Chapter 17
Pause in the Insanity... Or Not
*First Person Point of View ~ Perseus*
During my initial sweep of the city centre, I only found a few stragglers. They were all in peculiar places, which made sense, seeing as they couldn't possibly get out when the attack began.
Evacuation wasn't something I'd ever seen myself doing back when I'd chosen a job for Career Day at school. I'd always thought that I'd make a great Olympic swimmer or a firefighter, maybe even a marine biologist, but search and rescue had never really crossed my mind. The stragglers were usually alone, wandering and scared, but all easily evacuated. For the exceptions, though, it wasn't so easy.
Stumbling towards my mother's old apartment, blood dripping from a long gash down my leg, I bent down next to every car and scanned every store window, looking for survivors.
I was nearly at the front entrance of the apartment building when I found them.
Two small children in the back of a crashed sedan, the front crumpled around a street lamp. In the front, the people who I could only assume to be their parents were crushed against their airbags, which didn't seem to have done anything to prevent their horrific demise.
Acting immediately, I jumped over the hood and swung around to the driver's side door. The ripped metal dug into my palms as I pried the door off its hinges.
It landed with a heavy thud on the street behind me, startling the children slightly. They looked at me, tears on their faces and snot bubbling from their noses. They cowered away from me, but I wasn't offended. They were terrified.
In the silence of the crisis, I whispered quiet reassurances to the pair of them as I slowly crawled into the crushed vehicle, preparing to pull them out of danger.
"Please be calm," I said, trying to get them to relax, "I can get you somewhere safe. Just come with me and you'll be okay." My hand was outstretched towards them, not reaching any further than I needed. I didn't want to frighten them any more than they already were － if that was even possible.
The boy, maybe seven or eight years old, put himself in front of his younger sister, trying to be brave, though his fear shone through. My outstretched hand remained steady, calm as if approaching a cornered animal, and I waited, still whispering words of reassurance.
Everything around us was in chaos. Small explosions lit the day brighter, but in our world, silence reigned. It was just me and the children, and time froze to keep our moment sacred.
Eventually, the boy nodded cautiously, allowing me to wrap my arms around him and his sister and pull them out of the sedan. They both let out strangled cries as they looked back at their parents in the front seats. Immediately, I spun around, putting my body between their eyes and their parents. They didn't need to see that. No one needed to see that.
Carrying them at a run, We made it a few blocks before something else caught my eye. An elderly couple suspended in a cycle rickshaw that hung precariously from a felled lamp post.
I set the children down, kneeling next to them. "You wait right here, okay? I'm just going to go save those people too. Stay strong."
The boy nodded, his arms instinctively wrapping tighter around his sister as I stood, turning back to the couple.
They held each other for dear life; they seem to be in their late nineties. The guide was nowhere to be found, but I would've preferred to think that he had gone to get help rather than just abandoning the couple.
"I'm going to get you down; just stay calm and don't look down," I called up to the couple. They both nodded frantically, though when I looked closer, I could see that their eyes were clenched shut tightly.
Grabbing the post, I swung myself up and hung over the rickshaw. My fingers wrapped around the hood, which was the part that was snagged on the bent metal, and slowly lifted it. The seniors cried out in alarm, their heads snapping up so fast that I feared that they'd get whiplash.
"What are you doing?" the woman shrieked, "Are you crazy?"
I grunted as their panicking made the rickshaw wobble a little. "Maybe a little, but don't worry, I'm a professional."
"Professional what? Lunatic?" the elderly man bellowed questioningly.
I didn't answer, just gave the man a smile. When he wasn't scared for his life, he must be a nice fellow, so I don't blame him for his comment. After that, getting them down was easy. Pretty soon, I had the two seniors and the two children following me to the nearest safehouse where a few campers were staying. From there, they could be escorted out of the city to where the rest of the mortals were staying.
I let out a sigh.
Another group safe.
I didn't have much time to catch my breath, however, as a flaming... something flew over my head. Was that Ares? It looked a lot like Ares.
I did the only thing that anyone could do.
I followed it.
The trail led me to central park, which was once one of my favourite places to breathe fresh air in the middle of the city. It used to be serene and clean with animals rummaging about in the shrubbery and flowers growing bright and colourful in the warmer months. I'd even come to appreciate nature more since working with Artemis as her guardian. We've been in so many different forests ever since she summoned me that I've come to feel a little uncomfortable in cities for the first time in my long life.
Now... now it was ruined. There were craters everywhere. All in different shapes. There were boulder-shaped ones, tree-shaped ones, even god-shaped ones. The pond emptied into another dip in the earth, water displaced by lumps of dirt and rock. Trees were felled, roots torn up from the earth easily leaving exposed earth, writhing with worms and other grubs as they struggled back into darkness.
Looking ahead, I saw the gods standing in a circle. They were all on equal levels. Every immortal for themselves. The guardians were all there as well, standing at the sides of their gods, looking ready to defend their charge, though still reluctant to fight the people that they'd seen as their allies for so long.
I knew how they felt. Back in training, we were taught by the Great One to always negotiate peace before it came to war.
We'd tried that.
Unfortunately, the gods were beyond reason at this point, It would take a near-tragedy at the very least to snap them out of their paranoia-driven rages. Watching closely, I saw them each eyeing one another, bodies tense and finger flexing around their weapons.
My attention was suddenly attracted by a single falling leaf, swirling in the breeze. It wasn't the only leaf in the park, but it was the only one in the circle. The only thing separating each of the gods from destroying each other. I didn't like the sound of that.
It was also, of course, the breaking point. As soon as that leaf hit the grass, everything happened.
Ares sprung forward, waving his axe just as my father, Zeus, Athena, and Hermes engaged in an aggressive tackle pile. An earthquake shook the park as they hit the ground.
Something silver flew past me. It was Artemis, who quickly met up with her win, Apollo, on the battlefield. I saw her mouth moving and knew that she was trying to reason with him, but couldn't make out her exact words. Unfortunately, he didn't seem to be interested in listening.
He began to attack Artemis, a sword in his hands and, even though he didn't seem as comfortable with a sword as he was with his bow and arrows, he was still quite good. So good, in fact, that Artemis was forced to pull her hunting knives to block his strikes.
Helping their mistress, the hunters perched in trees all around the park, firing arrows into the melee of gods. Their aim was impeccable as always, striking the guardians in their legs or feet, otherwise making them unable to walk, and therefore fight. The gods received punctures in every chink in their armours, armpits, hips, knees; pretty soon they all were beginning to look like ferocious porcupines.
Much to my sorrow, the gods, obviously, didn't like this treatment, and so attacked the hunters, throwing spears or knives back into the foliage that kept my charge's followers hidden. Every time a weapon hit their mark, I saw a silver body fall, stained red with blood. Every time, my heart twinged, but I was reminded of something. The sooner this was over, the fewer lives are lost. We still have time.
I made my way into the fight, finding the most destructive-looking area. Pretty soon, I found myself face to face with my father. No longer was he the kind, understanding man I looked up to. Now, he was a horrendous monster.
"You dare stand against me? You will choose to fight alongside your mistress rather than your own father?" he growled.
"Yes, father," I replied calmly, knowing that he wasn't in the right mindset. No matter what I said to him, he wouldn't change. He was too driven by anger to see reason. Might as well not make him any angrier.
I went with him, blow for blow, just barely fighting back against his rage-induced strength. The power behind his attacks made my arms tremble, muscles screaming in defeat while my brain roared with adrenaline.
I would not lose.
I could not lose.
I-
Wait.
What was that?
I turned my head, instincts reacting just fast enough to dodge another of my father's jabs as my eyes searched the crowd.
What had I just heard?
What was going to happen?
Suddenly, everything was in slow motion. I saw the power building up in Zeus' hands.
I saw it building in Ares'.
Both gods had their cold, malicious eyes focused on Artemis, my mistress. She was still locked in combat with Apollo, her knives crossed to withstand the strength he was putting into a downward cop with his broadsword.
The beams of red and white energy flew forwards, uncontrollable power bursting out from them in sparks towards the only reason for my continued existence. A single word had just the amount of time to leave my lips.
"Artemis!"
Her head turned, not fast enough.
Something inside me broke. Something that I thought had repaired itself a long time ago. It was a glass ball, shattering into a million pieces in my gut, shards splattering everywhere.
My body moved on its own, legs pumping underneath me. The grass under my feet barely had time to bend under my boots before the next step was taken, hurricane winds powering me forward.
My vision blurred as my hands hit the cushioned fluff of her parka, the frizz of fur around her hood. My momentum was transferred into her body and suddenly, she was at least twenty feet away, the ground making a path of memory from her movement. She stumbled, but remained upright, quickly turning her head to look back at me. Her eyes widened
I had only enough time to smile at her - she was safe - before pain exploded around me. Her warning - her wide eyes - hadn't registered soon enough.
All I knew was that my body was moving again, in another direction. Not all of it, though. I felt my left hand go somewhere else. Huh? And my knee. Why was it numb all of a sudden? I felt pain everywhere, even in my ears, but my left knee was numb.
I hit the ground, still moving, and my body skid probably ten feet across the park, dirt and gravel scraping the flesh off of my palms, cheek, and forehead.
There was a shrill ring in my ears, and I felt a hand on my cheek, but blood was running into my eyes, blinding me. All movement stopped, and as I blinked, I saw Artemis' red hair fluttering in the air above me.
Was she crying? I couldn't tell. Her whole upper half was shaking, or maybe that was me. Maybe I was shaking. I looked into her eyes, rolling over slightly to smile at her. She was safe. That was good.
My soul felt like it was floating, and then, I was gone.
*First Person Point of View ~ Artemis*
"Artemis!"
I turned. What was that?
It was Percy. His eyes were wide with panic, arm up, blocking his father's blade. He was in a fight of his own. Why was he worried about me? I can handle myself.
I was about to turn my focus back to the matter at hand, my battle with Apollo, when I noticed Percy move. He was running straight for me, abandoning the fight with his father.
What was going on?
Before I could even finish my thought, I felt his hands pushing me. Displaced twenty feet, I could finally see what was happening. Ares and my father, Zeus, had placed an attack, separate at first, but joined together and the beam was heading straight for Percy.
My eyes widened. I tried to warn him, but I was far too slow. The light engulfed him.
"Percy!" I cried out, my voice so similar to his cry of panic earlier. Running towards him, I saw his body blown back by the blast, landing in the dirt with a heavy thud and then skidding painfully along the length of the park.
My feet carried me to his side, and a gasp of horror escaped my lips. He was barely anything anymore. There was only a stump left of his left forearm, and his kneecap was blown clean off of his left leg. Burns covered the entirety of his body, small fires eating away at his uniform.
"Percy..." I said, falling to my knees beside him. He looked like a war victim. He looked like all of those men that I had to watch kill each other in their great, pointless wars.
I couldn't hear anything, which drew my eyes up for half a second, seeing that the gods were all frozen. They'd stopped fighting. My brothers, sisters, father, uncles, everyone had stopped, turned, and was staring guiltily towards my guardian and me.
We shouldn't have even been a part of this battle. We were only trying to keep the peace.
I wasn't blind. I'd seen my hunters fall. I knew that there were those who hadn't survived their injuries, and I knew that there were those who were still lying, dying with no way to save them. They weren't meant to be here, either.
It was my fault that they were dead.
It was my family's war, my family's problems.
I told them to fight. To be heroes. To save the world.
It was my fault.
I didn't even know that I was crying until I looked back down at Percy again, feeling a hand on my cheek. His skin was rough, both from work and from the burns that now adorned nearly the entirety of his body. His palm was wet with blood, but at the moment, I didn't care. I laid one of my hands on his cheek, while the other held his hand to mine.
"Percy," I sobbed, tears falling down my cheeks, leaving tear trails, the salty liquid exploring the bloodstained expanse that was my face.
He smiled.
Why?
Why would he smile? He was dying. He must be in so much pain, but he was smiling. How could he possibly manage it?
As if he'd read my mind, he answered, his voice so raspy that one would think that it was merely two pieces of sandpaper scraping together. "You're... okay..."
I sobbed again, causing my whole body to lurch.
He was right.
I was okay, and he wasn't... because he saved me.
It should have been me lying here, dying, blood pooling around my body. I would always come back, over time, but Percy... he'd already gotten his second chance. He was still just a mortal. Once was lucky, twice was impossible.
I briefly tore my hand away from Percy's to wipe my eyes of tears, only managing to smear the droplets with blood. As I did so, I felt his hand fall away from my cheek, not strong enough to stay without my fingers supporting it.
"Percy?" I asked, grabbing his hand mid-fall.
It was cold.
How had I not noticed that before?
Why was it cold?
Was he dead?
No. He couldn't be dead.
Why?
Percy.
Percy!
My thoughts were running rampant. My family was around me now, Athena and Apollo were wrapped around me, comforting me, but I didn't feel them. I was looking down at Percy's face. His skin blackened by flames, his smile frozen, and his eyes staring lovingly - lifelessly - into mine.
The battle was over, but within me, war reigned supreme.
***
TO BE CONTINUED...
Word Count: 2853
Average Words Per Chapter: 1761
Word Total: 29, 930
Posted: Saturday, November 11th, 2017
~CSP2708~
*Dylan_Walts*