with an immaculate white feather placed amongst her black tresses. Her build was lithe and muscular, and her face was gorgeous. Cherry red lipstick with cherry red eyeshadow, the rest dolled in faint white.
She looked rather vampiric to Shin'en.
In one of her hands was a crowbar of all things, and in the other was a remote.
"Welcome, ladies and gentlemen! I am your host, Madam Marcy," the woman announced, her voice sounding clear through the microphone in her ear. "We appreciate your patience tonight, and are very grateful for your patronage. In these crazy times we live in, we're only beyond happy to provide you all with this wonderful opportunity to escape the mayhem, and we are proud in ways that cannot be expressed with words that we have been able to host this auction here tonight. So, without further ado, allow me to introduce tonight's lots!"
There was thunderous cheering and clapping as the lights shined on the stage. From either side came the lots. Around all of their necks was a shock collar. They were all naked, bare as the day they were born. They were all the same age.
Now, Bianca had died at the physical age of twelve in 2007 during the events of the Titan's Curse. Based on the calendar present in the series, as this story takes place one year after the conclusion of the Trials of Apollo, it would be the year 2012. However, as is standard in fiction like this, the books are rife with references of the modern day. For example, Frank mentions "the Wakanda thing" during the Battle of New Rome in the Tyrant's Tomb book, and in the sequel to the Tower of Nero, Uncle Rick's short-story about Percy and Nico finding Annabeth the perfect Christmas gift, it's established that the story takes place in the December of 2020, as the demigods are wearing masks.
Meaning, quite poetically, as this fanfic takes places in 2021, the set canon of Percy Jackson is also in 2021, despite the events of the book, placing it in 2012.
The point behind all of this is that Bianca died in 2007 and chose rebirth. In 2012, she would be five years old, assuming she was reborn immediately after making her choice. Following that idea, in 2021, she would be fourteen years old. However, neither of these was the present case.
Indeed, up there on the stage with eleven other girls, was a ten-year-old Bianca di Angelo that was terrified out of her abused mind.
Total, shocked, stunned silence reigned supreme in the Feast Hall as the entire congregation beheld the true nature of this auction.
Human trafficking.
Sex slaves.
Little girls.
Pedophiles.
Madam Marcy waved her crowbar, making every girl flinch and duck their heads, clear signs of all the intimate times they'd had with the object. Eleven girls left the stage, walking back out of sight. Bianca was left alone with the woman.
Madam Marcy made a motion with her hand and Bianca came forward. She trembled when the woman's hand rested on her shoulder.
"This specimen comes from the orphanages of America. Bianca is her name. Show them what you have to offer, sweetie."
Madam Marcy's grin was downright lecherous and vicious.
Swallowing hard, Bianca turned around and turned her head over her shoulder, trying to smile in the special way that she'd been taught. She bent forward, spreading her legs, and using her hands, spread her bottom to reveal her severely underage vagina and anus.
There much clapping and cheering at the sight of Bianca's ten-year-old nethers.
"This one comes with a sweet benefit," Madam Marcy said. She paused for dramatic effect before shouting into her microphone, "SHE'S A VIRGIN!"
The cheer that went up literally shook the theater.
"Since Bianca here is a virgin, we'll start her bidding off at ten million dollars…"
And it was a nightmare after that as paddles were raised with the attendees' numbers. Madam Marcy's voice flew with the practiced skill of an auctioneer as she blazed through the numbers, climbing through millions in seconds. By the time a minute had passed, bids for Bianca's body had eclipsed 50 million.
Shin'en kept his peace, forcing them to watch, before he finally raised his paddle.
"500 million dollars!"
Everything came to a hard stop as every head and every light turned to Shin'en.
"500 million, sir?" Madam Marcy asked, dumbfounded.
Shin'en stood, smiled brilliantly, and made his way down the aisle. "Yes, 500 million dollars. I have a spot for kids that were abandoned by those that claimed they loved them, so I'm willing to cut ahead of the line and claim this one for myself."
"W-Well, I…urm. 500 million! Do I hear 510 million?" No one raised their paddle to contest that price. "Going once, going twice…sold to number 312! Congratulations, sir. You've won yourself a very fine prize tonight."
Shin'en ascended the stairs to get to the stage to the sound of polite clapping. "Thank you, thank you."
Madam Marcy put a firm hand on Bianca's shoulder. "Go on, sweetie. Introduce yourself to your new master like we've been practicing."
Bianca took a shaky step forward. "H-Hello, sir. I-I'm very p-pleased to meet y-you. I look forward to s-serving you."
She did a curtsy in a way that spread her prepubescent labia and showed the tender flesh therein.
Shin'en exhaled slowly from his nose.
"Would you like to give your name, sir, or would prefer to remain anonymous?" Madam Marcy asked.
"Oh, I have no problem giving my name. It's Percy Jackson."
Bianca jolted at the name, her eyes gaining a kind of light in them.
The whole theater fell into a tense, unamused silence.
"…Percy Jackson?" Madam Marcy repeated. "As in, Public Enemy #1, the one our glorious emperors Caligula, Nero, and Commodus have declared to be killed on sight by all peoples? That Percy Jackson?"
Shin'en looked up, eyes glowing a hard red. He waved his hand a few times at the audience, causing thick layers of ice to grow over the walls and doors, trapping everyone inside, making the temperature drop from comfortable to frigid.
In the Hotel, the computer kept track of things.
"Increasing energy detected. Atmospheric disturbance detected. Oceanic current change detected. Shin'en vital spike detected: increase in blood pressure, heartrate, and breathing. Shin'en power level increase detected."
The screen showed the changes, too. An abstract shape of Shin'en's body in a T-pose, showing his increased vitals. A live shot over the island, showing clouds coming together, swirling about. A colored image of the ocean, showing the shift in the currents, along with an image of the mounting energy in the sky.
Shin'en was angry, and the elements were reflecting it.
Back in the auction house, Madam Marcy attempted to do…something. Shin'en wasn't sure what had gone through her mind, but she twitched wrong and so he snapped her knees and elbows with his mind, making her collapse with a shriek. That was all everyone else needed. There was much more shrieking and screaming as they clambered for exits, only to find them all on the other side of several feet of ice.
Shin'en grabbed the shock collar around Bianca's neck. With an application of chakra into the mechanism, the lock came undone and the collar came off. Shin'en crushed it in his hand.
"You came," little Bianca gasped. "You came."
With a look of the utmost tenderness, Shin'en reached out and gently ruffled Bianca's hair. "I did. Now, close your eyes and cover your ears as tight as you can."
Bianca nodded, shutting her so tight her face scrunched up, and she clamped her hands hard over her ears.
The tenderness on Shin'en's face vanished as he looked back at the scrambling crowd of beasts. His eyes glowed a severe scarlet. His sword appeared in his hand, four feet long, an inch wide, tapering to a single point, the blade edge thin as a sheet of copy paper.
A haze in the air formed around him as his lips parted.
"Filthy animals, every single one of you. Not even human. All of you here deserve to die for what you've done. No one will leave this island. There will be no survivors."
His words went unheard by all except for the audience in the Feast Hall, and from there, there were no more words, only screaming. The big screen spared no details as Shin'en walked right up to the closest cluster of creatures and just started swinging.
It was like in Revenge of the Sith, when Darth Vader arrived on Mustafar to end the Separatists. The movie showed a montage of Vader's lightsaber cutting through aliens and droids left and right, an unstoppable machine of rage and fury wielding a sword of blue fire that left all with cauterized cuts. It was similar here, but with far more blood.
Shin'en's sword came down left and right, swung side to side, each motion as fluid as water and precise as a computer. People were chopped apart, no superficial cuts delivered. Each bite of Shin'en's sword left people without limbs or with a sizeable amount of body detached from the rest of them.
No one was spared, no amount of pleading or begging meant anything. Those that tried to hide under the seats were found, and those that tried to hide amongst the eviscerated piles were discovered. The ones that were up top in their private booths were not safe, as Shin'en merely used his powers over water to control the blood in their bodies and yanked them to his sword.
All the while, his eyes glowed like two red stars.
There were those that tried to fight, those who had guns or had brought knives, and even some fancier people who had swords concealed in their canes. Bullets were either deflected off Shin'en's sword, sliced apart midair, or just allowed to make contact with his body and bounce harmlessly off his clothes and skin. Those who had blades met with their predictable demise.
Then, finally, it was over.
No one was left alive save for Bianca and Madam Marcy, the other girls having been executed by a press of a button from someone else Shin'en had killed, the shock collars having done them in.
Shin'en flicked his sword so hard all the blood was thrown off the blade. Bianca heard the fluttering of his coattails nearby, and so she cracked her eyes open, but Shin'en gently put his hand over them. She got the message, and turned around at the gentle prodding of his hand on her shoulder, turning her back to the bloodbath behind her.
She opened her eyes and saw Shin'en's clean face as he kneeled in front of her, his clothes free of blood and gore as all foreign material had been removed from his person by his power. Shin'en held up his palm, and Bianca gasped in amazement when a trio of dolphins made of water appeared, bouncing and dancing around through the air.
With his other hand, Shin'en gently rubbed his thumb over a place on Bianca's arm, making her wince. The thumb revealed a purple patch of skin, a bruise, covered by body paint the same color as her olive complexion. Her whole body was covered in the paint so she could be properly displayed as undamaged goods, as a multitude of bruises covered her little body.
Courtesy of the crowbar lying nearby.
The dolphins bounded over and planted little kisses on Bianca's bruised arm. She watched, awed, as the bruise faded away. She poked herself, and made a happy sound when it didn't hurt. Then she almost frantically began rubbing all over herself, scrubbing the paint the hid the rest of her bruises. She winced with each touch, but Shin'en let her do it.
She was determined.
Soon, her body paint was all smudged and ugly, revealing the patchwork of purples and blues, and even some nasty greens and whites. It was awful to look at. The dolphins got to work, flying all over Bianca, her front side, her back side, planting their little healing kisses on her arms, torso, back, legs, and even her bottom. Soon enough, Bianca was totally bruise free.
Tears brimmed in her eyes and she threw her arms around Shin'en's neck.
"I've got something else, too," he said.
In a puff of smoke, clothes appeared in his hand. A simple pair of white briefs and a blue pajama dress. Bianca stared at the clothing, eyes wide and wet. She tenderly reached out and touched the clothes as if afraid they might vanish. When she determined they weren't going anywhere, she grabbed them and wasted no time in putting them on, stepping into the underwear, pulling them up, bringing the dress over her head and letting the skirt smooth out.
Her breathing was hard and fast she turned and twisted, looking at her clothed body. So rare it was that she wasn't naked, every part of her on display for everyone to see. To Bianca, clothes were like food to a starving person.
And then things got real.
Madam Marcy groaned suddenly, bringing Bianca's eyes straight to her.
Shin'en picked up the crowbar, and he held it out to Bianca. On reflex, she flinched when the weapon was brought within five feet of her, but she relaxed when it didn't come any closer. Shin'en's hand was open in invitation, his eyes moving once from Bianca, to the madam, and back to Bianca.
The girl got the message, and her jaw opened slightly.
So many, many memories came flying across her mind of that crowbar, what it had done to her, what it had done to her friends, in the hand of that woman. The crowbar was an instrument of terror, like "the belt" and "the switch" and "the paddle" in normal people households, only none of those were intended to break bones and even kill to get a message across. If the crowbar was ever brandished, everyone suddenly fell in line and started behaving.
And now the crowbar was Bianca's.
God was in her hands.
Bianca gently—reverently—reached for the crowbar, and when her little hands grasped it, she gasped and went rigid. Her expression changed, her posture shifted, and it looked as if she were being filled with power at the mere touch of the crowbar. She lifted it from Shin'en's hands and was able to hold it aloft over her head.
Her eyes trailed to Madam Marcy.
"No—no, please!" the woman begged. "You know I love you, Bianca! I loved all of you girls! You're my daughters! I only ever disciplined you to make you strong! I—I—I—I had to. You know, the bad men were watching me! If I didn't do it, then they would've—a lot worse than what I did! It was mercy! I promise, mercy! Mercy! Mercy-!"
Bianca had been stalking her way forward the whole time, and at that third iteration of "mercy," she was close enough now. The crowbar came up, then it came down with blistering authority. Madam Marcy jerked and coughed blood when the crowbar graced her chest. Her breasts provided little protection as her ribs cracked, splinters piercing her lungs. Bianca brought the crowbar down again and again with a fierce vengeance, the sound of cracking bone and bruising flesh the only thing heard in the whole auction house.
Eventually, Bianca worked her way up to the woman's head, striking her temple. The eye socket instantly collapsed, Marcy's eye popping out of place to dangle across her nose. Bianca struck her lower jaw, crumpling the bone, sending teeth skittering across the stage, the tongue laying limply amidst a pile of blood and twisted flesh. Bianca began beating Marcy's skull without an ounce of mercy, and before long, the woman's head was reduced to a pile of hair, gore, skin, bone fragments, and a whole lot of blood.
Bianca dropped the crowbar amongst the mess and staggered backwards. Her arms from her hands up to her elbows were splattered with blood, as was her face, and she had dirtied her new dress with spots of blood as well. Beating someone to death was not a clean event, after all.
She fell backwards, having reached a level of physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion almost unheard of. Shin'en caught her, having watched the whole thing with a silent, expressionless face. Bianca didn't even try to stay awake. She curled into his chest as he held her bridal style and was fast asleep in mere seconds.
Shin'en walked all the way through the building, the speakers playing soft jazz, and back outside. It was eerily calm for all the turmoil that had just went down. No wind, no rain, no roiling clouds, no lightning and no thunder. It was peaceful.
Bu there, in the distance, along the horizon of the night sky, was a towering mountain rapidly approaching. Yet not a mountain, but a wave. A humongous tsunami, the likes of which the earth hadn't seen in thousands of years, was bearing down on this horrible island.
The wave struck with power so great that it tore the rock of the island's foundation asunder, and pulled the island itself down into the deep, sending it plummeting to the bottom of the ocean.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Shin'en stepped out of the light of the teleporter and was almost immediately assaulted by the frantic Nico.
"Is she okay? Let me see her!"
"Get back," Shin'en growled in an exasperated manner, actually using his foot to push Nico away by pressing on his chest.
Nico staggered from the simple push, but regained his balance. The shadows at his feet began to writhe and twist as his anger mounted.
"That's my sister," he hissed.
Shin'en looked at Nico from the corner of his eye. "And?"
"And I have a right to see her!"
"You can see her from where you're standing."
Nico drew his Stygian iron sword from its sheath at his hip at that one. However, he almost dropped it when Asteria uttered a guttural hiss from a few feet away.
"Careful, boy," Shin'en warned. "I'm not going to stop her."
The tension in the Feast Hall was getting thick enough to cut as Nico stared down Shin'en with Asteria ready to pounce and rip him apart.
That was Nico's big sister, goddammit! She'd chosen rebirth, a new life, and she'd been reborn into…reborn in that…as a…a…Nico couldn't even bring himself to think it. He was so furious he could barely see straight. His blood boiled at what he'd seen, his blood boiled even harder that he hadn't had the chance to dispense his own vengeance on those human-looking things, and his blood boiled the hardest at the fact that Shin'en was barring him from going to his sister, to look over her, to hold her and cry over her.
Shin'en started walking away.
"You're an asshole, you know that?" Nico growled.
"I'm very much aware that you don't like me, yes."
"You made us watch all of that and forced us to just sit here," Nico continued, eyes almost solid black as he leaked an aura that hadn't been felt since the Giant War. Reyna and Hedge remembered this aura well, back when Nico turned a living half-blood, Bryce Lawrence, into a ghost and sent the newly made spirit straight to the Underworld.
They had a feeling that a similar event would not occur with Shin'en.
Hades was gripping his chair so tightly the material had cracked.
"Please, Nico, get to the point," Shin'en said tiredly. "I'm really losing my patience with you just recounting recently passed events."
Nico's nostrils flared and his face contorted. "My point is that if you're so heartless that you won't let me see my sister after what I just saw, then I bet you let your sister die!"
Shin'en had been walking away. Now he was frozen on the spot, his right in the process of pushing off the ground with his ball flushed and his heel raised.
Asteria's solid black body instantly turned pure white. That was her version of paling, like how it was often written the color drained from his/her face. Well, the color drained from her whole body, and that was a sure sign to everyone with eyes that what Nico had just said had essentially signed his death warrant.
What further reinforced this sentiment was how the Leviathan's arms dropped limply to his sides, his jaw going slack and his eyes going wide. Another thing was how Wheels almost fell out of his chair.
"Oh, my God…" the legless demigod breathed. "Oh, my God."
Nico heeded none of these red flags that he needed to shut up. "Yeah, Percy and Annabeth told me and the others about their talk with Asteria, about why you hate Nero so much, and I can only guess that you don't really care. How could anyone as evil as you ever actually care about anyone but himself!?"
Kraken almost lunged to catch Wheels as he actually fell out of his chair with a disbelieving wheeze. Leviathan almost fell over, and Asteria stepped back.
'Shin'en, don't do anything stupid,' she pleaded, her telepathic communication showing up on the big screen.
A long stream of air left Shin'en's nose. He turned around, still holding Bianca in his arms. His eyes glowed a soft red as he looked down his nose at Nico. His expression was unreadable.
The tension grew even thicker as everyone was clued into the fact that Nico had royally fucked up in ways unimaginable. Of course, the news that Shin'en had a sister was shocking and mindboggling to everyone, and the mention of hating Nero raised several questions, and the suspected answers were not good. Percy and Annabeth had winced when Nico opened his big mouth and mentioned them and their sharing of their conversation with Asteria regarding Shin'en.
Now that he was on the receiving end of that cold, mechanical gaze, Nico realized that he may of spoke way out of line.
Then Shin'en said in a very flat monotone that betrayed nothing about his volcanic fury and how it was a hair's breadth away from erupting.
"You're a very sad and pathetic individual, if you don't me saying so, Nico. What is it about you that drives every sister you've ever had away, I wonder. I mean, Hazel's only ever a shadow travel away. Surely, at some point, being the praetor, she could've found the time to squeeze in for at least lunch, but no. The whole past year it's been nothing but Frank and the legion."
Hazel shrank in on herself as the truth of that statement cut her deep.
"Then there's Reyna," Shin'en continued flatly. "The second person to know about your little situation after Jason. What an outstanding young woman she was, abstaining from judgement, even going so far as to give you a hug in front of both the camps. What was it she said? Ah, yes, I remember: We had one home. Now we have two. Since home is where the heart is, I don't think she was speaking literally about the camps. I also don't think Reyna was ever actually told about Bianca, because if she was, then her actions are doubly a betrayal, wouldn't you say?
"Like Hazel, Reyna up and abandoned you too. Abandoned you for the Hunters of Artemis, a life of immortality, free of responsibility; getting to frolic through the trees chasing after foxes while young girls elsewhere in the world are exploited, trafficked, raped, abused, and left for dead once they become too loose. It warms my heart knowing that such an elite team of warriors has their priorities appropriately aligned."
In her seat, like Hazel, Reyna folded in on herself, while around her, her silver-clad sisters, all cringed and winced. Artemis was decidedly pale.
"And this one," Shin'en said, indicating the sleeping underage rape victim in his arms. "She is, without a doubt, the worst of your three sisters. She was with you since you were born, a second mother in many respects. However, I can't help but wonder if she actually ever loved you—I can't help but wonder if the di Angelo siblings ever had love for each other at all."
"N-No…" Nico stuttered.
All of his angry bravado was gone. Shin'en had routed the assault and was chewing through the defenses at his leisure, flaying Nico alive. The son of Hades had pissed Shin'en off, and this is what Shin'en did when he was pissed off. If he was just downright angry, he annihilated you with action. If you pissed him off, he destroyed you with words.
"The big sister dumps her little brother like an unwanted puppy the first chance she gets, leaving him for the Hunters of Artemis, the promise a life explicitly without him. And then, after she dies, where she could've been with her brother for eternity by their father's side, she instead chooses to once again abandon her brother, choosing rebirth, choosing an entirely separate life where she isn't even related to her brother at all anymore.
"Then there's the brother himself. After losing his first sister, he literally goes out and replaces her with another. But a little sister isn't the same as a big one, is it? And so, after a series of events, the little brother integrates a new big sister, and wouldn't you know it: she leaves him to for the exact same group. I guess it's only a countdown at this point before Reyna touches something in Hephaestus's junkyard and triggers another Talos prototype. Tell, do you think she'll come with some brilliant way to defeat the automaton, or will she go straight for the maintenance hatch just like Bianca? I think she will. I think she'll even choose rebirth, too."
Nico was the color of milk. His body was going haywire, his form flickering, the shadows twisting around him. Fears and phobias he was only somewhat aware of were now choking the life out of him. Insecurities and vulnerabilities were exposed and exploited. And Shin'en wasn't even done yet.
"Hazel sidelined you for Frank, considering her boyfriend more of priority than the brother that saved her from an eternity of wandering through Asphodel. Reyna abandoned you almost in the same way Bianca did—I doubt you were even a thought in her mind when she took the oath and became immortal, which is all we need to figure out just how much Reyna actually did love you. And finally, Bianca. Your own big sister didn't want you and cut you from her, in life and in death. And you, going from girl to girl like a lost puppy. So I'll ask it again, Nico: just what is it about you that drives girls from you?"
Shin'en's eyes glowed scarlet. "I think I know…"
"P-Please…no…" Nico begged. "Not here…"
Not in front of all these people.
But there was no mercy from the abyss.
"I think that they were all disgusted with your sexuality. Bianca couldn't stand to look at you, knowing how much you wanted other boys to come around and give you kisses. Hazel distanced herself because she knew ho bad you were for her image. She, the praetor, leader of the legion, has a submissive bottom-bitch for a big brother. And then Reyna. I suppose she was all talk, after all, or maybe there some subconscious revulsion that finally manifested in her choice to leave you too.
"Tell me, Nico: how many millions of Will Solace's children have been digested in your stomach? How many millions more have resided just inside of your colon, mixing with your feces, awaiting the toilet the next time you went to defecate? Face it, Nico: you're a disgusting disgrace, an embarrassment, a burden. It's only a matter of time before you're just a bad memory to everyone that knows you. Reyna will live on far beyond you, Hazel's already outshining you, it's only a matter of time until Will leaves you too, and when you die, I suppose Hades will have some form of sympathy and make you the…janitor…of his palace. For sentimental reasons."
Nico's mouth opened and closed like a fish. He couldn't speak. He couldn't form words. He couldn't so much as think to do anything besides sit there, paralyzed, and just hope this was a nightmare that he was soon to wake from.
"However, your reaction to all of this is surprising to me, Nico," Shin'en said, his tone changing slightly to patronizing. "You knew Bianca chose rebirth, and yet you never looked for her. It never crossed your mind to go look for your sister, see how she was doing in her new life, did it? You never thought to check up on her, see if she was living a good life, or see if she needed to be rescued. And you know why you didn't look for Bianca? You didn't want to. You don't care anymore for Bianca than she did for you during her first life. In fact, I don't think it's a stretch to say you wanted this for her."
Nico let out a pitiful squeak of protest.
"Oh, yes you did, boy. Don't deny it. Grudges are your thing, are they not? You wished for Bianca to suffer. You wanted her to feel pain and agony. You desired for her next life to one of torment. And it all came true. This life Bianca has now, what she went through, all the broken bones, all the sleepless nights in rooms reeking of her own waste, all the days she went starving, and all the objects jammed inside of her…all you, Nico. Your power influenced her rebirth, your emotions dictated her new life, and so…"
Shin'en delivered the final nail to the coffin with five words.
"This is all your fault."
Nico screamed and dropped into his own shadow.
Then all Hell broke loose in the Feast Hall.
Hades roared and finally came to the defense of his son. He shot from his seat, a sword of black metal in hand, and he was knocked way off course, by the Leviathan's fist as it collided with his jaw. Hades crashed into the ground so hard he was left in a crater, the Feast Hall shaking from the impact.
Asteria let out a bestial bellow wither signature screeching undertone, her jaw unhinging to drop far lower than any human mouth. Anyone that had stood up, like Will, Reyna, Hazel, Percy and others, all sat back down. Asteria closed her mouth but her lips remained parted, trembling in a snarl as saliva dripped down her chin. Her tail was pointed over her head ad she stood slightly bent forward, claws splayed out before her, ready to attack anyone stupid enough to dare.
Hades got back to his feet, a nasty bruise on the side of his face, ichor leaking from the corner of his mouth.
"Know your place with the rest of them, Hades," Leviathan said. "Take your seat."
"You expect me to let this attack on my son go unanswered?"
"Your son—and I use that term loosely—opened his mouth first. Now, you can try and fight us, in which case we will beat you almost to the point that you will fade, or you can go do something productive, like find Nico, or build a better mousetrap."
Hades growled, "This is not over." Like his son before him, the god of the Underworld dropped into his own shadow as he searched for Nico.
Shin'en turned his red eyes to the audience. He raised his voice, maintaining his chilly baritone.
"Would anyone else like to be heard?"
He'd hit a lot of people during his scathing roast of Nico, including the whole Hunt and their goddess. Yet no one dared to open their mouth after that display. No Greeks, no Romans, no Norse, no Egyptians, and nothing else that was left had any amount of bravery to say anything after that display.
Seeing that no one was going to further challenge him, Shin'en took his leave, the sleeping Bianca still in his arms.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
And that's that.
I've had this chapter running in my mind for a long time. The concept of Bianca's new life after rebirth has always been something I was going to play with in this story, and Nico opening his mouth to Shin'en was just the icing on the cake.
This chapter also ties back to Chapter 2, in which Shin'en grills all the heroes on their collective failure, but now it's Nico-exclusive. But don't think it's just Nico. Shin'en tore into Reyna and the rest of the Hunters as well, and Hazel was brought it in just because Shin'en was pissed and was unloading everything he could think to use.
Now, food for thought: Bianca chose rebirth and this is what she got. Luke also chose rebirth…what do you think he got?
A question to be answered a long time from now, because, as I said, this story is coming down. I needed to get this chapter out, and now that I have, I can start getting things lined up for the revamp. I still need to finish Sea Devil, and it's been since March when I last updated AC:T. It'll be a year if I'm not careful.
Now, exactly when will this come down? Probably when I next update either Promised Year or Voidwalker. Whenever that is.
In the meantime, Fav, Follow, Review, and be looking forward to the better version of this story due to arrive sometime in the future!