I Don't Own Percy Jackson

Everything moved and shifted, the void I had been standing in was changed, as I blinked and looked around, Silena was gone, which was a bit worrying, but the Fates wouldn't kill her, well... They probably wouldn't he own fate has already been dramatically altered by me.

Ok, scratch that, kind of very worried now, she shouldn't be hurt to the point of death, Fate doesn't do things this heavy handed... I think... That's the problem with this, the Fates honestly don't get any real screen time in the books, I don't think they ever actually had any line of dialogues in the books, or if they did, I don't remember it. I had to go of research I've managed to get from the actual myths instead of foreknowledge to navigate this... it made it trickier.

Still, I just looked around, staring at the walls of the stone grey room I seemed to find myself in. Interesting, the Fates said there was three parts, but there was four pieces of the Prophecy I was given, meaning there is some double duty in here that they didn't tell me about, but assuming everything is right here, and it's still going in order, that means that loyalty is up first...

So, proving my loyalty, then my body, mind, and soul... No big deal, I can do those last three without issue... Loyalty though, I had no idea how that was suppose to be proven. I have cool numbers to show off how strong and smart I am, I have a cool spirit in my chest and a System that makes my life very easy for a soul, but... Loyalty doesn't have a number attached, or if it doesn't I certainly can't see it, and I don't see how I can prove it by myself in a maze of all things...

Meaning...

Hmm... Curious, I think it's about time to get a move on.

The room I was in was sealed off, all four walls were the same length, the walls, ceiling, and floor all the exact same color, heck, everything was even lit up perfectly, for a normal person, they'd think they were in an massive void with no up or down if they didn't know how to center themself with their body. As it stood, I wasn't normal people, my Perception with the mods was half way to the two hundreds, and I had a perk that boosted my senses.

I also wasn't stupid.

I was in what looked like a small sealed room, but I was also breathing, and that wasn't getting harder, meaning that there was a way out of here if the air could escape, I just had to find it...

Or...

[Notice: Skill [Umbrakensis: Shadow Travel] has been negated!]

Yeah, that seems about right, can't have anything be easy for me now can it? And since this room is perfectly lit up, I can't sense any shadows around here, so I can't get a hint that way either.

"Agis" I spoke the word and held out my hand as I flooded some Spirit into my wind skill as I closed my eyes and felt about. It wasn't perfect, sense through air currents was near impossible for me, I wasn't really connecting with the wind, just making it go where I wanted it to. But I could still guide the wind how I wanted, and when I was controlling it, I knew where it was heading in regards to my own body.

With that, I blasted the wind out from all around me, and felt. It was sort of like echolocation, I was in the exact center of the room, so if the wind for one part went even the bit further than it would in any other direction, then I had an idea about the exit.

It worked, because of course it did, as I moved, heading to my left, as I stared up at the wall in front of me, before placing my hand on it, and then through it like it wasn't even there, I just grinned. Cool, I could have just patted around the walls until I found this... but, I had a theory.

With that in mind, I reached into my bag, just for a second, and pulled out my old cloak, still covered in my own blood... I just stared at it for a moment, before balling it up and tossing it at the far wall. The second it made contact, I watched as the blood on the shirt smoked before bursting in to flames, I just smirked before saying out loud.

"It's a maze, and if I make a single wrong decision then I die. There isn't three tests, it's one big test with three parts to it. I have to solve the maze, that's the mind, I have to get out alive, that's the body, I have to prove myself to you three about who I am, that's the soul... I haven't figured it all out yet, loyalty... is questionable here. I hope this gives me some brownie points" I was lying, I already figured the rest out. Loyalty was the most simple of them all.

Percy isn't here, both me and the Fates needed him to go with Zoe to finish that quest, but someone else was here, I wasn't alone at the moment. Silena, she was with me, and I have to chose whether to leave here with or without her, to decide if it's worth finding her. It was a good test, hit all four at once, and the Fates knew me to well to think I wouldn't be able to figure out something about what was happening, so might as well give them everything they could think, all while hiding what they didn't need to know I had figured out.

If I knew everything that was going to happen, or at least, if they knew I knew, then things would be unpredictable, or they could argue I made my decisions with bias because I knew what I was suppose to do, therefore making the showing of my character discredited because I wasn't acting like myself.

...This also happens to be exactly what I would do anyway cause I'm a cunning bitch like that, and therefore this what I always act like, aka, being myself.

So I'm in the clear, as I moved through the wall fully, letting my cloak burn in the first room, as I headed into what looked like a hallway, it was the same as the color from before, as I looked around, walking down it, careful to not touch anything... Right.

I held my hands in front of me, focusing on the stretch down the hall, on either side, before exhaling as dozen of tiny dots of inky darkness appeared on the ground, in two long rows before spiking out right at the walls, five went through, the rest didn't. I released the darkness as the spots vanished as I walked into the center of the hall and looked around at the five paths I now knew existed.

Right... This might get a bit more complicated than I thought.

Day 5!

I've decided to keep this little log in a notebook I found in my bag, I think I nicked it from Reese and Sam sometime last year, not sure though, I have a habit of just taking things and my memory is hardly perfect.

Anyways, I made one mistake, I can admit it on paper... I kind of thought the test would be quick and painless, it's not, time doesn't move here, it only moves when I interact with it, a room with a fake minotaur will still have that minotaur in it no matter how long I wait. Good news, I don't need food or sleep and my System counts personal time to regen health and my powers, but bad news, this is like the Lupa quest, I don't get experience, I don't get skill levels, and I don't get any breaks until it's all over.

Adriel has a way of keeping track of time, apparently my system has an in built personal clock on it that he can see that isn't paused. But the point stands, I'm in a death trap maze that can have anything and everything in it, it can be infinitely long, and I can't only worry about finding a way out, there is more here that I have to do past that. Prove myself and all that jazz...

Fun right? It's not, one wrong move and I die, literally. So I can't even move on autopilot like I did for most of Lupa's quest.

Bored now, I'm going to see if I can keep going, I'm going to be using the back of this notebook to path a course of everywhere I've been, and the front to keep track of everything else.

Plus, I figure it would be cool to have a little log right? I feel like an old cranky captain or something, out at sea making notes about my harrowing journeys!

Day 7

Bored! I jumped off a ledge and found myself in a pit with a bunch of stuff, it wasn't fun.

I nearly drowned that wasn't fun.

Water here is the same color as the walls, that sucked and was very hard to figure out how to swim in since I had no idea what was and wasn't water. I broke my hand trying to swim on land.

Not eating is weird

Day 14

I'm so fucking bored! I killed a massive snake thing by making it eat enough flames I could have put it on a stick and used it as a barbeque example. Then I fell through the ground twice, I broke my leg from what was a forty foot drop at least.

It's how I figured out there was multiple levels to this place. Adriel is probably the only reason I haven't gone insane from all the grey shit. He's taken to floating around with me, well, he isn't actually, like, outside my body, or else I'd have him scout, but the color helps.

The last twenty pages are filled with paths and turns and half of it overlaps, I'm giving up on trying to map this place, it's impossible.

Day 25

Been a bit, mostly I just forgot. I've been spending more time just wandering around and using my illusions to get some from of entertainment, I use them to make the walls colorful, or to make them look like a projector so I can watch what little I remember from tv shows. I've already burned through every hand held game device I have, all the batteries are dead and I'm so fucking bored!

Day 45

I had more of these, but I ripped them out on accident when I was trying to get to a dagger to solve a puzzle room, those started showing up recently, I think it means I'm making progress, I don't really know, I just know it's exhausting being in here, and I've lost four pages.

To recap, I've fallen down two more holes, climbed at least two hundred feet up a wall that shouldn't be climbable but actually just had grips you couldn't see. That nearly took half a day.

Uh, I got stabbed a few times, there was phantom people in here that were more skilled and stronger than I was, the only reason I managed to kill them was because I had more powers. Doesn't matter how hard you can hit if I can stab your chest open with a dozen spikes of darkness or fry you into ash.

The puzzles are at least fun though, they are weird, like escape rooms, but you can't see what the room has in it. I've been using ash of the people I've charcoaled, blowing them on the walls to be able to make imprints on whatever was around on the walls that I shouldn't be able to see. It took ages, I had to kill a lot of things, and I got really fucking hurt, a lot.

Seriously, I haven't gone a day past... twenty I think? that I haven't nearly died at least once or twice. The further I get, the stronger and harder everything becomes... And I don't get any stronger to compensate, I'm stuck where I'm at. I haven't had to rely on stat points just yet, but I figure it's just a matter of time before I have to use the rest.

I miss sleeping.

I miss eating.

Hell I even miss having my period, at least that would have broken the boredom up.

Day 65

Why am I doing this to myself again?

I found the exit, I did it, it's taken to long, but I found it, it even has a plate on it like an emergency exit, red with big words telling me that this was the way to freedom, and I can't take it.

Not yet.

I have to find Silena.

I don't want to find Silena.

Day 66

I left the exit.

Day 90

Adriel forced me to take a break, he's moody, I can't blame him, I'm going stir crazy here, I think I've been stir crazy.

I think I'd like to just be normal crazy, that's more fun.

Day 100

Day one hundred... wooo

I found out there are safe rooms here, sort of, there are areas where the challenges won't leave there rooms to find you.

Oh, right, around day seventy time... unpaused, not for me, but for everything else, it's not static anymore, anything and everything in here is moving and I can run into hoards of them at a time. Safety rooms are the most important thing I've found to keep myself alive.

Trying to recap everything would be a waste of time, it's just the same day in and day out.

I think I'm going to stop writing for a while.

Day 123

When I get out of here, I'm going to get a milkshake.

One of every flavor, and then I'm going to stir it all together and give myself the biggest brain freeze mankind has ever known.

Day 135

I stopped making jokes or quips a few weeks ago, I miss it, but even I have to run out of new things to say after four months of this shit.

I'm tired, but I'm mostly just going through this with spite in mind at this point.

I've already put thirty points evenly throughout my physicals stats, I'm kind of committed at this point.

Day 152

Adriel and I mostly just spend the days talking now, even he's gotten bored with all this.

I got a notification as well, Unyielding Spirit negated the effect Insanity, that's... something I guess.

I don't feel anymore sane, but I guess that's subjective.

Day 173

4,152 hours

That's how long it's been since I last slept

Since I last ate, since I last saw the sun, since... I lived on earth.

I can't call anyone, have I ever mentioned that? iris messaging and my ring don't go anywhere, they create feedback loops, like a call connecting to itself. I nearly caused a cave in last time I tried. I think I'm going to try again, see what happens.

I'm bored, and even the puzzles and encounters are boring me, nearly dying has long since become boring, I don't even notice the broken bones anymore.

Day 199

I wonder if given the chance, would it be worth it to just leave?

I'd die, but it would be better than this.

Maybe I was wrong? Silena might not even be in here.

If that's the case, should I just give up?

What the fuck am I even thinking about?

Giving up, fucking what a stupid idea.

FUCK THAT!

AND FUCK YOU FATE!

MOMMA DIDN'T MAKE NO LOSER!

I ignored the fact that I had never met my mother as I finished writing down the large note that took up half the bottom of the page as I filled it with curses. I thought about just waiting until tomorrow, that was happening in a few minutes always, but one ninety-nine was off by one and if anyone ever finds this notebook, I want them to be pissed about it being one off from even.

Still, two hundred days, four thousand eight hundred hours, about six and a half months here.

Wild to think about, I wonder if Percy is even done saving Annabeth already?

I was siting down at the moment, resting the many broken bones I had, to list them would just be boring, just I couldn't walk or run right now, and fighting on them sucked, so I was letting them heal for the time being as across from me on one of the infinite matt-grey walls, I had the imagine of the lake at Camp Half-Blood splayed on it. The waters moving over fake sunlight.

It was the illusion I used the most I think, it made me feel better to see the outside world.

If I didn't have Adriel with me, I think I would have lost my mind in the first two months. Not being able to see any color at all besides my stuff would have been an absolute hell, but not having someone to talk to would had been so much worse.

I'm a social guy, this wasn't... my scene. Pure stubbornness and spite can get a person really fucking far, and I guess this is the proof about just how stubborn I was.

I could go for longer, I don't think there was anything I couldn't just willpower myself through, but everyone had a limit. I wasn't stupid, and I knew I wasn't unbreakable, I was damn close, and realistically I could go forever without breaking. Really, I couldn't lose my mind, no matter what, my System just wouldn't allow it, I didn't need food, I didn't need sleep, sadly, I could go forever.

The only thing that was keeping me going was knowing if I failed then I would die. I've found the exit four more times since I first found it months ago, always in another spot, eventually I would stop caring about the idea. Almost dying was boring now, my pain tolerance, even without the skill itself, was a bit past the point of any normal person should have. If it wasn't so inconvenient, I don't think I'd even notice the injuries.

I didn't even wear anything anymore, well, sort of, I only had a sports bra and shorts made from my old jeans on. The blood made it way to difficult to move in after a while to have any large sections of clothes, not to mention it was super uncomfortable, it was easier to clean with so little less to clean up whenever I found a river or pond or water in general.

Made them grey after a while, like they had been dyed, but I wasn't complaining.

[Adriel: It's day 200 now Nick]

Oh, thanks buddy.

[Adriel: Np]

Give it up for day two hundred. Right, time to get to it then.

Rising to my feet, I looked around for a moment before sighing, running a hand through my hair, it was wild and unkempt, if there was any dirt in here it would be worse, but there wasn't.

Silena would have a fit...

Shaking my head, hard, at the idea, I turned and moved, heading to the closest arch way. I was in some kind of central room with a grey fountain in the middle, it was boring as fuck, and it had a lot of paths out, seven in total. I was just guessing, I wasn't allowed to touch the outer walls, but any path wouldn't kill me.

I figured that out over time, and through some very close calls with nearly burning myself to death, if I could scar, half my back and most of both my arms would look like a burn victim.

...Something was happening, a soft grinding sound entered my ears. My senses had been honed sharply over time, with nothing else here, any sound meant danger so I didn't have much of a choice, as I slowly looked around, my hands falling to my side, waiting. I was in a safe zone, nothing should be able to get in here, but these rooms hadn't existed before when I first got here, and I had a very sharp feeling that they weren't going to exist for much longer.

The room was about twenty feet across in both directions, a little less because Senses of Theia activated, as I spun around, my hand shooting to my bag, pulling a dagger as I threw it right as a solider in ancient looking armor rounded the corner just in time for the dagger to implant itself deep into the warriors skull. The thing broke apart into a bunch of grey mist that vanished soon after as I spun around, flinging a second dagger straight ahead into another's skull, before the room was swarmed with them.

At least one from each door, some with multiple, as they moved into the room, it wasn't to much longer after that more and more came from the same spots. Barely a few seconds between the next wave. By the time that ten seconds had past, there was at least twenty people around me, approaching fast.

They all had swords as I just sighed in annoyance, pulling out my own as the first approached.

They were boring, just because my skills didn't level up, which gave me a boost to my natural ability, doesn't mean natural growth doesn't happen. And I was a demigod, our natural talent for combat didn't just slow down, System growth being paused or not.

Moving forwards, my sword shot up, clashing into the first's blade as I spun around as they tried to keep up with the pressure, a dagger coming to my off hand as I spun around and jammed it into the base of the skull before ripping it out to block an incoming strike as my sword rolled around into my grip before slicing upward in a harsh arc that ripped through the chest, stumbling the warrior back.

Spinning around I blocked another strike, letting the blade travel down my own, bringing up closer before, with a flick of the wrist, the blade was tossed away as my sword rotated up and in the same motion sliced the head clean off.

I barely turned in time to avoid a slash from a blade as I flung my off hand out as the dagger hilted itself in the throat, as the armored being broke away, as I gritted my teeth and spun around before with a back hand motion, a wave of blistering hot golden yellow flame rolled out from in front of me and followed like a wave, slamming into at least half of the group, as I twisted around, the flames dancing around, just in time for a blade to slice itself across my shoulder.

My own sword found itself buried deep inside the helmet, as the thing stumbled back before dying as the body jerked my footing forwards before my blade was freed. The off footedness made another sword gash itself harshly against my side as I gritted my teeth, glaring at the solider as I rushed forwards, shoulder checking the fucker to the ground, before stomping so hard onto it's head that the helmet shattered as the being broke into mist.

Spinning around I ducked as a blade swiped at my head level just in time to not lose any hair, as I fell forwards into a roll, springing up in time to slam myself into the gut of another one, slamming it to the ground, as I gritted my teeth, spinning around my back now nearly to one of the far walls. There was about twenty still with more pouring in, with the massive wall of flames in the back covering at least three of the doors.

My blade curled through the air down in a wrist spin, slicing through the downed figure while my other hand came up and with an insane level of Trade Off from Mana to Spirit, the level of focus and amount made me nearly see double.

"Fuck off" A wave of air with so much pressure behind it, rolled out from in front of me, so strong that it launched all of them off their feet, flying back with enough force it would easily kill a normal human, these weren't normal humans, but the fire that consumed them and grew twice in size from the amount of oxygen pressed into it did enough to kill these things anyways.

I was already panting, I was burning through my mana way to fast just to hold that fire up, just used over thirty thousand Spirit for that spell, and my body couldn't handle that level of strain.

The fact that I was still nursing some internal bleeding and fractured bones from before this started didn't help.

I still managed to duck from the swipe at my head as from the path to my right came another one, I managing to spin around, my off hand shooting up, as I grasped onto the wrist of the blade and tugged on it hard, as I managed to rip the blade from the being as I raised it up in time to block another attack my actual sword came up and killed the one who's blade I just took, and before the sword could vanish with the misting person, my blade shot up and stabbed itself through the stomach of the fucker, a quick twist and a rip and it was dead.

Then I jumped as a blade nearly found itself slicing through my back like hot butter, as I rolled before springing up, gritted my teeth as my vision blurred again. I was nearly out of mana already, the heat in the room was making it hard to breath without feeling like my lungs were being dried out, and I was already forming heat blisters on my back. The warriors didn't even seem to notice it, but it was keeping now most of the doors blocked off... I needed to make a run for it then.

Fighting my way through the few that had come out of their own paths, I managed to only get cut a bit more across my lower chest, before I was stumbling down the closest hall way, doing my best to not touch the walls as I finally released the fire wall. I didn't have enough Mana to hold it anymore without risking not having enough later. My vision was doubling, probably the blood loss, that always seems to be the thing that comes closest to killing me.

I pressed my hand over my stomach and just pushed a patch of darkness onto my skin as it hummed with a child to it, as I used the little bit of mana I had left on healing myself up enough that I could breath without pain and so I wasn't about to stumble over from blood being in places it shouldn't.

The hallway I was walking down had the warriors seemingly just meld out of the walls, I just killed them on the way as I rushed down the path, as dozens of footsteps echoed down the hall as I rushed down it. When I wasn't using them to murder I was using two swords, because I had a few, to scrap along the walls to try and find another hidden path to rush into a new zone that I could get in and hide out for a while.

And then I hit a dead end.

The path ended, no way out, I had taken the wrong road, as I just stared at the wall in front of me, poking it a few times with my sword just to sure I was seeing this right... I just huffed as I gave the wall a very disappointed look as the sound of hundreds of foot steps marched down the hallway behind me.

"You betrayed me wall! I thought we had a connection! You were grey and boring, and I wasn't!" The wall, predictably, didn't answer. Which was good, if it did, then I think the warriors fast approaching along the long curving path I took would have been the least of my issues. Or at lest, they would stopped being the one I focused the most on at the moment.

There was no way I wasn't going to have a conversation with a wall is what I'm saying, I've so fucking conversation starved to be able to talk with literally anything that wasn't a butterfly I'd totally try bantering with a wall.

Sadly, the wall still didn't talk as I turned around and watched as the warriors approached, there was dozens of them already, someone finding themselves in an order, four rows of them, the ones in front swords held out ready... Right, I just pouted.

"I'm going to be really piss when I get to the Underworld, I wasted so much fucking time and I didn't even find Silena! Such fucking bullshit"

[Adriel: Are you actually giving up?]

I snorted, hell no I wasn't butterbuddy, I just needed a moment to think... mostly just making a list in my head about if this was going to be worth it.

[Adriel: Never call me butterbuddy again]

Can't hear you to busy thinking, and stop wasting my Spirit please!

I didn't get an answer after that, as I took a breath in, before deciding... fuck it.

[Notice: [Trade Off] has been used to an extreme level: 35 Constitution has been removed permeant]

[Notice: Skill [Trade Off] has granted the user 35,000 Mana; If you do not use all mana within five seconds, you will die]

I nearly doubled over from pure agony as my entire body felt like it was being burned alive as I just gritted my teeth, holding my hand up as I watched as literal smoke rolled off of it, as I half shouted out as a stretch of darkness pooled in front of the approaching four rows of now at least two or so hundred warriors.

I managed a smirk

"I learned this one from my great granny" With a grunt of effort, from the pool of darkness shot out dozens of needle point thin spikes that were insanely strong, insanely long, and insanely hard to control, as they shot forwards, skewering the entire line all the way down to the hall were I grunted and forced the shadows to continue to go further, dozens of them stretched out over at least a few hundred feet, at a speed so ridiculous even I had an issue following it.

That's what happens when you pump three times the amount of Mana you should have, into one single attack, as my vision blurred out again as I fell onto my knees. The coughing started right after as I hacked and hacked up more than a safe amount of blood as hundreds of warriors broke apart in front of me.

Then I managed with a grunt to reach out and place my hand onto the shadow I had created and still existed, before it moved up. I was ready to have it take me back to the center room, because even if I couldn't go to anywhere else, I could still move through my own darkness, not even Fate could stop that, when the shadows froze before breaking apart, as I felt my arms give up as I landed badly on my front as I just let out a long groan.

The sound of new footsteps came as I managed to lift my head up as I watched with a dizziness to my vision, as a new set of four rows of warriors come... I was already to late, I lost grip on the darkness somehow, I couldn't get back without fighting them all, and... Well, I wasn't in the shape to do that.

All the same, I just grunted and got myself back up to my feet, even as I swayed as I watched as they approached in that imperial march, I managed a grin as I imagined just how stupid they would look if I put music over their little stomping walk. Then I just took a deep breath before looking down... Alright then, time for the big guns I guess.

Literally this time.

I reached into my bag, pulling out a single Stygian Iron bullet, the last one I had left, it had already been fired ages ago, but I re-fitted it into a new casing through trial and error over the course of the last few months so it would be ready when I needed it. I just looked at the thing for a moment, before unholstering my gun from my barely still holding on belt, flicking it open to look at the empty chambers before slotting it into the top barrel, flicking it close, and then with a slightly shaking hand, pulled the hammer back as I tilted my head, looking down the sight, right at the group.

I honestly had no idea what was about to happen, but I wasn't ever dying when I had a trick up my sleeve. I just really wished I didn't have to use this now.

My finger found the trigger, I was ready to pull it, just waiting as long as possible to get the most in the 'blast radius', my hands shaking, they were covered in blood, it was weird just how used to the sight I was at this point. My hand just began to tense, as I readied myself for the hell that was about to open up before me, my finger just starting to pull back when... I stopped.

Because the warriors had stopped, just stopping barely more than a few feet in front of me, but stopped all the same, as I slowly blinked, before tilting my gun to the side, staring at it.

I hadn't fired yet?

"Nick!" I stopped thinking, the first actual voice I had heard outside my own in months, as I spun around, not caring anymore about the things in front of me, all of which with their swords up, ready to strike, because I recognized that voice.

As I turned around, and I saw her, I felt my breath catch, as the grey melted away to the nothing that I hadn't seen in so long. Silena was in front of me, her hand over her mouth, she looked... disheveled. I just managed a grin, it wasn't hard as I said.

"Hey! There you are! Do you have any idea what time it is young lady?" She just huffed, looking at me with wide eyes, like she was looking for something, I just stared down, noted the fact I was literally wearing a bag, a fancy arm guard, short shorts, and a bra two necklaces covered in trinkets, with a gun in my hand with the rest of me covered in blood... I found nothing wrong with this sight, so I just looked up back at her. "What's up?"

"I- I'm sorry" I just blinked.

"What about? I mean, I have no idea what's happening at the moment, but you're here, you look safe, and everything seems fine, so... I'm chill" Not really, I did almost just die, but I totally might have been able to get away anyways, so I'm good. The dealing of being in front of impossible odds was something I've long since adjusted to. Admittedly that was the closest I've come in a while, but I wasn't all that scared, mostly annoyed.

"Heh... Of course you are" She moved forwards, slowly, holding a hand up before dropping it just as fast, before looking away. "I- uh... I wasn't in the maze, but I-... I was watching. The Fates made me watch" I blinked in mild shock at that before thinking it over, and then saying.

"Oh... Are you awkward because of the stress relief stuff I did? Because I can say I will never be using the hilt of a-" Silena turned bright red and suddenly a hand was on my mouth as she looked away.

"Please... just... no! I do not want to think about... that right now ok! I'm trying to be serious" I just snickered as she removed her hand. I didn't really see the big deal, but everyone was so modest about everything.

"Why? I found you! Sure, you weren't in the maze, which is super annoying, but like, whatever, you're safe and sound so I'm good" She just stared at me, before shaking her head.

"How can you just... Be fine with this! You were in there for so long! I- I lost count!"

"Two hundred days exactly, over six months of pure unfiltered hell. I'm very aware"

"How are you- How are you fine!"

"Because you are, that's good enough for me" She looked like I just told her I bombed a small elderly home. Like my words made no sense and therefore counted be real, but on the off chance it was, she couldn't wrap her head around it anyways. I had no idea what about this was so confusing, so I just continued to look at her, waiting for her to make actual sense.

"But... I thought you hated me?!" I blinked, again, I was doing that a lot before I let out a quick wheezing laugh at how ridiculous that was!

"Of course not! I can't hate you, you're Silena"

"What? But, back at camp, before all this, you said-"

"I said I wasn't going to give you another chance to hurt me. That doesn't mean I stopped liking you! Don't be ridiculous, you're my best friend, I love you, that doesn't mean I can't ask for space and for you to not beat around my emotions. In case you haven't noticed, I'm not really great at dealing with those" She just stared at me before sighing and looked away. Her face was still red, I wonder what that might mean.

"You... God you're so fucking weird!" She sounded so relieved and exasperatedly fond I just smiled, as I looked around, tilting my head to the side to look around Silena at the three old women sitting and waiting. They all looked like they each taken the same bite from a particularly sour lemon.

Good. I just reached up and patted Silena on the shoulder and said.

"Correct, glad we still have that sorted out. We'll talk more later, but I need to have a fun conversation with my aunts over there" She grimaced before nodding, as she moved so we were both standing in the same direction, before I blinked as something was draped over my shoulders as I looked over as Silena continued to star ahead, the jacket she had been wearing, an admittedly cute tan winter jacket over my shoulders, covering me more than I had in about... sixty days.

A burning warmth pulsed through my chest, as I just smiled a bit goofily, as I pulled the coat a bit closer as the two of us walked forwards to stand in front of the three Fates, as I said with a smug grin.

"So, how'd I do coach? Last time I checked, I totally had that fight, but thanks for the save" Silena did her best to keep looking serious and to not shoot my a look, as I stared ahead at the three as they seemed to have a silent conversation before the one on the far left, the one that had talked last time, Atropos, spoke up with not to hidden distaste.

"Your... resilience was impressive" I just hummed, looking mildly interest as she gritted her teeth as I motioned for her to continue, she clearly didn't like that I was still alive, "Your intelligence is admiral, and your strength near unparalleled. We have one last question for you, you had many chances to escape, and yet you didn't. Why?"

"I didn't know where Silena was, if she was in there, then I would have to find a way back in if I left without her. She's to important to leave something like that to chance" Atropos's face twisted up more, like she was hating that I said that, but couldn't really begrudge or use my words against me. Silena just was giving me a look, she was being weird, but I did a lot of... stuff while I was in there to stave off boredom.

Oh, she probably saw what I did with that mason jar, that group of snakes, and that piece of charcoal I had... In my defense, the explosions were pretty cool after the fact.

"I see. Your loyalty to your friend is commendable, as well as your strength of mind is something to behold" I just hummed and said.

"I could have told you that, but what's the end verdict? Am I about to blow my brains out?" Silena shot me a startled look while all three Fates just frowned, looking between each other once more, before I watched as from right to left, Clotho reached into the basket that was filled with yarns, before picking up a small... something, it looked like a cap of some kind. I didn't know the name of it, but it was one of those things you'd find on newsboys in Britain in the olden days.

She moved the hat to her left, to Lachesis, who picked it up, before she turned it over, like she was doubly checking the work, as I got a better look at it, the thing looked high quality, but these were the Fates, I think they only could make good stuff.

The hat was cool looking, black with some kind of fluttering orange colored pattern rolling from the middle of the back around to the front before spiraling up and around on the top. From what I could see, if a person looked at it straight down from the top, it would look like hundreds of butterflies forming the outline of burning wings against a midnight black fabric. The hate was insane looking, when it moved, the pattern on the hat looked like it was moving, as Lachesis handed it over to Atropos, seemingly approving of whatever she had been checking.

Atropos herself, just quietly held the thing in her hands. I noted it was big, or at least, clearly not made for a kid's head, but not quite the size of the Fate's other projects. It wouldn't take a giant to wear this piece of clothing at the very least. Finally, Atropos held out her hand, holding the hat out to me, as I just moved forwards, as I stepped closer to the Fates than probably any mortal ever has, and picked up the hat, as I flipped it around in my hands, they looked small compared to the thing, as I looked it over.

[String of Fate: Nicolas King-
This is the representation of the String of Fate over Nicolas King. Given willing by the three Fates, to show their ceding control over any action or course involving his life and actions.
This hat is the embodiment of pure free will and can not be damaged, lost, or destroyed in anyway as long as the owner so chooses.

Rank: S+]

"There is no point in continuing this talk, you know what this means, you have ruined our plans, be thankful mortal that we are merciful, had you belonged to any other pantheon, you would not have been given a test to prove yourself. Be warned we are not the only controls of fates, and are not the last you shall clash with. But for your Greek life, you shall experience no hurls from us" I just smiled, as I stared down at the hat, the thing felt... special, as I looked back up at the woman and said.

"In that case, since we're saying our goodbyes, if I ever see any of you three again... I'll shoot each of you in the head, this has been the worst experience of my life, and if you ever try to repeat it, I will not be nearly as willing to play along" The three elderly women just stared at me in unadulterated shock as I just smiled and turned, heading to an equally stunned Silena as I called out from over my shoulder, "Mind sending us back?"

"Disrespectful brat!" I just laughed as we vanished, only for the breath catch in my throat as we appeared somewhere else.

Notices blocked my vision, I didn't care about them, waving them away as I looked around.

We were outside, somewhere, no idea where, but I didn't care, the sky was blue, the grass was green, I was surrounded by buildings all around me, and the outs of the world filled my eyes as I felt a massive smile pull on my face as a choked laugh pulled from my chest as I spun around, my eyes burning unwillingly as I looked around, at everything.

It was incredible. I spun around to Silena who was looking around with a similar level of amazement, as I just moved before I thought about it, as I pulled her into a tight hug and just cackled as she squeaked as I lifted her up and spun around in excitement. Loving just how I could touch her, a real person, feel the heat under her skin, the way she squirmed in my grasp, when she was suddenly hugging me back as we both laughed as people stopped and stared, I didn't give a shit.

"That was! That was crazy!" I just laughed as I said.

"No shit!" She patted my shoulder a few times as I dropped her back to the ground.

"Is this what your life all the time?"

"More or less"

"Gods... how?"

"I'm very persistent, one moment" I turned away, looked around, found a guy in a suit, moved over, grabbed him by his tie and yanked him down as he sputtered, "Hi, what's the date?" He just blinked, then realized he was talking to a mostly naked teenage girl, sputtered over his words even more and said.

"Why are you-" I just snapped my fingers in front of his face as his eyes zoned out as he spoke.

"December twenty-first" I just hummed, cool, perfect really, we were gone for only a few days...

"What city are we in?"

"New York" I smiled at that, as I looked over at Silena who was giving me a look.

"I don't have to teleport us! That's pretty nice of the Fates, I was expecting to show up in Greece or something. I wouldn't mind that actually, there is this small cafe in Trikala that has this amazing dish, no idea what it's called, but I had it ages ago and I want to try it again" She just kept staring, giving me a raised eyebrow, clearly asking if this was important, I just pouted as I turned back to the man and said.

"Do you have a car? And where is the nearest ice cream shop?" He nodded and answered as I snatched his keys before whistling happily as I moved past him to the direction he pointed off down the street, as I waved for Silena to follow. She just glanced back at the guy before asking.

"What did you even do to him?"

"I used the Mist, mortals are really easy to make them think whatever you want, when you have enough control over it. It's like charm speak in a way, just with more variation in what you can do, but it really only works on mortals. Anyone in the know it's not nearly as effective while your stuff works on anyone"

"And if I told you we shouldn't just steal a man's car?"

"He'll call about the theft and then the police can track down the car later if he really needs it. We're just barrowing it"

"And the ice cream?"

"I haven't eaten anything in over six months. I want ice cream"

"... Agreed, let's get going" I just grinned as we piled into the car, as I didn't bother with my deatbelt before we were shooting down the road as Silena let out a sharp huff and smacked me on the shoulder as we rocketed down the road. Sure, I could have just shadow traveled us there...

But fuck that, it's been over half a year since I got to do anything and that meant I had a lot of chaos to catch up on.

"Hey, look at me real quick" I blinked, as I glanced over at Silena, at the same time I floored the brakes and drifted harshly around a corner, burning rubber as Silena had to grab onto the door handle to not get flung around, she gave me a look at that, but before I could say anything, she reached up and plopped something onto my head as I blinked as the brim covered my eyes for a moment before the thing shrunk and moved, fitting onto my head as I blinked and glanced up into the rear view mirror as I floored it past a red light.

The hat the Fates had given me was sitting comfortably on my head, as I tilted my head to look at it. It wasn't bad, but I couldn't help but think it looked just a bit off as we shot down the street as Silena spoke up.

"You still have money right?" I laughed.

"I have more money than a person could ever spend. Want to buy an island and go on vacation?" She snorted at the idea, before shaking her head.

"No, but I do think we're in one of the biggest cities in America, and you look like a basket case. How about we go shopping after?" I blinked and thought about it as I drifted between two lanes, as the sound of sirens and honks filled my ears.

"Deal. This stuff is feeling tight on me for some reason" Silena moved over, looking me over a bit closer before exclaiming suddenly.

"You! I- You're bigger!" I blinked, looked down, mostly to pretend I wasn't currently outrunning three police cars as we shot through an intersection, at my chest and just made a 'huh' sound.

"Would you look at that. My tits seemed to be bigger" Silena snorted.

"Classy, but yeah, a bit over a cup size. And you're legs are longer as well, did you not notice?" I just shrugged.

"Nope, but that's neat, explains why this thing is stabbing me"

"You've worn a binder before, way longer than you should, how is that painful?"

"The straps are biting into my shoulders, it doesn't hurt, but it's annoying, here" I took my hands off the wheel as Silena finally made a sound of concern, as I reached behind my back and just pulled the damn thing off and tossed it at her. She let out a sound that sounded hilarious as my hands returned to the wheel in time to make a turn that nearly slammed us into two on coming cars.

"Please do not strip when we are in a police chase! And freaking hell Nick! At least close the jacket up! You're flashing half the city!" She sounded so humiliated from secondhand embarrassed that I just laughed as I looked around, looking for the place the man had mentioned as a helicopter flew over head of us. I wonder if we'll make it on the news? That would be cool.

"If they can see my tits at this speed then they deserve it. Besides, I'm thirteen if they get anything out of this then that's a whole other problem" She just sighed, rubbing her eyes before deciding it was better to just not try to out stubborn me on this one as she instead asked.

"Are you even thirteen anymore? You look older, and you were in there for a long time. You just changed suddenly when we left, even your hair has grown basically all the way back in, it looked like you have a mullet before I put the hat on" I just shrugged. The System had something to do with it no doubt, but I already got rid of the notices, so I'll have to wait until later to ask Adriel to show me the logs again so I know just what all I got from the quest.

I felt a bit stronger comparatively, so it was probably something really good, which only made sense for what was basically a six month long dungeon fight.

"No idea, I'll look into it in a bit, but for right now I want to eat my body weight in food and then get into some actual clothes, it's pretty chilly out" She snorted at that.

"No kidding, it's winter in New York and you have a jacket you don't have zipped up and a hat on" Yeah, that made sense.

"So, food, getting some clothes, and then heading on up to Olympus to talk with some gods, glad we have the day laid out before us!"

"Wait what?"

"Don't worry about it, just need to get some things sorted out" She just stared at me, I was fully expecting her to call me out or ask for an explanation, but in the end she just sighed, shaking her head as she looked out of her window and asked with a hint of worry.

"What are we going to do about the cops? I thought you could just trick whoever pulled us over, or I could talk us out of whatever, but that's... way to many" I just smiled, as we moved down a less crowded street and said.

"We passed the ice cream parlor about five minutes ago"

"Then... why aren't we there?"

"Because I just needed to know where it was to teleport there"

"Oh... Oh no! Nick don't you-!" She didn't have time to say anything, as I let go of the wheel as my two hands moved over, one hand snaking onto the hand brake and the other grabbed onto her, we fell into the shadows around the same time the entire car screeched to a harsh stop, going from ninety to zero way to quickly, as a long streak of burned rubber stretched on the road.

I didn't see it because we were spinning around in darkness before falling out onto the street right in front of the parlor in question as I smiled broadly up at the shop as Silena stumbled about, trying to gain her balance as I just held onto her shoulder to keep her steady as she just groaned before giving me a very sour look. And then just huffed as she reached up and forcefully closed and zipped my jacket up.

"You're a psycho you know that" I paused, the words familiar enough that Silena froze as well, her hands stilling as she had begun to pull away from the collar of her jacket that I was now wearing. She gulped, before saying softly, "I- I didn't mean..." She paused again before looking up at me, her chocolate eyes staring into mine, I faintly realized that I was about an inch and a half taller than her now, when before we were on eye level, as she said.

"I know we haven't talked about it... But are we ok?" I just hummed, looking away, before forcing myself to look back.

"I don't suppose we can talk about this later?" I sounded hopeful, but just ended up sighing when she gave me a particularly hard look, yeah, I figured not, "You're my best friend, I think I'm the same for you. But we've kind of sucked at being good friends, I apparently hurt you without really knowing, and you did the same. But I did just spend the last few thousand hours of consciousness looking for you and nearly dying a few times every day, so I'm pretty sure I'm to invested in this friendship to just stop it"

Silena was quiet for a long minute before finally saying.

"I don't like what you did, you... We both know you clearly don't care about a lot of things or people, but I really like you as well. I-... I think we can make this work, we both just sort of need to talk more about this stuff. Not now, but later, after we've had time to actually... process what just happened while we work on everything else, when we have time. Since apparently someone wants to talk to the gods" She sounded slightly faint at the side, I just nudged her side as we headed into the parlor.

"Why so nervous? I do it all the time, and you literally just meet the Fates, and those three grannies are real creepy some times" She snorted at that, before looking horrifying that she did so, looking around like she was expecting for a car to slam into her or something. I just snickered as we headed on inside.

I think we'll be ok, just might take some time, but that was way to serious for me right now. I just want to drink and eat an ungodly amount of horribly unhealthy food and not think about anything for a while, and just hang out with my friend, like I haven't been able to do in nearly ten months.

I wanted it to be funny... And then I realized I could make a living hell for someone like Nick, and then I thought, hey, that's more fun to write, and so here we are. You might be wondering why I would go back on my word, that's because I'm a jackass. And because while it would be cool to make this chapter real funny, I don't think it quite fits with the idea of a trial from three of the most powerful beings in existence, and for a bunch of other reasons that I can go into later when we see the next chapter and the fallout for everything that just happened in this one. Still, after the kind of insane beginning of the chapter, and a fight I wanted to put more detail into but sword play kind of is hard to write, we finally got to the funnies and a bit of character growth with Nick and Silena. I'm sure some have found it a bit annoying about how serious everything has been recently in the last few weeks of posting, but that's because fuck you... But no seriously, it's called character growth, while it would be fun to have a murder hobo all the time as the main lead, in any real setting, Nick would be the most hated person around and would no doubt do something so stupid he'd get himself killed. He nearly almost did with Nyx alone, and that's what sparked him finally acting a bit more comfortable and safe with his actions.