The Quest to save Apollo

Chapter 15 - Down to buisness

Jason's POV
Jason turned towards the direction he had heard his name being called. He was vaguely aware that Nico and Will were behind him. Is that? It is. How? Jason ran towards her and she did the same when he reached her he wrapped his arms around her hugging and spinning her while kissing her roughly. After a few minutes Jason pulled back. "Gods Pipes I missed you."
"I missed you too Sparky."
Someone cleared their throat and Jason suspected it was Nico but he looked into Piper's multicoloured eyes and smiled. Jason let go of Piper when he saw a group of people start to approach them. He risked a glance behind him at Will and Nico who were standing awkwardly beside one another then Jason turned his attention to the approaching group.
As they got closer Jason could see slim silver bows slung over their shoulders and they wore dark clothing to blend in with the night. The girl leading them had short hair and wore a punk style and then Jason realised it was Thalia. He ran up to his sister and gave her a hug. "Hey Jay."
"Thals I haven't seen you in forever." Thalia laughed and put an arm around his shoulder. He smiled wide and grabbed Piper's hand. "How did you find me?" Jason asked squeezing Piper's hand.
"The tracker over there,"
"Emily." Thalia finished Piper's sentence. Emily was a tall girl with dark brown hair that fell down her face in slight curls she caught Jason's eye and smiled kindly at him.
"I'll tell you something Jay," Thalia began, "Piper is one hell of a fighter she would be a great addition to the Hunters but she's so head over heels in love with my baby brother." Jason blushed slightly and gripped Piper's hand tighter.
"Thanks Thalia." Piper said smiling, how is she so beautiful? Piper turned towards Nico and Will who still stood awkwardly beside one another. Piper pursed her lips looking between the pair. "Interesting..." She mused and the boys blushed very slightly.
"Will thank the Gods can you take a look at one of my Hunters she got injured along the way." Will snapped out of his thoughts and nodded following Thalia to the wounded Hunter.
"So Nico." Piper let go of Jason's hand and stepped towards the boy, he gulped. "May I?" She asked. He glanced nervously at Jason and then the group behind Jason and Jason had no idea what was going on but Nico seemed to have made a decision.
"Yeah go ahead."
"I sense a little tension between the two of you and something else..." Piper raised an eyebrow and it took a moment for Jason to realise that she was talking about Will and Nico.
"Wait," Jason interjected, "You like Will?" Nico went a crimson red.
"No! Geez Jason keep your voice down. Will is just my friend." Piper almost scoffed but she caught her self.
"Yeah sure 'friends'." She said putting air quotations around the word friends. Nico huffed slightly and then Will came back across.
"Sasha will be fine but onto business." Will said clapping his hands together the tension that Jason had felt around Nico and Will before seemed almost inexistent.
"What is the business?" Jason asked and Will turned and smiled as though they hadn't just had a fight.
"That mountain dear sir is where we're heading." Will pointed across from them to a mountain that was slightly obscured by the mountain behind it.
"How do you know?" Piper asked stepping into the conversation. Will glanced at Nico and shrugged. "Just a feeling." Jason didn't know about this it sounded a little off.
"Okay but I need to tell you who put me in that cell."
"I was wondering why there was a chasm in the middle of a mountain." Piper said examining the damage.
"Jason," Nico said seriously, "who captured you?"
"Well I didn't see their face exactly but they had sea green eyes-"
"Like Percy's?" Will asked interrupting, Jason glanced at Nico and he seemed to be looking anywhere but Will.
"Kind of but they were dimmer a lot less intense. Anyway I could tell he was some buff dude and his smile was... evil."
"It sounds like the guy from my dream." Nico piped up.
"He said something about arrogance and how children of Zeus or Jupiter share that fatal flaw he then said he shared the same flaw."
"So he's a son of Zeus?"
"That's what I thought and I thought maybe it was Hercules but..."
"His eyes." Piper said and the others nodded in agreement no son of Zeus has green eyes or maybe it's rare but Jason had met Hercules and he did not have green eyes.
"Right his eyes." Jason concluded.
The four shuffled on their feet when Thalia called over. "Hey guys! Lady Artemis says she has some news for us she'll be here in a few minutes." They walked over and joined the pack of Hunters. A flash of godly light and the goddess Artemis appeared on the mountain her Hunters swarmed her with greetings. Artemis was beautiful which isn't really surprising since most of the Goddesses were except maybe Athena it's not that Jason didn't think she was drop dead gorgeous it's just her eyes constantly screamed 'I'll kill you!' and that was a major turn off for Jason.
"Hello my faithful Hunters." She greeted back. Artemis looked about fifteen so slightly older than most of her Hunters but she felt like she could bond better with them if she was their age because in reality she was like thousands of years old. "Thalia you're doing an amazing job."
"Thank you lady Artemis." Thalia said smiling at the goddess.
"My Hunters," Artemis stated seriously, "I wish you stay here on this mountain while the four children of the prophecy complete their task." Nico stepped forward.
"Four children? Prophecy?" Artemis looked distastefully at Nico she obviously wasn't a fan of Hades.
"Apollo my child has been captured as many of you know therefore the gift of prophecy and of sunlight was cut off but I read those books that your harpy Ella read and I know of the prophecy."
"What is it?" Will asked. Jason wasn't sure but he thought he saw Artemis' eyes flicker with sadness but they changed too quickly for him to be sure.
"That's not important. I know the prophecy and that's all that matters." Okay something was definitely off about this rescuing Apollo thing.
"No offence lady Artemis but why won't you tell us?" Nico asked.
"Because you do not need to know of it." Artemis gave them a look that said stop pressing and continued "Jason, Nico, Will and Piper are the four demigods the prophecy refers to." Jason looked at his friends, Will was smirking, Nico was rubbing the back of his head nervously and Piper was looking around. "Do you accept?" The goddess asked.
"Anything to save my dad." There was something in Artemis' eyes, what was that? Pity?
"Of cause," Piper said stepping forward. "but who are we against?"
"I cannot tell you." Jason wanted to groan it seemed like the Gods could never tell them anything.
"So we just go over there and fight whatever or whoever is over there?" Nico asked not sounding convinced.
"Yes." The goddess said a little too quickly giving Jason an uneasy feeling.
"Nico who cares? As long as we save my dad." Will said and Nico seemed to give Will a sympathetic look.
"Yeah," he said softly, "speaking of, we should probably get going." The four demigods said their goodbyes and headed on their way.
After they were some distance away Piper took Jason's hand and whispered quietly to him. "Something's not right."
"I know the way Artemis was acting something is off."
"Hey Will?" Piper asked louder and Will turned around he was walking slightly ahead with Nico.
"Sup?" He asked nodding his head back.
"Do you know who any of your dad's enemies could be?" He made a huffing noise.
"You're asking one there he has literally hundreds."
"Yeah I know but-"
"Maybe it's best we don't say names you know the whole names have power thing." Nico interrupted sounding annoyed.
"Right..." Piper said trailing off the demigods walked the rest of the way in silence.
When they finally reached the small mountain it had old footpaths that were starting to become overgrown running up the side and the mountain gave a beautiful view of the surrounding areas. The mountain that had been blocking the mountain partially merged into this one and Jason wondered if they'd become one. "Dad!" Will yelled. And that's when Jason saw him. He'd totally overlooked the God that was chained to the mountain. Apollo raised his head slowly and painfully. "Haven't you tortured me enough?" Apollo asked his voice full of venom.
"What do you mean?" Nico asked stepping beside Will. The God wasn't in good shape his face was bruised, gold ichor the blood of the Gods dripped from cuts on his face and slashes on his chest that looked suspiciously like knife wounds and the light happy mood that usually followed Apollo was drained it was more of a depressed aura. The scene was quite sickening, no God should ever be in that state. Will took a cautious step forward and Jason held Piper safely next to him. The God's head snapped up rattling the chains, he had a wild look in his eyes. "Leave me be, won't you? Why must you torment me with my son?" Apollo's eyes watered slightly. "Will?" His voice cracked.
"It's me dad I promise." Will came closer.
"No!" Apollo yelled he struggled from his knees to his feet. "Will died you told me."
"I don't know who 'you' is but its me, Will, I'm alive I've come for you." Piper released Jason's hand and stepped next to Will. Jason tensed he didn't like Piper getting that close to Apollo he looked unstable. Apollo's head jerked to the side now taking Piper in, he laughed a delusional laugh and clutched his head. "Get out of my head!" He screamed. Jason was about to grab Piper when she spoke in her charmspeak.
"Calm down Apollo." The God turned his head in confusion.
"You speak charmspeak like you are... you?" Whatever had happened to Apollo it was bad and it even had him breaking down a side Jason thought he'd never see.
"I am me." Piper said taking a step towards Apollo, Jason clenched his jaw and fists and Nico looked the same except his focus was on Will. "Are you Apollo?" The God made an anguished expression at Piper his whole body shivering.
"I am me," he mirrored Piper's words "are you sure you are you?" He asked Piper taking another step closer she was almost in reaching distance with Will by her side and Jason was getting tenser with each step. The God flinched and his knees buckled under him, his head hung towards the ground and he let out a scream of pain. His head flew back up his hands pulling at the chains. "My head!" He cried out in pain. "Get out of my head Achilles!" Everything seemed to stop. Apollo gave up and hung his head low trying to cope with whatever mental battle he was fighting and Jason let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. Nico turned in sudden realisation. "Achilles' spirit stands by the river Styx he warns all demigods who dare take a bathe in its water. I met him when I went with Percy he was just like you described."
"So what are you saying, that Apollo took a dip in the Styx and has gone crazy?" Jason asked.
"No, if the doors of death were open that would mean Achilles could have escaped without anyone knowing he could of been roaming the earth without any of us knowing." Nico said his words slightly rushed, Will was still making his way closer to Apollo but Piper had stopped. From somewhere a loud spaced out clap erupted in the clearing. Jason spun on his heal to face where the clapping had come from. "Well done Nico Di Angelo." A wicked voice sounded and Jason recognised it as the same one he had heard down in the cell. A figure appeared at the edge of the mountain a small Cape blowing in the slight breeze. The God in chains twitched.
"Achilles." Nico said breathlessly.