Hellooo. Tomorrow is my history test and this is what I am doing, hehehe
Okay, first things first. Your reviews are beautiful and the fact that you guys would take time to send feedback about my fanfiction almost makes me cry. You guys are epic. Xx
Secondly, all those saying my voice is close to Riordan, THANK YOU. THAT'S ONE OF THE THE BEST THINGS YOU COULD PROBABLY SAY TO ME
And without further delay...
PERCY:
Percy didn't register half the stuff. The others talked about a plan, but he didn't listen carefully. He knew there were six others who would be fully capable of making a battle plan without his advice. He didn't have to take everything upon himself like the last time he thought he had to.
He could very well do with being the soldier.
He found himself remembering Nico.
Somehow, thinking of the son of Hades, he felt guilt. Along with a hollow feeling at the base of his gut every time he thought of the kiss. His breath would get stuck and his stomach would flutter.
It might have something to do with the fact that Percy kept playing the kiss over and over in his head.
He hoped to Hades that Annabeth couldn't see through him.
He was surprised to find that the lack of Nico made him uneasy.
Also wished he didn't have to die today, without seeing Nico for one last time.
WHY WAS THERE SO MUCH NICO IN HIS HEAD?!
He felt the cool air on his face, bringing him back to the present. They were sitting in a circle around an intricately drawn map of Mt. Olympus.
Annabeth's work no doubt.
After they'd come back to the ship, things had taken a sharp turn. Everybody looked really calm now.
Percy didn't know if it was confidence or the calm before a storm.
He wished it was the first one.
"We cannot go for a frontal attack, Jason", Annabeth snapped, "Is this how you became a praetor? With such crappy sense of attack planning"
Jason looked baffled at the outburst.
"Let the daughter of the goddess of war make the big decisions, man", Leo replied patting Jason's back and Frank cleared his throat.
"He didn't mean it that way, Frank", Piper said apologetically.
Frank smiled and replied, "It's okay. Anyway, Annabeth is right. We have to take them out slowly and stealthily. They beat us in numbers obviously, but we're better than them. We're mortal and our need for survival is more than theirs. We have a reason to fight for, ourselves, each other and those who cannot defend themselves. We can and will beat their asses back to Tartarus. Gaea will think a billion times before rising ever again and the gods and mortals will have new heroes to look up to"
Silence greeted his words.
"That was one hell of a speech, man", Percy found himself saying.
A thunder of claps followed with whistling and hooting. Hazel kissed Frank and Jason gave him a one-armed hug. He also earned a proud look from Annabeth.
"So when do we start?", Piper asked. She was cleaning her Cornucopia.
"Now?", Annabeth asked and her word was met with sharp intakes of breath and sighs. "There will be no better time to catch them off guard. Lets start scouting them and taking them out"
Percy recalled what Zagreus had said before he had thrown them at the wall.
"Use the element of surprise to your advantage, do the things they would least expect you to do", he had shouted as he landed blow after blow on Riptide. Percy's arm had ached in complaint and his legs had weakened, almost letting him fall. "Use your strength wisely, fight for a cause you truly believe in and you'll win"
Jason had asked him many a times why he was helping them, since it didn't really affect him.
And Percy had asked about Nico.
But Zagreus hadn't offered an answer to either of the questions.
"ATTENTION", he had yelled and thrown something at them with his godly strength to check their reflexes. The objects had hit him and Jason more often than not.
He was jerked back to the present when Annabeth grabbed his arm, "Can we talk?"
Percy nodded and followed her back to her cabin.
For a while she said nothing.
She looked through her clothes, trying to find something appropriate to wear. She chose a pair of khaki shorts and a grey t-shirt.
She crossed her arms in front of her and swiped her t-shirt off, slipping into the grey one. Then she traded her jeans for the khaki shorts.
"So tell me, what's up?", Annabeth asked.
"I don't know what you mean", Percy replied.
Annabeth seated herself on the bed beside Percy. "You seem different" Her grey eyes were full of worry.
Percy pulled her close and held on to her. "I missed you"
That was the truth. He had missed her. She was the only constant, except for his mother that he'd known, in a life which moved with the wind.
"I love you, Percy Jackson, no matter what happens today", Annabeth said into his collarbone.
"I love you too, Annabeth Chase. And I always will", he replied and knew it was the truth.
He had a feeling she wasn't telling him something, something that scared her or made her wary. But then again, he had no right to ask her. He had his own secrets which were beginning to take shape, slowly.
"Ready to kick some monsters into dust?", Percy asked pulling away a little.
"As ready as ever", Annabeth replied smiling.
...
Mt. Olympus was tall. Really tall.
It's peak was hidden behind dark clouds and colourful lights seemed to reflect in the surrounding areas. Percy wondered of it were the muses.
At the base of the mountain, the weather was humid. There was no air. The damp air stank of monsters and other disgusting things.
All in all, Percy felt right at home.
They had divided up in groups of two while Frank, as a bird, scoured the area to find out the exact locations and numbers of monsters on the first level of guard.
Percy honestly didn't want to know how many levels of guards were there and at which level they would find Porphyrion and Polybotes.
They had been ordered (by Annabeth of course) to stay away from whatever unholy spot had been chosen for Gaea's rising. By no means could they let Gaea take up her full form.
Before leaving they had discussed their strategies.
"Clear out each guard level and proccee to the next, that's it", Annabeth told them, "If you meet a giant, all you can hope is that a god will help you"
"So you're actually telling me that I have to trust a god with my life?", Leo didn't sound pleased. Nobody blamed him.
"Well, the gods have trust us with theirs", Jason replied shrugging and this hadn't been brought up since then.
Percy was with Leo. That was the most unusual combination and Percy was almost hurt that Annabeth hadn't wanted to be with him, even though she'd sent him off with a kiss.
He was jerked from his flashback when he heard a sharp bird call.
"That was Frank", Leo whispered.
"Let's move", Percy said motioning forwards.
Before they had emerged from the rich forestry they were hiding behind, a hoof hit Percy right in the chest.
He stumbled backwards and fell on his back and a sharp pain shot through him. He heard Leo shout something.
When he could focus his eyes enough, he saw half a dozen centaurs.
He saw Leo hesitate to kill the one that was cornering him and instinctively he jumped at him, slashing riptide like mad man.
He fell on Leo as monster dust from two centaurs showered on them.
"Uh Percy?", said Leo shoving Percy aside and throwing balls of flame at the centaurs, which disintegrated only one of them. "You should look at you leg"
He looked down to find an arrow in his calf. Thanks to his armour, it hadn't penetrated enough to break his skim.
He tasted blood in his mouth. That was weird. Why did he have blood in his mouth?
He raised his hand to his cheek to find that an arrow had grazed his cheek.
"PERCY", Leo bellowed, "A little help?!"
Ignoring his injuries, Percy charged at the centaurs, trying not to think of Chiron as he turned them to dust.
Only one remained. "I yield, I yield!", he said in a scared voice. Percy realized he was quite young for a centaur.
"Run, and don't return", he told him and the young centaur (could they be called a calf?) galloped off towards the city of Greece.
They advanced the great mountain and as they found the ground starting to slope, they found the rest of their group.
"It couldn't have been this easy", Leo muttered.
"It isn't", Frank replied. "They have twelve rings, one for each Olympian, each stronger than the previous. They have every monster you can think of"
"I don't think the Olympians are going to like that some of the rings dedicated to them are weaker than the others", Leo said shrugging.
"What did you guys find?", he asked the others.
"Dracanae", Piper and Annabeth replied.
"Empousai", said Hazel and shivered.
"This is going to be a long day", Jason sighed.
"Any report on the giants?", Percy asked Frank but got a shake of the head in return.
"What is that?", Annabeth asked suddenly and they all looked up to see a bright light in the sky.
"Is that a second sun?", Leo asked and Hazel slapped him playfully.
The bright light seemed to get bigger.
Soon it emerged from a thick cloud and they all wicked their breaths in, refusing to believe what they saw.
The chariot landed gracefully and the spikey haired girl driving it somersaulted out of it.
"Last time I checked you were afraid to drive", Percy told her, grinning.
"Well, last time, I wasn't immortal", she threw back laughing.
The chariot had a cabin at the back of it. The cabin door flew open and a dark haired boy walked out of it, in Greek armour.
The smile on his face was like the coming of spring, after a long hard winter. His eyes sparkled like precious dark gemstones.
He walked up to Percy and whispered in his ear, "I came back for you" and pulled him into a deep kiss. His heart fluttered and his face was flushed. Before he could stop himself, he reached to put his hand around Nico's face and run his fingers through his hair.
"Uh, Percy?", said a voice.
He blinked and it all vanished. In front of him stood Rachel Elizabeth Dare. "If I'm the Oracle, why are you zoning out?", she asked and without waiting for a reply, she put her arms around him and hugged him tight. After the visions he just had, this was pale in comparison. But appreciated without doubt.
Reyna stepped out from the cabin, a little shyly, followed by Grover.
Following him, was an army.
It consisted of People Percy knew and some he did not. It was Romans and Greek alike. They weren't a staggering number but their presence still filled Percy with joy.
And hope. Always hope.
People he knew grinned at him, some saluted him playfully and some also hugged him.
The last to emerge from the cabin was Nico.
Percy nearly died at the sight of him. He looked exactly like he had in Percy's brief (but very interesting, his brain added) vision. He felt an ache in his thoracic cavity.
Except the real Nico stared at his shoes shyly.
"Don't make it so obvious", Jason whispered in his ear and Percy turned to find the boy smirking shamelessly.
"So", Nico said finally, when all the chatter died out, "I heard there was a war somewhere here?"