I have returned after a pretty long and unexpected series of events. I am determined to finish this story however, and if there are periods where I unexpectedly disappear; expect me to return one day.
Or you could follow me on twitter with my fanfiction name as my handle and I'll give updates about my progress there…
Why do I keep putting so many plugs everywhere? I have no idea, but it's actually quite fun so I won't stop.
Anyway, getting back on track. The story will pick up a lot of traction from this point onwards and will not slow down until the end. Everything so far has been very critical, but from this point onwards things get a little more interesting.
Things will start to become a lot clearer and straight to the point as the war continues to loom over their heads, but I refuse to give away anything until it's been published in an update, so keep reading if you want to know more.
Lastly, I'd like to say thank you to all those who've reviewed, I always love a good review and you guys rarely leave a lot of them. I appreciate to hear you opinions and thoughts so don't be afraid to take a few moments to leave one!
Like I said, things will be moving a lot faster from this point onwards, so prepare yourselves for the unfolding of Hope's Champion!
Don't worry I hate myself for that last line too.
Disclaimer: I do not own PJO, just the plot!
The sound of leaves crunching under heavy footfalls squirmed its way alongside the chorus of noise which echoed throughout the forest. As the leaves continued to utter their contempt at being stepped upon, their abuser, ignorantly, trudged on.
The heavy footfalls belonged to a man garbed in a thin cloak which hung loosely from his body. The cloak was darkened and, under the shade of the trees he flickered from view. His attempt at concealment was only marred by the fact that his tan skin and green eyes remained unobstructed from view by his downed hood.
His jaw twitched as his lips continued to fiddle with the thin piece of wood which rolled from the left corner of his lips to the right.
"When will this little game of cat and mouse end, Perseus?"
The vegetation silenced beneath his feet as he paused.
The leaves before him danced away in the breeze, eager to escape the dreadful giant who, now, stood still.
Percy chuckled lightly, shaking his bowing head as he brought his right hand up to meet his mouth halfway; plucking the toothpick from his parted lips.
"Perhaps when the mouse manages to escape the claws of the cat?" The demigod retorted, a wisp of a smirk edging its way on his lips as he stood upright turning on his heels to face his Patron; much to the continued squelching protest of the leaves trapped beneath him.
He took a moment to even his breathing once his eyes had finished trailing up her body, finally settling to stare into her usually warm brown eyes.
This time they stared back at him with narrowed frustration.
Percy's smirk shifted into a smile as he let his hand pocket the toothpick.
"You look lovely as always." He complimented, earning an indignant huff from the goddess who began to quickly eliminate the distance between them with purposeful strides.
Hestia's lips twitched from their steady thin line into the barest trace of a frown as she stood a few inches away from her champion.
"If you wanted to escape the cat, Perseus," She began, her hard eyes scanning what little tan skin on his face she could see now that the short hairs which ran along his cheeks and jaw grew too dark for her to see through.
"Then you should at least pull your hood up."
Hestia's eyes quickly flickered to his, brown and green swarming the other as they stared in quiet conversation.
Percy sighed into the subtle breeze as Hestia's left hand rose and slithered through the hair on his cheek. His eyes closed under the simple contact as he let his own arms slip around her waist, drawing the goddess closer to his body.
Leaning his forehead on the goddess', Percy whispered, "Maybe I didn't want to escape the cat this time…"
The goddess smiled lightly as their embrace tightened, relishing in the warmth which was shared through their contact. She let her right hand find its way on the demigod's untouched, hair-lined cheek before her it joined her left as they fell to his chin.
Hestia tilted her forehead back ever so gently before leaning forward once more, this time to brush her lips on his.
Percy shivered as her soft plump lips dragged themselves across his before he moved to deepen the kiss.
Hestia smirked as she held his head firmly in place, letting her brown eyes flicker open as she let the air replace the touch of her lips.
"Now where is it exactly you are heading this time?" The goddess whispered, her warm breath tickling his lips.
Percy's eyes tightened under her breath before they flickered open.
As he stared down at the goddess before him, his green eyes vividly displaying their annoyance with her actions, he pouted lightly as he let his arms pull her body closer to his.
"Just out for a little walk," Percy began, trying to let his head drift to avoid the intense stare of his Patron but found his attempts futile under the firm grip of the goddess.
"I grow tired of these games, champion." Hestia's eyes hardened further, "Your uncles have informed me that they are unable to find their own children; and suddenly you are taking a walk through the darkest part of the forest with such attrite?"
The goddess huffed, letting her eyes quickly roam around the forest before quickly snapping back to the demigod before her.
"Where were you heading?"
Percy's easy smile never left his face, his arms never left her waist.
"Maybe I wanted to get away from the eyes of the uncles to have the attention of my Patron." Percy suggested huskily, but was met with a heavy hand to his chest in response.
"Two years of planning!" Hestia cried as he stumbled back under her godly strength, his arms untangling from her waist as he did so, "Two full years of planning against the biggest internal threat the gods have ever faced and you continue to try to throw it all away for a pathetic little sparring match!"
Percy found his balance, sighing as he allowed himself to stand straight once more, his right hand darting to his pocket.
Hestia closed the distance between them once more, her right hand gripping his chin tightly once again as she brought his sea green eyes to meet her brown orbs.
The goddess moved to speak, but found the words getting stuck in her throat as she saw the hidden pain in his eyes.
Her grip loosened as she let her thumb brush against his bearded cheek, apologizing in the way that gods do.
"You've made this a trying month for us Percy, for all of us."
Percy sighed.
"For two years you gods have trapped us in training, pushing us to reach godhood before the war starts, and we've been nothing but obedient." Percy paused, shrugging himself free from her grip as he turned and took a few light steps away from her.
"We learned under you, and we tried to teach you the way us mortals think and feel. We tried to use the time to have the fathers we never had but all we got was our freedom stripped away from us."
Hestia let her feet carry her behind Percy, her arms wrapping around his waist as she stood on her toes to let her head rest on his shoulder.
"We haven't seen each other in months, Hes… And Nico has to go away soon to become the king of Nightmares, Thalia is going to go dormant for a month to get her domains and I have to help the twins because their coronation is almost upon us."
Percy swivelled his body in her arms so that he could face her, allowing her to stand flat footed.
"It's more than just a spar, a little battle of egos to see who the strongest is." Percy whispered against her skin, "It will be the last time we see each other without war among us..."
Hestia let her eyes peer deep into his for a few moments longer before she placed her head on his chest.
"When the war starts, you will be gods and you will live to see each other for many eons to come." Hestia reassured as her fingers traced small circles into his back.
Percy shook his head and chuckled grimly.
"Not if we lose… Not if one of us doesn't make it past the transition into godhood…"
Hestia quickly pulled away from his chest to hold his watery gaze.
"We have trained you all to ensure that you are all ready to handle the transition!" Hestia argued; her eyes hardened as she shook her head at him.
"Nico has to fight off daimons, Hestia! In a realm where the only help he will have is himself! And when a demigod goes dormant to transition into godhood, they can still be killed for a few seconds to hours!"
Hestia's eyes wavered under his heavy gaze.
"We've already lost so much in the last war, Hestia…. I've already lost so much." He whispered lightly as he stared out into the forest.
Hestia pulled him into a tight embrace, holding him as his tears silently streaked down his face.
"You need to believe, Percy. You need to have Hope that we will all get through this."
"I always have Hope, Hes and I always have you."
Silence wriggled its way into the conversation, leaving the two to hold each other in silence as Percy let his eyes dry naturally.
"Withholding you three from your spar isn't our choice, Percy." Hestia began as she slowly untangled herself from her champion.
"The power you three have individually would be a flare huge enough to catch the attention of any god; combined you three would draw the eyes of the entire pantheon and the last thing we'd need is our enemies getting a view of how powerful you've gotten."
"They would be alerted that we are being trained for war even though our side should be oblivious to anything but peace." Percy interjected, "I understand."
Hestia nodded, "Concealing that power signal you three would create would require a lot of attention and a bit of power from ourselves as well; which typically wouldn't be a problem, except we are being watched very carefully by our enemies."
Percy placed a chaste kiss on her forehead, earning a smile from the goddess as he pulled away.
"I understand how heavy this burden called war must feel on your shoulders, but even you and our fathers underestimate us."
Hestia's smile began to melt from her face as Percy's smirk caught her eyes.
"What do you mean by that?" The goddess questioned as her hands darted around his waist once more, her grip firm.
Percy let himself draw nearer to the goddess before leaning closer and catching her lips in a soft kiss.
Their lips danced as they revelled in the softness and sweetness of each other.
As their kiss began to intensify, Hestia' grip around his waist slackened.
Percy quickly pulled out of their kiss, leaving Hestia stunned as he slipped out of her hands and ran towards the nearest tree.
"Percy Jackson don't you dare…"
"Nico!" He cried, running headfirst into a tree before suddenly sinking into its shadow.
The drying leaves shifted as they were carelessly brushed aside by the pacing of the silver parka clad girl. Her graceful strides were swift and, despite the displacement of the leaves by her brown hunting boots; they refused to let their fury be known to her.
Her black hair bounced on her shoulders with each calculated stride as her sharp blue eyes peeked from her eyelids.
"He should be here by now…" the girl muttered into the still air.
A boy, dressed in black jeans and a black jersey snickered at her impatience.
"Out of the three of us, he's the one that should be the least worried about with regards to tardiness." The boy retorted, his voice cutting through the dead silence of the forest.
His steely brown eyes peered at the pacing girl with mirth as his black converse clad feet shuffled through the fallen foliage, earning muffled cries of contempt as his movements, though not nearly as calculated as the huntress, softly took him to the edge of the clearing where he leaned against a tree.
The girl continued her pacing as the silence in the air and the lack of breeze did nothing but urge her unsettledness to grow.
Her head impatiently snapped to Nico, her lips parting to speak but the words were cut off as the boy quickly pushed off of the tree.
His eyes shifted to pitch black as the shadows around the trees began to condense.
"He's here."
From the shadows, Percy Jackson came stumbling forward.
"I was just about ready to come get you myself, Perce." Nico greeted the older boy warmly as his arms rose to the son of Poseidon's shoulders.
Percy took a deep breathe, closing his eyes momentarily before they shot open; a hint of anxiety evident amidst the merriment twinkling in his green orbs.
"I only took as long as needed, the wait wasn't that bad." Percy retorted jovially as he regained his balance, nodding to the younger boy as he stepped out of his grip and past him.
"I'm sure it was just an excuse to get all cuddly with his girlfriend…" Thalia taunted as she made her way over to Percy.
She held her hands up as the green eyed man pouted lightly, "I'm sorry, I mean Patron."
Percy shook his head as a smile split his lips, his arms rising to pull the girl into a hug now that the distance between them had been eliminated.
"Just because she gets more of my attention doesn't mean you can go getting jealous on me, Thals." Percy nagged as he swiftly pulled out of the hug, narrowly avoiding an elbow aimed at his ribs as the daughter of Zeus matched his own playful grin.
"But who would you run to faster if we both called?"
Percy hesitated for a moment and Thalia pounced on it.
"That's all I need, bro." The huntress replied smugly, leaning forward as she patted his face lightly.
"Is it possible to be whipped by a girl you're not even in a relationship with?" Nico chided, earning mixed responses from the pair.
"The one who wins the most battles," Percy began as he strolled over to Nico, placing a hand on his shoulder, "Is the one who knows which battles to choose."
"Those are some wise words," Thalia inputted a few yards away, "You should keep that in mind for when you get a girlfriend, Nico."
Nico blushed, looking at his feet in embarrassment.
"Aw, you made him blush, Thals!" Percy scolded mischievously while Nico slipped away from the pair and began mumbling to himself.
Silence wafted in, its nature peculiar against the vibrant forest which surrounded the three, and its presence brought with it a nervous energy.
Nico shifted away from the pair, opting to mutter his annoyance to himself quietly as he drew nearer to the shadows of a tree.
Percy took the opportunity to observe the clearing, his eyes darting to the tree lines which surrounded him from each side before they drifted upward where they were met by the grey clouds which lofted overhead.
Thalia shuffled lightly, the leaves beneath her finally declaring their dismay at her actions as the girl's eyes shifted towards her male companions.
She stared nervously as she saw the now familiar mist form around Percy's shoulder before it shifted to his wrist where it formed his signature katana.
"Hey man," Nico's voice cut through the silence, drawing the attention of both his companions, "I've been meaning to ask you for a while; but why did you choose a katana?" Thalia smiled softly to herself as she turned her back to the pair while Percy swung the ice blade experimentally.
Percy let an amused chuckle part his lips before his eyes flittered down.
"When I made this sword," He began, his eyes flittering down to the majestic blade in his hands as he traced his right index and middle finger along the blade's center, "The pain the Greek world brought unto me still clung closely to my heart."
His darkening eyes parted from his blade, drifting lazily towards the younger boy who stared with patient curiosity.
"After losing my childhood to this grim reality, having the girl I had fallen in love with leave me for another man, having a prophecy which loomed over my head dictating my death; which had become something I had accepted so much that I began to look forward to it, after losing so many friends to the war…"
Percy sighed and shifted his dark green eyes to the floor, his calm demeanour tainted by the broken smile which pulled at his lips.
Nico's own expression grew grim as he too began to reminisce on his own struggles, while Thalia sighed quietly to herself.
"In the moments which were supposed to suffocate me with peace and serenity, I was instead suffocated by fear and anxiety as my mother was forced to iris message me for help…" He took a deep breath.
"I felt that if after everything I had been through, the fates and the gods could still sit idly by so soon after what I had just done for them; especially having Riptide slip from my grasp from what I assume was Ares' curse. I decided that if the gods could abandon me in that moment; I would rely on something outside to help me where I felt I never got any. And the katana was just the first to pop up in my mind."
Nico stared back at the older boy in silence for a few moments before he rubbed the back of his head.
"Not to be rude or anything, but all you really had to say was that last line man; cause everything else hit a little too close to home."
"It does, and I appreciate a good sob story, but daylight is dying people." Thalia interjected neutrally.
Nico stared blankly at Thalia's rashness for a few moments before Percy's laugh caught him by surprise.
"Don't worry Nico, she's acting all tough now, but the last time she visited the twins and I, she asked me the same thing and I think she exhausted her tear ducts for this month already."
"Oh shut it you!" Thalia called, earning a cheeky grin from Percy who clapped his hands together.
"So, let's get down to business shall we?" Percy called as he cracked his neck.
Thalia cracked her neck while Nico began to twist the skull ring which adorned his finger.
"If this is gonna be worthwhile for any of us, we should go all out from now." Thalia's words barely left her mouth before a sudden rush of wind filled the clearing.
Both boys stood with the mouths agape as the greying clouds in the sky swirled and funnelled towards the daughter of Zeus. Her eyes took a cloudy white colour as the clouds wrapped around her from her waist to her feet, pulling the girl off the forest floor as she began to slowly ascend into the air.
"I don't think she gave us much of a choice, huh Nic?" Percy chuckled closing his eyes as the vapour in the air condensed before the droplets of water rushed towards the son of Poseidon, merging and forming a perfect circle of water which encompassed his body.
Nico shot the older boy a dark grin in return as a deep darkness filled his eyes. Darkness crept into the clearing as the son of Hades pulled the shadows from the trees towards him.
Percy's glowing green eyes snapped open just in time to see the shadows snaking rapidly towards him along the floor. The son of Poseidon gritted his teeth as he forced the watery dome around him to lift him off the ground; just in time to avoid the touch of the shadows.
"I don't think this is going to be too fun." Percy frowned as the vapour in the air behind him began to tingle. His eyes widened as the vapour quickly began to heat up under intense vibrations and he let his instincts take over.
The blob of water suddenly imploded, rushing closer towards the son of the sea as it formed a layer of water around his body which extended only six inches outward, around his body. Once the water had formed a thinner coating around him, he manipulated the liquid to propel him a few feet to the left, narrowly dodging a bolt of lightning.
Percy's eyes widened at the proximity of the bolt, the presence of which only indicated by the three feet deep crater in the floor which was quickly filled in by shadows.
"Hey," Percy called as his eyes slowly rose towards Thalia, "I thought we said nonlethal!"
"Can't go all out and nonlethal bro! And it's too late to pick your poison so it's a good thing you have godly reflexes right?" Thalia called back, her flashing blue eyes warning him before the vapour in the air this time.
Percy let the water drag his body a few dozen yards this time, his mind reminding him just how powerful her bolts of lightning could get.
He let a deep breath push bubbles to the edge of his watery armour as he saw the eight feet deep hole.
His eyes suddenly widened as he felt something penetrate the two inches of his watery armour from behind.
Percy immediately solidified the water around the unknown intruder, encasing it in ice before he used the remaining four inches of liquid to springboard himself off of the descending block of ice. Swivelling mid-flight, the son of Poseidon came face to face with the new threat.
He paled slightly as his eyes landed on the massive hand of darkness which easily broke free from its icy prison.
"Hey guys… Isn't this pretty similar to teaming up?"
Nico sent a cold smirk towards his friend, his ominous obsidian eyes sending shivers down the champions of Hope's spine as he simply tilted his head to the right in response.
Once more Percy found himself under assault via a massive hand of darkness.
Acting quickly, Percy quickly forced his suit of water to drain from his body, letting himself drop out of the sky as the hand passed harmlessly over his head.
Another hand shot from the thumb of the massive hand as the main hand locked onto Thalia.
Percy slipped back into the water he had previously dropped, shifting out of the way of the hand easily.
Given no time to breathe, another hand immediately erupted from the floor the instant the mass of shadow touched the floor.
Cursing under his breathe, Percy let himself drop diagonally to the point where he hovered mere inches away from the floor before now familiar trembling of the vapour quickly called him into evasive manoeuvres once more.
The majority of the water encasing him hastily rushed behind him, leaving him in a thin one inch coating of water. As the vapour began to heat up, the water behind him dropped to the floor before bouncing back towards him, slamming into his back and catapulting him, roughly, twenty feet in the air.
The earth shattered, displacing the shadows, as another bolt missed its mark.
"I promise you both that you'll regret that!" Percy growled as the remaining inch of water slipped under his feet, forming a thin platform.
Percy let his eyes scan the two below him, staring intently as he saw a thick cloud shroud Nico; leaving his hand of darkness to sink back into the shadow ridden floor.
Percy let an exasperated sigh slip past his lips as Thalia let her gaze flicker to him before he shifted his platform a few meters to the left, just as thunder rolled overhead.
Thalia forced the thunder to cease prematurely and, just as Percy's platform became stationary, a massive bolt of lightning descended upon him.
Percy let another sting of curses slip off his tongue as he forced the majority of the water from his platform to fly above him, catching the bolt and redirecting it towards the thick area of clouds which shrouded the son of Hades.
The conduced bolt struck the earth, inciting a huge gust of wind to form under the impact which dispersed the thick clouds around the younger boy.
Nico stared at the crater a few inches away from him in barely retained terror before his eyes seemed to darken further.
"It wasn't me!" Thalia cried as she shifted her eyes to Percy, a deathly glare sent his way.
Nico ignored her words, instead opting to capitalize on her lack of attention as another hand shot out from the shadows on the floor of the clearing, directed at Thalia.
Just as the hand leapt from the floor, Thalia called down another bolt of lightning onto Percy, who was now stood on one leg as a blob of water barely the size of his foot kept him afloat.
Percy smirked as he dove off his miniature platform, sailing directly towards Thalia as the bolt careened harmlessly to the earth behind him.
The huntress stared at him in shock.
"Hand!" Percy cried mid-fall as he pointed towards the massive hand propelling towards her.
Thalia's eyes drifted towards the shadow hand, her eyes barely having time to widen in shock at the daunting figure before Percy's shoulder slammed into her midriff; ripping her free from her clouds as they plummeted towards the earth.
The pair parted mid-fall, Thalia's downward momentum greater due to the shoulder barge from the son of Poseidon.
The lieutenant of the Hunt boisterously let a string of curses loose as she closed her eyes, panicking as her dormant fear of heights resurfaced.
Percy shifted his body into a dive, his eyes flashing orange as gravity reduced the distance between himself and his falling companion. As he drew nearer to the girl, he stretched his right hand forward, his fingers brushing her elbow before he could wrap his fingers around her arm. His grip tightened around her arm as his aura trickled over the girl, seeping into her pores and stifling her hope.
The girl's blue eyes snapped open, a jarring emptiness to them as the clouds which had begun to rush to catch them dispelled.
Percy's small blob of water shot through the clearing clouds, darting underneath the rapidly descending pair who were now precariously close to the shadow littered earth. Percy clawed at the girl, pulling her body closer to his as he managed to wrap his arms around her.
Shifting his body once again, to face his feet towards the earth, the son of Poseidon forced the blob of water to rush to his feet. With only inches to spare, Percy sunk slightly as the water absorbed their momentum.
As quick as he fell, his hands slipped free from around Thalia as he pushed off of her shoulders, the blob slipping past her prone body and colliding with the underside of Percy's feet, shooting him upwards before he proceeded to backflip.
His sudden movements were just enough to allow him to evade the hand which rushed past him; colliding with Thalia.
The small blob of water darted under Percy's hand, which he used to spring upwards and flip once more before the blob shot under his right foot, catching him in a crane stance as a wicked grin stained the gracefulness of the movement.
"That was so fucking cold, Percy!" Nico cried as his shadow hand brought Thalia closer to the shadow infested floor.
Percy's smile died on his lips yet he remained quiet. His eyes aura flared dramatically as his eyes flashed orange, consuming the clearing momentarily before it quickly receded back into his own body.
As the hand connected with the floor, Percy let his eyes drift to the younger boy.
"No Nico, it's just part of the plan."
The son of Poseidon bent his knees before pushing himself into the air, the blob dropping the floor the instant it lost contact with his foot.
Seconds later, Percy began racing the water towards the earth.
The vapour in the air condensed below the blob, clinging and growing the ball of water as it fell. Moments before the now twenty inch blob collided with the floor, it froze over.
The ice shattered into the earth, dispelling the shadows before solid water quickly reformed into its liquid state, cushioning Percy's fall and parting from his feet; allowing him to stand on the solid earth for the first time since the fight began.
Percy slowly rose to his feet, his green orbs locking with the infinite black of Nico's as the shadows began rush towards Percy. The son of Poseidon immediately turned the edges of his impromptu pool to ice, buying himself some extra time as the snaking shadows were forced to climb the icy walls.
Percy quickly reared his right elbow to the sky, taking a moment longer to smirk at the younger boy.
"You should probably start running."
Panic caused Nico's eyes to widen as he urged the shadows on.
The darkness slipped easily over the top of Percy's icy barriers as said son of Poseidon's arms began its hurried descent to the floor.
Percy's fists were centimetres away from the earth, his knuckles brushing the blades of grass which seemed to recoil under threat of his menacing fist.
Just as the shadows managed to lick his boots, his heavy fist collided with the soil.
The earth erupted into a fit of madness as cracks formed under the tremendous earthquake which wreaked havoc on the land.
Nico stumbled backwards, the shadows quickly retreating into the forest as he lost his concentration.
The earth stilled a few seconds later and Nico slowly caught his bearings.
His eyes drifted to Percy, who jerked his thumb behind him in the direction of Thalia who sharply turned on her heels.
"NICO DI ANGELO!" The girl cried as thunder rumbled loudly above them, "WHAT DID I SAY ABOUT DOING THAT TO ME AGAIN?"
The winds raged through the forest, tearing trees from the earth as the hunter's eyes flashed with yellow streaks of lightning.
Thalia began to levitate into the air, clouds rushing down and swallowing her as she ascended.
"Shit shit shit shit shit…" Nico muttered, his now brown eyes openly displaying his fear as he raised his right leg before heavily dropping the sole of his foot into the dirt.
A massive army of skeletons broke free from the ground.
Before the boy could even raise his leg from the floor, he was sucked into his own shadow.
Not even seconds later, a massive bolt of lightning struck the floor where he previously stood, the impact so powerful the earth shook again as the blast from the bolt tore the entire army of skeletons to shreds.
Percy whistled in shock from behind a massive wall of ice, which cracked and shattered moments after the shockwave ceased.
"Doesn't feel so good to be ganged up on, now does it Nico?" Percy called before the sharp whistling of wind from above sang harshly in his ears. Percy's eyes quickly darted to the sky.
"Ah, fuck."
The flashing blue eyes of Thalia were at the forefront of a massive funnel of clouds which trailed behind her as she careened towards him.
Percy managed a grunt as the daughter of Zeus collided with him, lifting him off of his feet before the clouds wafted over the pair.
"Maybe it's time to be a bit more civil?" Percy tried diplomatically, but cursed as his only reply was the static which began to dart throughout the innards of the cloud.
He immediately disintegrated into vapour, slipping out of the clouds mere seconds before the entire cloud lit up as it spewed an arch of electricity into the sky.
Thalia's eyes dimmed back to their original sky blue as she was reduced to leaning on her knees as ragged breaths left her heaving.
She felt something enter the space of her clouds and quickly glanced up. Her eyes widened as she let the clouds wrap around her, pulling her away from Nico whose form parted the clouds as he flew through the air, his palm outstretched vertically to reach her.
The shadows quickly pulled the boy into the earth once more.
The only warning Thalia had as the son of Hades emerged from the floor beneath her came from the dispersing of the tail of the clouds which hung to her lower body.
As her eyes snapped to the boy being spat out of the shadow, an overwhelming sensation of dread filled the huntress at the sight of his bare hand and, trusting her instincts, she disappeared in a bolt of lightning.
"How did you know?" Nico called out, turning as he felt a sudden rush of power a few meters behind him.
"Know what?" The girl asked, panting slightly as she formed in a flash of lightning, hovering a few inches off the floor as she took a few deep breaths to compose herself.
"How did you know about my touch of death?"
Thalia's breath caught in her throat as Percy's body suddenly formed from the vapour a few feet away from the pair; their positions unknowingly forming a triangle.
Percy's head tilted as his eyebrows scrunched up, "That's cold, Nico."
The son of Hades gave the son of Poseidon a small smirk.
"You mean… that could've killed me?" Thalia's outcry brought the attention back to her and both boys chuckled at her expense.
"Doesn't quite feel so good to be on the receiving end huh, Thals?" Percy mocked lightly, earning a glare from the girl.
"Not exactly kill," Nico's voice snapped the girl's attention, and harsh glare, back to him "More like stun for a couple of hours."
"Somehow, I find that terribly hard to believe!" Thalia huffed as the clouds pushed her further into the air before she quickly took a breath and sunk closer to the floor once again.
"I rigged it to subdue your life energy, instead of snuff it out completely. Don't go judging my ability by its name now." Nico snorted, earning a chuckle from Percy and an annoyed huff from Thalia.
A brief moment of silence filled clung onto the moment, the three taking the chance to catch their breaths.
Less than a minute later, a thick ominous shadow crept over the clearing as the light of the sun was consumed by the darkness.
Thalia shot Nico an annoyed glare as she continued to catch her breath.
"Are you serious, Nico?"
Nico's confused expression stared back at her.
"That's not me…" The boy trailed off before Percy's chuckling caught their attention.
"They never look up." The man stated drawing their attention to the sky just as a torrential downpour began to sting their faces.
Percy's eyes flashed a dark and dangerous green as the slowly began to rise into the air.
Nico quickly turned to Thalia, his lips split apart frantically in unclear patterns as his words were being drowned out by the heavy downpour.
He shook his head, raising his legs from the muddy floor and beginning to trudge his way towards Thalia.
Just as he was about to reach her, the water which soaked his clothes pulled him to the floor.
A massive wave formed from one side of the clearing, causing Nico's eyes to widen in panic.
As the water began to rush towards them, both betrayed by their own water soaked clothing, hope seemed to rush out of them.
Nico's bit his lip, shaking his head and closing his eyes as he sunk into his own shadow. The boy quickly reappeared next to Thalia, grabbing her wrist before quickly falling back into the shadows before Percy could regain control of his clothes.
As they passed through the shadows, an intense flame lit up in Nico's palm; immediately causing the water to evaporate off of their bodies.
Thalia shivered under the sensation as they were suddenly spat out under an ivory dome.
The champion of Artemis let her eyes linger to white walls which gave them reprieve against the battering of the storm. Skeletons clawed their way over each other, hugging the one beneath them tightly as they gave their afterlife to shield their master from the stormy weather.
"Stop the rain!" Nico's voice echoed against the white walls which surrounded them, yet it was still barely audible under the heavy pounding of the rain above.
Percy floated above them, a small frown on his face as the water slithered around the skeletal dome. The water morphed into ice before it quickly began to close around the mound of skeletons.
Thalia pushed the panic from her body as she closed her eyes, stifling Percy's control over the weather as it was her domain, not his.
The rains stopped just as the skeletal barrier around the pair gave way; the water barrelling towards the children of the big three.
Nico quickly stepped towards Thalia before facing both of his palms outwards at shoulder length.
Hellfire sprung from his palms as he leaned his head over Thalia's shoulders, allowing the vicious flames to seep from his empty eyes sockets and his open jaws; turning as the girl followed his lead to avoid being burnt herself.
The flames consumed the water and forced Percy to retreat into a swirl of mist.
"Thalia, quick, change the…"
"Humidity so the water content in the air is almost none existent?" The girl finished for him, a smirk on her face as her confidence had returned, "Done."
Percy sneered at the pair, who had quickly increased the distance between them, as he formed a few feet before them.
"I think you two should fight each other instead of ganging up on me." Percy snorted as his body evaporated into a fine mist.
"Well… that was dramatic…" Thalia muttered, slouching slightly as she took a deep breath.
Thalia was forced to leap backwards as Nico was once more rushing her with his hand extended.
The girl propelled herself backwards once more with a frantic step of her left foot before her eyes flashed a forest green. A small tree rapidly sprouted, shooting into the air as it grew at an accelerated rate between herself and Nico.
The boy's hand collided with the growing tree and the plant immediately withered under his contact, leaving Thalia to release a deep sigh in relief.
"What is it about a break you guys just don't understand?" Thalia complained through deep breaths as she shook her head, her eyes flashing green once more before her body was consumed by lightning.
Nico flew through the air where she just stood, having emerged from her disappearing shadow.
"Damn, too slow."
The sounds of howling wolves caught the attention of the champion of Thanatos who let his eyes drift to the edges of the forest.
His eyes filled with awe as he saw wolves and bears step out from the trees, their eyes tinted a forest green as they focused on him with intentions to kill.
"That's the spirit, Thals," The boy cried out, still unaware of where of the location of the daughter of Zeus, "We're just getting to the thick of it." He voice lowered to a whisper as he closed his eyes.
The wolves led the charge, their padded feet and quick strides eating the distance between themselves and their next meal and the bears trudged heavily, though not too far, behind them.
The wolves snarled as they tensed their legs to pounce on their prey, but their vicious growls gave way to confused whimpers as they, alongside their bear comrades, were all violently ripped backwards into their own shadows.
Nico's eyelids parted to reveal black eyes as a smug smirk tugged at his lips.
"They never look up." Thalia called down, and Nico's black eyes widened as they rose upwards; his initial reaction to sink into his own shadow, but the bolt was already on its way.
Nico closed his eyes, his eyelids doing just enough to prevent him from being blinded as the bolt sped through the air, sparking in its all-powerful glory, as it passed through his body and bit into the floor.
"How!" Thalia cried from above.
"They don't call me the Ghost King for nothing!" Nico retorted as his body shimmered back into its physical form.
Nico then dropped to his knees, sweat dripping from his brow as Thalia herself dropped a few feet in the air before catching herself, her concentration waning.
"You have a lot more endurance with your powers; you should've been tired long before me with how much you've used." Thalia noted; a hint of jealousy and frustration in her tone.
"Don't take it personally," Nico rasped out through a deep breath before he pushed himself to his feet, "I'm already basically a god."
"I'd say more like three quarters," Thalia mocked as her eyes began to flash blue again, "I don't think gods get tired."
"I'm not tired," He called out.
A golden object shot up from the ground and into Nico's hand before the boy tossed it into the air.
The golden nugget sailed a few feeble feet before it began its descent, nowhere close to hitting the daughter of Zeus.
Thalia laughed.
"Based off of that small piece of gold and that throw, I'd say that you are!" The demigoddess mocked as she began to raise her hands to call down another bolt of lightning as the piece of gold began to fall back towards Nico.
"It's just part of the plan!" Nico cried as hundreds of pieces of gold tore free from the earth and clattered into the falling chunk of precious metal.
As each piece hit, they melded together and propelled the chunk further and further into the sky until a boulder sized piece of gold rocketed through the air; drawing Thalia's attention as the girl had her clouds drift her lazily out of the path of the gold.
"A god would've hit me, Nico!" Thalia chided again with a laugh as her arms sluggishly rose to the sky.
"Only if said god was aiming for you!" Nico retorted as Thalia could only muster as look of surprise and terror in response as she felt herself being dragged backwards and into the shadow of the gold.
The girl then tumbled out of Nico's shadow before skeleton arms extended from the dirt, slipping around her body before they dug back into the earth on the other side of her. Thalia immediately began struggling against her ivory imprisonment, cracks quickly forming under the brittle and aged bones.
Her confidence was quickly snuffed as the massive rock of gold descended from the sky, quickly yet securely encasing her body.
"You really need to hone in your pride, it makes you careless." Nico stated as he leant over to press his palm on her forehead.
"And you shouldn't underestimate a daughter of Zeus!" Thalia spat back as a cloud rushed past them, pushing Nico back as she began to take deep breaths, preparing herself for another lightning travel.
Suddenly the cloud began to produce water… rain water.
The cloud burst as the particles of water grew too heavy for it to contain, the internal downpour of the cloud consuming both Nico and Thalia as Percy reappeared in between the both of them.
"Now this is much better." The older boy remarked as he forced the water into their lungs until they fell unconscious from a lack of oxygen.
A few hours later, Thalia and Nico both sat up, heaving on air as the phantom feeling of drowning clawed at their throats.
"Took you guys long enough," Percy voice caught the attention of the pair as they struggled to regain their composure, "We should really be heading back the gods must be fuming." Percy stated nonchalantly.
Thalia and Nico took a few moments before the caught themselves. Nico slowly began to rise to his feet before he shot a scowl in the direction of the seated Thalia.
"Gods do get knocked out, before you say it." Nico hissed sharply as Thalia shook her head apologetically, a sheepish smile forming on her lips.
"I was mainly saying that to get under your skin, I'm sorry about all that, Nico." The girl offered sincerely, dissolving the anger of the teen as she sighed.
"I really hate that I'm weaker than you two." Thalia admitted with her head bowed in defeat as she reprimanded herself mentally for her weakness.
"You aren't weaker than us, Thalia. If anything, you just don't have something that truly motivates you." Percy supplied a few yards ahead of the pair, his eyes lingering over the edge of the clearing where the sun could barely be seen as it began to dip under the top of the green foliage.
"Isn't this war what motivates the two of you?" Thalia queried, agitation seeping into her voice as she her eyebrows scrunched over her blue eyes which stared in his direction.
Percy turned on his heels, his eyes drifting to the defeated eyes of Thalia before he sighed.
"I'm motivated by the fact that I have to go to the nightmare realm and fight for my life before I can become a god." Nico inputted; his dark brown eyes trailing along the floor as his fingers played with the ivory skull ring which clung to his finger.
Thalia's mouth open and closed as her eyes lit up in understanding, though before she could offer any words of comfort, Percy's voice filled the temporary silence of the clearing.
"And I have to make sure the twins are safe, no matter what."
The immortal huntress bit her lip, her hands burrowing themselves in her lap as her eyes drooped to observe the skin on her clasped knuckles.
"You need to move past your pride, Thalia. It's okay that you've lost today, use it to inspire you to never lose again. Don't dwell on the fact that you weren't good enough today, focus on getting better for tomorrow…" Percy paused as his eyes drifted from the girl silently sulking girl to the forest behind her.
"Besides, it's better to lose to me in a spar where we weren't truly giving one hundred percent and have a chance to learn from your mistakes, than to lose to an enemy and never get a chance to fix them." Percy's voice was soft and brittle, yet with the lack of sound in the clearing, his words were heard clearly.
He sighed lightly to himself as he let his eyes drift towards the son of Hades, motioning for the boy to walk with him as he, again, turned on his heels.
The brown eyed teenager quickly fell in stride with the older, green eyed male as the let stepped out of the ear shot of the daughter of Zeus.
"Are you ready?" Percy whispered softly to the younger boy who shook his head.
"I don't think I could ever truly be ready for what is to come…"
Percy turned and grasped his shoulder, squeezing tightly as his actions brought the pair to an abrupt stop.
"This is more than just a chance a godhood, Nic; this is your chance to earn your freedom. Your chance to put an end to all the nightmares and the way the daimons have haunted you day in and day out. Hold on to all the pain and suffering they've caused you and let it fuel you through it all."
Nico sighed, his eyes softening as he sipped past the gentle grip on his shoulder and hugging the man before him.
"I'm still afraid, Percy." The younger boy whispered against Percy's chest.
Percy let his own arms wrap around the younger boy before he chuckled over his head.
"You remember what you did with that fear in the last war, Nic?" Percy whispered, gently pulling away from the younger boy to hold his gaze.
"I don't remember feeling fear." Nico's eyes didn't waver under the soft eyes of his older friend.
"That's because you weren't focused on being afraid, you were focused on staying alive. You're only afraid now because you have the time to think of what could go wrong, but when you're in the situation, you will only be focused on getting out alive." Percy pulled away and stared the younger boy in his face.
"As long as you focus on what you want to achieve at the end of all the pain and all the hardships, as long as you hold onto your goal of success and push through, I promise you you'll make it."
Nico chuckled, "You could be a motivational speaker, Perce."
The older boy laughed with him for a bit, leaving the comment to hang in the air as the younger boy regained his composure.
A few moments later, Thalia walked over to the pair.
"What were you guys talking about?"
"How Nico here is going to get us back to camp soon so that the gods don't kill us." Percy joked while both Thalia and Nico paled.
"I forgot about that!" Thalia muttered as Nico nodded.
"Well, whenever you're ready, Nic." Percy stated as Thalia stepped in between the pair and wrapped her hands around their waists. The girl pulled the two closer to her in an impromptu hug.
"I love you guys."
Both boys smiled at the daughter of Zeus, "We love you too, Thals."
The trio then slipped into their own shadows, leaving the clearing in silence once more.
That wraps up the mini filler arc, and next chapter Arc two comes crashing down on you all with a lot of revelations and most likely a cliff hanger… I'll give you all at least that.
I'll keep the outro shot this time.
Please leave a review, check my Pa/tr-eo.n? page, which has a lot of new content, but things could honestly go a lot better on there, lol.
Have a great day and week, until next time!
-Zed