I swung my axe through a dracanae and she wailed as she exploded into a cloud of gold dust.
I was breathing heavily. I had been fighting for hours, far away from the rest of the campers. Every time I tried to get back to the other demigods more monsters would appear.
Pain shot up my arm and I cried out. The snake woman snarled as she lashed her whip at me again. I dodged and swung my axe, cutting her through the middle and she exploded into dust.
I winced at the gash up my arm.
I was closed in on either side by buildings. The road I was on was covered in potholes and piles of monster dust, there was weapons scattered about, abandoned by the monsters I had killed.
"Hello there." A voice said behind me. I whirled around to face the smiling empousa.
I sighed. "Hello, Kelli." I adjusted my grip on the axe.
"You're quite a stubborn one, aren't you?" She mused. "You've done quite a lot of damage." She gestured to the piles of monster dust.
I stared at her warily.
Kelli smiled and began circling me. "You're tired." She cooed. "Why not just give up?"
I opened my mouth to reply and Kelli's eyes flashed. She leapt into the air as fangs burst from her gums. I sidestepped as she landed where I had been standing moments before.
She smirked. "We both know you aren't getting out of this alive." She began walking towards me.
I backed away, holding my injured arm. Kelli spread her arms as talons grew at her fingertips.
"No more snarky replies?" She raised an eyebrow.
Her figure blurred and pain exploded in my side. I gasped and I heard her laugh behind me. I looked down at my stomach to see the long cut bleeding through my shirt.
I turned to her and hefted my axe.
"Go on." She grinned. "Try."
I charged and swung my axe but once again she blurred out of my vision and I screamed as a gash opened on my other side. I fell to my knees.
"You're weak." Kelli tutted. "You've changed."
She walked back into my field of vision and crouched in front of me.
"You used this to kill me last time, remember?" She picked up my axe. "How poetic it would be if I killed you with it." She traced her finger along the edge of the blade.
My vision was dimming. "They'll kill you if they find out you killed me." I spat.
She smiled down at me. "We'll deal with them later, for now..." She picked me up by the collar of my shirt. "I think a demonstration is in order."
Kelli carried me through the fighting and towards the doors to the Empire State Building. I caught glimpses of campers desperately trying to fend off Kronos's army.
Kelli looked down at me. "Your army did well. Unfortunately, it seems your 'heroes' left you in your time of need." She walked through the doors to reveal a mess of destroyed medical stations. She stepped over piles of ripped fabric and pools of liquids mixed with shattered glass.
She reached the doors to the lift and they opened with a ding. "Ready to see some friends?" She smirked.
We reached the top floor and the doors opened to a destroyed Olympus. The marble pathways were cracked and chunks were missing, houses and cafes were obliterated and any trace of life had been reduced to ash.
Kelli smiled. "Beautiful, isn't it?"
She hopped across gaps in the marble pathways as if they were steppingstones and with every landing I felt a wave of dizziness wash over me. She passed the destroyed buildings and smoking piles of ash, all the while her smile only grew.
We arrived at the entrance to the hall of the gods. Vaguely I heard a voice, "-A little gift should be arriving for you any second."
Kelli grinned down at me. "That's our cue." She skipped through the entrance. Near the fireplace stood Percy and opposite him, with his back to us, Kronos.
Across the hall was Grover who was attempting to help up a dazed Annabeth.
"Sir," Kelli bowed. "I have brought the... surprise." She said in a sweet voice.
She lifted me so I was in a standing position with my feet brushing the ground. I groaned as the cuts sent waves of pain up my sides.
"Lottie?" Annabeth turned to Kelli angrily. "What did you do to her?"
"Do you not like your surprise?" Kelli pouted. "pity."
Grover was staring at me in shock as Percy was looking between me and Kronos.
Kelli threw my axe at Annabeth's feet, smirking. Annabeth glared at her.
Kronos turned to us. "This is boring." He said. "They've seen her now; we have no more use for her. Dispose of the girl."
"Surely we can get more use out of her, they've barely reacted at all and I would love to see this one suffer." She traced a claw along my cheek drawing a thin line of blood. I inhaled sharply at the stinging sensation.
"Stop!" Annabeth yelled attempting to limp forwards. Percy attempted to move as well but Kronos blocked his path.
"Just get rid of her, she isn't important." He said, scowling at me.
Kelli's smile flickered but she nodded and turned to me. Her fangs grew from her mouth again.
"What would our mother say?" I choked out. Kelli flinched.
"Hecate is on our side." She said, frowning.
"Do you really think-" I coughed and flecks of blood splattered onto the floor. "Do you really think, she'll stay on your side if you kill me?"
Kelli looked to Kronos uncertainly. He was glaring at me. "Kill her!"
Kelli turned back to me. "It doesn't matter, you weren't on our side, she wouldn't mind if... she wouldn't mind if it means we can win."
I laughed quietly but it turned into a coughing fit. "I'll be watching from the Underworld to see how she punishes you." I spat on her.
Her eyes flared with anger and she plunged her claws into my back. I screamed as they protruded from my stomach.
My vision swam and my ears were ringing. I felt her let go of my collar and I gasped in pain as I hit the cold, marble floor.
I could vaguely make out Percy attacking Kronos as Annabeth screamed and threw her dagger at Kelli, who disintegrated with a look of shock on her face.
Then my vision faded to black, and everything went silent.
Hi, wow, onto my second fanfiction already. How on earth did I end up here. Jk, I love you guys.
While I am writing this I'm not planning on publishing this for a while, so when future me gets round to publishing it, they can be mortally embarrassed by my writing right now. Hey future me, glad to know we still don't have a life.
Anyone who was expecting this to be about a straight relationship, nope. In this Piper is bisexual, which she is in the books as well if I'm not mistaken. If you don't like that, then why are you still here?
I will not be tolerating any homophobia towards this story or anyone who reads it, so if you are planning on leaving a comment going, well, I don't even know, but if I see anything homophobic, I will be reporting the comment as soon as I see it, so don't even think about it, there is no point, end of.
GUYS, it is future Corgi speaking. I know I was going to publish this after I finished Wildfire but I'm almost done with it and I'm too excited. Also Wildfire, since it's my first fanfiction, will probably be prioritised update wise. I'm still going to update this story at a reasonable pace but I'm busy enough as it is so don't expect regular updates.
I hope you are all having a good day and if not then I hope reading this made you feel better, even just a tad.
Bye from Corgi :)
P.S. (feel free to skip) Just a reminder that all characters (apart from Lottie) belong to Rick Riordan, this is merely a fanfiction based off the Heroes of Olympus series.