What's goin' on peoples? I'm back at school now and in my final year so I may not be able to keep to the weekly update but I promise I will try to keep to it. Any who as always: reviews, constructive criticism and ideas are much appreciated. Flames will be laughed at, possible and probable OOC. This is Chapter 6 of my story. Enjoy and please R&R :)
DISCLAIMER: As much as I want to, I do not own PJO or HoO or any of its characters etc. they all belong to the genius that is Rick Riordan
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Percy fought like a demon, which was ironic considering the fact that he was currently fighting sea demons, Percy glanced over at his new ally as he slashed his sword and another Telekhine burst into dust. Asterion whirled the Minotaur's axe with ease, as though he had used it for years. Percy didn't have long to observe Asterion though, as within seconds he was set upon by a fresh wave of monsters. Percy stopped thinking, his instincts took over as he performed the moves he had so often practiced back at Camp, so often in fact that they had become ingrained and he moved faster than conscious thought. He wielded his borrowed sword as though it were Riptide, but the balance of the sword was wrong, but none the less the blade was an arc of pure destruction as he cut down Telekhines, Hellhounds and Scythian Dracanae, however he was tired and the monsters landed more and more of their strikes, slashing claws across he bare torso and shredding his already threadbare jeans to slice the skin beneath
"Enough!" Kronos' voice rang out above the din of battle, the various monsters immediately fell back and formed a circle around the two men, only then did Percy realize he was still in the huge crater that formed the Arena. Percy and Asterion moved to stand side by side as Kronos calmly made his way toward them.
"You have fought well, but now I believe it is time for you two to take a swim and 'rest up' for the next battle" Kronos said with an evil grin, he snapped his fingers and suddenly neither Percy nor Asterion could move, they were frozen in time; neither could do anything as they were carried away to the Acheron river.
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Bob led the gods straight to Damasen, the giant nearly had a heart attack when he saw them, but was happy to see Annabeth and Bob again; he was also very curious to meet Ares as Damasen had been made to replace the god of war. He let them rest in his huge house and Ares even volunteered to kill the drakon a few times so Damasen was happy enough to let them stay. To say the gods were nervous would be an understatement; Annabeth thought as she ate a bowl of drakon stew and looked around, they were crapping themselves. Zeus was sitting by the enormous fire, twirling his master bolt though his fingers and nervously tapping his foot. Annabeth could only hope that he didn't drop the bolt. The daughter of Athena was the only demigod here, but since this was a quest to rescue Percy she wouldn't let the gods leave her behind; with her was most of the Olympian council, Aphrodite and Hera hadn't come, but Hephaestus had brought a suit of armour that could fall off and turn into a small army of automatons so Annabeth figured that made up for the loss of the two goddesses.
"Ha! I see the sword has come in useful!" exclaimed Damasen when he saw that Annabeth was still using the drakon bone blade that he had given her, Annabeth also had Riptide with her for when she found Percy, and she would find him.
After everyone had rested, Bob and Damasen worked together to hide the aura of the gods and then the two led them to where Bob had seen Kronos holding Percy, the Acheron river. however they would both fall back, they knew that it=f the Titan and Giant got involved, than Tartarus himself would almost certainly take a physical hand in the upcoming fight.
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They heard Percy before they saw him. As they got closer to the Acheron Annabeth heard a scream of pain; she froze
"Percy" she muttered, tears threatening to fall from her eyes as she listened to his screams
Annabeth rushed forward, the gods followed more slowly; they found her kneeling on the crest of a hill that overlooked Percy's prison. Annabeth watched in silent horror as Kronos drew the blade of his scythe slowly across Percy's chest. The setup was just as the gods had seen in the vision Styx had shown them, Percy was chained with celestial bronze chains to the shore of the Acheron River, however there were some differences. Chained beside Percy was a man that Annabeth had never seen; he was a huge man with shocking white hair and both of them were covered in numerous cuts, Percy more so than the other man. Kronos backed away and stabbed his scythe into the ground; he called out to a pair of telekhines behind him
"Douse him"
The two telekhines carefully drew water from the Acheron and tossed it over Percy's hunched form, Percy cried out in pain as the water crashed over him. Annabeth was frozen as Kronos beat Percy over and over; he had abandoned his scythe and was pummelling the son of Poseidon with his bare fists
"Again" Kronos stepped back as the telekhines doused Percy in the Acheron water again. Kronos summoned a throne and lounged on it as he studied Percy and the other man with a puzzled expression
"Why did you do it?" asked Percy
"Do what?" questioned Kronos from his throne
"Kill those demigods?"
Kronos considered this for a few seconds "Because they were a threat" he said eventually
"They were unclaimed!" exclaimed Percy angrily
"Exactly, no one knew their parents, but I did" the Titan answered calmly
"And who was it?"
"There was a son of Hephaestus" upon hearing that, said god growled softly
"A daughter of Athena" now it was the wisdom goddesses turn to glare at Kronos
"But neither of those are extreme threats!" exclaimed Percy
"There was also a son of Zeus" the Titan lord continued, ignoring Percy and completely unaware of the furious glare his son was giving him
"And a daughter of Poseidon" Percy was shocked into silence upon hearing that and his father stiffened and gripped his trident harder, he looked like he wanted to stab Kronos with the weapon gripped in his hand
"And you framed me for the murders, killed two birds with one stone" muttered Percy
"Exactly; you know you're not as stupid as you look" Percy didn't reply to that and the pair lapsed into silence, oblivious to the gods hidden just over the hill
"Why?" the Titan asked suddenly after almost five minutes silence "Why do you keep going? You could have let yourself die several times but you stuck it out and even used the Acheron to heal yourself even though it courses huge pain, why?"
"Because I still have a reason to live; a reason to fight" Percy said, staring defiantly at Kronos "because while I live there is still the possibility however slight, that I will be able to escape" Kronos laughed in genuine amusement "and what would that reason be?"
"Annabeth" when Percy whispered her name, the daughter of Athena couldn't hold herself back anymore, she ran forward; ignoring the Titan and the gods. Kronos leaped to his feet but Poseidon blasted his father with water from the Acheron, the Titan screamed and suddenly everyone felt like they were trying to run through syrup, Kronos had slowed time around them. The Titan leaped forward and struck Demeter who fell to the ground. The gods struck out but Kronos dodged and weaved through them knocking various gods down with consummate ease. The twin archers fired arrows in slow motion but Kronos easily dodged the slow moving arrows. Percy looked up to see what was going on and was shocked to see the gods scattered around. Kronos hadn't bothered to slow Percy, probably thinking he wouldn't be able to do anything from his prison; Percy saw Annabeth running toward him slowly, for a second he felt relieved; he had known she would come. But then Percy felt a cold hand close around his heart, this was just another torturous hallucination,
Annabeth wasn't really here, Percy knew that, no doubt she would have moved on by now. For all she knew, he was dead. Being close to the Acheron brought on these visions, it was the river that was used to punish the worst of Tartarus' inhabitants, and those punishments weren't just pain, they were psychological as well. The river would raise their spirits with false hopes with these visions of their rescue, and then crush them. Percy knew this; he had experienced many similar visions. The worst ones were when Annabeth failed and was captured, the spirit of the Acheron drew sadistic pleasure from drawing these visions out and forcing Percy to watch as Annabeth was tortured in front of him. Percy felt anger well up inside him; he was vaguely aware of the Acheron churning behind him, the black water leaped and whirled like it was a living force. The water splashed against its banks and a small part was splashed high into the air and landed on the daughter of Athena, Annabeth fell to the ground with a scream of pain, Percy averted his eyes and he didn't notice when she shakily climbed to her feet and made her way toward him at her normal speed, she briefly wondered what had broken Kronos' hold on her, but shoved the thought aside when she reached Percy, she knelt down and hugged Percy tightly not caring that the he was covered in blood and cuts, the son of Poseidon was unable to respond, Annabeth was aware of the water still churning behind Percy, she shivered; she really didn't want to touch that again.
"Wise Girl, you have to get out of here" Percy muttered into her hair, Annabeth pulled back and looked at Percy in shock
"No! I came here to rescue you" she shook her head "I'm not leaving without you!"
"Yes you are; I know you're not really here"
"No, Percy I am here, I'm right here and I'm getting you out of here" Annabeth pleaded, Percy looked at her unconvinced, he had had too many visions to fall for Acheron's tricks anymore
"Go Annabeth, live your life; forget about me"
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Okay, well there we go! That was chapter 6, I didn't really know where to end it so yeah, you'll just have to read the next chapter to find out how Annabeth reacts to Percy's disbelief. Please R&R, it is greatly appreciated.
'Till next time, that's all folks!
BigSchwart out