We Olympians (A Percy Jackson AU) || BOOK 1

Chapter 42 || Nico

Nico raced to the infirmary to see Percy holding Annabeth, who was bleeding out rapidly with Percy's shirt wrapped around her. Percy sank to the floor as someone took Annabeth, racing her off to a medic, who quickly began to stop the bleeding.

"Annabeth..." Percy moaned before his eyes were closed.

Thalia was at his side, trying to get a view of the seaweed brain while medics swarmed him. A heart monitor was plugged onto Percy and Nico could see the jagged waves getting slower and slower.

"PERCY!" he finally screamed, on the verge of crying. It hurt to see someone he loved like that. "PERCY, WAKE UP! ANNABETH WILL BE WAITING FOR YOU! YOU CAN'T GIVE UP!"

Anxiety filled Nico's senses as he stared at the monitor, the waves gradually getting slower and softer. No, no, no, no, no...

"His heart rate's dropping! Someone get the electric pads!"

"ON IT!"

Two pads were placed on Percy's chest and Percy jerked slightly. But it was no use. The heart monitor flatlined with a devastating beep.

"NO!" Will screamed.

"KELP HEAD!" Thalia sobbed as she sank to the floor next to her cousin and best friend.

"I don't understand..." Will said, looking around the room. "Annabeth could've died, yes, but Percy's wounds weren't that severe..."

Nico frowned, picking up the blade on the floor.

"This was... uh... in his stomach."

Will took a look at it, peering so close Nico thought Will would gouge his eyes out if he dared sneeze. He sliced the blade away from his face so that it whipped through the air.

"Poison!"

"What?" Nico frowned.

"Poison! That little dick used poison on his blade! He used the poison from a scorpion that's sting kills you in a minute!" Will stomped the floor.

The thought of Percy being dead was still haunting him. That's when Nico heard a beep and his head whipped up. The heart monitor had a small wave. That's when another wave came, slightly faster. Faster, and faster the waves came.

"What the..." Will stared at the monitor in wonder.

Then, Percy took a deep gasp for air and his eyes flew open.

"Annabeth..." His eyes darted around the room as he was placed on a stretcher.

When he saw the sleeping figure of his girlfriend, he grinned before slumping down onto the stretcher.

"Oh, no, the Kelp Head's not doing that again..." Thalia growled, wiping her tears as she raced to him. "PERCY!"

"What are you gonna--" Will started but Thalia slapped him right across the face. The sound echoed through the room.

Percy's eyes flew open, staring at Thalia's.

"Stay awake, you Kelp Head!" she yelled.

Percy's eyes began to close and Thalia said a very interesting curse word. She grabbed his arm and it seemed to glow blue as Percy began to writhe around, his eyes wide open.

"STAY AWAKE!"

That's when Nico realized that Thalia had managed to electrocute Percy. But for some reason, Percy grinned like a madman. After Will had extracted the poison and bandaged up Percy's wound, Percy was finally put to sleep with an oxygen mask just for safety.

"The monitor flatlined for a good minute," Nico finally said. "I felt this slight buzzing in my ears and Hazel told me that's what we feel when people die. Percy was just dead."

Will frowned. "I know... I've never seen anything like that before. It's not very common for people to return from the dead like that."

"No shit, Sherlock..." Nico muttered.

"He'll be okay, right?" Thalia asked.

"He's gonna be fine. But it still doesn't explain why Percy came back to life." Will paced back and forth. "Let's just hope he doesn't remember anything. If he remembers or even knows that he was dead, it could mess up everything."

"So you're telling us we have to lie to our best friend?" Thalia raised an eyebrow. "No way."

"If Thanatos finds out that Percy literally escaped from death, he's gonna be mad! There's no explained reason why Percy's still alive right now!" Will argued. "The only option is if Thanatos decided to save Percy, but Thanatos doesn't do that type of stuff. He's bound by an oath he took."

"He said Annabeth's name," Nico said. "Did it have something to do with her?"

"I don't know... but something's going on." Will's gaze became grim. "There's only one explanation as to why this happened. The war has officially begun."

The way Will said it had goosebumps running down Nico's whole body. Thalia's eyes were wide with alarm and she paced back and forth.

"Okay, both of my best friends are incapacitated... One of which was dead before he literally just came back to life, and the other was pretty much sliced in half because she decided to be irrational and just jump on the person who literally decided to--"

"Thalia, you're rambling," Nico sighed, cutting her off.

"I don't care, Di Angelo. I'm thinking."

"The only person who would know some kind of answer would be Sabrina, daughter of Athena," Will said.

"Who's that?"

"Oh, she's Percy's best friend here," Will replied. "She's often out scouting for recruits, so he doesn't get to see her a lot, but she's basically his older sister."

"But don't Athena and Poseidon hate each other?" Thalia questioned.

"Yeah... but look at Annabeth and Percy." Will motioned to the blonde girl currently asleep on a cot. "Sabrina knows everything. She grew up here. There isn't a moment in time she isn't in the library. She's read everything in the whole Olympian Library, and there's got to be at least one book she's read about death."

"But she's not here today, is she?" Nico asked.

"No," Will said. "But she's coming back tomorrow with two more recruits. I'm pretty sure you can catch her then, and she'll stay longer if she knows it's about Percy. That woman can get crazy protective over him..."

"Alright," Nico agreed. "But Annabeth will be okay, right?"

"She's lucky," Will admitted. "If Percy hadn't gotten her to the infirmary when he did, another two minutes and she'd be dead."

Nico froze at Will's words.

"Let's just hope that doesn't happen, okay?" Will sighed. "Go get some rest. They'll be awake in the next day or two."