It had been a few days since the party on Olympus. Percy had been mainly hanging out with Piper throughout the days.
Nico had come by the day before talking about a voice he heard. It seemed to come from Tartarus, Percy had talked him out of going there... yet.
He needed to know what happened to Bob and Damasen, if Nico heard something that COULD be Bob? Percy needed to go with him. Nico hbad argued with him for a while and they left things somewhat dicey. Percy hated being treated as if he were weak. Nico never said it but he could tell. Nico was a god, Percy was not. Nico wanted to go alone, it was almost as if Percy would be a burden down there.
Percy had no doubt he could help, and he would.
-()-
Piper had been getting better but sometimes he could tell she wasn't really okay. Truthfully neither was Percy, but they enjoyed their time together. Hanging out together was the best distraction there was. They were quickly becoming best friends. The other 5 of the seven weren't really around anymore, Hazel had visited a few times for an hour or two, Frank came with her once or twice as well. Leo came by once and talked about travelling the world with Calypso so they didn't expect to see that much of him anyway.
Percy had come back to teaching his sword training classes with younger campers. Piper would sometimes watch the sessions and he would always feel a little nervous with her watching. He knew her eyes were on him for most of it, he liked that feeling because it was also exhilarating.
He had also been training himself more and more. A new war was coming, he really wasn't sure how soon it was but he actually had some warning this time, he wanted to be at his peak.
He had learned how to shadow travel, it was difficult but he was learning. He could summon fire and use it against dummies and in his training but he found the blessing of Hestia had him befuddled, he had sacrificed some of his food to her as he always did since the titan war's last battle as usual but he had been wordering if he should donate something bigger and try to get her attention, he needed her help with it.
He hadn't been sure how to go about learning his new abilities from Nyx's blessing, he didn't feel ready to learn his abilities that came from the primordial goddess.
He had woken up rather early today. He had gone swimming and now was heading to the dining pavilion for breakfast.
He felt as if something was watching him, his eyes instantly wandered to a clump of shadow near some trees. He didn't see anything in them but he still felt almost an itch on the back of his skull. he brushed it off but made a mental note of it.
He then spotted Piper looking over at him from the Aphrodite table, she instantly stood up with her plate and began walking towards the Poseidon table which they both reached at the same time.
"Hey" She said brightly, smiling at him. Since she would be a goddess in less than a decade Chiron didn't seem to have a problem with her sititng at the Poseidon table most days.
"What's up, Pipes." He replied. Everytime she sat with him he felt a little lighter and always seemed to have a better day.
-()-
Piper was sitting in the stands of the arena watching Percy help a 7 year old son of Ares with his sword grip. She liked watching his sword lessons, she also liked sparring with him. Something they had begun doing more often, it had only been a week but she'd felt confident in her ability to become a much better swordswoman, especially with Percy as teacher.
She had Katoptris in her hand, which she fiddled with a lot recently. Usually she would see something but currently her knife was only black, usually it was like a mirror but now it seemed to be just darkness, it had been this away a few days after the final battle with Gaea, at first she was confused and brushed it off but slowly her paranoia seemed to grow. Why dark? It showed her visions of the future many times but she had no idea what this could mean. It worried her but she also spent a lot of her time trying and failing to convince herself that it wasn't anything to worry herself over.
She looked up and caught a glimpse of Percy dumping water over his head which seemed to be a normal thing during any sort of workout or training he did. As he poured it he stretched his chest a bit and she caught a glimpse of his belly button and stomach as his shirt rode up. She blushed and looked around to make sure no one caught her looking. When she looked back Percy was looking at her grinning dazzlingly at her. Her blush only grew worse. He waved at her and she reciprocated. He turned back to his students wrapping up the lesson.
She looked back down at her blade and saw herself looking down at it, her blush finally fading as her eyes changed to a light blue. No images were shown not even the darkness anymore. She sheathed her dagger.
"You alright." Percy declared from in front of her. It startled her as she was staring at her hand after sheathing Katoptris.
She chuckled nervously. "Yeah, didn't notice you." She laughed. He extended his hand.
"You wanna spar?" He asked while smirking lightly at her.
"Bring it on kelp face." She grabbed his hand firmly, making her way to the sword rack she looked for the sword she usually used when they sparred with swords.
As they stood in front of each other and readied their swords, she waited. They circled each other a few times, she knew Percy didn't like to initiate any fights, he prefered to let his opponent start, but she also knew he was extremely hyperactive. If she waited long enough sometimes he would attack first on days he was particularly impatient. Today wasn't one of those days. She lunged.
Percy parried her attack and took a few steps back, she threw a quick slash towards her shoulder which she parried quickly. she knew he was going a slightly slower pace than what he could do but she was still a beginner. They went on for a bit like a tennis match, back and forth. he was going easy on her but still giving her a good fight. The way he fought against her it was almost as if he were in a rhythm. It was fun to fight against him. At least spar against him, she was sure Gaea, Kronos and many monsters would disagree that fighting him was fun.
On they went, each would take turn to go on the aggressive while the other defended and vise versa.
She fainted a slash at his thigh and quickly hacked at his torso, he caught the move easily and parried her attack with force so she was pushed back a step.
"Percy, lower your guard." She charmspoke. She saw his grip waver and the tip of his sword lower slightly, she pounced and slammed her sword into his sword hard pushing it away as his grip had weakened, she then punched him in the stomach and tried to get behind him to put her sword at his neck, just as she tried to maneuver herself under his arm to get behind him he grabbed her sword hand and harshly removed her grip from her sword, it clattered to the ground as her wrapped his arm around her and held his sword to her throat.
"Yield." He breathed into her ear as he panted.
She laughed as she heaved. "Yeah Percy." He kept his arms around her as he dropped his sword too.
She turned around in his grip, they were very close. "You did really well Piper. Any advantage is an advantage. Although at this point I think I'm getting better at resisting charmspeak." He had a silly smile on his face. She actually wanted to grab him and kiss him. When he smiled at her like that she got intense butterflies.
"Thanks but you're still going easy on me." She intoned. He smiled.
"Barely now. You've improved amazingly in just a week. There was a reason you were chosen as part of the seven Piper." He chided gently. He hated how down on herself and her abilities she was. She was truly a strong demigod. Her talent would go no where without some hardwork. He would help her reach her potential, which admitedly was very high. He took a small step back and grabbed their swords, handing her the sword she was using.
"Yeah, whatever." She rolled her eyes. She gestured towards the exit of the arena as she put her sword back.
They fell into step as they walked towards their cabin showers, considering Percy was a lot sweatier than she was since he did teach a lesson before their spar, she had decided to just take a shower as well. They separated at their cabins with promise to meet right after the shower.
-()-
Nico was on his way to talk to his father. He had just said hello to Cerberus and was on his way to his father's palace.
He was passing Tartarus and felt a cold shiver go down his back. He heard the call again. "Nico, please help! Please!" He heard faintly. He knew it was coming for the depths for the last 3 days now. He was preparing himself for the trek, he wasn't happy with the idea of a mortal Percy coming with him, no matter how strong the son of Poseidon is. He knew Percy felt guilty and needed to do it with him, he just had difficulty accepting that himself.
He was doing what he could as a new god. Thankfully he wasn't very busy right now. He hoped things stayed that way.
He felt a pull to Tartarus, he would have gone alone but something told him that Percy should know before he went, he didn't understand that impulse but followed it because Percy DID deserve to know.
He had left Percy a note on his bed. They would go tomorrow, time worked differently in Tartarus so he didn't care when they went so he'd let Percy decide.
He felt himself shudder once more and and shook his head continuing to Hades' palace.
-()-
When Percy came out of the shower he saw a small black note on his bed, he frowned.
'We're going to Tartarus. Tomorrow, send me a prayer and we can decide a time. Nico.'
He smiled. So Nico finally ceded, good. He wasn't gonna be put off by the Son of Hades no matter what. He would talk to Nico before going to bed as Nico would usually pop in to talk to him around that time anyways.
Percy opened the door to Piper with her hair wet in a bun walking towards the door of his cabin. He smiled at her and she grinned back. Dinner was soon and they walked to go grab their dinner.
-()-
"Percy I think Nico can do that himself." Piper said worriedly. "He is immortal. You're not Perce." She grimaced when his eyes set a look of steely determination.
"Look Piper, I left Bob and Damasen behind so I could save me and Annabeth's lives. If he is calling Nico for help that means he can be saved, I don't care what the cost but I need to go back even if there's only a 1% chance of them still being alive. If I can save I have to try." He said exasperated. He was set on it and wouldn't change that for anything in the world.
"I know Percy but you can't let your emotions rule you. You can't go into a place like Tartarus distracted." She said somewhat annoyed, she was mainly terrified for him though.
"Piper I know that more than anyone. Trust me I know what I'm getting myself into and I need to do it. I can help Nico, I know I can." He pushed forward. They were sitting beside each other on the beach, as they ate earlier Percy explained the situation during dinner.
"There's nothing I can say that will change your mind is there?" She asked concerned.
"I have to do this." He said with a pleading look in his eyes.
"Okay Percy. But you better come back, or else who will I spend 99% of my day with around here." She joked, breaking the tension. He chuckled and gave her a side hug.
"Thanks Pipes, I don't know what I'd do without you to be honest." He said wearily. He let go of the side hug and stood up." You wanna see something really cool?" He asked as he offered her his hand.
She sighed at his hyperactiveness yet smiled regardless. She grabbed his hand and pulled herself up. "Hell yeah." She said excitedly.
He smiled radiantly. "Okay, do you trust me?" He asked looking in to her eyes. She felt a blush coming up and tried her best to force it down.
"Of course Perce." She beamed back at him.
He started leading her into the water. As he looked back she had a worried look on her face but still followed him.
"Don't worry I'll keep you dry." He chortled. Pulling her into the water.
The further they got into the water she noticed she was still dry. It was different to any other time she'd ever been in water before, as they went under she held her breath and closed her eyes. After a few moments she opened her eyes to see Percy smirking at her, he spoke clearly, "You can breathe don't worry." He laughed.
She took a deep breath, she was flabberghasted. Breathing underwater was an incredible experience. She noticed as he pulled her deeper and deeper that the floor of the lake was filled with beautiful and colorful plants. Then suddenly she was inside a big air bubble and Percy helped her go on her feet as she almost fell from the gravity returning. She turned to him slightly annoyed.
"A warning would be nice." She smacked him in the chest as she jokingly chided him.
He smiled. "Don't worry I caught you anyways." He moved forward towards the deepest part.
When they got there she was amazed. The area had so many fish swimming around in schools and she adored seeing the little animals flying around the water in tight clusters together. She looked around amazed.
Percy was watching her astonished, she was incredibly beautiful. The feather in her deep brown hair fit perfectly with her amazing tanned skin. her Cherokee background very obvious. Her eyes a deep sea-green very similar to what he often saw in the mirror. He blinked and they changed to a deep blue.
Slowly he tuned back into the world. She had been staring at him, her face was very red. He brushed that off.
"Earth to Percyyyyy." She said jokingly. She leaned into his shoulder.
"Sorry, was on another planet for sec." He said while blushing furiously.
She laughed. "So you can come down here and see all this whenever you want huh." She said amazed.
"Wait till you see all the caves around here." He snickered as he dragged her along in an air bubble quickly wizzing towards the biggest cave he knew.
They laughed together in the bubble.
-()-
Percy had just dropped Piper off at her cabin and walked towards his. He silently prayed to Nico.
When he opened his cabin door he was treated to a very emo god.
"Hey Neeks." He mocked in good-humour. Nico scowled.
"Hi Prissy." Percy's face soured as well. They both glared at each other before laughing.
"So, what time you wanna go tomorrow Perce." Nico said suddenly gaining a very serious look.
"Let's go after breakfast in the dining pavilion." He set his jaw and looked into his younger cousin's eyes.
Nico smiled with pride. "I can have some breakfast with Chiron, and maybe have a quick game pinochle. I'll finally beat him, I know it." He said.
"I wouldn't get ny hopes up Nico." He shrugged smiling. He sat down on his bed.
"Alright Perce, be ready tomorrow. Guess I'll sleep in dad's cabin for old times' sake." He patted Percy's shoulder and walked towards the door.
"I'll see you tomorrow Death Breath." He half-shouted as Nico walked out the door.
He sighed and prepared himself for some sleep. He felt undaunted and ready for Tartarus. He just hoped that Bob was okay, and less hopeful but had a slimmer of confidence that Damasen would be there win him.
He looked out the window at the stars. 'You'll get to say "Hi" yourself Bob.' He thought adamantly.