Percy Jackson's Last Breath

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B R E A K I N G   I T   D O W N
P A R T   2

As everyone was hit with realization, Sally walked in the throne room completely bewildered by her surroundings. She walked hesitantly toward the crowd of people, gods and goddesses that were still unaware of her appearance. As she neared them, everyone looked upon her after hearing her footsteps. Annabeth rose from her seat and twisted her body to face her. Her heart starting to beat rapidly, Annabeth gulped, "Sally... You made it."

Sally stopped her tracks once she reached the row of chairs that were occupied by the demigods. "Yes, I did." Nico, who had gone silent after saying his shocking discovery, gazed at her with a heavy heart. Meanwhile Grover did everything he could to not look her way.

Sally glanced at the demigods and stared in awe at the gods and goddesses who sat on their thrones. She could feel the blood rush to her head as she felt the indescribable power that illuminated from them. She knew that what she was looking at, or where she was, was something a human like her would never be able to experience. Or was ever meant to. Yet, she wondered, why she was. She searched through the handful of demigods and landed her eyes on Nico. "Nico had called me here, saying it was important."

Nico shifted and pushed himself off the floor as he tried to come up with a response. Poseidon butted in, "Do you have an idea as to what it is?"

Sally looked at him and felt her breath leave her lips, "I assume it has to do with Percy." Poseidon nodded his head in agreement. Blinking, she could feel something blossom in her heart, "Any news? About his whereabouts?"

The feeling popped as soon as she saw the reactions from the others. While most avoided her gaze, a few made the mistake of making eye contact with her. Their eyes, Sally saw, held pity and sadness, along with a few others that only made those two emotions more prominent. She knows those feelings all too well. She's dealt with them for a very long time.

Sighing deeply, she brought a hand to her temples while the other rested on her hip. "Okay." She crosses her arms and closed her eyes as she looked up at the ceiling. "Hit me."

Annabeth glanced at Hazel and Nico and shook her head. She couldn't bear to tell her. She sat back down in her seat and put her head in her hands. Nico sighed and walked over to an unoccupied seat. He grabbed the chair and dragged it over to Sally. Opening her eyes, Sally stared at Nico as placed the chair beside her. Motioning to her to sit down, Nico stood patiently in front of her. Confused, Sally did as he told and sat in the chair nervously. She stared up at Nico, who had walked a few feet away from her but still remained in front of her.

"There is... no good way to tell you this so I'm just going to rip the band aid right off, okay?" He stared at her softly, but expectantly. Sally opened her mouth slowly and answered, "Okay."

Nico willed himself to tell her but for some reason, his mouth couldn't form any words. Breathing heavily, he blinked away his tears and cleared his throat. He looked at her, straight in the eyes, and told her, "Percy appeared earlier today." Sally gaped at him with wide eyes and brought a hand to her mouth. With his fists clenched tightly, Nico continued, "He... he was hurt. Very hurt. Beyond what you could imagine." The tears began to prick Sally's eyes. "He had scars and bruises covering him from head to toe. He didn't have a single strand of hair on his head- he was just skin and bone. Hi—His eyes were unlike anything I've ever seen. There's a saying that a person can have a broken look in their eyes but in this case, his eyes were actually... literally, broken. They had cracks and looked shattered and it was just awful." Sally covered her mouth with both hands as she began to sob harshly. Nico wiped his tears as his voice started to pick up a fast pace, "To make matters worse, he was blind. Like blind, blind. And scared out of his mind. He was obviously abused, tortured, and scarred very severely. He just wasn't Percy anymore. And—" Nico choked up and locked his lips to prevent the sobs from escaping. He looked at anywhere besides Sally.