To Swear On Styx

Chapter Four: Nico Has a Bad Day

Playlist Part Four:

Last Words - Darren Korb

~*~

And so, that was how fifteen minutes later Percy found himself sitting with his friends around the ping-pong table in the Big House, anxiously tapping his fingers against its wooden surface.

His friends, along with Chiron, were all staring at him- Grover, Annabeth, Thalia, Jason, Nico, Hazel, Frank, Piper, Leo, Reyna, Rachel, and nearly a dozen other people all just looking at him.

Finally, Percy squeezed his eyes shut and took in a deep, unsteady breath. From behind him, he felt somebody gently rub his shoulder. "It's alright, my boy," Chiron comforted. "Just tell us what happened, and we'll do our best to assist you."

Taking in another breath, Percy nodded his relent, his eyes sweeping across the room, before falling back on his clasped hands. He couldn't bear to look at them a second longer.

"Kronos offered me a deal," he began, his voice cracking at the immediate uproar that filled the room. Wincing, he ran a shaking hand through his hair as he waited for the talking to subside.

"What kind of deal, Percy?" Annabeth asked, leaning forward and taking his hands. She didn't seem to notice the gold ring imprinted onto his finger, which had Percy heaving a silent sigh of relief.

"He... He swore to spare all the Olympians except Zeus, along with all of you guys- everybody at both camps- if I- I swore my allegiance to him." Percy's voice was bland suddenly, his eyes going dull. "There were a few other logistics, but-"

Reyna held up a hand, cutting him off. "Percy. Give us all the logistics right now." Her words left no room for argument, and quite frankly solidified Percy's suspicion that the trust for him at both camps was deteriorating quickly after the spectacle in the arena.

Scratching at his cheek, Percy nodded quickly. "In exchange for agreeing to his deal, Kronos swore on Chaos and the River Styx not to destroy the Olympians' thrones, and to treat them well unless they try to escape. They're not being tortured,- they're being kept in locked apartments on Olympus. He also said that you guys wouldn't be killed unless you tried to pull anything, and then, Chaos knows why, promised me two wishes, that have to be within reason." Percy made quotes with both his pointer and middle fingers at the last two words, his expression growing sour.

Something flashed in Reyna's eyes, and she marched forward, grabbing Percy by the shirt and heaving him up. "Perseus Jackson," she said, her voice deadly calm. "What. Did you. Agree to?"

"I had to," Percy's voice cracked out, his gaze skittering away, "-Or else he was gonna kill-"

He broke off as Reyna's expression darkened, and, nervously, held up his hands in relent. "I swore my allegiance to him. He turned me into a Titan. I'm- I'm a Titan, Reyna. I'm a Titan who has to marry him this Saturday."

Reyna dropped Percy like he was hot acid, and Percy fell back into his chair, his cheeks flaming gold in a mixture of rage at Kronos and embarrassment. It was quiet for a moment, just a moment, before the room erupted into a cacophony of fury. The shadows were all slinking towards a vengeful-looking Nico, Leo's hands were burning, Annabeth pulled out her knife and marched toward the door, only to be yanked back by a worried-looking Thalia, the lights above them flickered uneasily, before bursting as Jason paced back and forth underneath an unusually subdued Seymour, tapping his sword against the palm of his hand.

Percy was vaguely aware of Reyna grabbing his right hand and yanking it up, examining the gold ichor band burned into his skin. "This can't be real," she finally reasoned, her voice shaking dangerously. "You? You're marrying Kronos?"