New Hope Rewritten

Chapter X: Amore mio

Nico

I didn't want to leave Kairi on her own but I knew if she continued with us on this quest it would only safeguard her death. Percy seemed to sense my uneasiness and gives me a reassuring look, "It's for her own good." He says quietly. I nod as I can't argue with that.

We enter the building and it was pitch black. "Kairi's fire powers would be helpful right about now." Percy points out.

Without even needing light I knew Thalia rolled her eyes, "Oh shut it Kelp Head, I was only doing what's best for her."

"You sound like a mom." Hazel says with a small smile.

"Not you too Hazel." Thalia pleads.

Suddenly, the doors slam shut and light from above shined the entire room. Monsters flood the room all with intent to kill us. "No time to chitchat—time to slay!" Percy shouts. We all brandish our weapons and fight. Jason and Percy made one hell of a storm while I summoned a few undead to fight while I slashed and hacked with my sword. Hazel and Thalia teamed together and fought back to back.

It was quite tiring. I had cuts all over and I could tell everyone else is just as tired as I am. However, none of us backed down. If anything, Percy's rain only seemed to help us push forward, encouraging us to keep going. With a burst of adrenaline, I hacked and stabbed at any monster within vision.

Eventually, we killed of all the monsters. All of us were catching our breath when a chilling voice echoed around,

"Ah, demigods; adorable little creatures." The voice laughed, the room shaking a little.

"Who are you?" Percy asks, his sword ready.

"Feisty one huh? I'm not quite fond of doing the fighting as I'm more of the one creating." The voice taunts.

Without warning, the floor disappears and we all disappear into the unknown depths. Somewhere along the way, I lost consciousness.

When I came to, I saw the hostages. Except they weren't on stable ground. As Chiron told us, us quest goers were on a thick floating rock while the hostages were on a thin floating one. I dared to look down the edge and sure enough there were Tartarus flames.

"Welcome!" the voice greets us. "I actually don't have a name for this place since I just made it but welcome either way."

"Who are you?" Hazel asks.

"I am Order—true creator of everything!" the ancient voice bellows, "Now, I will be asking series of questions and one of you 'powerful demigods' will answer me."

"Why should we?" I challenge.

"So do their lives not matter?" Order asks, pertaining to the hostages as suddenly a chunk of their rock fell off, making them go off balance and scurry around the rock to get to the middle and balance it out again.

With no answer, Order continued, "One of you will sacrifice themselves for five hundred years of peace on this planet before I wipe it clean and put my own creations on it. I swear on the Void that I will not disturb this planet for five hundred years in exchange for a soul." Lightning was heard in the distance which sealed the oath. "I thought of just wiping this planet clean myself immediately but where's the fun in that?" he laughs but nobody found it funny at all. "Anyway, which rock shall sacrifice? Five seconds!"

"What the heck!?" Thalia exclaims.

"Five!" Order shouts gleefully.

"What do we do?" Hazel asks.

"Four!"

"I'm pretty sure we should sacrifice from our rock—"

"Time's up!" Order shouts, cutting me off.

"Hey! You're cheating—five seconds hasn't even totally passed yet!" Jason shouts.

"Don't care! Hahahaha! Die!" The rock the hostages were on began to fall downwards when the earth suddenly shook. "Who's doing that?" Order asks. Everyone turns to look at the son of Poseidon who just raises his hands,

"I'm not doing anything." He states. The rock with the hostages shakes but turns still and suddenly the ceiling cracks open. The Tartarus flames reaches up towards the rock scaring a lot of us but it didn't consume anyone. Instead, it looked like the flames was pushing the rock upwards until the whole platform filled the gap that used to be on the ceiling.

"I'm doing that." The five of us turns around to find Kairi standing there with her trident out that practically glowed and radiated with power. Flames snaked around the trident and glowed brightly as well.

I engulf Kairi in a hug without thinking and squeeze her tightly, "I'm so glad to see you're here." I whisper in her ear.

"I'm glad to see you too." She whispers back. We pull apart with smiles plastered on our face.

"Kairi," the girl in topic turns to look at Thalia who was looking down, "look I know I said some pretty harsh things but I was just—"

"Trying to protect me, I know." Kairi says.

"If you think I'm going to let this carry on, I won't." Order says, his voice dangerously low. "I've already sworn on the Void, but one of you must die."

Everything happened in slow motion. I turned to look at Kairi who did the same. She pulled me close and had her eyes shut as her lips were pressed against mine. I was shocked, but I returned the action. Memorizing everything about her as much as I possibly can; her soft hair, her short yet athletic stature, her vanilla scent, and the movement of her lips against mine along with her sweet taste. All too soon it ended as she gently tugged herself away from me and jumped backwards into the Tartarus flames while mouthing the words, "I love you" to me.

"Jason!" Percy shouts. The son of Zeus springs to action, flying to attempt to save Kairi but it was futile. The girl shot fire at him, daring him to try and save her. "Kairi, no!" Percy's cries echoes along with my own.

"KAIRI!" I scream at the top of my lungs, watching her be engulfed in Tartarus flames. The last thing that echoed around these walls was her anguished cries of pain until silence covered us all.

"As I've promised five hundred years of peace. If I were you, I would train." Order says. Suddenly, all of us were transported to Camp Half-Blood along with the missing people who cheered. Everyone at camp cheered as well.

Yet nothing could stop my tears nor could stop the scream of hers that seemed to replay over and over in my head.