The Combined Souls

Losing Hope

***Hades's P.O.V.***

"Where is he?" Zeus roared.

"I am here," I muttered, trudging up to my throne. I sat down heavily. It's been months since I last saw Percy. It's been around a year, to be honest.

"Hades?" Athena questioned. I rubbed my eyes, trying to concentrate. The Throne Room, that's where I am.

"Yes?" I asked.

"You-" she was cut off by Aphrodite.

"Look horrible. What happened to you?" I couldn't do anything to stop the bags from becoming more evident under my eyes. It was true, I did look horrible. But did I care about that when Percy was missing? No. A month can do that to you, well, anyone. Even a god.

"Sleep," I muttered angrily.

"What about sleep?" Artemis asked me. I didn't expect anyone to hear that.

"NOTHING!" I barked at her, gritting my teeth. 

"Hades, let's address the matter at hand," Hermes suggested.

"Fine, but I am only listening." I glared at the rest of them, hardly listening at all. I was preoccupied trying to find out where he was. It was like he simply vanished. I cocked my head, then checked in the Underworld, reassuring myself that he wasn't dead.

"Not quite yet, father," a raspy, quiet voice called through my head. It wasn't Nico. The only one left...was Percy. I jumped up and out of my seat on accident. My eyes were wild with a bright fire.

"HADES!" Zeus slapped me for no reason. Rude! Only then did occur to me that no one other than me had heard it.

"Quiet!" I silenced him for a moment, then listened intently inside my head.

"Hello?" I asked in my head waiting for a response.

"Father..."

"PERCY? Where are you?"

"I don't know...But it's dark here."

My concentration along with the conversation was split when Zeus hit my with his lighting bolt. A line of curses flew from my mouth. "ZEUS!"  I cried in horror.

"What?"

"Nothing," I muttered under my breath, cursing Zeus along with it.

"Brother, tell me. Tell us," he waved his arm to the rest of the council.

"I thought I felt something."

"Like what?" Hera sounded annoyed. Athena looked at me, waiting for any news.

"Like another soul was being tortured. I was wrong," I murmured.

"Oh. Well, the meeting is over. You are dismissed," Zeus announced. As soon as he said that, I disappeared back to the Underworld. I needed to find Percy. And I needed help.

***Nico's P.O.V.***

"I hate her!" I shouted at Thalia, then slammed my door in her face. It had been ten months since Percy left. Ten months since I found out what Annabeth actually did.

"NICO!" Thalia shouted at me through the door. Annabeth broke him. She shattered him. She made him into something that will never be the same.

I climbed through the window and shadow traveled to the beach. Percy's beach. I dug my feet into the white sand. I buried my head in my knees and sobbed my eyes out. It was all Annabeth's fault! If she hadn't kissed Kyle, Percy would still be here! He would still be my friend, he would still be here, to help me up when I fall down. He always did. But now, he isn't here because of that monster. Annabeth. She was the true monster.

Now, I like Clarisse   better than Annabeth. And that, I can promise you, will never change.

***Sebastian's P.O.V.***

He's survived and had a healthy recovery, that, I can't deny. But there is something more to him, I can tell. The others think that it's because he is a 'freak', but I believe that there is another being inside him. I can sense its aura. It's mad and dangerous. I could only assume that's why the guards call him 'Lunatic Lysias'.  I looked up what that meant and 'Lysias' by itself meant one who destroys. So basically they call him lunatic destroyer.

It had been a long recovery, yes. One that numerous times resulted in my injecting him with a sedative. He went that wild. I didn't think it was possible, but it was since he killed twelve fully armed guards with just his sword with him. No Armour. Can we just take a minute to think about that?

I looked out of the room and into the Pit. The Pit was a terrible fighting arena. Monsters teamed up to take one down, then turned on each other. It was gruesome. I shuddered at the thought of the kid being there. Thankfully, he hasn't been down there.

I spoke too soon. I watched helplessly as he walked out of the entrance, a crazed look in his eyes. Chains bound him to the wall. There was nothing that I could do for the kid now. I looked away just in time to see a hurricane of monsters storm the arena.

Bye, child.

***Percy's P.O.V.***

"We can escape from everything, but not ourselves," Joker said over and over again in my head.

What did it mean? What did Joker mean when he said it? Did it even have a meaning at all?

"Introduce a little anarchy. Upset the established order and everything becomes...Chaos."

"Do you want to know why I use a knife? You see, guns are too quick. You can't save all of the little...emotions. In their last moments, people should know who they really are. So in a way...I knew your friends better than you ever did. Would you like to which of them were cowards?"

"All it takes is one bad day to reduce the sanest man alive to lunacy. That is how far the world is from where I am. One. Bad. Day."

"A man with nothing to fear is a man with nothing to love."

"Everybody's got a dark side."

"Percy, show your dark side."

I finally realized where I was. The Pit. I moved forward, but was stopped by two thick chains wrapped around my wrists. They were connected to the wall. A smile, not mine, Joker's spread across my face. I yanked my arms out with a mighty tug. They slowly broke free. I tug again, putting all of my weight against the chains, trying to break them. They broke. And I fell to the ground, laughing like a madman.

"Smile, Percy."

I smiled. My teeth were once again crimson, I could tell by my reflection in their eyes. I laughed once, then swung my arm at them. They easily dodged my blow, but they didn't dodge the chains attached to my arms. All of them knocked out cold in one blow. I smiled, then walked up to each one and stabbed them through the heart, making them turn into dust.

"Smile, Percy."

I could feel myself becoming more like him each second I breathed. More. More. More. And. More. Like. Him. My eyes were no longer mine, they were his. Dark brown, hate, death, anger, murder, insanity, longing, and loneliness were all evident in my/his eyes.

"Smile, Joker."

"That's it. Just a little bit closer," he urged. Then something inside of me snapped. All signs of me ever being sane, gone, vanished, and destroyed like me.

"Smile," we said in sync. Okay, this is seriously getting unnerving.