Passing his own credit card he grabbed from his wallet he gave it to the old man and placed in the pin needed for payment. Once it was done he grabbed the suitcase and placed a temporary charm that made it smaller. He fast paced back towards the bank and went back towards Nico, "Done?" Nico asked grumpily at being alone at such an unknown place.
Draco nodded, both stood up and went back to their quest of controlling their hunger.
3rd Person P.O.V.
Draco waved the old camera he found around. Nico was by his side with his new pocket home dangling on a makeshift necklace that Draco made for him. Both were in the entrance of one of the caves that King Minos told them about. He shared that old mortal cameras helped with travel while in the labyrinth. Draco didn't know how a camera would help with travel but whatever floats Minos's boat.
The entrance was in a park near New York, it was very late in night, and Draco swore he could see the small building of the big city from there. He ensured that there was some prepared food and water for they did not know how long they would take in the labyrinth. There where times when Draco would hear stories of those that traveled and were never seen again after leaving with nothing but their weapon. It's hard to know whether they died by becoming monster food or by starvation/dehydration.
One thing was for sure, Draco was going to teach Nico everything that he knew about their powers, he wanted to ensure that Nico practices safely and not suffer the fuck ups like he did. He wouldn't listen to him about going to their father for help, but he didn't really expect them to have a good relationship either.
Draco also wished to try and convince Nico to give the camp a chance, maybe he could point out the things that he learned in camp and get Nico interested in learning something.
Anything at that point really.
He snapped out of his head when he almost tripped by a rock. Cursing to himself he saw that Minos was talking to Nico again. He always did that, getting each other separate to talk to them, he had another motive with Nico and he didn't appreciate that.
He had the same feeling with his "Uncle Sevy" when he was younger, they might have a better relationship now, but it did take some time for it to be what it was today.
He walked towards Nico, interrupting Minos speech as he signed, 'Wanna learn how to fight? I was taught since I was six, so I know my stuff.' After reading the Greek words, Nico nodded, Draco smiled behind his mask he found something that interested his brother.
'Do you have a sword?'
Nico surprisingly said yes, that was weird, Draco didn't remember giving him any weapons (which was also dumb of him, demigods should ALWAYS have a weapon with them), the sword that he pulled was long and silver. There were a few hints of black on the sword though, it looked like the night sky. Nico must've seen the look of confusion of his body language as the kid explained that the sword was given to him by their father.
Draco won't admit the sudden flare of emotion that he had, he pushed it down, he wasn't jealous of his own brother.
He was not.
'That's nice, I'm glad that at least he does work for something!' He bitterly signed, Nico let out a small laugh at that before he asked what he was going to learn.
'Stands, you need the appropriate stands when battling, it could become your demise if you're not careful with it.'
"What kind of stands? Is it a combination of old and new moves over the years? How long does it take for me to learn?" Nico rambled on with question after question, he patiently waited until Nico was done to answer him. 'There's some Roman and Greek stands that have been passed down by the years, media did have an influence on them so most of them are modernized. They should be easy with our reflexes and how our brain is practically wired to fight. Practice does play a key in this as it took me years to learn them, I'm still learning now actually.'
With that explanation Draco dropped his bag to the ground and pulled out a stick to use as a spear.
He had to match Nico's sword somehow.
oOo
'Just like that,' Draco said as he looked over Nico's form proudly. Nico was a natural as he expected as a child of the big three, he did struggle a bit with his stamina, but that was something that they could work on later when they had more space for them to train. Draco followed Nico in his break as they sat on the narrow pathway of the labyrinth, they were walking by following the way that the old camera showed them without the mist trying to fool them. It was a genuine surprise that Minos did tell them something useful to prepare before they headed towards their adventure.
Speaking of Minos, he has been awfully quiet after their little training session. Draco wondered what was going on that ghosts head, he shook his head and looked over the tired Nico.
'Let's take a break here, I'll prepare some food, and you can choose where to place our sleeping bags in the meantime.'
"Okay," Nico yawned as he looked tired by the second. He looked like he hadn't rested in days.
One thing that Draco liked about Nico was his innocence, it was so child-like and it was something that he felt the need to protect. To protect that innocence from the life of a Demi-god, from any trouble that might arise, from Nico himself even.
He carefully grabbed the burned black figurine that Nico frustratedly threw his Hades figure to the fire. He was cooking their meal and thought that Nico was going to take this time to rest however, he was sitting there quietly and thinking.
It was dangerous.
This wandering thoughts that Nico would get, bursts of emotions had followed after that as he angrily went inside the bag that Draco had gotten him. He tried to get Nico to unlock the bag for them to eat together, but he didn't answer. Minos offered to talk to Nico, and he let him.
It was stupid of him to let Minos do it, but he needed some privacy for him to use his magic. Saying the spell to get things as they were before, Draco held the figurine towards himself.
He kept it in his pocket and went to sleep, suddenly feeling tired after the worry that he felt.
oOo
It was no surprise to him that Nico would blame him after taking what he needed from him. It didn't surprise him that much when he woke up to seeing himself alone in the labyrinth. He pinched himself first to see if this was a weird dream before he analyzed his surroundings.
The fire that he had put was out, it must've been recently as there were some red particles on the burned wood. Some of the food that he had on his bag were gone and the most important thing thing was that Nico and Minos were both gone.
He cursed and got up, not caring about the delicate object that he threw when he did that.
Nico did leave some stuff for him, but it was the fact that he left his Mythomagic cards with Draco. He always took those things with him, why the sudden change. His heartbeat rose as he was suddenly aware of his lack of light. He turned around towards the dying fire and cursed, Draco decided to say "fuck it" and pulled out his wand. It was his new light source, his only light source.
The white-blue light made his vision so much better, he decided to take off his mask and place it on his bag. What's the use of it if it was only going to bother him from then on? He didn't know why he still kept that crap around him, it was a dumb accessory given to him by someone that seemed to be the main villain of the story. It was given to him to mock him for the little bit of childhood that he still clings to as stupid as it was it was something that had value to him.
He shook his thoughts, back to analyzing, he looked at the floor and let out a gasp.
The camera... it was broken...
He broke it, cursing to himself he picked up the broken shards of the camera. It was an old one and as much as Draco hated to admit it, he wasn't good with old things (or technology in general), he couldn't fix it. Now he was stuck in the underground with no one knowing his whereabouts. This was just great, he thought to himself.
He was lost in the labyrinth, alone in the place where demigods are likely to die or become crazy, he was doing great. Draco checked if he could repair the the camera with his magic, he doubted that it could work as there was a reason why technology didn't connect with magic, especially old technology.
He tested it out and it did fix it, but it didn't keep that old charm that it had. Draco thinks that the magic made it like demigod magic, it didn't give him the darkness of the corridors as it did before. Giving him the illusion of being someplace lit with two pathways separating.
He left the camera on the ground, what's the point of having junk around him if it wouldn't work anyways? He headed forward, there was no use in lacking more than he should.
oOo
It felt like days had passed as Draco moved inside the labyrinth. He was surprised that he hadn't gone crazy yet, he supposed that maybe it was a sign that he wouldn't fall to The Black Madness that his kin often fell into. He really doesn't wish to have any aspect of that from his Black bloodline. Draco wondered when exactly did that whole thing start anyway?
He yawned, he felt so very tired.
It was a weird feeling at first but as time passed on and the hours seemed to blur, Draco can't exactly remember when he last slept. Fatigued could be an understatement with how he felt. He understood now why people would go crazy in this place, the time blends in with how much you walk, you can feel yourself growing tired as you pass by the endless corridors that might lead you to your death. It was not a good feeling at all.
In a way it felt like he was in the abyss, "You stare at the abyss and the abyss stares back," people would say.
Draco wondered if this was what they meant when they mention the abyss. He heard stories about it, the most recently being when Grover almost dove into a certain hellish hole in his fathers lair, and to say that there was certain fear in him was an understatement. This wasn't the normal fear of a demigod being eaten or dying before they're eighteen but irrational fear won him over.
It's the price of outliving many people.
Of still being alive.
He shook his head, before he turned the corner and stopped. He stared at the people that where mirroring his actions and booked it.
Draco ran as old campers he recognized came after him. He remembers writing about every single one of them when they didn't show up to camp for weeks. Remembers how he wrote Dead as he thought he would never see them again, he didn't expect them to have turned to Kronos for help. He hated Kronos for a passion for making him fight his own family. His old friends. Terrible monsters that wanted to eat him.
He won't deny that he was tired, his running was slowing down and adrenaline could no longer keep him going. He hated the option that he had left, turning around he waited for the footsteps of people behind him close in. Waited alongside a crack to ensure that he was covered from their view. He prepared his hunting knives, keeping still and having his back to the wall. Draco attacked when he saw the first flash of gold from the armor.
The clang of the sword and the shouts of surprise was the only thing he heard before his ears started to ring. It was a noise to loud that it was almost painful, the ground shook and the others started to stumble to fall. The only thing he could do before he colapse was put on a charm.
Flying.
It was all he could see in his dream. Opening his eyes bit by big Draco could hear the wind howling in his ears. The floating feeling kept with him as he rolled his head back. Squinting from the wind he could see the dot of what seem to be another person. It was then with sharp white pain that he remembered the fight. The explosion. He then realized that he wasn't floating, he was falling. Newfound panic made his way as he fluttered his arms out of reflex. Fear and adrenaline filled him as he somehow was falling harder and faster. He saw an orange burned shirt and black hair, and he almost died on the spot. Curiosity won and he kept his arms to his body he fell faster and faster until he got close to the other camper.
It wasn't Nico.
It was Percy.
A/N: i'm back from the mental hospital anyways enough of the jokes, I'm reading this fic again and changing some things so do stay tuned for random updates of previous chapters. Maybe I'll get back to my weekly update schedule again, some day at least.
Stay tuned!
-D.