Wow, I'm really on a posting spree today. I must be insane. :P
Anyways, this oneshot is kind of... darker. Ironically, because the prompt is Light. It does have a happy(-ish) ending, though... Also ironically, the next prompt is Dark, and that one is (I think) pretty funny.
So, getting back on track... Read and review please! Thanks!
Disclaimer: Okay, I've posted three chapters in the last five minutes, and I haven't been Rick Riordan in the last two. What would make anyone think that's changed?
3. Light
There was no light in this place. Chris ran through the endless passageways in absolute terror, holding his sword tight in his hand, the only thing in this place he was sure was real. He heard strange noises, but he wasn't sure if they were monsters or just his heavy breathing. Also, he thought that lately he'd been mumbling to himself. He wanted to laugh at his foolishness, at his childish fear, but instead, he found himself curled into a ball in the middle of a dirt tunnel, muttering and sobbing. Chris was losing his mind, and he knew it.
And then it occurred to him, to that small part of his brain that was still functioning normally, that maybe – if he could just find some light – then everything would be okay. Even just a flashlight – or flashlight batteries, because Chris thought he might still have his flashlight, though its feeble beam had faded what felt like years ago. If he could just find some light, then he could find – dare he hope for it? – an exit. And then he could stop being scared. Clinging to this small hope, Chris uncurled himself and started running again, taking random twists and turns, promising himself that he'd find light – somehow.
For a long time, Chris sprinted through total darkness, trying to squash his panic by promising himself that around the next turn there would be light. But there never was, and that scared Chris. What if he never found any light? As soon as that thought occurred to him, Chris's thin cover of sanity cracked. He had to fight extra hard to keep moving. He knew that if he didn't find light soon, his glass sanity would break entirely, and then all hope would be lost. And Clarisse would kill him, but that wasn't important at the moment.
But then… but then… just as his sanity cracked a little more, Chris saw light. At first, he didn't believe it. It was just another hallucination. But as he ran towards it, and it grew brighter and stronger, he allowed himself to believe that the light was real. He started crying again, in joy this time, and in anticipation that he would find light, and then he would find an exit. He was laughing and crying and running blindly towards the light, and he knew that anybody watching him would think he was more insane than ever. But Chris knew the truth. For once, he felt totally and completely sane. It was invigorating.
Then Chris found the source of the light. It was a huge cavern awash in a glow that had been denied Chris for what felt like forever. His eyes were so unused to being able to see that he was blinded for a minute, but that was okay, because he'd found light, and it was real. The vague whiteness that Chris could just make out in the slits his eyes had become was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen. In his ecstasy, he forgot caution. Caution – the only thing that kept you alive in the Labyrinth. "I found you!" He screamed it out in pure happiness – and then the world tipped sideways.
It was the barest sound that saved Chris's life. All that time in darkness had heightened Chris's other senses, so he could hear the faint scrape that meant an empousa was dragging her automaton leg just a bit. He swung his sword blindly in the direction of the noise, and he felt it connect solidly with the demonic cheerleader. A second later, he felt the dust that meant the empousa was gone. He didn't blame the light for that first monster – he blamed his foolish cry of joy. But then – finally, finally – his eyes adjusted to the brightness, and what he saw shattered his cracked, glass-thin sanity totally and completely.
The light came from a hole in the roof of a huge cavern. And this huge cavern contained at least fifteen bloodthirsty monsters that would love to kill Chris. The light was a trap – Chris could hardly believe it, a trap – meant to lure unsuspecting demigods to a horde of monsters. And Chris had fallen for it.
He spent a long time fighting those monsters, crying in desolation the whole time. The tears blurred his vision, but that was okay because he didn't want to see anyways. He didn't want to see his light – his hope – betraying him. So he fought blinded, the way he'd fought most of his battles in the Labyrinth. And when all the monsters were gone, when Chris finally registered that the fight was over, he deserted the light and ran gratefully into darkness once more. Because he knew the darkness hated him – he didn't feel betrayed when it hid monsters in its depths. So he took refuge in the darkness, not noticing as the fragments of reason in his brain slowly slipped away, until there was only one shard left. If that shard disappeared, all hope would be lost for Chris – but he didn't care, because who wanted sanity anyway? It only brought pain. Just like light brought torture.
One day, Chris was huddled in the corner of another cavern – dark this time – rocking back and forth and crying out hoarsely, "Run! Mary! Run! They're coming for you! Mary! Run! NO! MARY!" He thought he might have known who Mary was a long, long time ago – unless she was never real after all – but by now, she was just a name to scream out into nothing. It alerted monsters to his presence, but Chris didn't care. He was at the point where he would still fight any monster that attacked him – but if it won, well, Chris would accept death gratefully. He was beginning to think it was better than this tortured existence.
And then, out of the silent darkness that felt like it was crushing him, Chris saw a light. Instinctively, he started backpedaling on the ground, but it had been days since he'd bothered to eat, and he was too weak to move quickly. The light gained on him, drawing ever nearer until Chris realized that the light had a voice. "Chris? Chris? Chris? WHERE ARE YOU?" In the back of his mind, in that last shard of reason, Chris thought that he might recognize that voice, but he was too busy screaming to pay that bit of sanity any attention.
"NO! GET AWAY FROM ME! NO LIGHT! NO LIGHT! NO LIGHT!" He yelled it over and over in a kind of blind panic until the plea was only a raspy whisper. The light had come for him, the light wanted to kill him, the light would betray him, the light would destroy him… But then the light answered him.
"Okay," it soothed. "No light." And the light disappeared. But that didn't make sense, because if the light was gone, then why was it still walking towards him, and why did that voice seem so familiar? That's when Chris realized that light didn't walk, and that behind the light must've been another person – a person; Chris hadn't seen another person in ages – and hey! If he could understand that, then maybe he wasn't completely gone after all. Yes, Chris realized that – but only in that small shard of reason. The rest of him was still pumping adrenaline into his blood, until he lashed out blindly at the noise of footsteps.
"Chris? Chris? What are you doing, Christopher Rodriguez? I am trying to help you!" The voice was stronger than him. Before long, he was trapped, ensnared by this bringer of light. But he was not wrapped in ropes or chains – no, Chris was bound in a hug by the arms of a person. And a very familiar person at that. In fact, he knew this person. And for an instant – a very brief instant, but it was still there – that small bit of sanity took over.
"Clarisse?" His real voice was much less terrifying than the hoarse croak of insanity. "Is that you? Clarisse?"
"Chris?" Clarisse hugged him tightly. "Oh, Chris, I can't believe you're alive. It's me, Chris, it's me, yes, it's Clarisse."
"Oh, thank the gods," Chris said, just before his small shard of sanity was overruled by terror again. "I missed you." And then he reverted to the shivering, panicky person that the Labyrinth had changed him into. But that piece of reason was still there, whispering somewhere in the darkness of his mind. It was shining brightly. Maybe not all light is bad, it said. After all, this light had brought him Clarisse.
Like I said, happy-ish ending...
Any thoughts?
