Tortured Hearts

Chapter 6

Song: Superheroes by The Script

Apollo POV

I flashed back to Olympus and quickly called a meeting with the gods. As they arrived, disapproving glances were aimed at me and I nervously cleared my throat. Once Poseidon arrived, he gave my father a questioning glance to which he replied with a shrug.

"I was the one who called this meeting," I said in response to their exchange.

I looked around the room and began to speak.

"I need your help to bring back Percy." And with this one phrase, the whole room devolved into chaos. It took several minutes for everyone to shut up enough for me to speak but their retorts soon ceased.

"I know you guys are the ones who exiled him but you need him more than you'd like to admit. If we don't get Percy back, you'll have no more children to do your work for you and gods forbid that happen."

They all seemed to come to the same conclusion as I had and reluctantly nodded their heads in agreement.  Zeus looked around the room at all of the resigned faces and finally spoke.

"So what do we need to do?"

"Well... I do have one idea."

Percy POV

I searched the camp for Nico until I finally found him hiding in a corner of the mess hall. I cautiously approached and he looked up, a look of regret crossing his face before being masked by a blank stare. He opened his mouth to say something but I spoke first.

"Can we go for a walk?"

He looked unsure for a few seconds before I gave him a pleading look and glanced at the other campers that didn't bother to hide the fact that they were eavesdropping. He took the hint and nodded. We walked out of the mess hall and to a secluded area on the outskirts of camp and he finally spoke.

"Why exactly did you want to take a walk?"

I looked around once to make sure no one was listening before I answered him.

"I need your help."

"My help, for what?"

"I want to get everyone away from Tartarus, including myself."

He stopped walking out of shock.

"Wait, so you're trying to tell me that after killing all of your friends and releasing Tartarus, you want to get everyone away from him and risk a war that will surely be the death of all of the campers including yourself?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying, I mean without the whole 'everyone dies' thing. I plan on defeating Tartarus before he has the chance to kill anyone."

I left out the fact that I probably would die because of my swearing on the River Styx.

"I don't know if I can trust you, Percy, I mean you did let your friends die."

"I know Nico, that's why I have to do this. I need to save the others before they die too.", I said pleadingly, willing him to believe him.

He seemed to ponder it a moment before he looked at me, determination present on his face.

"Okay Percy, I believe you but your not fighting Tartarus alone."

"Nico I-"

"You can't convince me otherwise. Besides, I'm not doing it for you, I'm doing it for the campers."

"Okay."

He seemed content with my answer and nodded. We walked a little while more before he turned to me again.

"So, what's your plan?"

"First, we need to let the campers know without letting Tartarus know. Then, we meet up here in two days and get out of camp before Tartarus sees us. Then, me and you come back and open a big can of butt whooping." I finish with a smile present on my face.

Nico gave me a smile grin before nodding his agreement. We walked by the beach for a while until I realized how late it had gotten.

"We probably need to get back to camp before Tartarus gets suspicious."

"Agreed."

We walked back at a faster pace than we had before, eager to begin the plan. We parted ways and I headed to my tent outside of camp. When I walked in, I saw that Apollo hadn't returned so I assumed that he was back on Olympus. Overcome with a wave of exhaustion, I walked to my cot and laid down, not bothering to change clothes. After a few seconds, my eyes began to droop and I drifted into a dreamless sleep.

AN: It's been a while and a lot of things have happened since the last update: twenty one pilots came off of hiatus (Jumpsuit and Nico and the Niners are bops btw), I got my schedule for sophomore year, and I procrastinated on my summer reading assignment until the last possible minute (fun). Sorry for making you wait so long for such a short update but Chapter 7 is already in progress and I hope to update in the next few days. Anyway, thank you guys for reading and I hope you've enjoyed the story thus far. I don't think there will be that many chapters left and I have the ending planned already so You don't have to worry about me not finishing. Sorry for my rambling but I hope you guys have a fantastic week, month, year, etc.

~Emily