Nothing is mine.

Getting to the good bit now!

...Two Will Fall

Rain drummed against clear glass panes, streaking down the window. He watched the droplets run as the thunder rumbled in the gloom and the grey above.

'The storm.' Gabe's heavy steps thudded across the room, the lino creaking. 'Do you remember who brings storms, Percy?'

'Poseidon.' The word spilt from his lips, high and clear.

'In many places, in early times, Poseidon was considered the foremost King of the Gods rather than Zeus. The power of the ocean and the storm is more compelling to those who live or die by its whims than the distant expanse of the heavens.' Gabe bent down and rested his hand on Percy's shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze. 'Now, shouldn't you be sleeping, kid? You've school tomorrow. If your mom was awake, she'd shoo you back to your room.'

'I can't sleep.' Percy stared through the rain-spattered glass at the dark clouds. 'The storm…'

A fierce flash of lightning tore through the sky and he flinched back from the window.

'That is Zeus,' Gabe said, staring out at the sky with a strange glint in his bright blue eyes. 'His judgement.'

Percy shivered as the blazing light split the sky. 'Do you think it hurts, being hit by lightning?'

The thunder crashed over their heads, shaking the house.

'Never been hit by it, kid.' His step-dad chuckled. 'You won't be either unless you go jumping around on top of a hill in a storm. Don't worry about it and make sure you get some sleep. Your mom will know you were up all night if you've got big bags under your eyes.'

'I'll try.'

'Sleep well, kid.' Gabe ruffled his hair with a warm hand. 'Don't fear the storm. It will never hurt you.'

The thunder rumbled beyond the window; its shudder shook the glass, shook the world, sent it shivering off into the distance, spinning away like a stone skipped across the sea. And somewhere above his head, the darkness loomed, swelling up to the stars.

'Zoë.' Atlas's whisper echoed from the black; its rumble held all the sombre fury of the storm. 'My forsworn child. Know I love you dearest of all.'

'Did you love my sister?' Iphi asked through the drumming of the rain.

'I can feel her,' Aphrodite's sweet murmur sung in his ears, her warm fingertip pressed against his breast. 'Welling up like a spring…'

'My sister is in the stars,' Calypso whispered. 'You could stay…'

Her song rose through the rain, up and up into the storm. Percy's heart sank beneath its sorrow as her voice soared, an endless flood of black poured down upon him, crushing as all the weight of the sea upon a single grain of sand, limitless dark grinding down into paper-thin glass.

The lightning flashed; molten silver slicing through the sky.

A soft hand pushed him from beneath the weight and he sprawled over cold, white pebbles.

'Percy!' Annabeth's golden curls hung across his face, tickling his cheek. Worry gleamed in her grey eyes, a finger's length from his face. 'Percy, I know you can't drown. I'm not giving you mouth to mouth, so stop pretending to be dead.'

He groaned and rolled onto his back. 'Just give me a moment. I was… dreaming.'

'No you weren't. Those weren't dreams.' She dragged him upright. 'You were in there. So was I.'

Clear water hung like liquid glass at his feet, smoking like frost in the winter sun.

Percy shook his head clear. 'I have extraordinary luck. Every time I fall, I seem to land in water.'

'That's Mnemosynē, you idiot. It's the lake of memory.'

'Explains the weird dream, I guess.'

Annabeth shivered. 'What did you dream of?' She patted herself down and drew her knife. 'I was back under the sky, before Artemis came, and Luke was leaving to face Ladon and he was so sad and so determined, and then I was watching Thalia die…'

Percy staggered to his feet and groaned at the throb of bruises. 'Let me guess. You took my advice and landed on top after all?'

She turned pink. 'You hugged me all the way down! It's your fault!'

'I was just cold from the wind,' he said. 'That's all.'

'You were being stupid again—' Annabeth's voice shook '—I know you were.' Her knuckles turned white around the hilt of her knife. 'Come on. We need to find a way… back up.'

'Back up?'

'Look around, barnacle-face, this is Hades.' She rolled her eyes. 'Gods you're an idiot. Where did you think we fell to? Australia?'

Percy glanced back at the still, clear lake and across the white pebbles to the stark grey stone stretching into the distance. Red dust lay on the far shore, spread-eagled in the shape of small outstretched arms and legs.

The nymph is dead. His stomach churned and he tore his eyes away from the small patch of crimson. Luke destroyed her lake.

'So… you don't happen to have some kind of map, do you?' he asked, mustering a weak grin. 'We can't be that far from Sydney.'

Annabeth sighed. 'No, Fish-face. I don't have a map of Hades. Or a compass, not that one would even work down here.'

'I guess we just a pick a direction and walk in a straight line,' he said. 'Unless you have a better idea.'

She swept her golden curls over her shoulders and pointed her knife at a distant spur of dark stone. 'We walk toward that, so we know we're going the same direction. And maybe from up there we'll be able to see something.'

'Works for me.' Percy pulled up his tattered shirt and poked at his bruises, wincing from the darkest on his ribs. 'If I wanted to take a little dip to heal these bruises, you'd tell me it was really stupid, right?'

'Obviously.' Annabeth rolled her eyes. 'Stop touching yourself and find a shirt, you're not Michelangelo's David, Squid-nose.'

'I don't have any.' Percy patted his shredded orange camp top. 'Kronos has finally won. I'm all out of clothes. Even the fish pyjamas are back at Artemis's camp.'

'Small mercies.' She snickered and clambered up the rocks from the lake shore. 'If we died with you wearing those, I'd have to put up with them for eternity.'

'The new ones are better,' Percy said. 'The fish are more evenly spaced.'

'New ones?' Annabeth wrinkled her nose. 'Was one set not enough? Why did Poseidon give you more?'

'Artemis gave them to me.' Percy grinned. 'I think she finds them funny.'

'Uh huh. Sure.' She held out her hand. 'Come on.'

He trudged up the grey stone and stared across the bleak plateau. 'Nice place this. Feels very welcoming. Where are all the kangaroos, anyways?'

'It's Hades, not a motel.'

'You're a motel,' Percy retorted.

'You're an idiot.' Annabeth's lip trembled. 'Come on, Kelp-brain. The longer we're down here the more likely you think of something stupid to do.'

'Says you.' Percy short her a sharp look as they set off toward the rising spur of grey stone. 'Running into the fight invisible. Look where that got you?'

'I had a plan.'

'Was this it?'

'No.' She scowled and huffed a blonde curls away from her face. 'But it might have worked. It might still work. Luke obviously has the Blessing of the Styx. His Achilles's Heel is the only place you can harm him. I think. I don't know how it works for certain, only Achilles and the Gods do, I guess.'

'And you know where his weak spot is? I assume it's not the heel every time, right?'

'No, I don't know where.' Annabeth stared down at her knife. 'But I had a few ideas and you had him stationary in the lake…'

'You should've told me, I could've tried to stab him there.'

'He would've known you were going for them then and been more careful,' she replied. 'If only I knew, then nobody else could give it away and we could catch him by surprise.'

'You'd really stab him?' Percy murmured. 'Kill him?'

Annabeth stared at her feet. 'What other choice is there?' she whispered. 'You're right. He has to be stopped. He… he isn't the same as he was.'

Their footsteps thudded across the grey rock as they began to climb the long spur, echoing out into the distance.

There's nothing here but us. A ripple of unease washed through him. Who even knows where we are.

'It's too quiet here,' Percy muttered. 'I miss all the green. And the breeze.'

'It's nice,' Annabeth gasped, pressing a hand to her ribs. 'It reminds me of when you're not talking.'

'Are you okay?' He reached out and pulled her arm away.

She flushed. 'I'm fine.'

'So you won't mind if I poke you?' Percy extended a finger toward her ribs.

'No…' Annabeth grimaced. 'Fine. Yes, I will. The drakon's tail broke some ribs, I think. It was fine before, but it's really starting to hurt now the adrenaline has worn off.' She swatted his hand away. 'We don't have anything to fix them anyways. Just keep going. Let's get to the top.'

'Alright.' He strode up the slope, measuring a small pause between his steps by the beat of his heart. 'But at the top you let me have a look.'

Annabeth snorted. 'Not likely.'

'What if it's bad?'

'It's my chest, Percy…'

'So?'

'So… what do girls have on their chest that they might not want to show to boys?'

Heat rushed to his cheeks. 'Oh.'

'Idiot.'

'I wasn't thinking about that!' Percy glowered at her over his shoulder. 'Most of the time I don't even remember you're a girl.'

She grinned back at him, wincing a little with each step. 'Remember what Zoë told you, boobs are evil and selfish, and you mustn't see them or you'll turn to stone.'

'This is why I didn't come back from Ogygia for you, Column-hugger,' he said.

'Because I won't let you take my top off?' Annabeth sniggered. 'What happened to love is evil, Percy?'

'You know that's not what I was saying,' he grumbled. 'It's about being selfish not love.'

'Still not getting my top off,' she jibed, flinching as the slope steepened. 'Mom would be… so mad.' Her steps slowed. 'You're much too… stupid to be a… good boyfriend.'

'You're just holding out for Andrea Palladio.' Percy chuckled at her glare and bounded up the last few steps, ignoring the twinging of his bruises. 'He's probably down here somewhere. If you remember not to look back, maybe you can steal him away.'

'I'd rather… steal Da Vinci,' she retorted, inching forward. 'Between you and him… we'd have one… average brain.'

'Doesn't that we include you?' Percy peered down the steep cliff over endless grey stone. 'There's really not much to see here, Crayon-artist. We might have to keep walking…'

'Give me a moment.' Annabeth pressed a hand to her ribs, taking long slow breaths. 'Breathing too fast hurts.'

Little ripples of anxiety churned in his stomach. 'Is there anything we can do?'

'Not until we get out of here.' She hooked her t-shirt up to the bottom of her bra and scrunched her face up. 'It's getting worse.'

A mottled spread of purple and blue sat over the lower ribs.

'Ouch,' he muttered.

'Yeah.' Annabeth dropped her shirt. 'It goes all the way up where it's more sensitive too, but you're not seeing that.'

'Would it help if you had to breathe less?'

'Yes, Percy. It wouldn't hurt if I didn't have to breathe and move my ribs.' She shook her head. 'But I do need to breathe, idiot.'

'Not what I meant.' He laughed and ushered her up to the edge. 'Come here, oh wisest of slightly short girls.'

Annabeth squinted at him. 'Why?'

'Well, if you have to breathe fast from all this walking, it's going to be worse.' Percy slipped an arm under Annabeth's knees and around her back, scooping her off her feet. 'Especially climbing down this.'

She glared at him through her blonde curls. 'Put me down.'

'Not going to.'

'Percy.' A little growl escaped her lips. 'Put. Me. Down.'

'At the bottom,' Percy promised. 'There's no need for you to get hurt when I can do this for a short bit.'

'How about because I don't want to be carried like some stupid princess?'

'If it makes you feel better and you're nice to me for a while, I won't tell Clarisse this happened.' He picked his way down, one foot at a time, ignoring the ache in his arms as he cradled Annabeth's weight against his chest. 'She'd have a field day with this. Are there any Disney princesses this happens to? Rapunzel? Snow White?'

'I don't know. I don't even like stupid Disney films.' Annabeth groaned and swept her hair over her face. 'I can't believe you're doing this.'

'You have broken ribs, what am I meant to do? Let you struggle?'

'Yes. I was doing fine.'

'Liar,' he said. 'I bet it doesn't hurt as much now.'

Annabeth turned her head away and scowled off into the distance.

'Wow.' He grinned. 'See anything interesting over there, Fresco-face?'

'Shut up.' She nudged her elbow into his ribs. 'We are never mentioning this to anyone. Ever.'

'It's really not that bad.' Percy clambered down the last steep part and lowered Annabeth onto her feet. 'Right. Now what?'

She kicked him in the shin.

'Thanks.'

'That's for just grabbing me without asking.'

'You would have stupidly said no out of pride. Even though you're glad I did it.'

Annabeth turned pink. 'Ass, you're so annoying.'

'Could be worse, you could be stuck down here with Drew,' Percy replied. 'You'd have to stop every five minutes for her to fix her make-up. And listen to—'

His shadow flickered in the corner of his eye and he snatched Anaklusmos from his pocket.

Nico jumped out, ducking the bronze blade as Percy slashed the sword at him. 'It's me!'

'Hey Nico.' Percy lowered Anaklusmos. 'Sorry. I was expecting vicious koalas.'

'Did you find your sister?' Annabeth asked.

Nico's eyes darkened. 'I did. She was happy. Really happy. And I…' He glowered at Percy. 'I couldn't bring myself to even ask her...'

Percy offered him a small smile. 'You did the right thing, I think. Letting her be happy.'

'I know. I miss her but… it's not so bad now I know she's happy…' Nico took a long gulp of air and pointed up into the grey haze above. 'Dad sent me. I can take you to Manhattan—'

'Why Manhattan?' Annabeth demanded.

'Because that's where everyone is,' he replied. 'Typhon is getting close to New York. The mortals evacuated the whole city because of the hurricane around him and Luke's army is there under some Titan trying to reach Olympus.'

'That sounds bad,' Percy said. 'I guess we'd better go back before something eats Grover again.'

'I can only take you one at a time,' Nico admitted. 'It's hard.'

'Take Annabeth first. Her ribs need looking at.' Percy nudged her shoulder. 'Then come back for me.'

Nico nodded and grabbed Annabeth's hand; they sank into her shadow and vanished.

I guess Luke will be there when we get back. Percy stared into the smooth bronze surface of Zoë's blade. But we don't even know how to stop him. Only Achilles knows. And Achilles is dead… He blinked. Dead.

Nico leapt from Percy's shadow. 'I'm back.'

He flinched, a little gush of cold adrenaline trickling through his veins. 'Is Annabeth okay?'

'I left her with the other camp people on one of the bridges. She said she'd be okay.'

'Good.' Percy caught his eye. 'Do we have time for a detour?'

'Where?' Nico asked.

'I need to speak to Achilles.'

Nico nodded. 'I can take you to him. Achilles waits on this side of the Styx for those who want to bathe in the river.' He held out his hand. 'This will feel weird.'

Percy grabbed his wrist. 'Can't be worse than those pearls were.'

Cold darkness swallowed him and he staggered out before a huddle of wraiths lingering above the ink-black waters of the River Styx.

'He's down there, Percy,' Nico said, pointing along the river bank at a lone figure clad in bronze armour upon the shore. 'Do you want me to come?'

'No, it's better—'

'Percy?' Silena rose from the riverbank and limped across on her broken leg, a sad gleam in her green eyes. 'Did you die?'

'No.' He shook his head. 'I—'

Charlie Bekendorf stood up behind her, a deep wound over his heart.

'I'm sorry,' Percy whispered.

Silena shook her head. 'He was already here waiting for me.' Her fingers crept to the dark gash in her throat. 'You were right.'

'It's okay,' Charlie murmured in her ear.

'Aren't you going to…?' Percy gestured at the river. 'Cross?'

They glanced at each other.

'I'm happy here,' Charlie said.

'If we cross, they'll separate us,' Silena whispered. 'I won't be able to go with him, not after what I did.'

'We'd both rather stay here together,' Charlie said. 'I couldn't ever leave her.'

'Love lasts forever,' Silena said, clutching Charlie's hand tight. 'Even here.'

Love is the one immortal thing mortals possess. Percy watched the dark waters flow past, steaming like frost in the sunlight. And what we do in life, we echo in eternity…

'I'm sorry, I can't stay,' he said, drifting along the river bank. 'I have to stop Luke.'

'Good luck, Percy,' Silena called after him. 'I'm sorry!'

'Kick his ass,' Charlie yelled. 'You're better than he is!'

His steps crunched across the grey pebbles at the river's edge, loud as thunder over the soft whisper of the smoking black waters. The bronze-armoured figure stood still as a statue, staring down into the dark river.

'Hi.' Percy waved. 'You're Achilles, right?'

'Thou art correct.' Achilles glanced from up the riverbank. 'What is thy purpose upon this shore, stranger?'

'I wanted to ask about the Blessing of the Styx.'

'Thou art better off without it,' he replied. 'I assure thee.'

'The man I have to fight has it.'

'Hope fate is kind to thee and he hath truly forsaken that which binds him to his mortal life,' Achilles replied. 'If not, thy death is certain.'

'He has a weak spot, right? I just have to stab him there to stop him.'

Achilles smiled a sad little smile. 'My mother dipped me in the Styx as a babe, she loved me too dear to risk my death at envious fearful hands after I was foretold to be greater than my sire. Her grasp upon my ankle tethered me to the mortal world. Later, in my hubris, I sought glory. And when I knowingly chose to sail away and not return to her, I severed that bond. My death came later, when I had cast aside all the compassion and kindness she showed me, but it was inevitable from the moment I sailed away.'

'I don't understand,' Percy said, scowling at the helm tucked beneath the spirit's arm. 'I have to hope Luke has forsaken something and then stab him wherever his weak spot is? What would it even be?'

'Not something, a bond greater than death,' Achilles murmured. 'There is but one thing, stranger, that a mortal possesses with the strength to endure what mortals cannot.'

Love. Just like Aphrodite said. Percy's heart sank. Did she know I'd end up here? And who does Luke even love? Thalia? Maybe?

'Why must thou face this foe?' Achilles asked. 'Does he come to thy home to bring bloodshed and grief, as I did to Troy?'

'Yes.' Percy sighed. 'He thinks toppling Olympus will stop demi-gods dying and suffering. But that's not how it works…'

'Then thou must face him. As brave and noble Hector faced me.'

'Sounds great, except I'm pretty sure Hector lost horribly...'

'I slew him. Thy words are truth. Yet thou cannot strip the Blessing of the Styx from this foe nor canst thou step aside.' Achilles stared at him with a sombre gleam in his eyes. 'Thou must fight. And hope Fate is kind to thee.'

Choose well. And live or die without regret. Of course.

'If he isn't stopped, he'll destroy everything,' Percy replied, smoothing out a low ripple of rage. 'If it's me, then I have to beat him. I can't let him win.'

Achilles frowned. 'I cannot stop thee, if thy intent is to bathe and face thy foe on even footing. But know that few rise from this river, stranger. And those that do… their Fate is one with the bond that anchors them to mortality.'

'So I'd need an immortal bond,' Percy murmured. 'And then as long as I didn't forsake it, I'd win, right? That's how it works? I couldn't be killed.'

And even if I do fall afterward, it's better for everyone than me standing tall in the storm just to say I didn't disappoint.

He sucked in a deep breath. 'I have to try. In case it should be me.'

'Fare thee well then.' Achilles stepped aside with a faint sad smile.

Percy stepped to the edge and pulled Anaklusmos from his pocket, extending it into a bronze xiphos. 'I promised not to disappoint you,' he whispered. 'I won't. I won't let it be selfish.'

But if my love still offends you. He closed his eyes and pressed Anaklusmos to his forehead, striding into the cold current. Then I hope you can forgive me, Zoë.

The icy water swallowed Percy, its current swept him off his feet and sent him spinning through the black. Bitter cold crept through him, sharp as a razor; its numb chill chewed deep, gnawed deeper, biting and clawing at his heart like teeth and talons of ice. It stripped away his mom's warm embrace, Annabeth's grin, and Calypso's gentle laugh and flushed cheeks; and it tore away Zoë's quiet words, her kind smile, and the soft weight of her hand on his shoulder; it ripped them from him and scattered them into the black like ashes lost to a cold wind.

An endless void spread from him, stretching on and on like the bleak grey rocks of Hades; soft hunger gnawed away in the darkest parts of his heart and a numb emptiness seeped through his veins.

No. Percy clung to the breathtaking brightness of Zoë's last smile as she stared up into the fierce pride shining in Artemis's molten silver eyes, clutching Anaklusmos to his breast. I promised. I promised.

A soft hand rested between his shoulder blades, easing him from the cold and the dark; its touch stung and tingled like raki on his tongue, sinking deep beneath his skin, a brand of flame searing to his spine and fading like a flash of lightning from the sky.

Percy slumped onto the shore, blinking water from his eye as he stared into Achilles's bronze greaves.

'Hail brother,' Achilles murmured, crouching down before him. 'What is thy name? I will greet thee here by it. When the time comes.'

'Perseus,' Percy said. 'Percy Jackson. But I won't break my bond. I can't.'

I promised.

Nico's footsteps thudded across the stone and crunched over the pebbles; his hands seized Percy under the arms, dragging him to his feet with a grunt. 'Did you… bathe? In the Styx? Like—' his voice dropped to a whisper '—like Achilles.'

'Yes.' He drew Anaklusmos across his bare palm; smooth cool bronze slid across his skin, but between his shoulder blades the soft touch of that hand tingled, prickling like the tips of a thousand pins scraping over his spine. 'And now I must go back.'

'I'll take you.' Nico stared up at him with wide dark eyes. 'You'll stop him, won't you? Luke. And send him down here, to pay for everything he's caused.'

'What we do in life, we echo in eternity,' Percy murmured. 'Some of us shine so bright and brave, the Gods set us amongst the stars where we can all look up to them after they fall. Some drift into the happiness of sunlit green fields forever. And some of us… some of us die in regret. That's how it works, you see?'

'I see.' Nico flushed and grabbed Percy's arm, staring at his feet. 'I do see. This time.'

'Take me back, Nico.' A little smile crept across his face. 'I've got to go and find myself facing Luke on the sixteenth floor of the Empire State Building or something stupid like that.'

I think I'm getting the hang of this now, Zoë. Percy tucked Anaklusmos into his pocket. Stand or fall.

AN: There's another chapter waiting for those on Discord with the rest of us! And a bunch of rough drafts you can read along with all my original stuff if you're supporting me as a creator. Just follow the link tree!

linktr . ee / mjbradley