Aaaalright! Let's see if I can crank out another chapter!

The Loss of a Hero: Chapter Sixteen

Percy POV

We ran toward the pillar of darkness, Chloe in the lead. "Stop as soon as you get close enough, we'll go on ahead, alright?" I yelled. The storm was louder as we got closer. I could barely hear myself think.

"Got it!" she yelled back.

We kept running, getting closer and closer to the dark pillar. I shivered, and was once more grateful for the Lifestone. I didn't know if I would ever be done being grateful for it.

Chloe stopped about a hundred yards from the base of the pillar. I looked back, and saw her encased in a sphere of power. Inside, she was colored with a mix of grays. Her expression was deadly calm. I heard her voice, charged with power, echoing across the open field. "The scales of equality are tipped. This is not as it should be. Let there be balance."

I shivered again as the sphere of colorless reality expanded, surrounding the entire field. The pillar flickered dangerously, then slowly fizzled out. From high up, a black dot fell toward us. Nico. Ash-grey wings appeared on his back, spreading out and slowing his fall. As he grew closer, I heard gasps from the group as they saw the closer details – ink-black skin, eyes that were whiteless, and no expression on his face. His sword glowed faintly with a dark grey, though I knew it was actually purple. The sphere of power that Chloe made turned everything inside colorless, shaded with hues of black and white instead. It was a bit difficult, because perception and depth were slightly harder to judge.

Nico landed, and he drew his sword. He looked at each of us, then turned and faced me. I thought I was shivering before, my blood was now cold as ice. He recognized my presence from earlier, even with the appearance change I pulled. Clarisse ran up, drawing her spear, but I paid her no attention. I readied my own sword, but my hands were shaking. A hand rested on mine, and I flinched. Annabeth was there, holding her knife.

"Hey. Jake. Listen, it's okay. I know how it feels to have to fight someone that's possessed by something evil. But remember, we've gotta do this. We have to subdue him, if we can, and cut the connection to whatever is possessing him. If we can't… we'll have to destroy him. I know this is hard, but remember, if we don't stop him one way or another, he'll just keep destroying. We can't let that happen. Alright?"

I nodded shakily. It hurt inside, being so close to Annabeth, yet not being able to be with her again. It hurt so badly, but I pushed it aside. There'll be time to think about that later. Now, it's time to do what we came here for. I raised my blade again. "Thank you, Annabeth," I said.

She smiled. "No problem. Let's do this."

I nodded, and turned back to Nico. I looked into his empty, dead eyes, and hoped that it wasn't too late to save him. I raised my sword and charged.

Of course, it couldn't have been as simple as a one-on-five fight. Nope, not for us.

As soon as I charged, there was a flash, and four figures of Nico appeared, like afterimages. But they were solid as the original, which Clarisse found out quickly as she crossed blade on spear with it. Raven raised her… I gave up trying to name it, it kept changing. Currently, it kept swapping between different melee weapons. Annabeth rushed forward with her knife, meeting a copy with surprising strength. I watched in panic as a figure charged Zoe, slashing with its blade, but Zoe just held tight to Mr. Bears, and when the blade swung at her, she shimmered, and the blade swung through empty air. She kicked the figure from behind, and it fell forward. I chuckled.

The real Nico walked toward me slowly. I readied my sword, but inwardly I was worried. I wasn't at my top form. Yes, I had the Lifestone keeping me safe from any more draining, but some of my power had already been drained before I got it. Thinking about it flashed me back to the council room, where the council members and Luke were lying on the ground, unconscious. I growled. "Alright, then. Let's do this!" I yelled, and ran forward.

I swung my blade with deadly speed and precision, but Nico blocked it with equal speed. I swung a few more times, and he blocked them all. I swore in Ancient Greek. I swung at his side, using the flat end of the blade. It connected, and I heard a crunch. I winced, that must have been a rib or two. Nico showed no pain, however, and swung his sword at me so quickly I didn't have time to block.

I yelled in pain. My left arm had a huge, dark gash that was bleeding profusely. I tried to pull water in from my surroundings to heal it, but the air and the ground were dry. I hastily blocked a slash that would have taken my arm off, using only my right hand. I jumped back, quickly pulling out a long strip of cloth. My left arm was useless for now, I quickly tied it behind my back so it wouldn't get in the way. I raised my sword in my right hand. It was heavy, it wasn't made to be used one-handed. I swore again, I didn't have time to change the form of it. I put my hand as close to the hilt as I could, and charged back into battle.

It was sort of sad, how it went. All I could do was try to block the swipes Nico threw at me, as fast as I could. I grunted in pain. I hadn't thought about his sword, it hurt me more than it would anyone else. Another blow landed on my other arm, and I dropped my sword. Nico raised his sword to stab me through the heart, and I braced myself for the end.

A dark barrier of energy covered me just before the blade pierced my skin. I looked up, and Raven was crossing blades with the original Nico. I looked at where she'd been a moment earlier, and saw a mound of dark ash. "Thanks," I gasped.

"Try to stay alive a bit longer, next time," she replied. "Rest up a bit, I got this."

Annabeth dashed by, tossing me a bottle of golden liquid. "Nectar, drink," she said, and ran to meet another copy's blade. I pulled off the top and took a swig. It tasted like my mom's homemade chocolate-chip cookies. My cuts went from screaming agony to heavy pain. I swore. I wouldn't be much use now. I took another drink, and watched the others. Clarisse was stabbing a copy repeatedly with her spear. Annabeth was dashing around another copy, slashing it repeatedly and dodging it's strikes. Raven was taking on Nico, and it was almost even, but Nico was faster. I saw her get a few cuts, and I winced. I looked for Zoe, and found her. Her teddy bear was sitting on the copy's back, squishing its face into the ground. Zoe had its sword and was whacking the copy's rear with the flat side. I almost felt sorry for the poor copy.

One by one, the copies fizzled out, leaving a mound of ash where it died. Finally, the only one left was the one Zoe was tormenting, which Raven fixed by stabbing it through the heart. I thought I heard a sigh of relief as it died. Poor thing.

The last one standing was the original Nico. He was bleeding in several places, including where I'd hit him in the ribs. Raven was beating him, badly. A final whack to the head, and he crumpled. Raven stuck out her arm, and a glowing barrier surrounded him. A shock went through the air. Slowly, the darkness receded from Nico's skin and eyes. He groaned, and his face contorted with pain. He swore violently, or rather he tried to. A strip of duct tape appeared on his mouth. "Sorry," Raven said. "There's children around." She gestured to Zoe and Alex, who had just run up. The duct tape disappeared, along with the forcefield, and Nico coughed. He looked up at us briefly, then his eyes rolled back in his head and he crumpled onto the ground.

"Oh, gods, he's bleeding badly!" Annabeth ran to him, dripping nectar into his mouth.

Chloe walked up, looking absolutely exhausted. "Did…Did we do it?" she mumbled, her eyes half-closed.

I nodded, wincing from the pain in my arms. "Yeah, we did it. All thanks to you guys."

"Great. I'm just gonna…" Chloe started, then her eyes closed and she fell forward, being caught quickly by Annabeth.

I got up, and my head pounded like it was being hit repeatedly by a semi. Black spots appeared in my vision. Crud. I knew that my disguise would fade if I lost consciousness. I couldn't let that happen. "I- I gotta go get someone from the camp…" The world tipped slightly. "I can't get you all back… I'll go get help… Be right back."

They nodded. "We got it covered here," Annabeth said.

I tried to thank her, but my voice wouldn't work. I stumbled, then reached into the shadows, picturing my bunk at Camp Half-Blood. I fell through the darkness.

I emerged in my cabin, thankfully. My vision was all but gone, and I felt my way to my bunk, crashed in, and blacked out.

End of Chapter 16

Well, then! I hoep that didn't seem to anticlimactic, I'm not that great at writing fight scenes. But, hey, Nico is saved! ... Probably. ^-^ Anyway.

Got another chapter done, yeah! Woohoo! I won't be able to write anymore today, but hey, two in one day is pretty good.

Hope y'all liked it!

Keep doing the pairing voted, review or polling!

Read and review!

~Ben