Okay so I finally got around to reading House of Hades. Normally I am less inspired to continue an old story after reading a new book, but this time it was all fresh inspiration. The only stuff I am going to get from Rick Riordan's book to put in this is character development stuff, though, nothing plot or description wise. So read up, lovelies!

Percy

Percy knew Annabeth was trying valiantly beside him, but as they trudged through Tartarus she was beginning to tire. He didn't blame her, though, because he was tiring too. He looked back over his shoulder at the path, but it looked the same as it had the last dozen times he had looked over his shoulder; he had no way of knowing if they had gone ten miles or ten feet. The gruesome images on either side of them were only getting worse, and so they tried to keep their eyes locked on their feet in front of them. Just take it one step at a time. Percy kept his hand in Annabeth's, their fingers laced together despite how hot and clammy their hands were.

There was only one thing Percy was sure of: they were going down. The ground below them had a rocky downward slant and it never once curved up again. Once, they had tried to turn around and walk back up the hill, but the ground continued to slope downwards anyway. Somehow, they always ended up walking in the same direction, even though Percy was not certain if they were moving at all. He had no way to measure the time, either; it was just a matter of one step after another.

Annabeth finally stumbled next to him and he looked up from his shoes. Her face was drenched in sweat. She was pale and limped along beside him, favoring her injured ankle. His stomach lurched as he realized that every tiring step he took, she took as well – and she took it all on a broken ankle.

"Oh my gods," Percy mumbled under his breath. "You know what? We have been walking long enough. Time for a break, a few hours of sleep aren't going to hurt us. I will take first watch, okay?"

Annabeth looked up at him, like she wanted to argue. She opened her mouth but all that came out was, "Okay." She sank gratefully to the ground, her hand still wrapped around his and pulling him with her.

"You have to wake me up for your turn, Percy," she said, eyeing him roughly. "Take turns. You need sleep, too." Before he had the chance to agree, she was fast asleep on the ground. He smiled and gently untangled his fingers from hers, readjusting so that she could use his lap as a pillow. He ran his newly freed fingers through her hair and sat in the shadowy silence of Tartarus, waiting for something - anything - to happen.

He wasn't sure how long he was waiting and watching, but something finally did happen. About ten meters down the path, the air shimmered, and then a figure appeared. The figure wasn't entirely solid, because he could still see the thorny walls through it. It also did not have the crispest of edges and seemed to blur into the world around it, enough so that Percy wasn't entirely sure it was there. The figure grew more defined and he could finally tell that it was a girl. Her appearance reminded him of the old Star Trek's that his mother used to watch.

She looked around as though she did not see him, and had an expression of confusion on her face. Her expression then turned to one of anger. She reminded him to some extent of his friend, Rachel Elizabeth Dare, but they were obviously different people. She had red hair like Elizabeth, and she was around the same height and had a similar way she carried herself. Her mannerisms reminded him of Calypso, with the fire in her eyes and the strength in her shoulders. She reminded him of someone else, too... Himself.

"Seriously?!" she yelled, making Percy jump. He glanced down at Annabeth, worried she would wake up, but she didn't move a muscle.

"Again?!" the girl yelled, looking up at the darkness overhead as though she was addressing some imaginary entity that Percy couldn't see. "Why?! Screw you, Athena!" The girl made a rude gesture at the darkness overhead. Percy rubbed his eyes, wondering if he was really seeing what he thought he saw. Perhaps he really WAS exhausted, to the extent that he was beginning to hallucinate.

"I don't care if I wasn't ladylike!" The girl yelled, in response to some comment that Percy hadn't heard. "Why me?!"

There was another pause, as though Percy was listening in on a one-sided telephone conversation.

"So what if I am one of the only ones who has been to Tartarus before?! You have resources, Athena – use them!" The girl stamped her foot, glaring up fiercely.

"Oooh, you are the only one with a blood tie to Percy," the girl said in a voice that was a very rude (but hilariously accurate) imitation of Athena. After another pause, where Percy guessed that Athena replied, the girl looked around and finally laid her eyes on Percy. A sense of terror settled in the pit of Percy's stomach as he stared into her eyes. They were horribly unsettling, and were two different colors - one sea green, like his, and the other a stormy blue. Each eye was ringed with black.

Percy wanted to get up and run. He struggled against the urge, noting the lack of aggression in her pose.

"Wait, can he see me?" The girl said, glancing up at the darkness and then back at Percy. "Can you see me?" she repeated. Percy's mouth felt dry and he didn't trust himself to speak, so he nodded. Her voice was painfully familiar.

He licked his lips and cleared his throat, watching her for a solid thirty seconds before he felt comfortable enough to speak. "Who are you?" He thought he saw trace of sadness in her eyes, but as soon as it appeared it was gone. She walked towards him and sat down,folding her legs gracefully under her.

"My name is Mavum," she said. Now that she was no longer yelling he was surprised at how gentle her voice was. It was a smooth, soft voice like honey and bells, and she had an old, British accent that curled its way through her words. "Or at least it used to be. I go by Adrian now, mostly."

Mavum. The second she had said it, he remembered her; the voice in the darkness who had spoken to him as he had fallen through Tartarus. The voice who had spoken of Athena, and more importantly... The one that had called him little brother.

He squinted at her, taking in every detail. She didn't look older than him; as a matter of fact, she looked younger. But he saw the same stubborn set to her jaw that he had, and that he shared with Poseidon. He saw the same straight nose and the eye shape was similar, even though her eyes were wildly different. He stared at her for a long moment, and then looked down at Annabeth, who still hasn't stirred.

"Can she not hear you?" Percy asked, his voice quiet and rough from days without water.

"No," Adrian said, looking at Annabeth quietly. "I do not suppose she can. The only reason you can see and hear me is because I have been here before, and I have a blood tie to you. Or so Athena says. You see, I am not really here. I am in Hades' palace... Or at least, my body is. Your friends are safe, by the way."

"My friends? You're with them?" Percy looked up sharply.

"Yes," she said, nodding. "They are doing well. Jason quite nearly died, but he is alright now. You have a good group, Percy." She smiled wryly.

"Yeah, I do," he replied, looking down and running his fingers through Annabeth's hair again. He looked up at her. "So... You called me little brother?"

"Oh, yeah, that," she said, glancing down at her hands. "Poseidon is my dad, too."

"You don't look much older than me," Percy ventured, and was surprised when she threw back her head and laughed.

"Oh, not by much," she said. "Just a few centuries."

"Centuries?!" Percy asked, forgetting to stay quiet enough for Annabeth to sleep. Annabeth moaned softly, but didn't wake.

"Yes," Adrian said, bowing awkwardly from her seated position. "And Jason is my uncle."

"Don't you mean cousin?" Percy asked, working out the math in his head.

"No, because my mother was a child of Jupiter as well," Adrian said, shaking her head. "So Jason is her brother. I suppose that means he is both my uncle and my cousin. Complicated, is it not?"

Percy stared at her, processing what she was saying.

"I've never heard of that happening before," he finally said. He wanted to say that it was impossible, but he had no good reason to say it. "So that makes you... like... 75% god? And 25% human?"

"It is not quite that simple," she sighed. "I also made a deal with Hades, you see, so that I had his powers. I have no idea how human or how godly I am."

"You made a deal with Hades?" Percy asked, well and truly bewildered now.

"Yes," she said, nodding. "I became the representative of the Big Three, their representative on Earth. The one to walk among mortals and spread the memory of the Greeks. I did so by creating Camp Half-Blood." Her expression was wistful, and her brows knit as though she was remembering something painful.

"Dude, you made Camp Half-Blood?" Percy asked, eyes widening. "That's AWESOME."

She smiled slightly, tilting her head and studying him. "We are not here to talk about me, Percy," she finally said. "We are here to discuss why I have come back from the dead."

Percy looked at her, surprised. She'd died? Of course she had, he realized; otherwise he would have heard about her. But it had been made very clear to him: he had no living human siblings, the closest he had was Tyson. Of course she had died. She must have come back through the Doors of Death, like Hazel. He also realized that she died at whatever age she appeared now, and he found himself wondering just how it was that she had died.

"So... why have you come back?"

"For you, Percy." Her eyes glinted with determination. "Since I died, there have been very few demigods who were truly strong. Who were truly good. Who were truly pure. And even fewer who were my blood. There has also never been a time before where I thought my help was needed."

"For me?" he asked, his mouth drying out again.

"You are strong, Percy," she said. "You are so strong, you do not even know how strong you are. But you can't do this alone. You cannot even do it with Jason's help, or with Annabeth's, or Hazel's or Nico's."

Pride rose in Percy's chest, as though what she had said was an insult. Of course he could do it! Why was she doubting him, after calling him strong? She must have seen his thoughts in his eyes, because she continued before he could object.

"Do not get me wrong, you can defeat Gaea," she said quickly. "But you cannot get out of this like you wish. Someone on this quest will not go home, no matter what you do."

"And what can you do that I can't?" Percy asked, mildly irritated but willing to hear whatever it was that this girl had to say.

"It isn't that I can do something you can't, Percy," she sighed, shaking her head. "You could do what I'm doing. But you do not want to."

Percy stared at her, even more confused.

"Percy, someone on this trip will not come back. Now, if I wasn't here, that someone would be you." She watched him, waiting for her words to sink in. "But now, that person can be me."

"... You mean... You're going to die again?" Percy asked, stunned out of his irritation.

"No. 'Not coming back' has more than one definition, Percy." She smiled, but her eyes were impossibly sad. "Someone has to close the doors from both sides. From the side of the Underworld... And from the side of Tartarus."

Percy's mind was running in overdrive now. "You are going to lock yourself in Tartarus? For me?"

"That's the plan," she said, her expression turning wry again.

"I can't ask you, or anyone, to do that," Percy said, shaking his head emphatically.

"Of course you can't, Percy, you are too noble for that," she sighed, and then laughed. "But I have lived in Tartarus for a few hundred years now, what difference will a few hundred more make?"

"Wait, why were you in Tartarus?"

"I angered the gods." She rolled her eyes. "Destroyed Olympus. It is a long story. But once they are no longer schitzophrenic, they will throw me back in here anyways." She glanced around Tartarus, taking in the grotesque thorny walls. "It makes no sense for both of us to be trapped in Tartarus, does it?"

Percy wanted to protest, but he couldn't think of anything to say.

"I am not here to talk about me, or you, or what I have to do. I am here to tell you what you have to do." She returned her gaze to him, watching him. "You have to keep going down-hill. This thorny land-scape isn't all of Tartarus, this is just the entry way. It gets worse. You have to keep a level head. You have to remember that you are strong, and you have to think on your feet. There are dark things in Tartarus, Perseus. You will come across five challenges, and you must defeat all five to get to the doors. Directly outside the doors is my home, you will be safe there for a short while... At least until we make it to the other side.

"This will not really make sense until you get to the Doors. When we get there, you will be able to see us through the doors, and you cannot leave immediately. You have to help me through the doors, because it is almost impossible to go backwards through them. Then, you will go through to the other side, where Nico will help you get through them. Going through the doors will be the most painful experience of your life, so prepare yourself for that – you will have to find the strength to go all the way through them, because if you fall in them your soul will get shredded and thrown into one of the rivers of the Underworld. Am I clear?"

Percy nodded, his eyes wide.

There was a thudding noise, but Percy couldn't tell where it was coming from. Adrian looked up and groaned.

"Percy, remember what I've said."

"It's time to wake up," came a muffled voice, from no particular direction. Percy whipped his head around, looking for the source of the voice. Adrian grimaced.

"That would be the call for me to go back. Good luck, Percy," she sighed, getting to her feet and brushing herself off.

"Wait," Percy said, hesitating. "Tell me one thing, first. You died when you were very young. How did you die?"

"Adrian? Wakey-wakey!" the same muffled voice whispered.

Adrian paused, looking at Percy. "I died when monsters attacked Camp Half-Blood."

"But there's a barrier, they can't get in," Percy said, frowning.

"Adrian! Wake up!" the voice yelled, louder this time.

"There wasn't always a barrier," she said, her strange eyes looking sad. "Making that barrier is what killed me."

"You died to make the barrier?" he asked, aghast.

"Nico! Come over here, I can't get her to wake up!" the voice screamed, panicked. Adrian's body trembled, like someone was shaking her violently.

"Yes," she nodded. "The monsters killed the love of my life. I died ensuring it would never happen on camp grounds, ever again."

Percy looked down at Annabeth reflexively. He wondered if he would do the same, if Annabeth died. He realized with a lurch that he would.

"Adrian! Wake up!" a different voice yelled, and Adrian's face whipped to the side like she had been slapped. Adrian gasped, rubbing her cheek.

"That barrier has saved my life before," Percy said. "Thank you."

"Don't thank me yet," Adrian smiled. "Thank me when you are out of Tartarus, making a life for you and Annabeth in New Rome."

"What is wrong with her?! Why won't she wake up?!" one of the voices yelled again.

"I suppose I should go before Nico and Hazel piss themselves," Adrian said, glancing upwards. "Take care, Perseus. Survive until you get to the doors, because even when you are out of here your job will not be over..."

She looked upwards at the darkness and then her body slowly dissolved, turning into a shimmering mist and then finally disappearing.

"Good-bye," Percy whispered, staring at where she had been standing. "And thanks anyways."