Hey guys! I think you'll enjoy this chapter- in which lots of characters are badass- and I spent ages considering what weapon Drew would actually use so I hope you like that, also- Percy is gonna regret laughing but I mean, you would too, and you gotta love Leo he does what I would do if I was him lol. Also- sorry not sorry for the end of the chapter. But hey, could have been worse. As always please please review and let me know what you think. Also, just so you know I am literally almost 100 chapters ahead lol, I'm partway through the plotline of SON at the moment, though there's so very very important differences and I'm about to be writing a super emotional scene so that's gonna be fun.
Now for stuff with my future fic!
Sorta poll for Sally's parentage/who she's a legacy of. I won't be including the vote for Vesta because she's a maiden.
Ceres: 1
Baccus: 1
Jupiter: 1
Pluto: 1
Neptune: 1
Saturn: 2
Apollo: 1
Mars: 1
Venus: 4
Terra: 2
Nox: 2
Daughter of Venus: 3
Daughter of Ceres: 1
Percy wasn't sure how long the fight went on- it was a blur. Percy fought like she'd never fought before- she was a blur of action, spinning and slashing at any monsters and enemies that got too close, Annabeth staying close to her side- a fact that Percy was glad for because it meant that while Annabeth could guard her back Percy could defend Annabeth's weak side.
Together they waded into legions of dracaenae, taking out dozens of telkhines with every strike, destroying empousai and knocking out enemy demigods. No matter how many they defeated, more took their place.
Annabeth and Percy raced from battle to battle, both moving with a frantic energy- there were too many demigods led out on the streets, bodies wounded and broken- too many of them would never breath again, Percy knew and she forced herself to ignore the
sting of tears that she didn't allow to fall.
They could mourn once this was over.
And so they kept fighting- Percy saw flashes of her friends and family- Luke and Thalia back to back, Episkopos gliding in deadly arcs of bronze while Thalia summoned lightning, channelling it through her blade, frying monster after monster.
She saw Leo, on Festus' back still, the dragon crushing monsters and burning them whenever they got too close- he had a large ring around him, none of them wanted to get too close for fear of being burned alive by the automaton.
There was Zoe, leading her hunters, volleys of arrows taking out dozens of monsters at a time, and she spotted Nico, still moving from fight to fight, going wherever he thought he was needed most, cracks opening in the ground beneath monsters, his Stygian Iron blades taking out many of them, and his skeletons acting as an honor guard wherever he went- though she couldn't help but notice that he was paling- he was pushing himself as far as he could go and it was terrifying to watch.
Mrs O'Leary had arrived at some point, likely summoned by Nico- he was the only one other than Percy could could summon her, and she tore through enemy monsters, bounding back and forth.
She spotted Michael and Austin in the flying chariot above, raining arrows down on their enemies- and there were Silena and Drew side by side, Silena wielding a dagger and Drew twirling- Percy blinked, she'd never actually seen Drew fighting before.
The daughter of Aphrodite was using a long slim whip- made of some sort of leather maybe, Percy couldn't tell from a distance, but she could see the glint of Celestian Bronze on the end of it shaped almost like a spear tip- and Drew wielded it like a pro, with a flick of her wrist she could send it spearing out- and it often wrapped around monsters arms or legs and yanked them into range for Silena to take them out.
Percy moved on, there was Kayla, she was helping Lou Ellen, arrows flying from her bow as the daughter of Hecate- the only Hecate child they had in camp, turned enemy demigods into animals with her magic- though Percy could see that the girl wasn't used to using her magic so much, she was already swaying on her feet- but still Percy felt proud in an odd way, Lou Ellen had found her place at camp- no one cared that her mom was Hecate, that she was related to Alabaster- and she was fighting against her own brother to defend her friends.
Percy's gaze moved on- and there were Chris and Clarisse, side by side, Chris guarding Clarisse's back as she fought with a fierceness that was honestly kind of terrifying- but then Clarisse had always been a badass hadn't she?
As the night wore on and the moon got higher the fight continued- Percy saw Lou Ellen dropping in a dead faint but before Percy could reach her Kayla was catching her and Clarisse and Chris were there, waving for the flying chariot- and Michael and Austin hauled the daughter of Hecate into the chariot and whirled it around- once the boys had ran out of arrows they'd essentially turned the flying chariot into an ambulance, ferrying the injured demigods that they could get to back to the hotel for Will and his siblings that were more skilled with healing than archery.
Their numbers were dwindling, that much was painfully obvious as they fought.
They were backed up foot by foot until they were only a block from the Empire State Building in any direction. At one point Grover was next to Percy, bonking snake women over the head with his cudgel. Then he disappeared in the crowd, and it was Thalia and Luke at her side, driving the monsters back with the power of her magic shield. Mrs. O'Leary bounded out of nowhere, picked up a Laistrygonian giant in her mouth, and flung him into the air like a Frisbee. Annabeth used her invisibility cap to sneak behind the enemy lines. Whenever a monster disintegrated for no apparent reason with a surprised look on his face, Percy knew Annabeth had been there.
But it was becoming clear painfully quickly that it wouldn't be enough. Percy felt like screaming and crying- it wasn't fair, they were fighting so hard but they didn't have enough people.
She could hear Katie off her her left yelling at some of them to hold the lines but they didn't have enough people to hold the lines.
The entrance to Olympus was barely twenty feet behind her- a ring of demigods, hunters, nature spirits and skeletal warriors were guarding the doors but they were all exhausted- there was only so long they'd be able to hold out for- and Percy knew how this was going to end- she hated it but she knew that unless they had back up within the next few minutes they were going to lose.
Then Percy spotted something and her breath caught in her throat, terror flooding through her. Behind the enemy troops, a few blocks to the east, a bright light began to shine. Percy wanted to deny it- wanted to think that it was just a sunrise, but she knew what it really was, Kronos was riding toward them on a golden chariot, a dozen Laistrygonian giants just ahead of him leading the way with burning torches. Two Hyperboreans carried his black-and-purple banners. The Titan lord looked fresh and rested, his powers at full strength. He was taking his time advancing, letting them wear themselves down. It might have just been Percy's paranoia but she could almost feel his gaze focusing on her- and she could imagine that smirk- Alabaster's smirk turned even more twisted- and gods she'd never thought that there would be a day when she wished she was looking at Alabaster- but even he'd be better than Kronos- though not that much better really.
Annabeth appeared next to her. "We have to fall back to the doorway. Hold it at all costs! Percy he's- he's staring at you-"
"You're right." Percy hated it- she hated it but they didn't stand a chance. "And I know okay I can feel my skin crawling." she took a deep breath, opening her mouth to order them to fall back to the doorway to try and hold it when she heard something- it cut through the noise of the battle , a hunting horn- and Percy paused, her brows furrowing, her gaze turning to Zoe automatically, and the daughter of Atlas shook her head sharply.
"It cannot be the hunt- we are all here, could it be more demigods?"
"No, the others at camp can't be here." Percy said quickly, "They're too young and they're defending camp anyway." A chorus of horns answered the first call from all around them and Percy swallowed hard- was it more enemies? Were they about to be overrun completely?
But when her gaze swung back to Kronos she could see a confused look on his face- and annoyance in those molten gold eyes.
His forces looked confused too. Giants lowered their clubs. Dracaenae hissed. Even Kronos's honor guard looked uneasy.
Then, to their left, a hundred monsters cried out at once. Kronos's entire northern flank surged forward.
For just a moment Percy thought that they were doomed, but they didn't attack. They ran straight past them and crashed into their southern allies.
A new blast of horns shattered the night. The air shimmered. In a blur of movement, an entire cavalry appeared as if dropping out of light speed.
"Yeah, baby!" a voice wailed. "PARTY!"
A shower of arrows arced over their heads and slammed into the enemy, vaporizing hundreds of demons. But these weren't regular arrows. They made whizzy sounds as they flew, like WHEEEEEE! Some had pinwheels attached to them. Others had boxing gloves rather than points.
"Centaurs!" Annabeth yelled.
The Party Pony army exploded into their midst in a riot of colors: tie-dyed shirts, rainbow Afro wigs, oversize sunglasses, and war-painted faces. Some had slogans scrawled across their flanks like HORSEZ PWN or KRONOS SUX.
Hundreds of them filled the entire block. Percy's brain couldn't process everything she saw, but she knew if she were the enemy, she'd be running.
"Percy!" Chiron shouted across the sea of wild centaurs. He was dressed in armor from the waist up, his bow in his hand, and he was grinning in satisfaction. "Sorry we're late!"
"DUDE!" Another centaur yelled. "Talk later. WASTE MONSTERS NOW!"
He locked and loaded a double-barrel paint gun and blasted an enemy hellhound bright pink. The paint must've been mixed with Celestial bronze dust or something, because as soon as it splattered the hellhound, the monster yelped and dissolved into a pink-and-black puddle.
"PARTY PONIES.'" a centaur yelled. "SOUTH FLORIDA!"
Somewhere across the battlefield, a twangy voice yelled back, "HEART OF TEXAS CHAPTER!"
"HAWAII OWNS YOUR FACES!" a third one shouted.
And Percy was laughing, the noise bubbling past her lips as she pressed her hand over her mouth, Annabeth wrapping an arm around Percy's shoulder as she let out a loud cheer.
It was one of the most beautiful things Percy had ever seen- and she was pretty sure that she spotted Leo holding up his phone out of the corner of her eye, probably filming the whole thing- and Percy was going to have to get him to send her the footage if he was because holy Hades but she wanted to be able to watch it on nights that she was sad or annoyed because it was sure to cheer her up entire Titan army turned and fled, pushed back by a flood of paintballs, arrows, swords, and NERF baseball bats. The centaurs trampled everything in their path.
"Stop running, you fools!" Kronos yelled. "Stand and fight! Bring Persephone Jackson to- ACKK!"
That last part was because a panicked Hyperborean giant stumbled backward and sat on top of him. The lord of time disappeared under a giant blue butt.
Percy just gaped for several long moments before she whooped loudly, "Yes! Yes take that you creepy son of a bitch!"
Chiron let out a laugh despite himself, galloping towards them and nodding when he came to a halt "It's good to see that you're still in good spirits Persephone-"
"We weren't five minutes ago." Annabeth laughed, "Once this is over I'm gonna hug you Chiron."
"I'll hold you to that my child." Chiron's smile was wide and warm- and together they pushed the enemy back for several blocks-
Chiron's help was invaluable.
After some time Chiron yelled "HOLD! On your promise, HOLD!"
It wasn't easy, but eventually the order got relayed up and down the ranks of centaurs, and they started to pull back, letting the enemy flee.
Percy didn't like that, but she could see the sense in it even before Annabeth spoke.
"That's smart Chiron. If we pursue, we'll get too spread out. We need to regroup."
"At least we held them off."
"That's right, and dawn is coming. We've brought some time."
"Y-" Percy cut herself off mid sentence- because she saw someone emerging from the shadows a short distance away, stumbling out from an alley, clutching his Sygian Iron blade- and she was moving without even telling Annabeth where she was going, almost flying towards Nico, catching him before he hit the ground- and he was paler than she'd ever seen him, and of course he was, he was using his powers more than he'd ever done before, she pressed her hand to her little brother's forehead even as Chiron and Annabeth reached her and she cursed under her breath.
It felt like ice, and his breathing was shallow, he was covered with so many cuts and bruises that he looked worse than the straw dummies at camp.
Percy slid her arms under his back and knees, hoisting him up bridal style.
"Oh gods-" Annabeth's voice was horrified, "Oh gods no-"
"He's alive." Percy's voice was almost panicked, then she whistled, a loud piercing noise, "I'll talk to you guys back at the hotel.
Annabeth, you and Chiron are in charge." because Blackjack was swooping in and Percy pushed Nico onto his back and hauled herself on behind him.
Chiron gave a short nod, a worried glint in his eyes, "We'll see you there. Be careful Persephone." and then Blackjack was taking off, Percy clinging to her brother tightly.
"Hold on Nico. Everything's gonna be okay." her voice shook, "I promise you Nico. I'm not losing you."
