Nico ducked into the alley, narrowly avoiding the titan's outstretched fingers as they tried to wrap around him.
"Shoot." He growled. "They're everywhere."
He glanced around the corner, his eyes scanning for anymore of the giant humanoids. The one that had been stalking him for a couple minutes was still there, it's hand slowly finding it's way to the alley, but other than that one, there weren't any titans within twenty meters of him.
Nico suddenly seized the handle to a door next to him and jerked it open. He retreated inside the building as the titan's fingers began to fumble around where he had been standing mere moments earlier. He slid the door shut as quietly as he could and finally let out a sigh of relief.
The dark haired boy's eyes swept the building. It looked like the typical home in this time period, with items of all different varieties were strewn across the floor.
Nico removed his busted ODM gear and roughly threw it against the wall. A titan had attempted to eat him, and though Nico got away, the amount of force that the titan used whilst gripping his body had bent almost all of his blades and tore the systems of the gear apart. The only weapon that survived was his Stygian Iron sword, which he now clutched angrily in his right fist.
"Di immortales!" Nico hissed, borrowing Annabeth's favorite swear as he sliced a chair in half out of frustration. "Styx! Styx Styx Styx!"
A rumbling sound snapped Nico out of his rage. Footfalls.
He whipped around to see the titan's familiar face staring at him through the building's blood-splattered windows. It had a sickly grin on it's face, it's cold, brainless eyes locked on Nico as if he were simply an appetizing hunk of meat.
That's what I am to these things, he thought sourly. A treat. A piece of muscle and flesh existing only for them to gnaw on.
I refuse to be regarded in such a way.
Nico furrowed his brow, concentrating on the darkness around him. He had practiced shadow traveling as often as he could over the three years he had been here, and he could actually go quite a distance a number of times before passing out.
This should be a breeze.
His body faded to blackness, his being becoming one with shadows. An icy cold grip locked around him, trying to pull him into the darkness forever as the dead cried out to him.
Save us.
Help us.
Remember us.
Nico pushed the spirits of the fallen away as he slid through one batch of darkness to another. In no time sunlight was hitting his face as he stumbled from the shadow of a building, right behind the titan who had been hunting him.
The stupid creature had it's back to Nico, still focused on locating a human within the house.
The son of Hades caught his breath and locked his eyes on the titan's nape. The beast was kneeling, and it was only seven meters tall. Killing it would be doable for sure, he would have to be fast though.
Nico let out one more breath, before he charged forward. He leaped upwards, his foot landing squarely on the end of the titan's back. It was unrealistically hot, and his foot instantly began sweating. Ignoring the raging heat, he raced up the giant's back as quickly as he could.
The titan turned to look at Nico just as he sank his blade into its nape. It reached around and tried to grab the boy, but it was already dead by the times it's fingers knocked Nico to the ground.
He yelped, his body, ribs especially, tingling with pain. A three meter fall wasn't painless in the least, but nothing was broken. His lip and nose were bleeding, and he could practically smell his left side bruising.
"Nico!" A familiar voice cried. He looked up to see his little sister and Frank landing on a roof near him.
"Hazel!" Nico struggled to his feet.
"What happened? Where's your gear?" Hazel asked frantically.
"Titan broke it." Nioc grunted. "I'm shadow travelling back to the wall to get another set if I can."
"Be careful." She said.
"Same to you." Nico's heart suddenly felt heavy in his chest. "Don't you dare die on me."
"Not a chance." Hazel smirked. "I didn't defeat dozens of immortals and monsters to be eaten."
Nico nodded and stepped back into the shadows, letting the darkness grab ahold of him once more.
I hope no one notices this.
After a few more seconds of icy cold black, Nico stepped out of another shadow, however, his foot found only air.
"What the-" Nico barely managed to take in his surroundings before his balance gave way. He had appeared at the very edge of the wall, and that single step had sent him falling.
"Nico?!" A familiar voice cried. "What are you doing?"
"Help me, dang it!" Nico replied as he plummeted down.
The voice that he realized belonged to Connie spoke again. "Use your ODM gear!"
"It broke! Holy Hades!" Huge fingers suddenly wrapped around Nico's body, yanking him out of the air and towards the giant, grinning face of a titan. "Help!"
"Hold on!" Connie yelled. He leapt off of his position on the wall and fired a wire into the titan's face. The titan tilted its head, as if curious to why a grappling hook had implanted itself in its cheek.
In two quick slices, Connie had slashed the titan's hand clean off. He grabbed Nico just before the dark haired boy could fall, and shot a wire back at the wall.
"You okay?" He asked as soon as their feet touched the top of the wall.
"Yeah." Nico said. "Thanks for helping me out back there."
Connie smiled gently. "No problem. Why don't you go talk to one of the officials and see if you can get some new gear?"
"Alright. Good luck." Nico had only taken a single step before the sound of heavy footfall thudded through the air, sending vibrations through the wall and up to Nico's head.
~:~
"Oh my gods." Percy breathed, watching with baited breath.
Eren trembled with every step he took. Streaks of glowing gold, gleaming like a flame, pulsed under his skin. His eyes glowed a fierce green through the smoke and dust clouds.
He was doing it. The boulder hoisted on his shoulders, his arms supporting it, and he was approaching the breach.
"It's going to work." Annabeth began to grin. "We're gonna do it!"
"Percy, Annabeth!" A male voice, Armin, cried. "Come on! We've got to defend him!"
"Right!" Percy barked, remembering his task.
"We're on it!" Annabeth added. She leapt off the roof and fired a wire towards the nearest titan, a four meter with scrunched up eyes and choppy blonde hair, who clearly had its sights set on Eren. Annabeth landed squarely on its head, making it halt mid-step.
"Hey, ugly!" She barked, stamping her foot on its head. "Are you a the son of Achlys? Because your face is just sad!"
She sprang off of it, slicing its arm as she went for good measure. The titan reached out and tried to grab her, but the daughter of Athena was too quick for it.
"Ohh, you don't like that, do 'ya?" Annabeth backed away slowly, in the direction opposite to Eren. "Why don't you catch me and teach me a lesson?"
The titan seemed to like this preposition and began approaching Annabeth. She was dimly aware of Percy antagonizing and annoying a couple other titans when they tried to get close to Eren, and him leading them away, but she was taking her titan where everyone else was gathered. She had to completely focus on her surroundings, letting her guard down almost guaranteed certain death.
Suddenly, a titan hand smashed down in Annabeth's path. She halted as quickly as she could, avoiding being crushed by mere millimeters.
"Jerk!" Annabeth snapped. She tore through the titan's wrist, from the far right base of its palm to the left of its forearm and leapt over it. Blood spilled from the torn flesh, covering a considerable amount of ground in ruby red liquid.
The titan looked at her sadly and suddenly lashed it's fingers around her body, squeezing her tight enough to momentarily stun her.
Dam it, she thought as she struggled against the titan's hold. My arms are pinned to my sides. I can't do any damage with my blades unless I can wiggle out of this.
Annabeth strained against the titan's iron grip, but to no avail. The titan's greedy black eyes were locked on her as it pulled her close to its mouth.
I am not dying like this!
With panic flooding her senses and adrenaline pumping through her being, Annabeth bent her arm at the elbow, and yanked upwards as fast and with as much force as possible. The blade clutched in her right hand tore halfway through the titan's grip before Annabeth's arm could extend no farther.
The titan's grip loosened, letting Annabeth take gasping breaths she didn't even know she needed. The second she saw the steam rise off the titan's wrist, she whirled her blades straight through it's whole hand, fingers in all. She fell to the ground, white-hot blood splattering onto her as her feet touched down, while a titan finger landed next to her.
"Annabeth!" A familiar male voice cried. Blades drawn as she ran, Annabeth glanced over her shoulder to see Percy hopping off the corpse of the choppy haired blonde titan and start sprinting towards her.
"Yeah?" Annabeth replied as she dodged around the dozens of titans and soldiers that had corralled themselves at the edge of the village.
"Are you okay?" Percy asked as he pulled up next to her.
"I'm fine." She snapped. "Focus on yourself, not me, I can handle myself."
Percy looked a bit miffed, but Annabeth didn't have time to concern herself with Percy's feelings. People were dying left and right, and she wasn't going to let her name get added to the list of the fallen. She veered right to avoid another ten meter titan that had a soldier locked in its hand, its mouth open and prey mere inches from the jaws of death. Annabeth dug her blades into the front of its foot, and with a swift jerk of her arms and a couple steps forwards, its foot from the ankle down was separated from its leg. It didn't like that, and started wobbling, dropping the soldier and hobbling backwards.
Annabeth fired a wire at a titan roughly three meters away and shot through the air, grabbing the soldier, a small man with scruffy red hair.
"Does your gear work?" Annabeth asked.
"Y-y-y-yes." The soldier replied.
"Then go!" She barked. The soldier nodded hurriedly and shot a wire at the wall and went zooming away, just in time for Annabeth to re-draw her blades and slice the nape of the titan her wire was lodged in.
Suddenly, a titan roar ripped through the air, chilling Annabeth to the bone. She whipped around just in time to see Eren the fifteen meter slam the boulder into the breach, sending clouds of dust and rocks billowing outwards from the hole. The force that Eren used to plug the rock into place sent small cracks crawling along the wall, but it remained intact.
Not only intact. It was sealed. Closed off.
Annabeth stood there, trembling in shock. The hole was sealed. Their mission was accomplished. Armin's plan worked. The unthinkable had been done.
"We did it." Percy whispered, standing next to Annabeth.
"Yeah." Annabeth felt her eyes grow wet. "We did it."
Eren sank to the ground, his titan body beginning to steam. A small figure was perched on his neck.
A long bang! rang out, and the two demigods turned to see yellow smoke spiral into the air. The color of success.
"We need to get to the roofs." Annabeth said, turning and starting to run towards the village area.
"You go ahead." Percy replied, causing Annabeth to stop in her tracks. "I"m going to check on Eren."
"Be careful." Annabeth sighed, and she continued her dash to the houses.
If this is a step forward for humanity, she thought as she zipped into the air. Then why do I feel like something is terribly wrong?