plague bringer - a heroes of olympus insert

𝗑𝗑𝗑𝗂𝗂. 𝗂 𝗆𝖺𝖽𝖾 𝗂𝗍 𝗈𝗎𝗍

Aria groaned as a familiar figure helped her to sit up as the sound of a fight filled the room.

"Come on, Aria. You gotta get up."

Aria's brows furrowed as she began piecing together whose voice this was. She blinked as a familiar blonde figure came into focus, "Annabeth?"

The girl looked like she might cry from relief. "Yep, it's me. Now you need to get up."

Annabeth helped her get steady in a sitting position, but Aria could see her eyes keep drifting to the fight happening ahead. Aria let out a little laugh, causing the blonde to look at her in confusion. She grabbed the girl's dagger from her belt and held it out for her to take, "I think this belongs to you. In case you want to get in on the giant-killing action." There was an awkward moment of silence as Annabeth looked at the dagger in shock, as if she wasn't expecting to see it ever again. "I'll be okay enough if you wanna-"

Aria was cut off by the girl taking the dagger and giving her a tight hug. She quickly returned it before Annabeth moved back and stood up.

"I didn't think I'd ever see this again," She said, giving her a smile. "Thank you."

"It's no problem," Aria replied, giving a shakier smile in response.

The older girl went to join in the fight and Aria couldn't help but feel relieved this was a battle she didn't have to participate in. She also couldn't help but smile at the sight of her friends destroying the big guy. They attacked him from every direction—Leo shooting fire at his legs, Frank, Annabeth, Percy, and Piper jabbing at his chest and legs, Jason flying into the air and kicking him in the face. Each time the giant's smoky veil started creeping around one of them, Nico was there, slashing through it, drinking in the darkness with his Stygian blade. Hazel was standing off to the side, looking at the whole situation in relief. Aria was still feeling pretty weak and dazed, but she managed to get herself standing.

The giant was surrounded. Clytius snarled, turning back and forth as if he couldn't decide which of them to kill first. 'Wait! Hold still! No! Ouch!'

The darkness around him dispelled completely, leaving nothing to protect him except his battered armor. Ichor oozed from a dozen wounds. The damage healed almost as fast as it was inflicted, but Aria could tell the giant was tiring. One last time Jason flew at him, kicking him in the chest, and the giant's breastplate shattered. Clytius staggered backward. His sword dropped to the floor. He fell to his knees, and the demigods encircled him. Only then did Hecate step forward, her torches raised. Mist curled around the giant, hissing and bubbling as it touched his skin. "And so it ends," Hecate said.

'It does not end.' Clytius's voice echoed from somewhere above, muffled and slurred. 'My brethren have risen. Gaea waits only for the blood of Olympus. It took all of you together to defeat me. What will you do when the Earth Mother opens her eyes?'

Hecate turned her torches upside down. She thrust them like daggers at Clytius's head. The giant's hair went up faster than dry tinder, spreading down his head and across his body until the heat of the bonfire made Aria wince. Clytius fell without a sound, face-first in the rubble of Hades's altar. His body crumbled to ashes.

For a moment, no one spoke. Aria heard a ragged, painful noise and realized it was Hazel's breathing. She winced at the sight of her, she looked like she had been hit with a battering ram.

The goddess Hecate faced her. "You should go now, Hazel Levesque. Lead your friends out of this place."

Hazel gritted her teeth, trying to hold in her anger. "Just like that? No 'thank you'? No 'good work'?"

The goddess tilted her head. A weasel chittered—where the heck did that even come from anyways—and disappeared in the folds of the goddess's skirts. "You look in the wrong place for gratitude," Hecate said. "As for 'good work,' that remains to be seen. Speed your way to Athens. Clytius was not wrong. The giants have risen—all of them, stronger than ever. Gaea is on the very edge of waking. The Feast of Hope will be poorly named unless you arrive to stop her."