Freedom

~.~.~.~

Part III: Chapter III

Together We Stand

Flashback

Time slowed... Kronos was most probably at work, or it was just Hazel watching everything happen in absolute slow motion. Instead of watching her life flash before her eyes, she was watching everything in reality happen right before her.

She knew she was screaming at her brother who lay in the jar, but she couldn't hear it... only the blood rushing through her veins, the feel of the anguish and anger churning in her gut as the wet contrasting tears rolled down her face.

Every memory of Nico flashed across her mind...

The moment he found her in the fields of Asphodel, to every moment of laughter and happiness, the relief of seeing him alive after all this time, watching him overcome his demons to help them...

If he could overcome his demons, then she could overcome this.

Hazel shook her head and glared at Alcyoneus, tears, and anguish in her eyes as she screamed out, "I will kill you!" It was not a threat but a promise.

Alcyoneus chuckled, "Such fire, so fun to play with. Why would I make it so easy to succumb to death? I am the punisher of the Gods after all." He said as he opened the jar and Nico's eyes flew open and he gasped for a desperate breath, his eyes wide and filled with fear as he coughed.

Hazel cried as she saw the grief and fear on Nico's face as he looked at Hazel. He had been through so much now the greatest torture of all would be the pain of not being able to be at peace.

Nico looked up at Alcyoneus who smirked and laughed, "You will die... eventually and no one will be able to help you." The giant said with a deep bellowing chuckle, "The Skeleton King, son of my bane will die at my hand and I will enjoy it when I drop your body in from of your father and your mother in Elysium. They too will die. As we speak Polybotes weakens that pathetic guardian's shield. Every spirit in Elysium will be thrown into the deeper abyss." He said with a laugh as he closed the lid on the jar and Nico looked around in a panic.

In all the years Hazel had known Nico, she'd never seen him look so helpless as he did now. When they rescued him from the twin giants he looked so weak but he didn't look the way he did now. Scared... terrified, anguished and so many other things.

As she watched her brother beg silently in the jar, something inside her started to break to churn, to grow as she watched her brother once again lose consciousness, weakly slumped against the glass, but as he slowly started struggling to breathe, she could see his skin changing color...

She looked at Alcyoneus and realized that this time, he intended to kill her brother.

She felt something inside her snap as her hands clenched inside the hand cover cuffs and she let out a roar like scream as she fought to stand even though the chain around her neck was trying to force her to kneel, she forced herself to stand as she glared at her father's bane, her fight stronger than the will of the chain that obeyed her and let her stand.

Alcyoneus noticed this and glared at the daughter of Pluto's defiance and he himself stood up. "Kneel. I command you to kneel to me!" The giant shouted out but the chains did not obey as Hazel stared at him. The chains were slack and loose, she was standing on her own two feet glaring death at the giant.

"I will never kneel to you or Gaea. Not now, not EVER!" She shouted out as she channeled every emotion that churned with her as the ground started shaking and rumbling much to the giants horror.

"Those cuffs should be dampening her powers! She is a nobody, how is she doing this!" He shouted to the twins who were freaking out as Haze glared at the hands encasing her hands and watched as they shattered, splitting in half and freeing her hands. Her anger coursed through her veins as her hands were freed from their prison right at the same time the top of her cage ripped open, as if a bomb had exploded inside it.

"I AM THE DAUGHTER OF PLUTO AND WAS THE CHAMPION OF CIRCE! NO CHAINS WILL EVER HOLD ME EVER AGAIN!" She yelled as she thrust her hands forward and watched as the ground tore, stalagmites shooting out the ground, tearing through the walls of the bass fortress as the three giants screamed in horror, trying not to get stabbed by the stalagmites as the fortress violently shook."WE DO NOT SERVE GAEA!" Hazel shouted as she thrust her hands forward.

With every ounce of focus and concentration she had, hazel focused her emotions channeling them before power surged in her veins. She watched as Alcyoneus screamed as jewels ripped out of his skin, oil pouring from his wounds since he didn't bleed ichor. Hazel made a slashing motion as she made the jewels shoot through the glass of the jar that Nico was in and watched as the jar shattered.

Nico fell to the floor in a pile of glass as some glass fell on him and Hazel looked on with hope but saw that her brother lay unmoving. He didn't look like he was breathing and it angered Hazel as she glared at Alcyoneus as he picked up his staff, "I will enjoy killing you like I enjoyed watching Nico di Angelo die!" He yelled as he charged at Hazel.

Hazel watched as the giant charged at her and thrust the bottom end of his staff at her and she narrowly avoided getting squashed by it as she thrust her hand forward and watched as gems and jewels and shards of precious metal slashed at the skin of the giant who screamed out in pain and swung his staff, caving in the top of Michael's gave who was now free from the roof of his cage and he squeezed his way out of the widened opening of his cage and ran over to calypso who was hidden by the hearth and Calypso worked on undoing his chains.

Hazel dissolved into the shadows to avoid another attack from the giant and found in the midst of the pile of swords and bones Hazel saw a familiar stygian iron sword. It was the one her brother had been carrying, only darkness radiated from it...

It was her father's sword...

Hazel grabbed it and narrowly avoided getting trampled by the giant as she slashed at the back of his knees and stabbed the sword deep into the back of his heel. This time she couldn't avoid the attack as he swung his hand and it hit her the same way that laistrygonian giant hit him the day Gaea rose. Hazel hit the wall hard, she was almost certain she may have lost a tooth and had few broken bones as she fell to the ground in a heap.

"So pitiful. It would make a great show to recreate the defeat of a daughter of Pluto." One of the twin giants said to the other but Hazel honestly didn't know who was talking to who as she weakly climbed to her knees only to be grabbed up by her hair as Alcyoneus stared at her, holes on his face from where gems were missing looked like bad acne removal.

"I am going to enjoy killing you." He growled at her but Hazel spat at him, even if she felt her roots ripping from her head. "Oh just for that, I'm going to make your death even more painful."

Hazel was going to retort but stopped when she saw the far corner of the room get brighter, the dying embers of the hearth were no longer dying, they were glowing, growing hotter and brighter as Calypso sat near the hearth, almost praying.

Before Hazel could react, she was dropped to the ground as Alcyoneus shrieked in pain and Hazel saw Michael was free and had slashed the giant's knee again. "DIE DEMIGOD!" The giant yelled as Hazel saw the other two twin giants backing away before retreating but a burst of fire erupted in their path, making them run right into Alcyoneus.

Hazel looked at the hearth from where she lay and watched as the hearth erupted into a full fire, burning so brightly it was almost blinding. "What is this!" Alcyoneus shouted as a figure appeared, seated next to the hearth and Hazel almost felt her heart skip a beat.

There sat a woman, she looked like she could be twenty but being a demigod, Hazel knew the moment the hearth grew, who this woman or should she saw goddess was.

Vesta or known to the Greeks as Hestia sat there, simple white dress but there was no mistaking the armor on top of what she was wearing, her hair hidden beneath a greek helmet, a marshmallow on a stick in hand, gently toasting on the fire, a soft smile on her face even though her eyes glowed with fire in them.

She smiled as she gladly ate the marshmallow, "Perfect as always." She said as stood up and turned and stared at Alcyoneus. "I heard you were hunting me down. You looked in all the wrong places confused giants. I was here there the entire time, right under your noses, waiting for the day I free my family and watch as the hearth burns brighter once more." She said as she lifted her hands and fire burned on them.

"I will kill you where you stand you pathetic goddess. You cannot kill me!" Alyconeus growled as he raised his staff but all Hestia did was smile.

"She will be the one to do that." Hestia pointed out as Hazel rushed, a spear in hand as she used shadow traveled and appeared in the shadows above the giants and fell, driving the spear into the back of Alyconeus neck right as Hestia sent a blast of fire at the giant.

Hazel rolled away right as the giant was engulfed in the fire and yelled out in agony as his body dissolved and became a pile of gems and precious metals as the other two giants looked at Hestia.

Before they ran away, Calypso who was free of her chains pulled a lever and the ground opened up and the two giants fell into a jar in the ground, along with the remains of Alyconeus.

Hazel stood at the edge and looks down at the giants with coldness in her eyes. "Now you will know what it feels like to be trapped in a jar." She said as she watched the floor close as the giants tried to climb out the jar but they were very unsuccessful and the moment they were trapped Hazel ran over to her brother and tried to wake him but his skin felt cold.

She did the only thing she could, started performing CPR on her brother, tears in her eyes. It didn't seem fair to her... to see her brother lying there, after everything he has been through. It broke her heart that it would end here, that he wouldn't get to see Will again.

"Live Nico! LIVE DAMMIT!" Hazel shouted as she tried to bring her brother back from the dead...

An angel… Will was certain he was staring up at an angel, his guardian angel and saving grace.

Will couldn't help but stare up at Nico who stared back down at the son of Apollo. Nico's grip was firm, strong and secure, no hesitation in his hold, in testing his limits. Nico wasn't ever going to let him go. "I'm never letting you go Solace." Nico said as he started pulling Will up who helped lift himself out of the crevice.

As Nico panted, trying to catch his breath from that slight exertion and was met with a head full of blonde hair as Will embraced Nico tightly, tears gathering in the son of Apollo's eyes as he hugged Nico who didn't hesitate to hug him back and hold him close and never want to let go.

Will cried tears of relief. Relief that Nico was alive. Relief that he hadn't died believing Will wished he hadn't of saved him. Will pulled away, his mouth slightly parted to tell Nico how sorry he was but he never got to.

Nico had leaned forward and kissed. Nico di Angelo was kissing Will and in that single moment, Will forgot how to think. For a long time Will had wondered what it would be like to kiss Nico, sometimes even dreamed about it, and now he was living in that moment. Nico was kissing!

It was shorter than Will had wanted but when Nico pulled away, he cupped Will's cheeks in his hands and looked right into the son of Apollo's eyes, tears in Nico's eyes. "I never thought I'd see you again," Nico whispered as he wiped away the tears on Will's face. "All I thought about was seeing you Tesero... my treasure. I love you, Will. I have loved you for a long time and I-"

Will interrupted Nico by leaning in and giving the son of Hades a kiss of his own as he leaned his forehead against Nico's and whispered, "I love you too Nico... I'm so sorry for everything." Will whispered as Nico kissed his forehead.

"We're together now... All is forgiven." Nico promise as he held Will in his arms and everything felt right.

Even in the midst of a battle, of War, Will and Nico found themselves in a perfect and happy moment. They were together again. In the moment of war with many uncertainties, they were alive and breathing.

"Oi, we're in the middle of War. Reunite and rekindle your romance behind closed doors!" yelled Clarisse la Rue as she slashed through another monster, blood and sweat running down her taunt war graced frame, the blessing of Ares in full effect as Coach Hedge plowed a field of karpoi with his bat.

Will and Nico pulled apart and Nico helped Will to his feet and Will really got to see how much Nico had grown. Nico wasn't a boy anymore, he was a young man, prime for the world and handsome to the son of Apollo.

But Will took note that Nico looked to be wearing some form of battle regalia, decorated with bones. He looked like a true champion of Hades as Nico smiled, "I know it's against doctor's orders and you can shout at me later for doing it, but I have some friends to summon." Nico said with a mischievous smile as he swung his hand, going into a kneeling position and letting his hand strike the earth which almost seemed to ripple as hands wielding weapons erupted from the ground.

Screams erupted as demigods fled back towards New Greece as an army of the undead erupted from the ground as Nico looked at Nico who shrugged innocently as a hellhound appeared, one that Will recognized as Mrs O'Leary who was dressed too for war.

"Remember the prophecy?" Nico said as he stood up and Will nodded. "To change what's cursed and rebuild what's lost, Halfbloods journey to unite at all costs, from beneath the dead an army must fight…"

It clicked in Will's mind the moment multiple glowing figures appeared in from of the demigods, may having shielded their eyes to protect themselves from whatever was coming but Will new…

The gods were coming.

At the front stood Hades upon his war chariot, his helm of darkness upon his head and his army gathered behind him. Hovering above the ground was the lord of the skies himself who caused the sky to ripple with lightning as Zeus's bane emerged from beneath the wreckage of the Argo III.

Ares stood, decorated in his usual war style, weapons at the ready and thirst for war burning in his eyes. Will didn't care in that moment how many Gods were there, the Gods were there and were ready for war but what shook Will more was seeing familiar faces… faces of the dead, ghosts standing within the ranks of the dead zombie and skeleton warriors and yet they looked alive.

Will's eyes landed on Chris Rodrigues whose eyes were locked with Clarisse who stood stock still. Will swore he could see Clarisse tearing up at the sight of the man she had loved and lost so painfully because of Gaea.

And there in the front stood Thalia Grace and Zoe Nightshade and Luke Castellan, all looked older but war-ready and with Thalia and Zoe stood Artemis, her eyes burning with rage and the desire for the hunt for the blood of monsters and giants.

Porphyrion let out a roar in anger as he yelled at his army to charge.

"Souls of Elysium… today you earned a free pass out of the Underworld! Fight with honor and save your family!" Hades yelled as he charged with all the rest the gods and the undead warriors.

Will turned to find Nico climbing onto Mrs O'Leary's back and moving towards Will and leaned down and took the son of Apollo's lips with his own in a soft kiss, one filled with hope and promise. "We will survive." He promised.

Will nodded as he quickly did something.

He took Nico's half of the pendant necklace and put it around Nico's neck as the son of Hades smiled and Will felt like the world should just freeze in that moment.

Will grabbed his bow and quiver of arrows and climbed onto Mrs O'Leary's back with Nico as they rode into the final battle for Camp Half-Blood and for the world.

KDOH: I promise next chapter will be percabeth. Love you guys and thanks for continuing to read this. It means the world to me.