Percy Jackson Series. Annabeth Chase X Male Reader Story

The Sacrifice is Worth it

(Y/N)'s POV

There was a stillness to the air that kept everything quiet, quieter even then the absence of sound in Kronos' frozen world, because the world was frozen, only in shock. Nobody believed it, even as they witnessed it with their own eyes.

Their entire existence, our entire lives, we knew one thing was absolute, Nyx was too powerful to be defied, too strong to be overthrown, too great to lose, so as that final blow landed, we all had to come to terms with the fact that the truth we all believed had just become a lie.

Darkness faded from the world, we all felt the warmth return to the room, the darkness that hadn't been washed away by our efforts all seemed to evaporate as light rushed into the world around us, like a new color of a painter's palette. It was day again.

I was like weights I didn't know I had been wearing all my life were lifted from my shoulders, if I didn't have quite a nasty gut wound, I might have had the urge to do a little hop to see if I would go higher, I realized it was Nyx's control being lifted.

I don't think I had ever seen a room of people all let out sighs of relief at the exact same time until now. We all felt it, the control fading, I didn't even know it was there, but I felt it leave. I felt free.

As I sat, bleeding on the floors of Olympus, arm broken, eye lost. Clovis and Ethan at my back, they helped me to my feet. I tried my best to look frightening as Nyx's head fell to the floor, and simply said "Who's next?"

If any one of them decided to answer with aggression, if any one of them had decided that was the moment to attack, we stood no chance, we would have been unable to do anything to stop them.

Clovis was swaying on his feet, Ethan was still struggling against the power of the sword, and I couldn't even stand on my own, let alone fight. We were so vulnerable in that moment and were essentially taunting a pack of wolves.

But none of them moved, none seemed hostile or angry, I would never quite understood why, the inner workings and rulings of my family were never something that made sense to me. Perhaps by some ancient law, perhaps by fear, or perhaps still shock, something held them all back.

Some faces held smiles, some smirks, and others frowns, but everyone seemed to be waiting for something. I only realized what for when I noticed what the absence in the room had left us with, a seat unfilled on the new council of Olympus.

They were looking to the three of us, waiting for the position to be filled, to see which one of us wanted it the most, who would betray whom to take power, but here's what they hadn't accounted for, I was too injured to take it, Ethan was dead, and had already achieved what he had longed for, and Clovis...well, he was asleep standing up.

I can't speak for the others, but despite every childhood dream, and adolescent urge to take power like that, to be a king and rule over all, I was just too tired. Something about it felt wrong. Not only taking an Olympian's seat, but Nyx's too.

Yes, she was evil, yes, she was cruel, and she had manipulated all of us, but she was still Nyx, she still defended us all, she still protected everyone, and she was still the person that controlled our family, still our matriarch.

I knew her defeat wouldn't last long, Zeus had recovered from decapitation by a cursed weapon in under a minute, she would recover faster. So even as she was defeated, I knew she sat in Tartarus, waiting for the chaos to begin so that she could capitalize on the bloodshed that followed.

So I didn't give her the chance. I went to speak, but my voice caught, I was suddenly doubting myself, the horrible, vile part of me that most resembled Nyx was digging it's claws into me just as the primordial goddess had.