(TW: BLOOD AND GORE)
Annabeth
"She is known as the Wicked Fae, her name though... is Peyton."
I look at them with terror in my eyes, they're faces show grave worry. "Our forces have told us that she will be attacking within the next couple of days... we want to get you and Percy on a ship today, to make sur-" Suddenly, there was a loud boom.
"She's here!" Someone ran up and screamed.
Feya looks at me quickly, urging me to run.
I shake my head and she lets out a ragged breath, "You aren't powerful enough to fight her yet... but I think you and Percy are the only ones who can get rid of her,"
My face goes pale, but I nod and run back to Percy and my room. "Percy! Get on some armor, now!" I command.
I hear shuffling then Percy walks out with a chest plate and sword. "Someone already notified me, they also brought an outfit for you..."
I nod and rush into the room. I hear some crashing outside the window, then I see a fire. I shake my head and run up to the bed.
My outfit consisted of leggings, a grey cloak, and a brown shirt. I had a crown I had to put on my head too, it was silver with black jewels. My boots were brown with laces, I quickly put them all on. I grabbed a couple of daggers and then rushed out of the room.
Percy was fighting a Fae, the Fae didn't seem super powerful though, as it wasn't using its powers. Percy quickly knocked it out and then looked at me, rushing out of the room.
I feel something creeping up on me and I smirk, dodging the dagger thrown at my back. "You think you can fool me that easily?" I chuckle, turning around.
There's a menacing face staring back at me, he seemed to be built like a mountain. "You sure about that?" He grins. I hear something flying and dodge that too. "Yes, I am,"
He rushes at me, I wait for him to start attacking. "Why aren't you attacking girl?"
"I am,"
"No, you aren't!" He screams. "I am," I grin, and grey bursts out of me, heading straight for him.
His face goes pale. "You—you!"
"Me?"
"Yes, you! Your grandmother had defeated my brother ten thousand years ago!"
Ten thousand?
"Your grandmother was full Fae!"
Oh.
Suddenly, he's dissipating into golden dust.
"Don't play with fire unless you wanna get burned." I grin and walk off.
I start running when I see Feya and Aeden being attacked by ten Evil Fae.
I throw a dagger and it travels into one of the Evil Fae's neck. I rush up to them with grey bursting out of me. Feya and Aeden look at me with surprise. The Evil Fae glance at me and then go pale. I gesture my hand at them and the grey envelops them. When it dissipates all that's left of them is gold and red dust.
"How have you already figured out your powers?" Feya asks. I shrug and say, "I dunno, randomly started knowing how."
Aeden chuckles and rushes off to fight another Fae.
I feel power enter my veins, I look at my hands and notice that they aren't my skin color. They've turned grey... so have my arms.
My ears feel like they're being pulled on again and I wince, then everything shines a bright white.
I see someone standing in front of me, she seems about ten feet tall. Her skin is grey but she looks strong. Her blonde hair is splayed across her shoulders in curls. She has a stick crown, with leaves growing out of each peg. She's wearing the dress I was drawn to, the white and grey corset seemed to fit her perfectly.
Her feet were bare, but had vines going up her ankles. Her eyes are sharp, sandy brown. Her hands are facing the ground, making her float.
"My descendant, Annabeth Chase,"
"I have granted you my power, during this battle, you will be at full power, and you will notice your hair being put up in different hairstyles during this fight,"
"Your ears will have leaves and vines hanging off of them, your hands will have leaves and vines growing on them too. But the thing you will most notice is..."
"That you will be led to a certain Fae, my daughter she is. Peyton was never trusted among us, even though I am her mother I always knew something would happen to her,"
"Watch out for her, she has orange-ish blonde hair, her hair will have two braids connected in the back with the rest of her hair put down,"
"Her eyes are bright red during battle, they are normally brown,"
"She won't look like she's here to fight, she will be wearing this dress but in reds and oranges,"
"Don't be mistaken by her demeanor, she will overpower you if you put your guard down for one second,"
"The King of Thieves knew that this would happen eventually, so he wanted to train you, but you escaped at 11 not knowing what he was doing for you, he was a good friend of mine,"
"Prince Alexander knew about this too, so when he told you he was kidnapping you to take to the Thieves Kingdom... he meant to take you through here, Feya knew about his plan too,"
"So when she saw you she knew that the battle was starting,"
"Grandmother, why aren't you here?" I ask her.
"Peyton defeated me... I wasn't ready for her to attack, so when she did you can imagine the surprise, she killed me within five seconds,"
"Lead the army, for me?"
"I promise, Grandmother, I will lead the Fae into battle with a smile on my face,"
She smiles and moves one of her hands to face me, her grey skin vanishes and a grey aura blasts out of her hands.
When it reaches me the bright light shines again and everything goes back to normal.
My ears feel droopier than usual, my hair is in some sort of bun.
I look at my skin and see that it is, in fact, grey. It's terrifying, I feel so incredibly powerful. Around me is chaos, fires burning everywhere, injured faeries being taken to the infirmary, fighting, blood... yet... I was the only one able to stand in this pure chaos and not worry.
Percy and I are the only ones who can defeat Peyton, so I have to live up to that.
I start walking through the chaos, a grey aura forming around me. I felt my eyes getting sharper by the second, I could see everything. In my peripheral vision, I saw Percy fighting an Evil Fae, struggling a bit, but he got it down quickly.
The grey aura got larger, suddenly covering everything in sight. Is it covering the entire Great Forest? It sure seems like it.
All the Fae and faeries seemed to calm down, other than the evil ones. Those started to panic.
I felt my clothing shifting, I looked down to see me wearing my Grandmother's outfit. No shoes, but ankles covered in vines and leaves, the white and grey corset dress fit me perfectly now.
I smirk, my hair switches styles. It's back to being down, but this time it's curly and I feel the crown on my head shifting. I feel vines switch the crown, and then my ears get longer.
I walk forward, it seems like everything is going in slow motion. When I make it to the middle of the village I see a woman, standing there tall and proud.
She looks exactly like Grandmother had described, with bright red eyes and orange-ish blonde hair. Her red and orange corset dress matched mine. When she looked at me her face grew pale.
"Annabeth Chase?"
"Hello, Aunt,"
"What are you doing here, I made sure to attack on a day you weren't here," She growls.
"I've been here since yesterday, you got the timing wrong, woman." I sneer at her, watching her every move.
Around us, the battle plays out, but we just stand, surveying each other.
I feel a shoulder bump into mine and then see Percy, standing beside me. Everything goes silent as he raises his hand. Water from around the village starts floating over to him. I raise my hand as well, all of the grey aura from around the forest gets sucked into my hands.
"Nothing ever lasts forever," A voice echoes in my mind.
Percy and I smirk and let everything evolve into chaos as we let our powers run rampant. Peyton seems startled, but quickly puts her guard up.
A red aura envelops her, stopping us from breaking her barrier. We walk up to her slowly, our powers attacking her barrier. Her barrier shatters for a second, letting our powers envelop her before she puts it back up.
Out of my peripheral vision, I see an Evil Fae sneaking up on me. I smirk and send some of my aura over at it. It screams but is quickly silenced as it dies.
I keep my eyes on Peyton, pushing Percy away. "Get out of here, Percy, I don't want you getting hurt.
"No,"
"Continue the battle, I have to take her on myself,"
I approach her, my aura still attacking her.
"Mother—always—preferred—Fredrick—"
"Okay? Does that mean you can attack your old home?"
"Yes,"
I chuckle and throw a dagger at her. The dagger shattered her barrier and sliced her face open. "That was just a paper cut to me, my dear,"
I grin and duplicate my daggers, throwing them all at her within two seconds. I send a power haul of my aura towards her and her eyes widen.
I bring both of my hands up slowly, watching every Fae's aura slowly turn grey. I took control of everything.
Peyton looks at me with anger, charging.
"Everybody wants to rule the world," A voice echoes in my mind.
I charge at her, all of my forces attacking.
Daggers are thrown, auras have been attacking, and somehow she still isn't dead.
She grabs her sword from its sheath and goes to slice my neck off, I quickly dodge and summon a sword and more daggers.
We start attacking in perfect rhythm, swords hitting each other, but sadly nothing hurts her.
As I focus on attacking, I also start channeling my inner anger.
"Make the most of freedom," The voice echoes.
I let out a grunt and when she goes to attack, I disarm her. When I slice her arm open she curses.
"Take Mother Nature," The voice echoes.
I smirk and do as the voice says, instead of taking the auras I take everything. The animals in the forest start running or flying through the trees. They all attack her, and I watch as she makes herself float.
The owls start flying over, but instead of attacking, they whistle. Their songs are beautiful, and I somehow understand what they're saying.
"Everybody wants to rule the world, it's your own desire, it's your own remorse, help her to decide, help her make the most of freedom, and of pleasure, nothing ever lasts forever,"
"There's a room where the light won't find you,"
"So glad we've almost made it,"
"So sad we had to fade it,"
"Everybody wants to rule the world,"
"Everybody wants to rule... the world,"
I feel empowered by their words, so empowered that I charge at Peyton without any fear.
Wolves start attacking her, and her smirk fades. She takes out the wolves, the wolves weren't dead though. I could hear their ragged breaths and their beating hearts, I could hear everything around us.
While Peyton was distracted by the animals, I attacked. She wasn't ready, I stabbed my blade up her ribcage and into her heart. She gags, taking deep ragged breaths. Her eyes flicker from red to brown, I feel her aura failing. But before she dies she says this, "You can't kill— a Fae— without—"
I blasted my aura into the blade, and she fell backward.
My aura charges back into me, killing my fatigue.
I turn away from her disintegrating body to look at the wreckage. The battle is still going on, but the Evil Fae seemed worn out after their leader was defeated.
I felt my hair changing again, this time going into a long braid that rested on my shoulder. The vines switched into a silver crown with diamonds and silver chains that covered my head in some sort of ceremonial way.
My ears grew longer, but the vines growing off of them switched to piercings with diamonds and silver.
My outfit changed into something close to my training uniform.
I had a white button-up blouse on with a chest plate. My pants are long white skinny leggings, my shoes are tall brown lace boots.
My skin goes back to normal coloring, but I can feel my power growing. I start running through the battle, hoping to find Percy somewhere.
I'm not focusing on anything other than finding him.
I need to make sure he's still alive, if he isn't I will never forgive myself.
(A/N: Please play Soldier by Fleurie and Tommee Profitt now :D)
I run through the battle, seeing dead Fae and faeries everywhere. I'm starting to lose hope when I see him running in the distance. Seemingly looking around for something.
His hydrokinesis is being used nonstop to put out the fires, I bet he's tired. I call out his name and run over to him. He snaps his head towards me and I see relief shape his features.
We run at each other, why does this ten-second run feel like a ten-year run?
When we finally make it to each other, we slam into the other's arms. Wrapping each other in a tight embrace.
While the world burns around us, we hold each other. The only thing that mattered to us at this moment was that the other was alive.
I feel fatigued, but I hold myself upright. I can't stop fighting until the work is done. "We have to go back to fighting, we can't leave it up to everyone else," I rasp out. My voice is tired, my body is tired.
When he lets me go I collapse, when he goes to pick me up aura is shaped around me. Nothing can touch me, except the ground that is.
I fall and my hands sink into the dirt.
My aura fades and I stand up, wiping the dirt off my hands.
"Good luck, beat some Evil Fae butt for me, will you?" I say. Percy smiles and nods, rushing off to the next fight.
I wait for someone to approach me, but to my surprise, everyone avoids me. A fire starts, and I walk towards it. My feet are in the fire but I'm inhumane at this point. Nothing can touch me.
I probably looked like a demon that crawled up from hell, but I didn't care. At this point, I was a demon that crawled up from hell.
Any Evil Fae that comes within ten feet of me is incinerated. Soon I feel fatigued, but I mustn't stop fighting. The battle is almost done, my muscles and heart are begging me to stop and take a breather.
I start to feel lightheaded, but I ignore it.
There's always a moment in each battle when everything takes a break, whether it's on purpose or whether it's from time.
I find the closest bench and sit down, ragged breaths pouring out of my mouth. I feel my hairstyle changing, it gets put into a messy bun. The crown on my head disappears, and some sort of hat appears in my hand.
My outfit is now a light grey dress, it goes down to my mid-calf, and my shoes have changed into stubby boots.
I look suspiciously at the hat in my hands, slowly putting it on. When it's on my head nothing feels different until I look down at my body.
My body is no longer there as if I have wafted away and am no more than a mere soul.
I gasp.
When I get up to move around, I notice that I still make footprints. I'm invisible?
I smirk and use my aura to make me float, even if it does wear me out. I want to take out every Evil Fae within ten seconds.
But right as I get up in the air, I falter. My aura is already worn out, I don't want to use it all. I don't want to accidentally hurt the village...
Toxic thoughts start filling my mind, I can't do this... I can't.
My aura gets wiped out and I fall, I fall and fall and fall. It's like I've been falling for nine whole days.
When I think I am going to hit the ground, I realize that I've hit arms instead of the rock-hard ground. The wind gets knocked out of me, as my neck traveled without my body.
I gasp for air, when I finally do catch my breath I look at my savior. It's Percy.
He's looking at me in surprise and worry. And smile softly and hear something sneaking towards us. I use my aura to kill it and hear a ragged scream, then see golden dust fly everywhere.
I rest my head on Percy's shoulder, closing my eyes slowly. Today has been pure hell.
I want to sleep and never wake up again. But so mustn't, if I do, I might never meet my soulmate. I might never meet anyone that will stay with me throughout my lifetime.
"Are you okay?" Percy asks sweetly. I shake my head and let out a ragged breath. Sleep does sound good right now...
"No, you won't sleep," Percy commands. "But... I'm so... tired,"
He shakes his head stubbornly and creates a glob of water above us. "You start to sleep, I splash you," He grinned mischievously.
"Why? I... I'm too tired..."
"Too bad, you will not sleep, let's take you to the infirmary,"
I nod and go limp in his arms, my aura is going to recharge soon. Then I'll be back to the battle and everything will be fine...
Right?
I close my eyes, forgetting about Percy's promise. Luckily, he knew that I wasn't dying.
★༄★
When I wake up from my deep slumber, I hear nothing but screaming. More fires have started outside, everything has gone into pure chaos... again.
I snap awake and hop out of bed, I feel refreshed. I look at my hands to see that they are, in fact, grey again.
I feel my outfit and hair changing. The grey and white corset dress is back and my hair is in long curls again. I have the vine crown on again, my ears start growing bigger.
My vision gets sharp, daggers appear in scabbards at my sides.
I rush out of the infirmary, there's another woman. She looks like what Grandmother described, exactly like it. I defeated her though...
She saw me and snarled. "What the fuck, I killed you,"
"Nothing ever lasts forever," She attacks me and almost slices my head off. I go into battle mode and slice her hands and arms.
She tries to take a hit at my neck, but I dodge. My aura starts growing again, the forest is covered in grey within no time.
I have the animals from around the forest come forward, they attack.
We erupt into auras. Her red and gold aura against my grey.
"This isn't even wearing me out," I chuckle. "Don't speak unless you're spoken to, little girl," She spits at me.
I put some of my aura into my blows, her sword starts disintegrating and I smirk. When her sword gets disintegrated I take a slice at her. I hit her across the face, she gets pushed back and creates a shield with her aura.
I circle her carefully, watching her ragged breaths.
She screams, ear-shattering screams. Everyone covers their ears but me, I know she's just trying to get my guard down. The animals attack again, they take down her barrier.
I put my hands in front of me weakly and used all of my aura against her. She screams and her aura is gone.
Her eyes go back to brown and her hair becomes short. "Just kill me... now," She groans. "Not until you tell me why you decided to do... this,"
"I was sick of being the youngest, the overlooked sibling. So 5,000 years ago I decided I would take over, I started with my mother... then my father... then... then I couldn't get a good hold on your father or your aunt,"
"I have never wanted anything more than to be useful, to be wanted..."
I started to see it from her perspective, 10,000 years ago.
☼༄★
I watch as all my older siblings get their praise, get their breakthroughs.
I wish I could be like them, strong and powerful... be wanted, be needed.
I'm sitting in a lowly room, awaiting the moment for my parents to notice me. My father is a wise man, yet not wise enough to hear me cry for help.
My mother, the strongest person I've ever met... can't see me wanting to be seen, to be acknowledged.
My nanny snaps her fingers in my face, pulling me back to attention. "If you ever want to be like them you would listen!"
I scoff and use my aura, my red and gold is different than the normal auras. Aura usually shows in blues, purples, whites, all of those types of colors. I got red and gold, multiple colors.
My mother has a special aura too, grey. She's the only known Fae to have a grey aura. I am not the only known Fae to have a red and gold aura though, the first female Fae to exist had a red and gold aura too.
My nanny rolls her eyes and demonstrates how to create shapes with your aura. My nanny's aura is light purple. Basic.
I stand up, my dress flows out around me. My siblings all have different clothing, they match our auras.
My sister, Feya, has a light yellow aura. So she wears a delicate corset dress. Her ears are covered in daisies and sunflowers. Her hair is a light brown color, yet somehow changes. She usually wears it in a half-up half-down do.
My brother, Fredrick, has a white aura with little bits of grey depending on his location. When he's closer to Namasteria little bits of grey show in his aura, when he's far away from Namasteria, it's completely white. He usually wears a white button-up shirt with grey formal pants. His bright-blond hair is close-cropped and he has light brown eyes, just like our mother.
I have a red and gold aura, as I've already established. I have bright orange-ish blonde hair that is always in a braid. My eyes are brown, but they randomly get little flickers of red in them when I'm angry. I'm the youngest of all my siblings, being 10. Feya is 17 and Fredrick is 15.
My parents are both at least 10,000 years old, they never count their age anymore. When you're immortal it seems unnecessary after 100 years, when you reach your full strength.
I demonstrate much more complex skills for my nanny, so she knows I'm not just a weak child.
I scoff and walk outside of my room, into the forest beyond.
We're constructing a village for Fae all around the world, a haven. We've been constructing for five years, it still isn't complete. We can't make the entire forest our domain sadly, as there are other creatures that we respect living here.
I walk around the forest, soon wandering into uncharted lands. Everything becomes gloomy and dark.
I don't understand where I've ended up, but I do know that it isn't safe, and yet, I feel at home.
I lift a rock on the ground with my aura, and I find a lone mushroom. Its stem is gold, and the top part of it is white and red.
I smile and put the rock back where it was, continuing on my adventure.
I stumble across a den, full of... weird creatures. They're standing on all fours, they have weird grey skin.
When they notice me they growl and start charging towards me. I scream and run back to the domain.
I find my mother waiting for me, a stern look on her face. "Why did you venture into the unknown, there are creatures out there that will hurt you!"
"I know,"
"Okay, get back to your studies, unless you want to practice with your siblings,"
My eyes light up and I run over to my siblings. "Watch this, Fredrick!" Feya says smugly.
She uses her aura to make light in her palm, under her control. Then she makes it turn into waves in an ocean.
Fredrick scoffs and shows off his power as well, using his white aura to create clouds and snow.
"Sister, what are you doing here?" Feya asks me. "I came here to practice with you guys,"
"Show us what you got,"
I create shapes and lava of all kinds, creating images and scenes with my aura. Faint whistling appears in the background, turning my aura into a book.
When I take my aura back, I look up at my siblings. Their faces are full of pure awe, but then they attack me with their aura.
I create a shield around me with my aura quickly. Why have they attacked me?
They finally break through my barrier, attacking me. I black out.
☼༄★
When I am out of the memory, I almost gasp. I feel incredibly bad for Peyton by now.
"Kill me, it's the only way to..." She takes a deep breath. "To stop me from destroying the world." She says, despair trickling in her every word.
"But—"
"Just do it!"
I nod, throwing a few daggers into her neck hesitantly. I then use my aura to finish her off. "Remember— never—take — the... easy way out—" She says, closing her eyes.
Her last words were sad and yet, truthful. Never take the easy way out...
The battle stops around us, as the Evil Fae realize that their leader has been officially killed.
All of them burst into golden dust, full of despair and grief.
I collapse onto my knees, covering my eyes. My eyes start to fill with tears. The first time I killed her it was so much easier...
I feel comforting arms wrap around me. Pulling me into their lap.
I weep into their shirt, pulling them close. I somehow knew who this was, but I didn't pull away. Percy makes me feel too safe to pull away.
"You're okay, everyone's okay,"
I cry until I have no tears left, I feel despair. Pure, dreadful, despair.
I hug Percy, falling asleep in his arms slowly.
Author's Note
That was an extremely long chapter, I sadly could not make it to 5000 words, but I did make it to 4000, yay!
(Posted On: Friday, September 1, 2023)
(Word Count: 4582)