Blood of Olympus FanFic {completed}

40: PERCY

CH 40- PERCY

Percy wished he could say that he took on the taraxippi bravely, like a real hero should, but instead he grabbed Hazel's arm and ran like a coward. Because without his powers, his was, well, powerless.

I guess you don't realize how much something means to you until it's been taken away from you, he thought.

"Percy! What're -" Hazel began.

"Just run!" he said.

Behind them, Antiphates boomed with laughter. "Some heroes," he said, and Percy could almost agree.

"Percy, we can't outrun horses," Hazel said, breathless, and Percy knew she was right.

Percy stole a glance behind him. The horses, although transparent like ghosts, were catching up at an alarming speed, and Percy didn't want to find out what would happen to him and Hazel if they caught up.

"Arion!" Hazel yelled in desperation.

The horse was nowhere to be seen, and their time was up. The ghost horses had caught up.

This is just like The Lion King, Percy thought grimly. Except there's no Mufasa to save us.

Percy hit the ground and covered his head, and he could only hope Hazel was doing the same. He squeezed his eyes shut, hoping he wouldn't open them in a second to find himself in DOA Recording Studios.

He waited five seconds, ten, fifteen... and finally opened his eyes. He was relieved to see that he wasn't dead yet. Looking around him, Percy realized the horses had galloped over them with no harm done. Hazel seemed just as fine as him.

But where had the taraxippi gone?

Antiphates continued to laugh and kept repeating, "Some heroes, some heroes, what cowards..."

That's when Percy had enough. He had had enough of everything, actually. For a moment, he hated the gods. He hated the fact that he'd been used up like an old pair of shoes to get everything done for them. He hated that they had to put him and his friends through this. Hadn't they suffered so much already? Weren't there other demigods capable of destroying Gaea? Surely the Seven weren't the only ones!

They'd made so many sacrifices already, and what would they get in reward? Immortality so they could continue doing the gods' dirty work for all eternity?

He and the rest of the Seven hadn't come this far to be called cowards by a monster barely half the size of other giants they'd faced. One glance at Hazel was all he needed to know that she felt the same way.

But his anger, it was taking over him. He felt overcome by an indescribable level of hatred. The only other time he'd been like this was... it was in Tartarus when he and Annabeth were facing Akhlys.

He faced Antiphates, and his fingers tingled; he could feel that his powers were nearby. Mustering up every bit of power he could get out of his anger, he imagined his powers drifting out of the giant and returning to Percy. 

His vision was tinted red, he felt his whole body shaking. Somewhere far, far off, he thought he could hear Hazel's screams. His anger only grew when it didn't seem to be working. He didn't think he'd ever concentrated so hard in his life, and that was saying something.

Percy thought he heard Antiphates scream in agony. "AAAAAAARGH! WHAT'S HAPPENING?"

Yes, it's working! Come on, Percy, focus. Think of what you'll say to the gods when you get your powers back, and to Gaea. Think of what they've done to you and your friends. To Annabeth. Avenge Annabeth, he kept telling himself, because a lot of power comes from anger, and the only power he had left was anger. It was the only way, he realized, that he and Hazel were going to get their powers back.