Chapter Nine: Insanity
Just when Percy thought how perfect his life is and how he appreciates everything in it, a blinding flash of light appeared in front of him broke him out of his wonderland, signaling Percy's worst nightmare: His old life that he resented and thought he'd left behind has started to catch up.
When the flash of light died down, Percy found himself standing in the legion's war council room for senior officers only. Standing next to him, was his friends Reyna, Jason Gwen and Zoë, looking around in confusion just like he is.
In a distance, someone cleared her throat loudly, causing Percy tot turn abruptly.
He saw Athena, Diana and Vesta looking at them. The others quickly bowed but Percy remained on his feet.
"What's going on?" Percy quickly asked, "Why are we here?"
Athena looked like she wouldn't have came if she had a choice. Understandable, it's still Roman territory. Diana and Vesta on the other hand, looked extremely worried, something they only rarely do. Never, in Vesta's case.
Athena sighed in annoyance before speaking, "We have some news, very bad news, I'm afraid."
Percy raised an eyebrow at the Goddess of Wisdom standing before him, "And what might them be?" He asked carefully.
"Thanatos," Diana intervened, "We've found his location and you are not going to like it, not a bit."
Percy narrowed his eyes.
"Alaska," Diana finished before sighing in desperation, "Thanatos is held in Alaska. Terra is rising and the war is coming. There is more, Juno went missing as well. We are guessing that it's another one of the Giants."
The room was filled with dead silence after Diana dropped the bomb. Jason was working very hard on believing and absorbing what he had heard about Terra, while the others, who already knew Terra was coming were lost in their thoughts.
"Did you just say Juno was abducted milady?" Zoë asked, blinking hard to try to accept the fact that the Queen of Gods was taken by a hostile force against her will.
Diana nodded with unease.
"We are issuing a quest to save Thanatos," Vesta said, "Percy, you are going to lead it."
Percy nodded.
"If you fail," Vesta said worriedly, "All would be lost. An army is marching at Camp Jupiter, led by Polybotes, Bane of Neptune. They will be there in a few days on The Feast of Fortuna. If Thanatos is not freed by then, the monsters will be able to reform instantly as the legionaries will be able to return from the land of the dead as well."
"I won't fail you mother." Percy answered firmly.
"What of Juno?" Zoë asked.
Vesta's face immediately darkened, "My brother Jupiter wants the quest to be led by the others."
Jason and Gwen were both wildly confused, but Percy, Zoë and Reyna figured out what Vesta meant immediately.
"But I convinced him to give the quest to Rome as well." Vesta finished.
"If I have a choice, I would leave that bitch to rot in Tartarus," Percy replied, barely controlling his anger, "But apparently I don't, so I'd say we sent two separate quests for Thanatos and Juno."
Vesta nodded sadly.
"That's not the only thing." Diana interrupted.
Percy eyed Diana questioningly.
"Let's just say that…" Diana continued, "Your friend, the daughter of Pluto should be looking for you right now.
Percy nodded thoughtfully, "It's starting, isn't it? The prophecy of seven?"
Vesta's face darkened again.
Line Break
"You can't possibly be serious!" Percy shouted at his mother. Usually, he would never do that since a person can't possibly find a nicer mother, but not this time.
"Percy please…" Vesta tried to reason with her son, but she can't even calm him down from his outburst.
"I'm telling right now this is insane mom! And there is no way, absolutely no way in Tartarus I'm going to work with them!"
"Perseus," Athena intervened, "Please control your anger, this is for the best."
"But you can't possibly agree to this!" Percy exclaimed, "You out of all people should know this would never work out milady!"
Athena looked at him firmly, "Look, I don't like this as much as you do, but there is no other way…"
"There has to be!" Percy snapped, "Do I have to remind you why we have those ancient laws Lady Athena? The last time this happened the entire demigod population was almost wiped out of Earth's surface! Rome and Greece never, never mix and there is no way I'm agreeing a plan that would be our down fall before we even see Ms. Dirt Mud Face!"
Athena sighed, "I understand why you don't want to do this, but this is our only chance. In order to stand a chance against her, we must gather the best heroes of the age, and this is the only way."
"We don't need them! The Twelfth Legion is more than capable of completing the quest ourselves!"
"Percy please," Vesta said gently, "I implore you, please think about this. You are our only hope at uniting the two camps and I am asking you, please, do this for us, for me."
Percy's face softened a bit at those words, "I'm sorry mom. I love you and I will certainly do it if that's an order, but I can't if it's not. I'm sorry, but I just cannot and will not help them, not again, not after what they did to me."
"Perseus, the prophecy made it very clear. 'Foes bear arms' doesn't give us much of a choice." Athena tried to reason again.
"Oh don't even get started on the damn prophecy!" Percy finally snapped, "My life was already ruined by one and now another? And she of all people has to be one of the seven?" Percy yelled as his voice got louder and louder, wind started blowing rapidly as earth shook violently.
Vesta stepped closer to Percy and muttered some words to Percy as her hand glowed in orange. Moments later, the wind and earthshaking both stopped under Percy's influence.
Line Break
It took Vesta and Athena a full hour to convince Percy to work with his former friends from Camp Half-Blood, especially her. Although he vowed every single Greek who sets a foot in New Rome would be dead if one of them so much gets on Percy's bad side.
Percy nearly blasted half of New Rome out of existence, literally, when he heard it from his mother. He was surprised that Athena out of all people agreed to this crazy plan which, would probably lead to the extinction of demigods and be their lose cause before the war with Gaea even begins.
Diana on the other hand, filled Jason and Gwen in about the Greeks. To say they were shocked would be the understatement of the year.
What Diana meant earlier became clear as well. Hazel looked like someone she knew just died when she ran into Percy.
It turned out that she had a demigod dream, and she saw Bianca being held captive by Gaea in the original Rome. Nico was captured as well when he tried to rescue his sister. Gaea made it very clear that the children of Hades only have two weeks left to live.
Apparently, it's a trap, and Jason argued that they can't just walk into a trap, but Percy made it very clear that trap or not, he's not going to leave his friends to die, especially when he owed both of them too much to fail either them again.
"What if it's a trap? We might not be able to get them out and Terra will have ourselves as well." Jason argued again, shame he doesn't know how stubborn Percy can be when he makes up his mind on something.
"No," Percy replied firmly, using a tone which clearly meant there is no room for debate.
"But…" Jason tried to get Percy to change his mind, but no avail.
"No buts Jason!" Percy snapped furiously, "A twelve-year-old girl died right after finding the people she can call family and a ten-year-old had to live without his sister after being thrown into the madness of Greek mythology just because I failed to keep a promise! Everything has happened to them, their tragedies and anguish has been no one else's but my own fault, and I will not… I will NOT fail them again. I will not let them die because I'm afraid! No! No friend of mine gets left behind and I'm sure as Tartarus I'm not about to let happen now!"
Percy then stormed away from his cousin, to somewhere most likely to be the training ground so he could take his anger on some poor dummies while Zoë ran after him on his trail.
"Percy!" Zoë yelled, "Wait!"
"What?" Percy snapped at her, which is probably a very stupid thing to do considering Zoë Nightshade won't hesitate to beat the Hades out of you if she thinks she needs to.
Zoë grabbed Percy's arm and slung him over her shoulder, pressing him on the ground hard with her elbow against his throat. Percy glared at her before trying to shove her off him. Key word: Trying.
Zoë only glared at the son of Vesta back, not easing her press on Percy no matter what, "Calm down Percy, you need to calm down."
Percy didn't listen, instead he only struggled again, "Let me go."
Zoë shock her head firmly, "You are not going anywhere like this, now calm yourself, this isn't helping anyone."
Percy's glare intensified before his facial feature softened, sighing in defeat, "You are right Zoë, I'm sorry."
Zoë couldn't help but to be soften at the sight she was seeing. She got up and pulled Percy up with her, "Just don't do it again, I'd hate to be there to kick your ass 24/7."
Percy chuckled at Zoë, earning him a glare from the former huntress, "What?" Zoë asked, sounding irritated.
"Nothing," Percy shock his head, "You haven't changed a bit."
Zoë raised an eyebrow at him, "And why is that?"
All the mischievousness vanished from Percy's face, replaced by a somewhat dreamy look, same goes to his voice, "Well, I remember when we met in Maine, I wanted to throw you off the cliff at first," Percy chuckled again, receiving a not-so-gentle punch on the stomach, "Then we got thrown into a crazy quest together and you left the image of the fierce female warrior who is anything but weak and doesn't take any crap from anybody no matter what in my head forever. I could never stop thinking about the one person who taught me the true meaning of-of bravery and loyalty whenever I look at the stars, and…"
Percy however, never got to finish his sentence.
And he returns!
I'm not giving up on my favorite piece of work, if you are wondering.
Not one of my best chapters and it was a bit rush, I apologize for that but life has been busy.
A little cliffhanger, oh I love one of these.
Question of the day: Why do you think Percy never got to finish what he said?
As usual, Read, like & Review!
I could really use some constructive criticism and words of encouragement or feedback whatsoever at this point.
Their quest starts in the next chapter!
Thank you all for reading
have a nice day
and til the next time!
T.C. ya!