To Hold Up the Sky (Percico/Pernico)

Chapter 17: The Son of Poseidon Takes a Nice, Helpful Nap

Prophecy:

There will be six at the beginning and at the end.

One will be enemy and one will be friend.

A choice be made; heart or mind.

The lover's ears be deaf and eyes be blind.

Misleading will he try to thee.

For much is the Pit God's unease.

For an ancient god will pave.

A looming final path: destroy or save.

Chapter:

Nico and Percy slashed at Tartarus's army of monsters, barely keeping the mass from overtaking the demi-gods. Yellow dust exploded everywhere, the room smelling heavily of sulfur. Every monster that slayed was easily replaced, jumping in for every fellow comrade that was sent to Tartarus's domain.

"We can't keep this up for much longer!" Rachel yelled, ducking as a spicky tail stabbed at the spot where her flaming red hair was seconds ago.

"Keep going, we got this!" Percy yelled, trying to encourage the team. He kept switching from Greek and Roman style of fighting to keep his opponents on their feet.

But then Percy glanced at the Ghost King's tiring form, his eyes dropping with fatigue and face falling with exaustion. The younger demi-god tiredly directed his thinning army of the undead, pointing with heavy arms. His shouts of orders were hoarse and strained, signs that he was losing his voice.

There was no way Percy Jackson was going to let him fall.

Annabeth seemed to have to same thoughts. "We need to pull back now!" she hissed, stabbing a hellhound in the heart before it exploded into sulfur dust.

"Got it, wise girl." Percy answered. Raising his voice so that the six could hear, he yelled, "Retreat!" 

With a squeak as more monsters exploded in her face, Katie ran towards the exit, Rachel and Annabeth on her heels. Stuck in the middle of the mass, Nico stayed where he was, still shouting orders to his three remaining skeletons. And Clarisse too stayed put, a stubborn look on her face as she limped around gutting enemies in her path. Typical Clarisse.

"Percy, watch out!" a voice screamed at him.

Suddenly, Percy felt a blade cut into his shoulder, making him drop his sword with shock. Hissing with pain, he fell onto his knees, blood soaking his shirt. 

Then Nico was there, his black eyes looking down at him with a panicked expression. He ran to the son of Poseidon's side, kneeling by his non-wounded shoulder. 

The older demi-god's vision was blurry and mind tied into knots of confusion. "...Nico?" 

"Hold on, Percy." Nico said with a calm voice, contradicting the scared look in his gaze. "I'm going to get you out of here."

Scoffing lightly, Percy asked, "And how is a shrimp like you going to get a 160 pound male across a 500 feet room?" 

"Like this."

Taking Percy's good arm, Nico drapped it across his shoulder, steadying the injured demi-god. He hoised Percy up to his feet with suprizing strength, slowly inching his way to the door. Monsters surged forward to get them, but where beated back by the vines Katie grew to give Percy and Nico a safe passage out of the war-zone.

But then Clarisse had to ruin it.

"Get back, you mindless drones!" Clarisse yelled at the monsters, retreating. She hacked into the vines in her way, leaving a nice wide-open gap for the monsters to get through and attack Percy and Nico.

The son of Hades glared at her. "What. Are. You. Doing!" he hissed.

"Getting you out of here!" Clarisse shot back, stabbing a monster that had leaped at her. "Get in front of me now!"

Having no choice, Nico shuffled the two of them into the front, Clarisse in the back fending off the countless foes. They almost died twice, acid hitting Nico on the shoulder and a spike lodging itself into Nico's side. 

And then they finally made it. Clarrise ran forward and shut the door on the Tartarus army's faces, shutting it with a satisfying bang.

"You guys made it!" Katie said, rushing forward eagerly to hug Percy (who was leaning heavily onto Nico and didn't respond) and then Clarisse (who tried to push her off and failed miserably).

Katie turned to Nico.

"Don't-"

He was atmeditally cut off by Katie leaping onto him and hugging the son of Hades tightly. Nico felt a gush of warmth as he felt Katie hug him, his protest dying in this throat. But he didn't hug her back of course. There's a son of Hades' reputation at stake.

Katie pulled back. "There, it wasn't that bad, was it?"

Nico looked embarrassed. "You didn't really give me much of a choice." he grumbled. Laying Percy on the floor, the younger demigod completely forgot about the hug as he gazed down at the son of Poseidon. Though he was injured pretty badly, Nico still thought he was the most beautiful sight on the planet. With his eyes closed and lines gone from his face, Percy truly looked peaceful. Staying at Percy's side as Katie patched him up (without the use of the staff of course), he watched Percy sleep all night long.

He didn't notice the cold, calculating, stormy grey eyes watching him.

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AUTHOR'S NOTE: Ok, for the fluff, it is in the next chapter. It'll be awesome and very fluffy, so stay tuned! This first part was kinda a filler, so sorry about that. But hey, it needed to happen. This story is not a completly fluffy 'whatever' thing. It has a well thought-over plot. So hang in there.

QUESTION: So who do you think is going to be the 'enemy' of the six?