AN: Hello, internet! I'm pretty new here, so please heap on as much constructive criticism as you can! (Note the constructive part.) If you enjoy Solangelo, nutty sort-of prophecies, and Apollo, keep reading! I'm probably going to continue uploading every two weeks, as I'm kind of a slow writer.

**Running extremely fast** I'm so sorry I missed the Friday update day! I lost track of time from all my classes, and I'm waay behind on everything! I swear I won't fail you again!

Disclaimer: All characters, settings, and gods belong to Rick Riordan, except for any mentioned OCs. I am not Rick Riordan, and therefore do not own this story. I do, however, get the plot, as it is going to be exceptionally bad-ass.

Chapter warning: This chapter, stuff happens. It's gonna get graphic. Just so you know.

Will Solace and the Oracle's Cry

In Will's opinion, until they hit the storm spirits and crash-landed on the bank of the Missouri River, things were going great. The pegasi and Nico were only slightly creeped out by each other, Nico was only slightly grumpy at the prospect of flying across several states, and Will finally got to drive the flying chariot for the first time since Annabeth and Butch crashed it bringing Jason, Piper, and Leo to camp nearly a whole year ago.

There were a few incidents involving skeleton birds and once, something that smelled like a cheese demon, being chased by a gryphon, but other than that, it was actually very calm. You know, for a demigod on a quest flying a 200 mph- plus chariot. The chariot was so fast, Will still had whiplash ten minutes into flight.

Of course, that meant that both Will and Nico's demigod sensors were on overdrive.

"Where...?" Nico started to ask, but stopped, seemingly changing his mind. Remembering what Chiron said about karma, Will forced himself not to finish the question in his mind.

Concentrate on the driving, Will reminded himself, as they nearly flew into the face of a mountain.

Then, only a few minutes later, as they crossed the border into Illinois, the wind picked up violently. The chariot pitched wildly, pegasi screaming. The sky seemed to disappear under a sudden haze of stormy cloud cover, and the temperature dropped so fast, frost formed on Will's knuckles.

Will pitched forward in surprise and almost dropped the reins. "Gods darn it!" he yelled. "Every time!"

Nico yelped and grabbed on to the side of the chariot, yelling something that sounded derogatory toward horses in Italian. "My hands!" he shouted, and, fingers steaming from the biting wind, he lurched and grabbed onto Will's backpack.

Dark creatures, too incorporeal to see clearly, rushed past them. Anemoi thuellai, Will thought. Evil storm spirits, with bad memories involving the chariot they were riding. They were booking it faster than the two nymphs he'd once seen being chased by some very persistent satyrs.

Then he didn't think too much of anything, because the wind proved too strong for the pegasi, and the chariot plunged downwards.

"Gaaaaah!" he screamed. The ground neared rapidly.

Just as Will was certain he was going to become demigod food for the storm spirits, the pegasi flared their wings. The chariot managed to glide, still jerky, to a controlled stop. The storm spirits were long gone. They were alive.

Will shakily climbed out of the chariot and looked around. Only yards away was what looked like a giant X made of water, like a surgery cut he'd once had to perform on Lauren Winters.

Will tried to remember his geography lessons from Annabeth. Two rivers intersecting in Illinois- well, he was pretty sure they were still in Illinois...

Then he noticed the more gruesome details.

He looked down and noticed something that looked like a severed arm, only about double the size, dry and leathery, and dull green. There were bits and pieces of dead monster everywhere, now that Will looked-almost as many as the battle that had taken place two months ago against Gaea's monsters.

Gumpi whinnied nervously, shaking her mane, and Scarecrow pranced skittishly, eyeing some scattered bones like they were going to animate and attack her.

Will turned to tell Nico that he was going to check up on the pegasi, but stopped. Nico was bent over, clutching his side and retching.

"Nico!" Will yelped, and rushed to his side.

Nico shakily straightened, grimacing. His face was pale and clammy, but it lessened as Will force-fed him a square of ambrosia. After a minute, he shoved himself and Will apart and said flatly, "I hate falling out of the sky."

"You do that a lot?"

"At least once a year. Congratulations, I think this is the roughest one yet, and I've crashed into the Big Lake on your dad's car before."

Will snorted. "You're a real toss-up, Nico."

Nico frowned. "What does that mean?"

"I have no idea, but it sounds about right."

Nico looked around and took in their landing spot. "Whoa," he muttered. "Something big went down here. Where are we, anyway?"

Will shrugged. "Illinois, I think. I'm not sure. Those wind spirits really blew us off course." He looked out at the field of carnage, and an unsettled knot formed in his stomach. "Do you have any idea what happened here?"

"I was hoping you knew," Nico replied. "It must have happened pretty recently, considering all the... monster parts lying around." His brow furrowed. "Something's not right-"

"Demigods!" An angry, growling voice thundered. "You did this to my brethen!"

Will turned and pulled his bow and an arrow out. Next to him, Nico raised his sword. Shadows began to form at his feet.

A group of monsters across the river to their left charged them, rushing into the river and swimming like pros. Will recognized them from the battle: Earthborn, six-armed monsters that were the children of Gaea. Those extra arms must help their swimming, because they cut swiftly through the water.

Nico cursed in Greek, Latin, and Italian. "I thought those things all died out with their mother!"

The leading Earthborn, a hulking, brown-stained mass of pure muscle, lifted his head and yelled, "You wait right there, godly spawn! I am Roque, and I will destroy you! The Straits are protected by ME!"

Will lifted his bow and shot. The arrow went wide, hitting the water. The monsters laughed mockingly. Will groaned and drew a second arrow. This time, he hit Roque in his second arm. For most of the monsters he had faced so far, that would have been enough to turn him into dust. The Earthborn, though, simply used one of his other arms to yank the arrow out.

"Nice try, demigod," Roque growled.

Nico yelled, "You're as slow as a rock, Roque. We'll shoot you all down before you reach... this side?" His voice wavered off into a question, his eyes widening in surprise. The Earthborn had already crossed the river.

Nico hissed, "How did they get here so fast?"

Will could only shrug. He shot a few more arrows in rapid succession. He managed to give Roque two more toothpicks in his side, and one arrow bounced off the chest of another monster behind him. The last two landed harmlessly in the river.

As they took a few steps back, Nico began bluffing. "You won't be able to defeat us! I am the son of Hades, and we already decimated your brothers!"

Will glanced over. "Um, we didn't-"

Nico shot him a glare. "Just go with it," he whispered. To the Earthborn, he continued, "What makes you think your tiny group can defeat two demigods who helped defeat Gaea herself?"

Roque somehow got even bigger and angrier. "WE GOT FIFTEEN OF THE BIGGEST AND TOUGHEST EARTHBORN, HARDER THAN STONE, BLESSED BY THE EARTH MOTHER! WE'LL CRUSH YOU LIKE ANTS AND TAKE YOU BACK TO THE SNAKE DRAGON TO FEAST ON!"

Will shouldn't have been as shocked as he was. Suddenly, he knew why there was an army randomly standing on the shores of the rivers, though why they were all dead was still a mystery.

"You stood guard on the straits of Corinth," Will said. "You were supposed to be a trap for the Argo II." He did some mental-mapmaking. What river went from North Dakota to Illinois?

"We're on the Missouri River," Nico said. "Probably the Missouri-Mississippi Confluence." Will glanced at him in surprise. "What?" Nico asked. "I spend a lot of time around rivers."

Roque grunted. "WE ARE MOTHER'S BEST FORCES! WE ALONE SURVIVED HER DOWNFALL, AND WE WILL CARRY OUT HER FINAL MISSION, STRANGE UPRISINGS OR NOT!"

Nico looked confident as he held his sword, ready to destroy the monsters. Will had no doubt that Nico could handle those monsters. After all, he had been to Rome and back, and, if the rumors were true, had even managed to survive a trip to Tartarus.

Just as they prepared to charge, though, something happened.

A wave of depression swept over Will, filling him with intense sadness and hopelessness. Who cares if they were going to die thirty minutes into their quest? The world would be better off without doomsday prophecies causing world wars, anyway. What would Camp Half-Blood remember Will Solace as? The foolish boy who died on a quest after the war was won? The nobody who failed at being a somebody?

Will never thought he would have suicidal thoughts, until now. Would it be so hard to just choke himself to death? The river was right in front of him. He could just run and throw himself in. Nobody would care. Will certainly didn't. His eyes clouded over and his insides revolted, leaving him more miserable than a rotten egg in a microwave. He sunk to his knees.

Will didn't know why he cared, but something compelled him to look up. And stare in abject horroer, because what he was feeling paled in comparison to what was happening to the monsters, now only feet away.

The Earthborn stuffed their fingers into their own eyes, crying out for mercy. One of them lifted his club and started hitting himself on the head with the butt of it.

But the worst of it was happening to the Earthborn leader, Roque. Growing around him was a plant that, somewhere in Will's medical mind, he recognized as a manchineel tree. It twisted around the Earthborn's body, growing at a super-sped up pace. Wherever it touched the leader's body, huge, greenish rashes appeared. When the monster flailed his six arms, a milky sap squirted from broken twigs, and the sap caused even larger, bloated rashes to erupt. When the sap hit his eyes, they went bloodred, then milky white, almost faster than Will could process.

Slowly, the tree dissolved Roque's very essence from him. The monster screamed out, "AVENGE ME, BROTHERS!", but it came out more like "OWWW!"

Then Will had to close his eyes, because they were stinging from poison. When he opened them again, Roque was gone. So were the other monsters. The only pieces of evidence of them ever being there were a few limbs, some clubs, and of course, the manchineel tree.

Will swallowed. His throat felt uncomfortably hot and dry, signs of inflammation. "Wh-wha?" he croaked.

Someone yelled in his ear, "WILL!"

Will blinked and looked over at Nico, who somehow didn't look shocked by the nightmarish display that had just taken place. He pointed and said, "We need to get out of here, now!"

Will looked around. A dark fog was rolling in on all sides. It hadn't reached them yet, but Will could tell they the billowing clouds were both poisonous and headed their way. He already felt sluggish- or maybe it was still shock.

"Yeah," Will agreed. "Let's get out of here."

They ran to the chariot, and Will flicked the reins, hoping the pegasi knew which river was which, because he didn't have a clue. "Follow the Missouri River!" he shouted. The pegasi didn't need to be told twice. They flew away at hyperspeed.

As they left the dust-filled field, Will's mind swirled with questions. Where had those storm spirits come from? What 'strange uprisings' was Roque talking about? And what was the thing that caused those horrible feelings of depression and killed all the Earthborn?

Reviews!

ThatAloneOne: Do I really sound professional? Amazing! I understand the pain of reading an unfinished fic, and I'm flattered that my work inspires that feeling.

Blackberry Explosion: Yep, writing a minor character (Will yelped, "Who're you calling minor?" and raised his deadly scalpel.) is really the best way to write a fanfic in my opinion. That's why Albus Potter/Next Gen fics are so popular, for those of you in the HP fandom. And writing that Aphrodite scene was the best part of that week. I laughed so much as I wrote it. Good thing Dad wasn't home at that time. And don't hesitate with the constructive criticism!

VEE: I'm glad you're satisfied with that explanation. (To be honest, I pulled that out of my but as I was writing the reviews replies.) That arrow will sure be important later in the story. (Dun dun dun... foreshadowing. [you knew that, anyways.])

LWHxExpress, Xoxo Selena, Guest, afhirfearness0423: Don't worry, I don't plan on stopping anytime soon! And thank you for your kindness.