Chapter 33

The conversation with Maria Di Angelo had left the children of the Underworld in silence. Percy had decided that they were in no shape to travel, and with Iridians permission they broke for camp down stream by the entrance to the Labyrinth that Nico had spoken of.

A small fire was burning as the three sat in silence. Bianca had snuggled up closely to Percy to where they were brushing up against each other though her eyes were on her little brother who stared into the fire. Finally Nico asked without taking his eyes off the fire, "So how long have you two been…"

Bianca seemed to squirm slightly at the question, so Percy helped her out, "It's nothing official. We have had some tough timing, and things are obviously busy with the war heating up. If we survive it I think a decision will be made, but we were mostly trying to deceive Geryon when she said what she did."

Nico nodded, "I can see you two care for each other. I am happy for you B."

Bianca gave a sad smile to the boy, "Percy has been good to me. Most of Camp Jupiter has especially since the war has kicked up. You would be safe at Camp. You should at least consider it until the war is over. I know our circumstances are unique, and we could just make you an Ambassador to our father so you can come and go, just please consider standing with us until the conflict with the Titans is resolved."

The boy's eyes seemed to wilt in the fire, "How do we just look past the fact they killed our mom?"

"It was a different time back then Nico. The gods were at war, and in war sometimes you have to do things for your side that you don't necessarily want to. I've learned that this past year, and we've made some tough decisions, but more will be made if we are going to win this war." Bianca said passionately.

Percy finally chimed in, "Maybe you don't want to fight for the gods, and that is okay, but fight for your sister and her home. We are looking for Vulcan's forges. In your time in the Labyrinth or in the Underworld have you ever seen one?"

Nico looked curious at his question, "What do you want with Lord Hephasteus?"

Shrugging his shoulders Percy responded honestly, "I'm not sure. Queen Juno told us to search him out, and he would give us a way to navigate the Labyrinth. If we find him, perhaps he will give us the answers we seek."

Nico seemed to think for long moments before answering, "I will do this for you Bianca. I have been to the forges, and I can lead you there tonight, but we should make haste. I have spied on the Titan army in my time in the Underworld, and I believe they are close to gaining open access through the Labyrinth. They need to gain passage through Antaeus' Arena. From what I understand, those negotiations are slow going."

Percy and Bianca paled, "You think they already have found a way to navigate the maze?"

The son of Hades shrugged, "I can't be sure, but it is what it sounds like."

Percy clenched his fist as he rose to his feet, "If we are on that kind of time frame then we need to move. Are you two both okay to travel?"

Bianca stood with determination at his side, while Nico rose slowly, "I don't know if I can ever forgive the gods for what they did to my family, but if my sister is going to fight in this war...then I won't lose her too."

Bianca beamed at her brother as she embraced him tightly. She whispered some words into his ear that Percy couldn't hear, and when they separated he nodded slowly. He then summoned shadows to encase the fire, putting it out with no effort, and left not even smouldering embers in his wake as he marched towards the Labyrinth.

With Nico's experience navigating the maze route was simple enough. They passed the River Styx, and continued a short journey through the Underworld where they came upon some massive bronze doors that Nico pushed right through, opening up a large fifty foot tall room. The room was filled with junk, and smouldering fires everywhere that immediately made Percy's skin seem to blister. Bianca looked as uncomfortable as he did, but Nico looked right at home. He walked a short way where a large familiar blur of a crippled man sat focused on a large bronze automaton. The man was muttering to himself as Nico offered a bow, "Lord Hephaestus I have returned."

The man looked up and a slight grin passed his face, but when he saw Percy and Bianca his hand shot to his head as if he was bracing himself for a headache as his form instantly shifted. The man was still grotesque in shape, but his form seemed stronger, and taller. The man looked over at Percy and Bianca before saying, "I don't suppose you are two very good automatons are you?"

Percy shook his head, "No Lord Vulcan. Queen Juno sent us to find you. She said you would have a way for us to navigate the Labyrinth."

Vulcan stroked his beard shortly, "Ah. I see. Well the answer is quite simple. You need a mortal who can see through the mist."

Bianca frowned at this, "That's it?"

Vulcan bellowed a laugh, "Great gods of Olympus girl don't you realize the ingenuity of it? Demigods, monsters, and even some gods cannot operate the mist with perfection like a clear sighted mortal can. Daedalus raised several in his past lives, and it is his perfect irony to fool the powerful with such a simple answer."

Percy frowned at this, "My mother was a clear sighted Mortal, but I have never actually encountered one other than her. I suppose they are rare enough, and I can't imagine the Titan army just had one lying around on stand by."

Vulcan snorted, "Certainly not. They sought after much less reliable means. Ariadne's string. It works, but Deadlus did not give it the same ability a clear sighted mortal would naturally have. That is why your half brother currently delays the army hoping for the greatest entertainment since the days of the ancient colosseum. Had they stooped down to a lowly mortal I can almost guarantee their instincts would have avoided that trap."

Bianca swore in Latin, "Great now we just have to go find a clear sighted mortal. We should just return to camp, and take our chances."

Nico then quietly spoke up, "I know one."

Percy and Bianca both whirled to face him. His face slightly red. Bianca raised an eyebrow, "You just happen to know a clear sighted mortal?"

Nico nodded his head, "I met her in New York. I was communing with the dead, and she just came over and asked me what I was doing. I saved her life after a spirit tried to grab her, and she was just weird enough that she might help us."

Percy and Bianca exchanged looks while the son of Neptune asked, "And you know how to find this mortal girl?"

Nico was definitely blushing now when he said, "She kind of wrote her number on my arm, and I kind of remember it."

Bianca grinned at his words, "A mortal girl wrote her number on your arm and you memorized it? Gods of Olympus what a stupid thing that might just save the Roman way of life."

This caused Vulcan to bellow with laughter, "The fates work in mysterious ways girl, now for this information I am afraid I need a favor. On a normal day it would have been free, but someone has been tearing up my forges in the Labyrinth, and I have tried to discover the monsters that are causing the problems, but they sense my godly presence and flee."

The man tossed a white metal ball on the ground in front of them where eight massive mechanical legs began sprouting out of it until a mechanical spider was in its place, "Follow this automaton into the Labyrinth and it will lead you to who has been running a muck in my forges. Jupiter only knows what they've been up to."

Thunder boomed above and the man frowned, "Scratch that not even Jupiter knows what they are doing."

Knowing the quest wasn't really a request from the lord of the forges Percy, Bianca, and Nico exchanged looks. Nico broke the silence, "I will go see if I can convince the girl to help us. If she agrees I will meet you back here in a few hours. Dawn should be approaching New York."

Bianca accepted the plan, "Then we will go see what is going on in the forges. With some luck like you said we can meet back here in a few hours."

The siblings embraced and Bianca told Nico to be careful while the spider began trodding off forcing the groups to separate with the concerned eyes of Lord Vulcan on the retreating demigods.

Percy and Bianca followed the spider for miles through the Labyrinth, and when they arrived at the forge they could hear the voices of monsters speaking hoarsely, "Zeus is evil! After we made the finest weapons in creation the King of the gods cast us out, but now we serve a new more benevolent master!"

The monsters that were banging anvils in the distance roared out, "Kronos! Kronos! Kronos!"

Percy and Bianca watched the spider curl back up into the ball, as they approached the forge from above. They could see several large monsters gathered around a fire that held some type of weapon above it. They were both squinting their eyes to try and figure out what they were looking at, but the object was unclear. The monsters had the faces of dogs with black snouts and pointy ears. Their bodies were sleek and black like seals. They had stubby legs that were half foot half flippers, and human hands that had sharp claws. Bianca whispered into Percy's ear quietly as they hid behind a rock formation above the monsters, "Telkhines. My father told me about these things. They helped the Elder Cyclopes build the Trident of Neptune and the scythe of Saturn."

Percy knew it was an inappropriate time to be so exhilarated by the girl whispering in his ear, and tried to stay focussed on what was happening before them. They listened in on the creatures arguing, "We must finish Lord Kronos scythe before he returns to us. It must be our kind that gives him the greatest weapon in the cosmos!"

This made Percy's stomach drop. The weapon on the table was the remastered version of one of the most horrifying weapons to ever torment the Greek or Roman world. The look on Bianca's face confirmed that it was not good. She held up a finger to her lips, and with a nod from Percy she disappeared. He did his best not to do anything that would draw attention to himself over the next few minutes, but his ADHD had him practically shaking in anticipation for the fight to come. Thankfully Bianca didn't wait too long, but when she came back the look on her face told him it wasn't going to be good news, "There are dozens of them here. Maybe too many for the two of us to handle alone I think. There is no doubt though the Scythe is down there."

Percy thought for a few moments before sighing, "Well we are in the base of some sort of volcano. I can sense it below us. With my abilities as an Earthshaker I can probably disrupt this facility, but we may set off the volcano. In which case you should run for it, and help Nico finish this."

Bianca immediately slapped him across the face, "That is the dumbest thing you have said to me in our three years of friendship."

Percy began to argue, but before he could she grabbed him by the shirt and kissed him soundly. Whatever argument he was thinking of was short circuited by the kiss. It was his first kiss since he had lost Gwen, and he thought when this day came it would be awkward or not feel right, but he couldn't have been further from the truth. Kissing Bianca felt like something he had never felt before, but in the end it just felt like fate. When she broke the kiss she held onto the front of his shirt, "Now listen to me. We are going to go down there, and if we die we will go down swinging. Sacrificing yourself to win this small battle is not worth the cost. However we owe lord Vulcan this victory. So let's go down there and kill as many evil bastards as we can to make sure that isn't the last extremely overdue kiss I ever get."

Without waiting for his answer she had already summoned both her swords to her hands, and lunged over the rock formation they were hiding behind and disappeared. Not a second passed before a yelp came from his left, and he looked over to see a pile of golden dust appear from nowhere, and he realized Bianca was already shadow traveling around the forge assassinating easy targets.

Shaking the cobwebs off he immediately followed the girl into battle. Percy however was immediately noticed by the telkhines who all began screaming in surprise and rage as he grinned at them pulling the spear off his back. The first monster picked up an axe from nearby and charged at the son of Neptune, but Percy was so fast he threw his spear into the creature making it dissolve so fast he barely had time to catch his weapon before it fell to the ground. Spinning into the next massive telkhine however he deflected the overhead strike of a sword, and cut down the enemy with a blow that few in history could have rivaled.

Moments passed as dozens of enemies fell to the invincible duo, but more and more telkhines seemed to arrive at the fight. The attitude of attack had shifted to defeat the enemy to escape with the scythe in a matter of moments. Suddenly Percy and Bianca were combatting a wall of enemies that seemed determined to stop them from breaking through. Bianca was heaving for breath, clearly exhausted from the use of her powers so Percy didn't even dare ask her to pursue.

The moments became minutes when Percy realized the scythe was going to escape he yelled out, "Bianca get out of here!"

She jumped into the air twirling with both swords cutting down three enemies at once, "No not without you."

Percy yelled back as he dodged under a massive swipe of the doberman faced beast, "The scythe can't get away."

She locked eyes with him for the briefest moment when she said, "I know it can't."

The unspoken words were clear. Win. Whatever it takes. Percy felt his heart quake a bit at the realization of what was about to happen, but he knew there was no choice. With a yell of anger he slammed his foot into the floor, and the cavern erupted into a shaking mess. Lava from around the room began seeping through the walls, and panicked cries erupted from the enemy. The temperature in the room was skyrocketing, and a nearby telkhine hurled a handful of lava at Percy making him scream in pain being unable to dodge, but his pain seemed to fuel the Earthquake making pieces of the ceiling come down around them. Bianca screamed out his name, and he felt small hands wrap around his torso as he unleashed what bit of power he had left in his body.

The world turned red hot before his eyes, and as his eyes rolled back his body felt hot, and then he knew nothing.

(A/N) I struggled with these next few chapters for a long time. I hope you will bare with me as we pass through this section of the story, and get to the finale that has been in my head for coming up on a year now. Thanks to everyone who has made it this far, and I can't wait to show you all what is coming in the next few chapters. You can expect the next update on December 3rd. Cheers!

Wow lol. My bad. Wrong chapter...this is awkward….RUN IT AGAIN!

GUESS THIS JUST TURNED TO A DOUBLE UPDATE...CONGRATULATIONS GUYS!