Chapter 19: We take a vacation in the Underworld

POV: Annabeth

I suppressed a sigh. Why couldn't things be simple for once?

Percy hadn't even realized it yet, too distracted by his reunion with his mum. Grover had of course, not that it really mattered at this point. He just gave me a deadpan look, not even surprised anymore about Sally somehow knowing me. Might as well tell him, now that we are in a somewhat safe place.

Well, depending on how grand Hades' sense of hospitality is.

I gave a glance to Hades. He showed a pained expression, but his attention had already turned back to Bianca and Nico. If I had to take a guess, I would say he had been reminded of their mother just now.

He rose from his throne, only to bend down and carefully pick up Nico, cradling him in his arms.

"I will retire now," he spoke to us, though his mind clearly was elsewhere. "We can talk further in the morning. I will have Alecto show you to your rooms. You may wander around how you please, though I should warn you not to touch anything in Persephone's garden if I were you. Come along Bianca."

And with that, he disappeared through a door deeper into the palace. Bianca hesitated for a moment before she gave us an unsure wave and promised to meet up tomorrow again. Both father and daughter seemed keen on having a private discussion. It was something I could understand. Demigods didn't often get the chance to have a talk with their godly parents. And as cold and detached Hades pretended to be, he clearly cared deeply about his children.

I didn't mind either, it would give us the chance to finally have an overdue discussion.

"You heard Lord Hades. Move along now," Alecto said and looking at her scowling face, she didn't seem that happy with having to play guide for us. Or maybe she was just still angry at Percy killing her twice.

Our group was slow in reacting, making her even unhappier. Now that the excitement of today had calmed down, the exhaustion finally seemed to make itself known. Allapsar even looked to be close to falling asleep where she stood.

I shared a quick glance with Grover, and both of us picked up one of the girls. Percy's focus was still on his mother, but at least Sally seemed to have already come to a realization of what was going on as she gently guided him along.

A few hallways and minutes later, we had put the two children to bed, and the rest of us had retired into another room. I found myself sitting next to Grover and opposite of Percy and Sally on a bed that would make even Crusty jealous.

I wasn't sure what to expect the rooms to look like, only that it wasn't anything close to what we found. It definitely didn't look like the halls. I was pretty sure I wouldn't have been able to sleep in a room without a ceiling and a floor that looked in the light like a burning fire.

The rooms still fit into the Underworld, completely in a darkish design, the walls mostly out of black stone, but the interior didn't look crushing like the rest of the palace, but noble and elegant instead. Yet it was kept rather simple, considering that Hades was the god of Riches as well. There were little to no gems and precious metal, no statues of Hades looking down at you, and luckily the furniture was made out of a darkish wood and not bone.

I let my mind wander, thinking about different ways I would have designed it instead.

"So, mind finally telling me what is going on?" Grover asked in an exasperated voice, pulling me out of my musing.

I had to suppress another sigh. By the pace we were going I would soon have a grey streak again, even without the burden of having to carry the sky.

"Alright, first of all, how much do you remember, Sally?" I asked, ignoring the surprise Percy showed when he only just now realized.

Sally smiled looking down at Percy, gently stroking through his hair, and holding him close to her, which he didn't seem to mind.

"Mum?"

She chuckled. "Sorry dear, it's just been a while since you were this small," she said and then looked up. "I'm not really sure what happened. The last thing I remembered was being part of the fighting in front of the Empire State building."

"Do you remember anything after that? Anything at all?"

Sally frowned. "I- It was strange, almost as if…"

"You watched your life again over your own shoulder?" Percy asked.

"Yes."

I shared a glance with Percy. So, she really was like us, had really come back with us.

That only left finding out why and how that could have happened.

"Since when?" I asked, hoping she would understand what I meant. "When did that start for you."

Considering what had happened with Percy and me, there were two possibilities. Either she remembered her entire life since she was born, but I thought it was the other possibility that was more likely.

And my suspicion was confirmed when Sally answered, "Sometime after I had met Poseidon, I think."

Dozens of possibilities of what that would mean shot through my head, were immediately discarded or put under further scrutiny, until I came to a conclusion. There were still a few loose ends that were left unclear, but…

"I think I got it."

"Great! Because I don't," Grover complained to me. "So, could you please finally explain it to me as well?"

Percy and my eyes met.

"And could you please stop that!"

"Sorry?" we offered simultaneously with sheepish smiles.

So we started talking and the more he heard the more Grover blanched. We had left out most details including Pan for now - less we gave him a heart attack - but hearing about Kronos rise and his true plans and what happened at the end already was enough.

He started shivering and shaking his head. His reaction was normal, considering what information we had just dumped on him.

"You sound crazy, you know that. Please tell me you are crazy," he begged but when none of us answered he started cursing. "Di Immortales! Why are you always in the midst of danger?"

"Because you are the greatest heroes of them all," Sally answered giving us a sad smile, still holding Percy.

Her declaration was followed by silence, nobody really knowing what to say.

"So, any idea of how mum traveled as well?" Percy asked after a while, looking at me, trying to change the subject. "My best guess is that it has had to do something with the ritual, but how? She wasn't anywhere close to us at that moment?"

I nodded. "But Sally is your mother, has a connection to you. It started for her most likely the moment it did for you, the moment where you practically were reborn as yourself. I can't say anything for sure, as I don't really know how exactly the time travel did work, but I assume that this connection was enough."

"Then how did she remember now and not earlier?" Grover asked interested. "And who else might remember?"

"Because I hugged her?" Percy wondered aloud and I nodded in agreement. "Annabeth and I remembered when we touched each other as well, so I guess it has something to do with re-establishing a connection somehow? Do you think your father would remember then too if you touched?"

"I don't really know," I said, shrugging my shoulders. "It's different with me, I'm a brainchild after all. I'm missing too much information to say for sure if there is a difference. It's a possibility at least."

"I'm sure it will work out either way," Sally said, giving me a kind smile that made unease fade away.

I returned her smile, grateful that she was trying to cheer me up.

"What's really interesting right now is Grover though," I said.

"Me? But you said I wasn't close either, and we already touched multiple times without me remembering anything. I didn't even have any dreams like Bianca had."

Percy furrowed his brows before his eyes suddenly widened. "The Empathy Link!"

"Yes, the two of you had an Empathy Link back then, so I think it is likely or at least possible that if you form one again, that Grover's memory would come back too," I explained.

"Great! Let's do that right now."

"But I can't form an Empathy Link!" Grover said with big fearful eyes. "What if I do something wrong and hurt either of us in the process?"

Percy rolled his eyes at him. "If you were able to do one while running away from a cyclops, then you can do one now as well, G-man. Have a little more faith in yourself. You were the Chosen of Pan, the one who found him after all."

Grover's eyes only got bigger. "I-I did?"

"The greatest and most powerful Satyr in the last thousands of years," I told him. "You have nothing to fear and we trust you. Though you better lay down, it is likely you will blackout for a while same as we did."

Grover took a deep breath but lay down in bed. "Ok, let's do this."

You could clearly feel the moment the Empathy Link took hold. A strange power surrounded Grover and he groaned. As soon as it started, it was over again. Except for the fact that Grover was out like a light, nothing looked different. I knew that wasn't normal for an Empathy Link, so I took that chance were high for him to remember as well.

Silently we made him comfortable in the bed.

Unexpectedly it was Sally who spoke up first after this.

"I'm glad for you. Because as much as your friends need you, do you need your friends as well," she said, a hint of sadness creeping into her voice in the end. "Just promise me that the two of you will let other people help you. And come visit me whenever you have time."

Both of us looked surprised at her.

Sally only smiled kindly. "It's ok, I understand what you're going to have to do, and I couldn't be prouder of the two of you. Now come here."

A warm feeling spread through my chest at being included in what she said. Hadn't I already known how great Sally was, I would now. I let myself be included in her hug and for the first time in a while, I completely felt at peace and in harmony with myself again.

I couldn't say how long we sat there, but by the time I had almost nodded off, Percy suddenly chuckled.

"It's funny. Thalia said practically the same thing in the dream I had," he said before he went to describe what happened in his dream. "I think she will come back as well when we free her."

I agreed with Percy, but there was something in his descriptions of his dream that made me think even through my foggy mind.

Did the decision he took in his dream play a role in what happened earlier?

Percy had refused to leave Thalia behind in his dream, and now Sally and Grover proved they had come back in time as well. Of course, it could just be a coincidence, that they always were meant to return with us, and we just hadn't found out yet. But I didn't really believe it. If I had learned one thing from the mythological world, then it was that there were no coincidences. And the decisions we took always mattered.

It made me even more grateful for Percy being who he was. And reminded me how much I loved him for being himself.

I only realized that I had been in thought for a while when Sally had changed the subject again.

"I'm happy you finally realized your feelings for each other," she said with a mischievous smile as if she read my mind.

Both Percy and I flushed.

"How did you know?" he asked in surprise because we hadn't included that detail earlier yet.

Sally laughed. "It was obvious by the way the two of you act. Other people might not realize, but I remember how you were before, how you danced around each other. And after everything else that happened, I would have been at a loss at what to do with you, had you not realized it at this point."

The two of us shared a look and smiled.

Sally was smiling as well. "I'm sure your father would be proud of the decisions you took, Percy, as I am sure your mother would be as well."

She sounded so sure and still full of love I wondered how she and Poseidon had met.

"Can you tell?" I asked with interest, not having heard the story yet. "How you met him, I mean?"

Sally looked deep in thought, lost in her memories. "We met on the Summer Solstice the first time. I had rented the cabin from that day on for the rest of the summer, wanting to get away from everything for a while. When I arrived at the beach, your father was in a terrible mood."

In a terrible mood on the Solstice? I suppressed a snort not wanting to interrupt the story. I was pretty sure I could guess the reason for that.

"I was the only one there, nobody else wanted to get outside in the storm, but I went to the sea anyway. So, I waded out a bit into the water, big waves hitting the shore around me, but where I stepped the waves turned strangely calm. Suddenly from one moment to the other, the water started receding, the sea calmed, and the sky cleared."

I could guess what happened next. It was funny, how all three brothers seemed to have a flair for the dramatic.

"And right in the middle of it, stepping out of the turf was a tall and handsome man with black hair and green eyes. I immediately could tell that it was him who had calmed the sea, his power rolling off him, wild and untamed, yet also gentle as the sea around him had turned to. Do you know what it is he said to me?"

Sally smiled reminiscing about that day.

"He said he wanted to meet the one whose mere presence was enough to calm the sea," she laughed. "I couldn't help but fall in love with him. He told me my power was something far greater and more valuable than all the raw strength he possessed. And when I was expecting you, he told me that any child who inherited my power would surely make the greatest hero."

I had to agree. Percy had inherited his mother's ability to calm people around him and it did make all the difference. He might not realize it himself, but he was a born leader.

"And he stayed with me the rest of the summer, right until the day you were born, Percy."

"Wait, what?" Percy asked surprised. "But… Huh?"

Sally chuckled again. "Your father was afraid something would happen to the two of us, wanted to protect us. And he ended up manipulating the mist so that nobody would ask questions about how you could have been born after only a summer. He left only hours before you were born."

Percy didn't seem to have heard this before, but it made him smile.

"He visited later that day as well," he revealed. "I saw him visit me as a baby."

Sally looked happy hearing this and for a while, we sat there in comfortable silence, until Sally stood up.

"It's late. You're surely exhausted. We should head to bed now. We can talk again tomorrow."

We split up heading into different rooms each.

But when I was lying in bed on my own, no matter how tired I was, I just couldn't sleep.

Making a decision I slipped out of my bed and across the hallway into another room.

Slowly I tiptoed to the bed, looking down on the form lying in it.

"Percy," I whispered, not sure if he was asleep yet.

"Annabeth?"

I took that as an invitation and slipped into his bed.

The bed had enough room to be able to accommodate even two fully grown cyclops, yet we found ourselves seeking each other, our hands intervening. Instead of saying anything more, Percy just kissed me.

Now that I was right next to him, the exhaustion set in and I already could feel the sleep that had alluded me till now coming to embrace me.

"Love you," I whispered, my eyes already closing, barely hearing his answer.

"Love you too."

PJ&AC

Groggily I woke up the next morning.

At least I thought it was morning. Time was something that was hard to tell in the Underworld.

A part of me was saying that I probably should stand up, and return to my own room before somebody found us. But Percy was right next to me, my head on his shoulder, and I felt warm and safe. Still being tired even after a good night's rest, I gave up trying to fully wake up and instead let myself fall asleep again.

I was awake multiple times more, but always soon fell asleep again. I knew that at some point somebody had entered our room and there was a whispered conversation, but soon after the voices stopped, and the door fell shut with a click again.

What finally did wake me up was when something growled loudly right next to me.

Before my mind could fully comprehend why there was a monster in the room, and where it had come from, my body had already shot up and was trying to get away from it. Only I found myself entangled in the sheets and limbs. Being trapped and not knowing where my dagger was, I did the next best thing.

I hit what was attacking me.

A painful groan made me open my eyes completely and blink the sleep away. Finally, my mind caught up with my body.

"What was that for?" a groggy voice complained.

Lying right next to me, holding his stomach and looking up to me, was Percy.

Oops?

Realizing what had happened I could help but smirk down at him. "Sorry, but a hungry monster attacked me."

As if on command, his stomach growled again, and I lost it completely. After a moment Percy joined in on my laughter as well. I tried apologizing for hitting him on accident, but Percy wasn't mad.

"At least it wasn't because I drooled on you," he said, sending both of us laughing again.

"Come on, we better feed it before it tries to eat any of us," I said between snickering. "Just let me take a shower first."

A while later, feeling cleaner than I had been in days, we met up in front of our rooms.

Not really knowing where to go we started wandering the hallways. Asking the Undead guards for direction turned out to be useless, as the only thing they did was creepily stare at us.

We did finally find something when we reached the garden. It just made me unsure if I was dreaming again.

Sitting in front of us at a breakfast table was Sally, that wasn't the strange thing though.

What was, was the fact that she was drinking tea and happily chatting with Hades.

This surely had to be a dream, right?

The moment we entered the two of them looked up.

"Good morning, sleepyheads. You're finally awake I see. Come on, sit down and eat," Sally said, smiling brightly at us. "You have to be hungry, you slept through the entirety of yesterday after all."

My eyes widened. We had slept for an entire day? Ugh, just a good thing that we still had had a few days left until the deadline. Accidentally starting a godly war because we overslept would have been really embarrassing.

We sat down and I had almost started eating when a thought struck me.

"Wait! Doesn't eating food of the Underworld force you to stay here?" I asked, giving Hades a suspicious look. But Sally surely would know that right?

"Ah, yes. That story," Hades drawled smirking. "So helpful to get my sister off my back."

"Hold on," Percy said. "That's not true?"

"It was Persephone's idea," he said in satisfaction. "Unlike what most people like to think of me, I did not force her to stay with me."

I wondered if I should further inquire into it, but when my own stomach started to growl in protest, I decided to simply drop the subject and start eating instead.

Interestingly, eating breakfast together with the Lord of the Underworld was a rather enjoyable undertaking. Which means he didn't annoy us or ask any questions. Instead, we could have a relaxed meal.

"Where are the others?" Percy asked after we had finished.

"Nico and Grover are still asleep," Sally answered. "And Bianca accompanied Allapsar and Carine to explore."

"Carine?" I asked upon hearing the new name. "So, she is awake then?"

"My brother's daughter woke up yesterday," Hades answered with an unhappy frown, "And isn't it funny that it had been my brothers who forced me into making this oath, yet I am the only one to not break it?"

His gaze turned to Sally, and his lips twitched up again.

"Not that I cannot understand why Poseidon would have been tempted to break it, but Zeus didn't just break it once, he didn't break it twice, no, he broke it no less than THREE times! And people call me the deceitful one of us. Honestly, the nerve of him."

He did have a point. But it was strange either way. Zeus did break his oath in both forms, and with the same woman at that. And at least with his Greek form, it was twice. Yet he didn't break it with any other woman at all? That was rather unlikely.

So, either he had tons of other children running around without any of them ever being found - and I was sure Hera would have found them - or more likely there had been another reason for him than simply falling in love with a mortal.

"Why don't the two of you spent some time together while you have the chance?" Sally offered. "Other than sleeping that is."

Only slightly embarrassed we took the offer and left them alone again.

"Where do you want to go?" Percy asked me.

I shrugged. "Don't know, let's just see where we end up."

Percy and I proved to at least do the most interesting things as far as dates go because I doubt there are many people that can say from themselves to have gone for a stroll in the Underworld. At least we stayed away from the Fields of Punishment, so it actually wasn't so bad. As long as one didn't mind all the Undead around us of course. It was better than riding the Thrill Ride of Love at least.

After a while, my feet were starting to guide me in a specific direction.

There, behind Hades' palace, laid the sole lake in the Underworld, and the place I had sought out.

"That's..."

"The Mnemosyne, the pool of memories," I finished for him. "I thought it fitting, considering we used it to break our fall from Olympus back then."

"And the fact that we remember all of it," Percy said as we sat down careful not to touch the milky white water. "Do you think we could use it?"

I just shook my head. "I don't think we should. It might work in making people remember in the way Bianca does, maybe, but I doubt it could return their older selves through time. And that water is as dangerous as the Lethe. Drinking it would make them remember, yes, but you cannot direct what they remember. Our brain filters out so much of what we experience every day. Remembering everything? That's maybe worse than remembering nothing at all. I'm still not sure how exactly we stayed sane after being submerged in that in the first place."

"Maybe that's because we hadn't been sane in the first place," Percy said smirking.

I just snorted. Yeah, I started to think more and more that that was the case.

"You are right not to seek its water out without permission," a voice spoke behind us, making us wince. We had been so distracted we hadn't heard that somebody had been approaching.

"I will not pry in what you said, I can harbor a few guesses myself, and none of them are good ones. I might strengthen my defenses more than I planned to do after all. Though this is neither here nor there," Hades spoke on. "To answer your question, only those Mnemosyne herself allows may use its water without repercussion. If she allowed what you said, you truly must stand in Themis' favor."

He stepped past us, filling a bottle with its waters.

"That's for Nico and Bianca?" Percy asked.

Hades inclined his head in agreement without turning around, staring into the pool in front of him instead.

"Your mother made it quite clear that they have a right to remember Maria. And after listening to her reasoning, I realized I agree. I might not have planned to free them just yet from the Lotus Casino, but none the less you do have my deep gratitude for what you did for me," he said, turning around, meeting our eyes for the first time, and surprising me when he didn't school his emotions. "I hope you prove to be better to them than my family did for me."

He passed us again, walking back in direction of his palace.

I didn't quite know how I should take this but was distracted anyway when I looked back at the pool.

The water no longer was a calm and milky white. It swirled and started to become colorful.

I soon realized what was happening when pictures formed I recognized them as some of my memories. Was that the reason it was white and the Lethe black? The Lethe absorbed all memories while the Mnemosyne reflected even those we had forgotten ourselves?

Percy took my hand in his and I let myself lean against him, none of us having a need to speak.

The longer we looked, the more it felt as if we were getting immersed in the memories of places I had already been to, but always wished those times I could have shared with Percy.

Deciding we would take what was most likely a gift from Hades as it is, we spent the next hours enjoying the peace and beauty it brought us.

PJ&AC

Over the rest of the day, nothing much happened else.

I got the chance to play with Cerberus a bit more and this time I was going to make sure that I got the chance to come back and play again, no matter what happened.

Later that day the others finally returned from their outing as well, including Carine, Thalia's younger sister.

As much as she looked like Thalia, now that she was moving around, I could tell that there were differences. Her eyes were not quite the same shade, her freckles not the same muster. Her character was similar to what I imagined nine-year-old Thalia to have been like though.

After thinking it over we had decided not to pester her with any questions just yet. From the little she had revealed on her own, the last few days hadn't been any easier for her than they had been for us. No, questioning her was something that would have to wait for after we had returned the master bolt and were less distracted.

Watching her and Allapsar reminded me of Thalia and Percy though, so I could at least be sure that those two and Nico would surely become close friends soon. There would be no risk of leaving her without building up a relationship with her.

On the morning of the 21st, the day of the Solstice Meeting, Grover finally woke up.

The first signs of it naturally showed when he started to moan for food. A little later he started struggling.

Then he woke with a start, screaming loudly. "I don't want to be eaten by a cyclops!"

I do have to admit that I started laughing even though I knew how afraid Grover still was even of Tyson much less other cyclopses, and Tyson wouldn't hurt a fly. Well, except if the fly had attacked Percy or me maybe.

Grover just gave us a dirty look before he started cursing us for whatever we had done to make our first quest even worse than the last time. Not that he seemed to remember when we did this quest the first time, only the results of it. He sounded pretty confused over that.

In his words what he felt was, "Totally strange. I have my memories from this timeline up to this point. Normal memories, no strange looking over my shoulder type of thing at all. But I also have memories of living through the old timeline. The thing is, it only starts from the point the Empathy Link formed. I'm going to have to try to figure out the differences of what happened on this quest and try to fill the year in between."

Sadly there was not much we could do. We wouldn't be of much help filling that hole in his memory, considering that he had spent most of the time on his quest to search Pan.

When it became time for us to leave, we talked over what to do with both Sally and Grover. Grover promised to take care of the others and to later meet up again in Percy's Appartement.

And so, only hours before the Solstice Meeting would start, Percy and I left for the Doors of Orpheus and Olympus.

AN: As always thanks a lot for your kind reviews.

I have to say, I'm just glad that I'm not on a quest to deliver a lightning bolt because that would be really bad as I'm seemingly terrible with deadlines. Speaking about being terrible with deadlines, next Friday is definitely not going to be an update as I'm away without laptop. I can promise at least a high chance of Updating the Monday after that though.

Now that they have split up again, I have to say, I can totally understand why Uncle Rick kept on knocking people out and splitting the group up in Heroes of Olympus. Having so many people present is really difficult without having some of them be just silent tack-along.

Next time: I (accidentally) try to kill a friend