Hey everyone! So I had this chapter nearly finished when I published Chapter 19, then I got all the reviews mentioning Percy's earthquake abilities and, well, I felt compelled to write it out though I hadn't planned on it, so that's why it took a good amount of time to get this up.
Also, thank you all so much for the support. Your reviews are really kind and inspiring and are about 50% of my motivation to stop re-reading Eremin (yes I ship Eremin...Fight me) stories and dive back into this! That could've been phrased better but I hope you get what I'm saying.
So thanks, and enjoy!
Armin watched the water twirl through the air in fascination, his azure eyes glittering in amazement.
"Wow…" He breathed. He stretched his fingers out to graze the side of the liquid. A small spray of water shot from the churning donut-like shape.
"Are you just thinking about what you want it to do or what?" Mikasa asked.
"Yeah, pretty much," Percy shrugged. The water unlatched itself from its other end and reared like a snake. "But with more water I can do a lot more."
"Really?" Armin gasped, his blue eyes stretching wide.
"Yeah," Percy grinned. "I can form full on tidal waves and hurricanes-"
"I read about those!" Armin exclaimed. "What else? Can you make it rain? Can you make water form right out of midair? Can you control all liquids? What about blood? Can you bloodbend?"
"Slow down Armin," Percy said. "And I can kind of bloodbend… I've done something similar to it before, and I can work with a majority of liquids. As for water out of thin air, no."
"What about earthquakes?" Armin asked.
Percy blinked in surprise. "Earthquakes? I dunno- I've never really tried."
"Well, I can only speak from information I've found in books," Armin said. "So correct me if I'm wrong, but the ocean, wraps around most of the earth. From what I've read about earthquakes, they cause the entire world to shudder as though it were being uprooted. If the ocean has domain over most of the earth, and you can control it, then maybe you could cause an earthquake by making the oceans rage the best you can."
Percy swallowed nervously. "I've got no clue if I'd be able to pull of something like that."
"You blew a mountain up once," Annabeth added helpfully.
"Maybe you should try," Frank offered. "An earthquake would be a very helpful natural disaster to summon if we're ever in trouble fighting titans again."
"Or it could be devastating," Mikasa put in. "Too much force could topple buildings, maybe even damage the wall."
"I think he should try it," Armin insisted. "If things start getting out of hand we can make him stop, or you could knock him out if worse comes to worst."
Percy eyed Mikasa's well muscled arms and felt a bead of sweat form on his brow. "Maybe we don't do the 'knock him out' thing."
"I can judo flip him," Annabeth suggested.
"Or I could charmspeak him," Piper offered.
"I could set him on fire," Leo piped up.
"You can not set him on fire," Percy countered. "But okay, I'll try it."
Percy squeezed his eyes shut and sent his senses out for the familiar salty water of his father's domain. In what felt like days, but was mere seconds in reality, there was a tugging in the pit of his stomach. The tugging he only experienced when he was in control of sea water.
An image materialized in Percy's mind. A huge expanse of peaceful green waves, lazily shifting and glittering under the burning glare of the sun. A terrible sense of nostalgia settled onto the raven haired demigod. The image began to fade.
Focus, Percy scolded himself. He concentrated his energy into the thought of the water until he could practically smell the saltiness of the glistening liquid as it rested in the centuries old pits and devastations of the land it took residence in.
There were no sea spirits, no nereids or naiads Percy had to communicate with to ask permission in order to use and control the great body of water. The waves seemed to scream for him to harness them and have them unleash their rage onto the unsuspecting world around him.
And he obliged.
It was like every millisecond that passed drained his body of enough energy to fuel an entire Roman didn't even know if the ground really was shaking. Within three seconds his body felt like molten lead and he crumpled to the ground.
~:~
Hazel flopped onto her bed, her limbs feeling sapped and heavy with exhaustion. Not only had they fought titans for about two days straight, but Armin pushed the demigods to their limits with part two of the little "power demonstration" thing. Percy, Jason, Leo, Nico and Hazel all ended up passing out eventually, and by the time Hazel had fallen to the ground, Annabeth insisted no more demonstrations were necessary. Everyone had rented a place in a smaller hotel with some of the gold Hazel had summoned and was resting for now.
She tugged at her curly strands of hair, watching them spring back into place with a rather dry expression. Some part of her begged for sleep, while the other begged her to get up and go fight something. Frustration, sadness, and flat out exhaustion bubbled and festered inside her, making it very hard for her to calm down enough to properly relax.
Count sheep, one side of her mind said.
Investigate the titans! the other side screamed.
Hazel smashed her head into her pillow, growling softly. She pulled the covers up to her ears, and with a small frown on her lips, forced herself to sleep.
It was dark.
The air was hot and humid, and if this had not been a dream, Hazel was sure her hair would have curled to twice it's size.
She glanced around. Blood red stone made up walls like a cavern, and a faint orange glow came from behind her, illuminating her surroundings. It seemed to make up everything, to her left, right, and even above her. When her eyes drifted downwards though, her stomach seemed to drop from her body.
A long, seemingly endless void stretched across her vision. It seemed to radiate terror and evil, chilling Hazel to the bone.
Tartarus? She wondered. No, that can't be right. This doesn't feel like Tartarus. But I know I'm in the Underworld...where in the Underworld?
A feminine yelp sounded, and Hazel noticed a humanoid on the side of the pit. She appeared to be standing on the edge of a small outcropping of the pit, and a few chunks of musky red stone had fallen from where she'd been standing.
What in the name of Pluto is she doing? Hazel squinted at the figure, trying to make out her features.
The dream zoomed into the person's face. It was a teenaged girl. She had short black hair that was ragged and tangled, dark eyes, and pasley skin. She wore a simple dress that looked like it would've fit right in with Wall Rose's citizens, if not for the blood splatters and scandalously low neck.
She grappled at the side of the pit, obviously struggling to keep her balance. Her scared eyes swept around the void she had nearly fallen into.
This is weird. Hazel thought. Who is this girl?
Suddenly, the girl's hair shocked upright in brilliant yellows and oranges, flickering and dancing. Her eyes shifted to a murderous red. Fur sprouted from her left leg as though she were a faun, but her other leg seemed to lose it's texture and grow shiny. Her jaw unhinged to reveal a series of wicked sharp fangs.
Empousa! Hazel realized. Oh gods, tell me this isn't like most demigod dreams. I refuse to believe that there's monsters coming back. It can't be real.
The empousa disappeared in a torrent of angry red flames, and instantly reappeared on another ledge about ten meters above where she had been, about fifty meters from the edge of the pit itself.
She suddenly whipped around to meet Hazel's eyes. She snarled "Demigod!" and slashed Hazel's face with her claws.
"Hazel!" A familiar voice cried. Hazel bolted upright in bed and instinctively thrust her fist towards the source of the noise.
"Ow!" The boy's voice said. Hazel turned to see Leo, the small boy clutching his nose. "Dang it Hazel! I don't wanna build a prosthetic nose!"
"Sorry sorry sorry!" Hazel said frantically. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah," Leo sniffed. He pulled his hand away to reveal a smudge of blood on his fingers and upper lip.
"Oh gods, I am so so so so sorry!" Hazel exclaimed. "I was having a bad dream and I was kinda tense I guess and I didn't mean it I am-"
"Chill Hazel." Leo offered her a grin. "Serves me right for walking in like this."
Hazel sighed. "Do you need something?"
"Uh…" Leo fiddled with the buttons on his shirt. "Yeah...actually." He cleared his throat and awkwardly darted his eyes.
"...well?" Hazel smiled.
"Do you remember a long time ago when you...uh…" Leo flushed red. "When you drew that picture of Calypso? Back on the Argo II?"
"Yes." Hazel nodded.
"Could you...er- recreate it?" He asked quickly. "I...I miss her. I haven't seen her face in years and...your drawing was really good."
"Aww, Leo." Hazel stood and rested a comforting hand on the boy's shoulder. "Of course I'll redraw it for you."
"Thanks Hazel." Leo smiled lightly. He went to his tool belt and pulled out a mechanical pencil and a smaller pad of paper. "I figured you could use these."
"Sure. These'll do fine." She took the materials from his hands. "I'll get to work right away."
"Do you mind if I stay in here?" Leo asked. "I'm working on something and I don't wanna go back to my room."
"Why not." Hazel shrugged playfully. She sat down in a desk a couple feet from the bed and twirled the pencil in her hands. "I may need a refresher on that description of her though."
"Okay." Leo plopped down on her bed. "Her face looks as though it was sculpted by a god, with high cheekbones and a small nose. She's got these almond shaped eyes framed by thick black lashes and…"
As Leo ratted off the details, Hazel's hand flew across the paper, delicately dragging the pencil at certain angles and creating varying thickness for each feature. She shaded Calypso's eyes dark with a glimmer of love and a rare smile on her pouty lips.
In what felt like minutes, but was around an hour in reality, Hazel had copied Calypso's likeness onto the paper as though it were a photograph.
"Woah…" Leo breathed, lifting the paper to his face. His eyes grew shiny. "It's like looking at a picture of her. Thanks Hazel."
"No problem." Hazel replied.
Leo folded the paper into eighths and slipped it into the pocket of his jacket. He wiped his eyes and sniffed a little. "I'd better get back to my room. Sleep well. I'll see you in the morning."
"I think it's already like, three AM." Hazel said.
"Then I'll see you when the sun's up." Leo shrugged. "Good night."
"'Night." Hazel said as she settled back into her bed. "Get some sleep, okay?"
Leo only smiled in response.
~:~
Hazel dreamed of the empousa again. It was almost out of the pit, and a sinking feeling in Hazel's gut said that wasn't a good thing.
She trudged out the door, her body still yearning to sleep. Frank, Piper, and Jason were all waiting in the hallway.
"Hey guys." Hazel yawned. "What are you doing?"
"Waiting." Jason answered. "Percy, Annabeth, Nico, and Leo are still asleep. Once everyone's up we're gonna get breakfast somewhere."
"Sorry to keep you waiting." Hazel leaned against the wall next to Frank.
"It's no trouble." Piper shrugged. "Jason only got up once Frank turned into an octopus and nearly squeezed the life out of 'em."
Jason turned a deep shade of red.
The door to Piper's right swung inwards to reveal Annabeth, dressed in her uniform with her curly blonde hair falling loosely around her shoulders.
"You guys waiting?" She said as she yanked her door shut.
"Yeah," Frank replied. "Now the only ones left are Leo, Percy, and Nico."
"I'll get 'em." Annabeth said. She casually turned to another door and jerked it open. "SEAWEED BRAIN! GET YOUR LAZY BUTT OUT OF BED! THERE'S A BLUE FOOD BUFFET!" She screamed.
There was some rustling and thumping sounds, and Percy, dressed in only a pair of pants, leaped from his room.
"Where? Huh? What?" He said frantically, whipping his head around.
Annabeth sighed and opened her mouth to say something, but was cut off by a loud, familiar sound.
"PUT SOME CLOTHES ON!" A voice that was unmistakably Coach Hedges' yelled. The demigods whipped around to see Leo poking his head out of his room, grinning shamelessly. In his hands was a small bronze box with a speaker on the side.
"Is that what you were building?" Hazel laughed.
"Maybe." Leo smirked. "Seriously though. Percy, get a shirt."
Percy blushed and snuck back into his room. Annabeth face palmed.
"VALDEZ!" A familiar voice barked. The door nearest Leo flung open to show Nico, with a bedhead and dressed in a simple pair of black shorts and a t-shirt. "I SWEAR TO THE GODS IF I HEAR THAT THING ONE MORE TIME, I AM GOING TO SEND YOU STRAIGHT TO THE FIELDS OF PUNISHMENT MYSELF!"
Leo shoved his speaker box into his pocket and smiled weakly. Nico muttered something probably explicit in Italian and slammed his door shut.
"Nico!" Hazel called."You should probably get changed!"
"I AM!" Nico yelled.
"Wow." Piper frowned. "He doesn't sound too happy."
"Can you blame him?" Annabeth said quietly. She awkwardly tugged at her jacket. "I dunno about you guys, but after everything that happened, sleep didn't come easy for me."
"Yeah." Leo agreed. "Not to mention he's usually grumpy."
Hazel and Jason threw a glare at him.
Percy exited his room, fully clothed this time in his uniform, though his hair was still messy and hanging in his eyes. Annabeth frowned and began furiously combing it with her fingers. Nico emerged in his uniform mere moments afterwards.
"Hold up," Percy said, staring at Nico. He jabbed his finger towards the boy's head. "What is that?"
Hazel followed his gaze to see that Nico's hair was partly tied back in a messy ponytail.
"Oh my gods." She covered her mouth to stifle a laugh. "Nico, why don't you just cut your hair?"
Nico flushed deeply. "I'm kind of reluctant to cut my hair with a huge stygian iron sword, or titan killing blades, so this is how I keep it out of my face."
"I'll cut your hair later," Piper said, drawing her knife and grinning at Nico.
Nico swallowed nervously, but quickly tensed back into seriousness. "What's the plan?" He asked.
"Breakfast, my friend from the 80s." Leo grinned.
"I was born in 1924-"
"I am so craving some waffles right now."
~:~
Much to Leo's dismay, there were no waffles. Only bread, fruit, and really expensive eggs.
"No waffles." He muttered darkly as he dropped into the chair beside Jason. "What is this, 1492?"
"Nope." Piper said, popping the 'P'. "It's 850."
Leo stared at her drily as he ripped off a chunk of bread.
"Okay," Percy said. "Let's get the fun stuff started. I had a demigodish dream last night."
"Me too!" Hazel gasped.
"Same here." Jason added grimly.
"I-I-I-I had one too." Frank paled.
"Did anyone not have a demigodly dream?" Annabeth asked.
"Uhh…" Leo felt his face redden. "I didn't...er...sleep."
"Leo!" Hazel exclaimed. "You need to rest!"
"Nevermind that right now." Annabeth said. "What was everyone's dream about?"
"Mine was about an empousa climbing up the side of a huge pit in the Underworld." Percy said.
Hazel's face looked gray. "T-t-that's what I d-d-dreamed about."
"Oh gods, me too." Frank chimed in. "That's it. It was a demigodish dream. How are we even getting those?"
"It makes no sense." Annabeth agreed. "And what about that empousa? Demigod dreams show real things."
"Monsters are coming back." Nico growled. "That pit was where Tartarus is supposed to be, but since it was literally his body and he doesn't exist anymore, it's just a huge gap in reality. It's just an endless void."
"How do you know?" Percy asked.
"I felt it." Nico replied. "We're lucky no flying monsters have formed yet."
"Aaand... cue the gryphons and harpies reforming in the Underworld." Percy smashed his head into the table helpfully.
Nico glared at him. "Hopefully if and when the empousa gets out of the Underworld she'll be outside of the wall. If she's just now coming back she'll be just as confused as we were."
"We can't let our guard down," Annabeth said as she palmed an apple. "And we have to keep an eye out for any abnormalities."
"Why now?" Jason said suddenly. "What's triggered them to come back to life now? What's stopped them from reforming before that's allowed them to come back now?"
"I don't know," Nico sighed. He ran his fingers stressfully through his hair. "And I hate not knowing."
Leo shoved some bread into his mouth and chewed, but his appetite seemed to have evaporated the second empousai were mentioned. They were never good.
"Annabeth! Jason!" A familiar voice called. Leo glanced to the right and spotted Armin and Mikasa weaving between tables towards them.
"Hey guys," Annabeth said, setting down her apple. "What is it?"
"Oh, nothing. Guess I'm just in the mood for a familiar face," Armin grinned weakly.
"Really?" Annabeth raised an eyebrow.
Armin nodded and pulled up a chair.. "How did you guys sleep?"
"No," Leo answered.
Armin looked at him strangely. "What does that even-"
"He didn't sleep," Hazel said hurriedly. "And the rest of us…"
The demigods exchanged worried looks, and it didn't take a genius to figure out what the glances meant.
Was it wise to tell Armin and Mikasa that ancient monsters were coming back to life?
"We slept as well as you'd expect," Annabeth said finally.
"Fair enough," Armin shrugged. "I'm sorry if I kind of pushed you guys yesterday. I was just so excited, I had to see everything you could do."
"It's fine," Hazel said gently. "If anything, being exhausted made it easier to sleep."
"Oh, okay then," Armin paused and fidgeted awkwardly in his seat. "If you say so."
"Armin, what's on your mind?" Annabeth asked, taking a bite of her apple as she studied the blonde boy.
Armin clasped and unclasped his hands nervously. "Do...do you remember what it was like? In the world? When you weren't confined to these walls because of stupid titans?"
Everyone's guilt was immediately visible on their faces. It was obvious Armin would be eager to know about what life was like before humanity had to fear titans, and it wasn't that they weren't anticipating the subject to pop up in a conversation eventually, but it felt so weird...
After a long stretch of awkward silence, Percy said "Yeah."
"We travelled all over the world," Piper said wistfully. "Leo built a boat that could sail and fly. We defeated an evil goddess that planned to destroy the human race."
"I can't take all of the credit," Leo grinned cheekily.
"No one gave you all the credit." Nico stated.
"But aren't goddesses immortal?" Armin asked. "How can you defeat an immortal being?"
"Destroy them." Percy growled darkly. "You can reduce them to beings less powerful than a fly. Yes, they're immortal, but they're not invincible. We blew Gaea up and Piper commanded her to sleep forever."
"I blew her up," Leo muttered.
"You died." Nico retorted.
"Hold up," Mikasa said suddenly. "Leo, you died?"
Leo's gut twisted horribly. "...Yes?"
"But...you're….here." Her eyes seemed to widen.
"Hehe...funny story…" Leo cleared his throat and felt blood rush to his face. When he spoke again, he barely took a breath between words. "I kinda had a dragon that kinda revived me with a magical potion and made me better so I'm not dead anymore."
"Magical potion…" Armin breathed. "Does it still exist?"
"Gods no," Piper said.
"Oh." Armin's face fell, and Leo immediately felt a pang of sympathy. This boy had probably lost all of his family, the thought of a potion that could possibly bring them back must be enthralling.
"Wait," Armin said. "What's a dragon?"
"You don't know what a dragon is!?" Percy exclaimed.
"No, are they a type of animal?"
"I'll show you later," Frank said. "I can turn into a dragon."
"But….what is it?" Armin asked again.
"It's like a lizard," Piper began. "But about a hundred times bigger and super muscled, and with a much longer neck and scales. Most of the time they have horns, and really sharp teeth. Oh, and they have these huge, leathery wings kind of like a bat's and they can breathe fire."
"And you owned one?" Armin gasped.
"I built one," Leo corrected. "He was made out of gold. His name was Festus, and he could kick some serious butt. Also, he likes Tabasco sauce."
"Tabasco sauce?"
"I may have already asked this but….how are the gods gone if they're immortal?" Mikasa asked.
"Belief." Annabeth said. "They exist as long as some remnant of them exist. Maybe their temples were being preserved or their domain of power was still strong and influential, and their stories and kids live on; then they thrive. If not, they fade."
"Hey, Annabeth," Percy said. "Y'know how those old kooks worship supposed wall goddesses?"
"Yes…"
"Do you think-"
"Gods no!" Annabeth buried her face in her hands as if she were trying to remove the thought from her mind. "Enough gods! Greek, Egyptian, Roman, Norse, I can't handle wall goddesses!"
A few moments of awkward silence settled onto the group.
"What's Egyptian?" Armin asked.