madness and ecstasy // leo valdez

-a mothers love-

The dirt was hard. Gods, Teqi's back hurt.

The rabbit you killed with the chariot. Foolishness that ended with the death of an innocent life. It cursed you, just like all of the others.

Teqi wiped a bit of the mud and rotted vine off her face, getting back to her feet just in time to shove a demon over the cliff, where she fell into a rock face and dissolved like powder. There was a beat of peace, and then a loud roar and the sound of flapping wings. Every time they killed one, six more emerged from the dark forest filled with corpses and maimed woodland animals.

"Fuck!" Teqi cursed, and waved her arms quickly, sending a tidal wave of sharpened plants over another group of the arai. She doubled over as a blade sliced through her gut. There was one in her eye as well, and one more deep in her thigh.

The storm spirits you sent down here at the Grand Canyon cursed you. The wolf of the night you stabbed cursed you as it melted to shadows did too. You will feel their pain.

Percy toppled over next to her, reaching for his legs. Teqi just grabbed his shoulders and heaved him back up as he slashed an arc of safety around them with his sword. One panicked and ran face-first into a tree. Another screeched and tried to fly away, but Percy sliced off her wings and sent her spiralling into the chasm.

They panted for a moment, but the arai just kept coming.

Teqi's whole body throbbed with pain, like a rubber band had been tightened around her middle, blocking off blood circulation. She didn't think that was a curse though, it was just the pain she'd gathered after trekking across hell itself. The plants didn't tire as she controlled them though, they only grew darker and sharper, as did her thoughts.

As she gritted her teeth through the pain of being ripped from a host body and killed in her own mind, she reached for Annabeth again. She was just out of reach, calling their names as she wandered among the demons. It seemed the curse had been extended to Teqi as well.

A demon pounced and sank its teeth into Percy's thigh. He roared. He sliced the demon to dust, but immediately fell to his knees.

Teqi grabbed the shoulders of another demon and pushed her back, yelling without words, just anger. Vines became snakes that became nooses that became whips that became the instruments she used to strangle half a dozen monsters with. Pain flooded through her in waves, and white smoke curled off Percy's forearms. He dropped his sword.

He couldn't give up now, he couldn't leave Teqi to kill these monsters and save Annabeth alone. She wasn't strong enough. She'd see one more of her friend's corpses wandering around down here, she'd see one more incomprehensible horror and it would break her.

Teqi wasn't strong enough.

All her life, she couldn't be weak, she had to be strong, she had to be better and protect her family and she couldn't be weak.

But now she was and there was nothing she could do about it.

You will both die, monsters of your own making, the killers of your bloodline, you will die here, defenceless, because of the pain you have caused.

Teqi was on her knees, covered in blood, but she wasn't scared. She didn't know why, she should be scared, but she laughed instead. "You guys think you're bringing justice, don't you? You're just as bad as us, you're killing us too, you cause just as much pain as we do! You. Aren't. Special!"