Who We Used to Be

Chapter 2

The screams of the wounded and the dying echoed over the field all around him. Crimson blood stained the grass where he stood, and he could see plumes of smoke rising up from somewhere just over the hill signifying the camp, his home, going up in flames.

Adrenaline and rage coursed through his veins, pushing him to keep fighting even though he was so far beyond exhausted he could hardly even feel his own body anymore.

Riptide lay comfortably in his hand, the soft leather grip fitting his hand perfectly just as it always had. His hair was smoking slightly from a close call with a hydra, and his entire body was covered in golden dust from the hundreds of monsters that he had killed in this battle alone.

He made his way through the army quickly, cutting down any monsters that dared try and stop him with cold efficiency. The extra sheath on his waist didn't impede his movements in the slightest as he had already gotten used to moving around and running with it during his time in Tartarus. The blade that it held had yet to be unsheathed at all since its creation. It was reserved. Part of the promise that he had made to acquire it. Its first taste of blood would be that of the being who had caused him the most pain. And that one being's name, was undeniably Gaea.

The battle had raged on for a little over two hours now, and the campers were slowly but surely pushing her forces back. As he looked around at the fighters around him, though, he saw too much. Too much death, too much injury, too much sticky red blood coating the battlefield. This had to end, and he was going to make sure that it did, even if it was the last thing he ever did.

A loud rumbling laugh echoed across the battlefield, making both demigods and monsters hesitate and turn towards the hill where the sound had come from. A woman began to rise straight from the earth itself. The grass and moss were her dress, the dirt and mud were her skin, and her eyes glinted the colour of the purest emeralds. There was no denying that Gaea was beautiful, but there was a manic glint in her eyes, something off about her smile that made it seem more like a sneer. Gaea may be beautiful, but she was not good.

But of course, they already knew that little piece of information.

Like time sped up around him, the constant fights continued, and he stood alone, in front of them all, with the earth goddess' cold eyes boring into his.

He slashed, dodged, and ducked away from monsters' feeble attempts to attack him, hacking off limbs and heads, not really caring about the whimpers and screams of pain that they let out when the injuries he gave them did not immediately kill them. He left them for dead, to bleed out or be eaten by their fellow monsters. He didn't care anymore, and that little fact shone as clear as day in his eyes.

He marched forward, and soon he was in front of the goddess herself, all fighting behind him, his comrades preoccupied, just as he had wished it.

"Gaea! You will pay dearly", he yelled out in promise, his voice, low and scratchy from breathing in the toxic air of the pit, sent shivers down others' spines.

Gaea did not look scared, though. In fact, she was quite the opposite. She threw back her head and laughed, the entire earth around her reacting to the sound.

"You think you can defeat me little half-breed?", she taunted, her voice not at all matching her delicate beauty and instead more closely resembling two rocks roughly clashing together. "Yes, my husband told me about your adorable little oath that you made upon the death of your dear girlfriend. What was her name again? Annabel?".

Her lips curled up into a viscous sneer, and Percy's entire body trembled with both rage and grief at the reminder of his lost love.

"Do you ever wonder how she died, Perseus?". She spit out his name like it tasted bad, but that sickly sweet smile/sneer was still plastered to her face.