RIPTIDE - Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus, Pirate AU fanfic

53 | The Blade in the Water

Octavian scoops Hazel carefully into his arms, trying not to shift the exposed bone.

Her thick curly hair rests against his shoulder and Octavian looks down into her pained face. "I'm sorry Hazel, it should have been me." Hazel tries to respond but she's shifting in and out of consciousness.

The golden light far off in the distance beckons him, calling him to its mystic power.

He starts to move through the underground cavern, thinking of this hidden world beneath the sand, this tiny pocket of life.

He technically shouldn't be here. He shouldn't be able to breath, he shouldn't even have survived the fall, instead he should be encompassed by rock and sand, flattened by gravity, or drowning in the ocean.

Octavian shudders, he isn't sure if this island is blessed or cursed.

He continues to traverse the landscape, noting the trees bearing abnormally large fruit and the ground a mix of sandstone and glistening crystal. He kicks a loose chunk of the stuff and sends it flying across the ground.

Hazel isn't extremely heavy but Octavian's body has weakened over time, his arms bruised from the fall.

Octavian treads toward the golden light, but his mind wanders towards Di'Angelo, the intrusive thoughts sending a chill down his spine.

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The blade scrapes against the golden dais, producing an ear piercing sound that makes Annabeth clamp her hands against her head.

Slowly her eyes are drawn upward and the figure finally comes into focus.

"Captain." Jason's voice comes from behind her.

He stands in silence, his fist clenching the handle of his blade, a blade worn and stained from past revelries.

Di'Angelo draws up to his full height, towering over Annabeth and the men who lay strewn across the ground.

"Annabeth." Di'Angelo drawls. "You are a beautiful woman indeed. With a tongue like a viper, and a mind like Athena herself. What I would've give to have you with me."

Annabeth sputters, taken aback by the out of turn comment. For once she is stunned into silence.

Percy huffs out of annoyance.

Di'Angelo's eyes draw towards Percy. "You. Who are you?" His arm raises and the sword is pointed at the boy.

Even though there's distance between them, Jason flinches.

Percy slowly rises from the sandy floor, his knees weak and shaking. He leaves Jason lying on his stomach. "My name's Perseus. And you are?"

Di'Angelo chuckles. "Rafael is dead by the way. So he'll be no further bother to you."

Percy blinks. "What."

Nico takes a step down from the glistening pyramid, brushing his hand across the levitating sword. He steps closer. "Did you know that if you join with the guardian, bind yourself wholly to the SoulEater, you share their memories? Because I remember your tragedies Perseus, with vivid color."

Percy's face turns ghostly, the blood rapidly draining from his cheeks.

Nico continues. "You found me clutched in the hands of a drowned sailer, and you took me, giving me as a gift to your faithful King of the Undersea, Rafael's dear father. I kept myself docile until his desire for power grew unbearable, I waited until he tried to use me, and then I ate him. I devoured him whole and sent his beloved city and all its people to the unforgiving depths of hell."

Percy can feel a weight settling onto his chest. It's getting hard to breath.

He hesitates before speaking. "You're not... you're not Di'Angelo are you?"

A devilish smile spreads across Nico's face, the edges of his mouth stretching towards his ears, revealing something inhuman. "Well of course not, I'm the guardian of Revocatus, the-"

"Not you, the other one." Annabeth's voice breaks through the air, cutting off Di'Angelo's momentum.

Nico cocks his head towards Annabeth, his face etched with fury and irritation. "What are you talking about?"

"Cut the act." A hardened resolve swells in Annabeth's chest. "I know the SoulEater has a hold on you but there's someone else speaking, your words are laced with an ulterior motive."

Nico quiets himself as if pondering on her words, his snearing look slowly fades and he finally says something. His voice is surprisingly soft.

"He does not want to speak with you."

Annabeth flinches. He sounds like a child.

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Octavian followed the light source diligently, never straying from the guiding North Star, but the closer he got the thicker the fog became.

It came in like a storm, a thin veil at first, like a silk dress grazing your skin, but the next second it had blinded him, causing Octavian to turn around in panicked circles.

"Hazel..." His voice is strained. The girl lays limp in his arms, her eyes occasionally twitching.

At this point he can't see, he is completely blind, his face slick with moisture.

He steps forward hesitantly and then trips, falling headfirst in a gaping chasm hidden in the sandstone.

He lands with a thud about twenty feet down, Hazel somehow disappearing from his arms. "Hazel!" Octavian calls out. "HAZEL!" She's nowhere to be found, but he remembers, he knows for a fact, he never let her go.

Octavian in in a hole, a deep chasm within an even deeper chasm. He's not sure but he thinks his leg is broken. He drags his knee slowly towards his chest and a sharp pain shoots through his leg.

His head slumps against the ground and he begins to count down from ten. It's a self soother, an anxiety practice he picked up after his fathers death.

He takes in deep breaths until a small voice whispers his name.

"Octavian."

His head snaps abruptly towards the wall of sandstone, a small overhanging formed in the rock. There a puddle forms beneath dripping stalactite.

He crawls closer to the dripping water, dragging his body across the floor until his face appears in the reflective pool.

There he sees his face, at first a bloody and gruesome image and then the pinnacle of health.

The image frightens him and he strikes the surface of the water, breaking the illusion. He thinks to himself. "I must hallucinating."

Shimmering water dripping from stalactite.

Jewelry and gemstones lay at the bottom on the pool. Gold coins and hair combs, pockets watches and a broken blade.

He can hear it whispering. Soft, ethereal voices from beyond. It's mesmerizing.

He reaches into the pool and grabs the hilt of a shattered sword.

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It's a short chapter but I thought you guys might like an update 😊