Chapter 28

Natalie's POV

Natalie felt strange. She felt contaminated. As though something had just polluted her insides. She continued following Percy, hands clasped around herself. She knew what she had done was bad. No, not bad. Evil.

She had not known what was happening. She had pulled through the vision to see Bob and Ben in agony, and something inside her had snapped. She remembered raising her hand and clasping the air, and felt the blood that flowed within the demon stop. Felt his life ebbing way through the liquid that had started pulsing in his veins due to their torture.

Even now, after the experience, she felt everything around her. She could tell where Percy was, where Ben was and where Bob was without even seeing them. She could even distinguish between their blood signatures. And she could slowly feel another two familiar blood signatures coming closer to them. Deep down, she had felt all of that. But after controlling that demon's blood, the power she had seemed to have been magnified a hundred fold.

"Oh, my gods!" she heard Annabeth shout as she threw herself on Percy. "You're okay."

She hugged her too, and Natalie felt her blood signature closer than ever. She half wanted to tell her to stop, to tell Annabeth that she was dangerous. That she could probably kill them all if she even clasped her hands once.

"Good to see you, kid," Damasen grunted.

"Back at you," Ben grinned weakly.

"We should get out now," Bob said quietly. He had been extremely quiet ever since she had woken up. Perhaps after remembering who he was, even he felt the same like Natalie did.

"But what happened?" Annabeth asked.

Natalie was staring at the other side of the wall, but she was sure that Percy had glanced at him.

"I'll tell you later," he told her. "Now how do we get out?"

Ben examined the sign. "Before the door opens, we should go through something. Once we get out, we'd just be near the heart of Tartarus, where he exists in a…," he closed his eyes, as if remembering something unpleasant, "never mind. But the thing is, there are gonna be loads of monsters near the doors. And the door is what is going to be the most safely guarded one."

"Okay?" Percy said hesitantly.

"So... we've got to trust each other, okay? Now I'm going to open this, so you might as well brace yourselves."

Percy and Ben again glanced at Natalie. She felt even more horrible. It was as if they were anticipating she would burst any moment and kill them.

Ben moved his hand over the sign. A section of the roof opened up. Percy and Annabeth climbed through it above. Boh and Damasen followed. As Natalie stepped forward, Ben caught her arm.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

Natalie gazed at him for two seconds before she gave him a weak smile. "Yeah."

Ben didn't look convinced. However, she climbed upward and emerged behind a huge boulder blocking their view.

Immediately, she felt as though something was wrong. Percy and Annabeth were peering from the edge of the boulder below, their faces ashen. She could feel it. She could sense all of them. She didn't know how, but she could feel the monsters' blood. There were hundreds of thousands of them, different types, but still monsters. Ben came up beside her, and the trapdoor rumbled and closed.

"How are we gonna get past those?" Percy whispered.

"There are so many of them, I doubt we can kill all of them," Annabeth told them.

"Okay, here's what we're gonna do," Ben explained. "I, Damasen and Bob will distract them. And you three go and open the doors."

After a long time, Natalie snapped out of her stupor. "What, and leave you three to fight them?"

"We'll come with you once you open them," he said, but was there guilt in his voice?

"Sis," Percy put a hand on her shoulder. "It's the best chance we have. I trust him with this."

Natalie looked at him. Did Percy not understand what risking Ben's life was? Was he perhaps comfortable with the idea of him dying?

Snap out of it, she told herself. Percy always means the best for you and the others. He is saying that because he is a good leader. You should be like him.

Hesitantly, she nodded.

"Okay," Ben drew in a deep breath. "On the count of three, we charge. You find a way and cut those chains binding them to Tartarus. Good luck."

He waited for a moment...then, "Three, two, one...charge!"

Ben, Bob and Damasen leaped out from the boulder. Percy grabbed her hand and they started edging towards the doors, unseen.

Monsters attacked the other three, however, they still fought through. They were near the gates. The two titans guarding had gone to join the fight. It was only them, and the chains now. Annabeth held her dagger, Percy uncapped his sword, and Natalie willed hers into her hand.

"Together," Percy told them. "Three, two, one."

They all raised their swords, and almost struck the celestial bronze chains too. But just as they were about to strike them, the three of them froze. An unknown force kept them petrified, unable to move. The fighting had stopped. Ben, Bob and Damasen were staring at a huge twister of black smoke swirling before them.

The same force yanked them backwards, and they fell beside the other three, bodies unfrozen. The twister became high as the black smoke swirled faster. And then out of it materialized a being of terrible horror. Natalie's insides froze as she looked at the figure, radiating horrors she had never seen. Souls tried to escape from the black smoke figure, but couldn't. Her blood went cold as she stood looking at the primordial of the pit himself, in his true form. Tartarus.

"Demigods," a voice rasped from the helmet. A voice capable of chilling the spine.

"At last, you have come. You have evaded Polybotes for a long time. But now, as you come to my own hearts by yourselves, I will not kill you. Your souls will suffer eternal punishment and torture."

Natalie felt scared. She felt more scared than she had ever felt before. All of Lupa's teachings seemed to vanish from her mind. She wanted to die, rather than stay here. She wanted the pain to end. She could not take any more of it, or she would collapse.

However, Ben spoke. "They will go through this door, Tartarus. They will go back to the mortal world."

"Benjamin Carter," Tartarus sneered. "Gaea ought to have killed you."

"Go, we'll buy you time," Damasen said, and he and Bob charged, busying Tartarus. Meanwhile, the monsters had just seen them as their targets. As the four of them started making their way towards the door, Tartarus yelled, "Stop them!"

They ran, harder than anytime they had in their lives. Slashing, stabbing wherever they could, they ran. They were just nearing the doors when the monsters hoarded around them, forming a semicircle. Behind them were the chained doors, in front of them, the monster army.

Bob and Damasen kept Tartarus busy.

"Here we go," Percy said. They fought. They fought for what felt like years. Natalie had never killed so many monsters in her life till now. Nor had she gotten these many scratches or wounds.

Suddenly, she felt the hair on her neck stand up. She glanced backwards. Ben was standing there, his sword pierced inside a manticore. But the manticore's tail protruded from his stomach, blood gushing out everywhere. He collapsed. Natalie caught him, slung his arm over her shoulder, and laid him near a boulder on the left of the doors. She glanced at Percy and Annabeth, who were screaming with fury, killing the monsters mercilessly, taking revenge for Ben.

"Natalie," he rasped, a trickle of blood coming from his mouth. "You don't have time. Go!"

"I won't leave you here," she sobbed. "I won't leave you to die."

Tears welled up in her eyes, flowing freely, for, it was the second time in her life that she was witnessing her brother die.

"I won't survive," he coughed. "Go!"

"No, no, no, you're fine," she said desperately. "Just keep your eyes open, okay."

"Percy," he rasped. "I need to talk to Percy."

Percy, having heard it, looked at Annabeth. "Go," Annaveth told him.

Natalie clutched Ben's hand in hers. He used his other hand to take out the pendant, and gave it to Percy. "Remember…remember your promise. Don't let my sacrifice go in vain."

Percy was crying. Natalie had never seen him so desperate, so helpless. He took the pendant.

"I will."

"Ben, please," Natalie whispered.

"I wouldn't have gotten through anyway," Ben smiled weakly, the colour ebbing away from his face. "The gods wouldn't have left me alive. I prefer this death, than to that humiliation. I am Roman, till the end."

"Of course," Natalie said desperately. "That's why just hold on, we'll get out."

"Elysium's a good place," he told her.

"No, Ben, no," Natalie wailed. She couldn't let him die not this time.

"Keep her safe. Remember your promise," he told Percy. Then he leaned forward, and touched his forehead with Natalie's. She cried, more than any other time in her life. And then, Ben slumped backward, the ghost of a smile still on his face, eyes lifeless.

"No," Natalie whispered, anger welling up inside. "NO!"

She yelled, spreading her hands. She could feel the monsters' blood obeying her will. All of them in the front rose up, and blew up into bits of dust. Annabeth seized the moments, and, crying, slashed the chains with her knife. The Doors were free. But Natalie didn't care. She wanted each monster here to die a death so painful that they would never forget it. Annabeth was looking at her in horror.

Tartarus yelled loudly. Damasen and Bob were getting overpowered. "Go!" Bob yelled. "Tell the stars hello for me!"

"Bob, no!" Percy shouted.

"Go, kid!" Damsen yelled. "And give Gaea hell from our side."

"Go!"

Natalie could feel Percy crying behind her, grabbing her arm and dragging her towards the elevator. Annabeth was sobbing harder than any of them. She thrashed against Percy, but he held her from her back and dragged her inside the elevator. The doors shut down, with them seeing a last vision of the deadly place, hearing the yell of the primordial that shook the Earth itself. Natalie punched the doors, she kicked them, but they wouldn't open.

She fell down against the floor, sobbing, hugging Percy. Annabeth watched them, tears leaking from her eyes.

"We left them," she cried stupidly. "We left his body."

"I know," Percy sobbed, clutching her tighter.

They rose into the mortal world, far away from the dangers of Tartarus. But Natalie wasn't sure she wanted to go back. She wanted to die and end the agony. The elevator started speeding up before everything became a blur and bright white light enveloped all of them.

Natalie smelled the air before she woke up. The scent of fresh air, the coolness of it, the sheer pleasure and comfort of the grassy ground. She opened her eyes. Jason was looming above him, face scrunched up. As soon as she propped herself on her elbows, Jason hugged her.

"Thank the gods," he said. "You're okay."

But Natalie was not okay, she was numb. She had, once again, withessed Ben dying. He was truly gone this time, never to come back.

Jason gazed at her, tears in his eyes. She could feel Annabeth and Percy's blood signatures close by. They were awake, she could hear them talking. She could hear the others muttering behind them, as Piper knelt Leo knelt beside her with a glass of water. She gulped some down, her throat relishing it with taste, even though it was tasteless. All the energy had been drained out of her. She has not eaten anything since the temple, and now she felt how weak she would have been, especially with all the blood bending she performed. Leo leaned down next to her, a hand on her shoulder. "Are you okay?" he asked, concerned. It was weird to see Leo like that.

Then she heard a gentle voice, Coach Hedge's. "Get them inside the ship, cupcakes."

Jason glanced at her. "Can you stand?"

Natalie nodded weakly. Jason put his right hand on her shoulder, gripping her and lifting her up. She kept her left hand clasped on Jason's left shoulder, her right tightly clutching Jason's t-shirt, as though the Earth would crack open and she would fall down. He was the only anchor keeping her to the mortal world. She didn't want to fall back in Tartarus.

But she knew one thing as she stumbled along with Jason to the Argo II. It did not matter now whether she lived or died, whether they won or lost. Ben was gone. He was gone and he would never come back.

Author's note :-

I know it's a short chapter. But I do think this is an important one. I hope I gave justice to Ben's death, if not, I tried my best to write it. Hope you enjoy this. Thanks, bye!