in which aurelie nightshade's life is just a carousel spinning around after her sister willingly lets herself die
[annabeth chase x fem!oc]
[the titan's curse - the blood of olympus]
[started; 11/23/23] [finished; xx.xx.xxxx]
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AT THE TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN WERE RUINS, blocks of black granite and marble as big as houses. Broken columns. Statues of bronze that looked as thought they'd been half melted.
Aurelie was sure it hadn't been there the last time— but two thousand years had passed since then and Kronos was rising now, so.
"The ruins of Mount Othrys," Thalia whispered in awe.
"Yes," Zoë said. "It was not here before."
"This is bad," Aurelie added.
"What's Mount Othrys?" Percy asked.
Was he playing so dumb or did he really not know? Aurelie wasn't sure.
"The mountain fortress of the Titans," Zoë explained. "In the first war, Olympus and Othrys were the two rival capitals of the world. Othrys was—" She winced and held her side.
Aurelie rushed to her sister's side. "You're hurt. Let me see."
"No!" Zoë snapped. "It is really nothing, Ali. I promise. As I was saying... in the first war, Othrys was blasted to pieces."
"But... how is it here."
Thalia looked around cautiously as we picked our way through the rubble, past blocks of marble and broken archways. "It moves in the same way that Olympus moves. It always exists on the edges of civilization. But the fact that it is here, on this mountain, is not good."
"Why?" Percy demanded.
"This is fa— Atlas's mountain," Aurelie explained. "Where he holds—" She froze, trying to control the despair in her voice. "Where he used to hold up the sky."
Zoë's hand reached for hers and Aurelie squeezed it, wanting to reassure her sister that nothing bad was going to happen.
They reached the summit. A few yards ahead of them, gray clouds swirled in a heavy vortex, making a funnel cloud that almost touched the mountain top, but instead rested on the shoulders of a twelve-year-old girl with auburn hair and a tattered silvery dress: Artemis. Her legs were bound to the rock with the celestial bronze chains and on her shoulders rested the roof of the world.
"My lady!" Zoë let go of Aurelie's hand and rushed forward.
But Artemis said, "Stop! It is a trap. You must leave now!"
Her voice was strained. She was drenched in sweat. Aurelie had seen her father in the same spot before, but he was made for holding up the sky. Artemis was clearly not— despite the fact that she had the powers and strength of a god.
Zoë was crying. Despite Artemis's protests, she ran forward and tugged at the chains.
A booming voice— something Aurelie wished she could forgot, but no matter how hard she'd tried, it was not possible— spoke behind them: "Aw, how touching."
