Chapter X
The Second Look

"Hide behind me."

Maddy's words were quiet, barely a whisper, and it took Percy a moment or two to even register what she said. Once he figured out what she meant, however, Percy slowly moved behind her body, pressing himself against the wall, his feet barely touching the ground. The maze that made up the clan's lair seemed confusing, even intimidating to Percy, with its looming walls, twists, and turns. Shadows danced across the floor, and though the passage was dark, save for the occasional patrolling empousi, the torches lining the walls made it the stuff of nightmares.

Somehow, Maddy seemed to know her way through the lair, and against his better instincts, Percy trusted her enough to follow her through the halls. As though Maddy had predicted it, however, an empousi with curly blonde hair and a well-rounded stomach walked into view, carrying a torch and knife with a practiced ease that had the butterflies in Percy's stomach flutter faster. Fighting back the urge to puke, Percy pressed himself even further against the wall, hoping that Maddy's strange magic would be enough to have them hidden.

Of course, the magic hadn't failed them the past three times they'd stumbled across a guard, but Percy couldn't help but feel nervous that now would be the time that they find us, that Maddy was lying all along and now she's going to hand me in, that I'm going to be left behind in this hellhole and they'll torture me and kill me and hu-

"Let's go."

Percy grimaced at the sudden noise, the spear in his hand hanging awkwardly at his side. Maddy had been quick to supply him with a weapon when they'd escaped, but she didn't seem to have considered that Percy wasn't that great at fighting with a spear. At least it's not a bow and arrow, he thought with a chuckle. When he'd been training with Nyx, she'd made the mistake of having Percy try to wield the weapon. After he'd managed to accidentally have the arrow fly behind him, Nyx had given up, and deemed it useless to train him with a bow and arrow.

Luckily, the spear was something that Percy had shown relative proficiency in fighting with, and Nyx had him learn to wield it before she'd had him begin to train entirely with a sword. Compared to the rusty training sword Percy'd been using, the spear was amazing, with polished metal sharpened to a point and a wooden handle that was perfectly balanced and easy to carry. Unfortunately, no matter how great the spear was, nothing would replace a swo-.

"Hey, calm down!"

Percy finally noticed that it seemed as though, stuck in his thoughts, Percy had walked ahead of Maddy, without thinking of the consequences of exploring a strange place without scouting it out first. And yet, nothing that happened seemed to warrant that kind of nervous behavior from Maddy, with her wide eyes filled with worry and hands reaching out to him, trying to pull him back without actually moving. Percy raised a questioning eyebrow, looking at the ground in front of him. The floor itself looked normal enough, but he knew better than to push his luck. "What's wrong?"

Maddy answered immediately, taking a cautious step forward. "Get back here, now. That- that leads to the Labyrinth."

Oh. Oh. Fear leaped through Percy once more, and he all but ran in Maddy's direction, trying to get away from the Labyrinth as fast as he could. Although Percy'd never actually seen the Labyrinth, he'd heard the myths from Damasen, and Nyx had once mentioned offhandedly to never go in there. While that wasn't that horrifying, Percy'd always had an active imagination, and it didn't take much for him to conjure up what kind of monsters could be living in it.

When he was safely next to Maddy, Percy actually looked at the seemingly harmless section of hallway in front of him that looked exactly like the other hallways in the lair. Finally, his eyes landed on a faintly glowing blue symbol, one that would be easy to miss if he wasn't looking for it. The Grecian Delta, ∆, was on the wall, and Percy was instinctively reaching for his powers before remembering what they did and tightening his grip on his spear.

"Are you okay?" Maddy's voice was soft, worried, and her warm brown eyes were looking in Percy's eyes, a question in them.

Percy's voice was shaky when he responded, but he swallowed the lump in his throat in a futile effort to try and get rid of his anxiousness. "Yeah- yeah, I'm fine." At Maddy's raised eyebrow, Percy hesitantly continued, eyes darting around the hallway in nervousness. "It's just... why- why is there a passage to the Labyrinth in here? Why would- why would you guys need it?"

Maddy faltered, her reassuring hand on his shoulder now tensed as her body locked together. "It's becau-" Pausing, Maddy licked her lips before gesturing for Percy to continue walking, knowing that they'd already spent too much time in one place. "Let's- let's go. We need to hurry up. I'll- I'll tell you later." He clearly didn't miss Maddy's hesitation to answer the question, but he knew better than to ask again- it must've been painful, and it wouldn't help to pry.

The two trudged through the halls in silence, and two guards later they found themselves in front of the Royal Room, where the new leader of the clan and the new second-in-command would be sleeping. Percy turned to look at Maddy with confusion as to why they were there, only to see the agony in her eyes- this was killing her. Why didn't you notice that? She's leaving her home. Of course she'll be sad. How would you feel if you had to leave Damasen and Nyx?

After waiting a moment, allowing Maddy to properly mourn her loss, Percy gently pulled on her sleeve, seeing Maddy look down at him with watery eyes, a silent tear staining her cheek. She nodded slowly, a sad smile on her face.

"Let's go now, shall we?"


A young woman, barely older than sixteen, walked through the rain falling to the ground in sheets, a younger boy clinging to her arm as he looked around the world with wide eyes. The young woman, Bianca di Angelo, seemed to ignore the chilling cold as she walked toward her destination, pulling Nico closer to her body when she noticed the hungry stares from the men on the sides of the streets- it hadn't occurred to her that the looks and whistles might be for her. After all, Nico had always been more important, and it wouldn't change in the mortal realm. Right?

"Bro, I'd totally fuck her without a condom."

Bianca faltered, turning around to look at the brown-eyed kid who'd spoken that, the kid licking his lips as he began to pull at his pants when he noticed that he had Bianca's attention.

"Hey bitch, wanna raise that dress, let us see some of that sweet pussy?" He began to laugh, high-fiving the other boy sitting next to him, raising an accusing eyebrow at Bianca which had her skin crawling with disgust and fear.

Biting her lip, Bianca shuddered and let out a shaky breath before covering Nico's eyes, stumbling into the sweet shelter of the hotel that Bianca knew to be a home of some sort in the mortal realm. She stayed on the sidewalk for another moment, trying to collect herself, before walking into the tall building, Nico faithfully striding by her side with innocent eyes that looked every which way in amazement.

Bianca, too, was excited by the mortal world- no matter how many portals or photos she might've seen, nothing compared to seeing it face to face, to being in the mortal realm. She stopped walking a few feet into the entrance of the waiting room, eyes roving around the room as she tried to take everything in. There was a large wooden clock on the all, looking every bit as enchanting as she'd expected it to, velvet-lined couches crowding the inside of the lobby as people dressed in heels and carrying a bag of sorts walked through the hall with an air of dignity, of pride.

Setting her shoulders to try and mimic the posture of the mortals, Bianca strode up to the desk where other mortals were crowding about- it seemed to be the place to go to to get where you wished to stay. Odd looks were shot at Nico and her as they passed, but unlike the hungry stares of the boys before, these glances were confused, almost mocking. And truth be told, Bianca understood- after all, she and Nico were both dripping wet, and their clothes didn't seem to fit in with the crowd, with Nico's all-black outfit and Bianca's black nightgown.

"Next in line?"

Bianca jumped at the bored drone of the lady standing at the desk, shuffling forward to see her, Bianca's eyes widened with amazement at the strange black rectangle in front of the woman. It must've been a laptop, something that Hades had pointed out on one of their views of the mortal world, but it looked so... simple that Bianca was hard-pressed to believe that it could do anything. It was weird, almost outright magic, what the mortals could do now. When Bianca was still in the mortal realm, there was never a sheet of black that you could simply tap on to get things done.

"Welcome to the Hyatt Hotel. What can I do for you, ma'am?"

The woman's voice broke Bianca out of her trance and she turned to look at the woman, forcing a confident smile on her face. "Our room, please."

The lady sighed, raising an eyebrow as she turned to the laptop, a loud clicking noise filling the air before she turned back to them. "Names?"

This was something Bianca could answer without hesitation of doing something wrong. "Bianca di Angelo. My brother is Nico di Angelo."

Another tap-tap-tap echoed in Bianca's ears before the woman turned to Bianca with a perfect poker face. "There's no reservation under that name, ma'am. Is there another name you might've put it under, or any other guests who might be joining you today?"

Bianca frowned, turning to look at Nico to try and clear her head. Those words meant nothing to her, not in that order, at least. Bianca knew Italian just as well as she knew English, and could speak Greek relatively well, even though she couldn't read or write in the last two languages. But even with that knowledge, Bianca couldn't figure out what the woman was trying to say.

"I'm sorry?"

"You don't have a reservation listed in the database, ma'am. I can call the manager to check, and we'll try to get you checked in as soon as possible, but right now you're holding up the line. Please wait in the lobby until the manager gets here. There's complimentary mints and water, and there's a cafe down the hall to your left. Thank you, and have a nice day."

With that blatant dismissal, Bianca's cheeks began to burn as she walked through the exit, knowing that the manager would never find their names listed in whatever the 'database' was. Even if Nico and she were the prince and princess of the Underworld, in the mortal realm they were nobodies. The rain outside seemed louder than before, and Bianca began to walk toward a bronze statue, forgetting about the boys that had been sitting there moments ago.

"Nice ass, Italy, wonder how it tastes."

The statement was followed by a whistle, but Bianca was numb to it all, instead a growing yell seeming to sound in her ears, pulsing against her skin as her limbs tightened and anger and desperation were sketched on the lines of her face. The yell grew louder, silencing everything, and when Bianca's vision turned white again she saw the boys running down the street in terror, their eyes widened with fear as they yelled 'demon' behind them.

"Hey, Bea, you- you okay?" Nico's voice was quiet, soft, and Bianca turned to look at him, only to see the beginnings of fear in her younger brother's face.

Her heart twisted when she saw that, reminding her that she was a monster, in her own right. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm- I just- I lost control, Neeks, I didn't mean to." Bianca's voice was wavering, quiet, and silence descended between the two as they continued to walk through the strange town.

«∙»

Rain pelted the ground, the sky above Bianca dark, flashing with streaks of light before they disappeared. She was at the front of the Hyatt hotel again, but this time it looked deserted, with no one around. Bianca faltered, taking in a breath before taking a hesitant step forward, only to hear loud crunch underneath her feet.

Looking down, she bit back a scream, seeing that her foot was going through a human skull. Chest heaving with panic, Bianca saw that the ground was littered with dead bodies, each in varying states of decay. The cold seemed to press down on her, chilling her bones, like it was trying to remind her that Bianca would join those skeletons one day, that Bianca was very much mortal, no matter what she might've been told.

"N- Nico! Nico!" Her wild cries echoed in the night, with no one answering. "Nico! Nico!"

"I'm afraid that there's no one to hear you, Bianca." A man stepped out of the shadows, cloaked in silver and black as a scythe was held firmly in one arm, the other reaching toward Bianca, as though he was trying to present her to an invisible crowd. Bianca stumbled backwards, trying to get away from the man, only to see that she was pressed against a brick wall, cornered and alone.

She held out her hand with her palm facing the man, trying to feign confidence even though her terrified expression told him everything he needed to know. "I am Bianca, daughter of H- daughter of the Underworld. Leave, foul creature, and go back to the depths of Tartarus from which you crawled out of." Bianca wasn't going to introduce herself as a child of Hades anymore- Hades didn't deserve that honor. But it didn't mean that the powers of the Underworld weren't still at her beck and call.

The man chuckled, and anger flared in Bianca's veins as she tried to call upon her power, as she tried to set an army of the undead upon the man. Instead, nothing happened, and the man smiled a smug grin as he lifted his head, allowing Bianca to see the molded silver mask that covered every inch of his face. He waved his hand, and shadows pressed in on Bianca, stifling her silent screams as they entered her lungs and took out all of her air, leaving her falling to her knees, scratching at her throat in a vain effort to breathe. What had once been comforting, almost friendly to her was now deadly and deceitful, stabbing her in the back as they killed her.

"Won't you fight back, Bianca? What happened to the favored of Hades? To the wielder of the night?"

His mocking laugh echoed around her and he stepped closer to her, placing his hand on her chin, his skin as cold as ice as his eyes glinted like flints of steel. He smirked at Bianca's terrified expression before letting go of her and standing up, lifting up his scythe before swinging it toward her in one deadly blow.

"All hail the Princess of Shadows!"

«∙»

Bianca woke up in a cold sweat, her flimsy nightgown doing nothing to protect her from the harsh wind whipping through the alleyway that she and Nico were sleeping in. Next to her, Nico continued to let out light snores, the worried expression on his face having Bianca's stomach twist itself into knots, threatening to have her puke out the measly dinner she'd had.

When she'd proposed the plan to escape, she hadn't thought about how hard it would be. Bianca was used to living a life of luxury, and this... this wasn't what she had ever even had to experience. Of course, she knew that she'd once had to live through this, before she and Nico went to live in the Lotus Hotel and Casino. But even then, they'd always had enough food to go around, they'd had a home.

Now? She and Nico had nothing.

Fighting back the bile climbing up her throat, Bianca stood up and stretched, loosing hope of falling back to sleep after that nightmare. Even now, the shadows in the alleyway looked terrifying, evil, and Bianca found herself flinching away from them. The man with the scythe, the darkness, that cruel, cruel voice- she didn't know what any of it meant. All she knew was that the mortal realm was much more dangerous than it seemed.

And Bianca wasn't sure if she and Nico would survive.


Hey guys! I know I said that we would be reading more about what happened to Erebus and Kelli, but as it turns out, the Bianca/Hades arc needed a bit more time, so there's that... um, sorry? Hopefully next chapter will be dedicated to 2/3 Bianca and Nico, and 1/3 Erebus and Kelli. This chapter was a bit filler-y, but there were a few key plot points I had to introduce... I think this chapter is a tad longer than my other ones, so there's that...

Also, so idk if you guys know this, but I'm working with a guy (known as M.J. Lyte on ff) on an OC story. I know, cliche, but ours isn't quite that. The account on which you can find the story is called TheSpartanInitiative, and the first fic in the series is currently being written, if you guys want to check it out or something. I've written 3 chapters of the first fic in the series (the prologue, and the two chapters in Marie's POV), but am writing most of the second fic in the series, so if you guys want to check it out that's cool, if ya'll don't want to that's fine w/me.

mylifeisogre: Oh, thank you! It was actually kinda hard for me to write Percy's POV in the last chapter, just because I can't bear for him to be suicidal/guilt-ridden or something :( And Maddy and Kelli are actually really fun to write, so thank you again!

DaughterofIris23: Oh, so they're saving him because a) Kelli doesn't want the clan to turn Percy into a weapon, or for him to lash out and kill all of the clan, and b) because Maddy is just kinda sad about what happened to Percy. Sorry if you didn't understand it, I think I need to go back and look over my chapters again. But anyway, thank you!

aesir21: Well, Writer and I have changed the myth a bit to fit this AU, but you'll just have to wait until the next chapter to see exactly why he's there :)

Matt (Guest): Oh, no, it's fine! I know, Hades is a bit of a jerk in this AU :) Yeah, as you can see, the trouble's already started, and it isn't going to let up anytime soon :) Unfortunately I can't confirm nor deny that as I don't want to spoil it, but know that there will be a pairing that includes Nico.

a311243549: So I actually PMed you because the explanation would take too long to fit in here, but thank you so much! I know, the fics where Percy immediately gets over-powered/able to do anything make me kinda mad, so I tried to make this more believable :)

Dreamcatcher06: Maddy will definitely help him, and Damasen and Nyx w- I can't spoil that, but yeah, I hope so too!

Darkshot123: Thank you! I tried to make Percy's POV believable, and I really like the friendship/siblingship growing between the two :) Also yay! You found it! :P

And that's it! See ya'll next chapter!

-Lauren Swan

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