Chapter 15
Percy’s POV:
The day started just like any of the others, everyone heading down to breakfast. Fred had agreed to stay at Hogwarts for the rest of the year to help me with my class and to keep an eye on everything. Then out of nowhere, a shockwave exploded through the room, causing everyone to go silent. I heard a quiet ‘no’ of disbelief escape from my lips as I stood up, eyes wide in horror. Turning to Fred, I can feel my carefree persona being replaced with the seriousness of Void.
“Fred go to New Mexico and retrieve Destruction. He may not have his powers right now but we’ll need his help.” I watch as he immediately vanishes, using one of his gifts bestowed upon him by Chaos to make it past the school’s wards.
Looking over at Headmistress McGonagall, I tell her to bring all of the students below fifth year to the Slytherin common room, where they will be furthest from harm. As the younger kids are evacuated by the teachers, I see a flash of light from my peripherals, announcing Mischief and Destruction’s arrival.
“Fred, run up to my room and grab my bag for me please. I’ll meet you back here.” Gesturing for the demigods to come up to me I introduce them to Thor. “Luna, Draco, Neville, Severus this is Thor. Thor these are the local demigods. Would you please organize the remaining students by skill and weapon of choice? And would one of you show Thor where my classroom is to retrieve as many of the weapons there that you can?”
Seeing them nod and take off to do their respective jobs, I flash myself to the roof of the massive castle to try and see where the arm is coming from and how strong they are. The wards that I had set up when I first arrived were holding, but they wouldn’t for much longer. Conjuring up a telescope, I look to the approaching army to try and spot who it is leading them, only to see a familiar grin. How dare that son of a bilgesnipe take his appearance.
Returning to the Great Hall, I see everyone waiting for my instructions, but my anger must have been plainly visible on my face, because Luna immediately came up to me to ask what was wrong. It took a few moments, long enough for the others to gather around also, before I could answer his questions.
“I don’t know how he did it,” I mumbled not sure how to go about telling them. “He should still be scattered in tiny pieces, but I could deal with his return on its own. In fact, I would probably even say I would be happy to kill him again. Especially now.” That of course startled them, because while I could be violent, cruel was never a word someone would use to describe me. But with the glint of pure hate in my eyes, that’s the only way that my expression could be taken.
“Who is it Perce, what did you- who’s out there?” Severus asked with concern written all over his face.
“It’s Luke,” I’m muttering almost crazily to myself now, “But it’s now. It was his face, but I saw him die. He- the evil little- he looks like him again. I don’t know- I’m not sure I- how can I kill him again?”
“Who looks like L-Lu-Luke?” Draco asks me. Oh no he can’t, Luke was his hero, the only one who truly cared for him back when he was unclaimed. This is going to- oh no. Shaking my head, I get my thought in order before drawing myself up to my usual height. Time for the snark and sarcasm to make its appearance, because everyone knows that there’s no better way to put your troops at ease than to seem perfectly calm yourself.
“Bad news guys. It- it seems like Gramps is up and about again. I’m thinking that it’s about time that he takes a nice long nap like great grandma, what about you all? Get it? Time? Because he’s the dude in charge of time? No? No one? Yeesh nobody appreciates my puns anymore.” Taking a deep breath, I charge ahead with my rambling speech.
“Whelp, let’s get a move on. Try and keep the wizards away from the more difficult of the monsters, I know that we’ve been training them and everything but they’ve never actually had to face any of these ugly sons of Echidna before, and I want to traumatize them as little as possible. Demigods, you try and protect the wizards and take on the medium to largish monsters. Destruction and Mischief, battle plan 835B. You get the biggest of the big-bads and protect the troops. I’ll go for the main threats.
Remember everyone, being a hero is good and all, but I’d rather you be alive. Don’t take on more than you can handle. Find the wizards with the skills most similar to your own and that’s who you lead. And guys,” at that I look at each of them I the eye, “Thank you for standing by me once again.” Cracking a smile, a grab my bag from Fred’s hand so that I can put my armor on and put a couple of last minute protection charms on the others.
It’s go time.
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Out of the corner of my eye, I see that there have been heavy losses on the side of the monstrous army, but there haven’t been any fatalities from our side, yet. Hacking my way through the army, I guide my path of destruction towards Kronos. The smug little- sitting there grinning as though he doesn’t have a care in the world, waiting for me to reach him. Finally, after what seems like hours but must have only been minutes, or was it the other way around, I reach his little perch.
“Sup Gramps, didn’t expect to see you any time soon. What’cha been up too?” Seeing the wicked grin that he flashes my way I begin to regret my ability to sass any powerful being that I come across. Either way, our blades start to clash against each other as our powers clear out a giant circle of space around us.
“Oh granddaughter, you haven’t changed a bit, however I’m sure you’ll love to her how I escaped. But first, do you like the look? It’s a bit rough, but I thought the sentimentality was worth it, don’t you?” He snarks, his eyes lighting up at my responding growl of anger.
“Now for the villain’s rant. Back when you first defeated me, I had yet to put about half of my power into the pathetic vessel that was hosting me. The rest was gathered at the edges of Tartarus, just waiting to be set free. When my physical form was defeated I momentarily despaired, because it would have taken dreadfully long to set up such a good attempt again. But, to my astonishment the Doors of Death were open all of a sudden. Now I couldn’t possibly pass up this good of a chance, who knows when something as… simple would have come by again. It really is too bad that you were so slow at closing the doors, for I had mostly escaped by that point. Shame isn’t it, that all of those unfortunate, pitiful deaths from the first war are now meaningless.”
Breaking into hate filled laughter, Kronos continues his assault, uncaring that his army has fallen during his speech, the only other sound being my enraged shouts. Blow after blow is traded, back and forth between us, before finally I get slightly ahead, striking down on his shoulder and disarming him. Just as my sword is about to pass through the killing blow, I hear him murmur “And to think, I was just the distraction” before he dissolved into golden dust, returning to Tartarus, where he belongs.
Victorious shouts ring out around me, but my guard doesn’t drop. What did he mean by distraction? All of a sudden, a wall of light surrounds me, separating me from my friends. A shadowed figure slowly formed from the blinding light, striding towards where I had dropped to my knees in pain. The shouts of my friends and teammates echoed in through the barrier of light, but I couldn’t turn towards them, as the being, Existi, had grabbed my face.
From within the shadows of his cloak the only thing that I could see were his eyes, glowing with insanity. Pure white pupils surrounded with irises the color of the Plegethon, reminding me of my time in Tartarus. The final bit, barely visible against the darkness, is the sclera of his eyes, which instead of the normal white are blacker than anything I’d ever seen. The pinch of his nails in my cheeks force me to look straight into his eyes as he grins.
“I’ve finally found you, the one worthy of taking on the powers of Void. The purest of all souls. I’ll make you a deal, my pet. If you come with me, no fuss, no fight, I’ll spare your friends, and the other students inside the school, this day. If you try and struggle, I’ll kill them all and you will regret resisting me. Now what is your choice?”
As his question hisses through the air I can’t help but to think back on my promise, I had told those kids that I would protect them. And I know that Chaos wasn’t ready to fight yet, the army still preparing itself. There’s only one option I can go with. Only one way that the others will make it out of this alive.
Faintly nodding yes, I see his grin take on a sort of childish glee, before he yanks me to my feet. As the barrier of blinding light drops from around us, I manage to make eye contact with Thor and Fred, sending a brief plea over the telepathic bond. “Please, tell the others I’m sorry.” While caressing my cheek, and before anyone can do anything, Existi flashes us away.