8/10/20

Sorry not sorry about the cliffhanger last chapter. Also, a quick disclaimer, I have no idea how to write, much less write Zoë, so sorry if shes a little OOC.

Wordcount:1728

The Dead Huntress

===========?===========

Percy POV:

Now, Percy didn't know what he expected Zoë's reaction to be. Maybe a punch, a hug, he didn't know. But what he didn't expect was for her to do nothing. She just stared at him, eyes wide. Maybe it was another one of those things he met in the mist, that impersonated his mother. But that didn't explain why she was way up here instead of with the rest of the monsters. He kept his hand closed around Riptide in his pocket, just in case. He didn't want to show her Vengeance just yet. His golden eye would be enough of a shock, but to be carrying Kronos scythe too? She would probably kill him on the spot. Hades, she might mistake him for Luke in this light.

Now that he was closer, he realized that she wasn't completely here. She was slightly see-through, just enough that he could make out the shape of the rock they were crouched behind through her. She also didn't have any weapons that he could see. Her knife sheaths were empty, she lacked the signature bow and arrow of every hunter of Artemis, and her clothes were ripped and torn, but other than that, she seemed the same as when he last saw her. She even seemed the same age as when he last saw her, which was around 16.

"Zoë?" Percy questioned, waving his hand in front of her face, "You look like you just saw a ghost!"

His attempt at humor seemed to shake the Huntress out of her trance, "Percy? What the Hades are you doing here?" She hissed, pulling him fully behind the rock they were next to.

"I fell," she shot him an exasperated glare, "You fell? What do you mean you fell?" So he quickly gave her the abridged version, starting from when he fell in Rome. She seemed confused about why he was in Rome but didn't comment. He didn't including anything to do with Kronos, not yet at least. She listened silently as he spoke in a hushed tone.

When he got to his meeting with Nyx, she grabbed him by the shoulder, her eyes wide, "Perseus, you met Lady Night? She hasn't been seen since the age of the titans, and even then, she barely interacted with even the Gods. This isn't anything to gloss over. Do you have any idea why she took such an interest in you?" Percy shook his head, "Not really. Nothing that would gather the attention of another primordial, at least."

"There is one thing you didn't explain, what happened to your face, and your eye?" She reached out, as if to touch his scar, but pulled her hand back before she could touch him. He reached up and felt the scar marring his face, straight through his left eye, which was turned gold when he took Kronos essence.

"Monster got a lucky strike, and it must have turned gold as I traveled. Ambrosia healed it enough so I can still see with it, though." He lied. She narrowed her eyes at him, so he quickly changed the subject, "So, why are you here? You still look seethrough."

She easily saw through him trying to change the subject, but answered his question anyway, "When Gaea stole some souls from the Fields of Punishment, some other souls got sucked out from Elysium. I was one of them." Percy nodded. Gwen had died and came back, whats to say Zoë couldn't do the same?

The two sat in silence for a moment, and Percy took that time to look around the rock at the Doors again. From his last vantage point, he couldn't make out much detail, other than that there were a lot of monsters. Now that he was closer, he could make out just how many monsters there were. There must have been at least as many monsters as there were during the Battle of the labyrinth and manhattan combined. The ground, which he had assumed was flat, was actually a series of red, fleshy hills.

As he stared over the mass of monsters, he realized just how futile this whole thing was. Demigods came and went, but monsters were eternal. Demigods could die, but monsters would be here forever. Eventually, there would be too many, or he would be just a little too slow, and he would die. But the monsters? They would just keep coming back, learning his moves a little more each time until they could read him like a book, and he would die.

He promised himself he wouldn't die on anyone's terms but his own.

He was brought back to reality by Zoë bumping his shoulder and gesturing to the mob of monsters below them, "I've been watching them for a while now. Monsters used to arrive in large groups of several dozen, now barely any are showing up, the occasion group of maybe a dozen at most. You see anything out there as there that would explain that?"

Percy frowned. That might have been because of him. He had been harassed nearly nonstop during his time here, taking out swathes of monsters until he was sure he was breathing straight monster dust, but ever since he left Damasens hut he hadn't seen any, "Yeah. I met a friendly giant named Damasen who was fighting a group of monsters when I met him. I haven't seen many monsters after I left his place. That might do it." Zoë nodded, accepting that.

He glanced back to the Doors. They were going to need some serious firepower to take those. Now that he thought about it, he hadn't seen any weapons on Zoë earlier. A double check proved that she, indeed, didn't have her knives or bow.

"What happened to your bow and stuff?" Percy questioned, gesturing to her empty sheathes. She sighed as she answered, " I lost my daggers when they got stuck in a cliff I was climbing down, and I've long since used up all my arrows. I've had to stick to the shadows to stay alive since."

His hand reached into his pocket and closed around Riptide. He didn't want to see his pen go, and he wanted even less to have to use Vengeance around Zoë, who would easily recognize it. She had been around since the age of the titans, after all. But he didn't have a choice if he wanted to get her out of here.

"Here, have this," Percy pulled out the sword he had used since he was twelve and handed it to Zoë. She looked up at him, mouth agape, "But Perc-" He cut her off, "Look before I do this, I need you to trust me, ok?" She seemed confused but nodded. He closed his eyes and thought about the armor Nyx had given him. A coolness settled over him, accompanying the weight of the metal. He opened his eyes and watched as Vengeance sprung into action into his hand, in scythe from for some reason.

Zoë didn't hesitate. She uncapped Riptide and swung for his neck, aiming to sever his head from his shoulders. Percy caught the blow on the Handle of his scythe, and grabbed her shoulder. She wrenched herself out of his grasp and backed up, her sword clutched shakily between her hands.

"Kronos," She growled, but fear tainted her voice, "I should have known I would meet you down here. First, you get me killed then you posses my friend!" Percy set down his scythe and raised his hands in a placating manner, "Kronos is dead, Zoë. He gave me his power and scythe before he faded. Nyx gave me the armor. It's still me," Percy calmly explained like he was talking to a cornered animal. She lowered her sword slightly, and met his eyes, "Prove it."

The armor covering Percy melted off, leaving him back in his black clothes. He showed her his right bicep, where Nyx had given him a tattoo of the hourglass. Zoë finally seemed convinced, as she capped Riptide and walked up to him.

She punched him as hard as she could in the gut, which needless to say, didn't feel good. Percy collapsed to his knees, and Zoë bent down and whispered in his ear, "That was for scaring the Hades out of me." She then turned back to the rock they were standing next to and continued to survey the monster horde. After a few minutes, he managed to stand and stumble over to her. They stood in silence, watching the figures move around like an ant hive.

Zoë was first to break the silence. "Why?" she questioned, turning to face him. Percy scrunched his eyebrows together as he thought about what she meant, "Why what?"

"Why would you give up Riptide?"

"You need it more than me. 'Sides, it's yours in the first place." She smiled at him, a soft, thankful smile, and turned back to her monster watching. Besides, He thought, if he was going to close the Doors of Death, he would need a free hand.

Percy, despite contrary belief, wasn't dumb. He knew that falling down here was a one-way trip. All this time, all he was going to down here was close the Doors and die. The fact Thanatos couldn't claim his soul threw a wrench in his plans. Die wasn't the right word, he supposed. Spend eternity as a hundred little bits was more like it. He did have Kronos essence after all.

Now, though, he knew what he was going to do. They would make their way to the Doors, and once Zoë got through, he would close them behind her. The only thing that he needed to do was convince Zoë to go through the Doors first.

No matter what happened, one of them was staying down here, and it wasn't going to be Zoë.

===========?===========

Mwahahaha, I love being evil.

About Riptide. As much as I hate seeing his pen go away, I feel like it needed to happen, at least for now. Who knows, he could get it back later.

Please review!