Stolen Loyalty

Chapter Nine

Percy's POV
Waiting took a really long time.

It had been a week since I'd gotten back to camp, and we'd continued with our originally plan to help train the campers and such. Annabeth was stuck with kitchen duty for the remainder of her time at camp, and things were looking pretty great.

There were campers stationed on our borders twenty four-seven, we had been prepared for anything for the last week. Luke, Perseus, Jason and I trained the campers in advanced sword fighting, Zoë, Orion, Michael and Bianca worked with archery, Erin and Silena worked with campers on their powers, and Beckendorf was all over the place, building things in the forges and helping out with everything.

However, our waiting finally paid off after two weeks of endless training and preparation.

I was standing with Erin, getting a drink of water when they arrived. In the lead was Dark Percy, or the darkness in me. Behind him stood an army of monsters.

The conch shell was blown, and we all surged into battle mode, and with a snap of my fingers, armor appeared on every camper. I summoned StormSlayer into my grasp, and the familiar feel of the grip and weight of the blade made me confident, we would win this.

"Attack!" Dark Percy and I bellowed at the same exact time, and I ran forward, slicing any monster in my path. I was a blur, StormSlayer exterminating anything and everything that wasn't on our side.

"Percy!" Dark Percy greeted. "You look much better than the last time I saw you!"

"I could say the same to you, but I'll refrain from the niceties." I responded, and charged at him, swinging StormSlayer wildly.

With a resounding clang, our weapons clashed. I feinted left, but he knew what to expect. He feinted right, I caught him at it. We were the same person, equally matched, and equally capable of predicting the other's moves.

"You stand no chance, Percy. Give up now." Dark Percy hissed through gritted teeth as I pushed him backwards, our swords pushing against each other above our heads.

"Never." I shouted, and kicked him in the chest, throwing him into a tree while he was off his guard. "I will never give into you, Dark Percy. It's you who doesn't stand a chance."

"Is that so, look around, Percy." Dark Percy sneered, and I made the fatal mistake of heeding his words.

I pivoted on my heel only to see mass destruction. My team was still firing courageously, but they were all weakened, and sprouting injuries. The majority of the campers were down, unable to continue, or dead. My heart breaking, I turned around to reply to Dark Percy, when I found a sword prodding me in the small of my back, my most sensitive spot.

"Attention! Halt in your fighting!" Dark Percy bellowed. "Halt, and watch as I end your leader, puny warriors!"

"Percy!" Erin screamed, and she began to run towards me.

"Stand back, foolish girl!" Dark Percy bellowed. When Erin failed to oblige, he said something that made my blood run cold. "Shoot her!"

It was my turn to scream, as several monsters jumped into action, all of them carrying bows and arrows. In a split second, Erin was lying on the floor, an arrow buried deep into her abdomen.

"Erin!" I shrieked, and tried to run forward, only to be held back by Dark Percy. I was sobbing furiously, helpless to assist Erin, as she lay in the dirt, her blood staining the Earth.

It was then that I realized what Dark Percy was doing.

He needed the blood of two demigods, a girl and a boy, to raise Gaea. It didn't matter where. Erin and I counted as demigods, incredibly powerful demigods.

He had Erin's blood.

He needed mine.

The sword was a painful reminder of that, as the tip of it poked my back.

It was then that I realized that it was going to happen one way or another. I was going to die one way or another. I had to die in order to kill Dark Percy, something he didn't realize. It he killed me, he killed himself. We were still one person, split into two. We were equals, and we were connected.

And I accepted my fate. Because then I would be reunited with Erin. We could live peacefully, without having to worry about war or battle or enemies. I wouldn't have to worry about anything, really.

I would only have to worry about my own life, and Erin's life. What we would do in the underworld, what we could do to entertain ourselves.

"Are you giving up?" Dark Percy smiled evilly. "Finally, I thought our stubborn nature would hold you back."

"Behold!" He continued, raising his voice. "Behold Perseus Jackson, your mighty hero. Behold as he is slaughtered. You have lost. You have failed. I have won, we have won. Join me, or be killed like Erin, daughter of Hestia. Join me, or be destroyed. This is what happens when you cross my forces, this is what happens when you think you can win! But I have news for you, you've all lost! You're all as good as dead, if you don't plead your allegiance right now! I will kill all of you, one by one, and you will know the pain of death and you will know that you are all too weak to stop the rise of me, the rise of Gaea! This is the time to plead for your lives, campers and warriors. My monsters and I have won. Don't try to fight it, even your foolish leader knows it's the truth, don't you, Percy?"

I couldn't formulate the words to respond, my brain cycling at a hundred miles an hour. If I wanted to defeat him, I had to do it without spilling my blood. I needed poison.

"Well, aren't you going to make a speech to your silly army of weaklings?" Dark Percy questioned.

"Yeah." I said, a plan formulating in my head. "Yeah, yeah I will. Listen up, because I'm only going to say this once. You've all fought incredibly well, and I'm very proud of you. We've lost many, but don't make them die in vain. Don't join the darkness, live in the light." I paused, and looked directly at Luke. "Luke, I'm leaving you in charge. Command sequence 0001."

Luke's eyes widened at what I'd told him, and Dark Percy looked confused. Command sequence 0001 was the order to kill the commander, but with poison. All the 000-number sequences were commands to kill the commander, but 1 told him to get me poison, and fast.

And Luke was a son of Hermes, the god of messages, the god who could travel across the world at the speed of...well...himself.

It was time to test his speed skills for once.

"What's going on?" Dark Percy demanded, just as Luke disappeared, a blur as he ran back to the cabins, and to me, quicker than perhaps Hermes himself. I didn't even have the chance to blink before he was in front of me, a determined but sad look on his face as he kicked Dark Percy away from me, and held out a small vial of poison.

"I'll miss you." He said softly, and handed it to me, before stepping back, watching as I dumped the contents down my throat, watching as my skin began to bubble and heat up, watching as I died.

But I knew that he could defeat them, monsters were nothing without their leader, and looking back, my suspicions were confirmed. The monsters were beginning to panic as they watched Dark Percy suffer the same end as me, and turned on themselves.

I smiled at Luke. He smiled back.

I was at peace with my death, I could relax at last.

I could have my loyalty back, I could be me again. There would be no more pain inside of me.

I closed my eyes, and I let the darkness overtake me.

The poison flowed through my veins.

I was dead within seconds.

I was with Erin within seconds.