Chapter 73: I finish what I started

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The final chapter! I hope you people like it! Also, the answer to my last question is: The Venti entered the camp last summer when Thalia's tree was dying.

They hid until commanded to do something. It's briefly mentioned in chapter 37 by Annabeth.

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(Percy POV)

...

"I swear on the Styx to you kill me." I said as fast as I could.

My friends gasped, Katie looked at me through the Iris message, her eyes saying I shouldn't have done it.

Commodus grinned and spread his arms, still holding the revolver, "Come! To me. I am at the," he looked around in surprise,"The Liberty statue. On top of it, oh, and if you better get here fast or I might kill the next one."

He gave me one final grin and then swiped through the iris message.

I turned to Nyx who met my gaze, we had a silent conversation.

The campers and hunters fired questions at me, but I ignored them, I walked past the crowd and towards Blackjack.

When they finally understood I was not in the mood to answer questions, they stayed silent.

'You know what happens to me if you die?' Chaos asked with a small voice.

'Scared?' I asked bitterly.

'No.' Chaos said proudly, 'I just never considered dying.'

'Good news,' Hemera said, 'If you two die, I will be still alive.'

I hopped on Blackjack's back and glanced at the crowd of demigods that watched me. I cracked a small smile, "Don't worry. I'll kick his ass."

A few campers let out a nervous chuckle but it was a fake laugh.

I commanded Blackjack to fly away.

We flew in silent, or at least nothing could be heard by the others.

'Percy, if this fails.' Chaos said, 'It was an honor to be your companion.'

'Same.' I admitted, 'Though you are pretty annoying at some times.'

Chaos laughed mirthfully, 'gallows humor, I like it.'

As we flew towards the statue of liberty, I had the urge to call my mother but I knew that I couldn't let Commodus waiting.

We circled around the statue's head, and I saw Commodus glaring at me with a massive grin, thinking he had won.

I also saw a few new things on the statue's head, things that were obscured from our view in the Iris message.

Small packages, wrapped in plastic, were stitched again the side of the statue and connected with each other by a metal wire.

'Greek fire,' Chaos hissed angrily, 'He has a fail plan.'

'What do you think it is?' I asked.

'If you want to ditch out of the deal, he will blow up the statue and probably kill your friends too.'

'But he'll die too right?' I asked hopefully.

'He's immortal.' Chaos reminded me.

'That's wicked.' I admitted.

Blackjack landed on the head and I jumped at his back, "Thanks."said grateful.

Blackjack whinnied and left, leaving me alone one with a Roman emperor and two of my friends.

Commodus saw me and had a mad grin on his face.

He pulled Katie up by the neck and pointed the revolver at her, by doing so the rope that kept her mouth closed fell of. "Don't Percy!" she yelled.

I shook my head in sadness and walked towards the spike of the crown, and stopped at the edge of statue's head.

"Let my friends go." I demanded, "You have me, let them go."

Commodus smile widened, "I have you, so you are right. We don't need your friends anymore."

He pulled the safety switch. My eyes widened, "Let her go!"

"Very poor choice of words!" He cried out with a wicked smile and pushed Katie away from him, of the crown.

Directly after that he kicked Connor away too.

"NO!" I yelled and charged at the point they were kicked off. I stopped in front of Commodus and leaned over the edge, expecting to see my friends dead at the bottom of the statue.

Lying in a pool of her own blood, Bianca starred with her eyes up the sky frozen.

But my friend were nowhere to be seen.

"Where are they?" I asked out loud, Commodus was as surprised as I was.

He leaned over my shoulder, "What happened to them?"

I kept looking, but I couldn't see Connor and Katie anywhere.

I got up and turned around. Commodus had the barrel of his revolver aimed at my head.

I raised my hands as in a surrender, Commodus had a frown on his face, "I have no idea what happened, but I'm going to kill you now."

"Try it." I challenged the emperor.

Commodus pulled the trigger.

A loud flash followed, the watch on my wrist unfolded itself a second before he fired and transformed it into an ice shield.

The bullet deflected of my shield with a Clank, Commodus's eyes widened, he fired again but the shield of winter blocked all the bullets.

When he was out of ammo, he staggered backwards, fear in his eyes. "You swore on the Styx!"

I cracked a smile and lowered my shield, "But I said nothing about taking you with me."

Commodus staggered backwards towards the tip of the crown, "YOU CAN'T KILL ME!" he yelped pathetically, "I'm immortal!"

My shield folded itself back into a watch and I summoned Frostsilver and set it on fire.

Blue flames licked on the blade of the sword but quickly turned green, but it was not enough, I closed my eyes for a brief second and imagined a different fuel. Not my power, but my life force.

Immediately the flames on my sword turned black, void black.

I cracked a final smile and glared at Commodus, right now this man was everything I hated about Triumvirate, working from the shadows and backstabbing. Gaia and Kronos had at least honor, Triumvirate did not.

Commodus saw the black flames on my sword, "What's that?"

"Soulfire," I said, "It can kill immortals."

Commodus met my gaze and immediately his expression turned to utter fear, "You can't kill me. The Styx!" he cried out.

"If you don't let me kill you, the Styx will!" he yelled when I forced him to the tip of the crown.

I shook my head, "That's the point, recently I learned something new. Things done with a final breath have a lot of power. Once I activate soulfire it will use my life force as fuel. I'm going to die, but you're going with me."

Commodus nodded nervously, like he had peace with his decision. He pulled a silver detonator from behind his back and cracked a smile as well.

'Kill him!' Chaos yelled, 'If the blast of the explosion kills him, he won't die permanently.'

I lunged forward the moment he pressed the detonator.

I held my sword in front of me, like a lance, and pushed it down his stomach.

He screamed in pain. The ice blade stuck out of the end of his back, black flames were licking away at his body, burning his flesh away.

Then the statue shook, and the sound of metal scraping against metal filled my ears, I looked down and saw the bottom of the statue exploded.

The bronze layer was blasted away, green fire blasted more holes in the statue, still holding Commodus, I looked him in the eyes and saw he had a grin on his face.

The statue began to lean forward. The metal construction inside the statue could barely prevent it from falling into the sea.

Commodus and I almost fell, but I steadied myself.

Then the packages on the Statue's head exploded and my vision was filled with Greek fire.

I was blasted away in a second. The statue was now completely destroyed, scrap metal flew in all directions.

A burning metal bar penetrated itself into my stomach and the pain doubled.

I crashed into the ocean, still holding my sword, and I remembered the dream I had before my quest started.

I tried to grasp for air but for once I can not breathe underwater, the scrap metal in my stomach made it impossible for me to move.

I moved my arms around in a panic, bubbles swirling around me. More pieces of the statue crashed into the sea, all around me it rained metal.

I knew why I couldn't breathe, the soulfire. Even if the sea would heal me, the fire would burn my life force away.

I drifted deeper into the ocean and I heard someone laughing in my ear, I was maybe hallucinating but in front of me floated Lady Styx, her volcano brown eyes looking at me with delight.

Die a painful death in water I heard her whisper before she disappeared.

I closed my eyes and tried to say something but all that came out were bubbles.

I tried again and managed to form three words, then it all faded to black and I felt my life force finally being burned up.

The end.

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So, the end. Dramatically isn't it? Who expected this? I guess nobody. Well, I love drama. That's what Greek Mythology is based on right? Well anyway. Thanks for reading my story.

Also, unraveling the Prophecy.

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Five shall go west to the goddess in chains,

One will get lost in the land without rain,

One string of fate forever defined,

Choose Campers and Hunters combined,

One shall be slain by a parent's hand,

One shall defy fate but die in the end,

With final breath one shall betray,

And a final dead to keep the prisoner in stay.

...

A lot of people defied fate, Percy and Despina by not fighting each other, Zoë by coming back to life, Nyx and Bianca for swapping place during the battle with Talos in which Bianca was supposed to die. But in the end this line is about Bianca.

So, there you have it. Percy is death, and for real. It's not like he will be healed by the sea. Nope, death.

Also the line, Throw me in the water, I am already dead is about Percy, at this point he had so many promises he would die (the Styx, The Note, The dream, The Prophecy; all of them predicted his death) that he thought, well. If I'm going to die, I'm going to make it count.

And the "Throw me in the water" part is about him dying in water.

Love Ya all!