Indigo Eyes

Chapter 104

"Like hell," came a melodious laugh.

Cressida's spear turned into a thyrsus as she banged it on the ground, her brothers at her side as they rose their hands into the air, vines erupting from the earth as they disoriented the giants that surged forward again.

One managed to surprise Chrion with a blow to his back legs as he stumbled and fell.

"No!" Percy called but he was too far away to help.

Then it happened.

After rising their vines, the children of Dionysus had plunged back into the thick of battle, Cressida fighting dracaenae while her brothers took on telkhines and enemy half-bloods. Cressida impaled one of the dragon women but was pounced on by another from behind, her claws scratching her cheek. She was forced to drop her spear as she wrestled with the monster.

Cressida had read about moments when time stood still or slowed down. They were always these sweet moments between characters, a first meeting, a first kiss, a last kiss, finding each other after a massive battle and being relieved that they were ok.

That was nothing like Cressida's experience with time slowing down. And unlike Percy who'd actually been a victim of the Titan Lord's control over time, Cressida's experience had nothing magical about it.

The dragon woman was trying to bite at her neck when time started to slow down. She was trying to throw her head back to headbutt her, when her eyes landed on another sight.

And time slowed down as Cressida's eyes bludged in horror as she watched an enemy demigod shove a sword through her brother's chest. And the bottle that she'd been shoving her feelings into shattered- exploded was a more accurate term actually.

And as she watched her brother die, as she watched the light leave his eyes and the breath leave his lungs and the colour leave his skin as he fell to the ground and his blood soaked into the earth, all she could do was scream.

Percy remembered what she'd done when she thought he'd died - the first time last winter when he'd been shot. Her scream had her vines responding to her will unconsciously as they crumbled those skeletons into pieces. But her vines weren't the power that woke with this scream.

A ring of purple fire exploded from her hands as she let out the most heartbreaking scream and the last line of the prophecy came true.

The purple demigod shall turn the tide.

And the fallen shall come from both sides.

Chiron had thought that meant she'd turn the tide of the war, but he was wrong. She turned the tide of the battle.

Every monster that stood between her and her fallen brother dropped dead, disintegrated, dissolved.

Further than that, the monsters were driven mad, some acting like actual animals, cows, cats, elephants and some hitting their heads against trees while others started fighting each other. 

And as for the demigod that killed her brother...Cressida shattered his mind with half a thought. He was plagued with hallucinations that were so real, that were so terrifying that he stabbed his sword into his own chest just to make it stop. 

Grover was the one to scare the rest of the Titan Lord's army away with the help of the Ares cabin and the sound of pure fear that he let loose. And then the battle was over.

Cressida was crying and screaming in absolute agony as she and Pollux knelt over Castor's body. Pollux was in the midst of a panic attack as Cressida simply stared at her brother's fallen figure.

This was what Pan was talking about.

They'd saved camp but she'd lost her brother and it felt like her world was ending.

Her fingers were stained with her brother's blood as she refused to believe the reality in front of her. He couldn't be dead. He couldn't.

"Castor? Cas? Castor, you have to wake up," she pleaded as tears threatened to spill from her eyes. "Cas. Castor, you're not dead. Please don't be dead. You can't be dead. You can't leave us," she cried as she rested her head on his shoulder.

And that was how the rest of the camp found them.

Nico was exhausted from summoning all the spirits he had and from making the decision to not bring back Bianca, Tyson was happy that Pretty Girl was right and Briares came back. Annabeth was in awe of the computer Daedalus had given her with all of his work saved on it, and Percy was in disbelief about the fact that Daedalus had finally decided to face his punishment and take on the justice of the Underworld seeing as he was the child of Athena, and this was his final stand. But when they heard the sound of Cressida crying, everything seemed insignificant as they followed the sound.

Pollux was hugging both Cressida and Castor, his tears silent as his sister let out the most painful cries you could hear. Annabeth would later say that she wailed. Cressida wailed as her heart died along with her brother.

And suddenly winning the battle didn't seem that good.