Hellblazer
I'm FREEEE!
As of December 14, 2021, finals are over! The semester is over! Grades have not been posted as of the time of this AN, but I'll let you know when they are. Probably by the time you get down to the bottom.
Anyway, this chapter.
It's my Christmas present to you guys, in that it's the last chapter before Christmas. After this, it's all novel time. Got a lot to do in order to put it up by the big day.
Also, I was going back through the Reviews, and I saw some people asking about whether Peter was going to be Jack the Ripper. I cannot accurately recall if I already addressed this, but no. Peter is not Jack the Ripper.
I also went back and read how all the way up to the Fourth Life, it was stated that Cheyenne was only Zoë's fiancé, but during the arc, they actually got married. Continuity error on my part. Oops.
Disclaimer: I don't own PJO or AC
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Inspired by historical events and an over-active imagination, this work of fiction was designed, developed, and produced by a single-cultural team of one religious faith and belief, sexual orientation, and gender identity.
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On the elevator down from Olympus back to the Empire State Building is where we find the four heroes, Percy, Lou Ellen, Nico, and Thalia.
And the Husky puppy known as Kira, soundly napping in the witch's arms.
"So," Lou Ellen started. "How, exactly, were you planning on getting to hell?"
Percy looked at her with a smile. She stared at him for a couple of seconds, and then frowned when she realized what he was implying.
"Oh, so because I'm a witch, I can just…open doors to hell, is that it?"
Percy's grin got bigger, causing Lou Ellen to huff.
"I'll have you know I'm what's considered to be a white witch. It's the black witches that are all about curses and demons and hell."
"That's kinda racist, isn't it?" Thalia asked with a furrowed brow in her British accent.
Lou Ellen rounded on her. "Witches and magic go back way before people were categorized by their skin pigment, got it? There's nothing racist at all in identifying the black witches as the bad guys, and the good witches as the good guys."
"Learn to be more sensitive, Thalia," Nico smirked. "Honestly."
Lou Ellen rounded on him. "I don't need any help from the peanut gallery, either."
Nico shrank back with his hands up in surrender, nervously smiling.
Percy cocked a brow at Lou Ellen. "Are you okay? That was a bit extreme."
The young lady blushed. "My girly week started yesterday."
Everyone successfully kept themselves from smirking or snorting at how Lou Ellen defined her period.
"But to answer your question: yes, I can, in fact, get us into hell. My spell books are, ah, extensive in the material they cover."
"Neat." Percy said dismissively. "What is this we you speak of?"
Lou Ellen blinked. "Uh, we as in you, me, and Nico I thought. And probably Thalia here. If she's okay with facing eternal torment for her unsaved soul."
"Uh…" Thalia shifted nervously.
Something that hadn't been touched on in previous chapters was the fact that Evie-now-Thalia was actually still reeling a bit from this new life in which the gods were apparently real entities.
Remember, as far as the Assassins and Templars currently understood, the so-called gods of myth—Jupiter, Ra, Odin, etc.—were actually Precursor beings that the early humans worshipped as gods. The fact that the gods were in fact real was nothing short of shocking to Evie-now-Thalia.
Percy turned to look at the reincarnation of his other big sister. "We'll talk about that later. But, no, Lou. Just me and Nico on this one."
Lou Ellen opened her mouth to strongly protest this, but Percy beat her to it.
"I'm not saying that because I think hell is too dangerous for a girl or some other nonsense. I'm saying that because I actually have something for you and Thalia to do. We're way overdue for our check-in with the Brotherhood, so I need you to handle that."
"Can't Thalia do that?" Lou asked with a clear whine.
"Yes," Percy answered simply. "But no one in the Brotherhood knows that Thalia is the reincarnation of Evie Frye, and that's a stretch to believe. William at least knows who you are."
"Fair enough, but we can just send Thalia with a note signed by you or something."
"Thalia is standing right here, you know."
"I'm aware of that," Lou Ellen said, waving her hand without turning around to look at the other girl. "Look, Percy. I know more about hell than you do, okay? The Bible paints a great picture about darkness and fire, and that's really all we need to know that it's a place we don't want to end up—that, and that's what Jesus said, too…somewhere; Matthew, I think-"
"The entire gospel in general," Nico supplied.
"Thanks. My point is, I know about hell. My big sisters and brothers from thousands of years ago and stuff—they went there. They went into hell and came back out and wrote down what it's like there. The Bible tells us all we need to know, but I know even more than that. You'll need me down there. You'll need my help."
The elevator dinged and opened to the front lobby of the Empire State Building.
"Why are we even entertaining going to hell?" Thalia asked as they left the elevator and made their way through the lobby and to the streets of Manhattan.
"Bianca," Percy answered. "She died during the quest, as I'm sure you remember, but it was an orchestrated death. The odds of her getting crushed like she did are slim to none. An evil hand was at work, and I'm not going to let Bianca remain in that hand's grasp. Nico and I are going to get her back."
"I'm assuming you're talking about the devil?" Thalia asked.
"Correct."
"Um, yeah," Lou Ellen said. "I know more about him than what the Bible says, too."
"And this information comes from the records of your ancient siblings, yes?"
"Yes."
"Have you not considered that maybe their records are skewed and warped, their minds having been twisted into writing things down not truly as they are?"
"I have, actually," Lou admitted.
"And?"
"I think it's pretty reliable."
Percy stopped and turned to face the young witch. "Why are you so eager to follow me and my son into hell?"
"Because I don't want to see either of you hurt because you chose to skip out on my help."
"We will be fine," Percy said. "Ye of little faith."
Lou Ellen bit the inside of her cheek. Being a witch, having the books and journals of siblings from centuries past, material filled with all of their experiments and recordings, their disgusting knowledge and more, she had information about the likes of hell and the devil that nobody else alive possessed.
It was bad.
And she didn't want to see the young man she was sure she loved as a lover get hurt or worse because he refused her help based on some multitasking idea, with him going down to hell and sending her to go check in with the Brotherhood with Thalia. However, Percy's confidence was infectious. There wasn't an ounce or hint of worry or apprehension to him. He well and truly seemed to be viewing a voyage into the demon world of pain and torment to be no more harrowing than running to the store for a few groceries.
A thought suddenly occurred to Percy. "Lou, you've put a lot of stock into demons and hell based on the books of your siblings. If you believe so strongly in hell, why were you hesitant to have faith in God when we spoke during the Lightning Thief?"
Yes, if you recall Chapter 21, the conversation had between Percy and Lou detailed the nature of her bedwetting curse, that it was the price for her incredible magical power (you'll also recall that's the chapter that reveals the true reason behind Lou's bedwetting, and my friend is fine. Has been for the past few years now since the accident). It was also during that conversation that Lou revealed her cognitive dissonance about her curse, appreciating the fact that it was only bedwetting instead of total incontinence, or something even worse, yet hating it anyway.
Percy set her straight though, with Lou offering her first prayer to God and waking up with dry pants because of it. That was the start of her conversion. But, like Percy had pointed out, Lou had read all of her books prior to that day, so if she had such confidence in the writings about hell and the devil, why had she been so hesitant to believe in the Lord?
Nico was staring at Lou in curiosity, and Thalia was still more or less grappling with her reality right now.
Lou Ellen shifted. "I…didn't want it to be real," she admitted. "I wanted those stories about heaven and hell, angels and demons, to be just that, stories. I wanted everything to just be, you know, Greek. Elysium, Asphodel, Fields of Punishment, Tartarus, Hades, the Olympians—and that was it. Just that. It…uh…I guess keeping everything Greek was kind of like a comfort zone kind of thing, but now that I know God's real too, and Satan…um…it puts things in a different perspective.
"That's why I need to go with you two. I know things about hell. I've been practicing spells and stuff that were made for fighting demons. Haven't had the chance to test any of them out on any actual demons yet, but I know they work."
Percy stared at Lou Ellen. The four demigods were standing on the streets of Manhattan, disgruntled people passing them by, annoyed with them for standing in the middle of the sidewalk. He looked at Nico and Thalia.
"Stay nearby and don't level the city, please. Lou Ellen, a word."
He went a ways down a nearby alley, the witch following him, biting her cheek in apprehension. Percy turned to face her with his arms crossed.
"The truth."
Lou Ellen swallowed, and under the intensity of those green eyes, she entertained no ideas about lying.
"I've been a bad girlfriend, if I can even call myself that. I mean, I know you. Before you even crossed the boarder into camp, I knew who you were. I knew that Virgil was married to Claudia, that Jake fell in love with Kassandra, and that Cheyenne married Zoë. But I'm selfish. I mean, I want a love life too, you know? I want to have a boy that loves me in my life—is that a bad thing, that I want a romantic life? And so I…I…you're cute, strong, good-looking, and definitely mature—like, super mature, being a bunch of adults and stuff—and so I…made my move on you.
"I mean, those aren't the only reasons why I like you, not even close! It's not at all like Look at me, I'm dating the reincarnating Assassin with tons of romantic experience, ha-ha! Not gonna lie, it cuts out a lot of the teenage drama—but then it comes with a lot of different drama. I mean, you know, till death do us part, and then someone being alive—twice, Kassandra and Zoë—and those unresolved feelings...I mean, I think they got resolved, right? They did? I mean, if they didn't-"
Percy had been paying rapt attention to all of Lou Ellen's ramblings, which meant he'd counted every time she had said the phrase "I mean." Six times she'd said it in this one exchange alone, and after that sixth time, he'd had enough. She was beating around the bush and avoiding her true feelings, because even though she was speaking honestly with him, she was still hesitant to speak the truth.
He took a step to her, wrapped his arms around her, and shut her up with a kiss. She practically melted into a puddle of goo as he kissed her. It was a simple kiss, nothing fancy or extravagant, and certainly no tongue. For a count of six seconds, Percy kissed Lou Ellen, and then he gently pulled his lips back. He rested his forehead against hers, and kept his arms around her.
"Claudia was Virgil's wife. Kassandra was Jake's lover. Cheyenne was Zoë's wife. I'm going to guess that Peter also found someone to love, and my Sixth Life as well, but whoever they found was their loves. You are my love."
Tears sprang to Lou Ellen's eyes when she heard that.
"Yes, I do like the way you look. I like the way you do your hair. I think your eyes are very pretty. And your freckles are adorable. You've done a great job maintaining your figure, too."
The young witch blushed as her appearance was complimented. The way she wore her hair was that the bangs over her forehead were brushed into two bangs that framed her face. The rest of her hair went down her back to her shoulder blades, with strands tucked behind her ears. Her eyes were green, but a different shade than Percy's. His were green like the sea, while hers were green like the hill in the original Windows XP wallpaper. As for her figure, it wasn't necessarily that she took pride in it, but she did deeply appreciate Percy's opinion of her body.
Lean, muscular, the physique of an athlete, one that was trained in running and gym. Lou Ellen had strong legs, muscular arms, and yes, her fourteen-year-old butt was indeed very firm and made of powerful muscle. Her shape was one of development, with her waist thinning, her hips widening, and her chest growing—nothing to brag about, just the smaller end of the B-cup range. She was growing taller, having sprouted from 4'10 during the Lightning Thief to 5'3 in her fourteenth year after the Titan's Curse.
Percy continued, "You are kind and caring towards others, willing to help as needed, if you can. You have your flaws and your problems, and you have worked very hard on them. You are an amazing and wonderful young woman, and I am proud to say you're my wonderful young woman. I have nothing but absolute trust and confidence in you. I also know you.
"It's not that you fear Nico and I will get hurt during our journey, but that you feel guilty about courting me considering all that you know about me. You think you're intruding, so you're seeking forgiveness, and you're feeling inferior, so you're seeking to prove yourself. Stop it. There's nothing to forgive, and you've already proven yourself. So when I say I need you and Thalia to check in with the Brotherhood, it's not because I'm sidelining you, or punishing you, or pushing you away, or because I think you're a burden. I'm being the Mentor, and allocating my resources. Like I said, I trust you. So much that I'm sending you in my stead because I know you can get the job done. Got it?"
"G-Got it," Lou Ellen sniffled a little.
"Good," Percy pecked her lips again, and decided to end the moment with a little bit of humor. "Now, do you need a diaper change?"
Lou snorted, which had the effect of blowing some snot down her lip. "Oh, gro-o-oss!" she laughed. She pulled a tissue from the back pocket of her jeans and cleaned her face off, then said, "Nope! Teleportation spell in my underwear, remember? I can pee and poop wherever I'm at there won't be any mess. Or a rash. And it's great for periods, too."
"I could've used that two centuries ago."
Lou Ellen couldn't help but grin along with Percy as he referred to his time as Cheyenne.
Yep, Percy knew exactly what it was like to have a period, making him one of the best boyfriends on the planet since he could very easily identify with Lou while she was on hers.
"Let's get going. I have a sister to save, and you have a multinational secret society of killers to check up on."
"Right," Lou Ellen nodded.
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"What do you know of hell?" Percy asked his son, Nico.
Lou Ellen was busy getting prepared to open a way for them to enter the pit, as apparently there was more involved than just a chant and hand some jazz hands.
Nico recalled his studies and lessons from when he was Giovanni, son of Virgil.
"The Bible describes hell as a place of darkness and fire, and the ultimate separation from God."
"Are the devil and his angels actually present in hell?" Percy asked.
"No," Nico answered. "The Book of Job teaches that Satan walks on the Earth, and the Book of Peter teaches that Satan prowls around like a lion. The Book of Matthew also says that the eternal fire has been prepared for the devil and his angels, implying that's it not currently in use, which would mean that they're not imprisoned in hell yet. This is supported in the Book of Luke during the story of Legion and the swine, and in the Book of Acts when Paul casts out the demon from the girl.
"Further, since the demons do not reside in hell, they are also not torturers or tormentors of others. In fact, the Bible implies that hell is currently empty, just like heaven is currently devoid of anyone besides the Father, the Son, and the angels. Passages in the gospel and Revelations indicate that all those that are dead are currently 'asleep,' and are awaiting sentencing based on whether their names are in the Book of Life.
"The ideas that Satan is some king or ruler of hell are false, and so is the idea that hell is separated by levels or circles. These are ideas that stem from Dante's Divine Comedy, which didn't actually get the name Divine added to it until over two hundred years after his death. In truth, Satan is the god of this mortal world, and walks freely upon it until his eternity comes for him."
Percy nodded. "Very good. Yet, ironically enough, here we are, about to venture into hell to rescue Bianca's soul and potentially confront the devil himself."
Nico shifted slightly. "Father…is this a sin? I have zero objections about rescuing my sister, but…journeying into hell to do so…isn't that a sin?"
"No. What sin is there in saving a person's life so that they have another chance at repentance?"
"I guess it's a leap of faith, then."
"Indeed."
"I hope there's a pile of hay for us to land in."
"Or flowers."
Nico nodded. "Or flowers."
Of course, what was running through Percy's mind revolving this current conundrum about whether Bianca was actually in hell given the Biblical implication that hell was actually devoid of any souls until the day of judgement was the conversation he had with Chaos during the summer under the island of Thera.
Chaos had said that the Bibles present on Earth were the Word of God to mankind, but that the angels had their own Bible, a larger and more detailed version that spoke of a being called the "Final Prophet," a being that was the Herald of the End, meant to signal the coming judgement day. Chaos had said that he, Percy Jackson, was this Final Prophet, and he was left wondering whether this angelic Bible—a concept that honestly seemed like heresy and sacrilege—had more about hell in it than the Bible that was sitting not ten feet from him in Lou Ellen's isolated cabin.
According to Lou's books, there was.
"Okay," said the witch. "Ready."
On the floor of her cabin, drawn with the watercolor paint you could get from Walmart was a square with a couple of circles and an arc inside of it.
"Why have you drawn a smiley face within a box?" Nico asked. "Shouldn't there be a pentagram with dozens of evil sigils and symbols?"
"Common misconception," Lou Ellen said with a superior grin. "Now, this is your entrance and exit point, unless you find some other way out of there. Demons are crafty, but you can outwit them and outsmart them. You can also brute force them, but I don't recommend it. Dante's idea about hell being split into nine circles is cool, but inaccurate. It's actually just one big plane. Kind of looks like Mustafar from Star Wars…which makes sense since the planet is supposed to represent Lucas' idea of what hell looks like."
"Good to know. Anything else?" Percy asked.
"Too much," Lou Ellen said. "Just…remember God, I guess."
"Ironic, considering we're going to the place created to be separated from God," Nico noted.
"May the Force be with you," Lou Ellen raised her hand, splitting her pinky and ring fingers and her middle and pointer fingers into a "V."
She tapped the closet corner of the box she drew, and the painting glowed as it became an open portal.
"It'll remain open until I close it, or you guys come back. It's basic in what it does, acting as a doorway, meaning things can go in, and things can come out, but I put a whole lot of barriers up around the place, so nothing that decides to come through can actually get out of here besides you two. That being said, please don't take your time."
"Understood," Percy said with a nod. "We'll be back before you know it."
"Tell Bianca I said hi when you see her, 'kay?"
"Will do."
"I…I love you, Percy."
He grinned. "I know."
Lou Ellen stuck her tongue out at him for the quote, then moved forward to share one last hug and kiss before she took her leave to get Thalia. Nico frowned at the exchange, uncomfortable with watching his father kiss someone that wasn't his mother, someone that wasn't Claudia, but he kept his tongue.
"And into the smiley face entrance to hell we go," Percy said cheerily.
Wearing steel-toed combat boots and black jeans, an orange CHB t-shirt under the invincible Nemean Lion pelt that took the form of Cheyenne's black leather prowler coat, a belt around his waist with Cheyenne's pistols sitting in holsters at the small of his back, the Minotaur horns sitting on either side of his waist, the Sword of Destiny and Shay's air rifle resting in their sheathes over his right shoulder, and the dual Hidden Blades on his forearms, Percy drew his black hood and stepped into the glowing portal, vanishing.
Nico took a deep breath and sent a quick prayer. He hadn't had the time to craft a preferred outfit, and so he was rocking a horrendously orange, long-sleeved CHB t-shirt of his own under a Celestial Bronze breastplate, leather gloves, gauntlets that covered his forearms with metal plates on the back of his hands and over the tops of his fingers, black jeans, combat boots, and greaves, with a sword on either hip. It was all stuff he'd found and thrown on.
There were several medications he wanted to make, but they'd have to wait until his return.
Like his father before him, he stepped into the light and vanished.
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When Nico's vision cleared, he adopted the same perturbed expression that was on Percy's face.
"This…is hell?"
"Apparently so," Percy said.
"Are you sure she did everything correctly and didn't send us to heaven?"
To put it plainly, if this was indeed hell, then hell was absolutely fucking beautiful.
Rolling hills of lush and healthy green. Distant mountains capped in snow. Tall and powerful trees a distance behind them, on the other side of a wide and gently flowing stream, the water clear as crystal and cleaner than anything Nico had ever seen. The sky was equally clean, devoid of any and all kinds of pollution, and so was a dazzling sapphire with a few white whisps here and there. The air was pleasantly warm and so fresh that Nico feared he would be unable to breathe normal air ever again without going into shock.
However, there was one discrepancy.
The shining sun was…off.
Nico couldn't place it, but the sun just felt wrong to him. It wasn't that it was too bright or too dim, or sitting in the wrong spot, or anything that he could physically ascribe. The sun was just wrong. But then his eyes adjusted—or maybe the shining of the daystar lessened to where he could see it now—and Nico could see that the sun was sitting in the sky just above a huge and high-reaching tower.
"The Tower of Babel," Nico surmised.
"Yes," Percy answered. "That's how we know we're in the right place. Let's go."
And then he took off in a sprint, Nico taking off after him. And they were moving. Their half-blood physiology combined well with the Isu genes in their human halves, inherited through their respective mothers, Sally and Maria, allowing them to tear across the plane of hell at a breathtaking 93mph—and easily maintain that speed. Neither of them knew just how long they ran for, but the sun never moved from its position, and nothing attacked them.
They never ran across any souls nor any demons, adding support to the theory that hell was actually empty at the moment.
That was the leading thought right up until they got close to the tower and found there was a sprawling city surrounding it that had previously been hidden by a combination of elevation and the view-blocking hills. The Assassins slowed down to a stop before a huge iron gate, the entrance to the city.
From above, indistinct figures that must have been guards shouted down to them with men's voices.
"Who are you?"
Percy answered them, "I am Perseus, and this is Nico. We are sons of God, here for Bianca."
Nico thumbed the pommels of his swords, eyes darting around in all directions.
And the guards said, "They have arrived."
The gate groaned and creaked as it was raised, permitting entry to the city.
"Are we walking into a trap?" Nico asked.
"Not even remotely possible," Percy said with a grin.
They entered this city, and found the streets were lined with people. They were indistinct and formless, but there were tens of hundreds of millions of them.
"Father…" Nico muttered, gripping his swords so tight his knuckles changed colors.
"Relax. They won't harm us. They can't."
"How are you so sure?"
"Just am. Come on."
Percy took off into another sprint, Nico following suit.
As the son of Hades ran, he couldn't ignore the whispers touching at his mind, saying things to him that he couldn't understand as language, but felt in his soul. "Shut up," he muttered as he moved.
The voices persisted, even seeming to grow louder and more persistent. It caused Nico great irritation.
"I said shut up!" he thundered.
Percy looked over his shoulder at Nico, who shook his head and offered a reassuring smile. Percy nodded and picked up the pace. About a minute later, they reached the door to the Tower. It was a simple door, oak, with swirling patterns of iron running through it. The Tower was built like a huge cylinder, made of marble, and the walls were too smooth for either Assassin to climb.
Too smooth as in there wasn't a handhold anywhere as far up as they could see.
Behind them, the millions-strong crowd was shuffling forward, covering the streets and blanketing the roofs of the houses. Nico swallowed as he looked at that ominous occurrence, and when he heard the sound of the door opening he flinched and spun to see Percy had opened the entrance to the Tower.
"Let's go," he said.
Nico was all too happy to enter the completed Tower of Babel.
He blinked at what he saw in what was apparently the front lobby.
"And here are all the demons," Percy said flippantly.
And the scariest thing about all of the demons gathered before the Assassins was that they didn't look any different than anyone you'd run into in your daily journey. Students in the halls of elementary, middle, high schools and colleges. Passersby at the grocery store. Pedestrians at intersections and crosswalks. Coworkers. Friends. Family. Faces from the past, faces of the present, and the faces of those you have yet to meet.
The demons did not have solid black eyes, or solid white eyes, or eyes of any color or shape or size other than what normal humans had. There were all manner of complexions, and all were natural, from albinistic to melanistic. White, various depths of brown, and various shades of black, but no solid red like was typically drawn. There were no claws, no fangs, no horns, no wings or tails.
There was nothing at all to suggest that these beings were anything besides fellow humans, but Nico could feel it.
They were not human.
Percy drew the Sword of Destiny from his back and pointed it forward. Nico recognized the blade as like that of Altaïr's sword. Double-edged blade to a singly point, a t relatively thin cross guard, and the pommel was curved into the shape of an eagle's profile. However, the traditional sword's hilt was only big enough for one hand. The Sword's hilt was big enough for two, even though Percy only held it in one.
"Hinder us and be destroyed," declared the son of Poseidon.
A great chuckle arose from the assembled angels that had been cast from heaven with their leader. As one body, mind, and mouth they spoke without their lips ever moving.
"We are not here to hinder, but to welcome. Our Lord has been expecting you for many years. Come in and ascend."
The fallen angels stood aside, making an aisle to the staircase that led up and up and up and up to the Tower's summit. Percy walked forward, sheathing the Sword. Nico followed, eyes darting around as he gripped the hilts of his own swords. The demons' eyes seemed to follow him more than Percy.
And up they went.
The Tower of Babel was largely hollow, or entirely hollow, because the staircase just wound its way up along the circumference, and there weren't any internal platforms or branching hallways to other rooms. There was no railing to the staircase, and so Nico found himself sticking tightly to the wall while Percy freely walked in the middle.
Risking a glance over the side, Nico found himself experiencing vertigo at the distance, which was really saying something considering the heights he'd climbed as Giovanni. He stumbled back and fell against the side of Tower, sliding down to his bottom.
"Steady, Son," Percy said. He reached down and pulled Nico to his feet.
There was a distinct height difference between them, Nico physically being ten, Percy physically being fourteen.
"This place is getting to me," Nico muttered.
"It's supposed to. It's literally hell."
"How are you so fine through all of this?"
"Because I know we are going to be just fine no matter what happens. I know we're going to rescue Bianca, and I know we're going to make it back to Earth without any problems."
Nico nodded. "Of course."
"Remember who is with us."
"I do."
"Good," Percy nodded.
He started walking up again, Nico following.
So many times around the Tower later, they finally made it to the top. The stairs led to a simple opening to the summit, no door, no nothing, just like how the stairs of a two-story house just opened up to the second floor. Once back outside, Nico appreciated the clear air. Compared to out here, the Tower had been stuffy.
And it was here upon the top of the Tower of Babel that the Assassins learned why the light of hell seemed to be wrong compared to the light of the Sun on Earth. It was because there was no true light at all in hell. Standing before them, naked, with his two wings outstretched behind him, was the Father of Lies himself.
Nico's breath hitched in his throat at the sight of the devil, for he was an absolutely, breathtakingly, stunning, gorgeous, beautiful being. No woman Nico had ever seen, even as Giovanni, could compare to the beauty of Satan. The devil's physique was perfect, with narrow shoulders, defined legs and arms, a flat, toned stomach, and his exposed testicles and penis were a perfect size.
Something Nico noticed and Percy ignored.
Satan's face was just as perfect as the rest of him. The shape of his eyes, the sharpness of his jaw, the length and width of his nose—all just perfect. His hair was flowing, a dazzling blonde color, and his eyes were the best shade of blue that could be imagined by the human mind. His kind and warm smile exposed clean and perfect teeth.
And softly sleeping on the bed before, even letting out little snores, was Mary Read-now-Bianca di Angelo.
Nico ripped his swords from their sheaths and charged with a war cry. He got about three steps before he was yanked backwards by an irritated Percy.
"What!?" Nico demanded. "What are you doing!?"
"We're here for Bianca. Not to fight the devil. That task is set for someone else."
Nico blinked. While that was true, the Bible saying that it was Michael who would cast down the devil and his angels into the eternal fire, Nico had come to hell ready for the greatest fight of his life. He'd been ready to fight armies of demons, ready to go up against gigantic beings, and ready to do battle with Satan himself, and honestly, this whole experience so far had been underwhelming.
And deeply disturbing.
And now here they were, seemingly at the final leg of the journey, standing before Satan to rescue Bianca, and he was being told that they weren't here to fight.
Receiving Virgil's patented Stare of the Father, Nico put his swords away and settled down. Percy looked at the Adversary.
"You have done wonderfully, little brother," Satan said. "Truly, you are an Inspiration."
"We are not brothers," Percy said flatly. "You are a problem child that's hovering just behind my sister."
"Problem child? You wound me, Percy. Surely you of all people can appreciate the fact that I am the way I am because God made me this way."
"God made you to be a cherub."
Yes, a cherub.
Modern-day depictions of cherubs were typically babies and small children with little wings and a halo over their heads. That image, while cute, is false. The Book fo Ezekiel describes cherubs as having the bodies of humans, with four straight wings, four faces—the face of man, the face of a lion, the face of an ox, and the face of an eagle—and that their bodies and wings were covered in eyes. The purpose of the cherubim is disputed, because their first mention is actually in Genesis, where they are set as the guards of the Garden of Eden after Adam and Eve's sin, and then their likeness is carved to serve as part of the cover to the Ark of the Covenant in the Book of Exodus. More scripture in Ezekiel tells us that the cherubim were the bearers of God's throne, holding it and carrying it across the Kebar River in a vision.
To put it simply, cherubim are direct servants of God, sitting at His throne, ready for whatever task He assigns.
This was the original role of the devil, to be the best cherubim. Not an archangel like Michael, and certainly not the "brother" of Jesus according to the Mormons. Satan, like the rest of the cherubim and the angels, was created to be the greatest servant, and he chose to become the greatest evil.
Satan's perfect brow seemed to twitch slightly as he was reminded of the purpose behind his creation. His smile lessened and his blue eyes lost some of their sparkle. "And he made you to be a-"
"I know what I have been made for," Percy interrupted the devil himself. "I do not need your input on the subject."
"You speak with a great deal of bravado and arrogance, little child. Do you not know who I am?"
Percy walked forward, eyes hard as diamond, expression colder than ice. And Satan backed away.
"You? You crawl on your belly and eat dust. You are a blind fool drunk on his own pride. You are a disappointment living on allotted time. You are a deceiver. You have used your power as god of this world to craft a false image of yourself as an almighty figure, a commander of great legions of powerful demons, but the truth is that you are weak. You are a coward. You are a footstool."
Percy now stood opposite the devil over Bianca's sleeping form.
"I submit myself to the Lord, and I resist you. Now flee!"
And to Nico's great astonishment, Satan did indeed fly away. Almost in a desperate, fearful panic, it seemed. Before he took off, Nico saw his expression, and he honestly couldn't tell if it had been one of terror or anger. Or both.
Nico looked at Percy, the reincarnation of his father, and was filled with awe and amazement. It was something else, something indescribable, watching your dad essentially kick the devil's ass.
However, with Satan having left hell, with him departed his fake light. The whole landscape of hell changed. The snowy mountains turned into bleeding volcanoes. The grassy fields into scorched planes of jagged black rock. The streams turned to lava. The blue sky turned red as the atmosphere changed, choked with ash, brimstone, and sulfur. The air became heavy and painful to breathe. Below, the city collapsed and crumbled into rubble.
And there in the distance, Nico saw it.
Blazing brighter and hotter than any earthly furnace, with flames scorching the sky itself, was the Lake of Fire. Nico could feel its heat from here, a distance that had to be in the miles. He stared at the wild and hungry flames until he heard a sharp gasp. He looked and saw Bianca had bolted upright in the bed, eyes wide.
He ran to his sister. "Bianca!"
"N-Nico!?" Bianca looked around, pale. "Where in the hell are we?"
"Yes," Percy answered.
"Huh?"
"Bianca, we are literally in hell," Nico said.
Bianca looked around a second time. "Oh….I remember a shadow over me. I looked up, and then nothing. Then I'm waking up here."
Percy nodded sagely. "Sometimes it really do be like that. And, uh, that's partly my fault, by the way. That junkyard, the automatons, the one that attacked me—I sliced its head off and it went flying. Where it landed on top of you."
Bianca looked miffed. "What are the actual odds of that happening?"
"Slim to none," Percy said. "That's why Nico and I came here to get you."
"You both jumped into hell to save me?" Bianca asked, totally flabbergasted.
"Technically speaking, yes."
A volcano blew up in the distance, shaking the ground as it spewed flaming rocks and lava.
"We can talk about all of this later," Percy stated. "We need to get out of here. Now."
There were no arguments about that. However, there were two squawks of surprise when Percy just flung himself off the edge of the Tower in a textbook Leap of Faith. The di Angelo siblings shared a look, then Nico shrugged and followed his father off the side as embers began to fall like hail. Bianca needed no further encouragement and joined her little brothers in the Leap.
In all the other times in her previous life that she'd performed this maneuver, there was always a calculation involved. She had to look down where her target landing zone was, get her angle correct, along with how much force to push off with, and then, while falling, there was the timing of her flip to make sure she landed on her back instead of on her face or her ass or any other part of her body. In essence, it wasn't really a Leap of Faith so much as a Leap of Math.
This time, however, in was just straight faith. There was no math. Hell (pun intended), Bianca didn't even have her form correct. She didn't swan dive like Percy and Nico had, she'd just jumped, and how her bladder was up where her stomach was supposed to be, and her stomach was up in her throat. She'd left her brain somewhere behind, and she was just hoping it would come back without scolding her.
And amazingly, Bianca landed in something soft.
A big pile of flowers. Pink rose pedals, to be exact. How they weren't on fire, and totally devoid of ash, was anyone's guess.
Bianca didn't waste precious time thinking on it, however, because it seemed hell was now determined to kick her out. The boys hauled her out of the flower pile, and all three took off sprinting faster than they ever had in all their lives. They jumped and leapt chasms, and dodged between raining rocks of fire. They vaulted over rising hills and scaled cliffs in seconds. They fell from edges and plateaus, falling hundreds of feet to the ground. Their boots smashed through ash and softer rocks, and they never once stumbled no matter the terrain.
And then finally, they reached the extremely out of place smiley face portal and dove in. The portal glowed, taking them all away, and then shut itself, vanishing from the destructive planes of eternal torment.
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"Whew," Percy said, flicking an ember from his shoulder and stamping it out when it hit the ground. "We smell like burning."
Nico and Bianca totally agreed, and also thought that there was something wrong with their father/little brother when, after escaping hell, that was his opening remark. And then Percy did a total one-eighty.
"That's twice you've died. The third time will be it. There'll be no coming back from that. Knowing what you know now, I beg you: please repent. I know it's confusing, the Precursors, the Olympians, the Bible, but the Bible outweighs it all. It is true. Hell is a real place. We just went in and brought you out of there."
Bianca did not actually need any of that speech to sway her decision. "Oh, yeah, I'm sold. How do I do this Jesus thing?"
Percy got down on a knee before her. As she was still on the ground, she sat up, Nico following. Percy reached out and took one of her hands in both of his, and he looked her in the eye, sea-green into solid black.
"Mary Read, now Bianca, in this life we lead against false gods, monsters of myth, the tyranny of men, and the mystery of the Precursors, do you believe in your heart that the man called Jesus is truly the Lord of all?"
"I do."
"Unwaveringly? Should Zeus come for you, or Hades, or any god, bringing with them armies, and they insist that you deny Jesus and instead devote yourself to them or else face horrible tortures, will you deny Jesus as Lord, or will you proclaim Him as Lord?"
"I'll proclaim Him," Bianca said firmly.
"You accept Jesus as the Lord, then?"
"Yes."
"Do you then believe that Jesus died for your sins? That he paid the penalty for the evil you've committed? Murder, thievery, deception, piracy, and so much more. Do you believe that these are sins, and that you deserve death for them, but that Jesus paid the price for you?"
Bianca swallowed with that question. As an Assassin, she was taught that the things listed were necessary evils, that some people had to die, that some people hoarded resources and it was better for the people in general if those resources were taken and distributed, and sometimes the best way to accomplish both tasks was to craft a careful or simple lie. The concept that these things, while justified, were still objectively wrong according to the Word, and were offenses punishable by death, was a foreign one.
But Bianca had seen what awaited her. She'd died as Mary and been given a second chance. Then she'd died as Bianca and was now living on her third chance.
"I do believe that I've committed sins, and that Jesus died in my place to save my soul."
"And do you believe that on the third day after His death, that He rose again to life, and now lives this very day, in this very moment?"
Bianca answered with the truth, "I do."
As soon as she said it, believing everything that she had said, a wind blew through Lou Ellen's cabin and filled her lungs, creating a warmth inside of her that she'd never felt in her lives.
Nico buried his face in Bianca's back and hugged her tightly from behind.
Percy beamed at her, his eyes shining. "Congratulations, sister. You're safe, now."
Bianca couldn't stop the joyful tears that sprang to her eyes.
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I hope you learned something in this chapter. I certainly did. After asking Google some questions and doing some research, I actually learned for the first time that the devil was originally a cherub, and that cherub's were not actually cute baby angels, but direct attendants of God. I also learned that hell is thought to actually be empty right now, along with heaven, since the Bible indicates that all souls are currently awaiting judgement and have not been allowed entry to either place yet, and that the devil and his angels are currently being allowed to freely walk the Earth with us.
The more you know *a star flies across space with a rainbow trailing behind it*
Now, you were probably hoping for a bunch of epic battles between Percy and Nico and the forces of hell, but I like to think I came up with a better idea, one that's far more epic.
Percy Jackson talking down to Satan and making him fly away.
As is written in the Book of James, Chapter 4, Verse 7, "Submit yourself therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you" KJV.
And some more Percy x Lou Ellen, yeah, yeah? Percellen?
As for grades, so far made an A in Intro to Engineering and Design, a B in Differential Equations, another B in Computing for Engineers because I can't computer code and my group made an 80 on our final project, dropping my grade to an 88, and the fourth class, Digital Circuits, has not been posted yet. But my hopes are high since the final exam wasn't hard and I made a 93 on the final project.
Yes, a final project and a final exam for that class.
This will be the last chapter certainly before Christmas, so Merry Christmas everybody! Don't know about New Year's, though, so…Happy New Year just in case!
Now I am off to finally finish this novel and self-publish it on the Kindle Store. Got to figure out how to do that as well. Wish me luck everybody.
Fav, Follow, and Review please!