Chapter 25: Heads Will Roll

The clash of metal against metal rung throughout the cavern as August and Ariadne slashed and hacked away at the undead nightmares, but they always built themselves back up. Whenever they got a hit, they just reformed. Ed was trying to use his reed pipes to perform a song of necromancy, but all it was doing was slowing down the progress of his attacker. August ducked as her opponent's sword swooped right over her head, and she kicked the soldier right in the chest, sending him backwards. August was now regretting taking on the leader, as he tended to recover much more quickly than the other two.

"Is there really no way to defeat these guys?" August growled.

"We have to at least make it to the gate to the palace! I can see it from here!" Ariadne called back in between knife slashes and ducking.

"You'll be doing no such thing!" The skeleton commander hissed, slicing at August again. August retaliated with a fury of swipes, leaving the creature armless. It gave her and evil laugh as the arms reattached.

"You really think you can kill what is not living?" It chuckled, drawing its sword again.

"No, but I can outrun you." August said, and bolted towards the gate. Ed and Ariadne did the same, abandoning their attackers to keep up. The creatures spent no time waiting, and followed, though not nearly as quickly. Once the trio had reached the gate, it was locked.

"Oh gods oh gods what do we do?" Ed panicked, trying to find a lock of some sort. August looked around at the large, black, iron gate and found nothing that could help to unlock it. Feeling hopeless, she turned around to face the music that was the skeleton knights.

"Up there! That glowing gem probably holds the charm that seals the gate shut. If we could hit it, the gate may open." Ariadne said, pointing towards a green, glowing emerald at the top of the tallest rod iron spike. August was listening as she hacked her way through the knights, but was too busy to respond. She could feel the heat circulate throughout her body as she got angrier and angrier, trying anyway possible to slow down the dead knights. She thought about the arrow of true shot in her quiver, perfect for hitting the gem. Just as she was about to draw her bow, the head knight slashed again, leaving a nasty cut down August's arm. Now she was furious.

"Today was the wrong day to mess with me." August snarled. The cut healed quickly, but August barely noticed as she went berserk. In a flury of punches, kicks, swipes, jumps, and rolls, the three undeads were being banged around like old punching bags. August felt hopeless as they still reformed each time. Then, something weird happened. As August was busy fighting, she used the hilt of her dagger like Percy had taught her, and came smashing down on top of one of the knight's heads when they were off their guard. She had hit hard, and the skull had come crumbling in like it was made of plaster. At first, August didn't pay attention to the knight, continuing to fight the other two as Ed and Ariadne tried to find a way to get to the stone, but then she noticed that she was only fighting two. She turned her head to examine the wreckage, and realized that the skull was shattered, and the body was not reforming.

"August! The heads! Hades must have curse the heads! These guys are just simple pawns for Hades! Without the power source, they're nothing!" Ariadne yelled from the sidelines. Suddenly, August got smart. Another flurry of ducking and slashing occurred, but this time August was just aiming for the tops of the heads.

"Newblood, don't you know you're not in your domain? Under the surface, you're nothing! You're father's power is useless here." One of the soldiers hissed. August almost let her anger take over hearing that, but remembered that her temper would only hinder accuracy. She swiped above the head of one of the soldiers, but it ducked. She was losing speed fast; her energy was burning up too fast.

"Hold the fuck still jackass!" Her temper and energy flared up again. She swiped again, hitting the soldier in the arm and shattering it.

"Looks like we've got your number." The same soldier said in an evil smirk. August felt her energy waver again and realized what they were doing. They knew something about her she didn't, something about her energy flares. If they continued to make her angry, her energy would burn up too fast. Just as this realization hit her, Ariadne called out.

"Take a break and come shoot the stone! I'll take your post." Before August could argue, Ariadne had stepped in, knives in hand, and was fighting like a pro. August nodded and raced towards the gate, but her courage and energy both faltered when she saw how high up and small the stone was of a target.

"C'mon man, take the shot!" Ed begged, watching as Ariadne disassembled the knights for the third time, only to have them reform. August knew she didn't have much time. As she slung off her bow, she grabbed the silver line of an arrow.

"Let's hope he's right about not failing me." August said as she knocked it. She took a breath, and prepared to aim. Just as she was about to let go, Ed yelled out.

"ARIADNE! LOOK OUT!" Ed yelled, and August looked over to see one of the knights behind Ariadne who was distracted by her current opponent, sword about to plunge into her back. Without thinking, August aimed and shot the arrow, hitting the first knight in back of the skull, and going through the second right behind him. The sword had barley touched Ariadne before the knights fell to the ground in a heap of bones and armor, and Ariadne fell to her knees. August rushed over to make sure Ariadne was ok.

"Oh Gods did they hit you? I tried to get them in time but it looks like the sword may have still cut you." August was kneeling in front of Ariadne, panicking that she may have been too late. Ed appeared by her side, just as worried.

"I'm fine, I'm just tired," Ariadne reassured her friends as she stood up. "Fighting two of them at once isn't as easy as you make it look." She said to August. "You missed the stone by the way." August looked Ariadne with a frustrated grin.

"When are you going to learn that you guys are more important to me than that?" August looked over her shoulder up at the stone on the gate. Now that they weren't being pursued, the stone didn't seem like such a hard target. In fact, August was pretty sure she could make it. "My mom always told me that riddles always have more than one answer, and that gem is no different." August walked over towards the gate and knocked another arrow. "Whatch this." She aimed carefully and let go, willing the arrow not to miss. Just as she predicted, the arrow hit directly in the middle of the stone, shattering it to pieces.

"There's no way you should have hit that! Oh man! That was so friggin' cool!" Ed yelled as he watched the pieces of green gem fall.

"So glad I hit that! C'mon guys! Onward to our destination!" August said in an enthusiastic tone. They were halfway to getting out of the underworld, and back home.

"What if you couldn't hit that?" Ariadne asked, walking towards the gate and placing a hand on one of the bars.

"Then I'd find another way to get in." August responded, pushing open one side of the gate.

"So you mean to say that you'd still pick me even if you knew you couldn't hit the stone without the never fail arrow?" Ariadne looked at August like she was crazy for saving her.

"Yes, I would." August didn't get where this was going.

"You'd pick me over saving the world?" Ariadne still looked stunned.

"I'd pick my friends over the easiest route every time. I'd find another way to save the world, even if it meant my own life, but you'd come first." August said, walking down the new path to Hades palace. The path was narrow and dark, with floating torches of amber light on both sides, and trenches going to what seemed like a river of endless back terror on either side of the path. Several hundered yards down the path, a huge castle made of dark brick lit by orange light stood; an ominous symbol of dark power. August started forward, ready to negotiate with the king of darkness. Before she took her first step Ariadne grabbed her arm.

"You do realize that you chose to save my life over getting something that may be vital to saving the world right? Do you realize how big of a mistake that could have been if you were faced with a similar choice and chose your friends a second time right?" Ariadne asked in an annoyed and frustrated tone. August didn't understand why Ariadne seemed almost angry with her for saving her life. She felt her temper flare again.

"But you're here and we've still got a shot at getting the spell! Why do you care about what could have happened if it didn't?" August snapped back, angry that Ariadne didn't even thank her for saving her life with the arrow that could have been used for a thousand different things.

"Because how can I trust you won't make the same decision when we finally get to Hyperion? In the grand scheme of things, I would be the less important choice. You have to learn to prioritize!" Ariadne argued back. She looked at August with angry storms in her eyes.

"Are you always this ungrateful when people do nice things for you? This is so like you! Never really trusting my judgment and thinking you know what's best when you're not the one who's supposed to be making decisions here! You're fucking welcome by the way." August snapped. It wasn't like Ariadne wasn't making sense, because she was on a lot of levels, but August had expected more of a warmer reception to her act of heroism. August turned around and motioned for the two of them to follow. They walked the long path in silence with August seething, Ariadne looking guilty and hurt, and Ed caught in the middle not knowing what to say. They had walked through a garden full of interesting fruit trees and plants, which August inferred belonged to Persephone. The path continued for a while, winding around and finally reaching the door to Hades' palace. As they approached, two more skeleton guards blocked the giant front door.

"Halt. State your business. If it isn't a good enough excuse, we are under orders for immediate execution." The first one said. August was in a foul mood and was not willing to mess around. She felt shaky and worn out from fighting, as well as angry and bitter. She quickly removed the tile from her pocket and showed it to the guards.

"Direct request for a certain favor related to the quest we're on. This tile was given to us by Nico di Angelo, perhaps it will persuade you to let us hold court with Hades?" August was as formal as she could muster talking to the guards, trying not to make them angry, but being stern so they knew she meant business. The first guard took the tile and examined it, showing it to the second guard who nodded as he saw it.

"You may proceed. If you make Hades angry or act unfavorable towards him, we'll be back." The guard said, handing August the tile back. The big doors swung open, revealing a blood red carpet cascading down a huge hallway of bronze brick walls and a black tile ceiling. August stepped in, her cohorts following behind. As the doors swung shut behind them, August knew there was no turning back. As she walked down the hall, Ariadne finally spoke up.

"August, I'm sorry for snapping at you." She said, sounding guilty. August didn't know if she had probably only apologized to break the tension, or if it was sincere.

"No you're not. You're saying that so I won't be mad anymore." August responded, not turning around.

"So you're just going to stay mad because you can?" Asked Ed, sounding confused and ticked off.

"I have a right to be mad you know." August said to Ed. She turned back around and continued walking as she talked. "Just because you said you're sorry doesn't make the fact that you were really ungrateful towards the fact that I just saved your life in favor of my own any less hurtful to me." August said to Ariadne, still not turning around. The hall seemed to stretch forever, and August wished they'd get to the end of it so she could avoid talking. Just as she thought the hallway was some sort of sick joke, like the staircase in Super Mario 64, a large wooden door with a large scythe engraved on it came into view.

Sorry for the delay guys! But, I do have some awesome news. But first, some not so awesome news. I'm going on a trip to Washington DC, which is awesome for me, but not so awesome in terms of updating. So, there will be no updates at all next week. Sad face :(. However, when I get back on Saturday there will updates on both P&tGF AND Annabeth Chase VS The Internet! And both stories will continue to be updated at least twice a week for both of them! Also, I've got a sequel in the works for this story, and a whole new adventure taking place in another fandom that I will introduce probably next month. So, until next week homies!