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

55 | The Demon Within

Percy screams at Di'Angelo with unbridled rage, he screams at him like one would scream at a wall. Throwing everything against it, and it refusing to give way.

Curses spew from his mouth, degrading human phrases and those known only amongst the ocean creatures. His green eyes churn with malice.

After a few moments the screams silence and Percy stares at Di'Angelo, his eyes locking with the mans dark demeanor.

"So," Nico waves the golden sword through the air. "Will you fight me? Or will you die like the rest of them."

Percy glances nervously at Jason, who's body seems to have slowed to a stop, and then to Annabeth, who lays with her face in the dirt.

His eyes slowly shift to the figure beside Nico, a tall man with broad shoulders and cropped hair. He stares, and the man starts to shift uncomfortably.

He doesn't personally know the dark captain or his sharpshooter, nor does he know what the SoulEater is. All he really knows is that everyone is dead and he's alone.

"Go ahead, kill me. Shoot me and let me die. Resurrect me and do it again. I want to know if it works, I want to know if it's worth all THIS." Percy's face washes with indignation.

Nico snarls, that wasn't the answer he wanted.

Zhang shuffles back, separating himself from the captain who starts trudging towards Percy.

Percy backpedals, he feet beginning to trip over one another.

The golden sword is dusted in blood. "The man is cursed." Percy's thinks, "Cursed to live with forever bloodied hands. Cursed that death would always follow him."

Percy trips and falls. He's on his back, shuffling in the sand to get away from Di'Angelo.

Di'Angelo raises the sword, white knuckles gripping. He looks down at Percy.

Nico is no longer in control. Something else is.

Tearing fabric and ripped skin. Di'Angelo let's out an ear piercing shrill that makes Percy jump.

"Don't move." The man says, steady hands gripping the crossbow.

Nico rips his head around toward Frank, Revocatus falling from his hands as he latches onto the steal bolt imbedded in his chest.

Nico's mouth starts to tear open, his jaw coming unhinged. He starts to scream, sprouting masses of yellowed teeth while the watery wail continues to echo through the wood. A bloody forked tongue appears from his gaping maw.

Frank's face twists into sudden fear and he fumbles, dropping the crossbow at his feet.

"Run!" Percy yells to him. "RUN!"

Frank grabs the crossbow off the ground and hefts it again, "I'm not running anymore." His voice is barely above a whisper.

With a single hand the creature grabs the bolt in his chest and rips it from his fleshy skin. Black blood sputters from the wound, but it quickly seals, healing itself from a dark magic within.

The bolt is tossed away and again the creature mutates. The skin on his back bulges and tears, birthing a pair of batlike leathery wings that scrape through the sand.

Percy is frozen in fear. Frank's hands are shaking.

The creature rotates his head back to Percy, his red tongue flicking.

The sun has started to go down and the clearing is bathed in shades of red. Sharp shadows line their face and the cold air has started to burrow into their skin.

The creature still clutches Revocatus when something tumbles into Percy's vision.

A bramble of arms and legs, and a blast of gunpowder.

Piper stumbles, ducking her head from the gunshot that goes off behind her.

The first shot was a miss but Leo tosses the hammer back and fires again, catching the creature in its jaw.

It's screams, the pulsating muscles of his face exposed to the air.

Leo doesn't hesitate. Without any plausible meaning he bites into his opposing hand, between the thumb and pointer finger, drawing blood. Slowly he wets his fingertips, drawing a line from his forehead to his chin in blood. He fires again.

Again and again Leo slams the hammer of his pistol and shoots until the barrel of his gun is empty, tossing it to the ground in finality.

The creature writhes within itself, a terrifying howl springing forth before the black fog starts to curl around its lips. Leo has cursed the monster, pouring death and sorrow into his weapon and sending it tearing into flesh.

The black fog steams in the clearing and a thousand childlike cries echo into silence.

Nico's face is suddenly pale, the features of his humanity returned to him. But his eyes are hollow, and he slumps in the sand.

Piper still has her hands covering her head when Leo brushes past her, walking to where Nico's body is and picking up Revocatus.

Percy catches golden color shifting in Leo's eyes and quietly raises his voice. "Captain? What are you going to do?"

Leo's gaze shifts to Percy, then Piper, then to Frank who stands a distance away.

"I know only this, two members of the Hellsing stand before me and a merman that's been beached like a whale. I owe nothing to any of you, but we have become companions in this little journey of death. My crew is dead, I have only you, yet I did not choose you." His eyes shift to Annabeth's body. "I need her with me."

Leo crouches down in the sand, his knees touching Annabeth's corpse. He rolls her over and brushes the sand from her eyes, "What have they done to you?"

They're all watching now, their eyes on the sword, their eyes on Leo. He lifts it with two hands, making sure his aim is true. In one motion he pierces her heart, and then lifting from her chest the bloodied sword.

They wait in silence.

Minutes pass and nothing happens. Piper is the first to voice the worst. "Maybe it's not work-"

"Be quiet!" Leo snaps, the blood crusting on his face making him seem scarier than usual. "There's magic here, I can feel it. It has the power."

"I thought it just gave a person immortality?" Percy's interrupts.

"Actually," Frank cuts in, all eyes suddenly focused on him. "It will supposedly give immortality to the living and life to the dead. But it can only be used once on a person. So it's either life or enteral life."

Leo furrows his brows. "You were close to Di'Angelo weren't you? Did he tell you anything about this being a hoax?"

Frank shakes his head. "I don't think he'd drag around the body of his dead sister if he thought it was a hoax."

Piper chokes. "That's what's in the box?!"

Percy stares at her incredulously, his mind sickened by the thought. He turns to Frank, planning to challenge him when he catches Nico's eyes. They're open and staring, and very much alive.

🔱

Hey, I didn't technically kill anyone this chapter.