Reader discresion advised.
Chapter 4: A hero's return.
The demigods fought valiantly the army of monsters that threatened camp. The army of monsters wasn't anything to be worried about. Many of the campers had fought bigger armies than this, and were taking on two or three monsters at once, while Annabeth, the rest of the Seven, Jacob and Sebastian were taking on five or six monsters at the same time.
Chiron and some of the Apollo campers were taking the younger campers to the big house, preparing them to send them through the portal to Camp Jupiter in case things went south. Nico was already there, preparing the potential arrival of the campers.
Annabeth fought the two Dracaena that were left in the small group that she had tackled. She ducked under the claws of one Dracaena and stabbed the back of the other, turning her into golden dust. The last Dracaena left yelled in rage, as she tackled Annabeth, who ducked and twisted her body to stab under the Armor of the beast. It turned into golden dust in a second.
"Annabeth, you alright?" asked Sebastian, who ran up to his girlfriend and gave her a hug.
"Sebastian, I'm fine. Better than you apparently." She looked at him up to down, he had some scratches and blood trickled down some cuts.
"I'm alright, I don't think that the monsters is what we need to worry about." Sebastian said, nodding towards the Hooded figure mounted on the large hellhound.
"We will take care of the leader! The rest of you are on clean-up duty!" Thalia said, as she came up with Jacob and the rest of the seven, who lined up in front of the hooded figure in a protective way.
The hooded creature looked at them through those bright red eyes that sparked fear in the demigods.
"So, the mightiest heroes here, all in front of me." The voice, that was feminine, spoke from behind the hood.
"Are you the one killing gods?" Jacob asked.
"You think you are worthy enough for him to come directly to you?" The girl said, "HAHA! Honestly, you truly are like he said…a bunch of egoistical kids."
"Enough talking, you will talk more once we capture you." Thalia said.
The hooded figure took of his hood, she was a beautiful girl. She had smooth skin as white as snow, bright red hair that flowed in the wind like fire, but her eyes scared the demigods to the core. She had mascara around her eyes, that were the colour of blood. A deep crimson colour.
"You? Capture me?" Said the girl. "No, I came here to look for two people, but apparently they are not here, so there is nothing for me to do here. What a pity."
"You will not leave here." Annabeth said. "Guys, you know what to do." The group nodded.
Jason, Jacob and Annabeth jumped forward, while Thalia, Frank and Sebastian stood in the back and drew bows. Leo and Hazel stood in the centre, Leo burst into flames and directed a line of flames to surround the group, completely isolating the girl, and Hazel created copies of the demigods with the mist that confused the girl.
A young camper that was sent to tell the group that they were all safe stopped walking and looked in awe at the group of demigods.
Annabeth, Jacob and Jason attacked simultaneously as the girl jumped off her hellhound. Annabeth and Jacob used the great dog to impulse themselves in the air again, while Jason cut directly through it with a twisting motion.
The girl looked like she was going to attack, but three arrows were directed to her. She was forced to dodged, and barely dodged the third arrow as it scraped her calf. She took out two swords from beneath her cloak and blocked the swords of Annabeth and Jacob. Jacob was about to attack, so the girl twisted in an elegant fashion and stabbed Jason directly through the chest in a moment of speed. Her triumph turned to confusion as Jason disintegrated into golden dust, and she spun around as the real Jason attacked her, forcing her to block with both swords. During that block, Annabeth and Jacob cut through the Armor of the girl, cutting her legs and forcing her to fall to her knees. Three arrows shot from behind Leo and Hazel with strings and struck directly next to the girl, forcing her to the ground as she was held down by the strings.
The young kid looked in awe at the display of skill. No words were exchanged between the demigods, as only working together for so many years they could achieve such level of understanding between each other.
'They are amazing' the kid thought. 'They don't need words to attack, they are in synchrony with each other…I…I want to be like that.'
The kid remembered his mission.
"H-hey!" The kid yelled. Annabeth turned and saw the kid.
She missed the smirk that came from the girl as she turned.
Annabeth was going to ask the young kid, not older than 9 if everyone was okay, but her triumph over the girl turned to terror as a creature jumped from the forest and bit the head of the kid in one large bite.
Annabeth screamed as the headless body of the young kid fell onto the grass, tainting it with crimson blood.
The demigods turned and saw a whitened creature, with terrible claws and bloodied lips. Long arms and a furry humanoid body stood there, looking at them through terrible, terrible blood red eyes. It's horns sprouting from his head made him seem like the reincarnation of the devil itself.
"W-what the fuck is that?" Asked Thalia.
"My child" said the girl. The demigods turned back to see a knocked out Hazel being held by the neck by the girl, and her foot over a fallen Leo who struggled to get up.
"H-how did you get free?" Asked Annabeth.
"You are an incredible talented lot, honestly, you caught me by surprise. But sadly, when faced with true powers, there is nothing you can do." The girl said. She dropped Hazel like a sack of potatoes. Frank shot an arrow to the girl, who caught it in mid air and spun it. She threw it back at Frank with such strength that he did not see it move as it struck his hand, passing through the muscle and rendering him completely useless for the rest of his fight.
Frank yelled, and Sebastian was about to help him, when a thin string caught him by the neck. With effort he turned and saw that Thalia, Jason and Jacob were also had strings around their necks, not letting them move.
"One move, and I choke your friends to death." The girl said.
"Annabeth, kill her." Said Thalia.
"SHH!" The girl said, tightening the hold on Thalia's neck.
"Now, all of you are going to watch how the daughter of Athena is eaten alive by my child. This is the price of failure." She said. "Wendigo!"
The horned creature slowly walked towards Annabeth, and a primal fear gripped her soul, paralyzing her. She looked at Sebastian who was looking at her with wide and tear-filled fearful eyes.
"There is a way to save yourself though." Said the girl, and the creature stopped. Annabeth could feel the heat of its body and smell his breath that smelled like fresh blood and death.
"Where is Perseus Jackson." The girl asked in a deep and hateful voice.
"W-what?" Annabeth asked.
"Come on, little Owl. I know you know where he is…I will repeat okay? Where. Is. Perseus. JACKSON!" She yelled, causing the horned creature to growl.
'I could save myself and tell her where he is…after all he left.' She thought, 'but could I really do that? He hasn't fought in years…they would rip him apart…no…I betrayed him, It is my fault he left…this is my punishment.
"I don't know." She said fiercely, causing the other demigods to widen their eyes.
"One more chance." The girl said. "WHERE IS PERSEUS JACKSON!"
"I DON'T KNOW!" Yelled Annabeth.
"Fine." The girl said. "Goodbye, Annabeth Chase."
"Annabeth!" Sebastian yelled, as the creature prepared it's claws and tears ran down Annabeth's face. "ANNABETH!"
'Goodbye, Sebastian…Goodbye Thalia…mom…dad…goodbye Percy'
Just as the creature jumped, a black blue trident impaled itself on the creature, sending it across the forest and impaling it into a tree.
"Now, now, Maria." Said a voice. "There is no need to kill the poor girl."
"My, my, this is a surprise." Said the girl, now baptized Maria.
"How long has it been? A few months?" The voice spoke. The demigods turned and saw a tall man, long black hair and sea blue eyes.
"Well, now that you're here, there is no need for these kids to be alive isn't it? She said as she began to tighten the hold on their necks. Five pitch black arrows shot through the field and cut the strings of the captured demigods. The green grass under the arrows turned dark, as if the life had been sucked out of the plants.
"So, Simon is here too?" Maria said.
"He wanted to say hi." Percy said.
Maria smiled, in a matter of seconds she had whipped out twin blades and jumped towards Percy. He opened his hand and his sea blue trident flew into his hand, and with one swift motion, blocked one of the blades with the handle, and captured the other blade between the spikes of the trident. He twisted his weapon and snapped one of the twin blades, much to the surprise of Maria. He kicked her with such force that she flew across the field. He senses something behind him, and without even moving, he drove his trident backwards, impaling the Wendigo directly in the chest with the butt of his trident.
"Simon." Percy said. And a pitch-black arrow flew through the trees, hitting the Wendigo directly between the eyes. The wendigo's skin slowly began to shrink and turn grey. Its blood red eyes turned dull, and slowly the life was sucked away from the beast.
Percy dropped the corpse of the powerful beast without batting an eye and kept his gaze on the now very angry Maria.
She jumped again, but this time something was different. The air around the demigods began to change and turn cold.
"Ah, so we're going all out, aren't we, Ice Princess?" Percy said as he blocked her strike with the trident. "How does the power of Khione suit you?"
Annabeth, who was gathered with all the other demigods, gasped at that.
'So, another minor god is gone…' she thought.
"It is a nice power…but honestly, the power of the son of Poseidon and her chosen sounds much more…tasty…" Said Maria.
"That won't happen. Simon." Percy said.
A shadow fell from one of the trees and attacked the girl. She blocked with her sword, and here eyes widened, realizing her mistake.
Percy used the spikes of his trident and grabbed her by her cloak. He spun her over his head with ease and threw her across the field. Simon jumped from where he was and with pitch black hunting knifes attacked Maria.
Percy walked to Annabeth and the rest of the demigods.
"You have done enough. Let me and Simon handle this." Percy said, and walked towards the fight.
"P-percy?" asked Piper.
"Yes, Piper?" Percy asked, without turning.
"W-what happened to you?" She asked.
There was a moment of silence, where only metal against metal could be heard.
"Piper, fatal flaws are powerful. Once a fatal flaw comes out, it is indeed, fatal." Percy said. And jumped into battle.
Maria was about to strike Simon, who saw Percy on the corner of his eyes and spun out of her reach. She hit grass and spun as Percy was about to impale her with his trident. She blocked it but yelled in pain as the black knifes cut through the flesh in her legs. Slowly, the flesh around the wound began to turn black. She tried to jump but the pain in her leg made it impossible.
Her eyes glowed, and the air around her froze. Ice and snow began to form around her, and she threw a powerful wave of cold snow at Percy.
The other demigods, upon seeing this, tried to help Percy, as the power coming from the girl was immense.
"We need to help him!" said Jacob, his half-brother.
"Yes, Jason! We need to—" They were cut off upon seeing Percy not even flinch at the power of the girl.
He lifted his trident, and a wave of water began to run towards him from the shores of long beach. As the snow was about to his, Percy held his trident like a spear and threw it. It cut through the ice, water and ocean surrounding it. Pushing back the godlike power of the girl and hitting her directly in the chest. She flew towards Camp, and was impaled in a tree that marked the beginning of the forest.
Chiron, upon seeing this, jumped in surprise as he was calming down the younger campers.
"W-what?" The old centaur said. He saw Annabeth and her group, all six demigods supporting each other and bringing an unconscious Leo and Hazel with them. Behind them, two figures followed.
"Annabeth!" The centaur said. "What is happ—" His words died in his throat as a knife was pressed upon his neck.
"D-don't move!" Maria said, blood coming out of all her wounds, barely able to stand, but the sheer energy emanating from her was enough to leave the centaur and the younger campers paralyzed.
"Chiron!" Annabeth said.
"DON'T MOVE!" Maria yelled, drawing blood from the old centaur.
The other two figures came into view. One of them was a young man with long black hair tied in a man bun and seas green eye. He wore a long blue coat over a white shirt and sea green camo pants and black combat boots. He seemed oddly familiar to Chiron. The other young man was a complete stranger to Chiron. He wore a completely black long coat over a black shirt. Also black jeans and black combat boots.
"Come on Maria. We can do this the hard way or the easy way. Let the centaur go, and give up." The green eyed man said.
"N-never!" said Maria. "He will win!"
The dark-haired man sighed. Very well. He eyes the black clothed boy, and an unspoken agreement.
In three seconds, the man dressed in black had whipped out two hooks from his robes and threw them at her hands. She yelped in pain as the hooks went through the skin. The green-eyed man then took opened his hand and a trident flew towards it. He placed it on the ground and the dark haired man tied the strings attached to the hooks to it. Making the girl a prisoner, hands to the side and kneeling on the floor.
The girl struggled, but to no avail.
"damn you…" she said, defeated.
Percy walked towards the statue of the demigods, some younger campers tried to stop him, but found that they couldn't.
"W-what?" Asked Chiron. The seven, Jacob and Sebastian were waiting expectantly.
"Tell me, Maria. Where is Anton?" The dark-haired person said.
"I will tell you nothing." The girl said.
"I disagree with that. Sadly, by the end of the day, you would have spilled everything, and the power of Khione will be taken from you. A pity that you don't know how to use it, you could've had the advantage have you not been so impatient."
He stood in front of the bronze sword that was impaled in the statute.
"Weapons like yours harm me, but not enough to break me. You should know that more than anyone." Said Maria.
"Our night in Budapest was a one time thing, dear friend. After he corrupted you…well…nothing could be done." The dark haired man grabbed the sword.
"And what are you going to do about it? Impale me with your trident until I break?" Maria mocked.
"No…I know that the only type of metal that can hurt you is Celestial Bronze. So I am going to use Celestial bronze…forgive me, Maria." With mighty strength, the boy pulled on the sword, and slowly, sensing it's master, it began to move.
The campers were in awe, and Chiron's eyes widened.
"Perseus?" he called, as the sword came free.
A wave of power emanated from the demigod, thunder boomed in the sky and the earth shook.
"Now…" Percy said, "What the fuck has happened here?"