Percy POV:
Nyx? What was Nyx doing here? Then it struck me. She must have made up some story about the center of Tartarus just so that we would come here. Apollyon would then know exactly where we would be headed, making it easier for him to find and kill us.
Did she really betray us? She had seemed to sincere about helping us when we had talked to her, but now I guess she never really was. There was no way that we would ever get out of here alive now, but what did it matter. Nyx's betrayal would be the end of the universe as we know it and there wasn't anything we could do to stop it. I squeezed Artemis' hand to tell her that she had been a good partner in crime, hoping that she got the message. I felt her squeeze back.
"Nyx? What are you doing here?" I asked, although I already knew.
"Did you really think I would follow a feeble demigod such as yourself. I'm surprised you even believed what I said when you stumbled upon my palace. It was so easy to convince you that I was doing the right thing," She sneered. It hurt knowing that the only person I thought could have helped us, had betrayed us.
"How could you?! This is about the future of our universe and you don't even care!" Artemis screeched at her.
"I do not care because I will gain more power than ever before. Helping Apollyon gives me the opportunity to take what was rightfully mine," she said haughtily.
"This is unbelievable. I should have expected a primordial to succumb to power. We should not have trusted such a being," Artemis muttered to me, so that only I could hear. Event though she had betrayed us, it would not be wise to insult her openly. It would only cause anger on her part and death on ours.
"Well then, what do you want with us. There isn't much we can do against the 'most powerful being in the universe'. So not just kill us right now and get it over with," I shouted at Apollyon.
"You're going to die alright, but not by my hand. You'll die by your precious little brother's," He said, his lips contorted into a disturbing looking smile. Apollyon was enjoying playing with the people who had been so much of a problem for him.
"Nico, you will kill the boy, but leave the girl. Make sure that she watches him die, but don't let her interfere," He ordered.
Nico's now black eyes almost seemed to grow a little brighter with excitement. The body of Nico brought out it's sword from scabbard on it's back and started to slowly walk towards the us.
"Artemis, he told him not to harm you, so you just stand back. I'll handle this myself," I said, pushing her behind me protectively. The only thought on my mind was defending her. I didn't care if I had to die, but she would get out of here safely and inform the Olympian council.
"No way, I'm going to help you. If Apollyon has somebody taking control of his body, then the being must be very strong. You won't be able to beat him alone, trust me. Plus, he told Nico not to harm me, so I should be ok. You'll just be the distraction," She said.
"Wow, so I'm the noble sacrifice?"
"Yep."(not popping the p because that's annoying)
I'll be one good noble sacrifice then. The best they come.
As Nico approached, I could see the glee in his eyes at the prospect of killing us, and was reminded once again that this wasn't him. This put me at a major disadvantage though, because not only is this new person a lot more skilled, but I really don't want to hurt Nico in the process. If his body is destroyed or damaged, then Apollyon would just dispose of it and find a new puppet to put under his control.
I unsheathed Frostbite and gave a test swing to make sure that the balance was correct. I could always alter it with my powers over water. The blade gleaming and the tip ended in a point no thicker than the width of a sheet of paper.
Artemis stood behind me with her bow in her hands ready to bring it up at a moments notice. An arrow wasn't on the string at the moment, but I knew that once she drew the string back, an arrow would be there in the blink of an eye.
"Hello, Big Brother. I'll have fun killing you. Don't think you're little goddess friend will be able to help you," the 'Nico' said in a distorted voice. It was no better than nails on a chalkboard or a knife scraping on a bottle.
"You are not my little brother," I growled.
It just smirked and brought up it's sword for the first strike. I instinctively raised my own sword to block, but I hadn't realized the speed of which his would move. He swung at me, but instead of at my head where I expected, he feinted and stabbed at my stomach instead. I felt it graze my side and warm blood immediately gushed out of the wound.
I ignored it and sliced my sword towards his exposed neck, but was shocked to find that a second later, he held the blade with two of his fingers just a couple centimeters away from his face. He twisted his hand and I felt the blade jerk a little. I looked back and my eyes widened in amazement and a little fear as I saw that he had snapped the tip clean off. I now held a sword that was half the original size, the other half still in his two fingers.
As he lifted his sword to finish me off, I prayed to every god I knew of in hopes that one would be able to help me. I waited for the blow, but none came. I slowly opened my eyes and saw that Nico was staggering back with an arrow implanted in his right hip. I guess there was a goddess that could help me. Artemis.
I looked back only to see her flying through the air ten feet and slamming into a rock. She struggled to get up, but undead hands rose from the ground and held her in place, rendering her useless for the remainder of this battle, which was not looking too bright for either of us.
"Artemis!" I yelled. I turned back to 'Nico' and glared at him. He just had an amused look on his face and dismissed my look of fury.
"Now that the pest is gone, we can really fight."
"You want a real fight? Well I'll give you a real fight!" I shouted at him. I was too angry at him to even think about what I was saying. There was no way that I could ever keep up with the skill that was being displayed in front of me. Not in swordsmanship, not in strength, not even in godly powers. There was not way I could survive unless I found a way to utilize my smarts... Which were pretty much nonexistent. So, I was screwed.
He advanced on me again, his sword twirling all around his body. He was like a hurricane of blades and I couldn't even distinguish where his sword actually was. I managed to block most of the strikes, but some broke through my defenses. By the time he was done with his onslaught, I was covered in cuts all over my body. My clothes were so soaked in blood that you couldn't even tell what the original color was.
While I was struggling to stay alive, 'Nico' was looking like it was the best day of his life. There was not a single mark on him. In fact, he hadn't even broken a sweat yet. His smile was as wide as ever, and his eyes showed only a cruel delight in their murky pools of darkness.
In a final effort to save my own ass, I threw my hands out and channeled as much power into the as possible. Fire burst free from both hands and enveloped him while skeletal hands held him in place as I roasted him alive. Unexpectedly, I didn't hear the screams of pain that I had anticipated, only mirthless laughter booming from the center of the fire.
I let it dissipate and there he stood, perfectly fine. Not even his clothes were singed by the scorching heat of Hephaestus and Hestia's blessing. The undead hands had been commanded to let go and grab me, as his command over the undead overruled my own. There was really no hope for me now.
"No more tricks up your sleeve now eh, Jackson. I have to say, the fire and the undead were certainly a surprise to me. I barely managed to block it before I was burnt to a crisp. No matter, now you die."
He approached me and I gave a fearful glance up at him, seeing his sword poised above my stomach. Just as he was about to thrust the sword down and end my life, he stumbled back and held his head, screaming in pain. His eyes went back to normal for just a split second before switching back to it's original black. There was no malice or hate in them, just the dark brown that I was so used to. The real Nico was fighting for control over the body. Maybe the thought of killing me was enough to give him the will to fight back.
His eyes flickered a couple more times, before finally settling on black, but I knew he was still in there, somewhere. 'Nico' unsteadily rose to his feet, his sword back in his hands.
"That little demigod. Now that the little vermin is out of the way, I think I should just get this over with," He snarled.
Before I could even react, or the real Nico could fight for control again, he shoved the blade of the sword into my stomach and let got, pinning me to the ground under my body. I could already see black on the edges of my vision and the world was fading around me. 'Nico' looked down at me in contempt and spat on my body before walking back to his master.
My head fell back and the last thing I saw before everything went black was Artemis, still restrained by the skeletons, with a terrified and panicked look on her face.
Artemis POV:
I watched helplessly as 'Nico' brought his sword down and stabbed it through Percy's stomach. I tried to scream, but the hand over my mouth prevented my from doing so. I could only look on in horror as Percy's body became limp and his eyes slowly closed. He gave me once last look of sorrow, before his head went completely slack and dropped to the ground.
He couldn't be dead. He just couldn't. He was the strongest demigod of them all. If he was dead, then what chance did we have. It wasn't just that, but he was my friend and seeing him so broken hurt me more than I cared to admit.
"Good job, 'Nico'. You have done your job well. Now I will leave Nyx to finish them off. Bring me the key when you are done," Apollyon instructed.
Nyx nodded to him and Apollyon and 'Nico' disappeared in a flash of black light, leaving Nyx alone with an almost-dead demigod and a defenseless goddess. With a snap of her fingers we would be gone from existence with no chance of fighting back. She leisurely walked towards me and flicked her hand. The arms around me exploded into fine dust. I jumped up and scrambled away from her with my knives drawn.
"Do not come any closer!" I shouted.
She just sighed," I guess this is the reaction I anticipated. Look, I'm sorry about what I did, but I was forced to do it."
"Do you think I'm stupid?"
"No, I'm telling the truth. I realized after you left that the key was not exactly where I thought it was," She said.
I narrowed my eyes in suspicion.
"Fine, I swear on the Styx that I didn't truly betray you and I just used Apollyon to find you so that I could bring this information to you," She vowed. Thunder crashed above, but she wasn't struck down, meaning that she had told the truth. Slowly I lowered my knives and glowered at her. I was still not entirely trusting her as she had betrayed us.;
"Speak," I ordered. It probably wasn't the best idea to order a primordial around, but I was just too angry at her to think straight. Percy had been injured because of her. Wait. Percy!
Before she could even open her mouth, I was already sprinting away to Percy's side. He had long lost consciousness and there was a massive pool of blood around his body. The sword was still run through his body and there was a trickle of blood running out of the corner of his mouth. All in all, it wasn't the prettiest sight. Nyx came up next to me and looked grimly down at his body.
"Help him! Is the anything you can do?" I yelled frantically at her.
"I can only stop the bleeding. I'm not sure what I can do about the blood he has already lost. I'm surprised he's already alive," She said.
"Then please do it!"
"Pull the sword out and the minute I do, I will try to close the wound," She instructed.
My hands shook as they found the hilt of the sword. I tightened my grip and steeled my nerves before yanking the sword free from his stomach. I could feel it slice through eve more muscle and tissue as it came out, and his body jerked from the pain even when he was not aware of what was going on around him. His face scrunched up in a grimace, before becoming peaceful again. I'm sorry.
Nyx splayed her hand over the wound and a faint light shone through the skin before disappearing along with the wound itself. It sealed slowly and the blood stopped flowing. My hands were drenched in demigod blood, even worse, Percy's blood.
"He should be fine for the moment, but he will likely not wake anytime soon," Nyx said.
"Thank you, Nyx. I'm sorry that I didn't trust you before, but I think you understand why I acted that way towards you," I apologized.
"Don't worry, I would have acted the same way if I had been betrayed," She assured me. She turned back to Percy and lifted him from the ground like he weighed no more than a feather.
"Do you still have the tent that I gave you. I think we need to treat his wounds so that we can get moving again. I will tell you about what I found out about the key after we get inside."
I nodded and pulled the miniature tent of of my pocket, throwing it on the ground in front of me. I muttered,"μαζεύω." and watched as it grew to the size of a normal tent.
Nyx followed me inside while carrying Percy. I took her to his bedroom and she laid him on the bed.
"I think it's best if we start the healing procedure first, then talk afterwards. Better safe than sorry," She suggested. I shrugged and watched as she closed her eyes and muttered a brief incantation before opening them again.
"I do not sense anything out of the ordinary, but there may be something that I am not able to sense, so we should keep a close eye on him for the time being," She said.
"Ok, now that that's in order. Can we talk about this finding you gone through so much trouble to tell us. And why didn't we get what we were coming for while we were there? Isn't it best so that Apollyon cannot access it?"
"That is what I have been trying to tell you. The key is not here. It is does not even have anything to do with the symbol of Chaos. You see, that symbol used to be somewhere that all the immortal beings went to pray to The Creator. It has not been used for a long time, as people seem to have forgotten that Chaos does in fact exist. Back to the point, the Primordials used this as a fake location. This information was only given to the original Primordials, but it has been lost in time. The only reason I know of it now is because I was contacted in my dream by Chaos himself. Believe it or not, Apollyon would be almost too much for even The Creator to handle," Nyx explained.
I let this sink in before asking,"Then where is it if not residing somewhere in the symbol of Chaos?"
"As you know, the key does not have to take a physical form. It can be infused within somebody. And I think we have that somebody right here next to us," She said turning her head to Percy.
I looked at her disbelievingly,"You think that an all powerful object capable of trapping the most destructive being ever is inside of Percy Jackson."
"I do."
"Well, shit."
She just chuckled.
"What does this mean for Percy? Will he be in any danger that this is inside him? And how do you know that it is inside him?"
"I do not think that it will bring him any harm to have it removed from his body, but he will feel like a fundamental part of his being had been taken away because he was technically born with it. Imagine if you had your oath ripped from you and you were now forced to associate yourself and even like males. That is how he would feel."
That would definitely not feel great. If I was forced to like men, then I think I would rather spend the rest of my life stuck in Alaska.
"I guess it's not the best, but it's better than it killing him," I replied.
"Yes. We will need to get him to Olympus before Apollyon realizes that I have not come back with the key. We should have a couple days. I can use the excuse that I am torturing you before I kill you and he will most likely buy it."
"How are we going to do that? It's not like I can just teleport out of here."
She was about to respond, but suddenly Percy starting jerking around. His body was spasming and there was froth dribbling out of his mouth. Nyx and I rushed to his side and tried to help him relax, but it only made him thrash harder.
"What's wrong with him?!" I yelled desperately.
"I'm not sure!"
She held her hands over his forehead and searched him body for anything unusual before gasping loudly at what she found. This only made me even more panicked and I was on the verge of a heart attack if that was even possible for an immortal.
"What?! What's happening to him?!"
"The sword that he was stabbed with was coated with poison. From the looks of it, it's Nightshade (Guess why I used this). There is no known cure for this poison yet!"
"What can we do for him?" I asked while still trying to hold Percy down to the bed. He was a lot stronger than I was and I was having a hard time even with my godly strength.
"I can think of only one way."
"Then do it! We have to save him no matter what it takes!"
"Are you sure that you would do whatever it takes to save him?" She asked. Why was she asking me this now?
"Yes! Now do it! Please!"
"Ok, this will require that you give him a small percentage of your godly essence. It will be enough to neutralize the poison in his bloodstream," She explained.
I was too worried about Percy to even consider what she was saying before I concentrated on my soul. I reached out an pulled a small strand of the many that held all my power, and carefully tore it from the rest. I sent this strand of power into his body and watched as it glowed slightly before sinking into his skin.
"Good. Now there is nothing more to be done. We just have to sit back and wait. Either it works or it doesn't," Nyx said softly. I nodded slowly and sat back in my chair. My heart was racing and I was extremely concerned for Percy's well-being. The fluttery feeling in my chest floated back up, but I repressed it. This was not the time to be thinking about those types of things.
"I must explain something to you that I did not have the time to before. By giving him a piece of your essence, you are essentially creating an mental and emotional bond between yourselves."
"Wait what?! How come you didn't tell me before?" I almost shouted at her. She just shrugged.
"Well, you did say that you were willing to do anything to save him and as I said before, I didn't really have the time," She said.
"But this is big! Now Percy and I are bonded and we didn't even have a choice in the matter."
"It was either this or he's dead. Which would you rather have. It is not too late to remove your essence and let him die."
"No!" I said almost instantaneously without a thought," We will not let Percy die."
"That is what I thought," She said," I will leave you two now. Once Percy wakes up, I will explain what this 'bond' entails so that both of you can hear it at the same time. I will probably stay for a couple nights to make sure that he is ok, but after that, you are on your own again. I won't abandon you, I'll just stay in the shadows, like I do best."
I watched her go, but stopped her just before she was out of sight.
"Nyx," I called out. I saw her stop in her place and wait for me to go on," Thank you."
"You are most welcome," She replied, before she moved out of view and down the stairs.
I turned back to look at Percy. By now he had stopped thrashing and looked tranquil sleeping there. I gently raised my hand and caressed his cheek tenderly. I could sense everything about him.
I could feel the beating of his heart, the rhythm of his breathing, every thought, every emotion, every single feeling in every part of his body. And most of all, I could feel his loneliness. The deep everlasting sorrow that the war had still left on his mind.
"I'm sorry, Percy. I promise I'll try to make it up to you. I don't know how, but I will," I whispered softly to him. Even though he was asleep, I could tell that he had heard me.
The man in front of me had gone through so much just to get here. He was deserving of everything that anybody could offer him. No other demigod or even god for that matter could ever compare to him in any way. I looked down at him. The one emotion that I had stopped feeling so many years ago bubbled up. And I realized it was love. Love for Percy Jackson.
(End of Chapter 18)
the guy who loves all gunpla: Thanks!
ghostchilli666: Thank you so much! I already you, but I'm not sure if you know how to see them. You need to go to your profile page and it should be there.
SPQR-Alan: Yeah, sorry this story is going to be so short. It will probably be about 55-60 thousand words by the end. I'm not sure if I'm going to be making a sequel, but I'm leaning towards no. I can assure you that I will definitely be writing more after this though!
MasterTrident: Thank you for clarifying. I changed it.
sidaqlotay07: Yes, I'm glad you like the 'originalness'. I'm definitely doing that on purpose and I'm making it as original as possible.
A.N: This chapter might be a little disappointing compared to my other ones, but you guys can judge that. I felt like the wording for a lot of the scenes was a little awkward, but that might just be me. Which chapter do you guys think was the best so far? I'm curious.
P.S: I'm sorry again for the sort of late update. I think that I am going to be updating less often from now on. Probably once a week, maybe twice if I have time. I just think that it's a little much to update every three days. I hope you guys are not too mad about this and are still enjoying the story so far.