"House of Hades (The Fictious, Fictious Version)
Mystic25
Summary: A telling of the "House of Hades." Rated M for violence and imagery.
Disclaimer: Rick Riordan owns all the said characters. No money is being made off of them. Enjoyment yes, money, no.
A/N: Wow, so I started this thing last year at this time after the "Mark of Athena", came out, which I read in three days flat. Then I abandoned this story after a few months due to writers block. Then found it again and continued it. And now am posting it a little over a week before the real "House of Hades" comes out. I made sure to get this out before then because who wants to read a fictionalized story of a fictioanized story when you could read Riordan's fiction. Confused? Because I sure am!
A/N #2: The M Rating might be a bit cautious, but I didn't want to understep (if that's a real word, which I'm sure it isn't.). So that being said, you have been warned about the content.
Lastly, I am extremely proud of this. It took a damn long time, but that's what makes it lovely to me.
Enjoy!
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"We have to go in places nobody would ever think of going into were
it not for the necessities of war."
~Joshua Chamberlain
xxxxxXxxxxxx
ANNABETH
Annabeth hated spiders. The small kind that crawled over her bedroom walls as a kid and forced her out on the run. And the evil Goddess ones as large as the Pantheon kind that threw her into Tartarus by a single piece of spider silk.
So of course, she got both kinds. She was special like that.
Thankfully, she couldn't see Archane's 'children' that had plummeted with the Goddess as she fell. But, she also couldn't see anything except a blackness that pressed in on her like she was sliding down a brick wall and was hitting every brick along the way.
The air whooshed by her hot and stale, a millennia year old stale that smelled of overripe things that rotted in the sun.
The darkness was like its own monster. It clawed at her flesh and ripped at her already tattered clothes. Her hair was pulled straight back like she was on a high velocity roller coaster ride.
"Percy!" Annabeth tried to call out Percy's name, but her voice blew away with the speed of the wind that whipped by them as they fell.
She felt his hand in hers, but it didn't ease her mind. He could be knocked out and still be gripped to her hand. He could be – oh Gods!
"Percy!" Annabeth screamed as loud as she could, and it sounded like a radio tuned into an out of range frequency.
Percy turned his head. "Annabeth!" her name came back to her garbled.
Percy's hand clawed its way up her arm with very slow movements. All around them the force of the wind acted like invisible ropes, binding their hands down to their sides.
Annabeth could barely move her arms from the pressure. How fast were they falling? 80 miles an hour? 100? At that speed, no matter what kind of surface they landed on, it would be like hitting pavement. They would break all the bones in their bodies if the fall didn't kill them instantly.
Stop thinking, STOP THINKING! Annabeth screamed to herself.
She groped blindly for Percy with her free hand. She managed to move it up in increments and finally found his shoulder and latched onto it. She felt as he fumbled for her waist and wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close against his chest.
His body somewhat buffered her from the wind. She heard his heartbeat pounding frantically against her ear.
The air grew even hotter, like hot from the oven hot.
After falling countless minutes in absolute darkness, a sudden brightness rose up to meet them.
But when Annabeth wriggled a bit from Percy and peered at the light, it did not fill her with hope.
Because it was coming from a fire, much larger and warmer than she had seen or felt before; even in the deepest part of Hephaestus Cabin forges. The entire ground below burned red hot with it. The heat roared, and even from this far up she could feel as it burned like a second degree burn on her skin. The warmth crawled up her ankle like Archane's children out for one last conquest.
Annabeth bit back a scream and tried not to claw up Percy's body like a little girl. She tried to be more warrior like and less pathetic.
But, the fire, they were headed right into it. How could she not be scared? Just because she was smart didn't mean she was any less fearful to be burned alive. Fear was an irrational response. She had read that from some philosopher. But right now all she was thinking about was throwing that guy into the burning flames of Tartarus and see how his philosophy held up after that.
When Annabeth looked at Percy she saw a shadowy version of his face. He was covered in sweat (she imaged that she was too). His hair was completely slicked back to his head; and he eyed the pit of flames with the same terror that she was.
The fire drew closer, uncomfortably closer. This time actual flames leapt at Annabeth's bubble wrap cast. And this time, she screamed as it blistered her leg. She beat at the flames on her jeans frantically with her bare hand.
"Annabeth!" Percy screamed her name and beat out the last of the flames with his own hand.
But now the fire was so close that she saw the ground where it burned from. A slick obsidian black terrain dotted with bright red rocks. Besides the rocks and the ground, there were no trees, no nothing. Because everything else was covered in flames.
Annabeth felt tears as they slid, slick and wet down her face; they evaporated in the heat moments later. She saw nothing to buffer their fall; no sign of any place absent of that orange light.
They were going to fall right into the fire.
A one way trip. A very hard fall.
This was it.
Percy seemed to sense it too.
He gathered her closer and threw his arms up over her head, shielding her with his body.
She didn't have time to argue about it. They had about 10 seconds before they reached that bottom of fire.
"I love you." Annabeth's words were muffled in Percy's shirt. She wasn't even sure if he heard her.
A tremendous blast of heat, hotter than anything she'd felt before blew up at them like a bomb.
The ground slammed into her. Her entire body blasted with pain as red hot as her ankle.
The world blacked out completely.
xxxxXxxx
The smell of sulfur hit her like a dozen rotten eggs broken all at once. She coughed and tried to roll away from the putrid smell. But it assaulted her again from the other side. Her eyes felt like they had been burned shut. She couldn't draw any air into her lungs. It felt like she had been sucker punched repeatedly with a cudgel.
Her brain felt like loose bricks. But as her senses came back to orientation, she realized that it all meant one thing: she was alive.
Her eyes finally opened; the light of the fire stabbed a headache into them like an ice pick into her skull. She coughed again, and rolled painfully on her side to gag out something sticky (please don't be blood. please don't be blood.) That little bit of movement drained her and she wanted to roll back over and pass out. But she forced herself to crawl into a sitting position.
Which made the world gray out in a shade she was sure matched her eyes. She fumbled to keep herself upright. She had fallen on a patch of the obsidian ground she had seen amidst the flames.
The fire still burned hot and dangerous around her. But except for a few bad looking burns on her forearms, and one that she felt sting the side of her face, nothing else seemed touched by the flames.
How could that be? There was no clear place to land. We should be roasted like chickens, we-Oh Gods! Annabeth realized that Percy was no longer beside her. She instantly forgot about the fire, and the pain.
"Percy!" Her voice finally carried in a repeat of echoes. But it didn't help, because she only got silence for an answer.
The ground in front of her was dotted with flames, then about five feet in front of them was an outcropping of those blood red rocks. And beside the rocks, was- something- that looked like snakes. Black snakes that slithered over the rocks.
Annabeth saw two things simultaneously that made her heart stop. The first was the distinct crown like feature on the scales of the snakes; and the other was a pair of jean covered legs that they crawled on.
"Percy!" Annabeth pushed herself up on her feet. The world tilted, and she slammed to her knees. She stood up, dizzy, and clutched her broken ankle.
Percy wasn't moving, and the basilisks whipped up a hissing frenzy at the sound of her voice. They looped themselves over his still form.
"Stop!" Annabeth had lost her dagger when , she had fought with Archane. So she grabbed one of the red rocks and hurled it as hard as she could to the black shapes.
"Leave him alone!" Her aim went high and the rock clattered into a dark abyss that was just beyond the reach of the flames.
The basilisks turned at the noise, but it didn't hold their attention for very long. They turned back to Percy's unmoving form.
Annabeth ran at a slant. The world spun like a Tilt a Whirl. She was now close enough to see Percy's face behind the rocks. It was battered and bloody on one side and one of the basilisks had coiled around his neck.
Annabeth grabbed another piece of rock. The ground by Percy's head was littered with pieces the size of baseballs, like he had smashed into them when he fell.
"I said go away!" Annabeth used all of her fear and anger into her next throw. And this time, her rock knocked one of the basilisks directly in the head.
The basilisk hissed louder and snapped at her. The other one moved off of Percy and hissed in unison with the first so they sounded like a discordant song.
Annabeth could barely stand, her legs felt like melting jello. But she grabbed another piece of rock, and stumbled in-between Percy and the basilisks.
"Try me!" Her voice was weak and sounded like she ate gravel. She had no weapons to kill these things, and even if she did, they were in Tartarus. Would killing them even work? Wouldn't they just end up here? But she didn't back down. She wasn't about to let herself or Percy be eaten.
"I mean it!" Annabeth tried her angry voice again. She drew on all her fear of Percy being unconscious behind her, of being so far away from the world above. "If you touch him again!-"
A rumble shook the entire open area.
Gaea's voice, deep and evil rose from the rocks like a voice made of earthquakes.
"Such fire child. You are indeed a worthy sacrifice. You fell willingly into Tartarus," Gaea sounded pleased. And it was an extremely terrifying sound given what she was talking about.
Another rumble that would've been an earthquake if they had been topside dropped Annabeth to her knees. The basilisks hissed, but retreated away from Percy like they had been sprayed with repellant.
"My children will not kill you Athena girl- or the boy. The blood of both of you are needed on the ancient lands. Not here in this cesspool."
The basilisks hissed again at the word 'cesspool' like Gaea had just insulted their room.
"I cannot retrieve you – but they will, and they will bring you to Greece. And I will awaken at last and put an end to this broken toy you call a world."
Annabeth's breath choked in her ears; her heartbeat was so fast and loud that it left her dizzy. Gaea seemed to sense it because another rumble shook the cave like a horrible sarcastic laugh.
"Do not worry my dear. I shall see you and Percy Jackson, very, very soon."
The basilisk were no longer near Percy. They crawled towards the darkness that Annabeth had seen behind the fire. She didn't question it. For once in her life, she didn't question something. Instead she fell in a heap beside Percy.
His eyes were closed. There were blisters on the side of his face as big as quarters; and blood coated the other side of his face, and was matted in his hair.
He was so still. He almost looked –
"Percy!" Annabeth shook him and his head moved limply like a rag dolls. She placed shaking fingers on his neck, and felt his heart beat under them. But when she placed her hand under his nose, no air came out.
"No, no – Percy!" Annabeth shook him again, trying to shock him into breathing. She pinched his nose and breathed into his mouth twice.
Percy remained motionless; no air on her hand under his nose.
"No!" Annabeth screamed. "I just got you back! You came back!" She started crying and leant over and breathed into his mouth again.
He coughed into her mouth. His breath tasted horrible.
But she didn't give a Pegasus hindquarter about bad breath; he was breathing.
"Percy-?" His name was a sob on her lips.
Percy finally opened his eyes; green and blood shot. He coughed again.
"Annabeth-?" His voice was as rough as sandpaper. "A-Are we dead yet?"
Annabeth fell onto him and sobbed.
Percy didn't do anything but hold her back.
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After 10 minutes of lying down on the black stone Percy was finally able to sit up – with Annabeth's help. He looked as woozy as she felt and as green as his eyes. (Apparently it was the theme for Tartarus that day to be the same color as your eyes.)
Percy surveyed their surroundings; the wall of flames present everywhere except where they sat. And the darkness behind them seemed to be pulling with its own gravitational force like a giant vacuum.
Annabeth tried not to look at that blackness; but it was like a car crash. Both of their eyes kept wandering towards it. It was the same kind of darkness they had just fallen through; a huge mass of black nothingness.
"Where do you think that leads?" Percy's voice still sounded like grated cheese, and his green eyes were dull like kelp left out too long in the sun.
As he stared at the hole, it was like the blackness leached the color itself from his eyes.
Annabeth stared at it with him. It was so black that it left her nauseous. "I don't know. This place is so – huge." On instinct she reached for her dagger but came up empty handed.
Percy dug into his pockets, but came up empty handed as well. His sword hadn't materialized in his pocket.
Rule Number One of Tartarus it seemed, was that demigods had to remain weaponless.
Percy's hand lowered; and closed on nothing but air. Like his battle reflexes couldn't comprehend not having a weapon to use.
He reached over and grabbed Annabeth's wrist. "Are you okay?"
Annabeth's laugh came out a bit hysterical. "Oh yeah. My ankles broken. You – you almost died- and we're stuck in Tartarus without so much as a crumb of ambrosia between us. I'm super." Her voice cracked a little more.
Percy's hand tightened on her wrist. "We're together." He spoke the same words he had when he found her with Archane. "And we're going to come out together, okay?" He reached up and cupped the side of her face.
Annabeth wanted to burrow into Percy's touch and hide. But Tartarus wasn't a place for weakness. It was place full of monsters with vendettas against demigods. And Gaea wanted to slaughter her and Percy and reawaken from her centuries old sleep to destroy the world.
She didn't have the luxury to hide. She had to act; just as soon as she found her Tartarus-walking-around legs.
"How are you feeling?" Annabeth studied Percy's face matted with so much blood. But she would take the blood to him lying motionless on the ground.
"Like I got hit by Frank in full on Elephant mode," Percy replied.
She winced in sympathy.
He eyed her critically. "What about you?"
She probed her broken ankle with one hand; and bit back a gasp from the pain it produced. "I think the fall rebroke it." A sharp pain shot up her entire leg. "No, scratch that. I know the fall rebroke it." The bubble wrap cast was charred in some places and melted to her skin in others.
Annabeth wondered how much it would hurt to peel that off, and how much skin would come away as a result. Then she stopped thinking because it made her want to throw up.
Between her and Percy they had no supplies. No water, no ambrosia. Only tattered and singed clothing.
The flames rose like flickering orange giants around them. It left them in one perfect circle of untouched ground. The sulfuric smell rose thickly in the form of mustard yellow gas from the red rocks.
It stung Annabeth's eyes and burned her throat. She coughed, which rattled her bad ankle and made her gasp in pain.
"Your ankle," Percy still had a hold of her wrist. "You have to set it." He was coughing as much as she was; the hem of his orange T-Shirt pulled up over his nose.
"Not here," Annabeth said. The sulfur and the pain of her ankle started to overwhelm her. She had to blink back enormous dark spots from in front of her eyes. "We have to move."
"Where?" Percy asked. "There's nothing but fire anywhere else!" His voice was frantic.
"It won't hurt us," Annabeth said; suddenly she was able to understand Gaea's last words:
Your blood is needed on the ancient lands, not here in this cesspool.
Gaea needed them alive. The fire wasn't going to kill them. It was a trap; a way to corner them so that the Earth Queen's Forces could over take them and haul them to Greece.
Annabeth stood up and promptly fell over again. She found her balance and tried again. She half stumbled over to where the black stone bordered the red hot flames. Sweat began to pour down her face as she stumbled head first into the fire.
"What are you doing?!" Percy demanded. He grabbed her arm and tried to yank her back.
She turned to him. "Help me!"
He looked at her like she'd gone insane. But he steadied her with a hand on her waist.
The flames flickered dangerously close in front of her, and lapped at the edges of her jeans. She gripped Percy's shoulder for support and raised her good leg into the air.
Don't put that there; don't put that there! her mind screamed at her. But she gritted her teeth and lowered her leg directly into the flame.
"Annabeth!" Percy tried to pull her away again, but she resisted.
Annabeth placed her charred, broken Converse to the ground. She felt the heat through the shoe; like a bath with the water heater set way too high. It wasn't a comfortable feeling; she felt her skin start to blister under her sock. But the flames didn't catch on the canvas of her shoes, or her jeans.
"We have to walk through it," Annabeth glanced over at Percy who watched her like both her and the fire were crazy for doing what they were doing. "Percy!" She shook the hand that held his shoulder; because he had that same dazed look he had when the Eidendowns had been forced to leave his body on the Argos II. It almost looked like he was in shock.
And truthfully, Annabeth wasn't fairing much better. Her energy was almost used up. Each step she took shot knife like pain the entire right side of her body. But they were too exposed in this open area. They had to find some kind of cover.
"Percy please," Annabeth turned his face towards her. The smoke had clouded his green eyes even more. He looked – he looked terrified. The son of Poseidon trapped in a ring of fire with no visible water anywhere.
"We're together!" Annabeth held to his face like had held to hers. "I need you!"
Her words seemed to reanimate Percy. He blinked and looked at the flames that rose a good two feet over their heads. Then he looked back at her.
Annabeth knew that look. It meant that he was back with her and had formed some sort of plan. Which was why she was totally surprised when he picked her up. Because plans in fleeing Tartarus didn't seem like they would involve the Bridal Carry.
"Percy, now's not the time to be chivalrous!"
"This fire won't kill us." Percy turned so that he was looking at her pressed against his body. "But we can't stay in it too long; and you can't move fast. So we go together."
Annabeth always seemed to underestimate Percy's intelligence, even in the depths of Tartarus. She didn't mean to- Percy wasn't stupid. It was just, she was supposed to be the intelligent, analytical one and he was supposed to be the kill things with water one.
"That cave." He motioned to the black cave that lay beyond the wall of flames. "We go there, okay?"
Annabeth had watched the basilisks slither into that dark hole- it wasn't her first choice for an escape route. But she could see no flames in that area at all. Given their options, this one seemed to suck the least.
She just hoped that the blackness led to somewhere and didn't just kill them instantly.
On that happy note she gripped Percy's neck; and he shifted her closer to him to balance their combined weights better.
"On three," she said.
He nodded. "One."
"Two." She held her breath.
"Three."
For the next five minutes Annabeth felt sizzling heat move up her body like hot coals were being thrown at her. Percy bore the brunt of the heat since he was walking directly into the flames. Orange light rose up and lowered around them like the dimmer switch of a chandelier that was on the fritz.
Every time she asked Percy if he was okay his response alternated between groaning and swearing in Ancient Greek.
Which was exactly what she was doing.
When they reached the blackness, Annabeth felt a whoosh of frigidly cold air hit her like they had just stepped into a freezer. The sudden attack of cold air on her blistered skin left it feeling extremely tingly and almost numb.
The darkness was like pitch. Even darker than their fall into Tartarus. It made Annabeth want to vomit at the feeling of complete emptiness. She almost wished for the fire again because then at least she could see.
She lost track of how long they ran through utter darkness. The only sounds she heard was Percy's harsh breathing.
Percy didn't have his Achilles Curse anymore . He wasn't a lightweight, but she wasn't either. And he was hurt; he wouldn't be able to carry her for much longer.
The blackness suddenly lightened into gray and even that small amount of light made Annabeth squint. There had been so many changes of the light that her eyes had a hard time keeping up.
Ahead of them was a huge cavern; as big as the gallery at the National History Museum in Washington. Annabeth saw outcroppings of broken red rocks; the cave ceiling was high and made up of jagged looking white stones that glowed and lit them like glow sticks.
"Annabeth," Percy had begun to slow down like he had run out of energy.
His arms slackened their hold on her and he stumbled; and lost his grip on her entirely.
Despite being hurt, Annabeth's battle reflexes kicked in and she managed to drop into a roll and landed her weight off her bad side. But it still shot a fire poker of pain through her body.
Percy had fallen to his knees.
"Percy!" Annabeth hovered over him. He blinked sluggishly; his eyes were glassy, unfocused. Her brain screamed out: Concussion! He looked like he was about to pass out.
"No!" Annabeth was terrified. She had no idea how Percy's head had handled a fall at 100 miles an hour into solid rock. He had already stopped breathing once. What if this time she couldn't wake him?
"Hey!" Annabeth grabbed frantically at his face. "Us staying together means you have to stay with me Seaweed Brain!" She tried to keep the rising notes of panic from her voice; but it wasn't working.
Percy blinked again; like he was trying to listen to her, but his brain wouldn't cooperate.
He gave her a look that seemed to say: 'I'm sorry' before his eyes rolled up in his head and his weight dropped out from under him.