Nine

The Mark of Athena 

15 yrs 

Well, this is just wonderful,  I thought bitterly.  

I stared at Nico across from me in the cramped space.  His eyes were closed, and his breathing was very, very, very slow and steady.  For a moment I thought he wasn't breathing at all, but after staring for around six minutes, I could see his chest move as he took in a breath.  

We somewhat found the Doors of Death.  Somewhat meaning we got captured in Tartarus and were being held captive by two giants, which is fun.  Especially when they lock you and your best friend in a jar and seal the top, limiting your air supply.  

And no one would know we were slowly dying, unless of course they had a dream about us.  But my luck was rotten, so the chances of that were slim.  

I closed my eyes and tried to thin my breathing as much as possible.  The voices and flashbacks came back once again, and I instinctively reached for Nico's cold, bony hand.  After a few seconds, he loosely held my hand back.  

"You could have saved me,"  the voice called again, and I braced myself, knowing there was no escape.  "Why didn't you save me, River?"  

Allora's face flashed through my mind, and I leaned my head back against the cold jar, wishing I could get away from it.  But nothing could stop the roars of dead quest companions yelling through my head.  

Allora's pale body fell into my arms as I blindly threw a knife at the Cyclops and slid over to catch her.  The wound in her chest was too fatal.  There were no rivers or lakes or any waters near us, we might as well have been in the desert.  

More and more deaths flooded with cries of mercy and begging to help them.  Begging to live, when I knew that there was nothing left to do.  They were gone, and I would never be able to undo what Neptune had forced upon them.  

"It should have been you."  

It should have been, I agreed in my mind.  

"Why did you let it happen?"  

"It's all your fault."  

"You'll never live up to Percy."  

"Percy would have saved us."  

"You were always weak."  

"Ignorant."  

"Reckless."  

"Selfish."  

I squeezed Nico's hand and bit my lip, a numb feeling coming over me.  My conscious wandered into a small nook in the back of my mind, settling there.  The flashbacks still came, the voices echoing through my empty head.  

But I felt no emotion now.  

So, in the small nook I stayed, enduring every.  Single.  Nightmare.  It never ended, but the emotions never returned.  The voices echoed around in no effect.  

But something disrupted the peaceful numbness.  I was tilted over and tumbled out of the jar, fumbling against Nico's limp body before landing finally on the hard ground.  

Noises exploded all around, but I was too far deep in my mind to hear.  But I forced my limp arm to reach out and land on the ground, trying to crawl forward in the direction Nico had left me for.  

Ages later, after crawling four and a half spaces, someone grabbed me, and I passed out.  

-*- 

When I woke up, I was on a bed in a ship.  My entire body tensed, despite being sore.  It was in the air, in Jupiter's domain.  

I blinked, hearing voices around me.  No one noticed I was awake yet.  I sat straight up, overshooting somehow and falling to the floor.  A loud thump a blur of me announced to everyone I was awake and on the floor.  

Someone shouted my name and suddenly there was a blur of black hair in front of me.  The voice was familiar, so were the sea-green eyes.  Yet my fall had made my vision go unfocused, so I couldn't comprehend who it was.  

"N-Nico?"  I gasped, blinking hard and squinting.  

"No,"  the voice said.  "River, it's me."  

I blinked for the thousandth time and the face formed.  An older, wearier version of my brother stood in front of me, full of concern.  

"P-P-Percy?"  I stammered.  "Dang, what crack am I on.  Nico, I thought you were Percy-"  

"River."  

I looked up and saw Nico sitting on a bed, close to have a coughing fit.  Hazel, his half-sister was with him.  Plus, Jason Grace and the two demigods he'd come to Camp Half-Blood with, and Frank Zhang.  

My eyes darted between Percy and Nico, seeing them both together in the same room.  Finally, I stared at Percy, who hadn't taken his eyes off me.  We had an uncomfortable staring contest, and everyone left after a bit to give us privacy.  

"Do you hate me?"  I whispered, looking down.  

"What?"  Clear surprise filled his voice.  "River, I could never hate you.  You're my little sister."  

I took a deep breath.  "But I just left-"  

"I don't hate you.  Never, I could never hate you, lil sis."  I smiled the slightest before looking up at him, and he continued.  "You scared the heck out of me and mom, but I could never hate you.  I am beyond curious why you left, though.  And what you've been doing since then."  

I tried my best to tell him everything, and he seemed cautious when I said lived with Neptune for a year.  But he was glad I found Nico, even if he said Nico wasn't his first choice of friend for me.  When I got to the part about the quests I paused.  

"You okay?"  He asked, noticing I was breathing hard.  

"Neptune sent me on quests, to uh, prepare for Gaea,"  I managed, trying to steady my breathing.  "I went on dozens of quests.  I've lost count.  A-and each time, I..."  I paused and looked at him, a single tear streaking down my cheek as I whispered,  "each time I was the only one to come back."  

"Neptune did it on purpose.  He sent them to their deaths, but he never let me die.  I lived through it every.  Single.  Time.  I-I can't live like this Percy.  Please, I don't want to do this anymore.  I can't-"  

He quickly hugged me, and I completely broke down, gasping for air and coughing and sobbing uncontrollably.  

"You're okay,"  he murmured.  "I've got you.  You're okay.  I'm not leaving you.  Not ever, got it?  You're stuck with me, sis."  

His words made it hurt so much more when he and Annabeth Chase fell into Tartarus.  

A/N:  Hiiiii :D 

I know, the dreaded end.  But don't worry, I have maybe four or five chapters left, including the Epilogue.  We're so close, I don't know how I feel about this.  I'm happy to actually finish this, but at the same time.... the ending- 

I could give any spoilers u like, but not the ending.  The ending would be waayyyy too much of a spoiler.  Ahhh I can't get over how close we are to the end!!!  

I may add in a new character who's going to have her own book that I just put a teaser out for.  Star Dust (Aurora di Angelo) somewhere between now and the end, just a small glance of her.  Maybe, she could be in the "prequel".  

Her book is kind of an excuse while I try and figure out the next book, cause there's no plot for it yet.  Just a bunch of people and a main character.  So yeah.  

Anyways, hope y'all have enjoyed this story so far, it means so much that y'all are reading.  Please vote and comment (if you want), be safe and have an amazing day!  

- Anne