A.N: Before I start, I have wanted to say that I'm very sorry for the delay of this chapter. Life just caught up to me, and I guess I kind of just forgot to update. There's really no excuse.

Percy POV:

The torture continued for Chaos knows how long. I had long lost track of time, but I had already become used to the schedule. I just waited for the door to creak open and the dark figure of Nico to walk in. He always wore the same expression of glee, but every time he walked in, I could tell that there was something lying beneath the mask that was on his face. Part of the real Nico.

My body ached all over and it was hard to move even an inch without it burning up. I couldn't even sit against the wall or else my back would feel like it was on fire, which frankly was not a pleasant sensation. The only things keeping me from giving up the fact that there may be a way to coax Nico into taking control of his body again. Every time he strode out of the room after a session, I could see a hint of remorse in his eyes and knew that there was something that I could do.

The second thing keeping me going was the very same person that took over my mind every time I closed my eyes. I could see her smiling at me and her beautiful eyes gleaming with happiness. There was no way that whatever Apollyon was planning for me would wipe the memories of Artemis from my mind. She was forever imprinted into my life, my very soul. You cannot simply force somebody to forget part of their own soul. I will see you again, Arty. I promise.

As I thought these words, the door swung open again and I shivered in anticipation. I already knew what was happening, but this time, I had the will to fight against it. As Nico strode towards me, pulling the key out of his pocket, I stumbled to my feet and held my hands out in from of me in a pleading gesture.

"Do not do this. You can fight against her, I know you can!" I shouted at Nico, past the goddess controlling him and addressing the true being inside, the owner of this body. His face twisted into a sneer.

"Ha! Do you think he can hear you? Are you foolish enough to believe that a mere demigod can challenge the power of a god?" Peitho said from Nico's body.

"I'm not talking to you," I said calmly, "Please, Nico. I know you're in there. You can fight back, I know you can. Do this for me, your big brother. Just try, please!"

Peitho just sneered again, "You cannot do anything about it, you little brat. He will not hear you."

At this point, I was starting to get a little desperate," Nico! Is this really how you want this to go. Do you want to wake up in your body with everybody around you dead? Remember what it was like when Bianca died! Do you really want that for yourself again?" I felt guilty about bringing up his sister. I knew that he still mourned for her and he had still not gotten over her death.

Despite my feelings, my plan was effective and his eyes switched to brown again, but this time, it stayed that way for much longer than it usually did. I knew that I was reaching him inside. He could definitely hear me in there, and I was going to save my little bro. I wracked my brain for ideas.

"Hey, Death Breath! Come out and show me that you're strong enough to break a goddess' hold. You always used to say that you were strong, but are you really?" Nico had always been provoked easily, and if I could rile him up, then it might give him the strength to break free, even it may come with consequences when he did. He had never been one to tolerate being doubted.

His face darkened and I could see the rage on his face. He was getting there, I thought as I continued to jab him with my words.

"If you can't even fight a mere minor goddess, then how can you expect to be called strong. How can you expect anybody to respect you?"

This seemed to do the trick. His eyes were icy cold, but I shuddered at the fire burning beneath his icy orbs. A white-hot flame that threatened to incinerate me with just a glance. By now, his eyes were locked on a deep brown, as he regained control of his body. He glared at me.

"What did you say?!" He roared. I smiled sheepishly at him.

"Nice to have you back?"

"Nice to have me what? Wait, what just happened?" He asked completely confused. It seemed that he was not aware of what happened during the time that Peitho had taken over his body. Then I realized something. The moment that Peitho had been forced out of Nico's body, she would be alert Apollyon and most likely come running. We didn't have much time and if we were going to act, then we would need to do so quickly.

"Ok, Nico, I don't have any time to explain right now, but we really need to go. There is something that we need to find in this compound, but it must be done quickly, or else there will be no second chance."

"What do you mean? What are we trying to find? And what the hell is going on right now?"

"I told you that we don't have much time. I will explain it to you after, but first, let's start moving, he might be here any moment."

'Who?" He asked. I just ignored him, because I knew that any answer I gave him would only lead to more questions. I rushed out the still unlocked door with Nico close behind me, still very confused as to what was going on. I couldn't blame him, because I would be confused too, if I woke up in a dark room, standing next to your best friend with no recollection of anything that had happened for the past couple months.

I had no idea where I was going, and I was only guided by the slight pull in my gut, leading me to the key. I could still sense it because it had been part of me for the longest time, and my soul was still yearning for contact again. The sensation soon became a tug, that was so strong that it threatened to yank me to the ground.

At last, we reached a room with a closed door, but I was certain that this was the one. Nico padded up behind me and leaned on his knees to catch his breath.

'Geez, bro. What's gotten you so riled up?" He asked. I shushed him and motioned for him to stand behind me. There was no telling who or what was behind this door alongside the object that I was looking for. I tried to handle but found that it was firmly shut. I brought up my knee to my chest and smashed the door with my leg, breaking the lock in the process. The door swung open on its hinges and slammed against the wall with a loud clank! I winced a little at the loud sound.

I surveyed the room and was shocked to find that it was empty, no sign of anybody around. I turned around and looked at Nico who seemed to be awed by something. A glowing object, floating in mid-air between two metal pillars was sitting in the middle of the room with lightning arcing around it.

"That is the most powerful object ever created," I told Nico. He looked at me skeptically.

"I knew you were stupid, Perce, but stupid enough to steal this? That's taking it to a new level!"

"Wow, thank you so much," I said sarcastically. I walked up to the middle of the room towards the two pillars. I could almost feel it reaching out to my soul and I knew that if I let it, then it would latch on like a leech, just like before, but I had no intentions of letting it do so. I did not need this thing latched onto my body any longer than it had already been.

Just as I was about to reach it something emerged from the shadows to my right.

"Ah, I knew you would come. Once Peitho reported to me, all I had to do was come here and wait for you to walk right into my outstretched palm. You are so predictable, you know that?" Apollyon said, stepping away from the wall that he had been leaning on. !

"Percy? W-who i-is that?" Nico asked nervously. I ushered him behind me.

"Just stand behind me, you are in no condition to fight right now," I said.

Apollyon laughed uproariously, " Ha! And you think you're in any condition to fight? Even at your strongest, you couldn't hope to face me!"

I just glared at him, knowing that he was right. I wracked my brain for a plant that would get us out of here, but nothing came to mind. Suddenly, I thought about the one person who always knew how to get out of any situation. C'mon. Think, Perce! What would Annabeth do in this situation?

Then, I almost facepalmed. I could just mist travel out of here! I jumped back and grabbed Nico by his arm, mist traveling away. But instead of mist traveling, we face planted into the wall, sliding down like in a children's cartoon.

"Foolish, foolish demigod. Didn't I already tell you that godly powers were negated in this compound? Only a being as strong as a primordial could use any of their powers in here," Apollyon said, standing over us and observing us with glee clearly written on his face. He was enjoying this.

"You bastard! I don't know who you are, but let us go!" Shouted Nico.

"So you didn't tell him? Well, then I will have the honor of introducing myself then. My name is Apollyon, the strongest being in the entire being. Your little friend here has gone through a lot of trouble trying to defeat me, but you can see where that got him," He said, gesturing to me. I almost snarled, but I managed to hold myself back. It would do no good do anger him. We were already at his mercy.

Before Nico could even reply, a flash of black light erupted from the center of the room. A woman in a cloak appeared with a hood over her eyes. I caught my breath. Was this the goddess Peitho, finally making an appearance? I knew that she was a loyal servant of Apollyon, so it would seem likely that she might flash in at any moment.

Apollyon turned around in surprise.

"How did you get in here?!"

The woman chuckled lightly, "You said that only a being as powerful as a primordial could use their powers in here. Well, just your luck. I am a primordial."

My worries suddenly vanished as the woman pulled back her hood to reveal the face of Nyx. My stomach bubbled with joy as I stared at the Primordial of Night, but almost immediately plummeted. Why had she come? She had no chance against the strength of Apollyon, and by coming here, it was almost like suicide for her. The worst part about it was that she was doing this for me. If I hadn't been here, then she would not be in danger. I thought back to the war and tears almost sprang to my eyes at the thought of another person getting hurt by my actions.

"Nyx? What are you doing here?!"

"It was quite easy to escape my confinements and flash here with no problems. You should really get some better guards, Apollyon. Did you really think that a couple of minor gods would be enough to stop a primordial?"

Apollyon growled as he realized his foolishness, "It doesn't matter anyway, you will not escape alive."

Nyx laughed again and said something I couldn't quite here, as the voice of the same Primordial resonated throughout my brain, making it hard to hear anything else.

Percy. I could flash us out of here, but we cannot leave without the key. Since you cannot touch it, I will need to grab it and channel its power to create an explosion that will most likely subdue him, at least for a while until we can get back to Olympus. Whatever you do, do not let go of my hand!, Nyx said to me in my head, as she distracted Apollyon with a taunt of some sort.

Wait, this doesn't sound safe at all. What are you planning to do?

I won't explain to you right now, because we are a little short on time. You're right, it is not exactly 'safe', but you're just going to have to trust me, all right?

Fine, but if this gets us killed, then I'm going to kill you.

Fair enough. Just be ready, because it will happen pretty quickly, she said with a chuckle.

I turned my mind back to reality and saw Apollyon with his fists clenched into balls, glaring at Nyx.

"You know nothing!" He shouted. I looked questioningly at Nyx, but she just signaled with her eyes that she would explain later. Suddenly, Nyx disappeared from my sight, only to appear once more right in front of me. She grabbed my shoulder roughly reached towards the key. I made sure that I had a right grip on Nico's wrist, but it was tough to hold on because he was in full panic mode. He had no idea what was going on and was thrashing about, kicking into midair and yelling loudly.

As soon as Nyx had disappeared, he had whirled around to face her new position as he sensed her flash behind him. He made to grab her, but just as he was about to reach her, her outstretched hand snatched up the key. I looked at Apollyon's face and was met by an expression of disbelief and surprisingly, desperation.

It was like an action movie. The world around me moved in slow motion and I watched as a bubble of power exploded from the key, engulfing us. I felt Nyx flash us away, but this version of flash seemed to tear my flesh off my bones and shred my body to pieces. It felt like I was going through a meat grinder, but almost as soon as it started, it stopped.

I sat up gasping and heard two other people lying around me, also as a loss for air.

"What was that?!" I screamed at Nyx.

"I used the key to create an explosion around us while simultaneously flashing us away. The excess power from the explosion was channeled into our flash, overloading it and therefore making it extremely painful," She explained, still a little out of breath.

"Well, at least you could have told us!" Nico said.

"Where is all the fun in that?" Nyx asked humorously, "Anyways, I think it's time that you actually took a look around. I think you're going to like it."

I swiveled my head around and was shocked to find that we were in the Olympian Throne room once again. Everything was as it had been before Apollyon had captured me. The wall was still blown out and there was rubble on the floors. No gods were sitting on their thrones, and the one object in the room was a golden tree floating in the center of the room. The tree of the golden apples. I thanked every higher being that I knew that it was safe and that we still had a chance in this fight, even if it was slim.

"Quickly call a meeting. We definitely don't have much time before Apollyon wakes up and realizes what happened. The power of the key will subdue him for a little while, but we still have to be quick about this," Nyx said. I nodded in agreement. This was our one shot at victory, if we failed, then all was lost. The only problem was that I didn't actually have the power to call a meeting. I wasn't part of the council. Then something came to mind. Wait, I'm actually the guardian of Olympus right? What if I try and call a meeting using this.

I raised my sword to the ceiling and closed my eyes, concentrating on my desire to summon the gods. I felt a pull in my gut, not unlike what happened when I was using my water powers, and immediately seized it. A brilliant white light, intertwined with the colors of each god shot into the sky and shot through a hole in the roof. Once it was high enough, it seemed to explode into the symbols of each god in their corresponding colors.

The effect was immediate. There were 14 flashes of light all in the throne room at the same time. When it all died down, I looked back to the thrones and saw that every single god was sitting in their throne looking around frantically. The council was in complete disarray and the gods were shouting around, looking for the person who summoned them to the throne room. I didn't need to be told who they were looking for.

Suddenly, a silver blur smashed into me, sending me back a good ten feet as I landed on my back with a woman in my arms. My soul flared and I could feel the connection to this woman growing to its original state. Our bond had been weak during the time that I had spent in Apollyon's torture chamber. The loss had affected both of us deeply and I could tell that Artemis had been devastated while I was gone. It was essentially ripping our souls apart and keeping them from each other. It had been even worse torture than anything Apollyon could have given me.

I looked down to see the woman that I loved sobbing on my chest and slamming her fists against my stomach, although I barely felt it in the sea of euphoria I was being drowned in. Tears of my own were flooding into my own eyes and I pulled Artemis up so she was looking me in the eye. The look on her face made my heart break, and I surged up, capturing her moist, tear-soaked lips with my own. I could feel her lips mold against the shape of my own, like our two pairs of lips were created to kiss the other.

Just as we were about to deepen the kiss, we heard somebody from the thrones clear their throats. We separated ever so slowly, but only after kissing for another good ten seconds.

"Would you like to tell me what's going on right now?! We're all happy that your back and all, but I want to know what the hell you're doing kissing my maiden daughter!" Screamed Zeus in rage.

"We do not have time to explain right now, but I promise that I will tell you if we get out of this alive," I said. The other gods seemed to break out of their shock at seeing me and rushed from their thrones down to meet me on the floor. I was crushed by every god and goddess on the council, excluding Artemis, who had already given me her greeting, and Zeus, who was still not a big fan of mine. Plus, the king of the gods could not be seen hugging a weak little demigod, or else it would make him look bad.

I was completely soaked by tears of each individual god and to my surprise, even Ares was tearing up a little. I hadn't known that I had such a big impact on the gods. I was crushed between the gods for a good two minutes before I was released and left gasping on the floor, Artemis still by my side, hugging me for dear life. Some gods gave watery chuckles at me, while others looked like they were still on the verge of another outbreak of tears. To be honest, it was quite awkward seeing the gods bawling their eyes out right in front of me.

"My son! You have no idea how happy we are to see you. I thought I had lost you forever!" Poseidon said, relieved that his son was back with him. None of the gods had known the extent of my torture, except Artemis, who I knew could have felt it through our bond. She must have sensed my thoughts and squeezed my hand from her position beside me. Hestia, Hera, and Athena, who were all crying the most out of any god, all nodded in agreement and I could see the joy in their eyes. It made my heart clench in fear at the thought of losing them.

I was ok with giving my own life for this cause, but when it came to my family, I would give up my entire soul to see them safe. Anything to let them live their lives, even if it was without me.

"Ok, quick! We don't have much time!" Nyx said a little frantically as she realized how much time had just gone by. By now, Apollyon might have already woken up.

"What? To do what?" Asked Zeus. Nyx flashed to the middle of the room and brought the key out from behind her back. The gods were stunned, to say the least, and I couldn't blame them. Before this, they had thought that it was all over, but now that the key was a mere fifty feet from them, they realized that they really had another chance in this fight. This seemed to pump fire into their blood because everybody snapped to attention immediately.

"Now that I clearly have your undivided attention, I need to explain the situation," Nyx said, "So. Pretty much, I used the power of the key to creating an explosion that has enough power to knock Apollyon out for a short amount of time. I flashed myself, Nico, and Percy over here, and took the key with me. Luckily, it seems that you kept the tree, so we should be all set to activate this key unless Apollyon somehow manages to recover far quicker than I had anticipated."

The gods all looked at each other and a silent agreement passed between them.

"Then let's do this. We only have one shot at this and I will not let it go to waste," Boomed Zeus. The gods nodded.

"Ok then, you will need to be very fast. I will float this key to the center of the room next to the tree, but it will take a lot of power to get them to collide. With my help, you should be able to do it fairly quickly. Percy, you will need to try and distract Apollyon if he does get here. I know that is a dangerous task, but it may be necessary to our success."

I nodded vigorously. I would do anything and everything I could to stop Apollyon if I needed to.

"Very well, if this ends badly, then it was a pleasure being in this family, even if we do fight a lot," Zeus said.

"There is no need for that, Husband. We will succeed," Said Hera. The other gods seemed to agree with Hera.

Nyx, sensing that they were ready, said, "Ready to get started?" The gods nodded and she floated the key right next to the tree, about a foot apart. The power in the room increased by a thousand fold as they grew closer. My legs felt heavy and I thought I might collapse at any moment, but the gods were still sitting in their thrones as if nothing was happening.

As if they were made of one mind, they all reached their hands out towards the two glowing objects and made a motion in the air, like they were trying to squish them together using the force.

Suddenly, the energy in the room skyrocketed higher than it had been before. Apollyon walked out of a portal, sneering at us. I looked to the gods and saw that they were in such concentration that they hadn't even sensed the imminent danger. I turned back to Apollyon and took out my sword.

"DO YOU THINK A PUNY SWORD AS SMALL AS THAT CAN DEFEAT ME?!" yelled Apollyon loudly. He was in complete rage mode and his power levels were surging to new heights, past what I thought was even possible for one being without combusting. It was like the power of the universe was condensed into this one man-sized being.

I was shaking in fear and my sword dropped to the ground in fear of the abomination in front of me. That is until I remembered what I was fighting for. I instantly brought my sword back up to fighting position and all fear drained completely from my body. I was filled was a sense of confidence and a certain acceptance. An acceptance that I would most likely die here.

"I will make quick work of you, then murder those gods that you call 'family'," He said, spitting out the word family.

"And what do you know of a family?" I sneered at him. I watched in surprise as he flinched ever so slightly and I knew that I had hit the nail right on the head.

"Do not talk to me about family!" He snarled.

"Why not? Because you don't have one?" I shouted back at him. I just needed to stall him as much as possible, and this seemed to be doing just the trick.

"I had a family, but they abandoned me! They did nothing as I was pulled from my home and put in this garbage dump of a universe!"

He was from out of this universe? How powerful was he really?

"What do you mean?!" I yelled at him, partly because I needed to stall time, and partly because I was genuinely curious.

"Ha! You, humans, are arrogant. You think that you're the highest beings. Where I come from, I am at the bottom of the food chain. There are beings stronger than me by millions of times! Your godly parents are just delusional to think that you're the most powerful there is out there!"

Another worm of fear wriggled its way into my stomach as I realized what he was saying. If this was true, then he was just the tip of the iceberg, but his next words eased my worries immediately.

"But they abandoned me. They didn't want anything to do with this universe, so they just tossed me out like a piece of trash!"

Behind me, the two objects were almost touching and I just needed to stall him for another minute or so. Unfortunately, luck has been never on my side and he noticed what was going on behind me. His eyes narrowed at me and he started stalking towards me with a wicked looking knife in his fist, which was clenched so tightly that I was amazed that the knife didn't shatter.

"Nice little trick you got there. I have to admit, it almost worked, but now this is the end for you," He snarled. He advanced and swung his knife in an arc towards my neck. I barely dodged in time, but I took the opportunity to rush at him with my sword. I stabbed his gut but was shocked to find that it didn't even pierce his skin. I looked into his eyes in disbelief and saw a smirk on his face.

A blast of power struck my stomach and I flew back, hitting the wall behind me with so much force that it left a crack. I stumbled to my feet, dazed. I was seeing stars and knew that I didn't have any chance of surviving this encounter any more, but before I dropped to my knees and accepted defeat, I reached into my pocket and grabbed a familiar ballpoint pen. I brought it out into the open and uncapped it, letting it spring to its full size. A nostalgic feel swept through my body and I tensed, remembering all the battles I fought with this sword. Battles that had always been side by side with my fallen friends.

I burst of confidence burst through my blood to the point where it felt like my entire body was burning up. There was no way that I could ever hope to defeat Apollyon, but if I was going to die, then I would die saving the universe. After that, I could be forever at peace with every single one of my mortal friends. I raised my sword and shoved the tip towards Apollyon's stomach and watched in awe as it pierced his stomach, driving up the hilt into his body.

Apollyon merely grunted and shoved me back against the wall. He tore the sword from his stomach and I could see bits of his flesh stuck to the blade. As he was about to decapitate me, I noticed something behind him and quickly closed my eyes. As the gods released their true forms, the room shook and threw Apollyon off balance, Riptide striking the wall beside my head.

Apollyon growled and swiveled around towards the source of the power. He tried to throw a bolt of energy at the thrones, but it was too late. The key and the tree collided and a shock wave of power enveloped the entire throne room. I felt everything around me disintegrate and was appalled that I was not a pile of dust either. When everything cleared away, Apollyon was standing in the middle of the room, completely unfazed, while everybody else was either unconscious or groaning on the ground, trying to recover from the massive power surge.

He grinned like a madman.

"Not even your little trick worked on me! I'm the ruler of this universe and you cannot stop me!" He said, laughing maniacally Suddenly, it was as if a black hole had opened up behind him. It looked like his body was slowly being torn apart by this hole, a white substance flowing from his body into the empty space behind me.

"NOOOOOOO!" He shouted as the last of his body was sucked into the abyss. It promptly closed, leaving no trace that it had even appeared.

(End of Chapter 23)

SPQR-Alan: Thank you for giving me such constructive feedback! I like that you're not somebody who just give compliments or criticism. You give great suggestions, that I always use in future chapters. You just reminded me that Nico should not be so easily forgiven by the gods. I was not going to address that before, but after reading your review, I realized that I needed something like that. I will write that in the next chapter. Thanks!

the guy who loves all gunpla: I'm glad that you had a good time in China. I love Chinese food! Anyways, I'm not sure if you meant to put a question mark where you did, so I'm just going to assume that you're asking how Percy was tortured: The key is an extremely powerful object that no mortal is able to touch without it inflicting excruciating pain to them.

guest: Thank you for the compliment. I'm glad that you have been liking my story. To be honest, I would rather start on my new one soon, because I would like a clean slate. As I was writing this one, I didn't really have any experience in writing stories at all, so I just went with what I thought made sense, but looking back, there were sooooo many things that I would have liked to change about the plot. And I mean a lot. So even though I am sad to see this story come to an end, I am very excited to start on a new story!

A.N: This chapter was actually very hard to write because there was so much to keep track of. I had to make a heartfelt reunion, while at the same time making sure that it didn't take too long because Apollyon might have woken up at any second. There was no way that I could have made a complete reunion, so you're just going to have to make do with what is here.

A.N #2: Honestly, after I wrote this chapter, I thought back on my plot, and this seems like one of the more obscure plots that I've read about. This chapter makes it seem like some sort of espionage mission to steal valuable information within some top secret facility. I will be trying for a more realistic plot in the next story though. How do you guys like this story compare to others, I want to know. Don't worry about hurting my feelings, just put it out there! (Unless, of course, you're going to outright insult me)

SOMETHING THAT I KNOW YOU GUYS WILL LOVE: If you guys want to, then you can post a review on how Percy should propose to Artemis. I know you all saw that coming, so now is the opportunity for you to give me suggestions. I will be choosing the one that I think would work best for the story and is the most creative! Please tell me!