cymophobia | percy jackson

𝑥𝑥𝑣𝑖𝑖

The crew was an absolute wreck. They ran until they couldn't run anymore, no destination in mind, only away from that dark mountain and the roar of Kronos. Rachel was gasping for breath, hugging her chest, and Annabeth had been crying the entire time. When they stopped in a natural cavern of wet white rock, she collapsed and put her head between her knees. Her sobs echoed throughout the tunnel.

Percy lowered shakily to the ground, cradling a half-conscious Ash in his lap. Nico dropped to his knees next to them, putting his sword by Percy's and watching the girl struggle to open her eyes worriedly.

"That fucking sucked," she croaked finally, and maybe dark humor was an Underworld kid thing, because Nico laughed. Percy brushed some hair out of her eyes before looking at the other boy.

"You saved our lives," he said.

Nico wiped dust off his face. "Blame the girls for dragging me along. That's the only thing they could agree on, something was terribly wrong."

"Damn straight." Percy shined his flashlight across the cavern, illuminating water dripping from the stalactites. "Nico... you, uh, kind of gave yourself away."

"What do you mean?"

"That wall of black stone? Bad-ass. But if Kronos didn't know who you were before, he does now–the son of Hades."

Nico frowned. "Big deal."

Ash frowned back. "Yes, big deal." She coughed. "Huge... deal." Her voice, still just recovering from the vocal chord damage at Mount St. Helens, was ragged. Dark bruises bloomed across her neck, they had to wrap both her ankles, and one look at the hand cradled in her lap made it clear it would never be the same. No amount of ambrosia could fix the deep scarring dripping across her fingers and palm, and nectar alone couldn't set that wrist properly. If she took any, it would most likely heal badly, but if she didn't, it wouldn't heal at all.

Percy could barely hold himself together seeing her like this, but he knew if he fretted she'd make some joke about it not hurting, and he wasn't sure at this point whether he wouldn't just snap altogether. So he concentrated on taking deep breaths in...out. Ash safe in his arms, in... out, yup still there...

Nico let it drop, hushing Ash and giving her some water. Annabeth lifted her head to meet Percy's gaze, eyes red from crying. "Wh-what was wrong with Luke? What did they do to him? Why was h-he...was he actually trying to kill Ash?"

Percy told her what they'd seen in the coffin, the way the last piece of Kronos' spirit had entered Luke's body when Ethan Nakamura pledged his service. How Ash had struggled to subdue that spirit so they could get away.

"No," Annabeth's voice cracked. "That can't be true. He couldn't–"

"He gave himself over to Kronos," Ash whispered. "Don't talk," Percy tried, but she continued. "I'm sorry, Annie. Luke is as good as gone."

"No!" she insisted. "You saw when you fought him. And when Rachel hit him!"

Ash looked over at Rachel with the utmost deepest respect. "You sniped the Lord of the Titans with a blue plastic hairbrush and saved my miserable life. I owe you, Rachel Elizabeth Dare."

Rachel blushed, looking embarrassed. "I think we can call it even at this point. And it was the only thing I had."

"But you saw," Annabeth insisted. "Both times, just for a second, he came back to his senses."

"So maybe Kronos isn't completely settled in the body, or whatever," Percy said, and Ash nodded her head. "It doesn't mean Luke was in control."

"You didn't know him before, Percy. We did."