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At first, all he could see was darkness. He was used to the shadows, though, since he spent a lot of time in his father's domains, and you couldn't say that light was exactly abundant there. Soon enough the contours of things became visible and he got up quietly, listening to the grumbles of the girl and the faint whining and mourning that came with the soft chilly draft.
"What is this? Where are we? What happened?" Nico could hear her voice tremble. He saw her dark silhouette, sitting on the ground, groping blindly as she moved her head, trying to see something, anything.
"It's alright, Ana, I'm here." He crouched next to her, holding her hand reassuringly at the same time he analyzed the surroundings.
His first impression was of a cave – there were rough walls forming an arc, stones laid on the ground, looking untouched for the last millennium or so, and the pungent smell of dampness, of abandon and loneliness. As far as he could see, there were only two paths they could take – one that would take them to the darkness and the one that would lead them to the light, for there was light, though it was so dim that he wasn't surprised Ana still couldn't see anything around her.
"Nico… What is this place?" she asked quietly. Her hand grabbed his tightly, desperately. "What happened? Why are we here?"
"We're in the Underworld, Ana." He could almost feel her eyes widening in the dark as she processed the information. Nico got up abruptly then, impatient of being in the same place for that long. Besides, he didn't feel like telling her he had barely any idea of what was going on… at least, not there in the middle of nowhere. "C'mon, get up. Let's see if we can discover where exactly we are."
"You mean you'll see while I follow you blindly." She retorted with a somewhat fake annoyed tone as she got up. Her voice was still trembling a bit, but she didn't sound as scared as before. "You know, I still don't trust you entirely. For all I know, you could have trapped us both down here."
Nico smiled as he guided her to the light.
"Well, it's not like you have much choice."
Ana snorted not very convincingly.
"I bet you use that a lot as an excuse." Then she exclaimed, with obvious delight and relief. "I can see you! I can…" she muted as she observed her surroundings getting clearer and clearer, until she could see the rocks and the stone walls and the stalactites and stalagmites. She let go of Nico's hand, half embarrassed and half glad. Then she looked back - and that was a mistake. The darkness behind her was deep and dense, looking impenetrable, and made Ana feel sick and claustrophobic.
"I don't wanna come back there." She muttered with her fists closed and her expression somber.
"Are you afraid of the dark?" he frowned.
"No! I'm not… I mean… It's just that I think it's…" she gulped. "It kinda looks… dangerous. Down there. You know."
"It's alright to be afraid of the dark, y'know. Most people should be afraid of the dark, anyway." He shrugged. "But it will depend on just about everything. I mean, if we have to get back there or not." Nico glanced at her, and she could see his eyes were stern and dark. "It depends on what you will tell me and what you won't. It depends on your intentions and where exactly we are. It depends on where we are going next, and… well, if we actually have any choice about that." His voice tensed slightly at this.
Ana said nothing for some moments.
"I'm not afraid of the dark, ok?" was all she added in a reproachful tone before she silenced again. Still, when they kept on walking she glanced behind nervously from time to time, as if expecting to see something coming from the deep tunnel.
Their path got larger and clearer. Ana could hear now the howls and the mourning that came with the draft – and despite everything, she felt more comfortable hearing them. She could see now the end of the cave and she felt disappointed to see that it culminated into another sort of cave, except this one was huge. She wanted to see the daylight again, even though she knew she couldn't – not yet.
They got to a cliff, from which they could see large fields glimmering and flickering in anxious agitation. Beyond that there was something that might have been a stone box or a miniature pavilion and, to the right, a dark castle the size of Ana's little finger could be seen as the center of all that huge underground reign. Ana imagined that it would have looked more imposing and impressive if she'd been nearer. And yet, for some reason the thought alone of going there made her feel uncomfortable and even a little bit scared. Not that she would ever admit it to Nico – or to anyone else, at any rate.
Further away they couldn't see much, for the shadows obscured their vision. Every now and then there was some explosion of red light on the horizon, though it was smooth and could be mistaken as an illusion.
"So this is the Underworld."
"Yeah… Welcome to my home, I guess." Nico hesitated, waiting for her reaction, but as she only frowned, he added: "We need to talk. And I guess it would be nice if you started by telling me who you are, where you're from, why you are here, who is that woman and why in Hades you protect monsters."
Ana stood silent for some moments, still observing her surroundings carefully. Then with no warning she sat down with her legs crossed, grabbing his sleeve so that he would imitate her.
"Fine. My name is Ana Yawara and I am Brazilian, notMexican. I am direct descendant of the man called Marangatu, which means I am Guarani by blood." She observed Nico gravely as she talked, her yellow-green eyes looking sharp and strangely feline. "I assume, once you spoke of Hades, that you are Greek. I have to admit that I didn't know until now that our gods weren't the only ones… " She spoke slowly all the time, as if picking carefully her words so that she would not make any mistakes. "…but still that doesn't surprise me. Not really. What surprises me is that you don't look surprised either."
Nico shrugged, but said nothing. It was her turn to give answers, anyway. Ana seemed to understand it, but it was clear she did not like it one bit.
"Anyway… like you, we have our own gods. And these gods… Well, this is complicated. They kind of live in two different dimensions at the same time." She looked at Nico as if expecting him to burst into laughter at any minute. As he didn't, she continued. "They can live here with us and they live in the Land with no Evil. It's like the Christian version of paradise, except it can be reached by the living, too. The thing is, we don't always find them when we want or need. But there are people who despite not being able yet of going there, they can communicate to the other side. These people are the karaí, and they are considered spiritual guides – and they are the strongest among us. And that woman… the woman I'm looking for… she's one of them."
"But if she is one of the strongest among you… then how do you expect to save her if she can't even save herself?"
Ana bit her lower lip, her eyes showing anger and uncertainty at the same time.
"I don't know. But it's not like I have much choice, right? I can't just leave her there. Especially now that I'm already here."
"But why then didn't you ask for help? From the other cry people or whatever it is that they're called."
"That wouldn't work." She made a face. "They wouldn't come all the way here to this land of juruas."
"Land of what?"
"Nevermind."
Nico frowned, not really enjoying the way she'd said it. If anyone asked, he'd say it definitely sounded like an insult.
"And what about-" he started, but interrupted himself, raising his head like a hunting dog who finally caught the scent of his prey. He stood for some moments like that, perfectly still.
"What is i-"
"Shhhhh." He looked back to where they had come from, as if expecting to see something from the distance. After some moments, he turned to Ana, his eyes careful and his hand already in the sheath of the sword. "Can't you hear it?"
"Hear what?" she replied with annoyance in her voice. But then she heard it – coming with the drift, there was more than just the mourning and the whining she'd already gotten used to; there was the hint of voices and the traces of clashing metal coming from inside the dark, dark tunnel.
Nico jumped to his feet, his senses sharp and his body visibly tensed.
"What do you think you are doing?"
"I'm coming in. To see what's going on there."
"Don't be ridiculous!" she got up too, though with absolutely no intention of leaving the place. "This is how people get killed in horror movies! 'Oh, let's see what's going on', they say. And then BUM comes a hammer or whatever and chops them into pieces."
"What makes you think we are in a horror movie?" he frowned. Ana opened her mouth to reply, but the sounds they'd heard before were closer now and they were definitely from a battle – and before she could think of anything else, Nico said "Stay here", and left.
Ana stood still for some moments, frozen with fear. And I will stay, thank you very much, she thought. I'm not the one who will be chopped into pieces. Especially not in that dark horrible tunnel we came from. Oh, no.
But there was something itchy about the whole thing. For Ana didn't like being told what to do. You know that kind of person who jumps from a building just because someone ordered not to do so? She was that kind of person. So when Nico told her to stay, she debated inside intensely, faced her fear of that dark tunnel the best way that she could and looked for something in her purse that might help her with the thick darkness.
That done, she left.
A/N:
First of all, I'm so sorry it took me so long to update. I lost all inspiration :P But anyway, now I'm back and with any luck the next chapter won't take sooo long to be updated.
I would also like to thank everyone who reviewed so far, and especially -I'mDifferent-GetOverIt and -Shall be lifted Nevermore, who did review almost every chapter.
I really hope you enjoyed this chapter :)
(Also, I don't own PJO or KC, but you all know that, right?)
