━━ chapter thirteen
revenge's kiss

✿✼:*ﾟ:༅｡.｡༅:*･ﾟﾟ･⭑

    PERCY WAS often told he could be a bit cocky━call it a defence mechanism, call it a death wish, call it a unique quirk to his personality. He just knew that while he was terrified, finding the odds of three against several dozen quite unlikely in probability, he was relieved. He didn't know what it meant for his mental stability, but the idea of fighting settled better in his head than constantly trying to navigate the darkness, waiting to be attacked. He understood fighting, it was something he was sure of. Expecting it, checking each noise in the pitch black? He hated it. He was always on edge. 

     But while their advantage in quantity was down the drain, they were sure going to make it up in quality. Percy fought with Fiona naturally. Their opposite styles mixed together like a well-kneaded dough. While he attacked, she analysed and defended. He swiped, she jabbed. His Greek met her Roman and produced a fluid movement in battle. And now, they had a Titan on their side. 

     Percy swiped a wide arch towards the nearest shrivelled hag, "Back off," he told her. But she only sneered. 

     We are the arai, said the strange, horrible voice. You cannot destroy us. 

     Fiona pressed against Percy's shoulder, eyeing their surroundings. "We can't touch them, okay? They're the spirits of curses."

     "Bob doesn't like curses," decided their friendly Titan. The skeleton kitten Small Bob disappeared inside his coveralls. Smart cat. Percy was still a dog person. He spun his broom-spear and swept it around, keeping the spirits back, but they came in again like the tide.

     Percy wished he could control them like the tide. An odd, scary thought struck him. Could he control people like the tide? People were made up of a large percentage of water ... was that the same with hag curse ladies?

     He really didn't want to result to that ... and it sort of terrified him that it was becoming an option in his head. 

     We serve the bitter and the defeated, said the arai. We serve the slain who prayed for vengeance with their final breath. We have many curses to share with you.

     The fire water in Percy's stomach started to crawl up his throat. He imagined there were many who prayed vengeance against him. He swallowed it back down and managed a snarky, "I appreicate the offer, but my mom told me not to accept curses from strangers."

    The nearest demon lundged. Her claws extended like bony switchblades. Percy cut her in two easily, but as soon as she vaporised the sides of his chest flared up with pain. He stumbled back, clamping a hand to his rib cage. His fingers came back sticky with blood. 

     Fiona's eyes widened, "Percy!" her hand reached up to clamp against the other side of his chest, and Percy realised he was bleeding on both sides. The left and right hems of his tattered shirt were starting to grow stained━as if a javelin had run him through.

    Or an arrow...

    Queasiness almost knocked him over. Vengeance. A curse from the slain.

    His memory flashed back to Texas two years ago━a fight with a monstrous rancher who could only be killed if each of his three bodies were cut through simultaneously. 

    Percy cursed, "Geryon," he grunted, finding it hard to speak. "This is how I killed him ..."

    The spirits bared their fangs. More arai leaped from the black trees, flapping leathery wings. 

    Yes, they agreed in a slither of voices. Feel the pain you inflicted upon Geryon. So many curses have been levelled at you, Percy Jackson. Which will you die from? Choose, or we will rip you apart! 

    Somehow, he managed to stay on his feet. The blood stopped spreading, but he still felt like he had a hot metal curtain rod sticking through his ribs. His sword arm was heavy and weak. 

     "I don't understand," he muttered.

    Bob's voice seemed to echo from the end of a long tunel: "If you kill one, it gives you a curse."

    "But if we don't kill them..." Fiona stepped back, hesitant but also in need to fight. 

    "They'll kill us anyway," Percy finished. 

     Choose! cried the arai. Will you crushed like Kampê? Or disintegrated like the young telkhines you slaughtered under Mount St Helens? Or perhaps your head, such as the one you took from Medusa? You have spread so much death and suffering, Percy Jackson. Let us repay you! 

     Despite the situation, Percy felt like he had been stripped bare. He glanced at Fiona. They fight monsters to survive━it was what they did, but hearing back on everything he had done, he almost felt, ashamed ... and he was wary of what Fiona thought of it all. All of his secrets were being piled out in front of him━things he's kept from Fiona scared she'd think worse of him, find him unlike this person she held in such high regard. 

     But she wasn't paying attention to any of that. She had found a rock, holding it out as her only weapon as the Curses pressed in. Their breath was sour, their eyes burned with a sickening hatred. They looked like Furies, but Percy knew they were worse. The Furies might deliver punishment, but vengeance held something far more sinister. 

     One of the demons attacked Fiona. She dodged and brought her rock down onto the old lady's head. She broke into dust. 

    It wasn't like Fiona had any choice. Percy would've done the same. But instantly, Fiona dropped her rock. Her eyes were wide. She didn't make a noise. Percy watched her, terrified for the curse settled upon her, until he saw something dark red pool from her chest ... right by where her heart was. 

      She had once killed someone to save Jason Grace's life. Stabbed them in the back for a mortal blow━something she had been ashamed by, cursed for ... and she was being cursed for again. 

     "No━" Percy ran to her side just as she dropped. He caught her one-handed, ignoring his own pain to hold her up as the arai cackled. They were in the back of his mind as his heart raced, desperately grabbing her hand to press against the wound on her chest━a deadly wound. 

     You were cursed the moment you drew your blade for a cowards kill. Now, you will face the same dishonour. 

     Percy pulled her close, feeling her whimper as her skin grew pale. She was already growing weak, but Fiona kept her hand pressed against her chest, still determined. Percy needed for her to stay determined. "I've got you," he promised her, trying to make sure his voice didn't break. His throat began to ache as he stared down at her. "Fiona, I've got you, okay? Stay awake, okay? You got to stay with me. Stay with me!" 

     He rested her against his chest, hissing back the flare of pain from his own wounds. He kept his arm tight around her, but as the arai advanced, he didn't know how he could protect either of them. 

    A dozen demons leapt from every direction, but Bob yelled: "SWEEP!"

    His broom swiped over Percy's head. The entire arai offensive line toppled backwards like bowling pins. 

    More surged forward. Bob whacked one over the head and speared another, blasting them to dust. The others backed away. 

    Percy held his breath, waiting for his Titan friend to be laid low with some terrible curse, but Bob seemed fine. But he couldn't be sure━Percy watched him, shaking a little. "B━bob?" he asked. "Bob, are you okay? No curses?"

    "No curses for Bob!" he agreed.

    The arai snarled and circled, eyeing the broom. The Titan is already cursed. Why should we torture him any further? You, Percy Jackson, have already destroyed his memory.

     Bob's spearhead dipped.

     Fiona's eyelids fluttered. "Bob," she choked, weak with lips stained with blood. "Bob, don't listen to them!"

    Time slowed. Percy wondered whether he had been cursed yet again━Kronos's spirit hovering by him, enjoying this moment so much that he wanted it to last forever. Percy felt exactly like he had at twelve years old, battling Ares on that beach in Los Angeles, when the shadow of the Titan lord had first passed over him.

     Bob turned. His wild hair looked like an exploded halo. "My memory ... It was you?"

    Curse him, Titan! urged the Curses, their red eyes gleaming. Add to our numbers! 

    Percy's heart pressed against his spine. "Bob," he tried, his voice suddenly very small, "Bob, it's a long story. I━I didn't want you to be my enemy. I tried to make you a friend━"

     By stealing your life, said the arai. Leaving you in the palace of Hades to scrub floors! 

    Fiona shuddered in his hold. Percy glanced around, looking for somewhere to run━they were out of choices, out of chances. 

     "Bob, listen," he begged, "the arai want you to get angry. They spawn from bitter thoughts, okay? Don't give them what they want. We are your friends."

    Even as he said it, Percy felt like a liar. He left Bob there, in the Underworld and hadn't given him a thought since. What made them friends? The fact that Percy needed him now? He despied the way the gods treated their children like pawns on a chess board, now, Percy was treating Bob the same way.

    You see his face? the monsters laughed. The boy cannot even convince himself. Did he visit you, after he stole your memory?

    "No," murmured Bob. He looked like he might cry, staring at Percy with a look he knew too well: the look of betrayal. "The other one did."

     Percy's thoughts were growing sluggish. "The other one?"

    "Nico," Bob scowled at him, hurt. "Nico visited. Told me about Percy. Said Percy was good. Said he was a friend. That is why Bob helped."

    "But ..." Percy's voice disintegrated like someone had hit him with a Celestial bronze blade. He never felt so low ... so horrible ... so unworthy of having a friend. 

    The arai attacked, and this time, Bob made no move to stop them. 

✿✼:*ﾟ:༅。.。༅:*·ﾟﾟ·⭑

    PERCY DRAGGED Fiona left, slicing through the arai to clear a path. He didn't know how many curses he had recieved, he didn't care. He had to get them out of here. 

    He picked her up, hoisting her close to his chest like the day she dislocated her knee. That seemed so long ago. Fiona clutched on━she was getting paler and paler by the second, life her life was hanging on a string, a string of misery the arai enjoyed to dangle her from. "I got you," he told her again, pushing through each step that made his chest scream with pain, "I got you, okay. Stay with me. You promise me, you'll stay with me, okay? You're not dying here."

     Fiona nodded, her fingers clenching and unclenching his shirt, trying to find something to keep her awake and distract her from the pain. Percy realised how much she trusted him to get her out of this. He couldn't let her down ... yet ... how could he save her? Any second now, he'll lose her━no. He suppressed a surge of panic. 

     She had told him she loved him as they fell down into this hell, and Percy couldn't give up on her. Not when he needed the chance to say it back. 

    First, they had to escape. 

     Leathery wings followed him, beating in the air above with angry hisses and scuttling of clawed feet. They were following him. 

     Percy cried in frustration and pain as he hoisted Fiona up higher so he could access his sword. She helped the best she could, wrapping a weak arm around his neck. As he ran past one of the black trees, he slashed Riptide across the trunk. He heard it topple, followed by the crunch of several dozen arai as they were smashed flat. 

    He slashed another, and then another. It bought them a few seconds, but not enough. They were running out of time. Fiona was running out of time. 

    Suddenly, the darkness in front of them became thicker. Percy realised what it meant just in time. His feet skidded against the ground, stopping just before they'd topple right over another cliff. 

     "What?" Fiona tried to see. "What is it?"

    "Cliff," gasped Percy, heaving. "Big cliff."

    Percy couldn't see how far the cliff dropped. It could be ten feet or a thousand. There was no telling what was at the bottom. They could jump and hope for the best, or be killed anyway.

    So, he had two options: left or right, following the edge. 

    He was about to choose at random when a winged demon descended in front of him, hovering over the void on her bat wings, just out of reach of Percy's blade.

    Did you have a nice walk? asked the collective voice, echoing like an orchestra pit. 

    Percy turned. The arai poured out of the woods, making a cresent around them. One managed to grab Fiona's arm. Percy seethed with fury, bringing out his sword but Fiona wouldn't let him take it. Managing enough strength, she clawed at the arai's face, sending it screeching back as the demon dissolved. 

    His heart pounded, petrified for what would come of her next. He glanced down to check, only to realise, she was gone.

    Percy staggered, spinning around. He saw her a few feet away, confused and on the ground. She coughed, barely able to move. "Fiona!" he shouted.

    "Percy?" she called. "Percy? Where are you?"

   He reached her, crouching down to help her up, but as soon as he put his hand on her shoulder, she wasn't lying where he thought. She was somehow to his left. Percy tried again, only to find she was several feet further away. It was like trying to grab something in a river, only for the light and ripples to shift the image away. 

    "Percy?" Fiona's voice cracked. It was weak and dry. He wanted to cry. He wanted to scream. He watched her stagger to try and stand up, only to collapse, her hand clutching her wound as more blood than before started to seep out. "Percy!"

     "I'm right here!" she didn't seem to hear him, or even see him. It was like he was invisible.

     Percy bit back his tears and spun onto the arai, his arms shaking with anger. "What did you do to her?!"

    We did nothing, said the demons. Your beloved has unleashed a special curse━a bitter thought from someone you abandoned. You punished an innocent soul by leaving her in solitude. Now, her most hateful wish has come to pass. Fiona feel sher despair. She, too, will perish alone and abandoned. 

     "Who did I abandon?" demanded Percy. "I didn't━I never━"

     His stomach felt like it had dropped off the cliff.

    The words rang in his head: An innocent soul. Alone and abandoned. He remembered an island, a cave lit with soft glowing crystals, a dinner table on the beach tended by invisible air spirits. 

     "She wouldn't," his tongue felt parched. "She ... She'd never curse me ..."

     The eyes of the demons blurred together, just like their voices. 

     Percy's side's throbbed. The pain in his chest was worse, as if someone were slowly twisting a dagger. His gaze fixed on Fiona, still and unmoving. His legs urged to run to her, but he knew the arai wouldn't allow it. Her time was up, and Percy had failed her. 

      A sob threatened to rake out of his throat. His heart felt like it was crumpling in on itself. She loved him, and Percy never said it back. 

     The sick feeling in the pit of his stomach turned into something. Something scary, something horrible━it was worse than anger. It was a thirst for vengeance. He took a deep breath, seeing a dark red as he set his gaze upon the arai. He didn't care how many curses he suffered. He didn't care if he died right now. If he killed them. If he took all their curses, maybe that would save Fiona. If he took them all, if he took hers, if he gave her his life━it was all he had left. 

    With a furious shout, he attacked them all. 

✿✼:*ﾟ:༅。.。༅:*·ﾟﾟ·⭑

     a/n: ladies, gentlemen and non binary pals, the blueprint ^

     also, i'm 19 tomorrow, shit. 

     and i got my period. thanks universe. best birthday gift ... 

     this is such a parallel to the time percy was literally ready to fight a titan and an entire army of demigods and monsters to protect annabeth after she took that dagger for him. this boy istg--

     (shit, i sound like claire bahahaha)