This chapter is a result of #I'dRatherNotDoHomework

Sorry for typos/OOCness! Hope you enjoy!

Happy Reading!

Chapter 31

Annabeth

Annabeth dreamt of Nico di Angelo.

But not just him. She had crazy nightmares where she was standing in a completely black room, and the words of the prophecy were streaming around her body in white. She knew that the final line had to be about Nico, and that was what worried her.

The fatal prophecy was etched into her mind:

"The House of Hades Holds the Key
To Destroying the World and Restoring Peace.
At the End of Battle's Foretold Strike
The Two Enemies will Fight to Unite.
The Giant Stalks the Six Waiting for War
The Earth Mother Haunts at the Doors."

The first part wasn't that bad. It seemed like any other, terrible prophecy that she had heard in the past. The nerve-racking part was the second stanza that she just couldn't stand to read, but she did anyway. Curiosity killed the cat… or demigod.

"For Though the Eight May Stay
There Is One too Many for Giant's Decay
Fire and Ice will Oppose the Threats
Made By Man Who Conquers All Death
Lost in the Wind as Whisper's Tell
The Ghost King Will Forever Reign in Hell."

Annabeth tried to be logical about it. First of all, it was so much longer than all of the other ones she had heard, and she had heard a lot. That made her question if all prophecies were that long and if they only heard certain parts of them. She wished she had taken another look at the Sibylline books, but that would've been stealing unneeded information.

Second, Nico couldn't forever reign in the Underworld. He spent most of his time down there, sulking around with the other wandering spirits, spying on his dad to make sure he didn't try to overthrow Olympus again. But he was always allowed to leave. The only way he wouldn't be able to was if he… died.

Nico di Angelo couldn't die. He'd faced death and gone against the odds so many times that Annabeth sometimes wondered if his father had made him immortal. But a stupid premonition didn't mean anything. They always had double meanings.

And third, it talked about a giant, and she had no idea which one it was. She'd never really studied giants before the Titan War, and had only known enough to be dangerous, not intellectual. But after Jason, Piper, and Leo had come back from their quest defeating some, she'd taken a new study to them.

Most of the ones she knew of had already been taken care of. She couldn't think of any others. She wished that she had her brothers and sisters there to help her, but they weren't.

She longed for the sun. She longed for anything but the greenish moon that cascaded it's eerie half-light down on her and Percy. And more than anything, she just wanted to escape Tartarus and see the real, human world again.

The only bright side was that her ankle and ribs were okay. She'd hated feeling so useless, and now that she could fight, she intended on doing so and keeping every single rogue spirit down in Tartarus for another hundred or so years.

The blackness started to fade away and the white words zoomed off from her view. She allowed herself to hope for only a second that she would be waking up, but of course that wasn't going to happen. That would be too normal.

Instead, it changed to actually show her Nico di Angelo in the fight of his life.

Ironically, he was in Tartarus too, and Annabeth knew that it was from before they had arrived when he had been caught down here. He was walking through some woods that looked a lot like the ones she and her boyfriend were in. In fact, they were almost identical, except for the difference in tree type. Where as they were in pine trees that stretched on for miles, Nico was walking through huge oaks that she had seen before in southern towns.

He had a sword out then, but it wasn't Stygian Iron like his old sword. It was a celestial bronze sword like the one that Percy carried. It was only about three feet long and nothing too special, but he held it as if it was the only thing protecting him from death.

He was battling some unforeseen enemy. He was shaking, his clothes were torn, and he had a large cut across his forehead. He kept blinking like he was trying to keep the blood out of his eyes. But he wasn't exactly looking at what was attacking him. He acted like he knew where it was, but he only watched out of his peripheral vision.

"What do you want?!" he screamed, waving the sword frantically. Something hissed and swooped down from the large branches below, so fast that Annabeth wasn't able to see who are what it was. It didn't fly, but it had wicked flexibility as it slashed at Nico.

He tried to jab at it but it didn't work. The monster jumped back up into the trees to wait him out. "What do you want?" he repeated, this time more calmed. He looked like he was contemplating whether or not he should climb into the trees to pursue it.

The monster spat at him and did not respond right away. This time, a branch came down and knocked him on the head. He was sent sprawling backwards, his sword tossed easily out of his hand.

"Vengeance," the monster screeched with laughter, and Annabeth knew that she had heard that voice before. But in the dream, it was just stuck on the tip of her tongue. She couldn't think of it in time. "Sweet, sweet vengeance."

"But I didn't do anything," he ruled out, scurrying to pick up his sword and jump to his feet. This time, when the branch came down to hit him in the head, and lunged out of the way and somersaulted on the ground, coming up in a man's proposal position.

"No, you didn't, but someone has to pay for my ending up here. And since your friends, Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase, are not here, then I suppose it'll just have to be you." The monster screamed in rage and tackled him in a blur.

Everything went black again so that Annabeth could no longer see Nico or the enemy. But the sounds of his battle still played on in the darkness. She heard the sounds of the monster jumping at him and trying to end him.

She could hear the sounds of Nico's sword hitting the bark of a tree and his grunts as he desperately tried to yank it out. She was pretty sure that he had success, because the next sound was that of a limb being cut off, and Nico wasn't the one gasping in pain.

Annabeth wondered if it was one of the Furies. She'd seen them a few times, and she knew that they flew, but they mostly remained in the Underworld torturing spirits in Asphodel and Punishment. But now the Furies were trying to keep all of the souls from escaping and Hades from getting hurt.

The dream changed again, and the sounds cut off like someone had just turned a switch. A single candlelight appeared in front of her, bright enough that it turned her skin the orange tint of the flame.

She could hear the echoing footsteps from where she was as they approached her. She could hear the rustle of clothing and a man's cough, clearing his throat. When he spoke, he sounded rehearsed. "Hello, Annabeth Chase. I've been wondering when I would meet you."

At first she didn't say anything. She wondered how the man knew her name. Then, she said, "And why is that?"

The man got close enough that the candlelight flickered. She could then see his whole profile. He was wearing a suit with perfect creases in it and stood fifteen feet tall, at least. His tie was a horrid clash of turquoise and banana yellow. His eyes were brown like dirt and his hair was black and messed up like it had been caught in the wind.

He looked like a business man, ready to help her pay her mortgages or get a loan. If there was one thing she had learned from her father, it was that you should never trust a business man, because they only cared about themselves and money.

The man shrugged as his answer, and so Annabeth asked, "Who are you supposed to be?"

"Oh how rude of myself. My name is Tityos, and I am a giant, and I am a son of Gaea. That should clear up those questions that were sure to come."

Most people didn't give out information that quickly unless they knew that they had nothing to fear. That made Annabeth gulp. And he had just said that he was a giant, which meant that he could be and probably was the one from the prophecy.

Annabeth racked her mind real quick for any information she knew about Tityos. He had tried to kill and rape Leto and was murdered by Apollo and Artemis. As punishment, he was stretched out like Prometheus and tortured by two vultures that ate his innards.

He was probably expecting a crazy reaction or her to draw a weapon, but she kept her composure calm and sophisticated like him. It was hard since she was wearing her tattered clothes and messed up hair in the dream, but she tried. "Nice to know. Do you like to just give information up freely, because I don't think Gaea would like it if she knew?"

Tityos dismissed the question with a wave of his hand. "Oh bother. Now, Annabeth, I have a proposition for you. Your dear friend Nico didn't seem like he wanted to take it, but I think you're smart enough to know what's the best decision."

When he said Nico, her gut twisted as the vision of Nico fighting off the monster came into her mind. She forced the sick feeling in her stomach down and nodded. "Okay, go on."

"As you know by now, and have probably memorized without meaning to, there is a prophecy surrounding you and your friends, and more importantly, Nico di Angelo. He has a key role in all of this, as he is the one who is predicted to die."

Her eye twitched, and she hoped that he hadn't noticed. "Prophecies always have double meanings," she said through gritted teeth.

"There is only one Ghost King, Ms. Chase, and it is Nico. What I am offering you is a way to save your friends. The odds are against them, and if you join our cause, then I can promise you that you all will be spared."

A shivered crept down her back. "What do you mean 'join your cause'?"

"I mean that you would become a spy for us. You could remain with your boyfriend, Mr. Jackson, and be reunited with your friends and family. Camp Half-Blood would even be spared. It's a generous offer, and Nico decided against it like an utter fool. But I do not take you or Athena for a fool."

She was dumbfounded. "You must really think I am a fool though for even considering something as idiotic as that." She thought of her dear friend, Silena Beauregard, who had been a spy for the Titans. It hadn't ended well for her. "I would never betray my friends to give you information."

She expected him to get mad, but he laughed instead. "You are just as ignorant and wrong as Nico was."

"What's that supposed mean?" she shot at him defensively.

"It means that you do not realize that your friends are going to kill themselves off before our army even sets foot on their land. The Greeks and Romans are fighting at this moment, and was stupid of Hera to even think that they would get along for a second."

He turned around and began to walk away from her. "You saw the vision of Nico in Tartarus. If he hadn't been taken by the Giants, he would've died for sure. This only further stresses that you and Percy Jackson have no chance of staying alive."

He was farther and farther away. She couldn't even see him anymore. "I guess we will remain enemies. I will not have much to do with you. My job has been to watch you six friends above ground, but I will remind you that Earth Mother Gaea is watching you every move. Every breath you take, she knows you've taken. She watches all the time, and you are never alone."

His voice faded away, and the candle flickered out.

Annabeth woke up to a voice hissing in her face, and it was the same one that had tried to end Nico's life in her dreams.

"One sound and you die."

Thanks for reading! Review Challenge: What song are you listening to as you read this? If you aren't, then what was the last song you listened to? For me, it is the AMAZING song, Sail by AWOLNATION! For some reason, I think is the perfect song for the Seven of the Prophecy. "This is how an angel dies, I blame it on my own sick pride. Blame it on my ADD baby. SAIL!"

Reviews and ideas are loved! Remember to read and review Hell and Silence and my new chapter of Love Is A Four Letter Word, D is for Dams!

-BBH