Chapter 37

Annabeth's P.O.V

Annabeth ducked and cursed as the Argo II blew off the roof of the Acropolis. She would have looked back on the fact that they had destroyed one of the most sacred monuments in her mother's sacred city had she not been already overflowing with adrenaline from the fight. Her mind simply stopped working on any other thought except one message that beeped as though it were an ambulance light. Survive. Survive. Survive.

"Well, good of you all to join us finally," Percy said sarcastically and Jason landed with the others in the middle of the fighting.

"We were beginning to think we'd have to wait another century before you guys showed up."

"We had other problems," Jason said, slashing two of the earthborn swiftly.

Annabeth stabbed a cyclops in the gut with her dagger. The giants were joining the fight after being dazed by the blast. "What sort of problem, exactly?" Annabeth questioned.

Hazel dodged a club thrown by Otis. "Problems like dealing with three fourths of the entire monster army."

"Big problem," Percy remarked.

Leo dropped from above. "Aaannnddd there goes the last one," he yelled, joyfully throwing a ball of fire and disintegrating the last monstee left. The giants were still there. And they were cornered. Annabeth had to admit, being surrounded by giants who were way taller than them and towered above surrounding them with bloodthirsty looks would still make it to the top ten most horrifying things she had seen; even after tartarus.

"That's the end of you, demigods," Porphyrion growled. "You cannot kill us."

Natalie laughed. Her laughter echoed across the now destroyed Acropolis. Annabeth looked at her. Percy was staring at her as though she had lost her mind.

"Oh we sure cannot," Natalie told the king of the giants. "Not alone. But with them, we can."

She pointed to the sky in front of them. Through the broken roof of Acropolis, Annabeth saw small specks of gold coming towards them. Porphyrion turned back and saw what she was pointing at. He growled with fury.

With a bang, the golden chariots dropped from the sky. They were thrown off their feet. Annabeth felt a small bud of hope blooming inside her. She saw her mother in front of her, offering her hand.

"You have done well, Annabeth," she said, a small glint of pride in her eyes. "Now come on, let us finish this once and for all."

Annabeth took her hand. She barely had time to register the other demigods and gods fighting with the other giants before her instincts told her to duck. She did, and she was lucky she did, otherwise she would have had her head blown off by Peryboia's club.

Peryboia charged at her. Her mother blocked the first strike with her spear. She was in full battle gear. Annabeth could see a hint of fear in Peryboia's eyes. No doubt, it was the work of Aegis that shone at her mother's chest. She attacked as she saw the opportunity. She stabbed Peryboia in the feet and went to stab her from her back.

Peryboia turned back and Annabeth had to duck as she attacked. Athena slammed her spear in the middle of Peryboia's armour. She howled with pain, flinging her club. Annabeth saw the opportunity; she stabbed Peryboia from the side with her dagger. Athena stabbed her with her spear from the other side. Peryboia screamed with fury. Her hands started disintegrating. With one final show of strength, she flung her arm at Annabeth, who was thrown back into a pillar. She felt her right leg get scratched by a sharp edge of the broken pillar.

"Annabeth, NO!" Piper yelled from somewhere. Dazed, she looked around. Peryboia had disintegrated; Athena was looking at her with worry. Then she saw her leg. It was bleeding. She saw as the drops of blood fell on the ground and turned golden. They dissolved into the cracked floor; the thumping of ground got louder.

Annabeth immediately took off her jacket and wrapped her leg. But the damage had been done.

"Hey boys," Natalie yelled. "Make sure you don't bleed!"

Annabeth saw as Otis knocked Percy to the floor. Poseidon attacked him from behind. Divided between three people, he was soon a swirling pile of dust. In minutes, there was no sign of the giants. Athena was by her side again. She grabbed her by the shoulders and lifted her. Limping slightly, she went near the gods, who were slowly converging in the middle of the Acropolis.

Athena put a hand across her shoulder. She saw Hephaestus beside Leo, who ruffled his hair a bit too roughly. Leo flinched slightly, but grinned at her. Jason stood awkwardly beside Zeus. Ares had put his hand on Frank's shoulder, but Frank looked ready to escape. Hazel stood beside Artemis and Apollo, her hair askew. Aphrodite was showering Piper with kisses, which Piper seemed too embarrassed about. Poseidon stood casually with his arms wrapped around both his children; both of them had an arm wrapped around his side too, so they looked as if all three of them were giving each other a side hug together.

Zeus cleared his throat. "Once again, we have saved Olympus from a looming threat. The demigods have done well, though someone remains to be punished."

Apollo flinched. "Father, I–,"

Zeus waved his hand. Apollo disappeared in a glimmer of golden mist.

Jason shuffled hesitantly. "Father, maybe you should have heard what Apollo had to say."

Zeus glared at him. "Apollo deserves the punishment he will get. You need not be worried about the matters of the gods, my son."

Jason started to say something again, but fell silent on a look from Artemis. The air around Annabeth tasted like electricity. Before she could process what was happening, she tensed. Frank yelled, "Percy, your nose!"

Annabeth, as in slow motion, watches the drop of crimson fall from Percy's bleeding nose. It fell into the ground with a small tick, and turned golden and dissolved. The ground rumbled. The Earth shook with such a force that she had to keep her feet very firm so as not to fall. She saw a face appear in the ground in front of them.

"Destruction," Gaea laughed, before her face disappeared.

"She's headed for camp," Hazel spoke.

"We need to get there," Annabeth's instincts took over. "As soon as we can."

With her last sentence, Annabeth looked over to Zeus, hoping he would notice what she meant.

He gazed at her for a moment.

"Well," he said, scratching his beard. "I can slap you back to Long Island."

(Line break

Annabeth did not at all like getting slapped back to Long Island. The Argo II broke on impact with the ground. It collapsed completely, but somehow they were safe.

Leo looked at the broken debris for some moments before Jason shook him.

"Leo, we gotta go, man. Come on."

He wiped his nose. "I'm coming. You guys go."

Annabeth didn't need telling twice. She dashed back to the Camp from the sea shore. She ran faster than anytime she had in her life. Stabbing a few monsters as she entered the Camp barrier, she felt a strange warmth entered her.

The Athena Parthenos stood on the Half-Blood Hill, shining palely in the light of the sun. It created an aura around the camp, filling everyone with a majestic energy.

Reyna had succeeded. The camps were united. But in front of all of them still stood their biggest enemy, Gaea. She quickly made her way to the front. Demigods patted her and waved as they saw her. Clarisse nodded at her, Will smiled and Malcolm looked as if he were about to cry. He made his way over to her and hugged her. She had never given a thought on how her siblings might have felt when they would have learned she fell into Tartarus, and now it made her guilty.

Then everybody cheered. Annabeth turned back. She saw Percy running behind her. The whole camp was cheering because their hero had returned. Just seeing Percy seemed to have filled them with adrenaline.

Everybody except Leo was there. Annabeth saw the whole valley surrounded by monsters. She stood shoulder to shoulder with Reyna, who nodded seeing her. They formed a line, ready to fight their way to death, or victory.

The ground rumbled. A few yards in front of them, it churned. The trees collapsed inward. The dirt swirled and rose, forming the humanoid form of Gaea, her eyes open now.

"For Olympus!" Frank yelled.

"For Olympus!" she yelled back with everyone else.

Reyna mounted her pegasi. "Legion! Cuneum formate!"

"Charge!" Frank yelled.

"Greeks!" Percy yelled. "Let's, um, fight stuff!"

Annabeth wanted to laugh. But even those words from Percy were greeted by tremendous cheer as they went into battle. Everyone at camp respected Percy so much. He was their hero; their leader.

Annabeth ran into battle as she saw Leo appear on a bronze dragon. He had somehow rebuilt Festus. She saw Jason pick Piper and make their way towards Festus. Annabeth had no time to watch anything else. She stabbed a dracaenae in the gut and slashed at a cyclops. Her dagger met with an unfortunate cynocephali, which immediately vapourized. At first she was fighting behind Frank, then she was fighting beside Percy, then Natalie was there. She had no idea how long it went on.

All she knew was that her ADHD mind had wnet overdrive. It could have been hours, but it only felt like minutes. She was almost stabbed from behind before Clarisse vapourized the monster.

"You punks still need me," she noted. But there was a relief in her voice, and the same in her eyes.

"We could have used you back in Tartarus," she told her.

"Exactly," she replied. "I was wondering how you even made it out without me."

Annabeth laughed. "It's good to see you too, Clarisse."

Then she saw Percy fighting along with Chiron.

"Are they safe?" Percy asked.

"For now," Chiron told him, firing three arrows at once that hit three cyclops in the eyes.

"They're in the big house," he tensely said. "But if we're overrun….,"

Annabeth saw Hazel struggling to fight three cynocephali at once. She immediately went there to help. Up above, she saw Leo throwing fireballs at Gaea as Jason flew around her, stabbing her and shooting her with tendrils of electricity. Will and Nico were nowhere to be seen. Reyna led a part of the Roman legion, who fought better than Annabeth had expected. Frank changed into various animals as he fought, with such a fluidity that it was impossible to determine what he was at what time.

The demigods had destroyed half the monster army by now. Annabeth was glad that as of yet, at least she had heard of no death. But she knew almost everyone, including her, were definitely wounded.

Then she heard a boom. A sound that shook her ears to the core. Someone had fired the onager. She saw a huge ball of fire going towards Gaea. And just as it collided, the sky lit up golden. And at that moment it was over. The fight was over.

They had won.