Alternate Timeline: Sequel to Tortured Hearts

Chapter 8

Percy POV

     A week after the incident with Apollo that he blatantly refused to talk about, we made it to Delos and prepared to disembark the confines of the boat that had quickly become the vessel of our boredom. It only took a few minutes for everyone to be on the ground beside the water, hugging the ground as if it was going to disappear forever.
    
     After a brief moment, I stood and began to look around at all the island had to offer. I glanced towards Apollo to see him looking at the island with an unreadable expression, a mix between sadness and
confusion.

"What's wrong, Apollo," I asked. He turned towards me and I saw his face slowly morph into pure fear.

"BEHIND YOU," he shouted. I quickly spun around to see a giant cyclops shambling towards us. I tried to back up before I was stomped on by it but I only made it a few feet before it raised it's wooden club and knocked me into a tree. I remember hitting the tree, but the rest was black.

Apollo POV

     After the cyclops knocked out Percy, I rushed to his side and saw that he was still breathing. I left his side and prepared to fight the cyclops but Reyna and Nico had already dealt with it. I turned towards Percy once again and saw that he was still unconscious. I walked over to wear he lay and picked him up, carrying him over to a shady patch of sand on the edge of the small forest that grew in the middle of the island.

     "I think we should explore a bit more and figure out what we're facing here," said Reyna.

     "That's probably a good idea. You guys should go and I'll stay here with Percy," I replied. Nico and Reyna turned towards each other and shrugged before heading into the forest, weapons drawn.

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     Percy came to an hour after Nico and Reyna returned after finding nothing but a bunch of trees. While Reyna and Nico were off scouting, I had constructed a small base with a lean-to big enough for us to spend the night and a campfire that we lit to ward off mosquitoes which, unfortunately, demigods are not protected against.

     On the plus side, me being the god of archery and all meant that I could easily catch fish to have for dinner, but Percy and his Prince of the sea role prevented any of us from having any seafood for dinner.

     After Percy had awoken from his unplanned slumber, the four of us scoured the edge of the woods for edible berries and roots that were, in my opinion, worse than the seafood option.

     "Are you sure you didn't see anything at all while you were out," Percy asked after we filled him in on the situation.

     "I'm absolutely positive. We didn't see any sign of anything other than the normal woodland creatures," Reyna replied after rolling her eyes at Percy's repetition of the same question for the millionth time.

     "I just get this feeling that something bad is about to happen," said Percy, anxiety seeping from his every word. I moved closer to him and put a hand in his shoulder, an attempt to comfort him. He looked me in the eyes and for a moment I was almost convinced he was the Percy from the other time, the one who reciprocated my love. That moment quickly passed and our attention were ripped away from each other and towards the sound of blades colliding.

     I looked to my right and saw Reyna,
spear looked with that of another cyclops'. Nico rushed to her aid and they dealt with it swiftly. Just as both of them were beginning to relax, the Minotaur emerged from the depths of the forest and rushed straight for the pair.

     "NICO WATCH OUT," Percy shouted as he also rushed towards the pair. Reyna and Nico ducked out of the way just as the Minotaur reached where they previously stood. The beast skidded to a stop a few seconds later and came rushing back at Percy who took at Riptide and slashed at him as he too dove out of the way. Percy, coming to a stop far more gracefully than the Minotaur, attempted to slice the Minotaur's head off just as the monster changed courses and headed towards Reyna who tried to avoid the beast's horns but ultimately failed.

     The Minotaur's horn pierced Reyna's abdomen just as Percy successfully sliced the beast's head from it's shoulders with a mighty yell.

     As the Minotaur dissolved into dust, Nico, Percy, and I ran to Reyna's side. I held my hands over the gaping hole in her body and shook my head when Nico turned to me, silently asking if there was anything I could do.

     Nico and Percy each held one of Reyna's hands as her skin slowly lost it's color and the light in her eyes dimmed. After a few minutes of mourning over her body, Nico and Percy stood and I placed a hand over her wrist. I flashed her to the big house at camp before I returned to Percy and Nico who sat side by side, in the darkness provided by our makeshift shelter.

     Silence consumed everyone as I sat beside Percy, a comforting arm draped over his shoulder. Nico was starting blankly at a spot in the sand, tears falling silently from both his and Percy's eyes. Both of them fell asleep after an hour or so, me being the unofficial watch for the night. I shifted Percy so his head lay on my shoulder after covering Nico in one of the blankets that we carried with us from the ship.

     Percy mumbled incoherently in his sleep, a welcome sound from the blanket of silence that hung over the island. Nico, on the other hand, slept as though he was dead, a trait fitting for the Prince of the Underworld.

     I kept watch for a few hours before my heavy eyelids closed, the tiring day finally catching up to me. Sleep almost won the battle over my consciousness but a single thought jolted me awake.

     One shall be conquered while fighting the beast.

So I'm an actual piece of trash for not updating in so long but I felt so uninterested and unmotivated to do anything other than read other Wattpad stories and watch YouTube. Sorry for also returning with such a sad chapter, um my bad 😬. Anyway, I've been reading this amazing series called the Bo Austen series by WhispersConfusions that is soooooo incredibly amazing. I would recommend that everyone read it because I'm actually addicted to it.

Sorry again for not updating for so long but I do actually have an ending planned, even though it's not written yet. Sorry for any pain endured while reading this chapter. I personally didn't cry but that's probably because I'm heartless but you know that's just a me problem.

Also I've started writing my own original story which I don't think I'll be sharing on Wattpad but I'm just really excited to finally start writing something that I'm confident about writing instead of trying to write something I know hardly anything about.

This was a long author's note but whatever. Hope you guys have an incredible day, week, month, etc. and I'll talk to you guys in the next update.

~Emily