Chapter 50 – Ruination
Percy decided he hated Giants. He'd already hated them before – but now even more so.
"You have a lousy welcoming party," Percy called. He shot a dark glare up at Aquila, but the smug bird looked far too preoccupied with plucking at a loose feather on his chest than paying the demigod any attention. Percy wished he'd let Frank shoot him before.
"He is not ours." The Giant King seemed nearly as irritated with the bird as Percy was.
Privately, Percy was amused that demigods, Titans and Giants all despised the ruddy bird. Maybe they'd get lucky and Aquila would be collateral damage in the battle to come. "Leo – the Moly," Percy muttered under his breath.
"I know, I know."
There was a low snarl, and Percy's heart rose into his chest when he saw the hellhounds that emerged from the shadows behind them. Porphyrion seemed delighted as the demigods were crowded together. "This is unfortunate for you all," the Giant King said. "All that effort to get here, and this is what comes from it. The best Olympus has to offer – seven little demigods and a bird." His laughter echoed around the ruins. "How disgraceful."
Aquila actually hissed, like the heathen he was. He was apparently offended at being lumped in with them. Percy could empathise with him there.
"Sorry to disappoint you," Jason said. He looked particularly tense, eyes flicking between the other demigods and the Giants. There was still no sign of the gods, though whether they were truly dealing with a Titan incursion or not Percy didn't know. After everything, Percy was realising this was most definitely a suicide mission.
Percy knew that he didn't want to die. That was entrenched, demigod instinct was the survive – their brains were hard-wired for it. His palms were sweating on Riptide's hilt but he didn't dare move them to wipe it off in case they were attacked. One of the hellhounds behind them growled, muscles bunching in its legs. Percy had been around Kronos enough when he was in a mood to know what that meant – he spun to face the hellhound even as it leapt at them, but before he could do anything to stop it an arrow landed between its eyes. Frank notched a second arrow, training it on the other hellhound as it circled them.
"Annabeth?" Percy asked.
Annabeth shook her head. "I don't have a plan," she admitted.
"I have one, but it's not very good," Percy said.
"Any plan's better than nothing," Hazel retorted. "If we do nothing we're all dead."
"We need an immortal," Piper hissed.
Aquila squawked, flaring his giant wings. Porphyrion snarled and a giant loosed an arrow in his direction, but the great eagle avoided it with a deft flap of the wings. "We have one," Percy murmured, his eyes on the immortal bird.
"Enough talking!" Porphyrion bellowed, turning his white eyes away from Aquila flaring his wings overhead and onto the group of demigods. "We need a female volunteer," the Giant King said to the demigods. "Else I will simply take the choice out of your hands and have one of your heads removed. We will use that blood instead of an offering." His hungry white eyes lingered on the Moly. "For true immortality."
Percy clenched his jaw. "You won't," he said. Even Percy could admit the protest sounded weak and hardly a likelihood.
Porphyrion laughed at him. "What? You believe your gods will help you? The Titans have them far too busy at Olympus for any one of them to help you little mortals."
Percy hesitated. Now he was mostly certain that was a lie, that or Porphyrion truly wasn't aware that Kronos had been skulking around the ruins only an hour before. Hopefully it was the latter.
"I thought you two had a giant argument?" Leo called. "The kind that ends in attempted murder."
Porphyrion scowled. He looked extremely irritated with Leo, judging by the dark glower he directed towards him. "Fortunately, Kronos has seen reason. We both hate the gods more than we hate each other."
Percy bit his tongue, realising as he did so just what Kronos was doing. Smart Titan. "Alright," Percy said. "Fine. Looks like we'll have to do this ourselves." Percy took a deep breath, glancing up at Aquila whom was currently terrorising a crow that had flown too close to the Acropolis. Truly, the immortal bird was a terror. "Aquila!" Percy yelled, hoping against reason that the bird would pay attention to him. "Help us against the Giants?" The great eagle paused, crow pinned between his bronze talons and the top of the Acropolis. The scathing look he directed towards Percy took him aback – the pure dismissal in his eyes a clear 'do it yourself'.
Gods above and below, even Zeus' bird was an asshole.
"Okay," Percy muttered as the Giants laughed.
"Even the gods have forsaken you now," Porphyrion rumbled, the sound rumbling through the ground. The Greek fire torches next to him flickered, bending in his direction as he finally rose from his makeshift throne and lumbered towards them. "Choose which one of you to sacrifice, else I will choose for you."
"Which one shall we behead first?" Polybotes asked as he shoved his way forwards, looking extremely delighted at the sight of the demigods alone. "I vote Jackson!"
Next to Percy, Jason cursed. "We need to do something," he hissed.
"There's nothing we can do," Percy whispered, his heart sinking. There was no sign of the gods, no rumble of distant thunder on the horizon. They were alone. Percy fisted his free hand, his knuckles tightening on Riptide's hilt. They would have to do the best they could alone, even if they were doomed to fail.
Percy decided that if he survived this, he was going to go on a vacation. Maybe to Alaska, where none of the gods could reach him. Alaska sounded nice. Certainly better than Greece.
"We attack on my signal," Percy whispered as the Giant King approached.
"What?" Annabeth demanded, suddenly looking frantic. "Percy, we can't –"
"It's the only option," Percy rasped. "Leo, you have to get to the Moly. We'll cover you. As long as the Moly is gone, someone else will have a chance later." Leo shut his eyes, though he nodded even as Frank grimly knocked an arrow.
Percy took a deep breath, and he shut his eyes. Gaea was the earth, the ground. Percy doubted his powers over the earth would be helpful here – fortunately they weren't what he was feeling for. The son of Poseidon reached for that pit in his stomach, the shattered feeling that he remembered from when they fought the Dioscuri twins. His gut twisted, sharp pain rippling out as Percy reached out towards the Giant King and pulled.
Perhaps if Porphyrion had known, he could have prepared himself. Percy wasn't exactly sure how it worked – he only knew that it did. The King of the Giants froze, a deep bellow tearing from his throat as he dropped to one knee before throwing up golden ichor. Percy wasn't sure what he had done, he only reached out again – harder – as the Giants all froze in unison. His gut seemed to explode into a starburst of pain, but Percy ignored it in favour of pulling on something a second time. Porphyrion's howl twisted into a gargle as ichor fell from his mouth, nose, ears and eyes like a giant organic waterfall.
Polybotes bellowed a few curses before summoning his trident and storming over on his reptilian legs, followed very quickly by two other Giants. The others hang back to watch gleefully as the demigods were smashed to a pulp.
Percy bolted as the three Giants bore down on them, doubled over clutching his stomach as he felt like throwing up blood too. He gasped, hearing the others scatter and start trying to at least damage the Giants. Percy could only hope that the blood would at least attract Aquila's attention, though the blasted bird had only looked up briefly when Porphyrion first howled before going back to burying his beak in the intestines of that poor crow he'd pinned.
Percy scrambled for cover behind a piece of fallen marble, of which there was fortunately loads. The sky rumbled overhead and a lightning bolt ripped through the air, landing on Polybotes' hair and ricocheting through the basilisks – all of which seemed to either burst into flames or throw themselves off the Giant. Polybotes bellowed, stumbling for a few paces, but swiftly righted himself and turned on Jason whom back-pedalled through the air to avoid him.
The others were doing their best to at least knock down a Giant, but the demigods were outnumbered and they were far, far weaker than each Giant. Percy's breath seemed to come in frantic bursts, his chest tight. "Shit," Percy whispered. "Shitshitshit." His next breath caught on something and he choked, coughing up blood. "Fuck." This was impossible. His head hurt, his vision blurred and Percy just wanted to run. Forget the gods, forget the world and just – run. As fast as he could.
Percy groaned, tilting his head back to stare up at the night sky overhead as he shut his eyes.
A scream reached his ears, one that made everything snap back into focus. Percy reached numbly for Riptide, not entirely sure what was going on with him – only that everything hurt. Everything hurt and he was sitting on the side-lines panicking whilst his friends fought for their lives.
Percy bit back his scream as he stood, though a single step felt like carrying the weight of the world. What had he done?
"Impressive." A voice murmured in his ear, blown by the wind.
"Kronos?" Percy whispered.
There was a breathy laugh, delighted and wild all the same time. "I am clearly not anyone else. Attempting to blood-bend a Giant is impressive, if not incredibly foolish. The force exerted on your own fragile, mortal body was far greater than you could withstand with your limited capabilities."
"Olympus?" Percy asked, feeling oddly light, as if he were in more than one place at any one time. He turned his head, and realised he was staring at his own body staring up at the stars. "What?"
"I am there, and I am here. I am everywhere all at once. You however are not – you used too much force," Kronos repeated. He materialised next to Percy, looking entirely unconcerned at he peered at his body before turning his head to watch as Porphyrion finally forced himself to his feet. The pure hatred and loathing in his eyes as he stared at the Giant took Percy's breath away. "You are too fragile. Too weak. Clearly… you need some help." He turned blazing golden eyes towards Percy. "But you must help yourself."
Percy took a ragged breath, bewildered and confused as his vision blurred again. He blinked up at the sky.
Dream-walking. Kronos had dream-walked straight into Percy's mind, sauntering in as if he owned the place.
But Percy felt fine. He'd never felt better, in fact. He pushed himself to his feet, an odd lightness to his movements. Riptide felt lighter in his hands.
Which were glowing with a gleaming, twisting golden light that danced across his skin and lit up Percy's position like a damned bonfire.
Porphyrion fixed burning, white eyes on Percy and snarled. The ground trembled, one of the pillars of the Acropolis tearing itself free from its foundations and flying at Porphyrion's back. The Giant knocked it aside, breaking the pillar into a dozen pieces with a single strike as his spear formed in his hands.
"Kronos," he snarled.
What? Percy wanted to ask. But his voice didn't ask that. Instead, his voice moved without Percy wanting it to. "Not quite. I'm only giving him a little boost. It seems demigods are useless when left to their own devices." New strength surged through Percy's limbs, and it was with mild horror that Percy realised where all of these odd feelings were coming from – the Titan Lord himself.
Percy stepped forward, finding that his mouth was his own again. "You might win this battle," Percy admitted. "But you'll never take us down. I have it on good authority that demigods are like cockroaches."
Percy did quite possibly the stupidest thing in his entire life up to this point – he charged Porphyrion.
The Giant laughed, probably for good reason as he swung his spear. It was a strike that would shatter bones, even immortal ones. For a demigod it would turn them into a pancake. Percy swung Riptide to meet it, all forty feet of the Giant's massive spear. The force vibrated right down to his toes, shaking his bones and making his teeth chatter as he slid backwards along the ground – but stopped Porphyrion's strike in its tracks.
The Giant's arrogant smile wavered.
Percy moved, faster than mortal eyes could follow, and threw himself under the spear. Riptide, with the sudden Titanic strength that Percy had been blessed with, sheared straight through the Giant's reptilian skin. Percy swallowed thickly, unwilling to let this strength and speed go to waste – he could feel blood dripping from his ear and knew that mortal bodies weren't created with this much power in mind.
Kronos' strength and speed was giving Percy a much-needed boost, but it would also kill him if he wasn't careful. He'd been given a sword without a hilt and was harming himself by gripping the blade's edge.
The Giants couldn't be killed, so Percy turned away from Porphyrion and bolted. The giant spearhead buried itself in the ground where he had been standing, half of the forty foot shaft disappearing into the mountain and throwing up shards of stone and a cloud of dust. The Giant bellowed in fury as he tore the weapon free.
"Perseus Jackson!" His roar shook the entire mountain side.
Leo had been blocked from the Moly by several Giants, each of them clearly knowing that he intended to turn them to ash. Percy came up behind them, plunging Riptide down into the heel of one of the Giants and slashing at the other's foot.
"Go!" He yelled at Frank and Leo.
Frank grabbed Leo, hauling him to his feet and transforming into an eagle to lift them up and over the Giants.
Percy swallowed, his arm aching and pain once again tearing through him. Though instead of his gut now, it was his arms and legs. He felt as if he'd ran a marathon. The Giants – Enceladus and Mimas – turned on Percy. Percy's arm trembled as he lifted Riptide. "Come on then," he said. Behind them, Frank and Leo had nearly reached the Moly. Leo's hands blazed, and a burst of white-hot flames barrelled straight at the Moly – only to be diverted and splashed harmlessly against the statue of Saturn.
Percy could've sworn that as his heart sank into his gut, the statue of Saturn directed a disapproving glare in the direction of Leo.
Percy gaped. Fucking Kronos. Who's damned side was that Titan on? The despair Percy felt mirrored the expressions of each of the other demigods. The Giants only laughed as they watched, a sound that echoed around them and quite likely down to Athens below. The earth rumbled beneath Percy's feet, as if Gaea was joining in.
There was a cruel smile on Porphyrion's face. He crossed his arms, only laughing as Leo clenched his jaw and blasted more fire at the Moly – each and every last bit was absorbed by the statue.
Percy choked out a sob, watching as the fire puttered out in Leo's hands.
"Now you understand," Porphyrion said once silence had settled on the Acropolis. The golden glow to Percy's skin had all faded, along with the last vestiges of his strength. "Once given a plot to watch over, Saturn's statue will not let anything harm those plants. So long as the statue stands free, the Moly cannot be destroyed." Percy shut his eyes. "Thoon," Porphyrion said, "which demigod is to be sacrificed?"
Percy clenched his jaw. "None of them," he snapped.
Without even looking at Percy, the Giant King snapped his spear through the air. With no Titan strength or speed left, Percy couldn't avoid the impact. The shaft of the spear slammed into his side, snapping his ribcage and throwing him aside to smack into a pillar. While it was clear that Porphyrion had only used a fraction of his strength so as not to kill Percy, something crunched when Percy hit his back against the pillar.
Percy screamed, landing on his side and feeling his ribs give way.
"Percy!" The scream came from all of the demigods at once, Jason starting to make his way over until Polybotes' trident caught him in midair. The son of Jupiter yelled as he was pinned against the ground. Percy choked out a sob, spitting out blood as he watched.
Where were the immortals?
The Giants had simply been playing with them.
They were laughing now as they watched, the one called Thoon inclining his head in Hazel's direction. "The child of Pluto. Her blood would be far more potent than the others."
Porphyrion had been watching Percy with suspicion, apparently expecting him to get up and walk away – though Percy's legs were tingling and he doubted he could move them well enough to even try. Each breath ached like he was repeatedly being stabbed. The Giant turned his head away to watch as one of his brethren dragged Hazel over to the Moly – clearly, she was unconscious.
Kronos… please. Help.
But Percy wasn't sure what he was expecting. Some miraculous intervention… clearly, every immortal was the same. None of them cared about demigods, or mortals.
The son of Poseidon shut his eyes, and then snapped them open again when he felt shade suddenly fall over his face.
Jason, pinned by the trident, disappeared into a shadow.
Percy blinked, the night sky spinning above him. But he could've sworn he saw a female lion slinking through the shadows on the far side of the Acropolis.
In truth, Percy was far more preoccupied with the face which appeared above him whilst the Giants were distracted. A beaming smile, as if this was all the greatest thing that could ever happen in all of existence and the world was not at risk of imminent destruction, reached the two silver eyes which blinked down at Percy.
"Ouchie," the immortal said, before pulling Percy back into the shadows with a warm touch to his shattered chest.
On the top of the Acropolis, completely unmoved throughout the entire fight, Aquila shrieked his alarm once again to the heavens.
It turns out, self-isolating in the summer is actually kind of productive when it comes to writing XD.
Also, I could not stop grinning to myself while writing the end of this chapter. Gods it was fun to write that bit.
Thatgremlinbitch: Oh yeah, Rhea's totally gonna come back to bite them in the ass.
bellareads4ever: Well, it kinda was lol. Kronos is a jerk, and that's putting it lightly.