▬▬▬ CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN ▬▬▬

:)

I hope you guys enjoyed my cute lil oneshot 🥰

Hahahahaha, jk I know you hated it but you guys DID ask for it

I've gotten numerous comments in the past demanding for Essie to lose the rose colored glasses, so that's exactly what I did in the one shot. I showed you guys what would happen if she removed her rose colored glasses AND I showed you all the consequences of it 😍

Don't get mad 😊 It's what you guys wanted, but you should've realized that there would be severe repercussions to Essie losing her naïvety 💖

Good news is that it won't EVER happen here. As long as Essie continues to love him, Ethan won't ever have to resort to... slightly drastic measures to keep her with him 🤗

ESMERELDA COULD FEEL HER MAGIC tapping in tune with her emotions. Her whole body felt like it was buzzing and for once, it wasn't because of the multiple times she had been electrocuted. She had never felt so furious before, so bloodthirsty, and so vicious all at the same time.

Her body was trembling with pure rage and her magic was thrumming in response. It wanted to lash out and hurt just like she did and it was getting hard to contain it.

Save it for the giants, she told herself, keeping a tight grip on Nico's sword.

Gods she couldn't wait until she found them. Once she got her hands on those fucking twins, she was going to make them pay for everything they had done to her, Ethan, and Nico back at Tartarus.

Her eyes darted to Piper, who was catching her breath at the back of the room farther away from everyone else. She had never disliked the girl for anything, but now, she wanted to reach out and punch her in the face.

Maybe she was being a little unfair, but she didn't care. Ethan specifically asked her if she saw any visions that could help them with their situation on Nico and she outright lied to him. Even back on the ship, Jason and Percy tried to get her to search for any visions that could help Nico, but she tried to hide it from them again.

Esmerelda was finally beginning to wonder what the fuck was up with that girl. She didn't even have a good reason to hide it from them for so long. 'i DiDn'T kNow hOW tO tELl yOu'? Really? That was the best she could come up with? Absolutely fucking foolish. It grated on her nerves.

"Okay," Ethan spoke up, catching everyone's attention. "You all ready to go now?"

His foot was tapping impatiently on the floor of the nymphaeum. Their group decided that they needed a short break after what happened with the nine nymphs so they rested up for about three minutes. Ethan, however, was obviously getting impatient. Esmerelda understood the sentiment. She wanted to save Nico too, but she knew the short break was necessary for everyone.

Jason pushed himself up from the wall he was leaning on. "Alright, let's go."

Unfortunately for them, the only way to reach Nico was to crawl through a drainage pipe.

Naturally, everyone had Percy go first.

"I swear to the gods, Percy, if you fart on my face..." Ethan grumbled, crawling in after him.

"Don't tempt me," Percy sassed back.

After that, Jason went next, and then Piper. Esmerelda had to go last because she was carrying an extremely dangerous sword that could suck your soul upon physical contact, so she needed as much crawl space as possible to avoid accidentally reaping someone's soul.

After about thirty feet of crawling, the pipe opened into a wider tunnel. To their left, somewhere in the distance, they could hear rumbling and creaking, like a huge machine needed oiling. At their right, they heard nothing.

"So..." Esmerelda sighed. "I guess we're going left, huh?"

She had long since dismissed the tracking spell so there was no glowing green line to guide them. She didn't want to alert the enemies after all. Besides, she had a good feeling they needed to go left. Usually when you were stuck in a forked path, the noisiest path was the more dangerous way to go.

Jason let out an equally heavy sigh. "Yep..."

So they went that way.

"You know," Esmerelda began a conversation, a shit eating grin on her face as she nudged her boyfriend playfully. "You called Nico your son back there."

Ethan stilled. "No I didn't," he denied automatically.

"Yes you did," Percy, Jason, and Esmerelda all said in unison.

"No I didn't," he repeated, his cheeks red. "You guys need to get your ears checked."

"It's alright," Esmerelda smiled innocently. "I'll just use a pensieve to replay the memory, and I'll make sure to show it to Nico and the rest of the camp so they can witness that beautiful moment too!"

He let out an embarrassed groan, and she giggled in amusement.

Several hundred feet later, they reached a turn in the tunnel. Percy held up his hand, signaling everyone to wait. He peeked around the corner. Esmerelda crouched low and peeked under him, with Ethan and Jason doing the same while Piper just stood at the back not doing anything.

The corridor she saw opened into a vast room with twenty-foot ceilings and rows of support columns.

The creaking and rumbling came from huge gears and pulley systems that raised and lowered sections of the floor for no apparent reason. Water flowed through open trenches, powering water wheels that turned some of the machines. Esmerelda hoped the giants weren't going to try and drown them again because she doubted the draught charm fluke was going to work a second time.

Other machines were connected to huge hamster wheels with hellhounds inside. She had no idea what that was for.

Suspended from the ceiling were cages of live animals—a lion, several zebras, a whole pack of hyenas, and even an eight-headed hydra. Ancient-looking bronze and leather conveyor belts trundled along with stacks of weapons and armor.

Honestly, the whole room was so cluttered and disorganized that it could probably feature in one of those TV shows about hoarders.

"What is it?" Piper whispered from behind them.

"For fuck's sake, just take a look, you idiot," Ethan hissed. He sounded so done with her and Esmerelda felt the same.

She could hear Piper take a deep breath like she was trying to stop herself from saying something she would regret, but didn't make a move to join them either.

Anyways, back to looking.

About twenty feet inside the doorway, a life-size wooden cutout of a gladiator popped up from the floor. It clicked and whirred along a conveyor belt, got hooked on a rope, and ascended through a slot in the roof.

Jason murmured, "What the heck?"

"Do you think it's safe to go?" Percy whispered.

Ethan kept scanning the area. "I don't see any signs of monsters—aside for the ones in cages. No signs of either of the giants either."

They stepped inside. Esmerelda looked around the room. There were several thousand things to look at, most of them in motion, but one good aspect of being an ADHD demigod was that she was comfortable with chaos. About a hundred yards away, she spotted a raised dais with two empty oversized praetor chairs. Standing between them was a bronze jar big enough to hold a person.

"Nico's in there," she said instantly.

She started forward, but Ethan placed a hand on her shoulder to stop her.

"Hold on, babe," he said, frowning thoughtfully at the jar. "This is way too easy."

"But we have no choice," Jason said. "We've got to save Nico."

Esmerelda shot him a grateful look. He had certainly changed his tune about Nico ever since the time he had tried to discuss the option of leaving him behind.

"Jason's right," Percy agreed, already taking cautionary steps forward. "Besides, we already know this is a trap so might as well, right?"

"How are we not dead yet...?" Ethan wondered aloud.

Nevertheless, they started across the room, picking their way around conveyor belts and moving platforms.

The hellhounds in the hamster wheels paid them no attention. They were too busy running and panting, their red eyes glowing like headlights. The animals in the other cages gave them bored looks, as if to say, I'd kill you, but it would take too much energy.

"I feel kinda bad for them," Esmerelda couldn't help but murmur to Ethan.

He glanced at the animals and shook his head. "They look like they would kill us."

Esmerelda frowned a little, but focused on trying to look out for traps. The hard part about that was that everything in the room looked like a trap. It honestly reminded her a little bit of Labyrinth, which weren't good memories for her to look back on.

They jumped over a water trench and ducked under a row of caged wolves. They had made it about halfway to the bronze jar when the ceiling opened over them. A platform lowered. Standing on it like an actor, with one hand raised and his head high, was the purple-haired giant Ephialtes.

"I can't believe this," Ethan hissed under his breath. "That's another copyright infringement right there. He stole the Hamilton pose."

Percy turned to him. "Oh my gods, you watched Hamilton? What's your favorite song?"

"Guys, not now!" Jason dipped his head back and groaned.

"Sorry," Percy whispered. He turned back to the Ephialtes.

Ephialtes was dressed loudly as ever—probably to make up for the fact that he was so tiny compared to his giant brethren. He'd changed out of the Pokemon cosplay she had last seen him in and was now wearing a Hawaiian shirt that even Dionysus would've found vulgar. It had a garish print made up of dying heroes, horrible tortures, and lions eating slaves in the Colosseum. The giant's hair was braided with gold and silver coins. He had a ten-foot spear strapped to his back, which wasn't a good fashion statement with the shirt. He wore bright white jeans and leather sandals on his... well, not feet, but curved snakeheads. The snakes flicked their tongues and writhed as if they didn't appreciate holding up the weight of a giant.

Ephialtes smiled at the demigods like he was really, really pleased to see them.

"At last!" He bellowed dramatically. "So very happy! Honestly, I didn't think you'd make it past the nymphs, but it's so much better that you did. Much more entertaining. You're just in time for the main event!"

Everyone immediately closed ranks around Percy (who was at the center of them). They quickly brought their weapons up, and Esmerelda would've done the same but she was stuck holding on to Nico's sword. Not that she minded. She still had her other hand to cast any spells.

Ephialtes's eyes danced with a crazy light when they did that, as if he was planning for some huge, dramatic showdown.

"Let Nico go," Esmerelda demanded.

She didn't even use any charmspeak, but it wasn't like she needed to anyways.

"Of course!" Ephialtes agreed amicably. "Though I fear he's a bit past his expiration date. Otis, where are you?"

A stone's throw away, the floor opened, and the other giant rose on a platform.

"Otis, finally!" His brother cried with glee. "You're not dressed the same as me! You're..." Ephialtes' expression turned to horror. "What are you wearing?"

For once, Esmerelda could actually relate to him. She was sure everyone in the room was experiencing the same grossed-out horror that he was feeling.

Otis ditched the poor Pokemon cosplay too, but his new costume made Esmerelda want him to put it back on.

He looked like the world's largest, grumpiest ballet dancer. He wore a skin-tight baby-blue leotard that she really wished left more to the imagination. The toes of his massive dancing slippers were cut away so that his snakes could protrude. A diamond tiara was nestled in his green, firecracker-braided hair. He looked glum and miserably uncomfortable, but he managed a dancer's bow, which couldn't have been easy with snake feet and a huge spear on his back.

"Gods and Titans!" Ephialtes yelled. "It's showtime! What are you thinking?"

"I didn't want to wear the gladiator outfit," Otis complained. "I still think a ballet would be perfect, you know, while Armageddon is going on." He raised his eyebrows hopefully at the demigods. "I have some extra costumes—"

"—No!" Ephialtes snapped.

The purple-haired giant faced the kids. He grinned so painfully, he looked like he was being electrocuted (and Esmerelda knew from firsthand experience what that was like).

"Please excuse my brother," he said. "His stage presence is awful, and he has no sense of style."

"Okay." Percy decided not to comment on the Hawaiian shirt. "Now, about our friend..."

"Oh, him," Ephialtes sneered. "We were going to let him finish dying in public, but he has no entertainment value."

Esmerelda and Ethan actually had to be held back when they heard that comment.

"My son has great entertainment value!" Esmerelda defended him.

"Yeah!" Ethan agreed. "He's almost as over-dramatic as my girlfriend and that says a lot!"

Ephialtes didn't seem to buy it.

"I highly doubt that!" He cried out. "He's spent days curled up sleeping! What sort of spectacle is that? Otis, tip over the jar."

Otis trudged over to the dais, stopping occasionally to do a plié. He knocked over the jar, the lid popped off, and Nico di Angelo spilled out.

Esmerelda barely held back a cry when she saw him. He was completely unconscious, and when he fell to the ground, he fell face up for everyone to see. He looked deathly pale, his starch white skin stretched thinly over his skeleton.

The sight of it was enough to make her almost faint. She and Ethan had to be held back once more, but this time to keep them from rushing over to him. Ephialtes was still standing in their way.

"Now we have to hurry," said the Big F. "We should go through your stage directions. The hypogeum is all set!"

Jason raised his gold gladius. "We're not going to be part of any show," he said. "And what's a hypo—whatever-you-call-it?"

"Hypogeum!" Ephialtes said. "You're a Roman demigod, aren't you? You should know! Ah, but I suppose if we do our job right down here in the underworks, you really wouldn't know the hypogeum exists."

"I know that word," Piper said. "It's the area under a coliseum. It housed all the set pieces and machinery used to create special effects."

Ephialtes clapped enthusiastically. "Exactly so! Are you a student of the theater, my girl?"

"Uh... my dad's an actor."

"Wonderful!" Ephialtes turned toward his brother. "Did you hear that, Otis?"

"Actor," Otis murmured. "Everybody's an actor. No one can dance."

"Be nice!" Ephialtes scolded. "At any rate, my girl, you're absolutely right, but this hypogeum is much more than the stage works for a coliseum. You've heard that in the old days some giants were imprisoned under the earth, and from time to time they would cause earthquakes when they tried to break free? Well, we've done much better! Otis and I have been imprisoned under Rome for eons, but we've kept busy building our very own hypogeum. Now we're ready to create the greatest spectacle Rome has ever seen—and the last!"

At Otis's feet, Nico shuddered. Esmerelda sucked in a breath. He was alive, which was great, and now he was beginning to regain consciousness, which was even better. Only problem was that the giants were still over him and if they caught sight of him moving...

Percy must have realized the same thing because he suddenly exclaimed, "So! Stage directions, you said?"

"Yes!" Ephialtes said. "Our original directions were to keep Esmerelda Black and Ethan Nakamura alive and capture them, but that plan kind of failed thanks a lot to them, so mother decided to put us back on babysitting duty."

He motioned to Nico and was about to look at him until Esmerelda spoke up, "What else was part of the plan?"

"Oh," he made a small humming noise for a few seconds. "Well, we were supposed to try and keep Poseidon's kid and Annabeth alive too, but honestly, the girl is already doomed, so I hope you don't mind if we deviate from the plan."

Percy made a dying noise in the back of his throat. "Already doomed. You don't mean she's—"

"—Dead?" The giant asked. "No. Not yet. But don't worry! She'll be dead soon."

That wasn't reassuring at all.

"Anyways," he continued, looking at Esmerelda and Ethan like he was looking at a pair of misbehaving kids. "You two just can't stay trapped when you're supposed to, huh? You should've been trapped with those other kids but nooo, you just had to escape again."

Ethan gave him a sarcastic smile. "We can't help it. We're just so talented at escaping near death situations."

"Well you won't be escaping this one!" He said with giddy determination.

"Um," Otis spoke up. "We've been given orders from Gaea that we absolutely can't kill Esmerelda and Ethan, remember?"

His brother deflated. "Oh right," he grumbled. "That's fine. We'll just torture them a little. Everyone else is free game though. We can let the Athena girl die, which will please Her Ladyship. Those other kids are probably going to be killed too. And we can use you five—"

"—Three," Otis reminded him.

"Right, three," he corrected himself. "We can use you three for the show! Gaea will be a bit disappointed, but really, this is a win-win. Your deaths will be much more entertaining and we get to give her the chosen sacrifices!"

"And we won't get stuck with babysitting duty again!" Otis cheered. They both grinned at each other and high-fived.

Suddenly, Nico stirred. Otis looked down at him. His snaky feet flicked their tongues at Nico's head.

"Hold on," Ethan spoke up before he could touch him. "Why kill them right away when they can perform for you?"

"Perform?" Ephialtes asked skeptically.

"Yeah," he nodded, and Percy, Jason, and Piper didn't like the sly smirk on his face. "Percy here does stupidly dangerous stunts all the time, Jason has no brain cells so you can convince him to do anything you want, and Piper... well, she makes a good punching bag."

Their jaws dropped in offense.

Otis regarded Piper curiously. "Hmm... she does look kind of punchable."

"You can test her out right now," Ethan offered kindly.

"Um, NO?!" Piper gawked at him incredulously. "Are you crazy?!"

"Unfortunately, that doesn't sound crazy enough," Ephialtes said apologetically. "You see, my boy, I am the anti-Dionysus. I have a reputation to uphold. Dionysus thinks he knows parties? He's wrong! His revels are tame compared to what I can do. That old stunt we pulled, for instance, when we piled up mountains for Olympus—"

"—I told you that would never work," Otis muttered.

"And the time my brother covered himself with meat and ran through an obstacle course of drakons—"

"—You said Hephaestus-TV would show it during prime time," Otis said. "No one even saw me."

"Well, this spectacle will be even better," Ephialtes promised. "The Romans always wanted bread and circuses—food and entertainment! As we destroy their city, I will offer them both. Behold, a sample!"

Something dropped from the ceiling and landed at their feet: a loaf of sandwich bread in a white plastic wrapper with red and yellow dots.

Percy picked it up. "Wonder bread?"

"Magnificent, isn't it?" Ephialtes' eyes danced with crazy excitement. "You can keep that loaf. I plan on distributing millions to the people of Rome as I obliterate them."

"Wonder bread is good," Otis admitted. "Though the Romans should dance for it."

At this point, Nico was finally starting to move. And by that, she meant he was starting to move his fingers a little bit. Unfortunately, it didn't look like he would be crawling away to safety any time soon.

No matter. They still needed to gather as much information about Annabeth's state, so they kept the conversation going.

"Maybe," Percy ventured. "You should bring our other friends here. You know, spectacular deaths... the more the merrier, right?"

"Hmm." Ephialtes fiddled with a button on his Hawaiian shirt. "No. It's really too late to change the choreography. But never fear. The circuses will be marvelous! Ah... not the modern sort of circus, mind you. That would require clowns, and I hate clowns."

"Everyone hates clowns," Otis said. "Even other clowns hate clowns."

"You should kill Piper first then," Ethan said bluntly. "She's the biggest clown I know."

"Seriously?!" She glared at him.

"Oh don't worry, we'll be killing her later along with your other friends," he assured him. "But we have much better entertainment planned! The three of you will die in agony, up above, where all the gods and mortals can watch. But that's just the opening ceremony! In the old days, games went on for days or weeks. Our spectacle—the destruction of Rome—will go on for one full month until Gaea awakens."

"Wait," Jason said. "One month, and Gaea wakes up?"

Ephialtes waved away the question. "Yes, yes. Something about August First being the best date to destroy all humanity. Not important! In her infinite wisdom, the Earth Mother has agreed that Rome can be destroyed first, slowly and spectacularly. It's only fitting!"

"Can you at least leave Venice alone?" Esmerelda requested. "It was my old home."

"Hmmm... I'll have to ask Gaea first," Ephialtes told her.

"So..." Percy began, looking a little ridiculous talking about the end of the world with a loaf of Wonder bread in his hand. "You're Gaea's warm-up act."

Ephialtes' face darkened. "This is no warm-up, demigod! We'll release wild animals and monsters into the streets. Our special effects department will produce fires and earthquakes. Sinkholes and volcanoes will appear randomly out of nowhere! Ghosts will run rampant."

"The ghost thing won't work," Otis said. "Our focus groups say it won't pull ratings."

"Doubters!" Ephialtes said. "This hypogeum can make anything work!"

Ephialtes stormed over to a big table covered with a sheet. He pulled the sheet away, revealing a collection of levers and knobs almost as complicated-looking as Leo's control panel on the Argo II.

"This button?" Ephialtes said. "This one will eject a dozen rabid wolves into the Forum. And this one will summon automaton gladiators to battle tourists at the Trevi Fountain. This one will cause the Tiber to flood its banks so we can reenact a naval battle right in the Piazza Navona! Percy Jackson, you should appreciate that, as a son of Poseidon!"

"Uh... I still think the letting us go idea is better," Percy said.

"He's right," Piper tried. "Otherwise we get into this whole confrontation thing. We fight you. You fight us. We wreck your plans. You know, we've defeated a lot of giants lately. I'd hate for things to get out of control."

Ephialtes nodded thoughtfully. "You're right."

Piper blinked. "I am?"

"We can't let things get out of control," the giant agreed. "Everything has to be timed perfectly. But don't worry. I've choreographed your deaths. You'll love it."

Nico started to crawl away, groaning. Esmerelda grimaced. She wanted him to move faster and groan less.

Jason switched his sword hand. "And if we refuse to cooperate with your spectacle?"

"Well, you can't kill us." Ephialtes laughed, as if the idea was ridiculous. "You have no gods with you, and that's the only way you could hope to triumph. So really, it would be much more sensible to die painfully. Sorry, but the show must go on."

Esmerelda could tell that this was the end of the conversation now. After this, these guys were going to kill her friends and son, and have her and Ethan watch.

Percy looked at his friends. "I'm getting tired of this guy's shit."

"Good," she said. "So am I."

And then she let out a cry, lobbing Nico's sword at him. Percy, Jason, and Piper stared at her crazily. They didn't seem to think throwing a tiny little sword at a giant would do much good, but then the sword grew ten times bigger in mid-air and impaled itself through Ephialtes' face.

Otis let out the highest shriek known to man. "EPHIE, YOU HAVE A SWORD IN YOUR FACE!"

Ephialtes couldn't speak since the sword grew large enough to pierce through his mouth as well. Sand was spilling down from the huge wound, and Ethan used Otis' distracted state to go after him next.

He whipped at Otis' head with the whip, grabbing at one of his locks and used it to propel himself forward to stab him in the eye.

Percy looked at Piper and Jason.

"We can't let them have all the spotlight, right?"

Jason grinned. "Let's do this."

╞═════𖠁𐂃𖠁═════╡

The only reason Ephialtes and Otis were still alive now was because of that stupid fucking rule that they would be indestructible unless a god and demigod were working together. Without it, Esmerelda and Ethan would've killed them thirteen times now (and yes, they were keeping count).

As for Percy, Jason, and Piper... well, they were catching up. Piper, not so much, but Esmerelda was too busy telekinetically force-feeding a saw blade into Ephialtes' mouth and letting it tear him apart from the inside to pay attention to whatever the hell she was doing.

Jason and Ethan were working together to kill Otis and Percy was pelting a hydra with Wonder bread after accidentally letting it loose in order to keep it from being released in Rome.

"Jason!" Esmerelda called out to him. "Deal with Ephialtes for me! I need to check up on Nico!"

"You got it!"

He left Ethan to settle with Otis and hurried over to her. Behind him, Otis aimed his spear at his back. She opened her mouth to shout 'watch out!', but Jason had fast reflexes. As Otis threw, Jason rolled. The point sailed over him and Jason flicked his hand, summoning a gust of wind that changed the spear's direction. It flew across the room and skewered Ephialtes through his side just as he was getting to his feet.

"Otis!" Ephialtes stumbled away from his control board, clutching the spear as he began to crumble into monster dust. "Will you please stop killing me!"

"Not my fault!"

Otis had barely finished speaking when Percy's missile-launching contraption spit out one last sphere of Roman candle fire. The fiery pink ball of death hit the ceiling above Otis and exploded in a beautiful shower of light. Colorful sparks pirouetted gracefully around the giant. Then a ten-foot section of roof collapsed and crushed him flat.

While that was happening, Esmerelda already reached her son's side. She helped drag him to the farthest end of the room to safety and had him lean against the wall.

"What... what is going on...?" He murmured, blinking. He kept looking around him in bewilderment as if just realizing he was missing a battle.

"Nico?" She gingerly cupped his face and had him look at her. Thankfully, he didn't look like he was suffering from any injuries other than nearly dying from suffocation.

"...Mom..." He murmured, his eyes beginning to water once he registered her face.

She almost cried tears of relief when she saw it. For a second, she had genuinely been expecting him to lash out at her or push her away like in her dream.

"Oh Nico...!" She enveloped him in a hug, feeling little tears spill down her face. "You're safe now. You're gonna be okay. Thank gods... We were so close to running out of time, I thought..."

"I thought they killed you," he said shakily, burrowing his face against her neck. She could feel his wet tears fall down her skin. "I heard them on the plane—they said they moved you and Ethan to the sacrificial site. I didn't sense anything, but I thought they killed you guys while I was still knocked out or—"

"—We hijacked the plane we were on," she grinned slightly, running her hand through his hair in a comforting manner. "Ethan and I are very much alive."

"Ethan's here?" He perked up, lifting his head and scanned the battle ground for him.

They spotted Ethan battling against a reforming Otis. He cut that short by taking a grenade from the ground and throwing it at him. It went off with a loud BOOM! that sent Otis flying off his feet.

"I should help them out," Esmerelda murmured, noticing the other giant advance on him. "Here, Nico. You should take your sword back."

She placed it beside him, knowing he was too weak to hold it for now. She still didn't feel comfortable leaving him alone though...

In the corner of her eyes, she spotted Piper and called her over.

"What?" Piper huffed when she got there, breathing heavily.

"You're going to watch over him," she ordered.

"I don't need a babysitter," Nico grumbled.

"You can barely sit up straight," she chided, looking back at Piper. "Stay here and watch over him, alright? Make yourself useful for once."

She ignored the disbelieving look on the girl's face and pecked her son on the forehead. "I'll be right back."

And then after that, she finally rejoined the battle.

As she ran forward, she spotted a whole stack of flyers on a nearby desk that read 'THE BIG F AND OTIS: GREATEST SHOW IN THE WORLD'.

She flicked a hand over to it and cast the oppugno jinx, causing the flyers to burst to life and fly around the room as if they were possessed. They swarmed around Ephialtes, smacking him in the face and covering his eyes as he tried to swat them like they were mosquitos.

"Otis help me!" He grunted, waving his arms around like crazy.

"Okay!" Otis cried out. He tried to take a step forward, but a whole wad of flyers smacked him on the face so hard that he began to stumble back. Ethan kicked one of the fallen cages behind his feet and he toppled over it, falling to the ground with a loud SLAM! Ethan used the chance to jump over him and stab him in the heart. He burst into a poof of sand for the twentieth time in a row.

"YOU IDIOT!" Ephialtes roared.

"Percy!" Jason shouted. "The controls!"

Percy unfroze. He uncapped his sword, and lunged for the switchboard. He slashed his blade across the top, decapitating the controls in a shower of bronze sparks.

"No!" Ephialtes wailed. "You've ruined the spectacle!"

Percy turned too slowly. Ephialtes swung his spear like a bat and smacked him across the chest. Esmerelda Mist traveled behind him to grab him in time before he could hit splat against the wall.

At the sound of her pained grunt, Ethan turned to her and started rushing her way with Jason following suit. Otis, now fully reformed, lumbered after them.

"Are you okay?" Esmerelda whispered.

"Fine," Percy panted. "How's Nico?"

"He's okay. I had Piper stay with hi—" Her voice died out. Nico was sitting against the wall, barely conscious. Piper was several feet away from him for some odd reason over by the dais. She was laying on the floor, unable to get up.

"Never mind," she said quickly, her heart racing. She had no idea what had happened, but this wasn't good.

Jason and Ethan reached them. They looked okay too, but she could see the exhaustion in their faces.

She bit her lip. As fun as it was repeatedly killing these assholes in creative ways, she knew they would tire out eventually. They needed a god's help. The giants could just heal and get stronger with every kill.

Ephialtes smiled apologetically. "Tired? As I said, you cannot kill us. So I guess we're at an impasse. Oh, wait... no we're not! Because we can kill you!"

"That," Otis grumbled, picking up his fallen spear. "Is the first sensible thing you've said all day, brother."

The giants pointed their weapons, ready to turn them into a demigod-kabob. Well, they were ready to turn Percy and Jason into demigod-kabobs. Esmerelda and Ethan would be spared since they were supposed to be sacrificed to the Earth Mother which probably wasn't any better.

"We won't give up," Jason growled. "We'll cut you into pieces like Jupiter did to Saturn."

"That's right," Percy said. "You're both dead. I don't care if we have a god on our side or not."

"Well, that's a shame," said a new voice.

To their right, another platform lowered from the ceiling. Leaning casually on a pinecone-topped staff was a man in a purple camp shirt, khaki shorts, and sandals with white socks.

He raised his broad-brimmed hat, and purple fire flickered in his eyes. "I'd hate to think I made a special trip for nothing."

It was just like Mr. D to arrive when people needed him most.

Everything suddenly got dramatically quiet at his entrance. The machines ground to a halt. The wild animals stopped growling.

The two leopards paced over and butted their heads affectionately against the god's legs. Mr. D scratched their ears.

"Really, Ephialtes," he chided. "Killing demigods is one thing. But using leopards for your spectacle? That's over the line."

The giant made a squeaking sound. "This—this is impossible. D-D—"

"—It's Bacchus, actually, my old friend," said the god. "And of course it's possible. Someone told me there was a party going on."

Oh, Esmerelda thought. This was Bacchus. She had never met the Roman version of Mr. D before but now that she was thinking of it, she could see the clear difference. While Mr. D was grumpy and miserable looking, Bacchus was a leaner and meaner version of him. He had longer hair, more spring in his step, and a lot more anger in his eyes. He even managed to make a pinecone on a stick look intimidating.

Ephialtes' spear quivered. "You—you gods are doomed! Be gone, in the name of Gaea!"

"Hmm." Bacchus sounded unimpressed. He strolled through the ruined props, platforms, and special effects.

"Tacky." He waved his hand at a painted wooden gladiator, then turned to a machine that looked like an oversized rolling pin studded with knives. "Cheap. Boring. And this..." He inspected the rocket-launching contraption, which was still smoking. "Tacky, cheap, and boring. Honestly, Ephialtes. You have no sense of style."

"STYLE?" The giant's face flushed. "I have mountains of style. I define style. I—I—"

"—My brother oozes style," Otis suggested.

"Thank you!" Ephialtes cried.

Bacchus stepped forward, and the giants stumbled back. "Have you two gotten shorter?"

"Oh, that's low," Ephialtes growled. "I'm quite tall enough to destroy you, Bacchus! You gods, always hiding behind your mortal heroes, trusting the fate of Olympus to the likes of these."

He sneered at the kids.

Jason hefted his sword. "Lord Bacchus, are we going to kill these giants or what?"

"Well, I certainly hope so," Bacchus said. "Please, carry on."

Ethan rolled his eye. "I knew he wasn't going to help us. Let me guess, he wants us to entertain him first?"

Bacchus smiled thinly. "Exactly that, my boy."

Ethan shuddered at being called 'my boy' by Roman!Mr. D.

"It's like he said," Bacchus continued, looking at the stunned demigods. "You've got my attention so here I am. Now I need to see if you're worthy of my help. Go ahead. Battle. If I'm impressed, I'll jump in for the grand finale."

"We killed them over twenty times though," Esmerelda pointed out, a little desperate. "What do you consider 'impressive' after all that?"

"Ah, a good question..." Bacchus tapped his thyrsus. Then he smiled. "Perhaps you need inspiration! The stage hasn't been properly set. You call this a spectacle, Ephialtes? Let me show you how it's done."

The god dissolved into purple mist. Piper and Nico disappeared along with him.

"Nico!" Esmerelda gasped. "Mr. D, you—!"

Before she could finish her curse, the entire floor rumbled and began to rise. The ceiling opened in a series of panels. Sunlight poured in. The air shimmered like a mirage, and she heard the roar of a crowd above them.

The hypogeum ascended through a forest of weathered stone columns, into the middle of a ruined coliseum.

Her jaw dropped. "Oh shit."

The other demigods shared the sentiment, gawking at the scene.

This whole time, the hypogeum was underneath the Colosseum. Like, the Colosseum of Rome.

The giants' special effects machines had gone into overtime, laying planks across ruined support beams so the arena had a proper floor again. The bleachers repaired themselves until they were gleaming white. A giant red-and-gold canopy extended overhead to provide shade from the afternoon sun. The emperor's box was draped with silk, flanked by banners and golden eagles. The roar of applause came from thousands of shimmering purple ghosts, the Lares of Rome brought back for an encore performance.

Vents opened on the floor and sprayed sand across the arena. Huge props sprang up—garage-size mountains of plaster, stone columns, and (for some reason) life-size plastic barnyard animals. A small lake appeared to one side. Ditches crisscrossed the arena floor in case anyone was in the mood for trench warfare.

Esmerelda, Ethan, Percy, and Jason stood at the very center of it all, facing against the twin giants.

"This is a proper show!" Bacchus boomed.

He was all the way in the emperor's box wearing purple robes and golden laurels. At his left sat Nico and Piper, her shoulder being tended by a nymph in a nurse's uniform. At Bacchus's right crouched a satyr, offering up Doritos and grapes. The god raised a can of Diet Pepsi and the crowd went respectfully quiet.

Percy glared up at him. "You're just going to sit there?"

"The demigod is right!" Ephialtes bellowed. "Fight us yourself, coward! Um, without the demigods."

Bacchus smiled lazily. "Juno says she's assembled a worthy crew of demigods. Show me. Entertain me, heroes of Olympus. Give me a reason to do more. Being a god has its privileges."

He popped his soda can top, and the crowd cheered.

╞═════𖠁𐂃𖠁═════╡

If a show was what Bacchus wanted, then a show was what he was going to get. Esmerelda was good at dramatics (according to her boyfriend) and, as an added bonus, she apparently came from a long line of drama queens.

While the giants were busy throwing fake mountains the size of New York apartment buildings at them, Esmerelda was blasting each projectile with bombarda while also pelting them back with the rubble, using the Mist to make it look like it was leaving a trail of sparkles rather than dust just for special effects reason. In a way, it kind of looked like shooting stars, which she hoped Bacchus would appreciate.

The crowd certainly was. The Lares were applauding the glitter show and seeing the uneaten refreshments on their lap, Esmerelda got an idea.

"IF YOU WANT TO SEE MORE," she began, her sonorus-enhanced voice laced with charmspeak. "MAKE SURE TO SHOW YOUR SUPPORT!"

"ES-SIE! ES-SIE! ES-SIE!" The crowd cheered her name. They got up on their feet and started excitedly throwing random tomatoes at the giants. One Lare even threw a shoe.

The tomato treatment definitely did enough to damper the giants' spirits.

Ephialtes was wailing. "NOOO! Stop it! Stop it! These aren't even impress—MMPHARGHH!" While he was talking, Esmerelda used this chance to telekinetically shove a broken part of a fake mountain into his mouth, garnering more peals of laughter from the audience.

"Good news," Ethan said beside her. "Everyone loves you. Bad news, Bacchus still isn't getting up his ass to help us."

"We attack together," Jason strategized. "Percy and I will deal with Otis, you guys deal with Ephialtes. We should keep them nice and still for Bacchus to do the final move."

"Alright," Ethan cracked his whip on the ground. He looked at Esmerelda. "You knock him down and I tie him up?"

She nodded. "Got it."

Jason and Percy finished strategizing as well and looked at the other pair.

"On three?" Jason asked.

"Why wait?" Percy grinned.

The two pairs split up. Percy and Jason were trying to lead Otis to the lake, while Esmerelda and Ethan headed for Ephialtes.

Taking Ephialtes down wasn't as easy as they hoped it would be.

Last time they had been able to kill him about twenty times, but now the guy was so desperate not to lose and humiliate himself that it somehow made him harder to beat. He just went nuts in the Colosseum. He was kicking mountains their way one second, then the plastic barnyard animals were raining over their heads the next.

He was just grabbing whatever he could get his grubby hands on and lobbing it at them so fast Esmerelda could barely deflect or blast them back.

And then Ephialtes got his hands on the stone columns.

"Take this!" He cried out, raising it over his head and slamming it down.

Ethan tackled Esmerelda out of the way, saving her from becoming a squashed demigod.

The stone column struck the ground so hard that it was like an earthquake rocked the Colosseum. The ground was dented and the stone column shattered into pieces.

Esmerelda thought that would be the end of it until he picked up another one, and that was when she realized that Bacchus basically created an almost endless supply of stone columns for Ephialtes to play whack-a-mole with.

"Hahahaha!" Ephialtes ran towards them, another column raised high. "I've got you now!"

There was no time for any of them to move. Esmerelda grabbed her boyfriend tightly and Mist traveled just in time to avoid getting crushed. They teleported just a few feet away, and the earthquake that came afterwards caused her to stumble.

Ethan caught her, but Ephialtes made it to them with yet another column. He swung it at them like a bat, but Esmerelda Mist traveled away.

"He's gone fucking crazy!" Ethan spat.

"I'm taking those columns away," Esmerelda panted. She shot a hand out, "Deletrius!"

Little green sparks of light seeped from her palm. It soared around the Colosseum like fireflies, eating up the stone columns until there was nothing left of it save for one that she was planning to use.

Ephialtes gasped (a little dramatically). "You evil bitch!"

"Don't call my girlfriend that!" Ethan snapped. He lashed his whip at the giant's toes, and Ephialtes did a panicked little dance as he flinched in pain. "Essie, now's the time for some magic!"

"Right," she panted with exhaustion.

She stretched her arm out, the last stone column glowing green before rising up into the air.

"I haven't played baseball in years," she grinned eagerly before swinging her arm, the column following her movement. It swung itself at the back of Ephialtes' head with enough force to get him to see stars.

Ethan quickly used his whip to grab the giant by the hair, and with one mighty pull, Ephialtes started to fall forward.

The bigger you are, the harder you fall, Esmerelda couldn't help but think as he crashed face-first into the ground, causing the earth to tremble. Even though a huge cloud of dust and sand surrounded them, she and Ethan still worked together to tie the giant up with the whip.

In the end, Ephialtes ended up in an embarrassing position: his wrists and ankles yanked behind him and tied up together by a single whip.

"Nice!" She heard Jason compliment them from behind. They had just finished dealing with Otis too.

Percy was grinning at them victoriously. "You guys did—wait a second," he paused, gawking at the position the giant was tied up in. His face turned a furious shade of scarlet. "Ethan, what the fuck sort of BDSM shit did you channel into this fight?"

Ethan looked like he had just been accused of adultery. "Wha—I didn't—what are you talking about?!"

Percy pointed at Ephialtes. "Dude, that is totally BDSM."

Jason looked to Esmerelda in confusion. "What's BDSM?"

"I dunno," she shrugged.

"We aren't talking about this," Ethan huffed impatiently before glaring up at Bacchus, ending his and Percy's conversation.

"Alright," he yelled out, his voice almost drowned by the sea of cheers coming from the audience. "We did what you want, so—oh shit..."

A large shadow was cast over the Colosseum. When he looked up, all he could see was a shape in the sky above the Colosseum—a large dark oval descending rapidly.

From the lake, Otis yelled, but his half-dissolved face could only manage: "Uh-umh-moooo!"

"EVERYONE GET DOWN!" Ethan shouted.

He grabbed Esmerelda and dragged her down into a trench, and Percy did the same with Jason.

An explosion rocked the Colosseum, larger than anything the mini earthquakes could make.

When they climbed out again, the Argo II was coming in for a landing. Jason poked his head out from behind his improvised bomb shelter of a plastic horse.

"Whoa," Esmerelda marveled at the chaos.

Ephialtes lay charred and groaning on the arena floor, the sand around him seared into a halo of glass by the heat of the Greek fire. Otis was floundering in the lake, trying to reform, but from the arms down he looked like a puddle of burnt oatmeal.

The ghostly crowd gave them a standing ovation as the Argo II extended its landing gear and settled on the arena floor. Leo stood at the helm, Hazel and Frank grinning at his side. Coach Hedge danced around the firing platform, pumping his fist in the air and yelling, "That's what I'm talking about!"

Percy turned to the emperor's box.

"Well?" He yelled at Bacchus. "Was that entertaining enough for you, you wine-breathed little—"

"—No need for that." Suddenly the god was standing right next to him in the arena. He brushed Dorito dust off his purple robes. "I have decided you are worthy partners for this combat."

"Partners?" Jason growled. "You did nothing!"

Ethan gave him a nod of approval. He was glad the guy was beginning to see that the gods weren't shit.

Bacchus walked to the edge of the lake. The water instantly drained, leaving an Otis-headed pile of mush. Bacchus picked his way to the bottom and looked up at the crowd. He raised his thyrsus.

The crowd jeered and hollered and pointed their thumbs down. Esmerelda remembered seeing the crowd back at Antaeus' arena do the same thing, indicating that they wanted the losers to die.

Bacchus lived to please his audience. He smacked Otis's head with his pinecone staff, and the giant pile of Otismeal disintegrated completely.

The crowd went wild. Bacchus climbed out of the lake and strutted over to Ephialtes, who was still lying spread-eagled, overcooked and smoking.

Again, Bacchus raised his thyrsus.

"DO IT!" The crowd roared.

"DON'T DO IT!" Ephialtes wailed.

Bacchus tapped the giant on the nose, and Ephialtes crumbled to ashes. Ethan's whip fell to the ground, no longer of use. Esmerelda summoned it back to her and handed it to Ethan who pecked her on the cheek for it.

The ghosts cheered and threw spectral confetti as Bacchus strode around the stadium with his arms raised triumphantly, exulting in the worship. He grinned at the demigods. "That, my friends, is a show! And of course I did something. I killed two giants!"

As their friends disembarked from the ship, the crowd of ghosts shimmered and disappeared. Piper and Nico struggled down from the emperor's box as the Colosseum's magical renovations began to turn into mist. The arena floor remained solid, but otherwise the stadium looked as if it hadn't hosted a good giant killing for eons.

"Well," Bacchus said. "That was fun. You have my permission to continue your voyage."

"Your permission?" Percy snarled.

"Yes." Bacchus raised an eyebrow. "Although your voyage may be a little harder than you expect, son of Neptune."

"Poseidon," Percy corrected him automatically. "What do you mean about my voyage?"

"You might try the parking lot behind the Emmanuel Building," Bacchus said. "Best place to break through. Now, goodbye, my friends. And, ah, good luck with that other little matter."

The god vaporized in a cloud of mist that smelled faintly of grape juice.

Ethan and Esmerelda didn't hesitate to rush up to Nico after that. They pretty much ignored Piper, who was wincing about her shoulder, and swooped the younger boy into a bone crushing hug.

"Oh my fucking gods, you gave us a heart attack!" Ethan said in one breath.

"Are you really hugging me?!" Nico choked on his spit.

"Shut up," Ethan grumbled, squeezing him tighter as punishment.

"Oh leave him be," Esmerelda chided, tapping his arm. "And Ethan, let go, we're both going to suffocate!"

"Sorry," he let them go.

"And you're apologizing..." Nico stared at them dazedly, as if he was wondering if he was just imagining this all up. "Am I dying? Is that what's going on? Is this just a hallucination or—"

"—You sure are mouthy for a dying brat," Ethan scowled at him.

"Don't joke about your death like that!" Esmerelda cried out. "We were really scared for you!"

Nico looked at Ethan skeptically. "Even you?"

He rolled his eye. "Yes, even me," he admitted.

Nico stayed quiet for a while, but his chin was wobbling and his eyes were beginning to water. Ethan heaved out a sigh as if he was saying 'ugh emotions are so annoying' before yanking the younger boy into a more gentle hug.

Esmerelda could hear him sobbing quietly against Ethan's shirt.

He patted Nico's back awkwardly. "We're never talking about this again, got it?"

"Agreed," Nico nodded, his voice muffled.

Suddenly the floor shook and three of them nearly lost balance. The wooden planks began to disappear, spilling sand into the pits of the hypogeum below.

"Guys!" Hazel called out to them. "We need to go!"

Ethan cursed as he pulled away from the hug. Rather than helping Nico down the rest of the Colosseum steps, he tossed the kid over the shoulder like a sack of emo potatoes.

"Oh, you asshole!" Nico growled.

"Let's go," Ethan said to Esmerelda, and the two of them hurried for the ship. 

— author's note —

I was surprised at how useless Rick basically made Piper during this scene. She really didn't do anything at all except sass the giants, run around a lil, get hit, break her shoulder, and then disappear in a poof when the final battle against Ephie and Otis began 😂😂

Also, I remember in Autumn's rant about how in Piper's wiki, it described her as being suuuuper close friends with Nico just because she "saved him"??? And by save him, literally all she did WAS HELP HIM STAND UP BUT SHE GOT HER ASS KICKED A SECOND LATER. 😂😂😂 They're trying so hard to make her likable by writing BS about how all these other beloved characters like her so you should like her too. And the funniest thing is that NICO DOESN'T EVEN THINK ABOUT HER DURING HIS POVS! THEY DON'T EVEN TALK YET THEY'RE APPARENTLY BESTIES 😂

Is it Rick who writes the wikis? Whoever it is, I gotta commend them cuz they're really trying their hardest to make that bitch likable 💀

My readers when Nico, Essie, and Ethan FINALLY reunited:

Essie to Piper: Make yourself useful for once

My readers rejoicing at the fact that Essie FINALLY stopped being nice to Piper:

Fanart for the oneshot made by espielouloudi 💖: