Legacies: The Rise of Kronos [Legacies/PJO/HOO Crossover]

20- The Curse of Achilles

I jumped in and immediately felt the terrible burning sensation as it flooded my mortal body.

My mind raced with anxiety as I began to sink to the river floor.

Grover was right, I felt like I was burning away. Burning out of existence. I was strong, I had a strong mind.

Pain was just mental.

I concentrated as I latched on a rock to keep the current from pulling me away. I suddenly felt dizzy as I lost oxygen to my brain. I guess Poseidon's blessing doesn't work in the underworld.

I mean the river did feel more like lava than water anyway.

"Achilles!" Evelyn shouted as she threw my ring to me that she picked off the ground after a group of rogue demigods had ambushed us in the forest.

Evelyn had always been there for me, she was my rock ever since I had left Salvatore and met her.

But she was all I ever had at that point.

We fought together.

We talked together.

We ate together.

And as I sat there on the bottom of the river I realized.

She wasn't my everything.

***
Soft crying sounded behind me and I arched my back through the water so I could see what was happening but it was all in my head.

Olivia was standing there with her face in her hands sobbing to her mother.

"Why didn't he come with me?"

Her mother pulled her close and rubbed her back. "Achilles, has a war to fight. He has his responsibilities. If he's the one he'll come back for you."

Olivia kept repeating herself through her mother's reassuring words when suddenly her hair became a blaze and she turned on me her green eyes glowing with hatred.

"Why didn't you come with me!" She shouted as her body erupted in flames and I felt pain shooting through my body.

***
•Wanna know something cool?" Hope's voice rang out as we walked through the forest.

"What's that?" I asked her.

She looked at me and smiled as she tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. "I've never had a best friend. I mean I have Landon and I'll always have Landon, but I've never had a friend like you. Someone who understands what it's like to feel like they don't belong."

I raised an eyebrow. "I don't know how you did it but you managed to say the nicest, most hurtful thing in history."

She chuckled. "When you were in your coma, I used to talk to you everyday. Landon and I both did. We didn't know if you could hear us or not but we wanted you to know that we were there."

I kicked a rock as we walked.

"Camp Half-Blood May be where I belong. But Salvatore is my home. That won't change."

She smiled at me. "I know."

***
Hope flipped me over against the wrestling mat and I groaned in pain.

It had been one of our first times sparring and I was getting my ass kicked.

"Do you know what one of the hardest part of a human to hit is." Hope said to me. "One that no one would think of."

"What's that?"

Wait.. that's not how this conversation went.

I never had that conversation with Hope in the woods.

What's going on?

"Just focus." Hope said snapping me out of it.

I rolled my eyes. "Enlighten me."

She pressed a finger between my left ear and my skull.

"Right here."

Pain exploded in my body and I felt myself screaming underwater. I rose my hand and covered my left ear trying to forget the pain.

It hurt so bad, I almost couldn't think but I had to focus. I concentrated all of my will power into that spot in my ear.

Hope was trying to tell me something and if there's something I learned.

Always listen to Hope.

Hope.

Hope.

That was it. She was my best friend, she was where everything started.

And like I was picturing a rope tying my spirit to her, I was pulled out of the water and landed solid on my back on the hot rocks of the underworld.

I choked on burning water as I rolled over, my body ached in pain as I continued to couch and spit water out of my lungs.

My body on the other hand was surprisingly dry, but burning hot.

Like how you skin feels when it's sunburnt except ten fold.

"Congratulations hero, you defeated the task and now bear the Curse of Achilles." He said as chuckled. "Or perhaps I should say the Curse of Me."

I rolled my eyes as I sat back against the black rocks. "Or maybe you should say the Curse of Us."

"It's me." He said laughing. "I was born first, You were simply named after me."

"Will you fight alongside us?" I asked him as I struggled to stand up.

He nodded. "I will not stand idly by to watch as my brothers and sisters are slayed by those horrendous beasts."

We bowed to each other and said our thanks before I ascended up the stairs back to the normal world.

"Nephew." A voice said from behind me.

I turned and saw the sunken pale faced god standing before me with his long hair tied back as he dawned his battle armor.

"You have lost a great deal in your life. You have suffered loss and heartbreak." He said to me. "This was set in motion by the fates."

"Why?" I asked him.

"To prepare you, so that you are able to make the hardest of choices." Hades said to me. "Good luck."

I gave him a small smile. "You almost sound human."

"Us Gods are trying to change, a certain Son of Poseidon showed us that humanity doesn't mean vulnerability." Hades said to me. "You remind me of him."

I nodded to him. "Thank you, I'll see you on the battlefield."

I covered my eyes as I was blinded by the sunlight.

No wonder Hades was so pale, it's absolutely miserable and dark down there.

I was immediately crushed in hugs upon return to the surface.

"That was quick." Olivia said after everyone pulled back.

"It was like three hours." I said to her.

"It was two minutes." Evelyn said to me. "Time works different when there's higher forces at play."

I looked around at my group of friends as we prepared to fight a final battle. One that could mean the Fall of Olympus and the world as we knew it.

And the fate of it... rested in my palm.