Okay but Percy is just so casual about it all that Nico and Leo are just there like 'For fuck sake she needs therapy' and with Percy you either love her or loathe her- I wonder what Akhlys thinks!
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Undeath9087: I think the reactions to the way I've done it are going to be hilarious and I'm looking forward to it. And yes, Akhlys and Percy are comical in this chapter. And Nico and Leo are just done with their sister. But in Percy's defence Akhlys asked the question. And who would Percy be if she didn't make jokes.
Guest: I definitely get your point- I hope you like how I've changed it. Though I do think Tartarus appearing himself was because he wanted to kill them personally because they offended him by making it so far and he wanted a physical form to do so.
"Hide them?" Akhlys made a gurgling sound. She was either laughing or choking to death. "Why would I do that?"
"They must reach the Doors of Death," Bob said. "To return to the mortal world."
"Impossible!" Akhlys said. "The armies of Tartarus will find you. They will kill you."
"I mean, they might." Percy acknowledged, "But Bob seems to think whatever you can do for us will give us a decent chance. Which means we kinda want this Death Mist stuff. Unless you can't give it to us or he's wrong and it's kinda useless."
"Useless?" the goddess bared her broken yellow teeth at Percy. "Who do you think you are girl? Calling my Death Mist useless- do you want to die-"
"Oh gods-" Leo groaned, "You just asked the wrong question-"
"Percy don't answe-"
"Well-" Percy gave a slightly manic grin, "It's a less extreme desire to die than it used to be, but I do still sort of feel the urge to, y'know-" she mimed slicing across her throat, "Cause I mean, sure Bas is... sadly no longer really with us-" she faked wiping away a tear, "But there is the whole fact of still having to defeat my crazy ass mother in law and the high chance of more trauma and death- also I'm in Tartarus and this place is like, not good for mental health I am telling you-"
And Akhlys blinked rapidly, looking stunned for a moment. "You-"
"Need a therapist, yeah I have been told that before. So I mean honestly even if you don't give me personally the Death Mist I'm not gonna care so much, Bob seemed to think you could help but hey, maybe he was wrong. Happens to the best of us- one time I trusted a guy and he tried to toss me down here, now that was a heck of a day."
Akhlys wailed and glared at the Titan. "Why did you inflict these annoying children on me?"
Bob made a sound somewhere between a rumble and a whimper. "I thought—I thought—"
"The Death Mist is not for helping!" Akhlys shrieked. "It shrouds mortals in misery as their souls pass into the Underworld. It is the very breath of Tartarus, of death, of despair!"
"Oooh, sounds fun." Percy winked, "Death and despair is right up my street these days, so, you think you can do me a favor and let us feel the death and despair and all that crap- and Nico and Leo too, of course.
Akhlys hissed. "Ask me for a more sensible gift. I am also the goddess of poisons. I could give you death—thousands of ways to die less painful than the one you have chosen by marching into the heart of the pit."
Around the goddess, flowers bloomed in the dust—dark purple, orange, and red blossoms that smelled sickly sweet. Percy's head swam.
"Nightshade," Akhlys offered. "Hemlock. Belladonna, henbane, or strychnine. I can dissolve your innards, boil your blood."
"Hmmm." Percy pretended to consider, "Belladonna sounds fun but I dunno. I think the Death Mist just sounds much more appealing."
"Totally." Leo looked like he was trying not to cackle with laughter.
"Sure." Nico nodded, "It could be fun."
"Fun." The goddess narrowed her eyes at them. "What do you mean fun-"
"I mean-" Nico's eyes were suddenly gleaming slyly. "If we fail you get to gloat over our spirits when we die in agony- you love misery and pain right? We'd be going through it if we fail." Nico paused, "Well, Leo and I would-"
"It'd just basically still be me at my ground state of existence." Percy declared with a wink- which made the goddess twitch with annoyance, "And I mean, if we succeed just think of all the suffering you'll bring to the monsters down here. We intend to seal the Doors of Death. That's going to cause a lot of wailing and moaning."
Akhlys considered. "I enjoy suffering. Wailing is also good."
"Then it's settled," Percy said. "Make us invisible."
Akhlys struggled to her feet. The shield of Hercules rolled away and wobbled to a stop in a patch of poison flowers. "It is not so simple," the goddess said. "The Death Mist comes at the moment you are closest to your end. Your eyes will be clouded only then. The world will fade."
"Been there, done that." Percy tried to keep her cheerful grin, tried to push back the twisting feeling in her gut- gods but she could remember how it had felt, her life draining away like water down a sink. "It's not so bad really. But... we'll be shrouded from the monsters yeah?"
"Oh, yes," Akhlys said. "If you survive the process, you will be able to pass unnoticed among the armies of Tartarus. It is hopeless, of course, but if you are determined, then come. I will show you the way."
"The way to where, exactly?" Nico's eyes narrowed suspiciously, but Akhlys didn't speak, she was already shuffling into the gloom- not good, if they didn't follow her it wouldn't take long for them to lose her.
"Where's Bob?" that was Leo's voice, just slightly panicked- and Percy swung her head, eyes searching but she couldn't see him.
"Hey, Akhlys. Where the fuck's our friend?"
"He cannot take this path," the goddess called back. "He is not mortal. Come, little fools. Come experience the Death Mist."
"Are you guys sure about this?" Nico's voice was almost hesitant, "I- this is- it feels wrong."
"You don't have to come." that came from Leo, his voice was surprisingly comforting, "If you don't want to then you don't have to- you have your jacket. Let's face it the only reason you haven't used it already is because there's no way you'd leave us. But you might not need the Death Mist."
"Jacket?" Percy blinked and then, "Oh yeah, uncle Hades told me. Isn't it like your own personal version of his helm?"
"Yeah." Nico nodded, taking a deep breath before he grabbed Percy's hand, "Yeah it is. But I'm not going to let you two do this on your own." his voice was determined, and Percy pulled him in close, tugging her hand free so that she could drape it over Nico's shoulder, and she yanked Leo into her other side.
"We stick together." Leo declared, "Maybe we should sing again- We're all in-" Percy pinched his arm before he could start actually getting into the song.
"Leo Valdez you are my brother, and I do love you but if you start singing High School musical songs I am going to have to end you here and now."
"And I'll be joining her in the murdering." Nico snickered, and together they started to walk.
And it wasn't nice- Percy didn't like the fact that Bob wasn't there- he'd protected Nico and Leo for this long, she'd have felt a lot better about things if he was with them- but alas he was gone and now their only guide was a goddess who seemed to enjoy misery.
It was a struggle to move across the dusty plains as the fog became so thick that Percy had to resist the urge to swat it away with her hands. The only reason she was able to follow Akhlys's path was because poisonous plants sprang up wherever she walked.
If they were still on the body of Tartarus, Percy figured they must be on the bottom of his foot—a rough, calloused expanse where only the most disgusting plant life grew.
She considered voicing that opinion- but a glance at Leo and Nico told her not to- Nico would give her a disgusted look and Leo would probably find it funny but gross usually, but now wasn't the time.
Finally they arrived at the end of the big toe. At least that's what it looked like to Percy. The fog dissipated, and they found themselves on a peninsula that jutted out over a pitch-black void.
"Here we are." Akhlys turned and leered at them. Blood from her cheeks dripped on her dress. Her sickly eyes looked moist and swollen but somehow excited. Can Misery look excited?
"Uh…great," Percy asked. "Where is here?"
"The verge of final death," Akhlys said. "Where Night meets the void below Tartarus."
"B-below?" Leo's voice was slightly nervous, "You're telling us there's something below this?"
"Oh, certainly there is.…" Akhlys coughed. "Even Tartarus had to rise from somewhere. This is the edge of the earliest darkness, which was my mother. Below lies the realm of Chaos, my father. Here, you are closer to nothingness than any mortal has ever been. Can you not feel it?"
Percy knew what she meant. The void seemed to be pulling at her, leaching the breath from her lungs and the oxygen from her blood. She looked at Leo and Nico and saw that their lips were tinged blue.
"We can't stay here."
"No, indeed!" Akhlys said. "Don't you feel the Death Mist? Even now, you pass between. Look!"
White smoke gathered around Percy's feet. As it coiled up her legs, she realized the smoke wasn't surrounding her. It was coming from her. Her whole body was dissolving. She held up her hands and found they were fuzzy and indistinct. She couldn't even tell how many fingers she had. Hopefully still ten.
She turned her gaze to her brothers again and her breath caught.
After everything she'd done for her siblings, everything she'd done to protect them from anything and everything that she deemed a threat, the sight that met her eyes when she looked at them- it made the world feel like it was falling away beneath Percy's feet- and she was sure that nothing in the universe could ever be good again.
Both of her brothers looked dead, with sallow skin and dark sunken eye sockets.
They looked like they'd been stuck in a cool dark mausoleum for decades, slowly withering into desiccated husks. When her brothers turned to look at her their features seemed to blur into mist.
Percy's blood felt like sap in her veins.
This- this was a new kind of torture. Percy felt tears dripping down her cheeks.
She'd spent so long terrified of losing them- she could remember the grief she'd felt when she'd believed Nico was dead- the terror cloying in her chest that Leo had died after Mount St Helens- though at least that time she'd forced herself to keep some kind of hope alive.
"Oh gods-" Nico looked like he was going to be sick, "You both- it feels- it looks like-" he was trembling Percy realised, and she reached out slowly- clumsily- it was difficult. Her body felt insubstantial, like she was made of helium and cotton candy.
"You look dead." Leo whispered, "Gods this- this is bringing back way too many bad memories I don't like this I don't-"
"I'm here Leo, Nico. We're here. I think- we all look dead and we can't move well-" based on how she was moving anyway, "But we're gonna be alright. I'm fine."
Akhlys chuckled, "Oh, you're definitely not all right."
Percy frowned. "But we'll pass unseen now? We can get to the Doors of Death?"
"Well, perhaps you could," the goddess said, "if you lived that long, which you won't."
Akhlys spread her gnarled fingers. More plants bloomed along the edge of the pit—hemlock, nightshade, and oleander spreading toward Percy's feet like a deadly carpet. "The Death Mist is not simply a disguise, you see. It is a state of being. I could not bring you this gift unless death followed—true death."
"Oh wonderful." Percy muttered the words. "What a shocker. You're betraying us."
The goddess cackled. "Didn't you expect me to betray you?"
"It's kinda expected at this stage." Nico drew his blade- but it was like it was made of smoke, even as Nico brandished it it seemed to ripple.
And Leo let out a panicked noise, holding up his hands- but even his fire seemed weaker than it should have been.
"Oh no." Percy blinked, "Oh gods-"
The goddess's ruined mouth split into a grin. "Did I forget to mention? You are only mist now—a shadow before death.
Perhaps if you had time, you could learn to control your new form. But you do not have time. Since you cannot touch me, I fear any fight with Misery will be quite one-sided."
Her fingernails grew into talons. Her jaw unhinged, and her yellow teeth elongated into fangs.
