The Big Three

Sorry about that huge cliffhanger (he he). I had to. I almost went in a different direction, but I'm very pleased about this one! Hope you all enjoy your daily dose of Olympian carnage!

Chapter Seven

Nico stared at the fireplace in the Big House, no longer occupied by Leo. Everyone else had bundled up and were preparing for a battle, but Nico's heart wasn't in it.

The son of Hades allowed his mind to roam; He thought of his time spent in Tartarus. He thought of his time in the Lotus Hotel & Casino. He remembered how it hurt to say goodbye to Bianca. He closed his eyes, and he felt a tug in his gut. He winced but waved it off quickly enough. He would not allow his emotions to take control once again.

Chiron clopped over from the next room and knelt next to the fire. He was dressed in a puffy green Northface jacket with a bronze breastplate strapped over it, his bow and quiver over his shoulder, a yarn beanie with an Imperial gold helmet, and an oversized dog coat for his horse half. It was so ridiculous, it actually made Nico smile.

"I am sure I look 'out of the ordinary'" said the centaur, a small smile plastered on his face "but at least I'm protected." Nico stood and patted Chiron on the shoulder as he prepared for battle himself.

"I'm pretty sure no one will be concerned about that" Apollo said, entering the Big House. Next to him, Hermes entered as well, followed by the usual crowd.

Apollo and Hermes brushed the snow off their shoulders with ease, but their faces were tense. Apollo's smile was small and showed no teeth. He wore his Ray Bans, worn blue jeans, black Timberlands, and a long sleeve Thrasher t-shirt.

"Yeah, because you're so battle ready" Hermes replied besides him. He wore white camo combat pants, with combat boots and an Adidas coat. The only piece of armor he had on was his bronze helmet, which loosely sat atop his head. He waved his flip phone in front of Apollo's nose "Next time you start singing during a battle, I will turn you into a campfire." Apollo sighed dramatically before both gods approached Chiron. Hermes whispered in his ear, and they walked off to chat.

Nico looked around the room; Percy and Frank were going over battle plans on the shore. Annabeth and Clarisse brought armor to and from the armory, helping the others, adjusting armor and so on. Rachel was still typing away at the computer, but she wasn't getting much else. Leo was simultaneously tinkering with the computer.

Nico closed his eyes, trying to sense the others. He wasn't sure if it was the power of Khione, or her brothers, or other gods, but for some reason Nico was having difficulty sensing, well, anything.

He gasped, his hand on his stomach. The others turned and watched him fall to his knees. Hazel and Frank ran over to help while the others gathered around. Nico's eyes watered as he looked up to the others.

"Piper…"

Jason's face was pale and placid. The echo of the gunshot ringing in his ears. He stared down at the now dead body of his girlfriend, a look of shock frozen on her face, blood trailing down her forehead, a pool collecting underneath her. Calypso turned away; her face filled with pain.

"Now you see I am very serious!" Zethes said. The son of Jupiter had entirely forgotten the Boread was there. Jason slowly looked up at him, and the wind god pressed the barrel to Jason's head next.

"Do you zink zis is a game?! I vill fucking shoo-" Zethes threat died in his mouth as the air cackled with power. Jason's blue eyes began to glow yellow with electricity. Tendrils of it were licking the demigod's arms, sometimes arching off and electrocuting metal objects around them.

"Don't you fucking dare!" Zethes said, his voice quivering, his hands shaking, all the while his maniacal grin remained. Jason calmly picked his coin up from the floor, his body pulsing with electricity, Zethes gun still trained on him. Loud, earthshaking thunder was heard, the building vibrating at each strike.

Jason stood, gripping the gun that was pressed to his head. Arcs of electricity went through the gun, going up the Boread's arm. Zethes teeth began to chatter, his body began smoking, and his clothes began smoldering. His grin slowly fell, and he lost his grip on the gun. Jason yanked it away and threw it at the wall, where it promptly exploded, causing the wall to crack and spiderweb.

Zethes, now on his rear, began kicking his way towards the doors.

"You cannot stop us, Son of Jupiter" the Boread spat, his clothes burnt and falling off. He pressed his back against the doors, but they remained still. Frozen. Jason said nothing as he closed in on Zethes. Calypso was in too much shock to do much but stare at the pool of blood around Piper's head.

Jason threw the coin, and his spear promptly landed in his palm. Electricity struck everything around the boy as he pressed the tip to the Boread's sternum.

"Kill me if you must, but know you vill not defeat us all" Zethes grinned bigger than ever. The tip of the spear slowly began to enter the Boread's sternum. He winced in pain but did not cry out. The deeper the point went, the more electricity filled Zethes body. His eyes shot open, wide with terror, as they slowly melted into the Boread's skull, before his body was violently shot through the frozen doors.

Percy got lucky.

Sometimes Percy felt like a nuclear weapon: everyone praised him for his power, but no one wants him around unless they need a war won.

Hearing the news about Piper shook up the Big House: Nico stared into the flames, silent and cold. Clarisse held Annabeth by the waist as she tried to claw her way to the door. She was sobbing, but Percy couldn't hear a thing. Frank hugged Hazel as she quietly cried into the big guy's chest. Leo stepped outside and lit himself ablaze, melting the snow in a 20-foot radius. Percy had never seen his flames so grey.

Why was Percy the lucky one? Because he had already been through his own nightmares. Between his time in Tartarus and his time killing immortals, something inside him was broken. He couldn't tell if it was his sadness or his grief had disappeared. Maybe it was both.

He walked out the door of the Big House during it all, and felt that the summer breeze had come back, along with all of the humidity and heat. Snow remained on the floor, but the heat turned the snowstorm into a hurricane.

Percy looked around for Leo, but quickly gave up when he looked at the dome of ice surrounding Manhattan. Percy approached the shore of the Long Island Sound, his feet crunching in the melting snow beneath him.

Percy was the only camper outside. Some watched him from the windows of their cabins, but most stared at the storm.

"Fucking' prophecies right?" Percy jumped and threw a sloppy punch in the direction of the voice. Thank gods Leo was just far away enough, or Percy would have burnt his hand off.

Leo stood ablaze behind the son of Poseidon, his fists clenched and a sword on his waist, his holster intertwined with his toolbelt. His eyes were filled with flames, but Percy saw the pain in his face.

"So, you're telling me that you can build a sophisticated enough AI to where you can verbally communicate with and that asks questions, but you can't sew a holster to a toolbelt?" Leo rolled his hellfire eyes and sighed.

"Listen here Shamu" Leo pointed at the ice dome "We have bigger problems to argue about. So le-" Leo was cut off.

The ground began to shake as a blast of light shot down from the skies. Percy shielded his eyes, but thankfully Leo didn't have to. The boy saw lightning strike the top of the dome, shattering it, and hitting ground right outside of the Empire State building. Percy turned back, just in time to watch the dome crash back down onto the city.

Jason stood at the now shattered doors of the Empire State Building, the ice thawing quickly. His body still coursing with electricity, he walked out into the middle of the street, and looked up.

Chunks of ice were raining from the sky. Some the size of pennies, others the size of an eighteen-wheeler. Jason could hear the panic, the cars careening off the road, pedestrians running for cover. He looked down at the crater he had caused: ten feet wide, 12 feet deep. He chuckled a little as hysteria kicked in. "Bye bye Fifth Avenue" He mumbled to himself. He looked up and saw the stand where the Fates were. The only things left were 3 chairs, a half-finished blue sweater, two halves of a pink thread (Jason winced at that), the black scissors they used to cut it, and a long, glowing, sea green thread.

Jason turned to see Calypso walking up behind him. In her arms, she held Piper's body. He leaned down, closing her eyes, and kissing her cheek, which had already lost all of its warmth. There was no bringing her back.

"Is that..?" Calypso asked, the sea green thread glowing more. Jason sighed as he took Piper from Calypso "I'm not sure. I'm also sure the Fates wouldn't leave it here if they didn't want us to have it." He pocketed the thread and scissors, but something made him hesitate. The power to kill Percy Jackson in one swift movement…

"I'll hold onto these" Calypso said, taking the scissors from the demigod. "No mortal should possess such a weapon" She began to walk away from Jason.

"Where are you going?" He yelled after her.

"I'm catching a cab" She said over her shoulder "Take Piper back to camp. Give her a proper funeral. I rather you not touch me right now." Jason heard the sirens in the distance, slowly getting closer. He mustered what remained of his strength, and looked at Piper's thread one more time. He grabbed both ends, and tied them to his Camp Half-Blood necklace.

"For safe keeping…"