Disclaimer: I don't own PJO. Okay, so everyone has been really excited for this chapter. I hope that it lives up to expectations. And that Ana doesn't slip into being a Mary-Sue/Deus Ex Machina. I hate those. Enjoy, and tell me what you think in a review!
Chapter Sixteen
Holding the Weight of the World
The horrible thing was: I could see the family resemblance. Atlas had the same regal expression as Zoe, the same coldly proud look in his eyes that Zoe sometimes got when she was mad, though on him it looked a thousand times crueller. He was all the things that I had originally disliked about Zoe, with none of the good I'd come to appreciate.
"Let Artemis go," Zoe demanded.
Atlas walked closer to the chained goddess. "Perhaps you'd like to take the sky for her, then? Be my guest."
Zoe opened her mouth to speak, but Artemis stopped her.
"No!" she snapped. "Do not offer, Zoe! I forbid you."
Atlas smirked. He knelt next to Artemis and tried to touch her face, but the goddess bit at him, almost taking off his fingers.
"Hoo-hoo," Atlas chuckled. "You see, daughter? Lady Artemis likes her new job. I think that I will have all the Olympians take turns carrying my burden, once Lord Kronos rules again, and this is the centre of our palace. It will teach those weaklings some humility."
"That'll never happen, asshole!" I snapped. It wasn't exactly the most eloquent that I could ever be, but it was the best I could think of at the moment.
I looked at Ana. She was desperately trying to tell me something without alerting anyone. She motioned her head toward Annabeth, her eyes forest green with desperation. But all that I could do was stare at her.
Her newly-grey streaked hair, the marks that covered her, the blood that stained her torn Camp t-shirt. I hadn't noticed it before, but her non-dominant arm was badly broken, to the point that I genuinely worried that the medics back at Camp might not be able to fix it.
"How the Hades did she survive holding it?" Thalia muttered to me under her breath. "The weight should've killed her."
"It's Ana Jackson," I shrugged back, my gaze still fixed on her. "She does six impossible things before breakfast."
"And another couple o'dozen after," Thalia grinned back briefly, before going serious again, glowering at our enemies.
Atlas approached us, his eyes glowing with hatred and his attention on Thalia.
"Well then, daughter of Zeus, it seems that Annabeth was wrong about you."
"I wasn't wrong," Annabeth managed.
She looked stressed and worried, as if it were her that had the weight of the sky on her shoulders, not Artemis. Part of me still ached at her pain, but it was smothered by the sight of Ana, struggling to stay standing despite her swollen ankle. Ana, who's hair was streaked with grey from Annabeth forcing her into taking the sky. My heart steeled itself against the traitor as Annabeth plead with Thalia, who looked a mixture of heartbroken and furious.
"Thalia, you still can join us," Chase implored. "Call the Ophiotaurus. It will come to you. Look!"
She waved her hand, and next to us a pool of water appeared: a pond ringed in black marble, big enough for the Ophiotaurus. I could imagine Bessie in that pool.
Ana grunted and shook her head, looking away. "No," she breathed softly in a hoarse tone. "I won't do it! Thalia, don't you dare!"
She gasped as a dracaenae jabbed her in the back, snapping at her to be quiet.
They must have tried to get her to call Bessie before, I realized. Maybe they knew that she was his chosen protector. Ana, of course, had refused.
"Thalia, call the Ophiotaurus," Annabeth persisted. "And you will be more powerful than the gods."
"Annabeth…" Her voice was full of pain. "What happened to you?"
"You died!" Annabeth shrieked, a hint of hysteria in her face. "You died, and Luke got sent on a quest and Stacey and Ryan died and he nearly did. The gods don't care about us, we're just toys and servants to them! They have no right to rule the world! We deserve to make them pay for everything they've done to us!"
"Gods, build a godsdamned bridge and get over yourself," Ana huffed. "You do realize that without the gods, there won't be any demigods either, right? Symbiotic, hun."
I smirked at Ana's comments, but my grin disappeared as Annabeth spun around and slapped Ana so hard she fell down to her side. Ana cried out as she landed on her injured arm, and my vision went red with anger. Thalia lunged to grab hold of me before I could attack Chase, the way I wanted to.
"Free Ana," Thalia demanded, not glancing at the pool. "Let her go."
"If you join us it can be like old times," Annabeth promised, her eyes darting between Thalia and I with desperate hope. "The three of us together. Fighting for a better world. Please, Thalia, if you don't agree…"
Her voice faltered. "It's our last chance. He will use the other way if you don't agree. Please."
I didn't know what she meant, but the fear in her voice sounded real enough. Something terrible was going to happen if Thalia didn't agree to help.
Annabeth life depended on Thalia's joining their cause. And I was afraid Thalia might know it, too. With Ana still lying on the floor, kept in place by a spear at her neck, I couldn't bring myself to care about Annabeth. But this was the first time that Thalia had seen her since Annabeth was a seven-year-old little girl. If she let old feelings cloud her judgment...
"Do not, Thalia," Zoe warned. "We must fight them."
Annabeth waved her hand again, and a fire appeared. A bronze brazier, just like the one at camp. A sacrificial flame.
"Thalia, you can't," I begged. "She's not the little girl we found in an alley anymore. Don't listen to her."
"Thalia, no," Ana also plead from her place on the ground. Thalia's eyes flickered to her, biting her lip so hard I could the blood welling up and staining her teeth.
Behind Annabeth, the golden sarcophagus began to glow. As it did, I saw images in the mist all around us: black marble walls rising, the ruins becoming whole, a terrible and beautiful palace rising around us, made of fear and shadow.
"We will raise Mount Othrys right here," Chase promised, in a voice so strained it was hardly her's. "Once more, it will be stronger and greater than Olympus. Look, Thalia. We are not weak."
She pointed toward the ocean, and my heart fell. Marching up the side of the mountain from the beach, led by someone I was certain was Ethan Nakamura, was a great army. There were dracaenae and Laestrygonians, monsters and half-bloods, hell hounds, harpies, and other things I couldn't even name.
The whole ship must've been emptied, because there were hundreds, many more than I'd seen on board last summer. And they were marching toward us. In a few minutes, they would be here.
"This is only a taste of what is to come," Annabeth announced with a terrible glee. Her expression was filled with a cruel kind of insanity. "Soon we will be ready to storm Camp Half-Blood. And after that, Olympus itself. All we need is your help."
For a terrible moment, Thalia hesitated. She gazed at Annabeth, her eyes full of pain, as if the only thing she wanted in the world was to believe her. Then she levelled her spear. "Luke's right. You're not the little girl I died for. I don't know who the Hades you are anymore."
"Yes, you do, Thalia," she begged, eyes welling with tears. Once upon a time, that sight had caused me to give her whatever she wanted. Maybe I had only fed her hubris and anger by doing so.
"Please. Don't make me… Don't make him destroy you."
There was no time. If that army got to the top of the hill, we would be overwhelmed. I met Ana's eyes again. She nodded, giving me a weak version of her usual 'don't go down without a fight' smile.
I looked at Thalia and Zoe, and I decided it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world to die fighting with friends like this.
"Now," I stated.
Together, we charged.
Thalia went straight for Annabeth. The power of her shield was so great that her dracaenae bodyguards fled in a panic, dropping the golden coffin and leaving him alone. But despite her sickly appearance, Annabeth was still quick with her sword, a steel-Celestial Bronze hybrid that was an unnamed sibling to Ethan's Backbiter and just as lethal, even if Annabeth had always been better with a knife.
She snarled like a wild animal and counterattacked. When her sword met Thalia's shield, a ball of lightning erupted between them, frying the air with yellow tendrils of power.
Zoe took up a position at the edge of the cliff and began picking off the reinforcements with perfect aim, not a single arrow wasted. As for me, I went straight for Ana.
Her guard didn't even have time to lift her spear before I had pierced her torso and she dissolved into dust. I hastily crouched and began stripping Ana of her various bindings.
"Are you alright to fight?" I asked her lowly as I pulled the remnants of her ankle chains off her ankles (one of which was swollen, but definitely not broken from my quick check, thank the Fates for small mercies.)
"Just try and stop me," Ana scoffed back. Her eyes had changed to a deep turquoise, the usual shade for her being utterly furious and out for blood. "I'm gonna kill 'em all!"
I chuckled as I helped her stand, though concern rose in my chest as she swayed for a second before regaining her balance and pulled her hairpin from her hair. (Seriously, how cocky were they, leaving her access to her weapon, even if she was tied up? Immortals! They're all the same, arrogant.)
"Ready?" I confirmed as we braced ourselves to fight.
She flashed me a smile filled with teeth. "Bring it on!"
Together, we charged at Atlas, heedless of Ana's injuries. And really, you'd barely notice that she was injured, she put up such a good fight.
Atlas cackled at us at first, because he had just been given carte blanche to fight us. That being said, he swiftly lost his amusement when Ana sliced a cut across his shin. Nothing remotely damaging, but for an immortal who believed himself to be invincible to be harmed in any way by a half-blood? Rage engulfed his face, and he started to actually put effort into the battle.
To Ana and I's credit, we were actually managing to stay alive despite Atlas' onslaught. We even managed a couple more hits. But Ana was hurt, I was exhausted and Atlas way out-classed us.
We held out about five minutes, before everything really went to Hades in a handbasket. Atlas kicked Ana in the stomach and she went flying, slamming into the opposite wall and slumping to the ground, unconscious. Or at least, she looked like she was unconscious. But I couldn't be sure, because after that Atlas turned his complete attention to me.
I hastily jumped back, out of range, and tried to plan. No way was I capable of holding off a Titan without help. I'd be dead in seconds. I continued to stay out of Atlas' reach, ignoring his cries of coward, as I glanced at my friends.
Thalia was still locked in combat with Annabeth, tears streaming out of both of their eyes as they tried to kill each other. Zoe had lost her bow, and was fighting knife-to-spear against a few dracaenae who had somehow gotten past her arrows. Ana, however, was beginning to stir again. Seriously, how tough was she? Even with a demigod's superior biology, designed for battle as it was, she had a high injury/pain tolerance.
Subtly, she reached up to her hair to grab her hairpin again, meeting my eyes as she did so. In the way that only people who knew each other inside out could, we shared a silent conversation through our eyes, making a plan. I nodded in confirmation, and braced myself.
Atlas was advancing on me, smirking darkly. "Time to die, little hero," he announced, in that melodramatic 'evil villain' tone. I had seriously believed that it was just a movie thing, but apparently not.
I glared at him defiantly, counting down silently in my head and praying that he wouldn't notice Ana's slow movements behind him.
He was just about to stab me through the chest with his javelin when Ana was suddenly on his back, Anaklumos buried hilt-deep in the crook of his shoulder. Gold ichor started flowing from his mouth as he used his good hand to try and grasp at Ana, who was proving the merits of adrenaline by avoiding his grasping hand with inhuman grace and ability. I could see her wincing every time that she moved her damaged wrist though.
Meanwhile, I ran to free the only person with us who actually had a chance of defeating Atlas.
I was given a surprising bit of help when Atlas' javelin, now pointless, hit me in the back. Though I avoided being impaled, I was still sent flying forward from the force of the momentum, and I slammed into the ground, my head spinning. I looked up and found I was at the feet of Artemis, still straining under the weight of the sky.
"Run, boy," she told me. "You must run!"
Gotta say, I hadn't expected her to care, given her general attitude towards males. If I escaped this alive, I'd make sure to sacrifice to her nightly. My head felt foggy, and I struggled to remember what I had been planning to do. It was important, I was sure. Ana had come up with it.
I glanced back. Ana was sprawled on the ground again, a sickening pool of blood forming around her. But I could see her chest, rising and falling. Atlas, meanwhile, was taking his time coming toward me. Annabeth and Thalia were fighting like demons, lightning crackling around them.
"Die, little hero," Atlas said.
He raised his javelin to impale me.
"No!" Zoe yelled, and a volley of silver arrows sprouted from the armpit chink in Atlas' armour.
"ARGH!" He bellowed and turned toward his daughter.
For some reason, that was what triggered it. I remembered the words of the prophecy: The Titan's curse must one withstand.
"The sky," I rasped out to the goddess. "Give it to me."
"No, boy," Artemis said. Her forehead was beaded with metallic sweat, like quicksilver. "You don't know what you're asking. It will crush you!"
"Ana took it!"
"She barely survived. She is a strong maiden with the spirit of a true huntress. You will not last so long."
"I'll die anyway," I retorted impatiently. "Give it to me!"
I didn't wait for her answer. I grabbed Halcyon and slashed through her chains. Then I stepped next to her and braced myself on one knee—holding up my hands—and touched the cold, heavy clouds. For a moment, Artemis and I bore the weight together. It was the heaviest thing I'd ever felt, as if I were being crushed under a thousand trucks. I wanted to black out from the pain, but I breathed deeply. I can do this.
Then Artemis slipped out from under the burden, and I held it alone.
Afterward, I tried many times to explain what it felt like. I couldn't.
Every muscle in my body turned to fire. My bones felt like they were melting. I wanted to scream, but I didn't have the strength to open my mouth. I began to sink, lower and lower to the ground, the sky's weight crushing me.
'Don't you dare give up, Luke!' I heard Ana say in my mind, though it seemed different to my usual Mental Ana somehow. 'Don't you dare!'
I forced myself to breathe. Ana had held the sky for hours, until Artemis had taken it from her. I could manage a few minutes. The fate of the world depended on it, and that was a powerful motivator.
My vision turned fuzzy. Everything was tinged with red. I caught glimpses of the battle, but I wasn't sure if I was seeing clearly. There was Atlas in full battle armour, jabbing with his javelin, laughing insanely as he fought. And Artemis, a deadly blur of silver. She had two wicked hunting knives, each as long as her arm, and she slashed wildly at the Titan, dodging and leaping with unbelievable grace. She seemed to change form as she maneuvered. She was a tiger, a gazelle, a bear, a falcon. Or perhaps that was just my fevered brain. Zoe shot arrows at her father, aiming for the chinks in his armour. He roared in pain each time one found its' mark, but they affected him like bee stings. He just got madder and kept fighting.
Thalia and Annabeth went spear on sword, lightning still flashing around them. Thalia pressed Chase back with the aura of her shield. Even she was not immune to it. She retreated, wincing and growling in frustration.
"Yield!" Thalia yelled. "You can't beat me, Annabeth. You're not good enough with a sword, and you know it."
She bared her teeth, looking like a wolf. "We'll see."
Sweat poured down my face. My hands were slippery. My shoulders would've screamed with agony if they could. I felt like the vertebrae in my spine were being welded together by a blowtorch.
Atlas advanced, pressing Artemis. She was fast, but his strength was unstoppable. His javelin slammed into the earth where Artemis had been a split second before, and a fissure opened in the rocks. He leaped over it and kept pursuing her. She was leading him back toward me.
Get ready, she spoke in my mind.
I was losing the ability to think through the pain. My response was something like Agggghh-owwwwwwww.
"You fight well for a girl." Atlas laughed. "But you are no match for me."
He feinted with the tip of his javelin and Artemis dodged. I saw the trick coming. Atlas' javelin swept around and knocked Artemis' legs off the ground. She fell, and Atlas brought up his javelin tip for the kill.
"No!" Zoe screamed. She leaped between her father and Artemis and shot an arrow straight into the Titan's forehead, where it lodged like a unicorn's horn. Atlas bellowed in rage. He swept aside his daughter with the back of his hand, sending her flying into the black rocks.
I wanted to shout her name, run to her aid, but I couldn't speak or move. I couldn't even see where Zoe had landed. Then Atlas turned on Artemis with a look of triumph in his face. Artemis seemed to be wounded. She didn't get up.
"The first blood in a new war," Atlas gloated. And he stabbed downward.
As fast as thought, Artemis grabbed his javelin shaft. It hit the earth right next to her and she pulled backward, using the javelin like a lever, kicking the Titan Lord and sending him flying over her, I saw him coming down on top of me and I realized what would happen. I loosened my grip on the sky, and as Atlas slammed into me I didn't try to hold on. I let myself be pushed out of the way and rolled for all I was worth.
The weight of the sky dropped onto Atlas' back, almost smashing him flat until he managed to get to his knees, struggling to get out from under the crushing weight of the sky. But it was too late.
"Noooooo!" He bellowed so hard it shook the mountain. "Not again!"
Atlas was trapped under his old burden once again.
I tried to stand and fell back again, dazed from pain. My body felt like it was burning up.
Thalia backed Annabeth to the edge of a cliff, but still they fought on, next to the golden coffin. Thalia had tears in her eyes. Annabeth had a bloody slash across her chest and her pale face glistened with sweat.
She lunged at Thalia and she slammed her with her shield. Annabeth's sword spun out of her hands and clattered to the rocks. Thalia put her spear point to her throat.
For a moment, there was silence.
"Well?" Annabeth spat. She tried to hide it, but I could hear the fear in her voice. Once, I had soothed that fear. Now, I ignored her completely, scrambling to Ana's side. She had a deep cut going into her side, and I fumbled to get my t-shirt off so I could press it to her side, my hands shaking in fear. Ana didn't stir.
Thalia trembled with fury.
"Traitor!" She accused, her voice a sob.
A noise attracted my attention, and I realized that Artemis was no longer with me. She had run off toward the black rocks where Zoe had fallen.
"Thalia, please," Annabeth whimpered.
"Trick," Ana groaned, having somehow clawed her way back to consciousness. But her voice was too weak, and Thalia didn't hear. She hesitated, and Annabeth made a desperate grab for her spear.
"No!" I shouted, fearing that the traitor I had once considered a sister would kill my oldest friend. But battle reflexes kicked in and without thinking, Thalia kicked her away. She lost her balance, terror on her face, and then she fell.
"Annabeth!" Thalia and I both screamed.
We rushed to the cliff's edge. I barely noticed Ana start crawling to Artemis, though I knew that I'd feel awful later (if we lived). Below us, the army from the Princess Andromeda had stopped in amazement. Somewhere during the fifty-foot drop, Annabeth had disappeared without a trace.
"Kill them!" A giant roared, and I hastily pulled Thalia back as a wave of javelins sailed over our heads. We ran for the rocks, ignoring the curses and threats of Atlas as we passed.
"Artemis!" I yelled.
The goddess looked up, her face almost as grief-stricken as Thalia's. Zoe lay in the goddess' arms, Ana, pale-faced, was stroking her hair and crying softly. Zoe was breathing. Her eyes were open. But still…
"The wound is poisoned," Artemis said.
"Atlas poisoned her?" I asked. I cast the trapped Titan a look of utter loathing.
"No," the goddess shook her head. "Not Atlas."
She showed us the wound in Zoe's side. In the middle of everything, I had almost forgotten her scrape from Ladon. The bite was much worse than Zoe had let on. I could barely look at the wound. She had charged into battle against her father with a horrible cut already sapping her strength.
"The stars," Zoe murmured. "I cannot see them."
"Nectar and ambrosia," Ana suggested. "Does anyone have any?"
No one moved. Grief hung in air. The army of Kronos was just below the rise. Even Artemis was too shocked to stir.
The sound of the approaching monsters made Zoe moan. "Milady," she whispered, her voice weakening. "Go. You must..escape.."
Artemis still looked anguished, but she nodded and raised her hunting horn to her lips. Its' clear sound echoed down the valleys of Marin. Zoe's eyes were fluttering.
"Hang in there!" Ana urged her. "It'll be all right!" Ana's compassion for someone she didn't know, even as injured and weak as she was now, astounded me.
The moonlight brightened, and a silver chariot appeared from the sky, drawn by the most beautiful deer I had ever seen. It landed right next to us.
"Get in," Artemis ordered.
Thalia helped me get Ana on board. Then I helped Artemis with Zoe. We wrapped Zoe in a blanket as Artemis pulled the reins and the chariot sped away from the mountain, straight into the air.
"Like Santa Claus' sleigh," Ana murmured, still dazed with pain and blood loss.
Artemis took time to look back at her. "Indeed, young heroine. And where do you think that legend came from?"
Ana gave a weak smirk and nodded in acknowledgement.
Behind us, the army of Kronos roared in anger as they gathered on the summit of Mount Tamalpais, but the loudest sound was the voice of Atlas, bellowing curses against the gods as he struggled under the weight of the sky.