Here it is. This one took a bit to write, but nonetheless it's here. Hope you like it and don't forget to leave a review!
"And why did I make this deal in the first place? Why would I want to get involved with you?"
"Because you died," she replied.
Percy's hands fell off of the steering wheel and into his lap, his back slumped and he sat there dumbfounded.
Oh shit.
Percy's mind was blank. Lately, death had been a touchy topic. Too many people he loved were dead. He felt that for every corner he turned, he always managed to come upon a new tragedy.
He heard a raspy sound, was that him? His head was pounding. Ever since that night in Greece it seemed like his head was always pounding. Like some kind of warning or premonition or some other stupid shit. And it kept getting worse. More frequent. More painful. And these girls, these Fates, he swore they were making it worse.
At first it was just little pinpricks that made his eyes become dry when he looked at them. Then pins and needles that took over his arms and legs whenever he got too close to them. Now his entire body felt like it was spasming at their every word. Every breath they let loose was a cold unforgiving wind that he could somehow feel tear at his body.
He tried to hide it. He really did and he was doing fine before, but now the pounding, it was getting sharper and sharper and- He felt their eyes on him and he was thrown back into reality.
"No way," Percy's voice was thick in his throat, "My death has nothing to do with you three and neither does me coming back. That was all Apollo, he-he's the one who healed me."
A small voice in Percy's head told him that he was lying to himself. That he knew even though Apollo was an Olympian, he didn't have the power to drag his soul back from the Underworld.
"Perseus, you know that's not true," Atropos said softly trying to soothe him.
"And I don't remember this because you made it so I wouldn't?" Percy asked skeptically, "How do I know you're telling the truth?"
They had to be tricking him. He couldn't have made a deal with them. He wouldn't. He would die before he became another god's soldier again. A slave to a new prophecy.
"I can show you. Take my hand, Perseus," Atropos said as she held her hand towards Percy. The closer her fingers inched, the deeper the pain wormed its way into his head. His eyes felt like they were going to burst from their sockets. Percy fought a groan.
Maybe if he took her hand all the pain would stop. His hand twitched forward, but then he stopped himself. He didn't want any of this anymore. He wanted to be on his own. For a while. He didn't know what for. Maybe to heal or just for some kind of peace. And taking that hand would suck him back in, he knew it would.
"No," he croaked. He prayed that they didn't hear the tightness of his in his voice. He didn't need the Fates looking at him like some kicked puppy.
Lachesis huffed and her breath sent icicles that ripped down his spine, "Just give her your hand, idiot." Her words pushed against his mind, pulling at his arms, trying to make him grab Atropos's hand. Percy fought against the haze in his head and his muscles shook.
Lachesis lunged for Percy's hand but he swiftly pulled it out of her reach, but not before her finger brushed his wrist.
Percy's breathe hitched. His wrist burned. It burned. Like he had just been branded. So much for hiding his pain because this hurt.
"Don't touch me," Percy panted his breaths getting more labored as he felt the heat spread up his arm, "Please don't-" Before he could finish his sentence, Lachesis had jumped to the front seat and was wrestling him, trying to take his hand.
His vision broke into pieces, his lungs burned either from the fire that lapped at his skin or the ragged breaths that weren't giving him enough oxygen. And now she was on top of him. Her weight crushed him, made his bones scrape against each other and his ribs moan in agony.
"Get off!" Percy's voice tore up his throat. It was just like that night. She was on top of him, hitting, scratching, trying to sink a dagger in his heart.
He stopped breathing all together because his ribcage felt like it had caved in. Black spots glittered across his vision and made his head whirl. He heard faint voices in the back of his mind.
"Lachesis, get away from him! You're killing him!"
"Shut up, Clotho. If he doesn't want to take Atropos's hand, then I'll make him,"
Lachesis. Clotho. Atropos. The Fates- it wasn't her. He was safe. Percy felt the heaviness that blocked his lungs lift and his vision started to string itself back together. Cool air seeped into his lungs, calming the fire on his skin.
Then pain flared in his hand.
"Got it!" a woman yelled and the string that had sown reality back together was slashed away.
The dagger was an inch away from his chest.
The air was sucked from his body and left him clawing at his throat.
The dagger pierced his skin.
He was thrown back into a painful darkness.
"You've done it now, Lachesis."
"Oh shut it, Clotho."
Everything was dark. Again. You'd think that complete darkness would be nice and cool. Like the shadows cast down by clouds that give you a moment of relief from a scorching summer sun or hidden caves deep within a mountain that have stone floors slick with water from an underground river.
It's not. It's walking barefoot on a steaming sidewalk, car seat belts that leave brands on your skin, and completely not fun.
On his hands and knees, Percy felt at the ground expecting hard, unforgiving rock like the last few times he had been here, but instead he felt soft sand. So soft it would have felt like being on a cloud if not for it being so hot that it felt like it was close to melting his skin off.
He tried standing, but his legs shook and collapsed beneath him. Even sitting up straight was a battle of his strength, so he laid down. He let the sand sear the feeling from his body and let it leave him perfectly numb.
Percy was too tired for tears. The events of the past few weeks, the war, dying, his mom, had sucked him dry. He had tried so hard to piece himself back together every time, but he was too broken now, too tired.
He closed his eyes. Percy needed to sleep for days, for years, for millennia. For as long as he would need to lose himself in his dreams.
So he lost himself in the darkness. Let it bury him, smother him, and wash away the little light he had left inside of him. He couldn't see anything, couldn't hear anything, couldn't feel anything. He let the darkness bathe him and take away his senses, leaving him wonderfully empty.
He didn't know how long he had laid there, but he soon he forgot his name. Then he forgot how he even got here. Then he forgot where here even was. He was lost, swirling in black, letting it drown him.
Down in the deepest pits of Tartarus...
She hurt everywhere. Her little adventure to New York had been successful more or less. It was supposed to end in his death, and she failed. Again. Gaea would be angry, she knew that of course, but hopefully she created enough waves to eventually ruin Percy's life. His family was dead, so surely Percy would go into complete and udder mayhem and off himself in the matter of no time. The grief and sadness would crush him like a flea. Hopefully.
She couldn't risk another failure. Gaea would kill her and she wouldn't come back this time. It would be much more permanent. Annabeth shuddered. It would be extremely painful. What Percy did would feel like a blessing.
But that wouldn't happen, Annabeth reassured herself. Percy was done for.
Oh Hades, he better be for all the trouble she had gone through. Percy had turned into something that looked like it belonged in nightmare. The look that was on his face was utterly terrifying. Like nothing she had ever seen before.
His eyes were the worst... they weren't his eyes. If she were honest with herself she would admit that the son of Poseidon was the worst looking boy she'd ever met. Let's just say it wasn't that horrible to have to kiss him while pretending to love him. And if she were to be honest again, his eyes were the most not-worst thing about him. Then something changed him. Someone had given him something that gave him this... ability...
She had to figure out who, her inhuman smarts needed to know. It had to be a very powerful god. Maybe not even a god, a titan or... holy gods. A primordial but first she needed to fill Gaea in about her mission.
She ran through the rough landscape of Tartarus, sometimes averting her eyes from lying bodies that were most likely corpses create by ancient monsters. She ran faster so that she could reach Gaea quicker and also partly so she wouldn't get caught just like those bodies.
She made it to the spot where she split from Gaea before she went topside. She was to meet Gaea her after she had finished. Hopefully her master was done her mission too and was there already.
Annabeth was close. She could feel the thrumming of power coming from their meeting spot. Gaea must already be there. Annabeth pushed her legs into a sprint. Her lady would be angry if she didn't show her haste.
"You're slow, Annabeth," she heard Gaea say, but she couldn't see her, only blackness. She spun looking for her master, the hairs on her neck rising. She felt something dark, something unearthly near her. It unsettled her to her core, making the frail human part of her quiver, ready to flee.
"So this is the pretty doll you have doing your dirty work, sister?" a deep inky voice rumbled. Annabeth realized she was trembling. The voice promised death and suffering and she didn't want to be anywhere near it.
"Wh-who's there?" Annabeth choked out. She couldn't stop the panic from rising in her. This ancient being was calling to a primal instinct deep within her to run away. She felt the predatory haze it gave off, it suffocated her.
Inky whorls were thrown around her. They pulled at her arms and legs and Annabeth let loose a scream. She tried to escape their hold but they held tight, dragging her deeper into the black.
Then passing through the darkness like walking through wall a fog, she was inside. Surprisingly, it was well lit inside the dark bubble. Annabeth looked down at her body. The black tendrils were gone. Only red marks where they had held her were left.
Annabeth looked up and saw two beings. One the recognizable figure of her master, Lady Gaea, but the other was on she had never seen before. It was a man with inky black skin that feed off the little light that was near him. And his eyes, they were as horrible as Percy's had been. Blood red irises were the only color in them, the rest completely black just like his skin.
It was even difficult to seen if he was wearing clothes, his body so dark that her eyes ached from looking at him. The only thing that showed more color was the white of his teeth. They were the opposite of his skin. The let loose a blinding light, shining like miniature stars.
He moved towards her without a sound, like he was floating. Annabeth's breath caught in her throat in fear as he stopped less than a foot away from her. She could feel strips of darkness lash at her skin. The man reached out and twirled his fingers through her curls and leaned his nose down to her neck, grazing her skin.
"Hello, love," he whispered into her ear, his voice terrifying even though he spoke softly. She could feel his breath breeze across her ear.
"I am Erebus."
He must have been floating away for centuries. Drifting into an abyss of nothingness. No worry, no pain, but also no warmth, no comfort.
He was inside a paradox, inside a place between somewhere and nowhere, a place so infinite that was both the beginning and the end of whatever it was.
Perseus.
That name sounded familiar, Perseus. He thought of how he used to know a someone with that name. Well maybe he did once. A long time ago though because now, he no longer knew anything.
Perseus, are you ready?
Ready? Ready for what? Was he nearing the end of this endless fall? He didn't know. He didn't know anything.
Forgive us, Perseus.
Forgiveness. He once knew about forgiveness, but something had happened to him because he longer could find it inside of himself. Had he lost it? Or maybe he never had forgiveness to begin with. He didn't know, he only knew about nothingness.
A sense of tightness spread across his body. A feeling of confusion trickled into his mind. He wasn't supposed to feel anything. The tightness wrapped around his muscles making his body respond with a great stretch.
His skin skated across grainy sand. Sand. He could feel sand. His fingers ran across the tiny grains, tingling with the new sensation making his mind light up with excitement. He felt the ground beneath him. He couldn't remember the last time he felt something.
He opened his eyes to a dimly lit world. The light was warm, yellow and orange, like the few minutes before dawn where the sun was still far below the horizon.
He got the sudden urge to get up, to walk, to run. So he did. His legs shook, but held his weight. He smiled, almost laughing at how strange it felt to tug at the muscles in his face.
He felt free. Almost like he felt while floating in nothing, but now he could enjoy being unburdened. A warm wind blew through his hair, feeling like satin on his face. Sand was thrown up with every step he took, leaving a small cloud of dust in his wake.
He ran till came across a stone monument. Large rock pillars created a circle around a small pool that shone gold in the dim light. He wove through the pillars and kneeled at the pool.
He didn't know what it was, but something tugged at his stomach, drawing to closer to the pool, making him look into it.
He saw his reflection. Black disheveled hair, warm tan skin, a handsome face, and his eyes. White irises that could only be separated from his corneas by rings of black.
His head swirled with flickers of memories. That wasn't right. He had green eyes, green like the sea. A dam in his mind broke, letting an ocean of memories flood him. They were supposed to be green like his father's, Poseidon, because he was a demigod, because he fought in wars, because he was betrayed, because he died, because he-
He made a deal. A deal with the Fates. He remember the fire that had crawled through his vein, the white light that had flown around him, and the surge of power he felt before he was thrown back into darkness.
He made a deal and his eyes were a reminder of what he had done, the freedom he had lost, and the power he gained. He was now blessed by the Fates. The power that flows through his veins now was unmeasurable.
His body hummed as in reply to his thoughts of power. His fingertips tingled and he looked down to his hands. A sharp intake of air went up his nose. Small white flames licked at his hands, glowing brightly like a real fire, but giving off no heat.
"We will teach you how to control your powers. How to mold them into a great weapon."
He quickly spun around at the sound of the voice. It was a woman. She was beautiful, but she also had a darkness about her, as if her good looks were as deadly as a knife. They probably were. He knew her, but he couldn't recall her name.
"Hello, Perseus," the woman spoke, "Do you remember now?"
That was his name. Perseus. Perseus Jackson. Percy. Perce. Kelp Head. Seaweed Br- He stiffened. He didn't know why, maybe he just didn't remember why, but he didn't like that name. No he hated it. Loathed it. Couldn't stand-
"Perseus, calm down" the woman said sternly again looking worriedly at him. He looked down at himself. The white flames had spread from his hands to across his entire arms and the fire was no longer just flickering. It hissed and burned brighter than before. It had gotten bigger.
He looked up to the woman's face with panicked eyes that begged for help.
"It's alright, Perseus. You will learn how to control it. I will help you," she promised softly, "Now, do you remember the deal you made?"
"Y-yes," his voice scraped at throat, the feeling so new to him, like he hadn't spoke since the beginning of time.
"Is that all?" the woman prodded.
"No, but I feel-" he struggled with the words to describe the mess that was his mind, "I feel like somethings are still missing."
"Good. The rest will come to you with time," she reassured him. She put out her hand towards him, "Here, let's return."
He reached out his hand to grabs hers but another memory flashed across his vision. Another hand being held towards him. Another woman asking her to trust him. He stopped himself.
"Who are you?" he asked. Maybe knowing her name would make him trust her more.
"I am the second of the three Fates, Lachesis." Lachesis, Lachesis, Lachesis. He knew that name. She's the one who- Lachesis jumped to the front seat and wrestled him, trying to take his hand.
His chest tightened, "You. You're the one who brought me here," he said accusingly.
Lachesis looked down, ashamed, "I am truly sorry for the pain I caused you. I didn't know the way here would be so... traumatic, but you needed to know the truth."
He eyed her, looking for any sign of dishonesty, but he couldn't find any.
He grasped her hand and squeezed to show her his forgiveness. Lachesis gasped and looked up to him, surprised with his acceptance of her apology.
He smiled at her, "Let's get out of here."
In the blink of an eye, white winds spun around them, flying them back to reality, back home.
Perseus Jackson, the bearer of the Fate's divine will, their soldier, their champion, was going home.
Holy shit. There you go. Sorry it took so long to update, I was busy crying over some stupid book *cough cough* acourtofmistandfury *cough cough*.
Hope you liked it! Please review! It's so awesome to read what you guys think about the story so far whether it be compliments or things that need to be fixed.
Stay tuned for the next chapter!