Destiny Calls (A Percy Jackson Fanfiction)

48: Ashes of our Lives

I'M BACK. AFTER NEARLY 6 MONTHS I AM BACK. And this is probably gonna be one chapter and then Hiatus after a while so CHEERS

I looked around me, my friends lying on the ground, injured, dying, dead. I was still a hovering soul, and I was taking in the aftermath of the Dark War. (That's what I'm calling it, don't judge.) Travis Stoll was on his knees, crying, the limp body of his younger brother rested on his thighs, and they both had scratches all over their bodies, Connor having a deeper gash across his stomach, and a pool of blood on the floor beneath him and his blank eyes showed me that there was no hope for him. He was dead.

Then there was the happy-go-lucky daughter of Hecate, Lou-Ellen. Her magic must have been weakened and she would have been weaker because of Hecate's injuries and health, and she had fallen protecting a younger group of demigods, who still had a glowing green shield around them, and her hands were still wreathed with a bit of green magic, as she lay slumped against the shield, her eyes glassy and wide, impaled by a spear in the chest.

Miranda Gardner, Katie's sister, her thorns and plants turned against her, and what had seemed like an Earthborn had restrained her and another one had slit her neck with her own thorns, her blood stained with poison and her wound an ugly yellow. Katie held her in her arms, her green healthy vines cradling the limp poisoned figure of Miranda. She sobbed even more, and I wracked in pain.

Thea, Thea, Thea...

The voices were in my head. My vision blurred and I saw images whir past me. Dom's violet eyes, worried, speaking to me, but I could hardly make out the words. A flash of red hair, Leah? racing past me, her figure nothing but a blur in my eyes, as my body writhed in pain again. I groaned, my shoulder blades screaming in protest as two pair of strong arms hefted me up, and I lightly felt a familiar presence, a whiff of the smell of forest pines. I saw fuzzily in the corner of my eyes Dom's dark figure collapse suddenly.

Everything suddenly flashed into hyper reality, before I was wrenched back into the realm of unconsciousness. I could feel what my hands felt, only faintly, over the pain of my body, and I could feel it, feel the small silver charm that hung from my neck, next to beads I never knew were there. I could feel my wolf.

So I knew I was still alive.

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My eyes fluttered gently, my eyelashes gently batting as I was shook into a forced awakening. Dom stood silently by me, his hand in mine, before I heard Artemis's voice in the distance, so far, far away, I could hardly hear anything. "Sorry, my dear huntress. This will hurt." My mind baffled from the pain I had been through, I could not register her words. What else could hurt if I had just fell from the sky and been embedded by shrapnel as I landed on stone cold ground?

That question was answered. I screamed, as I felt a pair of tweezers wrench the largest pieces of shrapnel out of my back. The black material was smoking, but I soon was lulled to sleep with a cloud of sleeping gas, but I glimpsed the golden surroundings I was in. And once again, I fell asleep.

-----------------------Time Lapse (5 months later)------------------------

I awoke with a start, and I gasped for air. This was the first time I had awoken fully in I didn't know how long, and I had not breathed voluntarily for that long. Dom was immediately by my side, holding me, supporting me, as I sat upright on my bed, with nothing by my arms to get me up. Leah was at my other side, though Max was nowhere to be seen.

I swivelled my neck to try and see if there was anyone else in the room, but I could feel it. An invisible presence just outside, waiting to be invited in. I felt everything around me, the air, the bed, the blanket, the blood running through my veins, the throb of a beating heart, of beating hearts, around me. What happened to me?

"You saved my life," answered Dom, as if I had said it out loud, "you shielded me as we crashed to the ground. All I had were a few broken bones and some of the smaller shrapnel. You took on the pain, it was a miracle you weren't dead." I tried to speak, but my throat was sore. How long had I been out?

"You've been unconscious for 5 months." Said Leah at my side. How could they have heard me? "You woke only for a while, when the main pieces of the shrapnel was removed, and it happened."

"We can hear you perfectly fine." Interjected Dom. "Why wouldn't we be able to hear you?"

But I'm not speaking. This is all what I am thinking, is it not? I was confused out of my mind. I had no idea what was going on at all. I tried to move, but I tumbled forwards, coughing and hacking, yet no noise came from my throat.

"Holy gods, what in Hades are you talking about. You're speaking to us, loud and clear." Said Dom. What? I tried to move again, but I couldn't feel my legs. I couldn't fell my legs. I tried to reach for my legs, but I only managed to poke my thigh. Not a feeling.

Leah moved beside me, and shouted the one god I had not expected to be here. "Apollo!"

Apollo? I thought. My uncle, technically, but also my cousin. "Yes, Leah?" the familiar figure of my annoying godly-relative Apollo appeared next to the doorway. "I am not annoying, Arthelle. Show some respect."

My name is not Arthelle, it is Arthella. I thought angrily, yet I could not form a single word. Apollo seemed to have heard me though. "Oh gods, dad is going to kill me. Oh gods, no no no. I did not do this. Damn this." Apollo walked into a wall and smashed his head on it. I could feel the vibrations from this action, and I lifted a hand as if to calm them down. What happened?

"I... oh this is terrible. Arty! Come!" Apollo paced around the room, head in hands, face in shame. "Come, hurry up! ARTY!"

My mother materialised next to my bed. "What is it, Apollo?" she said, irritated. She looked at me and realised that I was awake and moving, and she covered her mouth in shock. "Arthella, you're awake!"

Hi? I thought. Can you hear this? Because I am thinking all of this? Blue elephants?

"What about blue elephants?" asked Artemis.

Apollo groaned. "I did it again, sis. Too much concentration of godly blood in her already, and I may have tipped the scales a bit too much." He shook his head. "I am dead for sure."

What did you do to me? I tried to say. Say it Apollo, say it.

"I did it again. I..." he looked me straight in the eyes, his 17 year old surfer blond self looking much more ashamed than I thought he already was. "I turned you into a goddess."

WHAT. That was the only thing that crossed my mind. I tried to get off my bed, but instead, crumpled to the floor, my legs collapsing under me. Dom caught me, but suddenly something in me lurched. I screamed in my head, since no noise came from my throat, as something erupted from my back. It was worse than the shrapnel being removed, it was something else. It left as fast as it came, yet I could hear a soft melodic voice echoing in my ears.

You're welcome, Thea. You've done us a great favour, and it's only worth we returned it. Your legs were weak, so we gave you another pair as a gift. It was her voice, a voice that was at the edge of my memory, and slowly but surely, I stood up by myself, yet everyone looked at me strangely.

It was only then that I realised that I was a few centimetres off the ground, and that my feet had only regained some of its feelings. I wasn't standing, I was hovering. "What's this?" I asked, and suddenly, I realised that I could speak again. My throat was sore, and only a quick mirror that materialised from thin air revealed why they were all so surprised.

From my back sprouted a pair of black wings, with silvery tips. I whirled around immediately, looking at Apollo.

"Can someone now please tell me what is going on?"