7Hey guys, sorry for not updating for the past few days, had some serious writer's block and ended up rewriting this chapter a few times before I settled on this one. I've tried to get into some of the thinking and emotions in this chapter, but I'm not very good at this so might be shallow.
Anyway, here's chapter 10. Let me know what you think, if you like where this story is going or not. Reviews greatly appreciated.
And as always I don't own the characters.
Chapter 10 – Ascension
[Percy POV]
"No!" I screamed. "ANNABETH!"
Before anyone could stop me, I sprinted towards her lifeless body and jumped over it, tackling Eris and pinning her to the ground beneath me. She still had her psychotic smile on her face as she looked up at me. She started to laugh.
"What will you do hero? You can't bring her back, she's gone!"
"Then so are you!" I screamed back as I began to rain punches down. Blow after blow landed on her face as ichor began to pour from her nose. I became aware of a swirling vortex surrounding us as my wrath manifested in a hurricane. She continued to smile up at me with the crazy look in her eyes.
"Is that all hero? I'm the goddess of strife! I've started wars for fun! Your little girlfriend means nothing to me. Nothing!"
I let out a scream of rage and drew riptide again. Before anyone could stop me, I plunged it into Eris' chest and watched as the crazy look on her face was replaced with one of shock and rage.
"You dare attack me?" She screeched before beginning to glow. But I wasn't done with her yet. Before she could disappear, I pulled riptide out and stabbed it into her again, drawing more golden ichor that pooled on the floor. With a final scream she vanished in a blaze of light and left me kneeling on the floor in a pool of ichor. I let out a howl of anguish as the vortex expanded outwards to the four walls of the chamber. I looked up at the others and saw looks of anguish on their faces, and a look of shock on Artemis. I let the vortex die as I crawled over to Annabeth's body that was still lying crumpled on the floor with a pool of blood underneath it.
"Annabeth?" I asked weakly as I knelt next to her. She didn't respond, her eyes were still open, and her face had a look of shock on it. She had been cruelly murdered.
"Annabeth?" I asked again. Not wanting to believe the fact that was clearly in front of me.
"Annabeth? Wake up." I said as I cradled her head in my lap.
"Annabeth." As I fought to hold back the tears that threatened to spill out.
"Annabeth." As I felt two figures kneeling down next to me. The one on my right reached out and closed Annabeth's eyes whilst the one on the left pulled me into her embrace and held me tight. I couldn't hold it anymore; I let the tears fall.
"It's ok Percy. Everything is going to be alright." The voice of Thalia said in my ear. I couldn't say anything, my whole mind felt numb as the realisation of my life without Wisegirl sunk in. I don't know how long we stayed there, not moving, but I felt a hand on my shoulder, and I knew it belonged to Artemis.
"Come Percy, there will be a time for mourning, but now we must get back to the surface and inform the council. Or else war will come."
I slowly got to my feet with Thalia and looked around at my friends. Piper, Frank and Hazel had all been crying, whilst Leo was struggling to hold his in. Just then I noticed movement out of the corner of my eye. I turned towards the dais and saw the air shimmer as two figures appeared in the thrones. He was a male with dark blue skin and green eyes, he wore armour made of what looked like fish scales and he held a sceptre in his right hand that was made of adamantine and pearl. She had sea green skin, just like my eyes, and wore a Greek chiton. She had long hair that flowed down to the floor and had a circlet of pearl on her head.
"Lord Pontus, Lady Thalassa." Said Artemis in awe as she bowed to each in turn. The rest of us were still too stunned to react.
"Artemis." Said the man. "It has been far too long."
"So you have awoken after all. We thought you were still slumbering."
"We were slumbering until we felt the release of a lot of energy in this room." Said the woman. "The child of the sea's pain, as well as the spilling of blood and ichor, caused us to stir for the first time in many years."
"And what are your intentions now that you have awoken?" Asked Artemis warily.
"They are the same as they've always been," Replied Pontus. "To observe and live in peace. We have no quarrel with you Olympians. Tell Poseidon that we do not desire war." At this news Artemis relaxed.
Pontus then turned to look at us, "Please leave us heroes, I must speak with Artemis privately."
We said our farewells before I picked up the body of my girlfriend and carried her back up the steps. The others trailed behind me as we ascended in silence. I wasn't in the mood to talk, and I got the feeling no one else was either. Once we had ascended, we waited in the corridor for Artemis. After a few minutes she appeared, and we exited the palace onto the seafloor again.
"We're going to need your help to get to the surface again Percy." Said Thalia gently.
"How did you get down here in the first place?" I asked.
"Aether helped us." She replied. Who was Aether? Seeing the look of confusion on my face she continued. "Primordial of the upper atmosphere. Too much to explain now, but we need to get going and none of us can breathe underwater, nor survive the pressure and cold."
I nodded my understanding. I didn't want to let go of Annabeth's body, but I had no choice as I would need all my strength just to get everyone to the surface. I handed her over to Thalia before I closed my eyes and felt that familiar tugging feeling in my gut. I managed to make a sphere of air surround us and we began to ascend towards the surface once more. Just like being under the lake at camp with Wisegirl, I thought to myself.
"Oh the irony," I murmured to myself bitterly. No one seemed to hear me, but Artemis fixed her gaze on me and gave me a single nod. What she meant by it I wasn't sure, but I got the feeling whatever Pontus had spoken to her about somehow involved me.
30 minutes later we breached the surface of the Pacific Ocean and Artemis immediately sounded her hunting horn. It was night-time and the moon was full, suddenly the light brightened, and I gasped as I saw the moon chariot and a familiar metal dragon descend out of the sky and hover over us. We loaded onto the two vehicles and took off towards the East. We flew in silence for hours over the dark water, no one wanting to stop until we reached land again. As dawn broke, I could make out a black mass on the horizon that I knew to be the coast of California. We landed at a nice mansion in Santa Monica that turned out to be Piper's house.
"This is where Leo and I leave you guys again." Said Piper. "We came to help rescue you Percy, but we can't go all the way back to New York."
"It's OK," I said. "I really appreciate you guys coming to save me." I felt hollow saying the words; how could I feel anything but sadness and guilt knowing that in saving me, Annabeth had been killed? But I didn't want to make them feel any worse than they would already be feeling.
"Frank and I have to go too Percy." Said Hazel. "Unfortunately, Camp Jupiter is still severely weakened, it needs its Praetor's there to rebuild it. Leo can drop us off on Festus." I nodded my understanding and thanked them again for everything they'd done for me. We said our last farewells before Artemis, Thalia and I got back into the moon chariot and took off into the morning sky once more. Thalia and I sat in the back facing each other next to Annabeth's body.
"You mustn't blame yourself Percy." She said, looking me in the eye.
"Don't play that game with me, Thalia." I said hollowly. "Who else is there to blame. She died on a rescue mission for me."
"She made the choice to come find you. It was her choice, and she wouldn't want you to throw it all away for her. She'd want you to move on with your life. And as for who to blame, how about Eris? Seeing as how she's the one who murdered her and kidnapped you!"
"She should have left me there." I replied. "You all should have! That way she'd still be alive now!"
"Percy," Said Artemis gently as she turned around to sit with us, "Annabeth wasn't the type of woman to sit back and let others solve her problems for her. You know that better than anyone. That pain you feel now that she's gone, she felt that once before when you went missing the first time. She obviously thought that risking her life to save you was worth more than living safely without you."
"But how am I supposed to live without her now?"
"I do have the answer to that. But looking at the prophecy now, Annabeth must've known she wasn't going to be coming back alive from this, and yet she went anyway. Clearly, she must've thought that you'd be able to go on without her." I sighed and realised that both Artemis and Thalia were right, but that didn't make it any easier.
"What did Pontus want to talk to you about?" I asked, deciding to change the topic.
"You shall see soon enough Percy." She replied cryptically. "Now I suggest both of you sleep, you've used up a lot of your energy fighting Koios. Don't worry, you cannot fall out of this chariot." I thought it would be impossible to sleep whilst flying hundreds of metres above the ground, but I was wrong. I was woken a few hours later by Artemis; we had arrived on Olympus. I picked up Annabeth's body and we then walked into the throne room. It was empty except for the nine-year old form of Hestia sitting at the hearth. She looked at me sadly as if she'd seen this coming. I placed Annabeth's body on the floor next to the hearth and then stood next to it with Thalia as Artemis went to her throne. Once she was seated, the rest of the Council appeared one after the other until they were all gathered. They seemed confused at being summoned but that soon passed once they saw the look on my face and the body on the floor. When my dad saw me as well as Annabeth lying lifeless on the floor, he rushed over to give me a hug before returning to his throne.
"Percy Jackson!" Thundered Athena. "What is the meaning of this? Why is my daughter's body lying on the ground and yet you stand here before us?"
"Hush daughter." Said Zeus. "Let the council be informed of the events of the past few days before you jump to conclusions. I for one, am curious as to why Artemis summoned us to the council." He turned his gaze onto her before asking "How did you know of this before the rest of us?" Artemis looked uncomfortable I thought, but she seemed to steel herself and got that look of determination in her eyes that I'd seen before.
"I helped in the attempt to rescue Perseus. And it's just as well I did, as the dangers were too much for just demigods." With this the council erupted with outrage.
"Why would you help half-bloods?" Asked Athena.
"Sis, you hate men, why rescue Percy?" Asked Apollo.
"Should've let the little punk go to his fate," Said Ares wickedly, "The least he deserves!"
"You did what?!" Thundered Zeus, silencing the rest of the council. "You know you cannot directly interfere. Quests fail or succeed by the hands of the heroes, not the gods!"
Artemis stayed silent until Zeus had finished his rant before responding. "Well not that I have to explain myself to anyone here, but I have my own reasons for helping save the man."
"And pray-tell what would those be?" Asked Dionysus, looking bored.
I'll admit I was curious as to her motives too. I looked up at her and saw her looking down at me intensely. Without looking away she simply said "I owed him a debt, he helped save me from Atlas. I simply wanted to make up for that." I thought I saw something in her eyes, and was that a slight redness in her cheeks?
"Oh how very moving." Replied Dionysus.
"Enough." Sighed my dad. "What's done is done, and you have my thanks for rescuing my son, Artemis."
"Tell us in full what happened daughter." Said Zeus rather forcefully.
It took a long time, but eventually the story was told in full. Artemis, Thalia and I took turns at recounting the events of the previous days, each filling in different pieces of the puzzle. When we were finished no one spoke, the hearth crackled loudly as the Council seemed to be in shock.
"So this was all the work of Eris." Said Zeus. "We should've realised her hand in all this."
"Thankfully, war has been averted." Said my father. "It's just a shame that it cost a good life to do it."
"I would like to take her body back to Camp." I said, looking at Athena, daring her to challenge me. "She deserves a proper funeral." She didn't respond but fixed me with her intense grey eyes and gave a curt nod.
"Well that's that then." Sighed Zeus. "Crisis averted and one demigod returned safely. For your part in slaying Koios and wounding Eris, you must be rewarded Perseus. I will leave it to Poseidon to decide what you shall receive."
"Wait!" Yelled Artemis. "Father, Uncle, there is a matter I must speak with you both about." With that she slipped off her throne and approached my father and uncle. They had a hushed conversation in Ancient Greek. I couldn't tell what was said, but Zeus' eyes widened in shock whilst my dad had a smile on his face. When they were done Artemis walked back to her throne and sat down again.
"It has been suggested that you should be offered godhood once more Perseus." Zeus said. Silence fell on the council. "It would seem that Pontus and Thalassa want you to work under your father as his ambassador to them. You would be a minor deity of the waves and heroes, and on top of your ambassador role, you would also be in charge of watching Camp Half-Blood with Chiron."
"Does that mean I don't have to be there anymore?" Asked Dionysus suddenly. He looked excited.
"You would still be on probation," Zeus warned, "But yes, I will relieve you of your post there." He turned to look at me again, "What do you say Perseus?"
I didn't know what to think. I looked at my dad and saw him smiling, I knew he'd want me to accept. I looked around the assembled council, most of them had neutral expressions on their faces, though a few didn't. Dionysus looked at me with an almost pleading expression, oh the irony to have control over him for a change. Ares was grinning again, I guess he'd like to attack me over and over again. Athena's eyes seemed to be barely holding back anger, I guess she wouldn't be happy with me becoming a god after her daughter just died saving me. Finally my gaze fell on Artemis. I couldn't read her expression, but her eyes seemed to be telling me to take the offer. Why would she want me to take it? And why would she come to rescue me? Gods never worried about things such as settling debts to heroes. I looked at Thalia who stared back at me and gave me a nod and a big smile.
Finally my gaze fell on Annabeth's body. What would Wisegirl want me to do? She'd stopped me from becoming a god once before, but she wasn't here anymore. I could see her in Elysium when I died, but that would never happen if I became a god. I thought of the life we'd planned together, now nothing but a broken dream. If I didn't take this offer, what would I do going forward? I had no Wisegirl and I couldn't hope to pass college without her help. I looked at Hestia and saw her give me a smile, like she knew what I was debating. Finally I knew what to do. Looking up at Zeus I said the two words that would forever change my life.
"I accept."
