𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐢𝐠 𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞 || PJO Fanfic

NINETEEN [Annabeth] [Zeus]

Annabeth POV

Me and Percy couldn't sleep at night, so we went for a stroll. Expectedly, he brought me to the lake after we sneaked out. It was his favourite place, he told me, because the water was so soothing and calm there.

As we trudged towards the lake, I heard a sound. It was muffled, like whoever said it didn't want to be heard, so I couldn't hear it clearly, but it was clearly coming from the direction of the lake. I exchanged glances with Percy, and we sprinted towards the direction of the voice.

Me and Percy neared the voice. Hiding behind a tall tree, I heard the sound of metal clanging. "Hey! No fair!" I heard someone say. A male voice, about 16. It sounded strangely familiar. Cautiously, I risked a glance, and saw that there was somebody at the side of the lake. In the darkness, I could only make out their silhouettes—three tall, male teenagers. Two of them had their backs to us, and they had the third cornered, who was on the floor. He gripped some sort of sharp, long thing in his hands. I squinted, trying to see in the dark what it was.

Beside me, Percy gasped, "it's a... sword. The one cornered is holding a black sword."

"What the hell? You gotta be kidding me. What are they doing with weapons?" As soon as I asked it, I felt stupid, which was very rare. Of course they were fighting.

Percy was about to jump out of our hiding spot, but I grabbed his hand and pulled him back. I wanted to wait and see what happened. Quietly, I unsheathed my dagger while Percy's uncapped his pen, Riptide, which turned into a sword with a soft shink. Just in case.

I looked back at the teenagers by the lake. One of the two leaned in and said something to the third. Before I could react, the two leaped at the same time, and slashed down towards the third in lighting speed. In their blur of motion, I saw one was holding a spear, and the other a short sword. I gasped. At this speed, the third would be too late to deflect their attack— I squeezed my eyes shut, preparing for the scream. It never came. When I opened my eyes, the third had deflected the first's attack, and dodged the second.

"Why are you both against me?" I heard the third say while he swept his sword in front of him in a wide arc. Once again, one of the two said something to him. The third was surrounded.

Then, the third did something that surprised me so much I almost yelped. He jumped towards one of the two and disarmed him. Now, normally, in the stance he was in he would already have been considered lost in the fight, but the sword clattered to the floor with a soft clang. The teenager stared at his empty hand.

Right away, the other one jabbed his spear towards the third when he was distracted with his victory. Surprisingly, he missed, and barely scraped the third. What happened afterwards was hard to explain, because the two moved with such speed, it seemed almost as fast as lightning. Their movements were a blur, that even me and Percy who were ADHD, couldn't keep up with. We just stood there, dumbfounded and shocked as sword and spear clanged against each other. It was a bizarre scene.

It seemed like five seconds, but it must've been longer, because when I blinked the third had disarmed his opponent. He was on top of the teenager, his arm pushed up to his neck. "I won." I heard him say. I shivered, it sounded... cold and creepy.

That was when Percy decided to walk out of his hiding place in all his stupid glory.

"Don't kill me!" He said, his arms in the air as he walked out. I noticed he had Riptide in his right hand.

- - -☦︎︎- - -
Zeus POV

Shit. Shit.

When I saw that boy walking towards us, I knew we were in trouble.

When I squinted and saw that he was Percy Jackson, I knew we were dead.

"Don't kill me!" He yelled with his hands in the air. Hades had his arm pushed against my throat, but when he heard the yell, he immediately took away his arm and got up. Poseidon, who had been watching the two of us just now, widened his eyes in shock.

"Who are you—" he got close enough to see our faces, and he let out a gasp. "Asher, Zayden, and-and Dylan. Why— how— what are you guys doing here?!"

Poseidon reached out a hand, "Percy let me explain—". Percy jumped back in alarm and uncapped his sword, pointing it at Poseidon with a fierce look.

"Don't touch me" He said. Poseidon looked slightly hurt.

That was when everything went even worse, because Annabeth appeared, "how— how did you three— but I saw you three at class! You three were— were" she, too, had her dagger pointed at us, but she looked more curious than fierce.

Hades tilted his head, ever so calm. There wasn't a hint of surprise on his face, unlike me and Poseidon, who was sweating and shying away from Percy's gaze. Hades smiled, "bad? I believe you meant bad."

"But then, everybody has secrets," he continued. He stared straight into Annabeth's eyes, "so do you."

"I would be ever so grateful if you would allow us some privacy. We know a lot more about you than you think we do." Hades said. Annabeth pulled Percy to her side. "We're not afraid to fight you" she said.

"Aww. Sweet little Annabeth and Percy. Tsk tsk. How heroic of you." Hades replied. His smile suddenly turned cold, which was freaking scary. I gritted my teeth. Hades' mood could shift really quickly, and we were lucky he didn't go all "Hades-mood" at school, but the last thing I wanted right now was Hades with a bad mood.

Normally, Hades is that silent god standing in the shadows and doing the observing. He knows a lot, sees a lot, and is powerful with his power over the dead. He's scary, yes, but when you actually know him well enough, you find that he's sometimes... a good friend, or a brother for me, not the scary, merciless, bloodthirsty demigod-killing god everyone thinks he is.

But now he looked at the two, with that thin smile he always wore when he snapped into "Hades-mood" and started killing with no control. I was worried for Annabeth and Percy, but for him too. I pulled him back and he hissed at me. I whispered words into his ear continuously, "Hades, stop, calm down. Now." He glared at me, and I glared back at him.

Poseidon, finally having found his voice, spoke, "I apologise for my brother." Annabeth and Percy stared at the hissing Hades in my arms, curious but not daring to ask. Poseidon sighed, "I'm sorry, but we really cannot tell you anything, just—just know that we mean you no harm."

"We will get back to camp now, please excuse us." I said. Hades and Poseidon trailed behind me as I walked back to the camp and sat down in the tent.

I sighed when we got in. We didn't need to say anything to know how the other two felt.

"Yeah, lets just get some sleep." I said.

- - -

DEAR READERS,

THIS SUCKS MY BRAIN DIED SO EH.

PLEASE DON'T HATE GAHHHH

SCARLET

UwU