I didn't know that was going to happen.

Annabeth woke up disoriented in the darkness of the void. She thought Destruction was going to stab her, not decapitate her. I should've been able to predict his attack. What's going on?

Your body is beginning to fail you. Only I can survive the Void for an extended time. Now I get to watch you slowly get weaker and weaker until you finally die at my feet. Destruction had found his way inside of Annabeth's head, and she started running. There was no way she could handle having him inside of her head, it was too much.

I have to get out of here. I can't do this anymore! Annabeth was panicking and was about to lose it when a more soothing voice entered her mind.

My dear Annabeth. You will not die, but if you give up then he will torture you endlessly. Stay strong. The voice was so warm and loving that it stopped Annabeth in her tracks as she closed her eyes, drinking in the effects of the being's voice. She could focus now and realized that Destruction was just playing mind games. Calming down, Annabeth looked to her left and threw the dagger that landed right in the middle of Destruction's forehead.

"Ow!" was his only response. Before he could pluck the knife out of his head, Annabeth teleported to her weapon. Her hand appeared wrapped around it, so she sloppily yanked it out, causing blood to fly everywhere before the wound closed. Still in the air, she went to make a long cut down his entire body before her dagger was parried by Destruction's sword. This was one of the worst situations to be in, because Annabeth knew that his blade could easily cut her's in half. Without a weapon, Annabeth was at a huge disadvantage so she quickly pulled her dagger from the exchange, sacrificing her arm in the process.

Before her arm could get cut off, Annabeth threw her dagger, teleporting to it and out of harm's way. However, she had a deep gash that was covering her entire arm in blood and already beginning to make a pool on the ground. She knew her arm would heal, but her weapon wouldn't have, hence the reason of her decision.

"What's the matter, Annabeth? You fear the frailty of your little knife?" Destruction laughed. "I would too. I'm looking forward to the day it shatters in your hand." He rushed forward and grabbed a weak Annabeth by the throat. "I want to see the look in your eyes as you're left utterly defenseless against me." With evil glee in his eyes, Destruction threw her up into the air and slammed the flat of his blade into her, which was almost as wide as her entire upper body.

Annabeth flew back into the darkness as she experienced the effects of Destruction's sword. When he was in a certain mood, the sword glowed purple and when Annabeth made contact with it, she felt the most pain she had ever felt. Now was one of those moments as she finally crashed to the ground a couple of miles away from where Destruction had hit her. Pain was the only thing she could think about; the pain she was feeling, the pain Percy had felt, the pain her family back home had felt at the hands of Destruction, and the pain she wanted to inflict on Destruction.

However, all she was able to do was think. Her body had been limp for minutes now and Destruction was nowhere to be found. At this point, pain is a stupid reason to quit. C'mon Annabeth, GET UP. She was able to convince herself to stand, but when she did, there was a huge sword coming right at her. Frustrated with Destruction, Annabeth angrily gripped the sides of the sword before it could reach her stomach. Desperately trying to break it, Annabeth hit it over her knee. When her leg made contact with Destruction's sword, several bones snapped causing her to cry out and fall to the ground.

Laughing over Annabeth's horrible sounds of agony, Destruction casually appeared out of the darkness and picked up his sword. While she was writhing on the ground, he impaled Annabeth through the stomach, immobilizing her in a painful fashion.

"Well that was a really stupid idea Annabeth. Especially for a daughter of Athena. Destroying this sword is almost as hard as defeating my entire essence. Your knee couldn't even put a scratch on this." Destruction looked down at his sword, admiring it while Annabeth tried and failed to pull it out of her stomach. She couldn't help but scream as tears streamed down her face.

This is too much. Percy, help me. Please. Cracking under the pain, Annabeth threw her only weapon at Destruction's hand that was loosely wrapped around the hilt of his sword. Distracted, he didn't realize until too late. As he was stabbed, Destruction's grip tightened and his hand shot up, accidentally pulling the sword out of Annabeth. She had aimed perfectly, knowing the exact spot that would make him unintentionally free her. Smiling in satisfaction, Annabeth stood and teleported to her knife, pulling it from Destruction's arm and quickly moving out of harm's way.

She started running, even though she knew it was hopeless. Soon, Annabeth crashed to the ground face first. The pain leaving her only partially conscious, she turned her head to the side and brushed her hand against the black ground.

"Its obvious that you can no longer put up a decent fight against me, even after I kill you and you recover. This void has finally gotten a strong hold on you, like it has on me. The difference between us, however, is that my definition of weak is a lot different than yours, mortal." Destruction had appeared out of the darkness once again and kicked Annabeth in her stomach, making her fly several feet through the air.

Surprisingly, she forced herself to land on her feet, though it pained her considerably. Annabeth remembered Order's words.

There will be a single fleeting moment one day where Destruction will fall to his knees in pain and weakness. This only occurs once in every several centuries, so there is no telling how long you will have to wait. When this moment comes, you will know it, and without hesitation you must drive your bare hand into his chest, gripping his heart. You will feel complete and utter darkness, but search for my light, focus on it, and will it to come out. Only then shall we escape. Patience is key.

It had already been centuries in the Void, though Annabeth was unaware of how much time had passed out in the universe. She was barely holding on to her will, no matter how many times her body mended itself. The only way to keep going was to remind herself of the three words that got her up to this point. 

Patience is key.

Line Break

They were all very comfortable in their new living space, the only thing on their minds being the well-being of Otrega. Nothing had changed over the three-month span, and the tournament had continued in this time. Chaos had made an announcement saying the issue of Otrega in the Universal Tournament would be addressed when he awakes. No one knew when this would be, so it was a very scary time for Chaos and the four demigods. 

"The next match will include the two fighters, Piper Grace and Viviat Ve." The announcement filled their room, causing Piper to sigh as she stood up. 

"Well I'll be back guys."

"Good luck babe, we'll be watching." Nico and Thalia nodded in the same nonchalant way Jason spoke, as if it was said many times before. After giving a short thanks, she teleported directly to the arena, so the three of them saw her a second later in the holographic image that showed all of the matches. They watched as her opponent came into the arena.

It was a huge, winged ogre that stood about eight feet tall and seemed to be just as wide. Piper looked at the mud-brown, spherical monster and then at it's small black wings that looked dirty and messy. 

"There is no way this big blob can fly." She said this under her breath, but Viviat seemed to hear it, seeing as he suddenly caught Piper's eye and glared. The referee chose this time to begin the match with the usual signal, and the ogre wasted no time as he started running towards Piper. He wasn't that fast, but each step made the ground beneath Piper shake so hard that she stumbled to the ground, increasing the difficulty of dodging the giant, metal-spiked club that had appeared in the hands of Viviat. Piper felt the tremors of the ground beneath her and focused with closed eyes.

Her eyes opened almost immediately and they glowed entirely pink. She spoke to the ground. "Stop." During the years after the war, she learned that love was connected to nature. Therefore, her voice could control the shaking, seeing as they were standing on the only un-artificial ground in the castle. Piper took the chance to move out of the way and onto the head of her opponent before the club even reached the spot where she previously stood. Using both Katoptris and her new dagger, Heartbreak, Piper made an x across the back of Viviat as she jumped down from his head. Heartbreak made her opponents increasingly vulnerable to Piper's controlling voice once it pierced their skin.

Turning towards the staggered ogre in front of her, Piper compelled him to do her bidding.  "Allow the pain to consume you until it forces you to surrender. You value your life too much to continue this fight." In response, Viviat screamed in agony and shouted words that were almost indecipherable through such sounds of pain. Chaos was able to tell from his throne up above that Viviat was giving up, so he called the match.

Up in their room, Nico had known when he took his first glance at her opponent, that Piper would win. Which was why he didn't stay with Jason and Thalia to watch. He went to the center of the living space where Otrega was located. Crossing his arms, Nico sighed, wishing that Chaos would reveal his face. It frustrated him to no end that he was unsure of Otrega's identity. Everyday Nico would come to see if he could sense Percy somewhere inside of the body that lied before him, and everyday he would be as disappointed as the last. Another reason why he came was to use his powers to sense if there was any progress with Otrega's soul and body syncing back together. It was very little, but every couple days Nico could just barely sense progress being made. At the rate Otrega was going, he was sure to return to them, but it wouldn't be for a long time.

Final Line Break

Thanks for reading, votes and comments are appreciated. Cya next chapter!