Disclaimer: I do not own Rick Riordan, the Percy Jackson books, series, characters, movies, or anything else you may recognize.
Author's Note: Hey everyone! Here is your next chapter! I hope you like it, and please stop messaging me asking what's going to happen next - you will find out. I promise. :) Enjoy, please leave me a review letting me know what you think!
Chapter Twenty-Six
You Go, I Go
"Even if we're breaking down, we can find a way to break through
Even if we can't find heaven, I'll walk through Hell with you
Love, you're not alone, cause I'm gonna stand by you."
- "Stand by You" by Rachel Platten
Everyone was in the control room talking and looking around, we were not in good shape. Jason and Percy looked like they could take a five hour nap. Piper's arm was mostly healed but could still use some additional help. Leo was at the helm steering with Frank helping trying to find the location, and Hazel was knelt down beside Nico, holding his hand.
Nico looked awful. He was much paler than he normally was, and the bags under his eyes were ridiculous. Not even the best full coverage foundation and concealer could cover those bad boys. He was way too thin and he kept coming in and out of consciousness. Nico was the priority. I could extract blood and give it to the others, but Nico was past that point.
I grabbed some ambrosia from the first aid kit we kept in the control room and popped it into my mouth. This was going to take a lot of my own energy that was even at this point waning, and I needed to be able to help Annabeth when we reached her.
I tied my hair back in a ponytail before sitting down in front of Nico, his eyes fluttering as he tried to stay awake. "Hi Nico, it's Andee le fay. I'm going to heal, but I want to warn that I'm going to see some of your memories. It's not something I can help, but it will happen, okay?" He nodded, so I touched my hands to his temples and started.
Nico was walking with Percy at camp, and they had to be much younger than they were now. Percy was much shorter, and was probably only around fourteen, which would make Nico (whose eyes I was seeing out of), would have only been ten or eleven. Percy was talking – rambling, really – about how a girl named Bianca had died, and how she had sacrificed herself to save the quest they had been on before handing Nico a little figurine of one of the gods.
He took it and just stared at it, having never felt so numb inside. That sparked something in me, like a memory was trying to come forward that didn't exist.
"You promised me you would protect her," Nico said.
"Nico, I tried," Percy said desperately. Nico wasn't able to see how badly this was hurting Percy. Percy's eyes were rimmed with red and he was shaking. "But Bianca sacrificed herself to save the rest of us! I told her not to. I tried, I really did. But she –"
"You promised!" The god figurine dug into his hand as he clenched his fist around it. The numbness was burning away to anger. This intense burning anger clouding the deep brutal sadness hiding underneath. His only family left, his sister, the only person who took care of him – was gone. Percy had promised to protect her. He had promised him and he broke that promise! "I never should have trusted you. You lied to me." He flung the little god statue to the ground. "I hate you!"
"Nico –"
I could tell there was more to that memory, but another memory started.
Actually, it wasn't just one memory. It was a series of memories, a bunch showing different scenarios with Percy, with this all-encompassing, intense feeling of…not quite love, but…definite romantic interest.
That was not what I expected.
And then another memory. I can't…I can't explain it all because I don't want to relive it myself. What Nico went through…monsters had pulled him into this never-ending pit of darkness. The things he saw…he was fourteen. And he did that all alone.
Every one of his memories made my heart break for him a little more.
When I pulled back, Nico more color in his face, his eyes were open and he didn't quite as skeletal. "How do you feel?" I asked, realizing that during the healing process, I had ended up pulling him into a weird sort of hug, holding him like he was my little brother. Which he wasn't, but seeing someone's memories was a very vulnerable moment for both people.
"Not dead," he said, taking a deep breath. "Thank you." I had to awkwardly let him go, but I just moved beside him so that I could keep an arm around him. Hazel came over with some ambrosia and nectar, and he took a few sips of the nectar but refused the ambrosia.
"You're still going to need to get some rest, even just nap for a couple hours," I said. "The death trance isn't actually sleep."
"I know."
"So are you –" Percy started.
"I'm okay," Nico said quietly. He looked so sad, I just wanted to keep hugging him. "I'd actually given up hope."
Percy had a weird expression on his face before finally saying, "You knew about the two camps all along. You could have told me who I was the first day I was at Camp Jupiter, but you didn't."
"I'm sorry, Percy," Nico said. "I discovered the Roman camp last year. My father led me there, and I wasn't really sure why. He told me the whole spiel about how the gods have kept the camps separate for centuries and that I couldn't tell anyone because the time wasn't right. At first I thought he meant it was important for me to know so that there would be a safe place for me to take Hazel, but now I think he wanted me to understand how important your quest was so that I'd search for the Doors of Death."
It was like the air was suddenly filled with static electricity. Was that me, Jason, or just the situation?
"Did you find them?" Jason asked.
Nico nodded slowly. "I was stupid. I thought I could go anywhere in the Underworld, but I walked right into Gaea's trap. I might as well have tried running from a black hole."
"Um…what kind of black hole are we talking about?" Frank asked nervously.
Nico started to speak, but he looked so terrified that he almost started to cry. I placed one of my hands on his and gave it a squeeze. I knew what the black hole must have been.
"Nico told me that the Doors of Death have two dies – one in the mortal world and one in the Underworld. The mortal side of the portal is in Greece, heavily guarded by an assortment of Gaea's forces. That's where they brought Nico back through to the mortal world, and then they transported him to Rome," Hazel said, saving her brother from having to talk about it.
"Where exactly is this doorway?" Piper asked.
"The House of Hades," Nico said quietly.
"That underground temple in Epirus?" I asked and he nodded.
"I can mark the exact spot on a map, but that's not the problem. It's the Doors of Death in the Underworld…they're in…"
"Tartarus," I said at the same time as Percy. How did we always seem to be thinking the same thing?
"No mortal has ever been to Tartarus and returned," Hazel said.
"Well yeah, it's like the max security prison of the Underworld," Jason said. "It's where all the old Titans and enemies of the gods go, and all the monsters go when they die on Earth. It's…actually, no one really knows what it's like."
I looked at Nico, because now he did. That poor sweet baby angel of death knew what Tartarus was like, and he was mentally scarred by it.
"So let me guess," Leo said, "we're going to have to go there."
"It's impossible," Nico said immediately. "I'm the son of Hades and even I barely survived. Gaea's forces overwhelmed me immediately. Tartarus is their turf – they're so powerful down there. I…I almost went insane."
That was an understatement. The look in his eyes made me wonder if he'd ever recover from this.
"Well then we'll sail for Epirus and –"
"Let's just focus on one step at time," I interrupted. I could see Nico was getting overwhelmed and was shutting down. "We need to get Annabeth. Is that the Emmanuel building?"
"Yes ma'am," Leo said with a salute, pushing a few buttons on his Wii controller and lowering us closer to the parking lot of the building. There was nothing special about the building or the parking lot. No secret entrance or special sign.
"We have to break through, my dad said," I said slowly. I turned to Percy. "You're a son of Poseidon, right? Can you do earthquakes like your dad?"
"I mean, I have but…it's not something I can necessarily control," Percy said slower.
"We need to break through the cement to get to Annabeth," I said.
"You want me to shake the ground until it breaks," Percy said.
"Yeah."
He looked at me for a moment, the corner of his lips tugging up in a smile. "I'll do my best."
"I can help," Nico said, coming forward.
"You're supposed to be resting," I said.
"I'll rest when we get Annabeth back," Nico said determinedly, moving to the railing of the Argo to stand with Percy. The two had their hands out in front of them, concentrating and soon I could see the ground cracking and it didn't take long for huge chunks of asphalt to start falling into a large cavern.
"Fly over! We need a better look!" I called to Leo, who got the Argo in motion right away. Percy and Nico stayed focused, concentrating on breaking the ground so that wherever Annabeth was under there we could reach her. "Annabeth!" I yelled desperately.
"Here!" I heard her scream and the connection clicked back into place, and I could feel her again. As Leo lowered the Argo into the cavern, the Athena Parthenos came into view, which was grander than any description I'd ever heard of. It was forty feet tall and made of ivory, wearing a gold toga and holding a statue of Nike in one hand, and a shield and snake in the other.
And there was Annabeth, huddled around the base, covered in cobwebs but none of the debris had hit her, thankfully. That had to be thanks to the statue. Leo stopped the Argo about forty feet above the hole covered ground, and I threw the rope ladder down, climbing down as fast as I could to be with her. Within seconds I had my arms around her, and Annabeth was sobbing into my shoulder and I just held her as tightly as possible. "It's okay," I said to her, almost to myself as well as her, "We're all together now." She nodded and kept trying to calm herself down, but would just start crying all over again. "Show me." She opened her mind and I saw what she had been through. The tunnel. The spiders. Tricking Arachne into weaving her own trap. "Oh Bethie."
She squeezed me even tighter. The others had all started to gather around us, and Annabeth must have noticed Nico because she said, "He's the ninth. Arachne weaved it into one of her tapestries."
"It makes sense," I said. I had a few theories of what needed to happen, and Nico being our ninth fit all of them.
"Your leg, Annabeth," Piper said. "What happened?"
Oh gods. The bubble wrap cast. I will give her points for being inventive, but my gods, that was horrific. We needed to get her on the ship and healed ASAP.
Annabeth started telling the others what had happened, and I stayed by her side, stroking her hair comfortingly. Percy had moved to her other side and had an arm around her shoulders, occasionally moving to rub her back a little.
"And you did all of that alone, and with a broken ankle," Jason said.
"Well, part of it with a broken ankle," Annabeth said. "I can't take all of that credit."
I laughed and squeezed my sister tightly. She was here and alive and making jokes. That was all I needed.
"So you made Arachne, the mother of all spiders, weave her own trap?" Percy asked. "I shouldn't be surprised because you are insanely genius, but you find new ways every day. Generations after generations of Athena kids tried and failed, but you, Annabeth, found the Athena Parthenos."
We all looked at the statue. "What are we going to do with it?" Frank asked. "She's…uh…a little large."
"We have to take her to Greece with us. The statue is powerful and I know it'll help us stop the giants," Annabeth said.
Hazel quoted the prophecy about the giants bane won from a woven jail, and Leo told us he could make it work if we put her in the stables.
"What about you guys? What happened with the giants?" Annabeth asked, and after taking a good look at Piper, Hazel and I, adding, "And why are you three wearing that?"
Someone started explaining about rescuing Nico, my dad appearing and fighting the giants in the Colosseum. Nico didn't talk much except to explain the doors, and as soon as Tartarus was mentioned, there was a cold blast from the chasm below us. I looked at Annabeth and in an instant I knew where the giant hole went to. I just kind of pushed Annabeth in front of me more, farther away from the edge.
The chamber groaned and suddenly the Athena statue started leaning to one side of Arachne's spider silk support cables, but the marble foundation the statue was sitting on was starting to crumble away.
"Secure it!" Annabeth shouted.
Everyone started rushing around. Frank turned into a giant eagle, grabbed Leo and flew him up to the helm of the ship. Jason wrapped his arm around Piper and told us he'd be back for us, before flying away as well.
"This floor isn't going to hold," Hazel said nervously. "The rest of us should get to the ladder."
Hazel started sprinting towards the ladder, but Nico wasn't in any condition to be running anywhere. "Percy, help Nico," I said quietly. "I've got Annabeth."
Percy looked apprehensive, but he nodded anyways. He left to go help Nico get to the ladder quicker.
"It's fine," I told Annabeth reassuringly as we slowly made our way to the ladder. It was definitely hard with Annabeth limping on her nightmare-inducing bubble-wrap cast. Leo barked down orders at Jason and Frank as they flew grappling lines down and secured them around the statue. Percy was just helping Nico up the ladder when Annabeth gasped and stumbled.
"Wait – what's happening?" I asked.
Annabeth's legs were pulled out from under her and she fell on her face.
"Her ankle! Cut it!" Hazel screamed from the ladder. "Cut it!"
Annabeth's good ankle was wrapped in spider silk, which was pulling her closer and closer into pit. I lunged, grabbing her hand and we both started getting pulled. "Andee! Annabeth!" Percy screamed, lunging for me, but we were dragged too fast. I almost missed grabbing the edge of the pit, and I was struggling to keep my grip. The others were screaming in the background but all I could focus on was Annie. Annabeth was sobbing like I had never seen before. The pit shook and we both screamed as my fingers started to slip.
"Andee, you have to let me go. You can't pull me up," Annabeth cried.
"That is never happening," I said fiercely. "If you go, I go."
"Andee, you can't," Annabeth said.
"I already had to leave you once today and that's not happening again."
We were yanked too hard and my fingers slipped. Suddenly we were falling. I could hear screaming. Annabeth was screaming, the others were screaming and I'm pretty sure I was screaming too. Annabeth and I held on to each other for dear life.
But suddenly, we weren't falling.
Had we landed in Tartarus? Had it really only taken a few seconds?
I opened my eyes and we were floating about fifteen feet from the edge of the pit. "Annie…"
She slowly open her eyes as well. "Andee, you're flying! You're flying!"
"I'm flying!" I could feel the wind and how it was moving. Sometimes all it took was a life or death situation to activate a new ability.
This definitely fell in that category.
Concentrate. I took a deep breath, and pictured – like my pyrokinetic abilities – the wind bending to my will, lifting us further and further up. It was much harder than I expected, especially considering that we were being pulled down. I sent a ball of fire down at the web, burning it away.
We reached the top and I kept flying, right up until we were on the boat. The moment our feet touched the deck, we both collapsed and just started crying. I clung to Annabeth as tightly as possible. I had almost lost her twice in one day now. But I meant what I said – I would have walked through Tartarus with her in a heartbeat. She was my sister in every possible way and I would walk through literal hell for her.
Percy rushed over and wrapped his arms around both of us, and he was crying too. I wasn't really sure what to think about that. I knew he cared about Annabeth – they had been friends for a long time too, but why me? I was kind of touched and also…well, we're not going to get into those feelings. Those feelings needed to go back to wherever they came from.
We all just stayed huddled and crying until we ran out of tears…well, can a son of Poseidon run out of tears? Is that possible?
Once the Athena Parthenos was loaded onto the Argo II, we took off immediately, heading to Greece. It took a while for me to get myself together, but once I did, Percy and I helped Annabeth and I get to her room, so I could start healing her. Percy kneeled beside her and they talked quietly, squeezing each other's hands before Percy stood up to leave.
He was about to walk out before he grabbed me, wrapping me in a tight hug. "I'm so glad you're okay," he mumbled into my hair.
Oh my. I could feel his body against mine, and smell him – an incredible mix of the sea and some sort of musk – and noticed how perfectly we fit together. Oh no…this stupid Prophecy was going to put my will power to test.
"Um…thanks," I said, having to put my hands between us to separate us. I was feeling very tempted to do things I knew very well I shouldn't do. The more distance between us, the better. I, um…I have to heal Annabeth."
"Right," he said quietly, his hand brushing against mine as he finally left the room.
"Your head is a mess," Annabeth said.
"Shut up," I grumbled as I made my way over to her bed. "We're not going to talk about it."
"He's a good guy and you'd know that if you didn't take that potion," Annabeth said. "You loved him with all your heart and soul –"
"Stop."
"He's my friend too, and like a brother to me," Annabeth said. "And he is hurting really badly. I have both of your best interests in mind, trust me. I'm just saying…maybe you should let him back in."
"Can't let someone back in that was never in in the first place," I said. "Now can you please let me heal you and then you can Iris message my brother and let him know you're okay?"
Annabeth blushed. "Fine."
"By the way," I said. "This splint is traumatizing me."
"Okay, what was I supposed to do? I broke my ankle and had very little options of what to use to make a splint."
"Bubble wrap, though?" I asked. "I'm horrified. I'm going to have nightmares about this."
"Can you shut up and fix me already?" she asked.
I grinned before unwrapping the ungodly excuse for a splint and touching my hands to the swollen and purple ankle underneath. I closed my eyes and started singing, being brought into Annabeth's memories, seeing nothing that I hadn't already seen before. When I came back, her ankle was still ginger and would require some rest, but was mostly healed. It's a lot harder to heal bones than superficial injuries like scrapes and cuts, and Annabeth's ankle had been shattered. I'd probably have another go at healing it once we got to Greece.
"This doctor prescribes bedrest, a couple bites and sips of ambrosia and nectar every four hours, and an actual cast," I said, feeling my energy depleting. I had used way too much power today, even with the bracelets muting everything. I needed a nap. "We'll take it off and see where we're at once we get to Greece." She stuck her tongue out at me, but I went back to the empty Apollo room, where Lee had been in when we first got to the Roman camp, and grabbed an air cast that was kept in the closet there. I fit the cast on her ankle, gave her the ambrosia and nectar and strictly instructed her to stay in bed and actually rest.
I had one more specific patient to attend to, so I made my way to the Hades cabin. Before it had had only one occupant – Hazel – but now it would have two.
Thankfully, Nico was the only one in there, lying in bed and just staring at the ceiling. I knocked gently at the door to announce my presence.
"You can come in," Nico said and I walked in, standing propped against the dresser/vanity.
"So."
"So." He pulled himself up into a sitting position.
"We need a child of Hades on each side of the Doors – one in the mortal world, one in Tartarus – to close them, don't we?" I asked.
His eyes filled with dread and he nodded. "How did you –"
"When I healed you, I saw some of your memories," I told him. "I told you that was going to happen, I don't know if you remember that."
"Vaguely," he said.
"One of the things I saw was your time in Tartarus, and I just put two and two together," I said. "And with the Prophecy, we'll need a mix of both camps."
Nico nodded, and we were both silent for a moment before he asked, "What other memories did you see?"
"I saw you yelling at Percy about Bianca's death," I said and he grimaced, obviously remembering that incident. Seeing as they were on good terms, Nico must have forgiven Percy. "I also saw…well, it's not really my business."
"Tell me."
I looked at him. "I saw your memories of Percy, and I felt how you feel about him."
He was on his feet in a second, his sword aimed at my neck. "You can't tell anyone. If you tell anyone, I will kill you! I swear to the gods, I will kill you!"
I put my hands up in surrender, keeping my voice calm and even. "Like I said, Nico, it's none of my business and it's no one else's either. I'm not going to tell anyone, I swear to you on the River Styx." He slightly lowered his sword. His eyes looked so sad and devastated. "I want you to know though, Nico, that it doesn't change who you are or how I, or anyone else, will think of you. You are still the Ghost King and one of the most bad-ass fighters I've ever seen."
Nico broke down crying and I had to catch him before he hit the floor. "They…they would kill people back where I'm from…in the 40's. They'd kill people…they'd take them to jail. I'm…I'm disgusting."
"Don't you dare say that, Nico di Angelo," I said fiercely, holding this frail boy. "You are not disgusting, and we are in a different time now where you are accepted for who you are. Half of my brothers are somewhere on the sexuality spectrum, and my dad literally falls in love with everyone and everything. Like, he's the OG pansexual. There is nothing wrong with you, Nico, I promise."
He continued crying for a while so I just held him and stroked his hair a little. I couldn't imagine what he was going through. Especially coming from such an oppressed time. Hell, we were still in a pretty oppressed time when it came to rights and respect for minorities. It was a quite a bit better in Canada than in the States, but the world was a mess. And Nico was now stuck right in the middle of it.
He pulled back and started wiping at his eyes with the heels of his hands. "It's not like it matters anyways. You and Percy are obsessed with each other."
"Um…no."
"You two have been together for like two years now?" Nico said.
"I just met the guy like, maybe a week ago, so that's impossible," I said.
Nico looked at me strangely. "I've seen you two making out and sneaking into each other's cabins. You were his anchor to the mortal world when he took Achilles' curse."
"None of that ever happened."
Nico just looked at me, but seemed to drop the issue.
"I have to go give Leo a destination and directions, but Nico," I said, "your secret is safe with me. And if you ever need to talk, you know where to find me."
"Thank you," he said and as I was about to leave, he surprised me by giving me a hug. He was such a sweet boy beneath the Ghost King exterior.
I made my way up to the control room where I was attacked by Leo, hugging me as tightly as possible. I loved my little Spanish elf. "I thought you were gone!" he said, almost in tears.
"I'm here, Leo. It's okay and we're going to keep charging through. We've got work to do, remember?"
He nodded. "Don't ever scare me like that again, mija."
"I can't make any promises about that," I said, before going up to the control panel and looking at the map. "So our next stop is Skiathos, Greece. We've got about a month until Gaea is awakened, so we are on a tight timeline, but I was told we need to make a stop there to see my grandparents, so that is where we have to go. It'll take us about twenty-four hours to get there, so that will give all of us nice long ride to heal up and rest."
"That's if there's no monsters attacking. Or giants. Or –"
"We will deal with things as they happen. Get us on route and then get some rest. It's been a long day and our quest is only going to get harder from here."
