The Darkness Is Coming

Two Versions Of The Same Story

Nico POV

I ended up in a random forest. Clutching the hilt of my sword, I called the searchers to me.

Skeletons ambled out of the woods silently, an amazing feat for creatures made entirely of rattling bones.

"Have you found him?" I snarled.

Short head shakes. A growl escaped my throat.

"Who are you looking for?" A teasing voice asked from behind me.

"Percy!" I whirled and pointed my sword at his neck.

Riptide rotated in his hand as he studied me with a smirk.

"Dear cousin, don't you know it's not nice to point sharp things at your relatives?"

"Says you." I gestured towards his sword with mine.

Percy's smirk grew.

"You know Jason died last night?" I asked conversationally, trying to catch the man I used to look up to off guard.

"Of course. Good riddance as well."

My eyes narrowed as I studied him. Percy made a ridiculous face and then grinned maliciously at me.

"Take a picture, it'll last longer."

I felt my eyelid twitch.

"Aww, is little bitty Neeks-meister getting irritated?" He asked in a baby voice. "Do you need your big sissy? Oh that's right, she died!"

"That is it!" I lunged at the son of Poseidon in anger.

Percy blocked my swing easily, but instead of responding with his sword he punched me.

He punched me.

In the face.

He freaking punched me in the face!

I felt my nose break with a blast of pain, then warm blood dripped down my face.

"Oops." Percy said in a sarcastically girly voice.

I kicked him between the legs and took a swing at his head, ready to end this.

Riptide clashed against Παράφρονας, my sword. It's English name was essentially Lunatic or Insanity. I preferred the second one.

"You've been getting better." Percy commented serenely as I attempted to decapitate him again.

"Shut up." I snarled.

Cold pain suddenly pierced my thigh. I looked down to see a dagger made of ice sticking out of my leg, having been thrown while I was doing my best to kill my cousin.

Idiot. Should have paid attention better. I mentally berated myself as I gritted my teeth against the awful sensation of being stabbed with a frozen blade.

Looking down again, I realized that my thigh was slowly freezing, a thin sheet of ice covering it that would probably get worse over time.

"Oh, schist." I murmured as a fresh batch of pain shot through my nervous system.

"No."

"Huh?" My head shot up to look at Percy.

He was staring off into space, seeming to have a mental conversation. Suddenly, his eyes began to change expression rapidly, anger to despair to madness to determination.

"No, stop! You can't! Get back, go back there. You can't overpower me, it's impossible!"

He clutched his head and let out a piercing scream.

Birds shot out from the trees all around us. Slowly I picked up my sword and started towards the son of Poseidon, not knowing what was going on, but taking my chance.

"NO! I WILL NEVER-" Percy's neck went limp for a moment before he whispered something.

"And stay there, σκύλα." He snarled.

I frowned. "Percy?"

His head shot up, but he seemed incapable of doing anything other than that.

"Nico, you're hurt!"

"No thanks to you." I growled.

Percy's eyes filled with tears and sadness. "You have to warn the others."

"About what?" I frowned suspiciously.

"She's getting stronger. It's a miracle I fought her off this time."

"Percy, you aren't making sense."

"Just...Gods, you need to do this, no matter what you think, okay?"

I raised an eyebrow at him.

Percy took a deep, shuddering breath. "Nico, kill me."

"What?" I remembered Jason asking the same thing only a day ago...a single day before his death.

His death.

"Kill me! Before she has t-" Percy began to convulse violently. I backed up, checking the status of my leg. The entire thigh was frozen.

"I will not-No! I swear, if you-" Percy screamed broken fragments of sentences as he writhed on the ground, lying on his back now.

"Percy, I don't know what's going on, but fight her. Whoever she is, fight her!"

Percy suddenly lay silent. He rolled over slowly and pushed himself to his feet. I immediately knew he had lost against whatever he was fighting from the posture he had and the look on his face.

"Whoever she is. That's adorable. Would you like to know who I am? I'll be finishing you off in a moment." Percy asked, his voice taking on a decidedly feminine tone for the first time since this fiasco started.

I backed up, hoping it looked like fear. In reality, I mentally reached for the shadows, trying to reach them before this thing killed me.

"My name is Percie. P-E-R-C-I-E. Hello, darling Nico. If I had my own body, you'd make a good sport, if you know what I mean." Percie smirked seductively, freaking me out more since it was on my cousin's face.

"Thanks for the info, σκύλα." I fell backwards into the shadows and hoped I made it to Will before I froze solid.

The last thing I heard was Percie's enraged scream.

[A/N okay, so I swear demigodgrounder is freaking psychic because they sent me a direct message saying it would be cool if Percy and Percie wrestled for control in front of someone Percy knew. I already had this planned when they sent that....Anyway, enjoy!]