[Percy's POV]
The bridge to Olympus was dissolving. We stepped out of the elevator onto the white marble walkway, and immediately cracks appeared at our feet.
"Jump!" Grover said, which was easy for him since he's part mountain goat. He sprang to the next slab of stone while ours tilted sickeningly. "Gods, I hate heights!" Thalia yelled as she and I leaped. But Annabeth was in no shape for jumping.
She stumbled and yelled in fright. Y/N caught her as the pavement gave way. I thought for a second that they might both go tumbling over the edge, but I snapped to my senses and managed to grab Y/N by the legs, and with the help of Thalia and Grover, we pulled them back over with us. We paused for a moment and caught our breath as all of our surroundings started falling apart.
"Keep moving!" Grover tugged my shoulder. We untangled ourselves and sprinted across the sky bridge as more stones disintegrated and fell into oblivion. We made it to the edge of the mountain just as the final section collapsed.
Annabeth looked back at the elevator, which was now completely out of reach. A polished set of metal doors hanging in space, attached to nothing, six hundred stories above Manhattan. "We're marooned," she said. "On our own."
"Blah-ha-ha!" Grover said. "The connection between Olympus and America is dissolving. If it fails-"
"The gods won't move on to another country this time," Thalia said. "This will be the end of Olympus. The final end."
"Well, let's make it the biggest pain in the ass of an end we can manage." Y/N said breathlessly. We ran through the streets. Mansions were
burning. Statues had been hacked down. Trees in the parks were blasted to splinters. It looked like someone had attacked the city with a giant Weedwacker.
"Kronos's scythe?" I asked in disbelief. "It can split a soul from the body. Of course it can do all of this." Annabeth informed.
We followed the winding path toward the palace of the gods. I didn't remember the road being so long. Maybe Kronos was making time go slower, or maybe it was just dread slowing me down. The whole mountaintop was in ruins-so many beautiful buildings and gardens were gone.
A few minor gods and nature spirits had tried to stop Kronos. What remained of them was strewn about the road: shattered armor, ripped clothing, swords and spears broken in half. Somewhere ahead of us, Kronos's voice roared: "Brick by brick! That was my promise. Tear it down BRICK BY BRICK!"
A white marble temple with a gold dome suddenly exploded. The dome shot up like the lid of a teapot and shattered into a billion pieces, raining rubble over the city.
"That was a shrine to Artemis," Thalia grumbled. "He'll pay for that." We were running under the marble archway with the huge statues of Zeus and Hera when the entire mountain groaned, rocking sideways like a boat in a storm.
"Look out!" Grover yelped. The archway crumbled. I looked up in time to see a twenty-ton scowling Hera topple over on us. I would've been flattened, but Thalia shoved me from behind and we landed just out of danger.
"Thalia!" Grover cried. When the dust cleared and the mountain stopped rocking, we found her still alive, but her legs were pinned under the statue.
We tried desperately to move it, but it would've taken several Cyclopes. When we tried to pull Thalia out from under it, she yelled in pain. "I survived all those battles," she growled, "and I get defeated by a stupid chunk of rock!"
"It's Hera," Annabeth said in outrage. "She's had it in for me all year. Her statue would've killed me if you hadn't pushed us away." Thalia grimaced. "Well, don't just stand there! I'll be fine. Go!"
We didn't want to leave her, but I could hear Kronos laughing as he approached the hall of the gods. More buildings exploded.
"We'll be back," I promised. "I'm not going anywhere," Thalia groaned. A fireball erupted on the side of the mountain, right near the gates of the palace.
"We've got to run," I said.
"I don't suppose you mean away," Grover murmured hopefully.
I sprinted toward the palace, Y/N and Annabeth right behind me.
"I was afraid of that," Grover sighed, and clip-clopped after us. The doors of the palace were big enough to steer a cruise ship through, but they'd been ripped off their hinges and smashed like they weighed nothing. We had to climb over a huge pile of broken stone and twisted metal to get inside.
Kronos stood in the middle of the throne room, his arms wide, staring at the starry ceiling as if taking it all in. His laughter echoed even louder than it had from the pit of Tartarus.
"Finally!" he bellowed. "The Olympian Council-so proud and mighty. Which seat of power shall I destroy first?"
Ethan Nakamura stood to one side, trying to stay out of the way of his master's scythe. The hearth was almost dead, just a few coals glowing deep in the ashes. Hestia was nowhere to be seen. Neither was Rachel. I hoped she was okay, but I'd seen so much destruction I was afraid to think about it.
The Ophiotaurus swam in his water sphere in the far corner of the room, wisely not making a sound, but it wouldn't be long before Kronos noticed him.
[Y/N's POV]
Erebus had to almost be here by now. The deadline for typhon was today, and I didn't doubt that he would skip a bit to get ahead. It felt like something was punching me from inside my chest. The pounding of my heart, or maybe it was the demon. I don't know. But whatever Lou Ellen was warning me about, I hoped she knew what she was doing.
My shoulders sagged under the weight of everything. In the back of my mind, it almost felt like I could heard him laughing.
Either way... right now, we had to fight Kronos.
Annabeth, Grover, Percy, and I walked forward into the glow of the torches. Ethan Nakamura saw us first.
"My lord," he warned. Kronos turned and smiled through Luke's face. Except for the golden eyes, and the scar on his eye, he looked just the same as he had when I met him. Years ago. We were both younger. Less experienced. And we were friends.
As I stood before him now, I only found myself thinking of any way I could to kill him. But I couldn't come up with anything...
I could hardly breathe, but my legs carried me still. Lou Ellen said there was something I'd have to do. I'd have to let go... but when?
Annabeth made a painful sound in the back of her throat, like someone had just sucker punched her. "Shall I destroy you first, L/N? Or maybe I'll take Jackson?" Kronos asked. "Is that the choice you will make, to fight me and die instead of bowing down? Prophecies never end well, you know."
"Hey, Luke." I said, trying to draw him out. Kronos' eyes flickered. I could feel that he was getting angrier. "I am not Luke. I am Kronos." the titan said. I chuckled.
"Trust me, 'Kronos', I know how it feels to have something stuck inside of you. You'll never be whole. I hope you know that. Even if you win here, you won't win the war. You think Erebus is on your side?" I asked. "I will destroy that puny elemental." he growled.
"How are you going to beat him if you can't even beat me?" I asked. "I mean, a scythe does seem a bit unfair, though. That thing's bigger than you. Do you really want people to say that you only won because you've got a better weapon?" Kronos sneered.
His scythe began to change, until he held Luke's old weapon, Backbiter, with its half-steel, half-Celestial bronze blade. I'd almost been run through with that thing a couple of times.
I had an idea. It was a bad one, but it was an idea nonetheless. I remembered what Annabeth said on the bridge. I wondered if his sword would have the same effect...
Next to me, Annabeth gasped like she'd suddenly had an idea. "Y/N, the blade!" She unsheathed her knife. "The hero's soul, cursed blade shall reap."
I didn't understand why she was reminding me of that prophecy line right now. It wasn't exactly a morale booster, but before I could say anything, Kronos raised his sword.
"Wait!" Annabeth yelled.
Kronos came at me like a whirlwind. I drew moonlight blindly and caught his blade on mine, my knees almost buckling under the power of his attack.
I fought on instinct alone, trying to swallow my anger and fight clearly. Luke's skill as a swordsman was hard to match, and it's even more extreme when he's being powered by a titan king.
Ethan ducked to one side, trying to get behind me until Annabeth intercepted him.
They started to fight, but I couldn't focus on how she was doing. I was vaguely aware of Grover playing his reed pipes. The sound filled me with warmth and courage-thoughts of sunlight and a blue sky and a calm meadow, somewhere far away from the war.
On my right, I saw Percy standing there with Riptide out, his eyes darting around. I shook my head at him. I wasn't gonna win, even if I had help. That wasn't the goal here. Maybe I could stall him long enough.
Besides, it was going to be up to a child of the big three to defeat Kronos, so I knew that whatever would happen to me might not matter with his fate. But it did with my own.
And I could hear the cackling now. It wasn't in my head anymore. It was getting closer. Everyone in the throne room heard it, and like a vacuum, the air seemed to be sucked out.
Behind Kronos, darkness started to swirl in the middle of the throne room. Shadows snuck out from every crack on the area. It all was pulled towards a tornado of shadow starting to build in the background of our fight.
One of the monsters that tried to poke at it was absorbed, threaded into living darkness and pulled into the twister.
Erebus was here...
Even Kronos took a shaky breath, looking stunned at the twister. Through the darkness, I could see his face. Just barely. His disgusting grin forcing itself through the darkness. He was watching. And he was waiting. Kronos turned back and kicked me in the side before I reacted.
"You've made mistakes, Y/N" Kronos started. He chuckled and continued, "If you would have just joined me, everything would have been so much easier for you. You could have lived. You could have fought beside me. We were friends once." Kronos shook his head, processing what he just said.
I couldn't help but chuckle as I pulled myself up to my knees. "You're flexing on a mountain of bones, Luke." I said, blocking his blocking his upward swing with the guard of my sword. "And you expect me to climb up there to meet you?"
He was fighting like an alley cat on steroids. Really fast, and stupidly agile. But stronger than you could imagine.
I knew if that blade even cut me, I'd be in more pain than I ever imagined. It could take my soul and put it in the hands of Kronos. But maybe not my soul. "And you said me again..." I muttered breathlessly, putting it together. "You're losing your grip." Kronos growled and clenched his teeth together.
"You're an idiot, Y/N." Luke's voice said. "Yeah, I know." I said. I kicked Kronos square in the chest, sending his staggering a few feet, and his eyes flickered back to gold. I took a deep breath, and met his line of sight.
We slowly circled one another, blades out, walks synced. He may be Kronos, but he still has Luke's movements. I knew him. I may not have been able to keep up with him, but I knew how he operated in battle.
He lunged my way and swung for my side. I deflected the strike and spun out of the way of his follow up which just missed cutting my arm off. I dove in his direction, rolling below his blade, kicking him in the back of his leg. He stumbled and fell down to a knee, the body quivering under the weight of the immortal within it.
The titan lord popped back up to attention, and started getting frustrated. He was losing his composure. Luke always had the brain to beat me. After enough studying with Annabeth, I could put his strategy together on the fly, but Luke knew how to improvise once he's been found out. Kronos, despite his incalculable age, seemed to he too cocky to change.
I stood there, hearing Kronos growl in building annoyance, and brandished my sword, charging his way. He caught me by the back of the neck, turned, and wrapped his hand around my throat, shouting, "ENOUGH!"
He launched me to the other side of the room, right into a horde of monsters. I was swarmed, but I tried with everything in me to fight them off. Kronos ran straight at Percy.
[Percy's POV]
Kronos backed me up against the throne of Hephaestus. A huge mechanical La-Z-Boy type thing covered with bronze and silver gears. Kronos slashed, and I managed to jump straight up onto the seat.
The throne whirred and hummed with secret mechanisms. Defense mode, it warned. Defense mode. That couldn't be good. I jumped straight over Kronos's head as the throne shot tendrils of electricity in all directions. One hit Kronos in the face, arcing down his body and up his sword.
"ARG!" He crumpled to his knees and dropped Backbiter.
Annabeth saw her chance. She kicked Ethan out of the way and charged Kronos. "Luke, listen!" I wanted to shout at her, to tell her she was crazy for trying to reason with Kronos, but there was no time. Kronos flicked his hand. Annabeth flew backward, slamming into the throne of her mother and crumpling to the floor.
"Annabeth!" I screamed. Ethan Nakamura got to his feet. He now stood between Annabeth and me. I couldn't fight him without turning my back on Kronos. I couldn't even see Y/N in a swarm of monsters. But he was still fighting. I could see his sword slicing through the night.
I could heard him screaming. It wasn't pain that he felt... It was anger. His shouts echoed off the walls through the horde in front of them as he cut them to shreds, one at a time.
Grover's music took on a more urgent tune. He moved toward Annabeth, but he couldn't go any faster and keep up the song. Grass grew on the floor of the throne room. Tiny roots crept up between the cracks of the marble stones.
Kronos rose to one knee. His hair smoldered. His face was covered with electrical burns. He reached for his sword, but this time it didn't fly into his hands.
"Nakamura!" he groaned. "Time to prove yourself. You know Jackson's secret weakness. Kill him, and you will have rewards beyond measure."
Ethan's eyes dropped to my midsection, and I was sure that he knew. Even if he couldn't kill me himself, all he had to do was tell Kronos.
There was no way I could defend myself forever.
"Look around you, Ethan," I said. "The end of the world. Is this the reward you want? Do you really want everything destroyed-the good with the bad? Everything?"
Grover was almost to Annabeth now. The grass thickened on the floor. The roots were almost a foot long, like a stubble of whiskers.
"There is no throne to Nemesis," Ethan muttered. "No throne to my mother."
"That's right!" Kronos tried to get up, but stumbled. Above his left ear, a patch of blond hair still smoldered. "Strike them down! They deserve to suffer."
"You said your mom is the goddess of balance," I reminded him. "The minor gods deserve better, Ethan, but total destruction isn't balanced. Kronos doesn't build. He only destroys." Ethan looked at the sizzling throne of Hephaestus.
Grover's music kept playing, and Ethan swayed to it, as if the song were filling him with nostalgia-a wish to see a beautiful day, to be anywhere but here.
His good eye blinked.
Then he charged... but not at me. While Kronos was still on his knees, Ethan brought down his sword on the Titan lord's neck. It should have killed him instantly, but the blade shattered. Ethan fell back, grasping his stomach. A shard of his own blade had ricocheted and pierced his armor.
Kronos rose unsteadily, towering over his servant. "Treason," he snarled. Grover's music kept playing, and grass grew around Ethan's body. Ethan stared at me, his face tight with pain.
"Deserve better," he gasped. "If they just... had thrones-" Kronos stomped his foot, and the floor ruptured around Ethan Nakamura. The son of Nemesis fell through a fissure that went straight through the heart of the mountain-straight into open air.
"So much for him." Kronos picked up his sword. "And now for the rest of you."
My only thought was to keep him away from Annabeth. Grover was at her side now. He'd stopped playing and was feeding her ambrosia. Y/N was still fighting a few monster. He looked truly deranged, his jaw clenched, and his sword, a blur as he cut through enemy after enemy.
Everywhere Kronos stepped, the roots wrapped around his feet, but Grover had stopped his magic too early. The roots weren't thick or strong enough to do much more than annoy the Titan.
We fought through the hearth, kicking up coals and sparks. Kronos slashed an armrest off the throne of Ares, which was okay by me, but then he backed me up to my dad's throne.
"Oh, yes," Kronos said. "This one will make fine kindling for my new hearth!"
Our blades clashed in a shower of sparks. He was stronger than me, but for the moment I felt the power of the ocean in my arms. I pushed him back and struck again-slashing Riptide across his breastplate so hard I cut a gash in the Celestial bronze.
He stamped his foot again and time slowed. I tried to attack but I was moving at the speed of a glacier. Kronos backed up leisurely, catching his breath. He examined the gash in his armor while I struggled forward, silently cursing him.
He could take all the time-outs he wanted. He could freeze me in place at will. My only hope was that the effort was draining him. If I could wear him down...
"It's too late, Percy Jackson," he said. "Behold."
He pointed to the hearth, and the coals glowed. A sheet of white smoke poured from the fire, forming images like an Iris-message. I saw Nico and my parents down on Fifth Avenue, fighting a hopeless battle, ringed in enemies.
In the background Hades fought from his black chariot, summoning wave after wave of zombies out of the ground, but the forces of the Titan's army seemed just as endless.
Meanwhile, Manhattan was being destroyed. Mortals, now fully awake, were running in terror. Cars swerved and crashed.
The scene shifted, and I saw something even more terrifying.
A column of storm was approaching the Hudson River, moving rapidly over the Jersey shore. Chariots circled it, locked in combat with the creature in the cloud. The gods attacked.
Lightning flashed. Arrows of gold and silver streaked into the cloud like rocket tracers and exploded. Slowly, the cloud ripped apart, and I saw Typhon clearly for the first time.
I knew as long as I lived (which might not be that long) I would never be able to get the image out of my mind. Typhon's head shifted constantly. Every moment he was a different monster, each more horrible than the last. Looking at his face would have driven me insane, so I focused on his body, which wasn't much better.
He was humanoid, but his skin reminded me of a meatloaf sandwich that had been in someone's locker all year. He was mottled green, with blisters the size of buildings, and blackened patches from eons of being stuck under a volcano. His hands were human, but with talons like an eagle's. His legs were scaly and reptilian.
Around him, I could see flashes of darkness flying around. Erebus was leading the monster closer. But in the center of the throne room, the column of darkness was spiraling still. I felt my feet sliding on the ground, pulling me towards it.
A chill rolled down my spine. Fear. The same fear I'd felt when Y/N lost control on the bridge. This had to be Erebus.
"The Olympians are giving their final effort." Kronos laughed. "How pathetic." Zeus threw a thunderbolt from his chariot. The blast lit up the world.
I could feel the shock even here on Olympus, but when the dust cleared, Typhon was still standing. He staggered a bit, with a smoking crater on top of his misshapen head, but he roared in anger and kept advancing.
My limbs began to loosen up. Kronos didn't seem to notice. His attention was focused on the fight and his final victory. If I could hold out a few more seconds, and if my dad kept his word...
Typhon stepped into the Hudson River and barely sank to midcalf. Then, I heard rapid footsteps, and the swishing of a blade.
Y/N sprinted toward Kronos, covered in cuts and blood stains. He had his sword ready to come down, Kronos pulled backbiter, and the sound of flesh tearing filled the air.
Blood dripped on the floor, slowly, one red blot at a time, then more, spilling onto the marble. I heard a dark laughter emanate from the shadow twister in the back of the throne room. Moonlight clattered to the ground, breaking the tense silence in the air.
Y/N looked back at me, blood slipping from his mouth as his breathing slowed. One of his eyes was rolled into the back of his head. Pure white, and his face was covered in black, pulsing veins.
[Y/N's POV]
I felt cold and hot at the same time. Tired and awake. Dead and Alive. There were no words I could use to properly describe the feeling that hit me as soon as Kronos' blade punctured my chest.
I let out a pathetic breath as I turned back to face Kronos. I looked at my hands. The veins were pulsing rapidly, and time itself seemed to have come to a halt as we stood there glaring at each other. It almost felt like I was looking at an alternate version of myself.
Luke and I. We were the same dancer doing different routines. We both hated our parents for what they'd done, and we both wanted to do something about it.
The glaring differences, though. That's where it gets funny.
Luke was claimed when he got to camp. Acknowledged by his father when he was young. He wasn't ignored his whole life. He didn't have to beg just to find out who he was...
And yet he decided to betray those who cared about him.
I was shunned by my mother for years... insulted, hunted, and disregarded by the very being that brought me into the world. But I still fought for my friends. Because that's what mattered to me, more than anything.
But Luke wanted to be a savior so bad. He CHOSE to have the monster inside him. Me, I've been fighting the monster since I could remember.
It felt like my whole life flashed before my eyes in that moment. The good, the bad, the awkward. The happy. The sad. Every moment, relived in an instant.
I looked at Kronos. His face was morphed in an expression of fury, but that wasn't the only thing that caught my eye. The column of shadow in the middle of the room. It bent out of shape. It was unstable.
I felt the blade in my body heat up quickly. My body felt weak. I felt like I was starting to pull away from myself.
"Let go."
I heard Lou Ellen's voice in the back of my mind. I had to let go. Before it was too late. I didn't know how, or what to do, but my eyes started rolling into the back of my head.
I didn't have the energy to fight it this time. I could feel myself slipping away.
I was in the void again.
As soon as I looked up, I was met with a kick to the chin. The void rumbled as the demon stomped towards me, blackout in hand.
Shadows were swirling around him, and he looked furious. His eyes were narrowed and his teeth were grating as he came my way.
I pulled moonlight and met the strike with my own, barely holding myself off the ground.
"INSOLENT! IGNORANT!" the demon screamed. His voice was so loud I thought my eardrums would burst. I kicked him in the stomach, making him stagger back, and letting me roll back up to my feet.
I could barely make it out in the darkness, but as I held up moonlight, I realized it didn't matter. I tried to move my feet, but they were stuck in place.
I held the glowing silver blade to them, and realized what was happening. The shadows were recalling me. The demon stepped closer, turning to face me.
"Why did you have to continue to fight it, you moronic boy?!" it yelled, not getting too close, flourishing Blackout like it was an umbrella, and the demon was about to go singing in the rain. It staggered, pained, grunting and fell to a knee. The shadows around my feet loosened.
"I'm going to kill you. Then maybe the plan can be salvaged." the demon muttered, its shadows flickering. I stepped towards it, pushing through the tendrils at my feet. My heart punched at my ribs. The demon stood, and was on me in an instant, a hand latched to my neck, clawing at my skin, drawing blood.
Ropes of shadow latched onto my body, pulling me into the demon. I tried to fight against it, but he took my other hand, wrenched my blade away, and I felt the shadows sink into my skin. I was being stolen away.
Before I even registered what was happening, dark, enraged screaming rumbled the very foundations of my consciousness.
It was pained screaming too. The demon recoiled away. It moved like a dying animal, the shadows flickering furiously. It lunged at me again. But this time, I had the awareness to swing.
Moonlight hit its mark, slicing the demon across the throat, sending it crumbling to the black ground, clutching at its neck. Black smoke seeped from between its fingers as it glared at me, convulsing on the ground.
I felt so much lighter as I stepped towards the demon and plunged my blade into his chest, making it scream even louder, the void quaking around me.
Angrily from the darkness, Erebus emerged. He looked down at me, primal rage seething in his face as he stepped towards me, batting me away.
"MORONIC CHILD!! CENTURIES OF WORK YOU'VE TRIED TO PUT TO WASTE! ENOUGH WITH THIS PATHETIC EFFORT!"
Despite the pain wracking through my body, I chuckled. I felt strong. It was like I wasn't dying at all.
I stared in defiance at the god. He drew a sickle from his robes. Despite what just happened, I felt powerful. Like something was guiding me.
From behind, the demon stumbled to its feet, and I was flanked on either side. Erebus sneered at me, forgetting the reverence he held as an elemental. He smirked darkly as the demon screeched, forgetting any words that it might've known.
It charged blindly at me, wrapping me up from behind, pretty much in a headlock. I felt something eating away at my skin. As I fought the hold, I looked down trying to figure out what that feeling might be.
It was merging with me.
My skin bubbled and melted wherever it made contact with me, and all I could do was scream out in pain, my voice fading out in the abyss. It was the most searing pain I could ever have imagined.
It was like the demon was rapidly stealing away my skin, killing them as it held onto me.
"Look at you! How small you are! How worthless you are by yourself! You wretched rotten little creature! You can not defeat us! You are nothing without us! NOTHING!"
The demon tightened its grip around my neck, and I could see stars in my blurring vision. But as he took me to the ground, I saw something a few feet away. Silver glowing in the darkness.
Moonlight.
I reached for the hilt of my sword, struggling against the demon, my skin sizzling under its hold. My skin was rotting underneath it. The demon grunted, but I fought. I elbowed it in the side, but it wouldn't let go.
I made one final reach, grazing the cool silver metal as the demon clicked and grunted like an animal. My fingers found purchase, and I pulled it towards me, gathering the blade and stabbing it into the demon's thigh.
It screeched and ripped its arm from around me, tearing off some of my skin with it. Erebus looked on in shock, and before he had a chance to react, I ripped my blade from the demon, and faced it.
The void was rumbling even harder. I was barely able to keep my footing, but the demon staggered upward, his leg wound seeping just as much smoke as its neck wound.
The demon squared its shoulders, facing me, Blackout in hand. I met its eyes, glaring at the pale white orbs. I straightened my foot, steadying myself in body and mind.
The demon moved first, silently rushing towards me. I sighed and took off, running the seemingly endless distance between us. In a split-second, he was on me, and I barely managed to slide under Blackout.
I twisted my body, kicking the demon in the back of the knee, and grabbed it by the shoulder, plunging my blade straight through its back. The demon cried out in agony, crumbling back onto the blade as the silver metal stuck out of the front its chest.
Erebus looked pissed as I pushed moonlight up to its hilt through the demon. It lashed out, scratching and clawing against whatever part of me it could get. It drew blood again, and latched onto me, its claws digging into my forearms.
I cried out in pain, but didn't let go. More shadows started to flow from the demon's wounds. The shadows warped and twisted around me, as the demon's struggles lessened.
But as I looked up, staring down the god of darkness, I didn't fight them. The intensity in my chest increased. The demon screamed in the void, filling the battlefield with an ominous energy.
Erebus drew his sickle, but staggered as he walked towards me. He swung his weapon at my neck, but the shadows moved around me, deflecting him. He couldn't touch me.
The god roared and swung again, but his blade dropped out of his hand before he could make contact. Tendrils of shadow latched onto me tighter, searing my skin, tearing away.
Moonlight glowed pale silver in the darkness. I could feel the demon's efforts fading as I twisted the blade in its chest. I smirked to myself and shuddered as the void fissured. The shadows burned my skin fiercely.
Erebus looked around frantically. "No." he whispered. "NO!"
I could feel the pain in my chest starting to peak. It started punching, pushing away at my insides harder than before. The shadows started sinking into my skin, becoming part of me. My skin flaked and died, crumbling off of my body. I felt weak, but still managed to strain and stare down Erebus.
He cowered as the silver glow burned brighter once more. The light made him retreat. His shadows were starting to thin. He was weakening.
The cracks in the void widened, and light started to flood in. Erebus sneered at me and roared in anger.
"YOU BASTARDOUS SPAWN! MARK MY WORDS! ONE DAY! ONE DAY YOU WILL ATONE!!"
He swung his sickle one final time. I tore Moonlight from the demon's chest, sending the monster clattering to the ground, rolling into the chasm of darkness.
I caught Erebus' blade off mine, parrying it and sent it off into another chasm. It vanished without a trace.
My sword glowed brighter than ever before. The moon would be jealous right now. The pulsing of the veins stopped abruptly, and the shadows sunk into my body.
Pale silver light shone on my hands from the cracks in the void above, as the quaking reached its precipice. I stared at Erebus one last time, knowing that I would never be forced to hear his voice in my head again.
As the last of the shadows drifted around me, sinking into my chest, I felt a wave of calm wash over me.
My heartbeat had gone dull in my ears. I closed my eyes, and in an instant, the pressure in my chest erupted.
[Annabeth's POV]
My whole world shattered into countless fragments as I heard that sound. That horrible sound of the sword piercing his chest.
Y/N stood there, frozen in a moment in time. He had been imapled by Kronos. He stood there, weakly, barely holding himself up.
There was no rationale I could bring myself to believe why this happened. My eyes had to be lying.
The black veins on his body pulsed for a moment, but seemed to slide right off of him, slinking down his chest and merging with the sword. The shadows, almost peeled away from him, eerie tendrils of despair, melding ominously with the weapon that had run through him. It was a painful irony.
Time itself seemed to slow, and the symphony of battle around me transformed into a distant, discordant hum.
My breath hitched as Kronos unceremoniously ripped Backbiter from Y/N's chest, the spectacle burning itself into my brain.
Y/N stumbled backward weakly, and my heart lurched as he fell back down onto the cold unforgiving marble floor of Olympus, into a pool of his own blood.
I'd always known Y/N to be strong. To be able to get through everything, even if it seemed impossible. But here he was now, a limp and fragile form that had clattered to the ground in the midst of this chaos.
The clamor of war faded into insignificance in my mind. The only thing I could think about was getting to him.
In a surge of panic, I ran towards him, oblivious to the raging war surrounding our tragedy.
I fought back tears in my eyes as I knelt beside him. My hands were shaking. They were trembling as I tried to pull him back from the edge. I tried with everything in my to get to respond, just to let me know that he was still there.
"Y/N, please..." I whimpered pathetically. The battlefield faded in my mind. It didn't matter anymore. But no matter how I tried, his eyes, open and empty, stayed glazed over, completely unresponsive to my pleas.
My voice faded in the back of my throat. He was supposed to have a chance. A chance to live. He promised. Hestia even said...
A tornado of emotions raged within me, the battlefield fading into the background as my focus narrowed to Y/N's dying form.
In a swell of anger, I saw Luke, the betrayer, the thief of my happiness, standing there, tauntingly.
I had to confront him for everything he had done. From the very beginning. The promises he broke. The pain he's caused. The deaths he's had a hand in, and everything that he's taken from me, and so many others. But I still had to be smart about this. We couldn't kill him. But I knew what I might be able to.
Though, after everything, Y/N's torture still didn't seem to be enough. Fate was cruel. Relentless in its efforts. His body convulsed on the ground, sending the pillar of shadow in a frenzy. Everyone in the room slowly started sliding towards it.
A silent, desperate prayer echoed through my body as I resisted the pull further towards the darkness. They wouldn't take the rest of him from me. They couldn't.
He started drifting towards it, as if the dark mass had its own gravity, trying to take him in. Y/N's body was lifted off the ground and pulled towards the vortex.
I couldn't do anything but grab onto his hand and hold on tight. I wasn't going to let go. My fingers clawed at the ground as I tried to keep up both anchored there. But it just kept pulling until I couldn't keep my grip anymore. All the injuries had stacked up and left me in a cruel sense of helplessness.
I lost my hold on him, and he floated towards the darkness as I collapsed to my knees in anguish, battle echoing in the giant room through the cacophony of my mind.
But in the despair, a seismic shudder rippled through Y/N's body in the air. He froze in his descent, and his body rattled.
Then, a cataclysm.
A pulse of shadow, an explosion emanating from his body. It sent everyone in the room sprawling, tumbling back off their feet. I looked up just in time to see Y/N's limp body collide with the ground.
The pillar in the middle of the room shuddered, and shook, causing the entire throne room to shake. But with a whimper, the shadows dispersed, and returned to their places of origin.
I couldn't take my eyes off Y/N, his fate entwined with the shadows that always threatened to take him away. Someone once vibrant and energetic, now lying motionless, no signs of life besides my refusal to accept it.
Kronos chuckled as he pulled himself to his feet, and I don't think I'd ever been just as angry. But I couldn't control myself. Tears cascaded down my cheeks as I dragged myself towards the titan lord in one final act of defiance.
[Percy's POV]
Kronos had pulled himself back up after Y/N's body clattered to the ground violently. It was a disturbing sight. I couldn't really believe my eyes, even as the column of shadow dispersed.
I heard a roar of anger again. But it wasn't Kronos. It was coming from the view in he flames. It wasn't the gods, and it wasn't Typhon.
Now, I thought, imploring the image in the fire. Please, it has to happen now.
Like a miracle, a conch horn sounded from the smoky picture. The call of the ocean. The call of Poseidon.
All around Typhon, the Hudson River erupted, churning with forty-foot waves. Out of the water burst a new chariot-this one pulled by massive hippocampi, who swam in air as easily as in water. My father, glowing with a blue aura of power, rode a defiant circle around the giant's legs.
Poseidon was no longer an old man. He looked like himself again-tan and strong with a black beard. As he swung his trident, the river responded, making a funnel cloud around the monster.
"No!" Kronos bellowed after a moment of stunned silence. "NO!"
"NOW, MY BRETHREN!" Poseidon's voice was so loud I wasn't sure if I was hearing it from the smoke image or from all the way across town. "STRIKE FOR OLYMPUS!"
Warriors burst out of the river, riding the waves on huge sharks and dragons and seahorses. It was a legion of Cyclopes, and leading them into battle was... "Tyson!" I yelled. I knew he couldn't hear me, but I stared at him in amazement. He'd magically grown in size.
He had to be thirty feet tall, as big as any of his older cousins, and for the first time he was wearing full battle armor. Riding behind him was Briares, the Hundred-Handed One.
All the Cyclopes held huge lengths of black iron chains-big enough to anchor a battleship-with grappling hooks at the ends. They swung them like lassos and began to ensnare Typhon, throwing lines around the creature's legs and arms, using the tide to keep circling, slowly tangling him.
Typhon shook and roared and yanked at the chains, pulling some of the Cyclopes off their mounts. He was starting to win the battle again, but the darkness that was surrounding Typhon, strengthening him, it flickered and started thinning. I heard the same dark cry of rage from the vision.
"NOOOOOOOOO!"
Another explosion of darkness went off, and Typhon lost his footing. The sheer weight of the Cyclops battalion began to weigh Typhon down. Poseidon threw his trident and impaled the monster in the throat.
Golden blood, immortal ichor, spewed from the wound, making a waterfall taller than a skyscraper. The trident flew back to Poseidon's hand.
The other gods struck with renewed force. Ares rode in and stabbed Typhon in the nose. Athena launched her spear into the monster's eye, and Apollo shot a blazing volley of arrows and set the monster's loincloth on fire.
Zeus kept pounding the giant with lightning, until finally, slowly, the water rose, wrapping Typhon like a cocoon, and he began to sink under the weight of the chains.
I saw silver light strike harder than any other. It was a small target, but Artemis struck Erebus square in the chest. He was being beaten back, weakened bit by bit.
The goddess of the moon tore him down, knocking the elemental out of the sky. He was enveloped in the water, taken in by the whirlpool.
Typhon bellowed in agony, thrashing with such force that waves sloshed the Jersey shore, soaking five-story buildings and splashing over the George Washington Bridge, but down he went as my dad opened a special tunnel for them at the bottom of the river.
An endless water slide that would take him straight to Tartarus. The giant's head went under in a seething whirlpool, and he was gone. "BAH!" Kronos screamed. He slashed his sword through the smoke, tearing the image to shreds.
"They're on their way," I said. "You've lost."
"I haven't even started." he taunted, pointing to Y/N. "Worse than that awaits for all of you." I looked over at his body and my heart sunk into my stomach as I looked at my friend. I didn't know if he was dead. Unfortunately, I didn't really have any time to think about it.
Kronos advanced with blinding speed. Grover, brave, stupid satyr that he was, tried to protect me, but Kronos tossed him aside like a rag doll. I sidestepped and jabbed under Kronos's guard. It was a good trick. Unfortunately, Luke knew it.
He countered the strike and disarmed me using one of the first moves he'd ever taught me. My sword skittered across the ground and fell straight into the open fissure. "STOP!" Annabeth came from nowhere.
Kronos whirled to face her and slashed with Backbiter, but somehow Annabeth caught the strike on her dagger hilt. It was a move only the quickest and most skilled knife fighter could've managed.
Don't ask me where she found the strength, but she stepped in closer for leverage, their blades crossed, and for a moment she stood face-to-face with the Titan lord, holding him at a standstill.
"Luke," she said, gritting her teeth, "I understand now. You have to trust me."
Kronos roared in outrage. "Luke Castellan is dead! His body will burn away as I assume my true form!" I tried to move, but my body was frozen again. How could Annabeth, battered and half dead with exhaustion, torn apart by tragedy, have the strength to fight a Titan like Kronos?
Kronos pushed against her, trying to dislodge his blade, but she held him in check, her arms trembling as he forced his sword down toward her neck.
"Your mother," Annabeth grunted. "She saw your fate."
"Service to Kronos!" the Titan roared. "This is my fate."
"No!" Annabeth insisted. Her eyes were tearing up, but I didn't know if it was from sadness or pain. "That's not the end, Luke. The prophecy: she saw what you would do. It applies to you!"
"I will crush you, child!" Kronos bellowed. "You won't," Annabeth said. "You promised. You're holding Kronos back even now."
"LIES!" Kronos pushed again, and this time Annabeth lost her balance. With his free hand, Kronos struck her face, and she slid backward.
I summoned all my will. I managed to rise, but it felt like I was trying to hold the weight of the sky on my back. Kronos loomed over Annabeth, his sword raised. Blood trickled from the corner of her mouth. She croaked, "Family, Luke. You promised."
I took a painful step forward. Grover was back on his feet, over by the throne of Hera, but he seemed to be struggling to move as well. Before either of us could get anywhere close to Annabeth, Kronos was intercepted by a fist to the jaw.
I looked at saw Y/N, somehow on his feet, blood spilling in waves from the giant gash in his armor, the red liquid staining the side of his mouth and blotting onto the ground below.
In an act I couldn't explain, he had willed himself back to consciousness, back to his feet, to protect Annabeth. His eyes were half shut, free of any energy, and his stance was weak. He looked like he didn't even know how he was up.
"You stay the hell away from her." Y/N's voice wavered, barely even a whisper.
He socked Kronos against the jaw again, causing the titan to stagger back. Y/N's body fully gave out as he stumbled over, metal clanking from his armor as he hit the ground once more. He was hardly breathing as more blood pooled around him.
But Kronos hesitated against his downed adversary. His eyes weren't golden anymore.
He stared at the knife in Annabeth's hand, the blood on her face. "Promise." Then he gasped like he couldn't get air. "Annabeth..." But it wasn't the Titan's voice. It was Luke's.
He stumbled forward like he couldn't control his own body. "You're bleeding...."
"My knife." Annabeth tried to raise her dagger, but it clattered out of her hand. Her arm was bent at a funny angle. She looked at me, imploring, "Percy, please..."
I could move again.
I surged forward and scooped up her knife. I knocked Backbiter out of Luke's hand, and it spun into the hearth. Luke hardly paid me any attention. He stepped toward Annabeth, but I put myself between him and her.
Anger rippled across his face. Kronos's voice growled: "Jackson..." Was it my imagination, or was his whole body glowing, turning gold?
He gasped again. Luke's voice: "He's changing. Help. He's... he's almost ready. He won't need my body anymore. Please-"
"NO!" Kronos bellowed. He looked around for his sword, but it was in the hearth, glowing among the coals. He stumbled toward it. I tried to stop him, but he pushed me out of the way with such force I landed next to Annabeth and cracked my head on the base of Athena's throne.
"The knife, Percy," Annabeth muttered. Her breath was shallow. "Hero... cursed blade..."
When my vision came back into focus, I saw Kronos grasping his sword. Then he bellowed in pain and dropped it. His hands were smoking and seared. The hearth fire had grown red-hot, like the scythe wasn't compatible with it.
I saw an image of Hestia flickering in the ashes, frowning at Kronos with disapproval. Luke turned and collapsed, clutching his ruined hands. "Please, Percy..."
I struggled to my feet. I moved toward him with the knife. I should kill him. That was the plan. Luke seemed to know what I was thinking. He moistened his lips.
"You can't... can't do it yourself. He'll break my control. He'll defend himself. Only my hand. I know where. I can... can keep him controlled."
He was definitely glowing now, his skin starting to smoke. I raised the knife to strike. Then I looked at Annabeth, at Grover cradling her in his arms, trying to shield her. And I finally understood what she'd been trying to tell us.
You are not the hero, Rachel had said. It will affect what you do.
"Please," Luke groaned. "No time."
If Kronos evolved into his true form, there would be no stopping him. He would make Typhon look like a playground bully.
The line from the great prophecy echoed in my head: A hero's soul, cursed blade shall reap. My whole world tipped upside down, and I gave the knife to Luke. Grover yelped. "Percy? Are you... um..."
Crazy. Insane. Off my rocker. Probably. But I watched as Luke grasped the hilt. I stood before him, defenseless.
He unlatched the side straps of his armor, exposing a small bit of his skin just under his left arm, a place that would be very hard to hit. With difficulty, he stabbed himself.
It wasn't a deep cut, but Luke howled. His eyes glowed like lava. The throne room shook, worse than before, throwing me off my feet.
An aura of energy surrounded Luke, growing brighter and brighter. I shut my eyes and felt a force like a nuclear explosion blister my skin and crack my lips.
It was silent for a long time.
When I opened my eyes, I saw Luke sprawled at the hearth. On the floor around him was a blackened circle of ash. Kronos's scythe had liquefied into molten metal and was trickling into the coals of the hearth, which now glowed like a blacksmith's furnace.
Luke's left side was bloody. His eyes were open, blue eyes, the way they used to be. His breath was a deep rattle.
"Good... blade," he croaked.
I knelt next to him. Annabeth limped over with Grover's support. They both had tears in their eyes. Luke gazed at Annabeth. "You knew. I almost killed you, but you knew..."
"Shut up." Her voice trembled. "Despite everything, you did it..."
He shook his head weakly. "Think... rebirth. Try for three times. Isles of the Blest." Annabeth sniffled. "You always pushed yourself too hard."
He held up his charred hand. Annabeth touched his fingertips.
"We can get ambrosia," Grover said. "We can-"
"Grover," Luke gulped. "You're the bravest satyr I ever knew. But no. There's no healing..." Another cough.
He gripped my sleeve, and I could feel the heat of his skin like a fire. "Ethan. Me. All the unclaimed. Don't let it... Don't let it happen again."
His eyes were angry, but pleading too.
"I won't," I said. "I promise."
He looked at Y/N's slumped body beside us, blood pooling around him, a tear streaking down Luke's face.
"I'm sorry, Y/N." Though I think Luke knew that Y/N couldn't hear him. "You guys are heroes... Enjoy it. For me." he said. I nodded.
Luke's hand went slack.
We all turned our attention to Y/N's limp form. There were only faint signs of life left in him. The three of us crowded around him in silent disbelief.
Annabeth was the only one brave enough to turn him on his back. What we saw was horrifying. A gash, at least an inch wide right in the middle of his armor, down into chest, from his neck down to his stomach. The skin around it was black and frayed, like it was rotting away.
Blood clotted in the wound and seeped over the edges as his body wriggled with the faintest possible signs of life. Annabeth held his hand desperately, crying her eyes out. There was nothing we could do right now. Ambrosia and Nectar weren't going to fix this.
The gods arrived a few minutes later in their full war regalia, thundering into the throne room and expecting a battle. What they found were Annabeth, Grover, and me standing over the body of a broken half-blood, in the dim warm light of the hearth.
"Percy," my father called, awe in his voice. "What... what is this?" I turned and faced the Olympians.
Artemis rushed in herself, her eyes scanning the room, looking for Y/N. When she saw him laying there with us, her face dropped horribly. She rushed over to him, visibly fighting to not shove us aside to reach her son.
Apollo followed shortly after, pushing past Zeus, and got to work. He worked as quick of magic as I'd ever seen anything perform.
But Y/N's wounds weren't healing.
[Annabeth's POV]
I saw him open his eyes. Just barely, but Y/N looked at me. "Hold on, Y/N. You're going to be okay." I swallowed, trying to comfort him. He chuckled faintly, and despite his wounds, he lifted a hand, and touched my cheek.
It was like electricity coursed through me at that moment. I never wanted to lose his touch. I wanted everything to be okay, and I wanted him to just hold me forever.
There was blood spilling over his shirt still. Apollo had torn off the shreds of his armor and showed us the extent of his injuries.
I gripped his hand as tightly as my body would allow me to. "Don't go, Y/N." I whispered. "We still have so much together. We have to graduate, then we'll go to the same college, we can..." I silently cried. "You can't go. We have a future to live together." my voice was a feeble whimper as Apollo worked the best he could.
"You're the only future I care about." Y/N managed to whisper weakly. His thumb gently rubbed against my tear-stained cheek. I knew the gods were in the room, and even though there was nothing even they could do, I still couldn't help but pray silently that he wouldn't leave me.
Apollo looked panicked as he worked. I looked around at the gods in the throne room, trying to distract myself from what might be the end of his life.
Aphrodite was holding her breath, my mother was stunned, Dionysus looked horrified, and Artemis had tears streaking down her face as she stroked Y/N's hair mournfully. "Hold steady, Y/N. Don't quit yet." she whispered, placing a gentle kiss on his sweat-covered forehead.
Even Zeus looked disturbed.
"No... No no no no no." Apollo muttered. He couldn't stop the bleeding.
"Hold on, Y/N. Please don't leave me. You can't go." I whimpered. I stared into his bronze eyes, the silver stars twinkling as he looked at me sadly. Then, the worst happened.
His hand lost its grip, and in what felt like slow motion, clattered to the ground beside him. His eyes glossed over and his smile faded. His head lolled to the side.
In that moment, the only light I had left in my life was extinguished. I wanted to scream out in agony. What had we done to the fates to make them give us such a life? It was specially crafted agony every step of the way.
Everything in my life was manageable to an extent, but not this. I couldn't handle the reality of it.
The reality that Y/N was gone...
What are you still doing here?
Chapter's over, go home.