Our poor trio, they're so close but they still have a long way to go.
Replies:
Weirdhead: I'm glad you liked how I changed it.
AkitoshTheBold: I mean, there's still a good few chapters left but we're getting there.
Undeath9087: There's gonna be lots of fun. And yeah, Nyx is super powerful, she's gotta be on the same level as Tartarus and Gaea but she's not evil and she sorta likes Percy.
Guest: Let's face it, Percy could do jack shit against Tartarus. As soon as he shows up Percy's basically just thinking, 'Well I'm fucked but maybe I can save them.'
ArachnidHiveMind: Hey, twas not a bad surprise.

Percy took a deep breath, back straightening slightly as she stared forward before she glanced back over her shoulder, she knew she probably shouldn't but- she couldn't help it.

She wasn't sure how but somehow they'd landed several hundred yards from the banks of Acheron, which flowed through a channel cut into black volcanic hills. Beyond that was nothing but darkness. Nyx was in there somewhere- and Percy took just a second to close her eyes.

She wasn't sure if Nyx responded to prayers or not, but hopefully she'd at least hear this one.

Thank you Lady Nyx. Thank you. I'll never be able to thank you enough.

Then there was a skittering noise- like a rockslide in the hills to their left, and Percy had Riptide out and ready almost instantly before she saw a patch of glowing white hair appear over the ride- and she beamed widely as a familiar grinning face appeared shortly behind it.

"BOB!" Percy was rushing towards him quickly as Bob lumbered towards them in return. "Bob you're here!"

"Yes!" Leo was whooping and leaping around happily-and Nico laughed brightly.

"Friends!" Bob looked somewhat battered. The bristles of his broom had been burned off. His janitor's uniform was slashed with new claw marks, but he looked delighted. On his shoulder, Small Bob the kitten purred almost as loudly as the pulsing heart of Tartarus.

"I found you!" Bob gathered the three of them in a rib-crushing hug. "You look like smoking dead people. That is good!"

"Yeah it is." Percy declared brightly, "Gods how did you get here? It wasn't through the Mansion of Night right?" they'd have noticed if he had, surely. Then again Percy hadn't exactly ran through them- Nyx had essentially dumped her at the edge of her territory ready to meet the boys- but Leo and Nico would have probably noticed Bob in there- and Bob would have likely tried to join them surely.

"No, no." Bob shook his head adamantly. "That place is too scary. Another way—only good for Titans and such."

"Well we're glad to have you with us." Leo declared, giving him a thumbs up, "It was rough for a bit but by the gods it's good to see you."

"We stay together now?" he asked, a hopeful gleam in his eyes.

"Damn straight." Percy declared, "No more splitting up. We're all making it out of here I promise you Bob. You got us this far, we'll get the rest of the way out and you can see the world above again."

"Time to test this Death Mist out then." Nico declared, a determined gleam in his eyes, "I want to get home to my glow in the dark boyfriend."

"At least you'll get to see your boyfriend right away." Leo pouted, "Calypso's like, all the way back at camp. It'll take forever for us to get back to her-"

"At least you guys have partners." Percy snorted, "I broke up with mine- both of them."

"And will that be changing?" Nico raised an eyebrow slightly, an amused gleam in his eyes, "Now that Alabastard is no longer a threat I mean. "

"I- am not sure." Percy felt her face going red as Leo snickered. But it was the genuine answer. A large part of the reason she'd broken up with them had been her fear of what he might do to them. And there had been that guilt, the thought that they'd be better off without her- she'd only had to do the quest for her mother because Percy was back. But that guilt- well, Percy didn't feel guilty anymore, not about that anyway. After all Annabeth was probably already recovered and she'd be fine, and Percy had fallen in her place.

But- well, Percy wasn't sure if she was in a mental place to try again. No matter how much she loved them both- and yet- she missed them so much that even thinking about them hurt.

A part of her wanted nothing more to hold them close and never let go. And- she was starting to think that maybe she deserved to be happy- even with the darker parts of herself.

Still, she was yanked out of her thoughts by Leo's voice.

"Nico, remind me to grab some popcorn at the earliest convenience-"

"Oh that sounds good." Nico breathed, "Leo cooked popcorn is the best."

"Leo cooked popcorn?" Bob looked curious, "How is popcorn Leo cooked?"

"Ah-" Leo grinned, "That my friend is simple." Leo held out his hands, a fire burst out around them, "You get the popcorn in the pan, you get it all covered up and boom, you hold the pan over the supremely awesome hands of fire and kapow- you get perfect popcorn-"

"Or a fire in the kitchen." Percy piped up, snickering at the filthy look that Leo gave her.

Bob laughed too- it was an innocent laugh- he didn't fully understand the joke but he was involved- it probably felt good, after so long in the Underworld with no one who really cared about him checking in, he hadn't had anyone to laugh with until now. "I would like to try Leo cooked popcorn."

"Then try you will." Leo declared, managing to pat Bob's shoulder reassuringly. "But if you wanna do that then we should probably get moving."

"You are not wrong." Percy remarked, gazing towards the Doors of Death. "Are you guys ready for this?" she asked softly.

"As ready as I'll ever be." Leo murmured, and Nico nodded.

"Hey, all we're doing is walking through the heart of Tartarus himself through an army of monsters. Nothing difficult about that at all." he gave Percy a wry smile, "We can pull it off, right?"

"Of course we can."

"Bob will help you." Bob's expression was determined, "You will get home."

And with that they got moving.

Percy was willing to admit that walking directly towards the army of monsters went against every instinct she had. Oh she'd dealt with armies before- more than once. But this was on a whole different scale, this wasn't like Kronos' army in Manhattan, or like the army that had attacked Camp Jupiter. And to make it worse this was the monsters home territory.

Any monsters in Tartarus had an advantage, let alone an army of the damned things.

Percy wasn't sure where she should look- at her brothers who looked dead and made her chest go tight, under her feet, where the ground glistened a nauseating purple pulsing with webs of veins, or ahead of her to the horizon, to the army of monsters. Percy swallowed down the bitter bile that threatened to spill at the sight of all those monsters.

There were flocks of winged arai, tribes of lumbering Cyclopes, clusters of floating evil spirits. Thousands of baddies, maybe tens of thousands, all milling restlessly, pressing against one another, growling and fighting for space—like the locker area of an overcrowded school between classes, if all the students were 'roid-raging mutants who smelled really bad.

Bob led them toward the edge of the army. He made no effort to hide, not that it would have done any good. Being ten feet tall and glowing silver, Bob didn't do stealth very well. Though hopefully that would make very little difference- after all he was a Titan, the rest of the forces of Tartarus didn't necessarily know what had happened to him, they didn't know he was Bob now- and, he did still seem to be Bob even if he was starting to gain memories of his life before that.

They didn't need to know that he was working against them. That he was helping three demigods escape.

About thirty yards from the nearest monsters, Bob turned to face Percy.

"Stay quiet and stay behind me," he advised. "They will not notice you."

"We hope," Percy muttered, trying not to show how nervous she felt- after all they were headed into the midst of an army of enemies. If they were noticed they were dead.

On the Titan's shoulder, Small Bob woke up from a nap. He purred seismically and arched his back, turning skeletal then back to calico. At least he didn't seem nervous.

"I have a question." Nico spoke up "If we're invisible then how come you can still see them-I mean, it's good that you can but how, you're a Titan and if it's supposed to hide us from-"

"We are friends." Bob said smoothly, "So I can see you."

"Nyx could see us." Leo paused, "Mind you by the end of that she and Percy were buddies-"

"You're exaggerating." Percy laughed despite herself, shaking her head. "But we trust you Bob. If you say they shouldn't be able to see us then we're safe enough I guess." she paused, "And hey, at least we don't have to worry about bumping into any other friends in this crowd."

"Oh I don't know-" Nico snickered, "Maybe Kelli's here-"

"Hah, not likely." Percy gave a slightly evil satisfied little grin, "I bitch slapped her hard."

"Of course you did." Leo snickered, "She try and seduce Alabaster?"

"Something along those lines." Percy snorted, "Long story."

"You've got to tell us the shit that happened while we were parted someday." Leo remarked, "Seriously. I need the details."

"Of course you do." Percy poked his arm gently before her gaze focused on the swarms of vicious monsters, "So definitely no running into old friends."

Bob grinned. "Yes, that is good news! Now, let's go. Death is close."

They plunged into the crowd, and Percy clung tightly to her brothers hands- their presence was the only thing stopping her from shaking. The sheer numbers of monsters was terrifying, and she could feel how tightly Leo and Nico clung to her, could tell that they were just as terrified as she was- and that gave her strength, it was her job as the big sister to protect her baby siblings and right now that meant pretending that she wasn't scared out of her mind.

A few feet away from them as they walked Percy spotted a group of empousai tearing into the carcass of a gryphon while other gryphons flew around them, squawking in outrage. A six-armed Earthborn and a Laistrygonian giant pummeled each other with rocks, though Percy wasn't sure if they were fighting or just messing around. A dark wisp of smoke—Percy guessed it must be an eidolon—seeped into a Cyclops, made the monster hit himself in the face, then drifted off to possess another victim.

"Holy Hades." Leo's voice hissed- and he squeezed her hand tightly and Percy followed his gaze.

A stone's throw away, a guy in a cowboy outfit was cracking a whip at some fire-breathing horses. The wrangler wore a Stetson hat on his greasy hair, an extra-large set of jeans, and a pair of black leather boots. From the side, he might have passed for human—until he turned, and Percy saw that his upper body was split into three different chests, each one dressed in a different-color Western shirt.

Percy felt a flare of pain in her sides and chest- a phantom pain she was sure- the wound had been healed, but the memories of that curse definitely wouldn't fade any time quickly- she felt the very strong temptation to march over to him and deck him in the face- Geryon would definitely deserve it.

"Ugh." Nico muttered softly, "Wish we had Kayla here with us right now- she could get rid of him for us easily."
"Gods I never thought I'd have to see his ugly face again." Percy muttered the words.

And she couldn't help but wonder how many of the monsters she'd killed were in the crowds. And she'd killed a lot of them over the years.

That thought caused a sinking feeling in the pit of Percy's stomach and she swallowed hard, trying to force down the sudden anxiety that curled around her chest tightly, it felt like some of the monsters had their claws tightening around Percy's lungs, making it harder to draw in a breath.

Percy forced herself to calm, forced herself to breath in and out, counting to three each time.

She really couldn't afford to have a panic attack right now, no matter how justifiable it would be.

And then, somewhere in front of them a voice bellowed: "IAPETUS!"