Hey guys, I truly do apologize for another gap in production. I have been in and out of the ER and am trying to get a surgery. In a lot of pain, but I will put all my energy and effort into this, as some of you want more and I enjoy writing this, but I'm not sure how many chapters are left, seeing as interest has been dwindling since chapter 7, so let me know when you guys are ready for a finale. Love you all!

Chapter Twelve

Grover was running through the Labyrinth once more, his hooves pelting the stone floor beneath him. He skidded to a stop as he reached a crossroad, revealing three more tunnels; one to his left, made of molding wood and cobwebs, one to his right made of brick, and one straight ahead, made of the same smooth stone as the hellish place was made of.

A roar shook the tunnel, causing cracks to appear above the Satyr and lightly rain rubble from the ceiling. He checked behind him, but all he could see was the dark. He knew it was behind him, whatever it was that stalked his dreams, it was always there. Grover inhaled deeply and shouted into the crossroad.

"PERCY!" His best friend's name echoed through the empty halls before dying out, leaving Grover in silence. That's when, just audible enough for a Satyr's ears to pick up, he heard him.

"Grover!" It was faint, but the Satyr's keenly trained ears picked it up, and his head jerked towards the correct hall: the molding, rotten, wooden one. For the first time since Grover's encounter with Pan all those years ago, his courage and resolve faltered, and his fear returned in full. It almost felt like someone was toying with his sanity, slowly wrapping a grapevine around his mind until it snapped.

Just then, another roar from the Labyrinth, much closer than the last. The Satyr could feel each footstep the creature made in his direction, and that gave him the adrenaline to dead sprint down the hall.

At first, it was unbearable; the moldy and putrid wood squeaked and squished with every step, the smell burning in his sinuses and the cobwebs that covered his face and forearms made him want to scream, but the thing behind him would do much worse than make him a bit itchy.

As he made it further, the cobwebs thinned and the wood became more durable, less rotted, and newer. Finally, after what seemed like five minutes of sprinting down the tunnel, he burst through a purple curtain, and light momentarily blinded him. He blinked a few times as his pupils dilated to accommodate the artificial light. He looked around and saw… a room that made him simultaneously furious and relieved; black walls, a long bar, and Satyrs manning the bar, serving drinks and chatting with customers. Grover looked to the back, seeing the vacant Pac-Man machine, and sighed a bit in relief. His eyes scanned the crowd before he saw Percy, sitting at the bar, motionless, with a cherry coke can in his right hand. Grover quickly made his way towards the son of Poseidon.

"Percy!" He said, his voice full of relief and exhaustion. It felt like he had been in the Labyrinth for days, and all he wanted was to hug his friend.

Percy turned his head almost robotically as Grover approached, before they made eye contact. Percy's blank face quickly turned to one of confusion, then of recognition. His eyebrows were furrowed, and he stood up as Grover's hand fell on his shoulder.

Percy sat up in bed, his head throbbing in pain, and the ghostly feeling of Grover's hand on his shoulder was still there. He placed his face in his trembling hands and sobbed. It was easy to ignore the memories when your life is constantly in danger, to pretend the trauma isn't there, but Percy was hurting. He had killed a goddess, been to Tartarus and back, and now he had to ensure he wasn't losing his mind.

Moonlight shone through his window as he tried to compose himself. He glanced at the clock by his bunk; 2:21AM. He sighed "Well, I'm not sitting in here listening to my demons" he put on a Camp t-shirt before walking outside and onto the beach. The warm summer air blew across his face, and he took a deep breath. That bar was the same one from Bobby Earl's birthday party, where Dionysus' mind went during his injury against Typhon. Where did he say it was again? Rural America?

"Great, so that narrows it down to what, 80% of the US?" He sighed again and stared out at the Long Island sound when he heard a distant clank of metal. Percy turned his head and held his breath, listening for more. After a few more seconds of silence, he heard it again, coming from the forest. He frowned, walking over to the tree line, trying to see through the trees.

"Hello?" He said, his voice steady and calm. Percy had faced a lot in his time fighting monsters, but his heart always hammered when a new threat arose. He waited for a whole minute before that same Clank! of metal on metal. He tried to reach for Riptide before he realized his pajama pants had no pockets. He took one slow step back, now defenseless, as the trees shook just slightly. Right before Percy took off in a dead sprint, a giant figure clouded in shadows erupted from the woods. In a second, Percy was pinned to the ground, a suffocating weight on his chest. He looked up at the beast, who loomed over him, as he prayed to whatever gods would listen to spare his life. Right when he thought the beast would tear him to shreds, he felt a warm, wet tongue against his face, followed by an excited, yet deafening bark.

"Mrs. O'Leary!" He gasped, patting her fur in relief. "Okay- yes I missed you too- oof- okay, I need you to get up girl" after a few more seconds of licks and sniffs, she got off Percy. He sighed, happy to live another day; it had been almost a year since he had seen the hellhound, and he was truly happy to have her company back. As he scratched her neck, he saw something hanging from her bronze collar, the one Beckendorf had made all those years ago: a whistle. Identical to the one Daedalus had given him previously, but in a dark metal, like Nico's sword. As he tied the whistle to his camp necklace (it was surprisingly light) he heard that same metallic noise. Even Mrs. O'Leary turned her head in its direction. He looked at the cabins, each one just as dark and quiet as they were every night. He smiled, his mind quiet and calm, something that rarely came to him these days. This was his home, and he'd do whatever he could to protect it.

He jogged back to his cabin, changed into a pair of jeans, pocketed his sword and went back to meet the hellhound. With some difficulty and help from Mrs. O'Leary, Percy climbed on her back. He waited for a few seconds before the sound happened again.

"Alright girl, you hear that?" The Hellhound cocked its head to the side "I need you to take me there. You under-" Before he could finish his sentence, Mrs. O'Leary bolted, running at a full sprint straight into the dark woods. He held on to the bronze collar, the wind whipping his hair around. After a few minutes of whizzing past trees and a few hit & runs on some unlucky monsters, the trusty hellhound screeched to a halt, its claws digging into the dirt. They had stopped right in front of Bunker 9's entrance, and the door was open, green light pouring out from the frame.

Percy slid off of Mrs. O'Leary and patted her side "Alright girl, you can go for now. I'll whistle if I need you" she bolted off into the woods, sniffing a nearby tree before disappearing into the darkness. Percy pulled out Riptide, and as the blade grew in his hands, it gave him a steady confidence as he walked into the workshop.

The large bunker seemed so empty without the Argo II's hull sitting in it; Greek fire burned in every other torch lining the walls, giving the room an eerily shady green light. It didn't smell like it usually did when he came in, like oil and metal, but like someone had made a campfire inside and never opened a window. Right before he started into the workshop, he heard the faint sound of a bow being drawn. He spun quickly; his sword outstretched as it hit something solid.

Io had deflected his strike with her bow, causing Riptide to slice into the concrete wall to his right, and one of the sharp ends of her bow was an inch from his throat. They were frozen for a few seconds before she relented and lowered her weapon.

"Sorry. I heard noises" she said as Percy yanked his sword out of the wall and raised it, nearly unfazed. Nico had scared the living shit out of him way too many times for him to hold a grudge. Children of Hades are just spooky.

"Me too. Watch my back" She nodded as they proceeded deeper. The workbenches that lied around had schematics, tools, resources, all which seemed relatively new, which means Leo should be here. Io tapped Percy's shoulder, and then her ear when he looked back at her. He strained his ears, and then realized what she meant: he hadn't heard the noise since they got there. That's when she spotted it.

Io aimed her bow at the figure, crumpled over a workbench. It was charred and smoking, recently burnt, with a glowing object underneath the shadow of a person. As they stepped closer, Percy lowered his sword "Oh shit. Leo" He dropped his weapon and ran to his friend's side. He was face down at the workbench, his cheek right on the super-heated blade. Right before he went to pull him off, he snored. Both the other demigods sighed in relief, and Percy shook Leo's shoulder.

"Hey dude. Wakey wakey" the son of Hephaestus groggily raised his head and rubbed his eyes. His cheek was black due to being pressed against the hot blade, but he wiped it off with his sleeve like it was dirt. Otherwise, he just looked tired.

"Mm what time is it?" Percy shrugged at him, but Io spoke almost immediately.

"2:48AM" The son of Poseidon stared at her for a second "What? I checked the stars before we came in here" Percy put his hand on Leo's shoulder, but the blacksmith was already collecting the sword and hammer off the charred table. He stood, brushing off Percy's hand before sitting at a different nearby workbench. He lifted his arm to hammer, but Percy grabbed his arm.

"Leo." He said, a little more forceful. With speed Percy didn't even know Leo had, he whipped around and punched Percy right in the nose. He recoiled, holding his face as he felt blood trickle down his lip. Io readied her bow, but Leo just continued to hammer the now cooled blade, simply denting it. Percy tried to take another step back to grab his sword off the floor, but he tripped on something and landed on his butt.

"What the..." in the dim light of the workshop, he saw what he had tripped on: a grapevine. In fact, they zig-zagged on the floor, leaving plenty of space to walk between, but they were dense around Leo, the closest ones burnt and charred, others making their way up the walls. Percy gripped the sword tighter, hoping he was wrong, but Leo hadn't made eye contact with him since they got here. He had to be sure.

"Leo." The boy kept hammering at the weapon, seeming to hit harder, like calling his name aggravated him, but he didn't turn around.

"Leo! Look at me!" With one final slam of the hammer, he brought his hands to his side, and turned around; his eyes were milky white, and his face was slack and pale. Percy almost growled, his teeth grit so hard he thought one would shatter.

"Dionysus!" He yelled up, looking around the room as Io kept her bow drawn on the blacksmith. For a few seconds, nothing happened. Leo's arms swung back and forth as he stood, staring at the air between Percy and Io. Right as Percy thought he might've been wrong, the vines on the wall began to move, growing, snaking up and down the stone. Slowly, the vines started intertwining, growing more and more into the shape of a man, before breaking off from the other vines and falling to the ground. In the semi darkness, the god seemed to be just a kneeling shadow, covered in darkness, with writing skin that settled after a few seconds. As he walked closer, Io's aim moved from Leo to Dionysus, as he stepped into the light, right behind Leo.

"Ah, how I've missed this camp" He took a swig of a Diet Coke can and crushed it, tossing it onto the ground. Leo's head twitched to the side for a second, his hand spasming before he quickly readjusted himself. Dionysus put his hand on the boy's shoulder.

"Don't" the god looked up, seemingly amused "Don't touch him." Percy readied his sword, but Dionysus chuckled.

"Oh, don't be an idiot, Jefferson" He picked up the dented sword Leo had been hammering at and looked at it, like it was a work of art. Though it was dented and misshapen, it was still sharp. "You wouldn't want your friend here to have a 'work accident' now would you?" Io eyed Percy, a cold, determined stare that cut right through Percy's rage 'Not yet.'

"What do you want, Διόνυσος?" Dionysus' smirk melted at his name, and his hard glare turned to meet her cold stare. Io spoke better Greek than even Chiron, so it was almost alarming to hear her speak it. He sized her up, almost like his eyes were an X-ray machine.

"A child of the Underworld" He said in Ancient Greek, before his smirk returned, but smaller. He was nervous.

"And you are a weak god, adopted by Zeus out of pity. I've lived centuries longer than you" the god grit his teeth and his eyes burned a dark purple, but Percy noticed something he'd never seen before; the flames behind his eyes weren't the normal wine red, but absolutely black. Percy placed his hand on Io's shoulder, keeping his eyes on Dionysus.

"Mr.D" The god jerked his head, but the flames did die down a bit. Maybe he did like Percy after all, just a bit.

"You've seen it. The shield?" The god's eyes almost bulged out of his skull, a mad grin forming on his face; it looked like he was holding back immense laughter.

"I know you don't want to do any of this. You're not-"

"DO NOT" The god roared, shaking the entire workshop "tell me, what I am" he finished, in a calm, relaxed voice. He figured this was going to be his last chance to talk with the god, so he took his shot. His dangerous, dumb shot.

"You're holding Grover" Dionysus almost looked confused, his eyebrow raised and his mouth slightly ajar "Grover and all the other Satyrs. You have them trapped in Bobby Earl's birthday party bar" Percy's mind was going a million miles a second, trying to say all the details as fast as he could before this insane deity got impatient and struck them down.

"Please, Mr.D" The fire in his left eye died entirely, and his mouth went slack "I just need to get him back. Just tell me where it is" the god stood, seemingly staring into space, as possessed Leo stared at him.

"The Bison Bar, in North Carolina" he told Percy, looking him in the eye. For a second, everything was silent, and Dionysus nodded at the demigods, before his head cocked to the side, and his eyes sprang open again. Slowly, the black filled his eyes until there was no purple left, and the god smiled with satisfaction. Dionysus was gone.

"Unfortunately, you won't make it out of here" He hefted his bent sword and stared Io down; but Io was no fool. She could see the mist shimmering around his sword, which was unstable and almost glitchy. That sword was his Thyrsus. With Leo still staring at the god, he snapped his fingers, and Leo's head jerked towards Percy. He picked the large hammer off the table, lit his other hand ablaze, and started towards the son of Poseidon.

"Mr.D wait, pleas-" Percy tried, backing away from the slowly advancing Leo.

"Shut the fuck up, Jackson." He said in a bitter, almost disgusted voice. "And you" he turned to Io; his grin so wide she thought his cheeks would split open.

"We're going to have fun."