A/N. Reviews!
"Hey question, is Nico still gonna have a crush on Percy? I still kinda want that to happen lol" -allisonj1008
He's going to be here, but probably not have a crush on Percy.
"I've only read the note you left at the beginning, but you know us so well xD" -allisonj1008
I know my audience: degenerates lmao.
"Question, when do you post these? is it weekly or just when you get motivated? and is this gonna have as many chapters as the 1st one? Also is nico gonna appear in this- I rlly would like if nico appeared in this lol" -allisonj1008
So, I update this and another story, alternating them. Chapters get posted when I finish them. As for the number of chapters, I'm not sure how many there are going to be. I do think though, that word wise, it's going to be longer. And yes, Nico is going to be in this.
"[Completely unrelated to the chapterQUESTION ARE WE STILL GONNA GET PERCY FALLING INTO TARTARUS, Except it's Zoe instead of Annebeth?" -allisonj1008
You'll see this chapter ;)
"I think its a good length for the chapters, sometimes I wish we got more then 1 chapter per week so I can see what happens next, bit I think the length is fine" -allisonj1008
Oh, well, i made this one 5 thousand words, whoops. It's kind of hard to release one every two weeks, (which is my goal when I don't have a bunch of shit happening).
Nico's gonna be here, don't worry.
"Oh just saying! Heracles, is the greek name for him, as he was named after Hera at an attempt to calm her wraith, news flash, made it worse lol
Hercules is the Roman, it's said in the books although I can understand if you forgot, and you might be asking why I brought this up, you had said he was "The pride of Greece" using his Roman name, just a small detail you might've not noticed! Have a good morning/evening" -allisonj1008
Yeah, honestly, when I was learning Greek Mythology, I learned it as Hercules, so I just default to it automatically. Then, I'm just a bastard who's too lazy to fix it.
"*Me trying to figure it out, yet knowing that I will not*
So their going to Rome next chapter... are they gonna free war? or is that slightly later?" -allisonj1008
It all happens this chapter.
Alright, without further ado, please enjoy chapter 23!
A storm was on the horizon. The dark clouds were moving fast across the sky. Electricity was in the air. Petrichor filled the nostrils of the Roman people. The limited sun was blocked by the Argo II as the ship set down on a hill in a park just outside of the city.
Percy walked into the dining hall of the Argo II, where everyone else was already sitting.
"And how do you propose that? Rome is huge!" Frank said.
"Well, it can't be too hard. How many underground places are there in Rome?" Leo asked.
"A lot." Zoë said. "There are thousands of miles, most unknown to all of humanity."
Percy sat down next to her. "There are some tunnels that even Zeus himself doesn't know exists."
Thunder rumbled outside, but whether it was Zeus or the storm, no one knew. Probably Zeus, big baby.
"Okay, how about large underground rooms?" Leo tried.
"At least a hundred."
"Damn it."
"So, we split up. And we find out where the giants are, meet up there, kick the giant's asses, free War, and then sail off into the sunset! Easy peasy."
"Are we going on our own?" Hazel asked.
"Me and Zoë will go on our own. The rest of you, one group of two, another, three." Percy said.
"What? Come on, man!" Leo said.
"We can't have people dying, Leo. Zoë and I can handle ourselves."
"Well, Piper and I will go." Jason said.
Leo turned to Frank and Hazel. "I guess I'm third wheeling no matter who I go with." he looked between the two couples. "Hazel has underground powers, so Imma go with them."
"How are we going to meet up at the place, if we don't know where it is?" Frank asked.
"I got that covered. Wait here." Leo dashed out of his room and down the hall to his room. It was a full minute before he came rushing back, his arms full. He dropped the things in his arms onto the table.
There were seven walkie talkies, made of bronze.
"You want to use walkie talkies?" Jason asked, an eyebrow raised. "When we're not allowed to use cell phones because they make it easier for monsters to track us."
"That's the cool part." Leo said. "I used celestial bronze for the antenna, which seems to block out any power flares that are typically used."
"What?" Hazel asked.
"Special metal make tracing hard for monster." Leo explained in simpler terms.
"Don't mock her, Leo." Piper chided.
Leo raised his hands and shrugged.
"These'll work, Leo." Percy said, grabbing one. "So, everyone will start in a different section of the city. When whoever finds it, finds it, they'll let us all know where it is and we'll meet up there. Got it?"
Everyone nodded their heads.
"Good, we leave immediately."
LINE BREAK
The Romans didn't even notice Percy's wings. He walked through the streets, among the mortals, and they didn't bat an eyelash. He towered over most of the people around him.
He knew there were miles of tunnels under the streets that he walked on, escape tunnels put in place back during the times of the Roman Empire. But finding an entrance to these tunnels was the hard part.
He walked past a pawn shop when something in its window caught his eye. A gleam of sunlight bouncing off of a diamond necklace. He turned towards it. It was a black diamond, naturally formed.
He entered the pawn shop. There was a bunch or random assorted junk organized in some way that made no sense. Like, a bunch of baseball bats near the door, with an Xbox 360 on a table next to them. He turned towards the window and picked up the necklace.
"Oh, no, no, no, no." A man came out from the back of the store. "You can't touch that."
Percy turned to the man. "Why not?"
"That is a very rare, good luck charm."
Percy studied the man. He was short and plump, looking kind of like a tuskless walrus. He had three black hairs combed over his bald head. He smelled of cigar smoke and beer. His thrift store clothes had sweat stains near his armpits.
Percy tilted his head. "Don't I know you?"
The man looked confused. "I have never seen you before in my life."
Suddenly, it hit Percy. "Yes, but I've seen you. On the news."
The man began to sweat. Back in L.A., when Percy first opened Lux, there was a news broadcast of a child trafficking ring being busted. There were two men labeled as the ringleaders. One was caught, convicted, and put in jail. The other, had went into hiding and was named-
"Gabriel Ugliano!" Percy said with a bit of a wicked glee.
"You do know me." Gabe uttered.
"Yes, you ran that child trafficking ring."
Gabe pulled out a knife and pointed it at Percy. "What, you a cop, huh? Some kind of Fed? Would explain the suit."
"No, no, no." Percy chucked. "I don't work well with law enforcement."
"So, you a buyer then." Gabe smiled. "Whatcha in the mood for? I got girls all the way down to five."
Percy frowned. "Now, I don't remember saying that."
The Fallen-Angel turned to the baseball bats and picked out a nice metal one.
"What are you going to do with that?" Gabe asked nervously.
"Relax." Percy said. "It's not going to hurt. When compared to what comes next, at least."
You wouldn't be able to recognize Gabe when Lucifer was done. Blood and gore covered the floor. Brains sat in many chunks in different places. Gabe's skull was smashed in.
He dropped the bat on the floor and turned to the back of the store. There was a weird feeling coming from the back. He turned to the window and grabbed the necklace. He put it in his pocket.
He turned to the back of the store and walked towards it. Red footprints were left in his wake as he reached the counter. He hopped over and walked through the doorway.
Stairs. Stairs descending into the darkness. He walked down the stairs into the darkness and smiled.
An entrance into the tunnels.
LINE BREAK
"Move your ass, Frank." Leo said.
"Shut up, Leo. I'm moving as fast as I can."
"Well, hurry up."
Leo, Frank, and Hazel were crawling through a small tunnel. Hazel had opened it up when she felt a large underground room beneath them. Sadly, she couldn't make the tunnel large enough for them to stand in.
They had been crawling for what felt like forever. Leo almost forgot what light looked like. He would've lit a fire, but that would use up all the oxygen, and then they would all die a terrible death of suffocation. Not fun.
Finally, light began to enter the tunnel. Hazel stood up as she entered. Then Frank. Then finally, Leo. The cool blue, fluorescent lights illuminated the room. It looked like an old, abandoned workshop. Workbenches with a bunch of machines were everywhere. Tools and random parts were strewn about on the ground. A stack of journals collected dust on a table in the corner.
Along the back wall was an open metal door leading into a dark endless hallway. On either side were two abandoned robots. Four in total. They looked humanoid, four limbs, and bipedal. But each one had a different head. One had the face of a man, another the face of a lion, another the face of an ox, and the last a face of an eagle. Their eyes were black; cold and dark. Each had a pair of wire wings on their back, erected as if they were taking flight.
"Those things aren't creepy at all." Leo joked, trying to cut the tension.
"That one looks kind of like Percy, if he was made of gray metal instead of flesh." Hazel said, pointing at the robot with the human head.
"So, what now?" Frank asked. "Just go down that hallway?"
As soon as the words left his mouth, the metal door shut with a loud CLANG! The lights started to flicker. The eyes of the four robots began to glow gold. The one with an eagle head stepped forward. "You have made a grave mistake." It said in a gravelly voice. Except the voice came from everywhere around the demigods. It surrounded them.
The one with the human head stepped forward. "Getting off your ship." It hissed.
"Our turf now." The ox said.
"The show is about to begin." The one with the lion head said.
All four robots started to slowly march toward them. The mechanical whirs of servo motors filled the air as they stalked closer to their prey.
"Hey, Leo, can you dismantle these things?" Frank asked.
"I should be able to." Leo said, studying the machines. They weren't super well made. It looked like they were being fixed before being abandoned and left in the workshop. Wires were exposed, and part of its endoskeleton was visible. It was a miracle they even moved.
Hazel and Frank drew their weapons. Leo reached into his toolbelt and rummaged in the pocket. While he was looking for a screwdriver, he felt his hand brush against plastic packaging. The fortune cookie.
He brushed it aside and pulled out a screwdriver. While Hazel and Frank took off in opposite directions, trying to distract them. Leo, being the small bastard that he is, was able to sneak behind one and jump on top of it.
The robot lurched forward as Leo's weight added onto it. The robot fell onto the ground. The sound of the metal hitting the concrete floor alerted the other three robots to what was happening.
The robot Leo had pinned turned its oxen head a hundred and eighty degrees to face him. He was able to see the golden glow in its black eye. He took the screwdriver and stabbed it into the robot's eye, but there was no reaction from the machine. He pulled the screwdriver out and looked down. The back of the robot was completely exposed. He tried to find the power supply that made the robot run, but it didn't seem to exist.
Where wires were supposed to plug into a battery or generator, or anything that produces electricity, there was nothing.
"Surprised?" The robot with the man's head asked. It had reached Leo and picked him up off of its oxen friend. Leo grappled against the robot's hand, but it didn't budge.
A sword slash dismembered the hand from the body, freeing Leo. He fell to the ground.
"You can't stop us." The lion head said. "We don't run on electricity."
"We run on will." The eagle head said.
"You shouldn't have left your ship. You were safe there." The ox said. "Those stupid sigils don't reach here."
Suddenly, Frank realized what was going on. "They're possessed! Eildons!"
Leo internally groaned. How could they defeat something that was already dead? He reached into his pocket for a sledgehammer. He pulled it out and swung at the eagle head.
Frank launched an arrow through its chest, but it did nothing. Hazel decapitated the human, sending the head onto the floor. Its body kept up the assault though. It punched Hazel, sending her reeling back.
Leo swung his sledgehammer at the ox, denting the metal head. The robotic angel tried to grab him, but Leo ducked under its hands as he swung at its legs, knocking it to the ground. Leo stood up and swung his hammer over his head, bringing it down on the robot's chest. He picked up the hammer, leaving behind a bunch of broken wires and parts. This didn't stop the robot though, as it stood up again.
Frank nocked an arrow and released it at the lion, only for the lion to grab it and snap it in its hand. He was pushed forward as the eagle, now sporting a fresh dent in its head from Leo's sledgehammer, punched Frank in the back. It stepped on Frank's back, pinning him to the ground.
Leo dropped his sledgehammer and lit his hands on fire. He ran at the ox head and jumped at it from behind. He willed the rest of his body to catch fire as he hugged the robot close. The robot with the lion head came up to the pair and roughly wrapped its hands around Leo. It pulled him off and tossed him across the room. The ox robot was black and charred, but it wasn't even slightly melted. Whatever metal was used to make these things, they had a high heat resistance.
Hazel was struggling against the decapitated robot, which had picked her up and pinned her against the wall. It's hand was wrapped around her throat, choking her.
As Leo looked around, he realized that they were royally fucked. Hazel was slowly dying of asphyxiation, and Frank was pinned to the ground. These things couldn't be beat by any means that they had.
Nemesis's words back at Salt Lake City ran in his head. "Soon you will face a problem you cannot solve."
He reached into his toolbelt and pulled out the fortune cookie. He held it in his shaky hand. If he opened it, there would be a terrible price to pay. But if he didn't, he and his friends would be killed. Which was worse? Probably the terrible price, in all honesty. At least he knew what would happen after he died. But could he leave the world to be destroyed?
"Please help me destroy these things." He whispered before splitting it open with both hands. He pulled one half of the cookie and stuck it in his mouth. He started to chew as he pulled the paper out of the other half. He unfurled it and read the words.
Power comes in dire times.
What the fuck did that mean? Leo tried to figure it out as he stuck the other half of the fortune cookie in his mouth.
Suddenly, large footsteps started to echo throughout the room. Where they were coming from, Leo hadn't a clue. They grew louder. Each of the robots turned their heads, looking around.
Suddenly, the door that had been locked flew across the room. In the doorway was the demigod's good ol' reliable, Lucifer fucking Morningstar. Gods, what would they do without his disgrace?
He looked over the situation. "I should have thrown you lot back to hell." He spoke.
The decapitated robot turned to Percy. "You don't have authority over us anymore. You left. Eons ago."
Percy stared back at the robot. "That is true, but I am still the Lord of Hell, or has Dad decreed a new?"
"Not exactly." The oxen robot said. "But we are under new management."
"And who dares assume to be my replacement?"
The lion stepped up to Percy. "Someone with power."
"And their name?" Percy asked with a raised eyebrow. He was not amused by the demon's attempt to scare him.
"They wish to remain in the shadows. Just a bit longer." The eagle said.
"Well. I guess your master is about to lose four henchmen." Percy said. He raised his hand. A shockwave rocketed from his extended hand. From each robot came a golden ghost. The robots themselves fell to the ground, lifeless.
Frank and Hazel freed themselves. Hazel rubbed her neck, where a red line had formed. They steadily got to their feet, watching what Percy was going to do.
Percy raised his hands as he started to levitate in the air. His wings flapped behind him. He started to glow white as he started an incantation. "Pelle daemonium, recta ad infernum. A cum veneris, redis. Decretum meum, ut ego praecipio, secutus erit!"
Cracks in the floor erupted from underneath each demon and crawled to the center of the room, where the cracks formed an inverse pentagram. A red glow came from below the cracks. Slowly, the ground in the pentagram began to fall down into a bottomless pit of fire. The four Eildons began to float towards the hole, no matter how many times each one tried to stop themselves.
The demons floated down into the pit. The ground closed over the pit, leaving the screaming of the demons below the ground. Silence filled the room.
"Thanks." Leo said.
"No problem. Now, let's go. We need to find the giants." Percy said. He turned heel and marched into the hallway he had just come from.
Hazel, Leo, and Frank followed him into the darkness.
LINE BREAK
"Crack open the lid, Otis." Ephialtes said.
Otis turned the lid on the jar, letting air rush in. But also letting something out.
The figure inside slowly woke up.
LINE BREAK
Percy turned his head to the tunnel on his right. They had reached a crossroads and were trying to figure out what direction to go. But then Percy sensed something. A power emanating from the right tunnel. A power signature he hadn't felt in forever.
He wanted to fight something. His hand clenched with anger, his nails digging into his palms. It felt like Ares's aura, but a hundred times stronger than anything the pagan god could even hope to emit.
War.
The Horseman.
He was down that tunnel, and so were probably his captors.
But it was also probably a trap. You don't just let War unleash his aura without a plan.
"What is it?" Hazel asked.
"We have to go that way, but it's most likely a trap."
"How do you know we have to go that way?" Leo asked.
"War's aura. It's coming from that way."
"So, what if we don't go down this tunnel? What if we go onto the surface, and you lead us to War, following his aura? We pop in with the Argo II and blow the place to Hell."
"That's good. It could work." Frank said.
"Except for the fact that we would be causing potentially millions of dollars in property damage with that." Percy pointed out.
"Since when does that matter to you?" Hazel asked.
"It doesn't. Just pointing it out."
"So, we don't use the Argo II. But we could still go to the surface. Call everyone together, then go in as a group." Leo amended.
"It's as good a plan as any." Frank said.
LINE BREAK
They looked like the weirdest family on vacation. Two adults with wings, one made of feathers and the other leather, one of the adults having half of her face decayed with maggots crawling around in her flesh, with their five teenagers who looked nothing like them or each other. And most of them had weapons in plain sight.
And no one batted an eye.
They were walking through Rome, Percy and Zoë leading the way, following War's scent.
It seemed that they were heading to the Colosseum. As the arena loomed in front of them, the puzzle pieces seemed to fit into place in Leo's brain. What had the eildions said? The show was about to begin? Why not host your show in the most famous stadium around?
Percy and Zoë paused. "This is it."
They were in front of the Colosseum. Inside, the roars of an eager crowd thundered. The Seven walked inside.
Whatever you expect the inside of the Colosseum to look like, you're wrong. It wasn't ancient and falling apart. No, it was more like the inside of a sports arena, with concessions, merchandise, and cardboard cutouts of Otis and Ephialtes. The floor was tiled, black and purple. There were TV's showing the dirt ring of the arena. The roaring of the crowd was even louder. There were purple shades roaming around, taking pictures, wearing merchandise, and buying concessions.
"Wow, this is… uh… This is nice." Leo said, looking around.
A woman came up to them, holding an iPad. She tapped on the screen and turned to face them. "Hi, glad you could make it. I trust you had a safe trip here?" She asked.
The Seven turned to Percy. "I'm not in the mood for games." He told her.
"Ah yes, well. If you would please follow me." She turned on her heel and walked away.
Percy followed her, Zoë followed him, and the rest of them followed the couple. They passed through the crowd of shades, sometimes walking through them. Those occurrences were followed by a scream of "Hey, I'm walkin' here!"
The lady led them to the Southwest corner, where a hallway led straight into the dirt arena in the middle of the Colosseum. An iron door blocked their path.
"Wait here. When the buzzer goes off, and the doors open, head into the arena. Good luck and have fun!" She said, before turning around and walking off again. This time, they didn't follow.
"What the hell?" Jason whispered.
"The show." Leo said. "We fought some Eildons, and they said the show was about to begin. We're-"
"-The show." Frank said, coming to the same realization.
"We're fighting for entertainment. Great." Piper said.
Percy turned and looked through the iron door. "We could just… not play this game." He pointed out. "I can just, blast these doors open, we go in, and kick ass."
"Who's ass? There's no one in there." Jason pointed out.
"Where's War?" Hazel asked.
"He's underneath us." Zoë said. "Underneath that dirt ring."
A rumble interrupted their conversation. The entire Colosseum shook to its foundations.
"What the fuck!" Yelled Leo.
"Look!" Jason pointed into the dirt arena, where the floor was sliding open. The circular dirt pit was giving way to an empty black hole. The sound of machinery filled the air as two heads appeared, rising from the hole. The head's bodies appeared, then their legs as the giants stood, rising.
The platform they were standing on stopped when it reached the ground floor. Between the giants was a large table with an opaque jar sitting on it. The cheers of the crowd boomed in the stadium. Ephialtes looked up at the crowd with a smile on his face.
"HOW ARE YOU ALL DOING TODAY!" Ephialtes roared. The crowd roared their response back at him. "DOING GOOD! THAT'S GOOD!"
Ephialtes stepped off of the platform. "We have a great fight planned for you next. Us two-" He waved a hand at him and Otis. "-Against the FIVE demigods, and TWO angels! At the same time! But that's not all. The stakes… have NEVER been HIGHER! If they win, they get to go free. When we win, the destruction of Rome is IMMINENT!"
The crowd roared their approval. Thousands of shades who couldn't blow out their vocal cords yelling for the spectacle of a lifetime.
"And now, the visiting team." Ephialtes said.
The buzzer sounded and the iron doors slowly swung open. Percy stepped through first, with Zoë half an inch behind him. The five demigods followed in V formation.
Boos came from the crowd upon their entrance. The scathing sounds didn't faze them.
Ephialtes picked up the jar. "You want this, don't you." He taunted Percy. "Free another horseman. Stop the apocalypse?"
"Yeah. So if you could hand it over."
"HA! NO!"
Percy drew Riptide. "I'll just take it."
Percy spread his wings and took flight. Zoë followed behind him, her wings spread, her karambit brandished.
The demigods charged forward, determined to do something to help. What they were going to do, they didn't know.
Percy swung his sword at Ephialtes's hand, trying to get the jar. Ephialtes threw the jar to Otis, who was just standing there, in a ballerina's outfit. The smaller giant caught the jar.
Zoë changed her target to Otis, while Percy kept up his assault on Ephialtes. He slashed at the giant's face, drawing a thin line of ichor from the top of his forehead, down through the nose to the bottom of his mouth.
The giant gritted his teeth as he swatted at Percy like a human does to a fly. Also like a human, he missed.
Zoë was behind Otis's head, cutting off locks of hair. She grabbed some and flew around to his face and threw the hair in his face. Temporarily blinding Otis, she took the chance to push him over. Thrown off balance, Otis dropped the jar.
The jar shattered on the ground. The black glass littered the dirt floor, surrounding a figure lying still. He was pale from the lack of sun he had gotten the past few weeks. By human standards, he should be dead. But he wasn't human. He was missing his signature blood red armor, and huge broadsword, but he was still War. The red spiky hair marked him as such.
Percy stabbed Ephialtes in the chest, before pulling the sword out and punching him. Ephialtes fell backwards, landing on the platform he had risen up on. The giant glanced up to see his weapon that he had taped to the bottom of the table. He had expected a moment like this to happen. He reached up and grabbed the spear.
The sight of the red tip made Percy wary. Rory's feather could seriously harm him. While he wasn't exactly worried about the giant's skill with a spear, he did take note to not get fatally wounded.
Ephialtes stood up and swung his spear at Percy, who flew out of the way. Percy flew towards Ephialtes's face and stabbed his eye. The giant yelled in pain and smacked Percy. The angel fell to the ground.
Percy sat up and saw the shattered remains of the jar. The figure in the middle was stirring. Percy got up and walked over to him. "War."
The man opened his eyes and looked at Percy. "Lucifer."
"Glad you're awake. Wanna help us out?"
War rubbed his head. "Yeah, I'll be up in a minute."
Zoë cut into the base of Otis's neck. The giant tried to swat her off, but she evaded his hands. She went back to the cut and poked around. She found where the spine met teh base of the skull and stuck her knife into it. Otis went rigid and fell face first into the dirt. He slowly turned into dust.
Zoë turned to Ephialtes, only to feel something pierce her body.
"I have to tell you though, Lucifer. I know where Famine is." War said, turning to Percy. "There's a reason why we can't sense her anymore."
"Where?"
"Tartarus. She's down in Tartarus."
Percy digested the information. "I'll have to pay the Pit a visit then."
A cry of pain sounded throughout the arena. Percy turned and felt his blood turn cold.
Ephialtes stood with a smile on his face. He had thrusted his spear into the air, and impaled on the tip, was Zoë. She fell off of the spear and landed on the ground.
Percy's eyes didn't widen. They narrowed. He glared at the giant, who's booming laughter covered the cheers of the crowd. He felt something in his chest wanting to get out.
War came up to the demigods. "We need to leave. Now." He took them to the hallway they had entered from and surrounded them with a red force field.
Ephialtes continued laughing. "Running away?"
There was one figure still standing. His skin was starting to glow. The only thing standing between the Colosseum and its destruction was Percy's self-control. But he could feel it slowly giving way to anger.
Suddenly a fireball exploded from within Percy. A fiery inferno engulfed the entirety of the dirt arena. Ephialtes was frozen in the middle of the air. The earth was shaking. Power was thick in the air, suffocating all of the shades in the audience. The rain clouds that had been in the sky began to let their water fall, not that it did anything to the fire. Percy's mortal form had been shed, his true form now bare for all to see.
Percy walked slowly to his wife, who was laying on the ground. Her breath was shallow. Her eyes moved to him as he entered her field of view. Then her eyes moved to the sky and stayed there as her last breath left her lungs.
Another wave of power flew through the air. Ephialtes dissolved into dust. The shades in the audience ceased to exist. Percy laid his head on his wife's stomach, where the spear had pierced her body.
He grabbed a handful of dirt and shaped it into the mask she had made herself a long time ago. He lifted his head and placed the mask on her face. He closed her eyes. Slowly, her body dissolved into ash. The necklace in his pocket felt heavy.
Cracks began to appear on the ground. They raced along the ground. They created a circle around the couple. Then the ground fell, taking Percy with it.
LINE BREAK
The five demigods and the horseman sat around the deck of the Argo II. War had escorted them to the ship after Percy unleashed his fury. Shortly after they set foot on deck, the Colosseum crumbled into ruins.
"It's my fault." Leo muttered.
"No it's not." Hazel said.
"Yes it is. This is the price!" Leo said. "I opened Nemesis's fortune cookie. This is the price for the help she gave."
Hazel's eyes widened as she realized.
"I opened the cookie, and she took Percy and Zoë."
"So what do we do now?" Frank asked.
"Go to Percy." War said.
"Where is he?" Jason asked.
"Tartarus. Now, you can't go there, but he's going to be leaving soon. And you can be there when he does. He's going to need to leave through the Doors of Death, and those are currently chained in the House of Hades."
"Where is that?"
War shrugged. "Not my area of expertise. I would ask someone who has some connection to death, or the underworld."
"Nico." Hazel whispered.
"I guess so. I don't know him." said War. "Now, I need to meet with Death and discuss some things. He whistled.
A horse materialized next to him. The horse was made of bullet shells, glowing red from within. It had eyes made of fire. War hopped onto his horse and spurred it to move. With a flash, he was gone.
The demigods were on their own. Their only hope, the only reason they were even still alive- Percy and Zoë- were gone.
"I'm going to contact Nico. Hopefully he can help." Hazel said, heading to the stairs leading below deck.
LINE BREAK
This was not Percy's first time falling.
He fell from grace long ago, after his rebellion. He had fallen into Hell. Fallen from grace.
This was not so different. The only thing different was the feeling he held within. Last time, he was angry, pissed as fuck. Now, he felt nothing. He felt numb. The wind whistled in his ears, but he didn't feel it. Adrenaline flew through his veins, but he didn't feel it.
Darkness surrounded him. The Pit — Tartarus — was bottomless. So they said. But he knew it wasn't. After all, he had been here too, long ago. When he threatened a half-formed Kronos.
The wind continued to whistle in his ears. But again, he didn't register it. No, it was covered by the sound of something else. Zoë's cry of pain as she was stabbed.
Now he felt something. Something he was used to feeling.
Anger.
I think I've seen this film before and I didn't like the ending.
Falling into Hell angry. Falling into Tartarus angry.
Doomed to repeat history.
Percy's mouth set into a grim line. His eyes glowed red. He was no longer going to play around.
Tartarus better stay out of his way. For his own sake.
A/N. WOOOOO! Finally done with this chapter. It's been over a month, I know, but I did warn you. Those who were around last year know that October is a hectic time for me since it's competition month for band, and every Saturday is a comp. But hey, at least you got a 5k+ chapter out of it.
Speaking of, how'd you like it? Killed off Zoë. That was always going to happen. I didn't know much when I first drafted this story, but I knew that she was going to die. I even foreshadowed it in chapter one. (Someone even caught it too, which sucked, since I didn't want it to be too obvious.) But yeah. Did you really think I would introduce a weapon that could kill a main character and then *not* use it?! So yeah, she dead.
And Percy's now going to Tartarus to rescue Famine. We are now done with the Mark of Athena arc and now going into the House of Hades arc. I don't know how long this one is going to be. We'll see.
Anyways, that's about it. Good to see y'all again.
Thoughts?
