Hehehe, bet you guys have been looking forward to seeing the Tartarus Trio dealing with Tartarus- well tough! Anyways, minor update- I'm been struggling a little with the BOO fic, but I have found that my favorite chapters to write at the moment are the ones with Reyna and Bianca- what can I say it's fun to do the dance. Also- Bianca has so fucking many issues with self doubt. It's very sad.
Replies:
Undeath9087: You are very right about that lol. And yes Rachel did- but Percy's not exactly thinking clearly-and also for all she knows Rachel was trying to comfort her.
Drizzle: Hah! You thought!
Bianca wasn't sure how she was feeling, if she was being honest with herself. Admitting the truth to Cupid- and to Jason, had not been fun. But- she had kind of gained a friend from it. Jason was kind to her. He'd not judged her for any of the stuff she'd confessed- even for the fact that a part of her had been happy when Jason had disappeared- that she'd hated him.
It felt kind of nice, honestly. She knew the others well enough- kind of- but none of them were really what she'd call friends. She hadn't spent that much time around any of them- too busy with her own thing- or they'd been busy with theirs.
She had Hazel of course but that was different. But Jason? She was willing to call him a friend. She'd even been there for him as much as she could while they'd been temporarily grounded- it turned out Khione's attack had done more damage than they'd expected; shortly after Calypso's arrival- and that was like an arrow to the heart for Bianca- she could see a resemblance between Calypso and her sister- they'd been forced to stop in Cancun whilst Annabeth figured out the repairs needed and they worked on it- and she'd been the one who Jason had confided in about his frustration with Auster and Notus- she was the one he'd talked to about choosing Camp Half-blood over Camp Jupiter- he hadn't even discussed it with Thalia or Piper.
It- Bianca had to admit it was a wonderful feeling, knowing someone trusted her like that- and she found she trusted him too.
In any case, when they landed in Greece Bianca could feel the closeness of the Doors of Death- it made her shiver
slightly, she wished she could forget her time in Tartarus completely but it was impossible.
And of course there was the sceptre of Diocletian- Bianca kept it with her at all times- after what she'd been through to get it she wouldn't take any risks.
There was some discussion of course, about who would go and who would stay with the ship- it would be foolish to leave it totally undefended, so Frank had suggested that Coach Hedge stay.
Annabeth had wanted to go too- unfortunately for her Will wasn't allowing it- during their days in Cancun she'd skipped meals, skipped sleep despite Thalia and Luke's attempts to look after her.
She'd passed out shortly before their arrival in Greece- and Thalia and Luke agreed to stay with her- that made sense to Bianca. Thalia loved Annabeth like a sister- and Luke knew that Percy would want him to protect Annabeth- though he hadn't looked happy that he wouldn't be going with them to help rescue Percy, Nico, and Leo.
And of course there was the fact that they could only take so many- there hadn't been enough of the barley for all of them to go, even when they'd stretched it as much as they could, so four of them would have had to stay behind anyway.
The others had tried to reassure Luke that they'd get the others home but it had been clear that he had only agreed because Thalia had pleaded with him and pointed out that the others were probably better suited for their mission.
And so they left the ship behind. Bianca led the way, Jason on her right- a fact that she was grateful for.
At the top of the hill where the ruins were they climbed over an old retaining wall and down into an excavated trench. Finally they arrived at a stone doorway leading straight into the side of the hill. The death storm seemed to originate right above their heads.
Bianca swallowed hard as she cast her gaze over the others. "This is where it gets tough." she warned them all.
"It's not been tough enough already?" that came from Frank, who was frowning.
Bianca didn't blame him for that- it had been tough for them all- her eyes shifted to Hazel- who looked as worried as Frank- and Bianca hated the thought of what was to come. She knew who Hazel would have to face. Pasiphae. Bianca had never met her but she'd heard of her, and she knew that Nico had had some trouble with Minos.
"It's going to get harder." Bianca sighed, she wished it was Nico here-she'd trade places with him without a doubt. He'd be more confident- he was a real hero. Not like her. But- she owed it to him and Hazel to do this. "You have to remember, this is where pilgrims came to commune with dead ancestors. Underground, you may see things that are hard to look at, or hear voices trying to lead you astray in the tunnels. Frank, do you have the barley cakes?"
"What?" Frank looked distracted- and that was worrying to say the least.
"I've got the cakes." Hazel spoke up, pulling out the magical barley crackers they'd made from the grain Triptolemus had given them in Venice.
"Eat up then. We're going to need them."
Bianca accepted the one that Hazel handed her- and she pulled a face as she chewed it- it didn't taste good, like a cookie made with sawdust instead of sugar.
"Yum." Piper muttered the word, which somehow broke the tension very slightly before Bianca forced herself to speak again.
"Okay." she coughed to clear her throat, "That should protect us from the poison-"
"And I have a lot of stuff in my bag- supplies for if we get injured." Will patted his bag. "We're as prepared as we can be."
"We will have to stick together." Bianca told them, "If we do that we might be able to avoid getting lost or going insane."
And with that Bianca was turning and plunging into the tunnel, which spiralled gently downward. The ceiling was supported by white stone arches.
As they walked, Hazel ran her hands along the masonry. "This wasn't part of a temple," she whispered. "This was…the basement for a manor house, built in later Greek times."
"A manor house?" that was Frank's voice, "Please don't tell me we're in the wrong place."
"It's the right place." Bianca said smoothly- she could never mistake that. "But Hazel's right. these upper levels are much newer. When the archaeologists first excavated this site, they thought they'd found the Necromanteion. Then they realized the ruins were too recent, so they decided it was the wrong spot. They were right the first time. They just didn't dig deep enough."
They turned a corner and stopped. In front of them, the tunnel ended in a huge block of stone.
"A cave-in?" Jason asked.
"A test I think." Bianca glanced at Hazel, who didn't hesitate, stepping forward, and Bianca noticed Calypso giving her a small nod- they'd gotten close since they'd met when Calypso first arrived- Bianca knew that the daughter of Atlas had been helping Hazel with her magic.
And she watched as Hazel placed her hand on the rock, and the entire boulder crumbled to dust.
The tunnel shuddered. Cracks spread across the ceiling. Then the rumbling stopped. The dust settled. Bianca felt a rush of pride at that.
A set of stairs curved deeper into the earth, the barrelled ceiling held up by more repeating arches, closer together and carved from polished black stone. Painted on the walls were crude pictures of black cattle marching downward.
"I really don't like cows," Piper muttered.
"Agreed," Frank said.
"Since Annabeth and Thalia aren't here I'll say it for them." Will's lips twitched, "They suck."
"Those are the cattle of Hades," Bianca said. "It's just a symbol of—"
"Look." Frank pointed.
On the first step of the stairwell, a golden chalice gleamed. The cup was full of dark-green liquid. Bianca moved forward, picking up the chalice slowly. "We're here. At the entrance to the Necromanteion. Heroes have come here for years, seeking advice from the dead- Odysseu-"
"Let us just drink it if we must." Calypso interrupted- which made Bianca wince.
Right. Odysseus had been one of the heroes before Leo hadn't he?
"Uh, right." Bianca drank from the chalice- resisting the urge to pull a face- it tasted like spoiled apple juice- not a nice taste to say the least.
She turned her gaze to Jason next- and he gave her a reassuring smile. "Come on then di Angelo." and Bianca couldn't help but smile at the display of trust, handing him the chalice- and he drank and passed it on- one by one each of them drank, and as soon as Frank was done- he was the last, the chalice turned to smoke into his hands, undoubtedly the magic meant it knew that there was no need for any more of it.
"Good." Bianca took a deep breath, "We should be able to find our way through the Necromanteions first level."
"Just the first level?" Piper frowned slightly and Bianca gave a strained smile.
"We'll be fine." then she turned to Hazel, "You're better with underground than me Hazel, can you-"
"Of course." Hazel nodded, a determined gleam in her eyes.
And it didn't take long for even Bianca to feel lost- she wasn't as connected to underground things as Hazel- and the the stairs split in three different directions and as soon as Hazel chose a path they split again.
The group wound their way through interconnecting tunnels and rough-hewn burial chambers that all looked the same—the walls carved with dusty niches that might once have held bodies. The arches over the doors were painted with black cows, white poplar trees, and owls.
"I thought the owl was Minerva's symbol," Jason murmured.
"Owls are." Bianca admitted, "But that's a screech owl. It's one of my fathers sacred animals. It's cry is a bad omen."
"This way." Hazel pointed to a doorway that looked the same as all the others. "It's the only one that won't collapse on us."
"Not collapsing is good." Will looked uncomfortable Bianca noticed, much paler than usual and every so often he'd reach up, brushing his fingers over the scars on his face- but- it wasn't her place to ask. That distant look in his eyes made her wonder if it was connected to Nico- he got that look a lot since he'd found out Nico was in the pit.
Still, they had no choice but to keep going.
Finally they reached an archway carved in the shape of human skulls—or maybe they were human skulls embedded in the rock. In the purple light of Diocletian's scepter, the hollow eye sockets seemed to blink.
"This is the entrance to the second level." Hazel announced, her voice filled with confidence. "I'd better take a look."
And Bianca watched as Hazel traced her fingers across the carved skulls. "No traps on the doorway, but…something is strange here. My underground sense is—is fuzzy, like someone is working against me, hiding what's ahead of us."
"The sorceress that Hecate warned you about?" Jason guessed.
"Probably." Bianca stared at her sister, gods this was terrible. And gods was she a terrible sister? Nico had done so many dangerous things like this without her even knowing- as if he sensed her guilt Jason laid a gentle hand on her elbow and shook his head slightly.
"What sorceress?" Calypso tilted her head, "Do you know the name?"
Hazel chewed her lip. "It would be safer not to say her name. But stay alert. One thing I'm sure of: From this point on, the dead are stronger than the living."
Bianca found herself nodding at that- she could sense it- the spirits whispered in the darkness and there were glimpses of movement from the shadows.
"Where are the monsters? I thought Gaea had an army guarding the Doors." Frank's voice was worried.
"Don't know," Jason said. His pale skin looked as green as the poison from the chalice. "At this point I'd almost prefer a straight-up fight."
"I don't know about that." Will snorted, "You guys get beat up enough as it is, don't make my job harder by wishing for it."
"We do make you work." Piper laughed weakly.
Then the tunnel shook. Rubble rained down from the ceiling. Hazel grabbed at Frank's hand.
"That was close." she muttered the words. "These passage won't take much more.
"The Doors of Death just opened again." Bianca's voice was monotone- she was shaking slightly.
The memories of her time after she was captured were blurry at best- but she could remember being carried back up- remember counting the seconds, coming up with desperate delirious plans to escape that had failed uselessly.
"It's happening every fifteen minutes." Piper said after a moment.
"Twelve." Bianca's voice was quiet. "Every twelve minutes."
And Hazel cast her a concerned look. "Bianca- are you-"
"I'll be fine." Bianca closed her eyes- taking a moment to steady herself. And she reached out with her powers- she knew
Nico, Percy and Leo were close to the doors but how close- her breath caught.
She could sense them- distant, still in Tartarus but she could sense them.
And she could sense danger. Her eyes snapped open. "We need to hurry." there was a note of panic in her voice, "We need to go. Now! They're in danger. Nico, Leo and Percy are in danger."
