Thermopylae, The Hot Gates, No Man's Land
Percy struggled to his feet. His eyes fell first to the dark-haired girl. She was not moving and she was much closer to the Romans than he was. He released a pulse of power and the ground shook, again knocking Romans and Greeks alike to their knees. Then his eyes fell to the blond-haired man, her "younger" brother. His chest was moving slightly. Percy limped his way over to the Imperator of Rome. The legions were approaching. Percy stood over Jason Grace, his sword was at his throat. The man Jason was looking up at looked different than the last time he had seen him. No longer was Percy Jackson teenager with an easy smile and jokes. This Percy was nearly identical to his father and possessed a hard quality that he did not recognize. Scars and blood covered him.
"Call off your legions, Jason."
"My legions," Jason whispered. He stood and saw the approaching soldiers and his sister laying on the ground. "Thalia!" he shouted and took off. Percy waved a hand and he stopped moving. "Percy, what the fuck are you doing!?" Percy's face is far too calm. Jason knew what he was doing. "Why the fuck are controlling my blood?"
"To make sure you are truly Jason and not the eidolon who has been burning the world on behalf of a titan. To make sure you're not the version of you that tortured information out of Reyna, Michael, and Gwen. That tortured my daughter. That led us to his war." He stopped and looked at the approaching Romans. "Halt your troops. Let us talk." He released Jason and the Son of Jupiter collapsed. He raised a hand toward the approaching legions. In as loud a voice as he could he called out to the legions.
"Restiterunt! Habe in loco!" They heard the command echo down the Roman line and short order the Romans were holding their position. Percy moved to Thalia. His movements were slow and Jason could not tell what blood coating him was his own and what belonged to the Romans dead across the field. He knelt next to Thalia and Jason watched the manner in which he gently spoke to his sister. Together the two walked toward him.
"Is it him?" whispered Thalia. Percy did not answer at first. The plan by which to force the eidolon from Jason's body had forced his daughter to watch her brother die and then shock his heart back into action. Percy had kept the blood moving, but he needed the lightning to restart the heart. It appeared to have worked. While they had succeeded in resuscitating him, they could not tell if they had beaten the eidolon.
"I want to think it is. But I don't know." Thalia nodded against his chest. They had closed with Jason again.
"I see flashes of what he did as me. Death, destruction," at the word Percy felt the voice murmuring in the back of his mind, "torture. Why didn't I fight back?" The look on Jason's face was one of pain. Percy decided to determine whether it was Jason or not in a single motion. He drew his dagger and grabbed Jason's hand. He placed the dagger along his own throat and looked into Jason's blue eyes.
"I'll tell you. But here is your chance, if you're still in there." Thalia recoiled at his decision; Jason looked at him panicked.
"What the Hades are you doing, patér?" Hissed Thalia, "Enyo's blessing doesn't help if your throat is cut."
Jason dropped the knife. "Patér?"
"You've missed some things."
"So it seems." His eyes dropped to the ground. "Percy, why did I do the things I see?"
"They captured Piper, they did horrible things to her, the eidolon did terrible things as her, and made you watch. You willingly accepted the eidolon to save her."
"Did they…" his voice trailed off and Percy could hear sadness.
"About the only thing they didn't do to her was kill her." That seemed to answer his question in more ways than he wanted.
"Is she?" Percy nodded, "And the ones I hurt myself?'
"Also here."
"I'm a monster, Percy." He whispered and Thalia caught him as he dropped to his knees. Sobs were racking his body and Thalia held him tight. Percy wanted to, but in his mind he could only see his beaten and scarred daughter. Do not trust one of his soldiers to try for glory, Enyo's voice said in his mind. His eyes darted toward them as Jason was comforted by his sister. Movement in the Greek lines captured his attention. Reyna and Piper had forced their way to the front. They were standing motionless looking at the two crying siblings and the stoic King of Greece standing over them. They had taken four steps forward when a voice echoed down from the high ground. It spoke in Greek. The Romans looked towards it but could not understand what it said.
"YOU HAVE FAILED US FOR THE LAST TIME! WE FINISH THIS OURSELVES!" The ground trembled. Eyes and faces turned to the Son of the Earthshaker, but he shook his head. This tremor was different, the earth feels different, thought Percy. It's more measured, cadenced. The first of the reasons came into view as twenty feet of humanoid appeared up the ridge from the two armies. The Laestrygonian giant gave a bellow and thousands upon thousands of monsters began appearing from the shadows of the high ground. On a plateau four Titans appeared. Iapetus, Krios, and Atlas were the most dangerous, as Prometheus was more than willing to slink away without a fight. Percy wanted to know what the mortals in both armies saw. Behind him he heard Hazel yelling something he could not understand.
Annabeth had turned to Hazel within seconds of the giant appearing. "Can you lift the mist?"
"Lift the mist?" Annabeth nodded wide eyed.
"In this area, otherwise the soldiers are not going to know what is happening."
"I can," Hazel said confidently, "But I can do nothing else while I do that. Someone will have to be dedicated to protecting me."
"I've got it," Frank, Hazel, and Gwen said together. Percy and Annabeth's daughters closed ranks around her as well. She raised her hands and began to chant the words. She had found books of magic in Rome before marching to Illyria and had been studying them ever sense. Her confidence was justified as panicked cries rose from both armies as the saw the horde of monsters glaring at them from the high ground. On the plateau, Iapetus raised his spear and the horde began moving toward them.
A sense of shock seemed to have settled over the two armies. Even the demigods and legacies within the rank and file were stunned by the volume of monsters moving towards them. They were also exhausted, Percy realized, Hell, I'm exhausted. They had been fighting for who knew how many hours now. The monsters were nearing the soldiers, arrows were in the air, yet the shock of seeing the creatures had yet to wear off of the men and women about to die. He looked to Jason and knew that the remorse on his face meant he was seeing every misdeed done by his body under control of the eidolon.
"Formae quadratae legionibus! Repellere monsturum! Ad deum!" Purely by the commanding tone of his voice was Percy able to break the stupor amongst the Roman lines. The command began to be repeated throughout the army. They began to form squares. Jason stood. He pressed his first across his chest and extended his hand.
"They caused this. We finish them, then I will pay for my sins." Percy took his hand and nodded, even has he turned and saw a similar stupor amongst his Greek troops. Only a single contingent of hoplites were wheeling to face the new threat. Clarisse and her Spartans.
"Ellines schimatízontai páno mou!" He stared directly at Clarisse and her body language showed she already knew. "Oi Spartiátes mas agorázoun chrono!" It was an order that gave them what Spartans desired most. Ómorfos thánatos. Beautiful death. While the rest of Greeks withdrew in order to form their battleline on Percy, the Spartans would fight. With a final battle cry of Cháros, the Spartans actually broke their formation and attacked the approaching monsters in teams of four or five. They supported each other but not as directly as in a phalanx. Dory were thrown and kopis became the instrument of death. Demigods and mortals alike hurled themselves into the monster hoard. They understood their orders, "Spartans, buy us time."
Thousands of other Greeks had responded to his commands and broken ranks in order to form on Percy. City loyalty meant nothing anymore. It was humanity against monsters. Behind him he heard a woman's voice crying orders. He turned to see a woman in hoplite armor with the owl of Athens on her shield. Lydia, last descendant of Demosthenes, wore her father's armor. A Spartan courier had delivered it to her. She nodded to her king and around her a contingent of hoplites lowered their spears and braced. Down the line thousands of dory were set and began the death chant.
A red glow surrounded Clarisse la Rue. Her spear dissolved a dracenae as she pummeled a telkhine with her aspis. Red cloaks lay upon the ground. She had marched from Sparta with six thousand, around her she doubted half of them remained between the Romans and the monsters. She killed another telkhine before an arrow crashed into her shoulder. She ripped it out and smashed the skull of an empousa. We will fucking hold. Her spear was ripped form her hand after she lodged it in the thigh of a giant. She drew her kopis and rent open another monster.
"Spartiátes, o chrónos einai dikós sas." Spartans, time is yours, she thought. What fucking Spartans? She ordered the withdrawal; Spartans did not retreat. As the Spartans fell back she felt another arrow strike her back. She kept running. She reached the Greek line and like her soldiers she fell in rank at the far left of the line. As her pride demanded, she was the farthest left hoplite. A young soldier passed her a spear as he looked at her with wide eyes. Two arrows protruded from her back, she had removed the one from her shoulder. A dozen wounds were not even acknowledged.
"Who are you?" he asked in awe. Clarisse closed her eyes in pain and then responded.
"I am Clarisse, Daughter of Ares, I am Spartan." The monsters were already assaulting the Roman lines. The horde, a score of giants at their lead, adjusted their focus on the Greek line. She heard the command to push forward. Around her the Spartans bellowed their death chant. Clarisse watched Percy concentrate on the mountains and a distant rumble revealed the landslide he had caused. Hundreds, thousands of monsters were marching forward. On their hill Iapetus, Atlas, Krios, and Prometheus waited. In between the Greeks and Romans the Daughters of Perseus, their Roman friends, and the Amazons protected Hazel Zhang as her spell allowed the mortals to see their adversaries. The monsters crashed into their lines.
With a groan both sides slowed to stalemate. Rear ranks on both sides applied pressure to their comrades ahead. The giants were wreaking havoc. She watched an Athenian, female by the look of it, accept fate and thrust her spear into the underside of a giant's jaw. She killed the beast, but Clarisse witnessed earthborn tear her apart. Percy extended his hand and with a tug the earthborn crumbled as he pulled all water from them. My sister, she thought, Enyo found the perfect champion.
Grace's legions were fighting hard. Two appeared near their demise with a cohort of cyclopes smashing their shrinking squares. The titans watched from the hills even as Percy sent another earthquake toward them. Again they flashed to another hill. Near Prissy's position three pegasi landed. Percy climbed onto one, Annabeth and Zoë onto another even as Percy yelled at his daughter. Jason and Nico hopped on the third. They winged their way toward the titans and their attendants. About time you ended this, she thought. Fatigue was setting in; it would be setting in everywhere. They had been fighting for hours at this point. If he doesn't end this they'll kill us all by exhaustion alone.
Thermopylae, The Hot Gates, Bird's Eye View
Annabeth looked down upon the plain below them. Stretched for nearly a mile and a half the remnants of thirty thousand Greeks formed a battle line against monsters. At their flank were the survivors of seven Roman legions. The two forces had battled each other and inflicted terrible casualties. Now they stood side by side against a horde of monsters. She could not enumerate the dead, but the number of bodies laying in the Thermopylae plain was beyond her comprehension. She had seen the wars America had fought in the news; she had lived through two wars between mythological forces. But this was something different. Before them was the cause of it all. Iapetus, apparently more cunning than the Crooked One, had crafted the war between Rome and Greece. There was no doubt that the war would have happened anyway, history told that it would. But he had expedited it and, quite possibly, escalated it numbers that would not have been seen before. In a way it was Percy too, he united Greece unlike anyone ever had. Alexander led "Greece" but he took it by conquest. Percy was able to just make it happen because of who he is.
The titans saw their advance and separated. Percy pointed to Krios. "Jason!" he shouted. The Son of Jupiter leapt from the Pegasus and used the air currents to follow the Titan of the South in his ram's helmet. Nico banked toward Prometheus. Percy, Annabeth, and Zoë continued toward Atlas and his father. Percy watched Jason dodge a blast of fire from Krios. Forward, said the voice, Percy jerked to th side and watched a boulder, thrown by Atlas, fly past. Percy extended his hand and the ground near his enemies shook violently. He felt the energy in his body decrease. He had been fighting for hours.
They leapt off of the pegasi before they landed. He wanted to be angry at the others for letting Zoë come. But he had seen her fight and knew her presence would focus him. Atlas smiled at them murderously. Percy had fought him before and only won through trickery. There was no Lethe to drop on Iapetus, who stood back and watched as a blonde demigod revealed himself. Annabeth stared at him, her mouth agape. She did not want to believe it despite Nico's assertation of his involvement. Her mouth slowly closed and as it did her jaw was set.
Percy knew she wanted to fight Luke, but even as he thought the thought, Atlas lunged forward. His javelin thrust separated them more. Annabeth and Zoë rolled in opposite direction. Luke was advancing on Percy. Iapetus watched. Luke attempted a sword strike, Percy appeared to move effortlessly, and the blade cut through air. Annabeth and Zoë were using speed against Atlas, but Percy new even Artemis had struggled against him. The Titan was taunting them, threatening acts of physical and sexual violence. End him, the voice said. Far away he saw lightning flash and knew Jason had engaged Krios. Nico had surely starting fighting Prometheus. Luke had clearly noted Percy's increased ability with a sword and sheathed his, recovering a spear and a shield. He reattacked, vengeance in his eyes.
Nico was before Prometheus, Stygian iron sword in hand. However, he had yet to use it. Prometheus was curled on the ground. He begged for it to end. Instead, Nico summoned another round of ghosts, more people killed because of Prometheus' meddling. The ghosts crowded the titan and with the dead his gift of foresight instead showed how each had died because of him. The shimmering likeness of Hunter appeared, ghostly arrow protruding from her shoulder. She attacked the titan with spectral blades, though Nico was not sure how Prometheus was to blame.
Hills Overlooking Thermopylae
Percy's face spun as he heard a bone crunching thud. His daughter had been slammed against a large boulder. Atlas leered at her and a lecherous look came over his face. Annabeth limped in between them. Front, the voice warned. Percy's shield intercepted the spear thrust and he used Riptide to break it. Luke glared at him while Iapetus watched with interest from his perch. Percy's arm swept out and his aspis spun the through the air before striking Atlas in the temple. Annabeth lunged forward with her sword and knife. Left, Percy swung Riptide and parried Luke's blade.
"You and I again, Percy." Blood, use his blood, said Enyo's voice. Percy pirouetted and brought down his sword in a two handed blow. The swords met with a loud clang. Knife underhand, Percy lifted a knee and the dagger strike sparked off of his greaves. Percy punched and he felt his knuckles connect with Luke's ribs. In his breathlessness Luke allowed his dagger strike to carry too far on momentum. Percy assisted the motion and the dagger plunged into Luke's thigh. Destroy the enemy of the gods, Enyo's voice roared. Luke's blue eyes rotated to the eyes of the boy he had trained to fight. The green in them no longer matched the world's seas like he remembered, now they burned like Greek fire.
Luke attempted to back away as he swung his sword. Percy rolled under the blade and gripped the knife protruding from the Son of Hermes thigh. An arc of blood sprayed as the femoral artery was severed. Castellan screamed as Percy ripped on the knife and blood coated him. Luke lay on the ground and looked up at the King of Greece. He was a warrior King, the bloody sword and blood splattered armor confirmed it.
A distance away Atlas roared in agony. Percy turned. "Nothing for me, Percy?" Percy turned back to Luke. Blood pulsed from his leg.
"You have less than thirty seconds to live, what is there to say?"
"You've changed."
"Yes," Percy began to move toward Atlas, who was bleeding gold. Annabeth's dagger was lodged in his left eye. Annabeth was moving more slowly, blood running down her leg. Zoë had regained her feet. She was attempting to draw back her bow. Atlas tripped Annabeth with his javelin. A dory was the ground next to Percy. Behind you, he ignored the voice. Using his foot he flicked the spear to his hand. Behind you! Still he ignored the voice. His arm flew forward as Atlas raised his spear for the death blow. Percy's spear struck in the neck. As he staggered back Zoë's arrow struck his good eye.
Annabeth rose and swung her sword. The Celestial bronze carved through the front of Atlas's throat. She kept swinging with a rage and after three blows the titan's head fell to the ground. BEHIND YOU, only now, his wife and daughter safe, Percy spun. His mouth fell open in a gasp as Iapetus laughed. Annabeth and Zoë turned to see Percy standing before the titan. His eyes were focused on the Piercer's spear was thrust into his abdomen.