Sorry for the delay! Life's been kinda insane lately.
Replies:
Undeath9087: Yeah it's not going to be an easy thing for Annabeth and Rachel to get over. I mean, let's face it they've all been through the wringer.
Guest: Hehehhehe.
Guest: Nico and Bianca will get what they deserve I swear to you. And yeah they all hate Octavian, lets be real here.
Percy felt conflicted as she plummeted rapidly towards the ground. On one hand, as she dove through the sky her fingers managed to curl around the glass of the oh so important vial. On the other hand, she was still falling very very fast very far and she had no powers whatsoever that were connected to flying. Which meant that chances were, she was going to die.
Now if it wasn't for the fact that she had the key to Leo's survival clasped in her hand tightly she might not have felt so bad about that. But as it was she had a distinct sinking feeling in her stomach.
She closed her eyes tightly.
She knew better than to pray- it would do her no good, but she clutched the vial close to her chest, silently mentally apologising to Leo for her failure.
Then she heard a cry- and her eyes snapped open as an arm snagged around her waist- she didn't stop instantly, the drag of her fall yanked herself and her savior down a little, but Lady was a strong Pegasus, and Drew was deceptively strong herself.
The daughter of Aphrodite must have seen Percy falling she realised, feeling almost hysterical at that thought, and she'd saved her.
"I got you!" it was difficult to hear Drew's voice over the air in Percy's ears, over the fighting going on below, but Percy could just about make it out as Drew dragged her and she managed to swing a leg over the Pegasi's back.
"Drew Tanaka you just keep saving my life don't you?"
"Of course I do!" Drew's smirk was smug. "But next time try not to fall! Where do you need to go now?"
"I-" Percy considered it.
She likely had a little bit of time to get back to Leo. Probably not too much but a little bit. And the problem was she didn't know exactly how much time that was. She couldn't risk telling Drew to fly straight to Leo on Lady- the inevitable explosion could easily kill her if she didn't get away in time, and besides that was if they were even able to make it- there were a lot of monsters, and many of them had very good aims.
But Percy could feel another plan forming in her mind- it wasn't ideal but it would mean that she'd be at risk rather than Drew and Lady. And if she was judging things right then she would have time. She had to there was no other option.
"Get me to Luke!"
"Got it! I'll get you to your stupidly hot brother-"
"You disturb me."
"And yet you love me!"
"Gods only know why." Percy almost laughed as she said that, and she did laugh at the mock offended noise that Drew let out.
"Careful or I'll toss you off my Pegasi's back."
"Pegasi love me. I'd just call for Lady and she'd rescue me." she pointed out- which made Lady nicker with laughter- a rare thing from the pegasi, who was every inch her name.
"Uh huh. You hush it up and look for your brother Princess."
And Percy did, eyes scanning the armies below her.
There seemed to be two main groups- one at the crest of Half-Blood Hill, gathered at the feet of the Athena Parthenos, was the main force of Camp Half-Blood along with the First and Fifth Cohorts, rallied around the golden eagle of the legion. The other three Roman cohorts were in a defensive formation several hundred yards away and seemed to be taking the brunt of the attack.
But thankfully that seemed to be changing- she could see Jason and Piper amongst the fighters, and Annabeth and Rachel, were surrounded by several familiar faces as they fought their enemies, pushing towards the struggling Roman forces, and the struggling Romans, following Reyna and Franks- with Hazel riding Arion by Franks side, yelled encouragements burst through a heard of centaurs.
The two forces merged, and Percy watched the Romans meld together into formation.
Then she heard a cry from below- and Percy's gaze focused back on the Greeks- on the campers she'd in many cases grown up with- and she saw both Connor and Travis pressing their fingers to their lips and letting out a loud wolf whistle at the same time- both of them had that familiar cheeky grin on their lips, and Clarrise's voice called up to them;
"About damn time Jackson!" and Percy couldn't help the grin that spread across her lips as she heard other whoops and cheers, and she let herself call back;
"You should know by now, the heros always arrive just at the last moment! Now lets kick some monster butt!" and the Greeks, who were definitely not so well organised as the Romans let out fierce battle cries, no two the same, and they charged at the monsters- and Percy spotted Luke and Thalia- towards the front of the force, side by side.
Just as she was about to point this fact out to Drew it happened.
The ground underneath the two demigod armies rippled, as if Half-Blood Hill had become a giant water mattress. Demigods fell. Ogres slipped. Centaurs charged face-first into the grass.
"AWAKE," a voice boomed all around them. Percy could feel it in her very bones.
A hundred yards away, at the crest of the next hill, the grass and soil swirled upward like the point of a massive drill. The column of earth thickened into the twenty-foot-tall figure of a woman – her dress woven from blades of grass, her skin as white as quartz, her hair brown and tangled like tree roots.
"Little fools." Gaea the Earth Mother opened her pure green eyes. "The paltry magic of your statue cannot contain me."
And fuck but that wasn't good. Percy felt a cold feeling in the pit of her stomach. She trusted Leo, she trusted his plan, but she knew that they were running out of time. She was running out of time. She wasn't stupid after all. If Leo didn't have the physicians cure then he'd do what had to be done anyway, after all, he'd had a good example of self sacrifice hadn't he?
She felt a rush of bitter self loathing roll over her. She'd never forgive herself if her brother died when she had sworn to herself that she'd stop it.
Piper spoke- Percy could hear it, but it was as if her head was underwater- the voice seemed distant, and whatever she said didn't seem to have much of an effect on Gaea at least, who spread her arms.
As she did the earth itself seemed to bend towards her, trees tilting, bedrock groaning, soil rippling in waves. Jason rose on the wind, but all around him monsters and demigods alike started to sink into the ground. One of Octavian's onagers capsized and disappeared into the side of the hill.
"The whole earth is my body," Gaia boomed. "How would you fight the goddess of-"
"FOOOOM!"
In a flash of bronze, Gaia was swept off the hillside, snarled in the claws of a fifty-ton metal dragon.
Festus, reborn, rose into the sky on gleaming wings, spewing fire from his maw triumphantly. As he ascended, the rider on his back got smaller and more difficult to discern, but Leo's grin was unmistakable- and Percy saw the way his gaze flicked towards her, even from the distance and she gave a small nod, clutching the vial tighter.
She'd get it to him. No matter what happened she would get the physicians cure to Leo. Even if it killed her.
And Leo was really a genius- as soon as Gaea was away from the ground it solidified.
Demigods stopped sinking, though many were still buried up to their waists. Sadly, the monsters seemed to be digging themselves out more quickly. They charged the Greek and Roman ranks, taking advantage of the demigods' disorganization.
"Luke." Percy's voice felt hoarse, "We need to get to Luke."
"Where- there!" Drew urged Lady downwards to the left somewhat- she'd spotted a spot where storm clouds were gathering, lightning striking monsters that got too close to Thalia and Luke- and Thalia was buried to the waist in the ground, with Luke frantically trying to dig her out.
And Percy was also absently aware of Jason and Piper taking off into the air too, clearly joining Leo in his battle against Gaea.
That was fine. She had come to terms with the fact that she wasn't needed for that part of the battle. It was fine, she just needed to get to Leo for the aftermath. It was the only chance of survival that Leo had.
Gods damn it all but out of all of the parts of the plan which could have gone wrong, that was the one Percy had least wanted to. She shouldn't have even really been needed except for as a safety net, a just in case. The vial should have been tipped into Festus himself in the moment of the dragon being free from the Argo II, ready to be injected into the son of Hephaestus in the moments of the explosion which Percy knew was drawing closer with each and every second.
She pushed away those thoughts, pushed away the terror she felt knowing what was coming even as Drew swept low, both of them leaping off Lady's back in smooth practiced movements, the daughter of Poseidon tucking the vial into her pocket safely as she did, sprinting the short distant to Luke and Thalia, the latter spotting her first- and she must have seen something on Percy's face because her voice was urgent. "Luke- behind you-"
And Luke whirled, freezing when he saw Percy, saw the look on her face. And he must know, Percy thought, he must know that whatever she was planning would be dangerous. That she was about to risk her own life. There was a moment in which Percy saw a thousand emotions flashing across his face before his expression settled into a sort of pained determination.
"What do you need?"
"Your shoes."
"And if I don't give them to you?"
"Then Leo dies. And this time the doors are closed. He's not coming back the same way I did."
"And what if you die?" Percy could see the pain in Luke's eyes- he already knew the choice he'd make- just as she'd already known it.
He would do anything to protect her- he'd gladly sacrifice his life to save her- to save any of them but especially her. But he had to know that this was her choice to make.
"Then I'll return to Elysium glad for the fact that I was given a chance to make sure the people I love didn't die."
"I love you."
"I know Luke." Percy gave a strained smile, "And I love you too." and then Luke was sitting, tugging off his shoes- and Percy caught Thalia's eyes as Luke did so, could see the silent promise in them, answering Percy's unasked plea.
Oh Percy didn't really want to die, no she was past that. But she would do so, if it meant that Leo could survive. And she knew that there was a very large chance that she would die- oh she could hope, and she knew Leo had had some plan to protect her from the explosion, but now the chances were slimmer. She just had to survive for long enough to get to her brother. Just for long enough to get the physicians cure to Leo. After that, well, whatever happened happened and she'd be content.
And she knew, she knew that Thalia would look after Luke, would look after Annabeth and Rachel and all of them, everyone Percy loved, everyone that would be hurt by what she did, everyone who would mourn her for the second time.
And then Luke was throwing Percy his shoes and Percy toed off her own shoes, pulling his on quickly- and she felt them automatically shifting, the magic making them shrink slightly to fit her feet- and she could see the battle still raging all around them- Thalia had been using her lightning to keep monsters away, and Drew and been drawn a short distance away, dispatching monster after monster with her whip, making sure that none of them got close enough to interrupt the exchange.
Then they were on and Percy tilted her head upwards- she could see the fierce storm high above, see Festus and Gaea in the distance.
Percy had no doubt that Jason and Piper were there too, zipping around in the air around them, Piper lulling Gaea, and Leo, burning with the force of a thousand suns Percy thought with a sense of pride, he'd drop them when the time came.
"Drew- if you need to, catch Piper and Leo." she ignored the frown that started forming on Thalia's lips, the way Luke tilted his head, and she called, "Maia!" and in an instant she was rising, soaring upwards- towards fire and storm.