Demons Of The League Of Assassins (A PJO and ARROW CROSSOVER)

Chapter 8 - VIII: Indulging in Memories

1 Flashback 10: An Unusual Sword

Nanda Parbat

Despite their obvious surprise, the priestess and Ra's regained their bearings exceptionally fast. One reason was probably, that Ra's had been nearly two hundred years when he died, the other, Ra's was standing there as a ghost, what should be an impossibility in itself.
"That is a sharp and unusual blade you have there", Ra's commented after admiring the sword for a while.
"Yes, Anaklysmos is longer than a usual greek xiphos. They also do not usually have a guard, but to be honest they also do not usually change into a ballpoint pen."
"Is there anything other unusual about that sword?", the priestess asked.
"It can't hurt ordinary mortals."
"So your sword does not hurt me and mine does not really hurt you", Ra's analyzed.
"Actually, I don't know if I can hurt you. I haven't had that many encounters with ghosts."
"Then let us test it. I want to evaluate your skills when you are not a stab far from fainting."
"That was rather unfortunate, but it would be my pleasure to beat you in a duel", Percy said with a barely hidden smirk.
"Are you sure about that?", Ra's asked while he was going into a fighting stance, "We'll see if your confidence is rightfully placed."

2 Seldom Sleeping

Nanda Parbat

After he left Al 'rwh, Al 'iiesar went straight to 'his' room. After some conflict Al 'iiesar somehow 'inherited' Ra's' room. The 'somehow' were two reasons: first Ra's did not need it anymore and second, it had the most comfortable bed. A bed that he, despite all that, rarely used. Before they brought back the assassins he had slept most of the time in the Lazarus Pit. Although Al 'iiesar rarely felt the need to sleep, he sometimes liked to indulge in it, because it was something so mundane human, he could forget his status as immortal for a time.
So he fell asleep as soon as he hit the mattress.

3 Flashback 11: Second Duel

Nanda Parbat

Percy followed Ra's into a fighting stance. On first glance, Percy's stance looked more relaxed than Ra's', but his eyes were practically glued to every minuscule movement his opponent made. It paid off. Although Ra's first attack was in an nearly unmatchable speed, Percy saw it coming and dodged it, sprang back and both opponents started again to circle each other.
The next time Percy was the one who initiated the attack, but Ra's avoided Percy's blade with ease. And then their blades crossed, again and again. Sparks flew everytime the swords touched each other accompanied by a ringing sound.
Where Ra's fought level-headed with skills that were backed up by nearly two centuries of practice, Percy relied mostly on his bottle-shaped instinct. That paired with strategy and his fast reflexes made him to a force to be reckoned with.
The fight went back and forth, neither of both opponents found himself able to overpower the other.
The fight looked despite the completely different fighting styles or maybe even for this very reason like an intricated dance.
Move after move was blocked, deflected or completely avoided. But then an opportunity presented itself to Percy. He jumped in the air while rotating around his own axis. All the while he was holding Anaklysmos right-angled to his body during his spinning movement.
Ra's was barely able to evade the onset coming to him, nearly to caught up in his awe.
"Al 'iiesar alsuyuf", he breathed, "I have never", their blades crossed again, "seen anyone", here Ra's blocked a jab to his legs, "perform The Hurricane of Swords in such perfection."
Ra's and Percy were circling each other again.
The priestess, who stood near the wall, was surprised at what she had witnessed. To her knowledge, nobody had ever been able to use this move until that very point of time. Also, this was the longest fight Ra's ever had, even Oliver Queen had not lasted this long against Ra's Al Ghul. And still, neither Ra's nor Percy showed any signs of stopping, so they fought on.
When suddenly out of nowhere they caught in between ringing and screeching sounds of the swords dull thuds, echoing reflected by the walls through the monastery like hallways.
The fight came to a sudden hold, as both opponents readied themselves to engage this intruder.

4 Nightterror of the Abyss

Percy's mind

He was falling, falling into black nothingness. It was the only thing he was feeling. But then, suddenly, it changed. First, he was totally numb. He felt like a prisoner in his own body. That lasted for an indefinable amount of time, then slowly and gradually the numbness was replaced by pain. Pain so severe, it was worse than the torture he had to endure in Tartarus during his second stay, the one he had barely escaped from. The torture at that time had been most of all physical and just partly mental (always then, when they had tried to get into his head). The Abyss of Chaos though ripped him to apart. Ripped him into tiny, little shreds. Physical, in every meaning of the word, but what was way worse, it mutilated his essence, his very being. Everything that was him was ripped from him. But despite this, those shreds were never completely lost to him. Every part of him always hung by a tread on his soul. The Abyss tried to destroy this bond between his soul and his essence, but his soul was resilient. It held itself together and set his other parts always back together. Which made it so much more painful. His essence was partly whole for a short time, only to be ripped apart all over again. This all had been happening again and again for what seemed like an eternity as well as a moment's notice. So fast no one could possibly keep track of the many times it happened. But also slowly enough the wait alone was torture.
He could not even approximately think about how many times the experience was worse than the Styx or Tartarus. There were only two conscious thoughts he had. To hold himself together, so he would not fade. And guilt for leaving Annabeth, so in consequence, he promised himself to come back to her.

AN: So chapter 8 on the one-year anniversary of this story. A great thanks to @Captain_of_the_ship, @nanha_bussnis, @S101877, @Jason-Hill, @l3x1c0n, @eliabeebee, @tebekah, @L0up-chan, @AlejandraFeliz7 and @LILIOSITAELI, @heroesofOlympus19 who all either added this story to their reading-list, commented on it or voted for this story (and sorry if I forgot anyone).
Special thanks, of course, to White_Ninja_27, who is my biggest supporter.
Also Thanks for all the reads (834 at this point), the votes (35), the reviews (19) and rank 13 in #blackjack stories.
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