AN: The only thing I have to say right now is thanks to Brsrkfury for reviewing. Thank you for your honesty, and I hope that it doesn't effect how you think about the story. That's all, so enjoy.
LINE BREAK
PANDORA
I woke up in one of the bedrooms. I don't remember how I got here, though. The only thing I remember was drifting off in A.J's arms. As soon as the thought of A.J came up, I looked around for him frantically. I couldn't see him anywhere, and I started freaking out. He left me. I thought. He left me all alone. He abandoned me. I started crying like the pathetic little girl I really was. Suddenly, I was hugged from behind. Kind of like last night. I though to myself. Then I was able to register A.J's voice talking.
"It's okay, it's okay. I'm still here, I haven't left." He said softly. I sighed, then I rolled over and hugged him.
"Gods, I need therapy or something." I muttered to his chest. I heard him laugh, and I smiled. I felt good around him. Really good. Then, he started rubbing small circles on my back, and I felt even better.
"Are you OK now?" He asked. I just nodded. Then, he stood up and helped me up. I stretched, because Good Lord I felt stiff. Then, we walked through the hallways until we came to the training room, which I realized is pretty much the only room was use anyway. There we found everybody else standing in a circle.
"Hey guys, what's up?" A.J asked as we walked up to them. Percy turned to look at us.
"Leo's got some news." He said, then turned back. I sighed.
"According to this timepiece I made when we got here" Leo began once we got settled "we should be arriving in Greece in about four hours. That means everyone should probably get ready." A.J snorted.
"Forgive me if I don't trust your work Leo." He said. Leo whined like I child.
"I told you, that wasn't my doing." He said. A.J just 'Hmph'-ed and grinned. Then, everyone left to go and get whatever they needed ready.
LINE BREAK
PERCY
I had literally no idea how to tell weather or not the box was moving. I was kinda worried that we would be trapped here, with no way of knowing when to get out. That fear was wiped away when somebody descended from the stairs. We were all standing around in the room we entered the box in, waiting for something to happen, when a woman walks down the stairs leading to the exit. She wore a long black dress with long sleeves. She also had long wavy brown hair. I won't bother describing her face, because she didn't have one. It was just an empty space, like a mannequin face or something. When she reached the bottom of the stairs, her head turned straight towards me.
"My name is Angelia." She spoke in my mind. "I am known as the spirit of proclamation. It is my job to disclose to you this crucial information, so listen well. The gods have become invested in this quest. After you recover the object you seek, you must return to Mount Olympus, for the gods would have a word with all of you. You will find what you're looking for at Delphi." With that, she turned around and walked away. "Three minutes after I leave, you shall arrive at your destination. You have been hunted on your journey, by a powerful foe, and when you arrive, he shall make his move. Good luck." Was the last thing she said before she ascended the stairs and left. I looked around at everybody, wondering if they all heard her as well. Probably sensing my question, everybody nodded.
"Anybody got any clues as to what that means?" Jason asked. Naturally, the answer was no. Sighing, he started walking up the stairs next to Piper. "Thought so."
"Wait." A.J said. Jason stopped and looked down. "I go first."
"Why?" Jason asked.
"Because, something is waiting out there." He said forcefully. "I need to go and clear it away."
"I can do that too you know." Jason said. A.J shook his head furiously.
"Not this one." He said. "I swear on the river Styx, you have never fought a foe like this." He turned and looked at all of us. "None of you have. No matter what monster, gods, goddesses, or titans you've fought, you have never seen a deity like this."
"And just how do you know about this?" I asked him. He looked at me. He was deadly serious. I could even see some of that ruby fire in his eyes.
"I've finally made the connection. Think for a moment. All of you have been getting angry at each other easier and easier, right?" I realized that it was true, though so far, the only person I'd gotten mad at was Pandora for lying. The others though, Annabeth included, had been arguing quite a lot. I nodded in reply to his question.
"What does that have to do with anything?" Hazel asked. A.J turned on her.
"For the entirety of the time that we've been in here, there has been a faint tie connecting all of you to an outside force. I couldn't place my finger on it, until everybody began to get angry." He looked around at us all again. By now, he had everybody's undivided attention. "We were betrayed." We were all surprised at what he said, and he hurried to remove any unwanted implications. "Not by anyone here. By the amazons. Somebody screwed with the enchantments. Not by much, but enough so that an extremely powerful being could trace us. I saw the ties there too, but I didn't think much of it at the time."
"Why would the Amazons betray us?" Frank asked. A.J looked at the ground.
"Hate. Hate can tear entire nations apart, so there is no way it wouldn't have worked on one or two amazons."
"What do you mean?" That was Jason again, who had, along with Piper, stood at the bottom of the stairs. A.J took in a breath and sighed.
"Gods, all of you are so completely dense." He yelled. "Have any of you wondered what happened when you swear on the river Styx? The vow gives him power! He woke up!" Pandora placed her hands on his chest.
"Whoa whoa, calm down. What's going on? Speak slowly." She said calmly. A.J took in some breaths, then tried again.
"Okay, every part of the underworld has a deity that personifies it, like Gaea personifying the earth, got it?" Everybody nodded. "Each of the five rives that run through it have a personification deity. That includes the river Styx." Jason took a step towards A.J.
"Wait, are you saying that the spirit of the river Styx is waiting outside that entrance?" He asked in horror. A.J nodded.
"He was asleep for millennium, ever since the first titan war. He slowly started waking up when everything moved to America. Now he's awake, and I bet he's siding with our enemies." A.J said.
"Why do you think that?" Annabeth asked. "What exactly are we up against?" She sounded angry, because she hated not knowing stuff.
"I don't blame you for not knowing. It's really old ancient history. Not many people would know about it, unless they have my family insight powers. Styx is the personification of hatred. He is hatred. The only reason I know it's him out there is because he is related to me, and I get all omniscient with my family." He looked around at all of us one final time. "I'll go keep him busy, give me about two minutes and make a break for it." Without waiting for a reply, A.J ran up the stairs.
LINE BREAK
ANNABETH
When we ran out two minutes later, we found ourselves in the middle of a war zone. We were on the beach, with a beautiful forest just in front of us. At least, I think it was supposed to be beautiful. Now, though, it was completely trashed. Trees were uprooted, massive craters were all over, entire sections of the earth were torn out. It looked like a flurry of explosions had ripped the place apart, but there was absolutely nothing else here. No body parts, no bodies, no dust, there was nothing.
"W-where are we?" Jason asked, trying to keep his mind on the quest. Percy grabbed my hand, and I gave his a reassuring squeeze.
"We are on the east beach of the isle of Delphi." He said. "They dropped us off literally at our destination." I shook my head at that.
"No, this isn't where we're supposed to be." I said. Percy looked at me in confusion.
"Why is that?" Percy asked me. "I thought we were supposed to go to Delphi." I nodded.
"Let me explain alright?" I asked. He nodded. "This is the geographical Delphi, the one that the mortals new and worshiped on. However, it was named for the real Delphi, which the gods used. And before you ask, I know because I've been there once, in a dream. My mother explained everything to me." Percy looked satisfied with my answer.
"So, we need to go to this real Delphi then?" Leo asked. I nodded. He grinned. "Then let's get to work."
LINE BREAK
LEO
Annabeth and I had come up with a simple but ingenious plan. We made a raft, on which we placed the magic box. All of us except for Percy and Annabeth went back down into the box, while Percy used his water powers to get the raft to this other Delphi. We arrived in no time at all, and when we emerged, we were all struck speechless by the island we had landed on. The sand was pure white, like snow but warmer, and the lush emerald forest was broken by a diamond walkway twisting through it like a river. After we had all recovered our wits, we began walking down the walkway. Calypso, who was right beside me, grabbed my hand and walked a little closer to me.
"I'm worried about A.J." She said. I nodded.
"I am to." I said. "But he can take care of himself. It's Pandora we need to worry about. This must be especially hard for her, considering how close she is to A.J. Not to mention her... problem." I really felt bad for her, she even looked like she was trying to not freak out. Calypso kissed my cheek.
"PDA!" Piper shouted, which caused all of us to jump. She and Jason started cracking up, and soon the rest of us followed. We all went silent when we saw the building where we were heading. It was massive, made entirely of white stone, and it covered over half of the island. The doors alone stood over 100 times my height. I was amazed that I didn't see them from the beach. The best part was, the doors were wide open. We just strolled right in, and gasped in amazement. Annabeth practically swooned. The inside was far more magnificent than the outside. There was a massive hall with equally massive doors leading from it, with tapestries on the walls woven from actual jewels. The hall led all the way up to a massive statue of a man. He held the world in one hand, and the underworld In the other. Resting on a pedestal right in front of the statue, was a scythe.
LINE BREAK
PANDORA
I was still worried for A.J. There was no sign of him when we exited the box. I kept thinking over and over what if he never comes back? I was trying to keep it together, but I was failing. How could he survive a fight with Styx? He said he was destined to die. Is this the time? My thoughts were interrupted when I saw the scythe. We all stood there, staring at it, until I gained the courage to approach it. I went to pick up the scythe, but I stopped.
"No way!" I said, taking a step backward. "That's not- It can't be." I stumbled, but Jason caught me.
"What Is it?" He asked. Then he saw it, and froze. Everybody else must have finally seen it as well, and an audible gasp filled the room. The scythe on the pedestal was entirely stone, save for the bottom of the handle. Only a third of the scythe was actually there. Numbly, I walked over and picked up the handle.
"We came all this way for a stick?" I asked. I was angry, I was sad, I was resentful. We could have lost A.J on this quest, and it was all just for a stick? I wanted to murder the one that started this.
"Hey, what's this?" Annabeth asked, breaking me out of my thoughts. I looked back at her, and saw that she was looking at something near the statue. She walked up to the pedestal, and crouched down. It was only then that I saw there was writing near the bottom. Something was written in ancient Greek, so naturally, I couldn't read it.
"What does it say?" I asked her bitterly, angry at the fact that I couldn't read my own language.
"It says..." She started, but before she could go on, a huge explosion rocked the island. A part of the ceiling blew in and crashed to the ground. A cloud of dust blossomed out like a mushroom cloud, and I could barely breathe. When the dust finally settled, I was met with the most horrible sight I had ever seen. Standing before us was a ten foot tall man, clad entirely in midnight-black armor. The strange thing was, though, that the armor seemed to be made of water. It kept rippling and waving as if it were being blown by a heavy wind. Strangest of all, there were various items floating around in it: A clock, some rings, a pair of glasses, empty picture frames, you name it. Where it's eyes should be, there were simple blood red lights.
"Styx." I said. I was sure it was him. I could feel it. But if he was here, then that would mean...
"Hello, godspawn. I am Styx, and I shall send you to Tartarus. He would like to have a word with you all." The deity spoke. I shivered, because it's voice sounded like the vary definition of pain. This abomination of a creature would make all of us suffer. He held out one of his gauntlet clad hands, and I felt as if I was drowning in anger. How dare the fates place me in this position? How dare anybody think that they can control me. I felt my face twist up into a furious scowl. I'll make them all pay. Then, suddenly, a voice snapped me out of these thoughts.
"Hey, you Trash-faced freak!" Called a familiar voice. I looked behind Styx to see A.J standing in the doorway. A roar was then heard. I saw a golden shape fly by the hole in the ceiling, and a few seconds later, a rain of black dots came into view. Suddenly, a chain wrapped around me and the others, and yanked us towards A.J. We all landed next to him.
"There's no time to explain." He said. "Right now, Styx is vary weak. I have to finish what I started and send him back to the underworld. You all need to go. Take Festus and fly to mount Olympus. The gods need to know what's happening." With that, he turned to face Styx. I felt somebody grab me from behind and drag me out of the building. The last I saw of A.J, he was calmly walking towards Styx, who just stood there and waited. I struggled In the grasp of whoever was carrying me.
"Let me go, I need to help him!" I screamed. "Styx will kill him! Let me go!" I felt the grip n me tighten.
"You can't. You'll die too. A.J knows what he's doing. We need to trust him." Frank said as he hauled me back to the beach. I looked back, and everyone was already there. Leo was waving his arms, hollering to the sky.
"Festus! Over here!" He called. Then, a golden dragon landed a few feet away, and made a gesture to mount him. Leo looked back at us. "Come on!" We all climbed onto Festus, who swiftly took off. When we were high enough, I saw that the entirety of the building was covered in little black spots. Focusing, I saw that they were pouches. Pouches containing something smoking and sparking.
"Oh my gods." Percy gasped. "That building is covered in pouches of Greek fire! When those things blow, the entire this will go up." Festus kept flying away, and I was getting hysteric. I was flat out shouting for them to let me go, because I desperately needed to save him. I was about to just jump, when my worst nightmare laughed in my face. As one, all of the Greek fire patches blew up. It was worse that Percy said it would be. It wasn't just the building. The entire island was enveloped in Greek fire. I just stared on, to horrified to so much as blink. My eyesight went completely black, and I probably fell off the dragon, but I didn't care. A.J was gone.
LINE BREAK
AN: That's a wrap. This story is now officially over. If it seems a bit rushed, please let me know and I will fix it. Also, I will have a sequel up soon. It will be titled 'Road to Tartarus'. Please R&R, and tell me any events, monsters, items, or characters you would like me to put in it. I may just use it, and give you credit for it of course. Thanks to all of you who invested in this story, and I hope I didn't disappoint you. Oh, and just a side note, but this is now currently my longest fanfiction to date. Whoo!