Percy Jackson/Percabeth Short Stories

part 1

It was supposed to be easy.

A few monsters, just kill em and go, they'd said. It's just border patrol, it won't take long, they'd said.

Nico supposed that Percy and him had wandered a little too far, because there was a hell of a lot more than a few monsters.

They'd been ambushed. Monsters poured out of the woods around them like water out of a faucet with a broken handle, never stopping and no way to shut it off. They fought, long and hard, slashing and stabbing and everything in between. Him and Percy kept going; this ambush was meant for an army, not two measly demigods. And still they persisted, even though as soon as they killed one monster, five more took its place.

They were tiring. Hordes upon hordes of monsters just kept coming, and they didn't show any signs of stopping. Nico wasn't sure how much longer they could keep their pace.

Percy and Nico gradually stumbled backward until they were fighting back to back, barely keeping up with the probably thousands of monsters. Nico sagged with exhaustion, his back pressed against Percy's. They were using each other for support. Nico could see the sweat dripping down Percy's neck out of the corner of his eye.

Nico blinked away tears of frustration. They were both too tired to use their powers and yet the monster army didn't seem to care. They pressed onward anyways.

But then... it seemed almost to happen in slow motion. Nico saw the empousa's stolen celestial bronze dagger arc toward him. There was no way he could counter the strike. He stopped, freezing, wondering if his life would flash before his eyes like they describe it in the stories. He waited for Bianca's face to appear in front of him; but she never came.

Instead, there was a cry of pain and an explosion of gold dust as Percy took the dagger for Nico and killed the empousa. Percy had jumped in front of it. For him.

Nico watched, horrified, as Percy looked down in surprise at the spreading red on his side. The dagger had stuck him deep, but slashed downward.

If the adrenaline wasn't pumping before, it was now. All Nico's senses sharpened to a point as he surveyed the situation. Percy was hurt; he didn't know how badly. They were hopelessly outnumbered. Nico decided it was a risk he had to take to try shadow travelling.

He grabbed Percy's arm and closed his eyes, feeling the familiar sense of diving into the shadows. It was frigid and dark, almost exactly as you'd expect shadows to feel like. Nico went as far as he possibly could before he pulled both of them out.

Both Nico and Percy stumbled into the shadow of a large oak tree, finally free of the army they were attacked by. Nico stumbled forward as the edges of his vision fuzzed, and he forced himself not to pass out.

He shut his eyes for a moment, trying to collect his bearings. Nico had no idea how far away from camp they were, but they were close.

Nico reopened his eyes, decidedly better. Percy, however, didn't look so good.

He was pale. Too pale. He leaned against the tree and held his hand to his stomach, trying to put pressure on the gash in his side.

He smiled a crooked smile, in a vain attempt to reassure Nico.

"You okay?" he asked, and Nico snorted.

"Are you?" he replied, and Percy averted his eyes.

"Yeah, man. I'm fine. We should probably get back to camp," he shook his head weakly, and tried to cut himself off from the support of the large tree.

The result was him stumbling and almost falling, cursing and wincing in pain. Nico hurried to help him stand, throwing Percy's arm around his shoulders. In Percy's other hand rested Riptide, being used as a walking cane.

Nico helped him walk, them both making painfully slow progress. Nico was exhausted and Percy was... not looking too good.

Percy almost seemed to doze off, head drooping, before Nico snapped in his face.

"Hey. No. Talk to me. About anything," he ordered, and Percy smiled weakly.

"Okay. You and Will, huh?"

Nico blushed heavily, and looked anywhere but him.

"Anything but that," he grumbled, and Percy laughed only to wince again in pain.

They talked about small things, just trying to keep each other awake long enough to make it back to Camp Half Blood. Percy was looking worse by the minute, and that worried Nico, but Percy insisted that he was fine.

Percy was quiet for a moment, and Nico was scared he'd dozed off again, but one look at his face showed Nico he was in a lot of pain.

"Hey, Nico?"

"Yeah?"

Percy inhaled sharply, "um, so- I-"

He shook his head and laughed, again wincing in pain.

"I'm sorry," he said quietly.

"It's okay," Nico repliedm his throat scratchy.

Percy was silent for a minute more; Nico didn't know what else to say. Mostly, he was trying not to cry.

That was when Percy just collapsed. His knees buckled, sending him down and slipping out of Nico's grip. His sword clattered to the ground.

"Percy!" Nico cried, falling to his knees beside him. Percy lay facedown on the ground- there was way too much blood. Nico could feel him slipping away.

Nico turned him over, checking his pulse. He'd passed out, but he wasn't far from death. His pulse was weak.

"Wake up, asshat. You're not dying on me," Nico snapped and slapped him.

Percy's eyes flew open and he was thrown into a coughing fit. Blood pooled at the corners of his mouth, which was definitely not a good sign.

"Yeouch. You slapped me?" Percy said weakly, still coughing.

"What did you expect me to do?" Nico laughed nervously. He was freaking out; he could feel Percy's soul slipping away. He was close to death. Too close.

"Nico?"

"Yeah?"

"Can you- please-" he gasped in pain, shutting his eyes tight and trying to calm his breathing. He gripped onto Nico's arm tightly, cutting off his circulation.

"Please tell Annabeth... tell her I'm sorry," Percy choked on his words. His eyes unfocused and refocused on Nico's face, filled with raw fear and pain.

"Tell her yourself, dummy," Nico replied, trying not to cry. He did anyways.

"I... I don't want to die," Percy said, almost too quietly. Nico barely heard, but he still did.

Nico cried harder; he had never cried like this in front of someone before.

Percy took one more gasping, choking breath before he went limp. Nico felt his soul leave.

"No. No!" Nico cried, as Percy's grip on his arm went slack. His eyes unfocused and stared beyond the sky as his hand fell to the ground. Nico knew he was gone; he could feel it. But that didn't stop him from screaming for help and checking his pulse every two seconds.

As he expected, nobody came. Nico broke down completely over his body, sobbing uncontrollably. He didn't stop for a long time.

When he could finally collect himself, he almost expected Percy to pat him on the back and help him up, but he didn't. All Nico was left with was his hands covered in Percy's blood and a dead body.