Hey guys. Sorry for the wait. Been working on some other stuff, planning out the next two things, and this kinda fell to the wayside. I'm back on track, though, and I'll get to work on chapter 12 soon.
Chapter 11
Zoe was quiet.
That was all Percy could really think as they walked through the streets of Paris together, her leading them along. She was quiet, very quiet, far more quiet than she'd been earlier when she'd been both the historian and tour guide for her ever attentive boyfriend. No, now she was quiet.
Quiet enough that it put him on edge, made his fingers drum on his leg, and had him shooting her concerned looks just about every other second.
They rounded a corner, turning into an alleyway off the main street when he finally cleared his throat and spoke up.
"Well, uh, she was no help at all."
It was a weak line, and his voice wasn't exactly brimming with confidence, so he wasn't really all too surprised when Zoe's shoulders skipped a little and her head seemed to dip.
"Yeah." She replied, in a weak voice that didn't sound right coming out of her mouth.
He let her response hang in the air for a bit, shooting glances at the back of her head as she led him along. He didn't need to see her face to know she was frowning and he didn't need to read her mind to know something was weighing on it.
"You alright?" He asked, which was a stupid question. But then again, he was full of them.
She let out a near silent sigh, which he only caught because he was staring at her like a weirdo and watched her shoulders slump a little farther.
"I'm fine." She replied, in a tone even quieter than the last. This one caught him, and it was his turn to frown. He reached forward, catching her shoulder and making her stop in her tracks.
"You don't seem fine." He pressed in a gentle tone, trying not to seem pushy but being unable to help his curiosity.
She let a soft breath out of her nose before she turned around and faced him, looking him dead in the eye. He could tell she was close. Close to spilling whatever she was holding back.
"Zoe..." He pressed, rubbing his thumb in her shoulder, "What's wrong?"
She let a heavy sigh out through her nose as she let her eyes drop to his chest, taking a deep breath before she met his again.
"What did she mean by all that?"
Percy felt his brow furrow, pretty much right away, and he hoped he could play it off as confusion.
"I'm not sure." He replied, "I mean, she didnt really explain who the guy in black was, or what he wanted, but at least now we know-"
"Percy." She said, cutting him off and making his mouth snap shut, "You know that's not what I meant."
He opened his mouth to reply, hoping his brain would come up with some way to deflect from the conversation, but he knew himself better than that. He shut his mouth again and nodded, letting his eyes drop a bit.
"Yeah. I know." He quietly replied.
She took a small step forward, laying her hand softly on his chest.
"Percy?" She asked, her voice sounding softer than it ever had, and just about making Percy's heart squeeze itself dry in her chest.
"Mhm." He got out through a tightly clenched jaw.
"... What did she mean when she said Do you know how you feel?"
Percy felt his eyes squeeze themselves shut as he silently cursed Aphrodite to Tartarus and back. He tried to come up with something, some little white lie that would ease her mind and curb her curiosity, but he knew the both of them better than that. He couldn't lie to her, not now at least, and even if he could he knew damn well she wouldn't believe it.
He didn't want to lie, though. That was the problem, if you could even call it that. He wanted to tell the truth, to fish out the ring, to say how he really felt and show what he really wanted. He wanted to make Aphrodite eat her stupid, invasive, know-it-all-about-love words and show this girl how badly he wanted her in his life.
He wanted to, so he didn't lie. He told the truth.
"When this is all over, Zoe. This quest that we're on. When there's no more distractions and no more danger and nothing else in the way." He said, in a soft, slow, and quiet voice, "I have something I want to ask you."
He didnt need to open her eyes to know what her face looked like. Her eyebrows were probably arched and her mouth was probably a little open and her upper lip was probably doing that twitching thing it did when she was looking for an answer.
"What do you want to ask me, Percy?" She finally replied in a tone that matched his.
He let out a tight breath and opened his eyes again.
"Something I should've asked you a long time ago."
Her brows furrowed a little more in confusion and she opened her mouth like she was going to ask again, but stopped when his other hand came up, both of them gripping her shoulders tight. He didn't meet her eyes, his instead lingering over her necklace as thoughts swirled in his head.
"When this is over, Zoe. I promise I'll tell you."
Her expression held for a second, the furrowed brows, the firm expression. It held and for a minute he was worried he'd just gone and pissed her off, but he settled when she huffed out a breath and let the tiniest hint of a smile crack through.
"Alright." She replied, letting her palm softly pat his chest, "But when this is done, Percy, I dont wanna hear any excuses, alright?"
He nodded, his coat feeling even heavier than it had before, "You won't."
"I'm gonna hold you to that, sheriff." She replied, turning back around as she looked around the alleyway. He matched her movements, looking around just as she did.
"Are we close?" He asked. She shook her head.
"We're not close, we're here." She replied, "This is where he said to meet him."
Percy looked around again, eyes narrowed this time as he assumed he'd just completely missed two knights and a daughter of Zeus standing directly in front of them, but he didn't. He was confused.
That confusion was swept away when he heard a sound beneath his feet. A knocking.
He looked down and realized what he was standing on: A manhole cover, and an old looking one at that. He shifted aside as the cover lifted up and slid over, revealing Galahad's face looking up at him.
They kind of just stared at each other, all three of them. Percy and Zoe looking down with matching expressions while Galahad dusted off his palms and shot a huffed breath back up at them.
"Well?" The knight asked, "You want a written invitation or something? C'mon."
Percy gave a look at his girlfriend, a slight grimace as he caught the glum look on her face that he knew was probably there to stay. He sighed, waving at Galahad to move before he dropped down into the drain pipe, with Zoe following close behind.
The smell hit him pretty immediately. A lovely concoction of drainage water and mildew that really made percy glad he had nostrils. He made a face and Galahad noticed it, shaking his head as he turned away.
"You'll get used to it."
Percy sighed through his nose, "I'd rather not."
"Well... we should be out of the tunnels soon." Galahad added as he led the group along.
"Where are we going?" Percy asked, "Up, hopefully."
Galahad grimaced and shook his head.
"If only we were so lucky..." He mumbled under his breath as the group turned down another passage. Percy wanted to ask about it, but didn't get the chance before Galahad's flashlight shone over the walls of the new passageway and Percy felt his breath hitch at the sight.
Skeletons.
There were a lot of them, and frankly, that really didn't even begin to cover it. Hundreds upon hundreds of skulls, ribs, femurs, and other bones were what made up the walls of the tunnel they were. They were stacked, nailed, fixed, and splayed out over walls of the room, sometimes ornately displayed and other times piled up. Either way, it drew a slight shiver up Percy's spine every time one of the knights flashlights hovered over them.
It really caught him off guard, and Galahad must've noticed, because he laid a hand on Percy's shoulder.
"Quite the sight, ain't it, mate?" He asked in a hushed tone. Percy nodded, reaching out to touch a skull.
"I'll take it these are the catacombs, right?" Percy asked, drawing a nod from the knight.
"Done your research?" Galahad asked, to which Percy shrugged, still staring at the walls.
"I've made a habit of sifting through Wikipedia in my free time."
His comment probably went over the knight's head, because Galahad gestured at the bones as he continued.
"They started construction in 1774 after Paris ran out of cemeteries, and didn't end until 1780. There's nearly two million dead Parisians in these halls."
"Two point two million." Zoe corrected, her eyes locked on the walls, "And construction didn't end until 1784."
Her sudden interruption drew a curious look from the knight.
"How do you know that?" He asked.
"Because I was there." She replied, in a nonchalant tone.
The knight raised his eyebrows and turned back to the walls, "Right. I forget, you were a maiden in silver."
"Emphasis on was." Zoe mumbled under her breath as Galahad turned from the group and shone his flashlight down a passage.
"Well, if we're done with our mutual history lessons." The knight said, his eyes locked down the passage, "We should get a move on."
"Any clue on where we're going?" Percy asked, to which the knight threw a grimace over his shoulder in Percy's direction.
"I'll tell you when we get there."
"Any reason you can't tell us now?" Percy replied, to which Galahad turned back forward before he responded.
"Because if I told you now?... His blue eyes shot a glance back at Percy, one that held a lot of emotions in it, with worry being one that was clear as day as he gave Percy some ominous words.
"There ain't a chance you'd go where we're going."
The walk was two things: Wet and quiet.
Well, maybe skeletal was a good description, too, but for the most part the sloshing of his boots through the few inches of water held Percy's attention.
The wetness was something that no one could really deal with, save for Percy, and wasn't exactly comfortable to boot. The group slogged through the passages, keeping their distance from the walls of bones while dodging the errant rat that scurried by. It was... not exactly a fun walk, which was only exasperated by how painfully quiet it all was.
Percy... wasn't used to it. He'd been on plenty of quests, plenty of journeys that included more than one that took place in underground tunnels, and in those experiences he always took solace in the fact that someone always had something to say.
Maybe that was because he was always surrounded by fellow ADHD fueled demigods who needed something to grab their attention or maybe it was because he was surrounded by tweens who needed a distraction from possible death, but either way, it was something he hadn't appreciated until it was gone, because the knights?
They were dead silent.
Not just dead silent, but like... tactically dead silent. Like they were timing their breathing and gritting their teeth so they'd hold back any sound that was possible. It was eerie to Percy, and a little unnerving, and it was one of the multitude of reasons why he caught up to Galahad and tried his best to break the ice.
It wasn't ice that broke easy, but it needed to break.
"So, uh... we talked to someone up there."
Galahad barely let out grunt in response, instead keeping eyes forward as he hovered his flashlight over the walls of the catacombs. Percy cleared his throat, speaking a bit louder this time.
"Someone who knew about me, and seemed to know about you."
Galahad's body, if ever so slightly, stiffened up at Percy's words. The knight didn't address it, and seemed to brush it off wordlessly as he continued forward.
"He wore all black." Percy continued, "Talked with an accent. Had long black hair. These ringing any bells?"
The knight still didn't answer, but Percy could tell from his body language that he wanted to.
"There was another thing about him. He had on sunglasses at first, real thick ones. But when he took them off, his eyes, they were-"
"On fire." Galahad finished, cutting him off as he continued to lead them through the passageway, "With green flames."
"So I'll take it he's someone familiar, then?" Percy asked, to which the knight stayed quiet.
Percy huffed a breath out of his nose and picked up his pace, bringing himself up next to the knight as they walked.
"Look, I get it, alright? I get that you guys are... secretive." Percy whispered to the knight, "But if this is gonna work, if we're gonna work with each other properly... I think it's best the secrets stopped."
The knight didn't turn to face Percy, but his eye did twitch as what looked like... uncomfortable memories passed behind his eyes.
Percy sighed, turning back forward as they continued to walk in silence, tucking his hands into his pockets as the temperature around them suddenly got chilly. A lot chillier than it had been before, which, sure, it was winter and they were underground, but... It was noticeable.
Noticeable enough that Percy watched Galahad zip up his coat too.
"Did we walk under an ice factory or something?" Percy joked, which he could've sworn made Galahad frown in the darkness before he shook his head.
"No... it just means we're close."
"Close to what?" Percy asked.
"Close to where we're going." Galahad replied, shining his flashlight over the walls again as he approached one of them. He ran his hand over the bones, brushing aside dust and cobwebs as he blew some of it aside.
Percy grumbled to himself, getting up next to the knight. His eyes followed the knights, running along the length of a notable femur that had words carved into them.
Matthew 25:41
Percy frowned, pondering the words, all while Galahad drew a gentle finger over them.
"What's that all supposed to mean?" He asked.
The knight stood up straight, "It means we're even closer."
"Closer to what?" Percy asked, repeating his question from earlier.
"To where we're going." The knight repeated in an emphatic tone.
That response was kinda where Percy drew the line. He reached out, catching the knights arm and stopping him in place and making him turn towards Percy.
"I'd like you to tell me."
Galahad narrowed his eyes, "It's best if-"
"Yeah, I get that. I get that it's best if we don't know anything. But let me ask you, is that best for us? Or best for you?" Percy shook his head before he continued, "That conversation I had, with that man... it didn't exactly clear things up, and it only gave me more questions. Questions I'd like answered."
The knight clenched his jaw, a sharp response seeming to stop against his teeth. Percy could tell, from his eyes and his face and the way he stood, he could just tell that there was a lot going on in the knight's mind.
Galahad kept his eyes on Percy, unwavering and unmoving as the Son of Poseidon tried his best to win their little silent battle of attrition, one Percy wasn't about to lose.
The knight sighed, relenting as his eyes dropped to right around Percy's mid chest.
"It's better if you don't know where we're going..." The knight spoke in a whisper, "The place we're headed... it has power. Most places do, but there..."
His eyes shut for a moment as Percy assumed more memories flooded through his mind.
"The man we spoke to, then." Percy pressed, "Who's he?"
Galahad's eyes pressed closed tighter as his mouth straightened into a line.
"The Black Knight."
Percy had to but his tongue to stop the Monty Python quote, swallowing his words as he found new ones.
"What's his name?"
The knight kept his eyes shut as a slow breath flowed through his nose. One that seemed tense the whole way through.
Galahad's eyes opened, and hate was clear as day in them.
"Mordred. His name is Mordred."
Percy nodded, recalling the seat they'd seen by the table and how the knight had mentioned his name before. He let his eyes find their way back to the knight's face as he let his curiosity continue to bring questions out.
"When we spoke to him, he didn't just call me Percy. He called me Perseus, made a big deal out of it too."
The knight's eyes lost their rage in an instant, instead filling with what Percy read as a mix of longing, regret, sadness, and a while bunch of other not-fun-to-feel feelings.
"Is there any reason he'd say that?" Percy asked, to which the knight tensed up again, his lip twitching as words seemed to swell in his throat. He swallowed them and met Percy's eyes with his own.
"It was a taunt."
Percy snorted softly, and tossed his hands to the sides, spreading them into a shrug.
"Why would him saying my name taunt me?"
"It wasn't for you." Galahad replied, turning away as he spoke. Percy noticed his voice seemed to waver at the end, flickering like a candle that was threatening to go out before he took a deep breath and straightened up again.
"He was taunting me."
That didn't answer Percy's questions, and Percy didn't get a chance to ask any more, because the knight continued along, plodding his way forward and leaving Percy in the metaphorical dust.
Percy sighed, letting his hands fall down to his sides as Zoe slid up next to him.
"What was that all about?" She asked.
He sighed deeply through his nose and shook his head.
"That was me asking questions, and ending up with more questions." He replied.
He felt her hand reach down and give his a squeeze, which settled his frown and shifted it into a small smile.
"Sorry." He muttered, which drew a furrowed brow from her.
"What're you sorry about?" She asked, confused.
He sighed, realizing he didn't really know what he was sorry about. For letting them get caught in a quest? For that whole little meet up with Aphrodite? For the fact that their vacation had turned into a quest?
A voice inside him told her he was sorry for keeping that box firmly in his pocket, but he pushed it aside and found something else to say.
"I'm sorry out vacation is taking place in a sewer made of skeletons."
Maybe it was the bluntness, or maybe it was just the absurdity of the statement, but Zoe laughed. It was a warm sound, one that danced it's way into Percy's ears and made a smile spread over his face as he gave her hand a reaffirming squeeze.
"It's alright." She reassured him, "I'd rather be in a skeleton sewer with you than anywhere else without you."
He smiled to himself at her words before something culaught his gaze from the corner of his eye. Tristan, watching the two, but not really focused on either. Just sort of... staring at the space between the pair, a sad, longing look not too dissimilar from Galahad's across his face. He caught Percy watching him and turned, forcing his eyes away as he followed his fellow knight down the passage.
Percy watched him as he left, eyes narrowed in observation as Tristan plodded down the path before another voice spoke up.
"Don't worry. He's not creeping on you two."
Percy and Zoe both turned, facing Thalia who had her spear propped on her shoulder as she watched the couple. Percy let out a dmall grunt as he turned back to where the knight had walked.
"You sure about that?" He asked, to which Thalia nodded.
"We talked a bit, me and him. Or at least I tried to talk to him." She grumbled, "Right up until he called me aggressively endearing..."
Percy raised an eyebrow and looked back at Thalia, slightly stunned that she'd gotten anything out of the knights.
"And? What did he say?"
She shrugged, "Not much."
Percy rolled his eyes, "Well aren't you helpful."
Thalia rolled her own eyes in return, "Dont get shitty, kelp head. I did learn one thing about them."
"What's that?" Percy asked.
"Galahad? He really hates this one guy." Thalia said, "Some guy with just the dumbest most evil sounding name I'd ever heard."
Percy grimaced at Thalia's words, "Mordred?"
Thalia snapped her fingers on her free hand and pointed at him, "Exactly. You heard of him?"
"I met him." Percy replied, letting his eyes graze back over in the direction of the knights.
Thalia let this information settle, again opening her mouth to speak before a voice called out from ahead.
"Keep up, would you? We're close."
The trio collectively let their shoulders slump, before Zoe slipped out of Percy's grip, motioning them along as she marched down the passage. Percy moved to join her, but stopped when Thalia's hand came up and gave his shoulder a squeeze.
"You should give them some time, Jackson." She said, her voice almost matching the commanding tone the knights charm spoke into his ears, "They aren't exactly... open."
He sighed, "Yeah, I've got some notion."
She loosened her grip and patted him on the shoulder, "If it makes you feel any better... they may have let slip to me a clue on where we're going."
His sea green eyes snapped to her immediately.
"Where?"
Thalia's dace tightened up, grimacing in the same way Galahad's had when Percy had asked him the same question.
"I barely heard what they said but... they said we're going down."
Percy's eyebrow raised, "Down?"
Thalia nodded, "Down."
Percy sighed as he started walking along, following the path that the knights and his girlfriend had taken and wondering what on earth could possibly be below where they were. He considered maybe the underworld, which was a strong possibility, but that didn't make sense. The entrances to Hades were all in the United States, far from the catacombs of Paris, so Percy was lost as to what they could've meant.
The subject of the underworld brought out something else, though. Something that made Percy smile, despite their surroundings.
"I bet Nico would've loved this place."
Thalia hissed a breath out of her nose, "Don't even get me started on him..."
Percy shot her a look, "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing, just..." Thalia sighed, again through her nose, "He's just so... so..."
Percy furrowed his brows, "So what?"
"So... Lovey-dovey." She said, the words nearly making her gag, "Don't get me wrong, I'm happy that he's happy, but... it is not normal seeing him smile more than once a week, and he's been doing it a lot lately."
Percy breathed out a deep sigh at Thalia's blunt statement, tucking his hands in his pockets as they walked.
"Not a fan of relationships?"
She shook her head, "No. Not since..." Her eyes seemed to darken and her face tightened while what Percy garnered was the past weighed on her shoulders.
"Well, since a lot of things." She mumbled.
He wanted to press, but also took note of her tone, and how it had dropped as she spoke. They walked in silence for a moment, the mood seeming to get tense before Thalia settled it by clearing her throat.
"Plus, it kinda encroaches on my whole lone wolf status."
Percy cocked up an eyebrow and shot her a side eye.
"Encroaches?"
She shot him a glare all her own, "What? I learned it from them." She said, gesturing in the direction of the knights.
He narrowed his eyes and faced in their direction.
"There's a lot I'd like to learn from them."
"I'm sure we will." She assured him.
They walked a bit more, seeing the glow from the knight's flashlights in the distance as Percy spoke up again.
"So about that lone wolf status..." He asked, "Did the hunters... encroach on that, too?"
He probably could've picked his words and tone better, and got himself ready for either a physical or verbal shot to the gut, but he got neither.
He instead got a sigh, and watched as the daughter of Zeus dropped her head.
"Yeah... something like that."
Hos brow furrowed at her answer and he wanted to ask, but couldn't as they approached the knights and Zoe who were at the end of the passage.
End was the appropriate word, because where they were was moreso an end than anything else. The passageway just... stopped, bluntly ending as the tunnel lead straight into a skeletal wall. Percy sighed, giving a little look around as he got next to Galahad, who was squatted down in front of the wall and feeling his hands along the bones.
"We lost?" Percy asked, to which the knight shook his head.
"No." He replied, before adding in a quieter tone, "Not yet."
Percy breathed out a sigh, taking a look around at their surroundings. At some point Tristan had twisted his flashlight, clicking it around and widening its light source so it was more of an all-illuminating lantern of light, and illuminate it did. Percy got a good look at the bones that lined the walls and felt his brow furrow as he noticed something.
The patterns of bones, that used to be simple stacks, had taken a different shape: circular.
They rounded all around them, circling the passage overhead and, though he hadn't realized it before, underfoot. Rings of ribs and femurs and spines all circled around them, a swirling spiral that led directly to the wall Galahad was working on.
Percy let his eyes follow the paths as he realized something else; there were a set number of circles. Separate enough from each other that he could identify and count them.
Nine. There were nine circles surrounding them.
That... seemed important to Percy. Something in his mind, some passage he'd read off Wikipedia just stood out to him as he looked at the shapes. Familiar enough to make him take pause, but foreign enough that he couldn't identify it.
He focused back on Galahad and approached the knight again, watching as his movements became more focused, more urgent. Like he was close to whatever it was he was doing.
"Need a hand?" Percy asked, to which the knight stood up.
"I do, actually." He replied, holding out his hand, "I need the sword."
Percy frowned, "Why?"
"Because it's the key." Galahad replied, making Percy frown even harder.
"Wait, I though you said we needed the crown and the lance before we got the grail. Why are we here already? Shouldn't we-"
"This isn't the grail." Galahad answered in a tight tone, making Percy's face loosen save for his furrowed brow.
"It's not?"
"No." Galahad replied, "But I still need the blade."
"Why?" Percy asked.
Galahad sighed, running a thumb over a particularly large looking skull, one that had a fully formed and slightly open jaw.
"Remember how I said the sword is a key?"
"Yeah?" Percy answered.
"Keys... can open more than one door." The knight replied.
His hand was held out the entire time and Percy looked at it for a moment, before he let out a breath and pulled out his lighter, flicking the blade into existence and handing it to Galahad. The knight took the blade, positioning it right over the open jaw of the skull and inserting it in.
Percy heard a loud, obvious click, which turned into a croaking groan as the skull slowly rotated in place, spouting dust and shedding cobwebs as it tristed around.
Percy kept his eyes on the skull as Galahad turned it, trying to focus on it but finding himself unable to. He was distracted, distracted by the fact that the chill he'd felt earlier had turned to a frigid cold.
Cold enough that he could see his breath hanging in the air.
The skull turned, then turned some more, until it stopped, and slid a little further into the wall with a poignant click.
There was stillness for a moment, one that Thalia addressed pretty quick.
"Is that it?"
Galahad frowned.
"No."
He pulled the sword from the mouth and the second he did, everything shifted. The wall in front shifted, the walls surrounding them shifted, the floor under them and the ceiling above shifted too.
It all kind of just twisted, clicked, and moved into place, and the wall in front split. A jagged line appeared, splitting the wall into two segments before it slowly slid apart revealing a tunnel.
A tunnel that gave Percy one of the worst feelings he'd ever had in his life.
It wasn't like Percy wasn't used to bad feelings by now, he'd had his Demigod radar go off plenty of times in the past, but this tunnel and the feeling it gave him...
It was somwthing else.
A heavy, aching, miserable feeling that weighed down on his shoulders and made his heart drop into his boots. He felt cold. Cold and tired and weak and relenting. He felt like this was the end that he was walking into, so he'd may as well just give in now.
He felt his hand tense, clenching into a fist as he stared into the tunnel. Galahad pointed his flashlight and shined it in, for a second at least, before the light flickered and went out.
He cursed under his breath, reaching into his coat to pull out a handful of glowsticks.He cracked one, the group immediately being covered in a gentle orange glow, before he tossed some others to the rest of the group. Tristan pocketed his light and cracked his glowstick while the rest of the group did the same.
Percy looked at his glowstick, then at Galahad, before tossing it right back to him. He pulled out Maelstrom and ignited the blade, holding it out into the cave.
"Think this'll do?" He asked the knight.
"So long as it's still good to kill something." The knight replied.
Percy smiled, before he let out a sigh through his nose.
"Let's just hope there's no dynamite again..." He mumbled, drawing Galahad's eye.
"No what?"
"Nothing." Percy replied, before he held up his blade again and pointed it down the tunnel. That... feeling that he'd gotten before, the cold, empty one that had slinked through his entire body, he felt it again. It made him shiver and covered his arms in goosebumps as he shot a side eye at Galahad and cleared his throat, trying to steel his nerves as the knight caught his eye.
"You feel it too, don't you? That... weight, that just seems to sit on your shoulders." He asked, to which Percy nodded. The knight grimaced, casting another stare down the tunnel.
"It tends to do that."
Percy held his sword up, trying to illuminate the passage as best he could.
"Where are we, Galahad?"
The knight held up his glowstick and tapped it overhead, on the entrance of the passage.
"I wont say it. Names have power, you know that, but... maybe this will give you a hint."
Percy looked up at where Galahad was pointing, at the space above the entrance, and found there were words carved into the entrance. They were in English, and in a not-so-friendly looking font that normally would've been impossible for him to read, but these words stood out. He could read them perfectly, as if they skipped over his dyslexia entirely, almost like... they were made to be read, by anyone who saw them. He let his eyes graze over the line of text as he said them out loud.
"Abandon hope all ye who enter here."
The words clicked in Percy's mind. He shot a glance at Galahad who had his own gaze locked down the tunnel as he spoke.
"Whatever happens in there, remember one thing." He turned to Percy, his eyes so steely and focused it was almost scary, "It wants us, and it'll do whatever it can to break us down and consume us. So you stay close, all of you, and don't let it... get to you. Alright?"
The group mumbled out affirmations and Galahad let out a sharp breath before he started down the tunnel.
Percy moved to join him, but stopped suddenly when he thought he heard something. Something from behind him that drew his focus and furrowed his brow.
A little girl laughing?
The sound was faint. Just barely audible as he stood at the mouth of the tunnel, but enough so that it flew his attention. He turned around, only to be met by a concerned looking Zoe who gave him a look.
"You alright?"
He nodded, turning back forward.
"Yeah. I'm alright."
He didn't give her a chance to press before he walked in after Galahad.
It was cold.
Percy expected a number of things when he figured out where they were. Maybe fire and brimstone, little red demons with pitchforks flying around, perhaps a lake of lava. The image he'd come up with in his mind was pretty akin to what he'd seen under the mountain back home, but the reality couldn't have been farther from the truth.
It was just... cold. Cold in every sense of the word. The air was frigid, sure, with the groups breath being well and truly visible and glowing orange from the glowsticks, but that wasn't where the description ended. It was cold in every sense of the word. From the visual aspect, to the sound of the space around them, to even just the emotions Percy was feeling.
The only real upside was the sight, which to be fair, was pretty impressive.
The path they were walking down had opened up pretty quickly, the ceiling overhead and the walls on their left side disappearing as they started marching down a scattered flight of stairs, carved directly into a sheer cliff face. It was precarious to say the least, and it didnt exactly put Percy in a comfortable mindset that he couldn't see more than a dozen feet in front of him at any time.
He sighed to himself, holding his sword a little closer to his form as he made his way down the stairs. He nearly lost his footing, and almost fell down the stairs, before a familiar hand reached out and caught his collar.
"Thanks." He breathed, as Zoe pulled him back onto the steps.
"Don't mention it." She replied, peering over the ledge into the vast, dark emptiness below, "Can't imagine either of us want to go down there."
"Yeah, I'll stick with no on that one." He replied, holding the sword out in front of both of them, before she frowned and grabbed his arm, pulling it closer to the pair. He looked at her in confusion before she rubbed her hands together and held them up to rhe flaming blade.
"What?" She asked, "It's cold in here, and I doubt you're gonna give me your coat."
He breathed out his nerves and let his free hand slip towards his pocket, "Probably not."
She sighed, zipping up her jacket as she did.
"Y'know, you'd think with how much time you spend outside back home you'd be used to the cold by now."
He shrugged with a smile as he kept walking down the steps, her close to his side, "Oh, I'd say I'm less used to it and more sick of it."
She smiled, a real genuine smile that just made his grow. She slipped her hand into his and, for just a moment, it didn't feel like they were walking into a pit of damnation together. If he looked in the right direction he could almost pretend they were just... spelunking or something.
Their little moment was ruined when they nearly bumped right into Galahad, who'd stopped on a dime with his glowstick held high.
Percy looked over the knight, feeling his eyes narrow as he took in his tense posture.
"What is it?" Percy asked.
Galahad didn't move, keeping his eyes locked on the darkness in front of him.
"We're close."
He didn't elaborate any further (naturally) and kept on marching down the steps. Percy sighed to himself and gave Zoe a look.
"I'm gonna go see if I can't get anything else out of him."
Zoe nodded, but bot before running her thumb over his hand.
"Be safe."
"Aren't I always?" He replied with a grin.
She frowned, realizing he made a good point, before she crossed her arms over her chest.
"Be extra safe, then."
He shot her a crooked grin and caught up with the knight, who's pace had steadied but who's eyes were still laser focused on the nothing in front of him.
Percy noticed something else as the man walked. His free hand, the one that wasnt holding a glowstick, was busy too. But instead of holding something expected, like a sword or something, it was instead up near his chest, toghtly gripping the cross that hung around his neck.
Percy took note of that as he spoke up.
"I've been meaning to ask something."
"What a surprise." Galahad grumbled, "You've got another bloody question..."
Percy frowned, but tried not to let it get to him.
"Do you... believe in all that?" He said, gesturing at his cross.
The knight nodded, to which Percy gave his stubble a rub.
"So does that mean that..." He pointed his finger up, "...there's a big man in the sky up there?"
Galahad shrugged, "I don't know."
Percy frowned, "You don't?"
"No, I don't." It was Galahad's tirn to frown, "Why are you surprised?"
"I dunno." Percy admitted, "I guess I'm just... used to believing in things I know are there."
"If you know they're there, it's not believing." Galahad retorted, "It's just knowing. Believing is having faith that something is there, without knowing for sure."
"So you don't know for sure?"
The knight shrugged, "I've got my theories."
Percy breathed, "Are they... positive theories?"
The knight was quiet for a moment, before he breathed out a sigh.
"Percy... I think you know where we are. Don't you?"
The question caught Percy off guard, but he nodded.
"I do." He replied, which made the knight turn his head up a bit.
"So if this place is real..." He turned his eye towards Percy, "Don't you think the other place is real, too?"
Percy pondered this for a moment, before he narrowed his eyes a little.
"You've died before, though. Wouldn't you know for sure?"
Galahad shook his head, "Ressurection don't work that way, mate. You get... fragments of memories at best, and never anything from upstairs."
Percy glanced at the knight, "What kind of fragments?"
"Well, for starters I'm pretty sure my accent used to be different." Galahad admitted.
Percy scoffed, "You're kidding."
"Not in the slightest." Galahad assured him, before he tightened his jaw and spoke in a more tight lipped, Queen's English type accent, "I'm actually quite sure it resembled this not too long ago."
Percy breathed out a laugh, "You're joking."
"Wish I was." Galahad replied, going back to the cockney dialect, "I think I sounded like a twat."
This hissed a laugh out of Percy which drew a smile from the knight. This little interaction was nice, but was fleeting as Galahad's ears seemed to perk up as they rounded a corner. The knight stopped on a dime and Percy stopped right along with him, with the rest of the group tailing them getting just as closely.
Percy focused for a moment, before he heard it.
Clicking. Staggered, and delayed, but consistent enough that it wasn't organic.
It went on for a moment, before a voice spoke out from the darkness.
"Bah! You win again, you old bastard."
The casual tone of the voice made Percy frown and the way Galahad started walking towards it immediately made him worry (at least a little). He followed the knights closely as Zoe and the group tailed them.
They rounded another corner, the clicking getting louder as Percy saw something in the distance. Something that made hin frown as he approached and furrowed his brows in confusion as it came into view.
It was two men, seated at a rather flat rock, and playing a game of chess.
The sight was just... unusual, in both the scenario itself and the way the two reacted (or didn't) to Percy's group. They were dressed... appropriately, if you could call it that. With ancient brown robes hanging off their bodies and simple sandals sitting on their feet. The man to the left was younger, maybe in his mid thirties, with shaggy brown hair, a long angular nose, and pensive, observant brown eyes that were focused in front of him.
The man to the right was older, much so. Probably pushing seventy and with a crows nest of white hair, gaunt bony features, a whispy white beard, and pale blue eyes that shone in the darkness.
The table between them was exactly as Percy had described it; a flat rock, with two rock chairs to boot. A simple chess board with wooden pieces sat on it and a thick candle dripping with wax illuminated the whole scene.
The men, and their setup, were just so... casual. Just so mundane and simple and unintrusive that if they weren't in the pits of H-E-Double hockey stick Percy would've just passed them by.
They were there though, so he couldn't help but speak up.
"Uh... hello."
Wasn't the best introduction, and Percy kinda knew, because the men didn't even look up from their game as the younger man spoke.
"It appears you were right, Virgil. They're back."
The younger man's voice was deep and groaning, like something a judge would use as he handed out a death sentence. The older man replied, and his voice couldn't be more different. Gravelly, and yet reedy, it showed his age more than any picture could.
"Of course I'm right. I'm always right, Dante. Despite how many hundred years it may have taken." He turned to the group, opening his mouth into an o shape and widening his eyes, "And look, they've brought friends."
Percy looked around for the group, hoping one of the knights might have an answer to his question, but he hadn't said it, and got the feeling that even if he did, it would be a pointless gesture.
"Friends. Enemies. What's the difference? Last time they were here they had their rival with them, not that they'd remember." The man, Dante replied. He shifted a piece, the familiar clicking noise ringing out from the table.
The older man, Virgil, took a look at the board and frowned.
"You sly devil. Of course you'd use that one."
Dante smiled, tapping his finger on the piece as he did so. It was a knight, the white knight, sitting far ahead of the rest of the pieces.
"But of course, you old dog. You know it's my favorite."
"Remind me again, old friend. Why do you prefer it over, say, the queen?" Virgil shifted his own piece, his black knight, over the board, "It has the same move set as the other pieces combined."
"Bah, perhaps. But not that of the knight." Dante replied, taking a pawn with said piece, "The knight is unpredictable. Limitless. It vaults over pieces and dives into danger, ready to slay any who stand in its path."
Virgil shifted one of his rooks aside and gave his thick white beard a rub, "Mayhaps. But with that wildness comes danger, old friend."
"Danger is no worry for the knight." Dante replied, running a finger over his favourite piece, "Especially when a queen is at his side."
He took that opportunity to slide said piece into play. Out from the safety of the rear echelon of the board and out into danger, right along with the knight.
Virgil sighed, leaning back and into his open palm, observing the board with what Percy could only describe as an old man's eye.
"Does the queen have a place by him? Seems he doesn't want to be held down, and what with the danger he faces..." The old man's eyes flicked up to Percy's, "... I doubt he'd want to drag others into his battle."
Percy felt his stomach drop into a pit, but couldn't process that before Dante spoke up.
"Perhaps. The knight is indeed an untamed wild one. I'd say much more akin to the horse it's represented by than the knight it's named for. Powerful, wild, headstrong. Yet, it shares those knightly qualities, doesnt it? Brave, selfless, willing to give itself for what it believes is right..." Dante's eyes also flicked up to Percy's, "...wouldn't you agree, Percy?"
If Percy's stomach could drop any further, it would. He swallowed his nerves as Galahad cleared his throat, shooting Percy a nervous side eye as he spoke up.
"Dante. Virgil. Its good to see you two."
Dante scoffed and Virgil snorted.
"It's good to see us? Seeing us requires being here." Dante said, watching as Virgil shifted one of his pieces, "And here is not a place one wishes to be."
"No, but it's somewhere we need to be." Galahad replied, taking a knee next to the pair, "We're here for the crown."
Virgil breathed out a chuckle, "Naturally. I'll take it your king has decided to test your might? Or send you as an offering perhaps?"
Galahad shook his head, slow enough to tell Percy he was scowling, so Virgil sighed.
"Fine then." He watched as Dante tapped his fingers on his chin and shifted a piece, "I'll believe that half truth and give you a full one. It's in the depths, held by a prince."
"Which prince?" Galahad pressed.
"One you haven't killed before." Dante replied, before he smiled at the knight, "But don't let that dissuade you, Galahad."
The knight let out a slow breath through his nose and stood up, "Do either of you have any other advice? As lovely as your company is, our time here ain't exactly preferred."
Virgil let his eyes graze up to Galahad, before they shifted over to Percy. He kept them locked on him as he gestured at Dante, getting the man's attention and pointing at the board.
This garnered a sharp breath and a hum of concern from Dante.
"Oh dear..." The younger man spoke in a soft, sarcastic tone, "What have you done you cruel, old man..."
Virgil smiled, still staring at Percy, "I've given you a choice."
"That you have..." Dante replied, gesturing at the board, "You have me in a bit of a situation here. Both my knight and my queen are at risk of defeat."
"They are." Virgil confirmed, still looking at Percy, "So it would seem you have a choice."
"Lose my knight..." Dante said.
"Or lose your queen." Virgil confirmed. The old man clicked his tongue and angled his head at Percy, "Tell me, what would you have him do, Son of Poseidon?"
Percy felt a lot of things all at once. His heart clench in his chest, his mouth drop into a frown, his brows furrow from nerves, but most importantly? More so than anything else?
He felt his hand slip into Zoe's.
He let his eyes graze over to hers, amd even in the soft glow of the glowsticks and candle... she was still Zoe. Still beautiful, still deadly, still terrifying, still heart melting. Still everything he wanted and everything he needed and everything that made him smile.
She was everything, to him at least, and he got the feeling that in that moment she knew that.
He turned to the two men and gave Dante a firm look.
"Sacrifice the knight." He said in a firm tone.
Dante raised an eyebrow, "Are you sure?"
Percy nodded, "The queen is... she's more than the knight could ever hope to be. She can do more, and even if the knight can do what no others can..." He felt his eyes flick over to his girlfriend, "... She means too much."
Dante observed Percy for a moment, his chocolate eyes grazing over his face, before he sighed and shifted the queen back, out of danger.
"I suppose you're right. Besides..." He let his eyes watch Virgil take his knight before he flicked them up to Tristan and Galahad, "... I have two knights, anyways. What's the loss if one is sacrificed?"
It was Tristan and Galahad's turns to pale in the faint light before the leader cleared his throat to cover it.
"Yes, well... we'll be off then."
He ushered the group forward, past the two men and back down the stairs. But not before Percy took another look at the board and saw something that caught his eye: the piece Virgil had used to take Dante's knight.
It was his knight. The black knight.
Percy was quiet.
Uncomfortably quiet. Unesually quiet. No clever quips, or sighs followed by sly looks, or even that unusually loud finger drumming thing he'd always do. He just walked in silence with the group as they continued down the spiraling stairwell deeper and deeper into the pit.
There should've been something to distract him, there usually was. Some visual stimuli or something he could let his mind focus on when the worry got a bit too present, but the pit wasn't so generous. It was just... darkness. Ever present, heavy, cold darkness. Barely pierced by their light sources and hardly warmed by the flame of Percy's blade. It weighed down on them, and everyone could tell, sonit was no surprise when Galahad made them take a break at a landing.
Percy slumped against a wall just about immediately, his sword still ablaze but set down on the ground as he slid down to a sitting position. He felt... well, a lot of things. Frustrated was one of them, at what those two weirdos had both said and not said, while also confused at who they'd been saying it to. But more than anything Percy felt one feeling, thay was all too familiar and all too annoying.
"You're worried."
Percy smiled as his girlfriend slid down next to him, leaning into his shoulder as she laid her bow across her legs.
"You can tell?" He asked, in a softly sarcastic tone. She smiled, and softly patted his thigh.
"Always can with you." She slid that hand up and used if to softly pat his cheek instead, "Not that it's hard. You always worry, you know that right?"
His smile softened a bit, "Yeah. I know."
"So much that I'm surprised you haven't gone grey." She said, sliding her hand up a bit farther to twirl a lock of his hair, "Or at least put on some wrinkles."
"Trust me. If I'm anything like dad, the wrinkles are coming." He replied, in a tone that was a little closer to the one she wanted. She smiled at his words.
"Well... I'm sure I can handle it." She replied.
"Oh really?" He chided, "You're okay with an old and grey and wrinkly Percy Jackson?"
"Depends." She replied.
"On what?" He asked.
"If you're okay with an old and grey and wrinkly Zoe Nightshade."
Jackson, Zoe Jackson his brain wanted to reply, but he ignored it.
"I am." He assured her, before his face fell a little, "Assuming we make it that long."
Her smile wavered a bit as her hand slid back down to his cheek.
"We will." She said, in a tone so confident and assuring he almost believed her, before she ran a thumb over his cheek, her eyes darkening a little, "That is unless you're planning on trying to sacrifice yourself again."
He met her eyes and shook his head and her eyes lit back up a little. It made him smile, but the moment was a little bittersweet. Half because they were still... here, in a very not safe place, and half because... well, because it was a complete lie. He would 100% sacrifice himself again. A hundred times over for her.
And if those two chess weirdos had any merit to their words... there was a chance that might happen.
She caught sight of something amd turned away, Percy following her gaze as they both looked at Thalia, who was vigorously motioning at Zoe to get over here, all while Tristan stood nearby, pinching the bridge of his nose so hard Percy thought he might snap it off.
Zoe sighed, leaning over to give Percy a soft kiss on the cheek before she got up and meandered over to the pair, with Thalia immediately throwing an arm over her shoulder and chatting up a storm to Tristan. They were a ways away. Away enough that Percy couldn't quite hear what they were saying and evidently tried too hard to tell, because he didn't notice Galahad approach until he'd plopped down right next to him.
"Y'know... if I'd known she'd be as much of a pain as she was I wouldn't have brought you blokes along in the first place."
Percy snorted out a laugh as he watched the group from across the landing, "I'll take it you're not on team Thalia, then?"
"Oh, I'm fine with her." Galahad replied, "But Tristan..."
Percy couldn't help but smile as he watched Thalia hold her hands wide in front of her, still chatting up a storm as Tristan shot Galahad a side eyed save me you bastard stare.
Galahad ignored the look and turned to Percy, "He's never been much of a talker, and he's a little on edge after... all that."
Percy grimaced at the knight's words, "Who were those two, anyways?"
"Dante and Virgil." Galahad replied, "Poets from long, long ago. Dante wrote Divine Comedy, as well as Inferno. They know all about, well..." He waved his hands about, "... this place, and for some asinine reason have taken a liking to it."
Percy let out a shallow breath at Galahad's explanation, "And what exactly do you make of... all that?"
The knight was quiet for a moment, before he let out a soft sigh. He stood up, dusting off his pants as he plucked his sword up off the ground and gave Percy a look.
"What I make of it..." He replied, momentarily pursing his lips as he chose his words, "...Is that the sooner there's no Knights in the pit, the better. So let me know when you're ready to get a move on."
He didn't give Percy time to reply, rotating on his heels and walking back over to the group, leaving Percy sat in his position.
Percy huffed out a breath, grabbing Moskstraumen and holding the blade out in front of him. He held the blade up, hovering his free hand in front of the flame to warm himself up as he clamped his eyes shut and let thoughts invade his mind.
Thoughts about the two poets.
Thoughts about their little chess game.
Thoughts about what they'd said to him.
Thoughts that Percy didn't exactly enjoy having and thoughts he could only assume weren't going to inprove the longer he stayed in the pit. He felt a very cold breeze flow over his body, the air seeming to almost whisper in the darkness as it passed him over.
He frowned a bit, letting the flames of his blade heat up his palm a little bit more before he opened his eyes, just about as ready as he'd ever be.
"Alright Galahad. Let's get this shit over-"
His words caught up in his throat as he turned towards where his group was, and was met with nothing.
Nothing as in nobody was there. No Thalia. No Tristan. No Galahad.
No Zoe.
Percy was on his feet in an instant, sword held high as he moved it from side to side, looking for any trace of them.
There wasn't one.
"Hello? Guys?" The words seemed to come out as barely a whisper in the darkness, and didn't do anything to quell the panic he could feel rising.
"Galahad? Tristan? Thalia?" The names came out in a more worried tone, the panic barely held back for them but not at all held back for the next one.
"Zoe?"
Nothing. Not a sound, nor a movement. Like they'd all just up and vanished. Percy took a moment, trying to calm himself or look for an explanation, before he heard something. Something that rang out from the dark and sounded familiar. Familiar because he'd heard it just before he'd entered this place.
A little girls laugh.
He whirled around in an instant and held up the sword, the blade barely illuminating the space in front of him, but doing enough that he could see an outline.
An outline of a little girl, standing right by a cave entrance he hadn't seen before.
The little girl was still, as was Percy, the two of them seemingly frozen in place before the little girl giggled again.
"Are you lost?"
Her voice was... familiar. Very familiar. Familiar enough that Percy voice choked up in his throat before he worked his jaw loose.
"Yeah. I am." He breathed.
"That's okay." She said, turning away with another giggle, "I know the way."
She turned on her heels and marched into the tunnel, with Percy hesitating for a moment before... something told him to follow, which he did hot on her heels. She moved quickly, very quickly, weaving through the tunnels as Percy tried his best to catch up and keep up.
"Where are you taking me?" He asked, making the girl laugh to herself again.
"What do you mean, silly? I'm taking you home."
Percy felt his brow furrow as he picked up his pace a little, "What do you mean home?"
All this did was bring another giggle, "You'll see."
He wanted to ask more questions, but didn't get the chance before she quickly darted around another corner. Percy skidded to a halt and followed her through the passage, which led him into an opening.
The room he'd followed her into was very different from the last. It was brighter than the others, illuminated by the floor which glowed a milky white colour. The walls went up high and the ceiling was far out of sight, if there was one at all. He barely took in the room, though. He couldn't be bothered, his focus was locked on this little girl.
She was standing in the middle of the room, right on the glowing floor, facing away from him but illuminated enough that he could make out a couple details.
Black hair.
Deep, caramel skin.
A t-shirt he only now could make out was orange.
He took a few steps towards her and she must've heard, because she turned around and he got a good look at another detail. One that made his heart swell up in his chest.
Deep, sea green eyes.
He took another few steps as he felt his breath get heavy and he reached out towards the little girl. His jaw was tight, clenched up with his teeth gritted to leather as his mind started to make sense of all this. He swallowed whatever nerves he could bear to stomach and said one thing. A name.
"...Sally?"
The little girl smiled, a beaming grin missing a few baby teeth as she took a few steps forward and grabbed his relatively massive hand with her tiny ones.
"We found it, daddy."
He felt his eyes blink multiple times as he gave his head a gentle shake.
"We... we found what?"
Her smile fell, dropping from her face in an instant. Her eyes narrowed and her brows furrowed and her expression became one that was so foreign to what had come before that it almost disturbed Percy. She gripped his hand tighter and pulled him another step closer.
"Home. We found home, Percy."
Percy felt his heart that had already clenched up in his chest squeeze itself up into his throat. He opened his mouth to speak, to ask a question, to demand a clear answer, but couldn't before he felt a hand grip his shoulder and spin him around.
It was Galahad, with a panicked look on his face.
"What the bloody fuck are you doing?"
His words hissed out of him, and seemed to snap Percy out of whatever stupor he was in. His shook his head and looked back over his shoulder, only to see the image of his daughter gone.
"I... I though I saw..."
He trailed off as he turned back forward and saw Zoe, Thalia, and Tristan all near the entrance of the room, looking at him with concern.
"Saw what? What did you see?" Galahad pressed, "Because you just looked straight through us like we weren't even there then wandered off like some jackass. Wouldn't have found you if not for your girlfriend."
Percy took in his answer and tried to figure out his own. He shot another look over his shoulder, taking in the still empty space, before he turned back forward and slowly looked at Zoe. He took in her expression, took in her concern, and more than anything, took in the fact that she was listening, very intently, to whatever it was he had to say.
What did he have to say, anyways? That he saw their daughter who didn't exist and followed her like an idiot? He swallowed his answer and gave his head a soft shake.
"Nothing." Percy replied, "It was nothing."
Galahad huffed out a breath and gave his shoulder a squeeze, "Alright. Well if you're done with your little fuck-off-and-wander we found the way down, so let's-"
He stopped talking. Suddenly, so much so that it was off-putting. His eyes went wide and his body seemed to freeze as he met Percy's eyes with a bit of panic.
"What?" Percy asked in a hushed tone, "What is it?"
The group behind the knight started to move forward but Galahad's hand shot up, as if to tell them to stop. His hand squeezed Percy's shoulder tighter and he brought his free hand in front of him, pointing down at their feet. Percy followed his finger and felt his heart once again tighten up in his chest.
There was a reason the ground glowed slightly. It's because it wasn't ground at all.
It was ice.
He felt his breath hitch as he heard a sound that did nothing calm either of them. A sound that may as well have been a gunshot with how it rang out.
A crack. Then another. Then another.
Percy watched in horror as cracks spread out from the two men's feet, splitting the ice around them and spreading out over the surface.
Percy felt his eyes raise, and snap immediately to Zoe. He saw her catch the cracks in the ice, and watched her eyes meet his, fear and terror and frustration all clear as day, all as she made a choice rifgt then and there.
She surged forward, reaching out as she did, but it didn't matter.
Because the two men only got another second of solid ground before another crack rang out, the ice shattered, and the two men plunged down into the pit.
