Annabeth

Our plan to get into the mansion went well at the start. It started going wrong when we were in the dungeon in the lower levels. We didn’t pay any attention to the prisoners until I heard a woman say, “Annabeth, is that you?” I turned back, and I saw a familiar woman. One with long, brown curly hair and kind blue eyes. “Sally, what happened? How’d you get here?”

I ran to her cell and tried to see if I could open it. I couldn’t find keys and the bars were too thick to cut.

“Some man came to my house and said Percy needed me. He said that Percy was going to change and I needed to help him. So I went with him. Next thing that I knew, I woke up here in the cell.”

“Don’t worry, we will get you out of here,” I turned to the others to get Frank but all I saw was a giant fist coming for my face and I was out.

I woke up to a sharp slap to the face. I had my hands in shackles above my head. I pulled on my restraints, but they were chained to the wall. I looked to my right and saw Frank and the others in the same situations as me. I looked in front of me and saw the man with an eye-patch from before, Ethan.

“Nice of you to join us blondie,” he said. He paced in front of us. “Your boyfriend is outside, causing problems.” He went to Nico and punched his stomach once and then gave him a right hook to the cheek.

“Kronos isn’t happy with you lot,” he said as he walked to Frank. He started punching Frank’s torso like a boxer uses a heavy bag. I could see the pain on Frank’s face, but he didn’t make a sound. “So I’m down here to make you pay,” Ethan said with an upper cut to Frank’s jaw.

As Ethan walked away, Frank spit a stream of blood out onto the floor, “Just wait,” he told Etan. “When I get out of these chains, you’ll be begging for mercy.”

Ethan let out a chuckle, “That’s cute, but who says you’re leaving?” He stood in front of Jason and put a hand on his shoulder. Then he brought his leg up and started kicking his legs. When Jason’s leg couldn’t last longer, he collapsed. Since his hands were chained, he only fell down part of the way down. Ethan kept kicking him, only he was kicking his ribs.

“Stop it!” I yelled.

He stopped and looked at me, he had an evil look on his face. He walked slowly over to me. “Don’t worry Blondie, I didn’t forget about you. You made me look like an idiot last time you were here, that’s unacceptable.” He drew his fist way back and it came crashing into my face. I was seeing starts.

Ethan was drawing his fist back for another hit when all of a sudden a voice came from behind him. “Nakamura! What are you doing? I told you to watch the prisoners only, not hurting them.”

Ethan turned around and I saw Luke. No, Kronos. He was walking up to us with his hands behind his back.

“Welcome back to my home Annabeth. I’m glad you could come.”

“What are you wanting with us Kronos? Why not just kill us?” Frank asked.

“Oh!” Kronos looked to Frank, “You all are my most important guests. You are going to play the most important role today.”

“What do you mean?” I asked him.

The smile he gave me sent chills down my spine.

“Don’t worry, you will see.”

≈

I watched in horror as Kronos plunged the blade into Sally’s chest. I couldn’t believe what I was saying.

I looked at Percy, and his face was devoid of any emotion, but I could feel his anger rising. He closed his eyes and lowered his head. His firsts were clenched tightly. I could see him trembling from the anger.

Kronos started laughing. I can feel the darkness taking over your heart. Soon, you will be under my control.” His laughing started up again.

That’s when I felt Percy’s energy increase immensely. It made the episode with Gabe look like child’s play.

When Percy looked up, his eyes were pitch black. They were so dark that they seemed to suck in any light around them. I looked at Kronos and his, once confident cocky smile, falter.

“You’ve made a grave mistake Kronos,” Percy said. “One that you will pay for dearly,” his voice was deep and was terrifying. Every person in the room was silent in fear. I saw a few devils in the back run out of a door in fear.

The air around Percy started to change, getting darker. It was like his aura was becoming visible. It slowly got darker as his rage grew.

“No…” I heard Jason whisper. “Not that.”

“What? What is it?” I asked.

He turned to me, “It’s hellfire; most devils can’t or won’t ever use it.”

“Why not?” Frank asked.

“Because, in order to wield it, the user must give their heart completely over to the darkness. Its danger comes from its power. If the user isn’t careful, the hellfire will consume them. Even Lucifer doesn’t use it.”

My heart fell, I didn’t want Percy using this magic if it was so dangerous. The hellfire grew darker by the second and it started looking like actual fire.

That’s when Percy struck. He brought his hand back, like he was about to throw a baseball, and launched a large, black fireball straight towards the head of Kronos.

He dodged it at the last second and the fireball hit a devil who was standing right behind. He ran around screaming, begging for help, but no one touched him. As the devil fell to the floor, he fell silent. As the flames died out, all that was left of him was a charred husk.

That’s when chaos broke out. Frank, Nico and Jason attacked their captors and grabbed weapons. They broke their bonds and started to attack devils around them. Some of the devils jumped down to fight Percy and the others. Percy barely had to move to beat them. He punched one in the face with a flaming fist, setting that devil on fire. Then when another two ganged up on him, he sliced a wide arch slashing both of their throats.

The rest of the team on the ground started attacking other devils who jumped down from the balcony. I stood there frozen just looking at Percy. I couldn’t believe what was happening. He just killed two people without even blinking an eye. He didn’t seem bothered at all by what he had just done.

He then started running towards the wall, then started climbing, grabbing onto the railing to the balcony. Kronos backed away into a doorway into a hall and ran off. Percy hopped over the railing and looked at me with those eyes, black and hard as obsidian. He walked up to me and snapped the ropes binding me with his hands like they were dried twigs. “You coming to help or not?” His voice was hard and cruel.

I turned to see how the others were handling the other devils. Piper and Reyna were fighting back to back and easily cutting down enemies. Frank and Nico were fighting next to each other, working their way away from the stairs. Jason had jumped down to join Hazel as she protected Will who was dressing a small wound Leo had received on his leg.

“Hey! Annabeth!” I turned back to Percy. His expression was harsh and made me feel tiny. “Are you coming or not?”

As much as I wanted to stay, I couldn’t leave Percy, not like this. So I nodded, reaching down to grab a knife I say a quick prayer, hoping to help us. We took off after Kronos down the hall.

It wasn’t long before we made it down the hallway to the throne room. Kronos stood at the end, scythe in hand and an evil smile on his face. “You should have agreed sooner Percy. Then perhaps your loved ones could have survived. But no matter, the darker your heart becomes, the easier it is to possess.”

I looked over to Percy, the hellfire was coming back. His eyes were still the dark void that they were before. I wanted to reach out and touch his shoulder, comfort him, but I didn’t want to touch the hellfire. Everything about it made my insides yell Run!

“If you think I will ever give into you, you’ve got another thing coming.” Percy said coldly. “You’ve been messing with my life for too long, now it’s time you leave it, permanently.” He raised his sword and pointed it at Kronos, the blade was shaking slightly from his anger. I adjusted the grip on my knife, ready to jump in when I was needed. Then the fighting began.

Percy charged forward, sword pointed at the middle of Kronos. I ran after him and got ready to attack Kronos from the side while Percy kept him busy.

Right when I got into position, Ethan came from a doorway directly to my right he attacked me with his sword, I barely dodged it. He slashed and stabbed so fast that I had trouble keeping up with him.

I was slightly aware of Percy’s fight with Kronos. I could feel the heat from the hellfire, Percy was throwing fire everywhere. At one point it looked like Percy’s sword was on fire. I couldn’t pay too much attention to them with Ethan swinging away at me.

Ethan was backing me up slowly toward the wall. When my back got to the wall, I dove between his legs and kicked the back of his knees. As Ethan collapsed, I ran toward Percy to help him. He looked like he had the whole situation under control, with hardly a sweat on his brow.

Ethan suddenly tackled me from behind. He held me from behind and pointed his blade at my chest, squeezing with all his strength. It was all I had to hold his arms away. I heard a body fly against a wall then I heard Percy yell, “Hey Ethan!”

I looked up and I see a fiery fist coming towards my head. I heard t connect to Ethan’s face behind me.

As soon as Ethan’s grip on me was released I ran away from him to stand next to him. “Thanks for that,” I said. Then I turned to look at him. I saw his smile, a glimpse of his true self, but then I saw his black eyes. It felt so wrong, this wasn’t my Percy. I had to snap him out of this.

Right as I was about to try and calm him down, Ethan started getting up. I heard someone walking behind us as well. I turned around to see Kronos walking toward us.

“Nakamura,” Kronos bellowed, “finish this. This is your test. Beat Jackson and you will be my top general.”

Ethan looked a little scared, but he nodded, “Yes my lord!” He swung his sword, getting his nerve. Then he charged. His skill was impressive, each attack was well timed, well placed and very quick. The only problem was that Percy was better.

He would move so the blade only met air each time. He moved with such ease that Ethan began to become frustrated. Finally, his anger got the better of him and he made a sloppy lunge toward Percy’s center, which he dodged easily.

Percy hit Ethan’s sword with his own. He hit the sword so hard that the force caused Ethan’s blade to run into the ground and get stuck. Then Percy slashed down, causing Ethan’s to shatter.

Ethan stumbled backward, holding his stomach as blood was streaming from the wound.

Percy then gathered a black fireball in his hand. His face grew serious. “You didn’t have to suffer Ethan. You could’ve let my mother go, you could’ve saved her. You chose this,” the fireball grew as large as my head. “Now you must pay.”

He pulled his arm back and threw the hellfire directly at Ethan’s chest. The flames engulfed him and he started screaming in pain. It was one of the worst sounds I’d ever heard. I cringed at the sound, but Percy’s face was void of any emotion.

“Give up Kronos, you won’t win,” Percy said. When we turned around, we saw Kronos with an infuriated look on his face.

“You are over confident, Percy, that will be your down fall.”

Suddenly, Percy grabbed his head and fell to his knees, screaming in agony. “Get out of my head!” he yelled. He flopped backwards and fell to the floor, writhing in agony. I ran to his side and dropped to my knees next to him. “Percy! Percy open your eyes! Come on, look at me!”

“It’s no use, I have invaded his mind,” Kronos said. “As soon as I take over his mind, I will move onto his heart.”

I kept holding Percy’s face, looking into his black eyes. Hoping to find some sliver of his old self in there. I started praying to God, begging him to help me, to help Percy. The screaming from Percy was killing me, but finally, it stopped.

I held my breath, not knowing what was going on. It confused me when I saw his face become relaxed and calm. My heart started to flutter a little bit, thinking maybe he was getting a little control of himself. But he did not look like himself.

He started to stand up, slowly. When he looked at me, I was more afraid than before. It wasn’t Percy’s face. I heard Kronos chuckle, “Yes, I have his mind now. My first order for him, is to kill you. His heart will be irreparable, and it will be mine.”

Percy started to swing at me. Left, then right, followed by another right. He finally caught me with an uppercut to the jaw. It sent me flailing backwards, but I stopped falling after a couple steps. “Percy, stop please, it’s me, Annabeth,” I begged him. He didn’t stop, or even slow down. He sent a kick to my stomach and it struck home. I keeled over, trying to catch my breath. “Percy, please.”

This time he stopped for a brief second, but then he punched down on me. He picked me up, but he looked confused. I touched his face, “Percy, please, come back to me.” He stopped, and looked to me, “Annabeth? What, what is wrong with me?”

He stepped backwards. He grabbed his head, “Annabeth, what’s going on?”

“Percy, you have to fight Kronos. He is trying to control you, he is in your head right now. Please, try to fight him.” I walked up to Percy, and I held his face. “Percy, please. I need you in my life. I… I love you.”

≈≈≈≈≈

Percy

All that I knew when Kronos got into my mind, was darkness. I couldn’t tell what I was doing, or saying or even where I was. Then I heard his voice in my head, he told me that I was his puppet now. The next thing I knew, I could feel my limbs moving; only I wasn’t the one moving them. I felt like there were strings attached to me that controlled me.

I could hear Annabeth’s voice, but it was far away. She seemed miles away from where I was. I wanted to go to her. She sounded like she was in trouble, but I couldn’t find where she was. All I knew was that I was throwing punches, but I didn’t want to be doing it. I tried stopping, and once, it even felt like it was going to work, but I kept going.

Suddenly, a little bit of light came through, and I saw Annabeth. My vision was foggy, but, I could still see her. She was hurt, someone had hit her, and when I looked at my fists, they were bloody and bruised. I had hurt Annabeth. “Annabeth? What, what is wrong with me?”

I stumbled backwards, I had to get away from her before I hurt her more. I could feel a war going on in my hand, telling me to do something I didn’t want to do. “Annabeth, what’s going on?”

She got up and walked toward me. “Percy you have to fight Kronos. He is trying to control you, he is in your head right now. Please, try to fight him.” She came even closer to me and held my face in her hands. “Percy, please. I need you in my life. I… I love you”

I couldn’t believe my ears. She loved me? But how could that be?

I felt the strong presence again in my head, screaming at me to kill her. The voice was telling every fiber of my being to kill Annabeth right now. But a light inside of me was fighting it. The more I looked at Annabeth and the longer I looked into her eyes, the clearer my vision became.

“Percy, this isn’t you. I know you can fight him, please, come back to me,” then she did something that I never would have expected. She pulled my face to hers and kissed me. I couldn’t think straight, I couldn’t even process what was going on. My vision cleared even more. “Percy, please come back to me,” she said. She had tears in her eyes, I would do anything to keep her from crying.

I turned to look at Kronos, and his grin had transformed into a look of concern. My anger raged again. But I felt Annabeth turn my head back towards her. “Percy, please, you need to control your anger. That is how he is controlling you, I know you fight best with your emotions, but you can’t use your anger.”

I nodded, and turned back towards Kronos. I took a deep breath to calm myself. I felt emotion stir within me when I looked at Annabeth, but this time, it was not anger. But I felt love toward her. Yes I was angry that Kronos had me hurt her, but she was still standing with me. She still loved me, and I realized that I loved her as well.

“Kronos, this is the end. We are going to finish this, no more mind games, no more tricks. Just you, me and our blades.”

Kronos looked uneasy, but he swung his scythe. “It is your death wish,” and he charged toward us.

I ran at him and held my blade ready to strike. As soon as I got close to him I swung my sword at his center. He blocked it with the handle of his scythe, and took a swing at my face. I ducked away and swung a kick at his feet. They caught and he fell backwards onto the ground. I brought my blade down toward his neck, but he rolled away. He swung his blade up at me and I backed away, only not quickly enough. The sharp edge sliced the front of my shirt and I could feel blood running down my stomach.

The wound stung, but I’d deal with it later. I charged again toward him and started swinging my blade. It was hard to keep up this fight with my wound. Sweat kept stinging it, and I could almost feel the wound getting wider. I had to wrap this fight up before I ran out of strength.

I sent a kick towards Kronos’ stomach and it connected. He went rambling backwards, and I seized the moment. I charged forward with my sword in front of me. Right as he regained his balance, he stood up and turned to face me. As soon as he faced me, my sword sunk deep into his chest. It sunk into the exact same position that he stabbed my mother.

I looked at his face, and he looked shocked. “W-what have you done?”

I got an inch from his face, and I said in a low growl, “That’s for my mother you bastard.”

He fell to the ground, with my sword stuck in his chest. I stumbled backwards and just as I was about to fall, someone caught me from behind. I looked up to see who it was, and I saw the most beautiful gray eyes. “Annabeth…”

We slowly went to the floor. Annabeth held me in her arms. Slowly my vision cleared to normal. I saw her smile, the smile that I loved so much. “Thank you, Annabeth. You saved me, again.”

She shook her head, “Percy, you don’t have to thank me for anything. I would save you time and time again. I know you would do the same for me. Thank you for coming back to me.”

I finally could relax. I closed my eyes and took another deep breath, getting even more comfortable in her arms.

“Hey,” she said. I opened my eyes and looked up at her. I made a grunting sound, asking what she wanted. She had a serene look on her face as she said, “Your eyes are back to normal.”

I let out a small laugh, and then she brought her face toward mine and she kissed me again. We held the kiss for a while, I couldn’t tell if it was a minute or an hour. But we had to break it when we heard doors opening and we heard Leo loudly say. “Geez you two, get a room why don’t ya?”

Notes