(Beginning is just a repeat of the last chapter except in Artemis' POV)
Artemis POV:
I was so relieved when Percy and I flashed back into the throne room. We were just one step away from ending this. The gods greeted us with excited smiles and I could tell that they were thinking the exact same thing I was at the moment.
"Did you get it?" Asked Poseidon said excitedly. Percy and I grinned at him and Percy drew the tree from his pocket. Every single god in the room could tell that there was immense power hidden in the miniature sized tree that was currently sitting in Percy's outstretched hand. Their eyes widened comically, but soon, they were almost jumping for joy. I had never seen the Council look so lively in all my immortal life.
"Well? How do we activate this stupid thing? Let's do it quickly so we can get this whole problem off our hands," Apollo said as he held up the blue glowing cube.
"If the book was correct, then all we need to do is transfer the power inside the bark to the key and then it should work," Athena said.
"Then what are we waiting for? I want to party!" Yelled Dionysus enthusiastically. The gods chuckled at his cheerfulness, but couldn't keep their own excitement at bay. I had to admit, even I was in the mood to 'party', as Dionysus put it, something which I had not done for a very very long time.
Percy gave the tree to me and I flashed up to my throne.
"The transfer should be pretty easy. We'll just need a lot of power because this thing has way more power than any one of us," Athena said. She snapped her fingers and the key and the tree seemed to levitate, gravitating towards each other in the center of the room.
"Now for the hard part," she said. All of us gods focused our entire beings on this one task, for if we failed, then we would have no beings at all. The two objects moved closer and closer together. I could almost see the power flowing through each, fitting together like two pieces of a puzzle. But just as they were about to make contact, an explosion blasted throughout the throne room, obliterating the walls and throwing everybody backward.
I sat up in my throne, groaning and glancing warily around the room for the source of the explosion. My eyes settled on a single figure in the middle of the room, and I had to squint to see who it was. NO! It can't be him!
"Did you really think that those wards would hold me away. I just had to snap my fingers and they disappeared," Apollyon said, his face twisted into a grotesque 'smile'. The shadows around him seemed to warp the lower half of his body and ended in wisps at his waist. He had a fearsome looking helmet atop his head with horns and bright eyes, burning with fire from hell itself. All the gods including me had a terrified look on their face. It was almost like our worst nightmares come true, except even worse.
"Now, where is that key...," He said. His eyes darted around the room, surveying everything and everyone around him. Finally, his black orbs settled on the glowing object in the middle of the room. He had an unmasked look of glee on his shrouded face.
"Ah, yes. The only object capable of holding me captive for eternity is now mine. That mere tree will not save you now. You're only hope would be for your little hero to run in and save your sorry asses, but I'm going to make sure that doesn't happen."
I watched helplessly as he stalked towards Percy. Percy had the most scared expression on his face that I had ever seen wear before. An unbridled fear of this mysterious abomination before him. Apollyon grabbed the back of Percy's shirt, holding him up as if he weighed less than a feather.
"Yes, he won't be there to save you anymore," He said addressing us. I desperately wanted to run down and stab that bastard in the gut so I could free Percy. Even if I died, then Percy would be free of his grasps. It would be worth it if I could give Percy even a couple more seconds of freedom.
I was just about to summon my knives when I heard a deep masculine voice in my head.
Do not, my love. Do not risk your life for me, Percy said sternly in my mind. I was too fixated on saving him that I hadn't even realized what he had referred to me as.
Despite what Percy had told me, there was no way that I would ever allow harm to come to him. He was my one lifeline. The single person that I had left. Without him, I was nothing. So I summoned my knives anyways and charged the creature in front of me in a hopeless attempt to free my hero, my savior, my love, but before I could even run ten steps, Apollyon smirked at me and gave me a wink, before vanishing along with Percy in a column of shadows.
I watched in horror as remanents of his shadow travel floated to the ground and dissolved into fine black dust. Almost immediately, I was hit with immense emotional pain, so intense that I couldn't even stand up straight. Once that first tear broke free, the rest followed in an unbroken stream. I dropped to my knees pressing my palms to the floor, as I began sobbing, shards of my broken soul flowing out of my eyes in the form of liquid.
The rest of the gods looked on in shock, many of them had tears in their own eyes as well, but it was nothing compared to what I was feeling at the moment. The outside world was fuzzy around me and I couldn't hear anything as I felt myself slipping into a state of depression and heartbreak. I was barely aware of the warmth of Hestia's embrace and the fiery droplets falling down her own face. It was like I was completely dysfunctional, already lost in the land of misery. More figures gathered at the edge of my vision, but I couldn't make any sense of who they were. Like I was floating a mile away from my body.
By now, the front of my shirt was completely soaked by my unrelenting tears, but it didn't make a single difference to me. I could have been in the center of a volcano, and I wouldn't feel the heat, for my tears would hold it at bay.
I faintly felt somebody pick me up and hold me close to their body, flashing me off somewhere. I felt them place me on a bed, pulling the covers over my head before walking away, out of my view. The lights were turned off around me, although it didn't matter because it was like the lights were out already. In my conscience.
I didn't know how long I lay there, but eventually, my body ran out of liquid to cry. I slowly let sleep overcome my sense and my consciousness ebbed, but not before I prayed to the higher being that Percy would come back to me safely. Please, he is everything to me. Please, let him be alright and let him come back to me. I don't know what I would do without him. And then my mind went into free fall, swirling with the beautiful chaos of a new dream. But this chaos was dark and murky, not beautiful in any way, shape, or form.
Dark faces shrouded my vision and obscured my view. Haunting images swirled past my line of sight before disappearing in the peripheral of my vision, only to be replaced by one even more disturbing and dreadful. My Hunters lying motionless on the ground with wounds on every inch of their bodies. My family bloodies and battered, at the brink of the endless abyss of the afterlife. A million ways that Percy could die.
Suddenly, everything disbursed like a flock of crows being chased by a hawk, only to be replaced by something even worse. Percy lay by my feet, blood coating his body like clothing. My eyes widened in horror as I tried to help him to his feet and hug him, but found that I couldn't. I was forced to watch him lie on the floor dying, all alone in the dark. I tried to call out to him, but nothing happened as I attempted to force my mouth to form words. It was like I was watching a movie, sitting in the back row of the theater. My body wanted desperately to cry out to the man on the screen, but of course, he wouldn't hear me.
Percy groaned and my face relaxed at the fact that he was still alive, but instantly, it went slack again, paling rapidly. Behind Percy, the door slid open creating an abrasive screeching noise as it inched open to reveal a dark figure cloaked in blackness.
Again, I tried to shout out to Percy, hoping beyond hope that he would hear me, but to no avail. I watched in dismay as the figure strode to Percy's limp body and pulled out an object that looked strangely like the key we had spent so much time trying to activate, only to have it stolen from our very grasp, along with our savior and my love. He roughly grabbed Percy by his hair and lifted his head. Percy didn't so much as flinch, as he seemed to be teetering on the edge of unconsciousness. He was immediately brought back though as the figure behind me pressed the object to Percy's bare back.
Percy's body jerked and he started spasming in pain, an agonizing scream escaping his lips. I could hear a hissing noise coming from under the glowing object pressed firmly against his back. The figure's lip curled back and I could tell that he was clearly enjoying his little torture session.
My eyes brimmed with tears and I felt my body shaking in pain. Not the physical pain the Percy was experiencing now, but emotional and mental pain. Just listening to his cry of pain made my chest burn and my heart shatter.
Suddenly, the figure seemed to sense my presence and looked up at me with a sick smile on his face, not worried about the blood on his hands or the screams coming from the man beneath him. And my vision went black, but Percy's howls were still echoing in my mind. It was not something that I would ever forget.
I abruptly sat up in my bed, gasping and, like countless times earlier that day, starting crying loudly.
Percy POV:
Apollyon transported me to a dark room that looked infested with rats. He shoved me to the ground in the room and sneered at me.
"What are you to do now? You have nobody to help you. This room is god proof and no powers will work in here. I think I will have some fun with you before I murder you just like I will your family," He snarled threateningly. I just glared up at him in defiance. I would not give in to his words, no matter how much fear it sent rushing through my body. Apollyon just smirked and turned around, walking to the door and pulling it open. Before he walked out, however, he turned back.
"You know, if you join me, then there will be no need for any of this. You could save yourself, your family, and your friends the pain of watching you die. If you join me, then you could save them all," He said calmly.
"I will never join you!" I screeched at him with as much conviction in my voice as I could manage.
"Well, just think about it," He said before walking out slamming the metal door behind him. I could hear the locks clicking and a heavy bolt sliding into place, obscuring my only means of escape.
I sighed. If I was going to be here a while, then at least I could try to get as comfortable as possible, though that was slightly hard considering I was in a dark room with no windows, no powers, and no communication to the outside world. I looked around the cell and noticed something chained to the wall next to me. I took a closer examination before jolting backward in shock. The skeleton of another unfortunate victim was shackled to the wall beside me, looking me straight in the face with its hollow eyes.
My body shuddered at the thought of becoming a skeleton on the wall of Apollyon's secret dungeon. The gods wouldn't know what happened to me, except the fact that I was dead. Artemis wouldn't know what happened to me. Right now, the person I cared about the most was Artemis. I hoped that she was not too devastated by the fact that I was captured. If I was to die right here, then I want her to be able to move on and have a happy life. I'm just one mortal and compared to the lifetime of a god, I was just a small pesky fly, a nuisance.
There was nothing I could do about it though, so I just rested my head against the wall and waited.
(Line break)
I didn't know how long I was slouched against the wall, next to the skeleton, before the door swung open again to reveal the imposing figure of Apollyon. When his eyes set on me, he grinned.
"I see you made yourself at home. I would enjoy your last couple of minutes of peace before we begin our little session," He said, malice dripping from his voice.
I snorted," I would hardly call this peace."
"Ha! Compared to what we are about to do to you, this is heaven. You will feel pain worse than you have ever experienced before until you are begging for death, but we won't give it to you. Now, shall we begin?"
His words made me slightly uneasy, but I resolved myself with steely determination. He had no idea what I had been through. There was no way that this torture could be worse than what I had gone through before. I could handle it.
"Try your worst."
Apollyon sneered at me, before beckoning behind him for somebody to come into the room. Another figure walked into the room and I immediately recognized him as Nico. Or at least, the body of Nico. His eyes were still black and he still had the chilling feeling attached to him. He glared at me with cold eyes harder than diamonds. I could tell that he wanted to hurt me. Badly.
"I will leave him to you," Apollyon said addressing Nico. Nico nodded and waited for Apollyon to walk out and slam the door behind him to move. He pulled out an object out of his pocket and instantly realized what it was. He held the key in his hand, glowing and pulsing with power.
"What are you going to do with that, huh?" I taunted him.
"The key is so powerful that no mortal being can even be in contact with it, or else it will cause immense pain and overload of power. The mortal could potentially die from too much exposure," He said calmly as if he was talking about which ingredients he liked in his blue cookies.
I could only stare as he strode towards me and shoved me onto my back. He tore away my shirt to reveal the bare skin, and jabbed the object so that it came in contact with the skin briefly. Even though he had only grazed that skin, it burned like a thousand hot nails jabbing their way into my skin, each with enough pain to make the Styx pale in comparison. I almost cried out, but I managed to keep it in. I wouldn't give him the satisfaction of making me scream. He just smirked and slammed the entire face of the object onto my skin.
Agony seared through my very being and I could feel it latching onto my soul, slashing at it and causing me even more pain. It felt like my essence was being ripped free from my mortal vessel and torn up. It hurt almost as much as a stubbed toe or a jammed thumb. Despite my attempts to hold in my scream, I couldn't do anything but howl at the immense pain I was feeling. It felt like an eternity before it was suddenly lifted off my back and instant relief flooded through my body, but it was quickly overcome by more torture as the key was placed back on my skin.
What felt like hours was probably minutes or even seconds. Nico took the object off my skin and stepped back with a satisfied look on his face, but there was something else written on his features. It looked surprisingly close to regret and guilt, but I couldn't be sure.
"Is that the best you can do?" I gasped, still recovering.
"That was only about two seconds. Would you like me to stick it on your back so that it never comes off? In a matter of minutes, you would have already lost your insanity and I don't want that to happen before I have more fun with you."
As he said this, the regret shot to the front of his expression and superimposed the sickening smile on his face. Like last time, his eyes seemed to flicker before turning back to their original black, and I knew he was still in there. It gave me a sliver of hope that I might be able to get my little brother back. That I might be able to get myself out of this mess. I just wanted to see Arty one more time.
(End of Chapter 22)
the guy who loves all gunpla: Thank you! I'm glad your back and reading my story. I was starting to wonder where you had gone because you're usually one of the first ones to review my chapters. I hope you liked all the new content that I posted while you were gone. How did you like China? I haven't been there so I wouldn't know what anything is like over there. As for the poll, all you need to do is go to my profile page and at the top, it should say something like, "Poll! Vote now!" or something like that. If that doesn't work, then be sure to pm me and I can try to help you figure it out.
Wulfkin17: Thank you for that. I kind of needed it. I do realize that I do get a little worried about what you guys think and I should probably stop, but I can't really help it.
Sidaqlotay07: Thank you for that information. I searched it up and each site had different information, so I got lazy and just looked for greek names to assign to the Hesperides.
Guest: You should really create an account! I really like your idea and I'm sorry that I wasn't able to use it. I have to say that I haven't really read many PercyXPiper fics, but I'm sure they're as great as you say they are. I won't say what type of ending this story will have, so you'll just have to read and find out! Sorry, I'm such a tease.
A.N: Sorry for the short chapter this week, but I felt that this was a good place to end it. The next chapter will be one of the final ones and after that, I think it's just the epilogue or one or two more chapters before this story is complete! I have to say, I'm a little sad that this story is coming to an end, but not all is lost because I will definitely be writing another story afterward. I really hope that you guys have been enjoying this story and I hope that my first fanfic was not a complete disappointment xD.
P.S (IMPORTANT): I still need a lot more votes on my poll, so please please please go to my profile page and take your pick on what you think the next pairing should be!