Battle of the Labyrinth

Chapter 18

Wow, I am sorry guys for not updating like have been but my life has been…..not that great. My family has been pushing me to get a better job and not in the nicest way. The fear and anxiety got so bad that two things happened. Since I didn't wait for those potential jobs to even contact me, I freaked out and I got really depressed and just wanted to die, thinking I was going to get nowhere in life. However, since I am still kicking, I didn't die and I did the next best thing…which is now just a last resort. I went to the military recruiter's office. Since I am NOT a strong guy what so ever, I tried talking to the Air Force guy since their boot camp is the easiest….not there most of the time and he was on vacation. So I talked to the Navy and figured I would just wait since I don't want to be on a giant boat for most of my life…nor do I want to get shoot at in the Army and I am not hardcore enough to Marines and Navy Seals. Ugh, it was an emotional roller coaster for me and it was not fun.

BUT! I guess that waiting for the Air Force guy paid off because I got a few calls from some of the jobs I applied for, did a few interviews and now I might be working for a Credit Union as a Full Time Teller…wonder how that will go. Still, it is better that going to die off in the military or in the pizza place I have been working at for 8 and half years….not like they care.

Anyway, I am back guys! So on with the show!

XXXX

"Ugh, did we lose them?" Naruto asked as the group of demi gods, aclear sighted mortal, and a hellhound runt stopped to rest. Rachel had stopped them in a tunnel of wet white rock, like a natural cave. They were all pretty tired due to Rachel quickly leading them all away from Kronos. Rachel had steered them away from traps, but with no destination in mind—only away from that dark mountain and the roar of Kronos.

While it didn't feel any safer in the Labyrinth, it was still better then Kronos looking at them with golden eyes from Luke's face.

"I think so, I can't go any farther," Rachel gasped, hugging her chest.

Annabeth had been crying the entire time we'd been running. Now she collapsed and put her head between her knees. Her sobs echoed in the tunnel. Naruto sat next to her and she leaned on his shoulder, continuing to cry. He tried to comfort her like an older brother would.

Nico and Percy sat next to each other, with Nico dropping his sword next to Percy's and took a shaky breath. "That sucked."

"But you saved us Nico." Percy replied. "Of Course Rachel distracted him with her hair brush and then you used the earth to give us time to get away."

Nico wiped the dust off his face. "Blame the girls for dragging me along. That's the only thing they could agree on. We needed to help you or you'd mess things up."

"True, but I doubt that my charmspeak would have done much against him as well." Silena replied, still a little shaken up.

"Oh great, nice to know they trust me so much." Percy grumbled but Silena just hit him in the shoulder.

"Oh grow up, they were worried about you." Silena replied.

Naruto just smirked before groaning a bit. "Well, if they don't know they do now. They already know I am a child of Hades, so they now know you are as well with the black stone you used."

Nico frowned. "Big deal. If he hasn't gotten you yet, I doubt he would get me or Bianca as well."

"You have a point, and if anything does happen, we have our backs as family." Naruto suggested, making the boy smile.

Annabeth lifted her head. Her eyes were red from crying. "What…what was wrong with Luke? What did they do to him?"

Naruto and Percy looked at each other for Percy told her what they has seen in the coffin, the way the last piece of Kronos's spirit had entered Luke's body when Ethan Nakamura pledged his service.

"No," Annabeth said. "That can't be true. He couldn't—"

"He gave himself over to Kronos," Percy said. "I'm sorry, Annabeth. But Luke is gone."

"No!" she insisted. "You saw when Rachel hit him."

"You have a point, maybe he is still in there and Kronos is using his anger to control him." Naruto replied and then smirked. "But you have to admit that brush hitting him was kind of funny."

Rachel looked embarrassed. "It was the only thing I had."

"Meh, whatever works." Naruto shrugged and then turned back to Annabeth. "He was your friend and maybe still is. The fact his he chose this through anger, so he may be evil or not, but we need to figure this out eventually, plus if a simple hair brush can bring him out, maybe Kronos doesn't have full control yet."

Percy did not look happy about that since he still had no positive feelings for Luke, but he stayed quiet. No point in arguing with Annabeth right this moment. However, Annabeth was still sad for her old crush/friend and she just let it out some more.

After a few more minutes of this, Naruto cringed and said, "I'd hate to be the bearer of bad news but we should get going soon."

"He is right." Nico replied, "Kronos will send monsters after us and I don't want to just sit her and let them kill us."

However, they were still tired but there was merit to that statement. Kronos would do that. So Naruto helped his little sister figure up and then Silena, while Percy helped up Rachel.

Percy smiled at Rachel and said, "You did good back there."

Rachel managed a weak smile. "Yeah, well. I didn't want you to die." She blushed. "I mean…just because, you know. You owe me too many favors. How am I going to collect if you die?"

Percy snorted at that before walking over to Annabeth and said, "Hey, are you alright."

The blond girl managed a weak smile, "Yeah, I think so."

Naruto frowned at that seeing that the girl was clearly not alright, but at the current moment, had no clue how to cheer her up. So he turned to his girlfriend in Silena and smiled. I know of a different way you could have helped."

"Oh?"

"Those throwing knives I taught you how to use." Naruto replied with a shit eating grin.

"Stupid!" Silena hissed as he looked at her own bracelet he had given her that had a knife charm on it.

"Oh well, next time…oof!" Naruto replied before running into Percy, he had asked Rachel to take them back to New York, only to freeze and have Naruto run into the back of him.

The reason? A few feet in front of them, a flashlight beam was fixed on a trampled clump of red fabric lying on the ground. It was a Rasta cap: the one Grover always wore.

XXX

As Percy shakily picked up the old hat, he noticed that it was muddy and looked like it had been stepped on by some huge boot. He gulped in fear, after everything that happened today, he did not want to see one of his oldest friends dead.

He then noticed something else. The cave floor was mushy and wet from the water dripping off the stalactites. There were large footprints like Tyson's, and smaller ones—goat hooves—leading off to the left.

"We have to follow them," Percy said. "They went that way. It must have been recently."

"What about Camp Half-Blood?" Nico said. "There's no time."

"We have to find them," Annabeth insisted. "They're our friends."

"Agreed, I would hate from something bad to happen to them." Naruto replied with a serious face.

Annabeth took the cap and forged ahead with a determined expression. She wasn't going to lose any more friends. The tunnel was treacherous. It sloped at weird angles and was slimy with moisture. Half the time the group was slipping and sliding rather than walking.

Finally they got to the bottom of a slope and found themselves in a large cave with huge stalagmite columns. Through the center of the room ran an underground river, and Tyson was sitting by the banks, cradling Grover in his lap. Grover's eyes were closed. He wasn't moving.

"Tyson!" Percy yelled.

"Percy! Come quick!"

They ran over to him. Grover wasn't dead, thank the gods, but his whole body trembled like he was freezing to death.

"What happened?" Percy asked.

"So many things," Tyson murmured. "Large snake. Large dogs. Men with swords. But then…we got close to here. Grover was excited. He ran. Then we reached this room, and he fell. Like this."

"Oh right….the snake." Naruto muttered as he shivered. He had sent a clone with them to keep them safe, not that they needed it but damn. His clone had been eaten by that damn snake. He thought it had been another rehashed memory from back in the chunin exams. Great.

Silena heard that and looked at him oddly before deciding to ask later.

"Did he say anything?" Percy asked.

"He said, 'We're close.' Then hit his head on rocks." Tyson replied, making Naruto snort. At least Grover was ok.

Percy knelt next to the Satyr. The only other time him and Naruto had seen Grover pass out was New Mexico, when he'd felt the presence of Pan.

Percy shined his flashlight around the cavern. The rocks glittered. At the far end was the entrance to another cave, flanked by gigantic columns of crystal that looked like diamonds. And beyond that entrance…

"Grover," Percy said. "Wake up."

"Uhhhhhhhh."

Annabeth knelt next to him and splashed icy cold river water in his face. "Splurg!" His eyelids fluttered. "Percy? Annabeth? Where…"

"It's okay," Percy said. "You passed out. The presence was too much for you."

"I—I remember. Pan."

"Yeah, I think you have finally found him." Naruto said aloud with a smirk. "The presence is pretty powerful.

XXX

Percy made quick introductions, since Tyson and Grover had never met Rachel. Tyson told Rachel she was pretty, which made Annabeth's nostrils flare like she was going to blow fire.

Naruto and Silena snorted in silent laughter. Annabeth was jealous and it was kind of funny. Seems the daughter of Athena wanted all the attention from the Sons of Poseidon. Ironic.

"Anyway," Percy said with a glance at Naruto and Silena. "Come on, Grover. Lean on me."

Annabeth and Percy helped him up, and together they waded across the underground river. The current was strong. The water came up to our waists. The son of Poseidon willed himself to stay dry, which is a handy little ability, but that didn't help the others….well, except Naruto and Silena. Naruto just walked on the water with Silena on his back. Plus little Tear was on his head, looking happier than the rest for not being in the water.

"I think we're in Carlsbad Caverns," Annabeth said, her teeth chattering. "Maybe an unexplored section."

"How do you know?" Asked Percy.

"Carlsbad is in New Mexico," she said. "That would explain last winter."

That would make a lot of sense since last time they had been in the area with Grover, he had an episode. This proves that was is near!

They got out of the water and kept walking. As the crystal pillars loomed larger, everybody started to feel the power emanating from the next room. Sure they had been in the presence of the Gods before, but they also felt different. It felt great, like it was energizing them. And the scent coming from the cave was nothing like the dank wet underground. It smelled of trees and flowers and a warm summer day. For a moment, Naruto felt like he was back in the forests of Konoha.

Grover whimpered with excitement while everyone was stunned quiet once tepped into the cave, and then Rachel said, "Oh, wow."

The walls glittered with crystals—red, green, and blue. In the strange light, beautiful plants grew—giant orchids, star-shaped flowers, vines bursting with orange and purple berries that crept among the crystals. The cave floor was covered with green moss. Overhead, the ceiling was higher than a cathedral, sparkling like a galaxy of stars. In the center of the cave stood a Roman-style bed, gilded wood shaped like a curly U, with velvet cushions. Animals lounged around it—but they were animals that shouldn't have been alive. There was a dodo bird, something that looked like a cross between a wolf and a tiger, a huge rodent like the mother of all guinea pigs, and roaming behind the bed, picking berries with its trunk, was a wooly mammoth.

It was amzing, but then they looked at the bed.

On the bed lay an old satyr. He watched the group as they approached, his eyes as blue as the sky. His curly hair was white and so was his pointed beard. Even the goat fur on his legs was frosted with gray. His horns were enormous— glossy brown and curved. There was no way he could've hidden those under a hat the way Grover did. Around his neck hung a set of reed pipes.

Grover fell to his knees in front of the bed. "Lord Pan!"

The god smiled kindly, but there was sadness in his eyes. "Grover, my dear, brave satyr. I have waited a very long time for you."

"I…got lost," Grover apologized. Naruto wanted to finish that statement with something Kakashi would say, but he knew this was not the time.

Pan laughed. It was a wonderful sound, like the first breeze of springtime, filling the whole cavern with hope. The tiger-wolf sighed and rested his head on the god's knee. The dodo bird pecked affectionately at the god's hooves, making a strange sound in the back of its bill. It was humming something that sounded like "It's a Small World."

Still, Pan looked tired. His whole form shimmered as if he were made of Mist.

The ninja from another world noticed that his friends were kneeling and motioned for himself and Percy to do the same. This dying God needed their respect.

"You have a humming dodo bird," Percy said stupidly despite being on his knees.

The god's eyes twinkled. "Yes, that's Dede. My little actress."

Dede the dodo looked offended. She pecked at Pan's knee and hummed something that sounded like a funeral dirge. Tear kind of like she was laughing at the byplay between the two, but otherwise stay on Naruto's head.

"This is the most beautiful place!" Annabeth said. "It's better than any building ever designed."

"I am glad you like it, dear," Pan said. "It is one of the last wild places. My realm above is gone, I'm afraid. Only pockets remain. Tiny pieces of life. This one shall stay undisturbed…for a little longer."

"My lord," Grover said, "please, you must come back with me! The Elders will never believe it! They'll be overjoyed! You can save the wild!"

Pan placed his hand on Grover's head and ruffled his curly hair. "You are so young, Grover. So good and true. I think I chose well."

"Chose?" Grover said. "I—I don't understand."

Pan's image flickered, momentarily turning to smoke. The giant guinea pig scuttled under the bed with a terrified squeal. The wooly mammoth grunted nervously. Dede stuck her head under her wing. Even Tear let out a nervous bark. Then Pan re-formed.

"I have slept many eons," the god said forlornly. "My dreams have been dark. I wake fitfully, and each time my waking is shorter. Now we are near the end."

"What?" Grover cried. "But no! You're right here!"

"My dear satyr," Pan said. "I tried to tell the world, two thousand years ago. I announced it to Lysas, a satyr very much like you. He lived in Ephesos, and he tried to spread the word."

Annabeth's eyes widened. "The old story. A sailor passing by the coast of Ephesos heard a voice crying from the shore, 'Tell them the great god Pan is dead.'"

"But that wasn't true!" Grover said.

"Your kind never believed it," Pan said. "You sweet, stubborn satyrs refused to accept my passing. And I love you for that, but you only delayed the inevitable. You only prolonged my long, painful passing, my dark twilight sleep. It must end."

"No!" Grover's voice trembled.

"Dear Grover," Pan said. "You must accept the truth. Your companions,

Nico and Naruto, they understand."

Nico nodded slowly. "He's dying. He should have died long ago. This…this is more like a memory."

"Still don't want this to be the end." Naruto growled out with tears in his eyes at seeing his Satyr friend about to lose his hero. "Why can't you just go to my world? There is plenty of Nature there."

Pan smiled sadly at the ninja. "Oh I have been there a few times and while Nature is thriving there, it won't last. Plus it is not my world." Pan paused for a moment. "And while the ninja have grown weaker over the ages, war always pops up and destroyed vast amounts of Nature. Your people are still so much more dangerous that the people of this world. I would not fit in."

Naruto sighed, "I guess you are right about that."

"Wait, but Gods can't die!" Grover shouted in desperation.

"They can fade," Pan said, "when everything they stood for is gone. When they cease to have power, and their sacred places disappear. The wild, my dear Grover, is so small now, so shattered, that no god can save it. My realm is gone. That is why I need you to carry a message. You must go back to the council. You must tell the satyrs, and the dryads, and the other spirits of nature, that the great god Pan is dead. Tell them of my passing. Because they must stop waiting for me to save them. I cannot. The only salvation you must make yourself. Each of you must—" He stopped and frowned at the dodo bird, who had started humming again. "Dede, what are you doing?" Pan demanded. "Are you singing Kumbayaagain?"

Dede looked up innocently and blinked her yellow eyes.

Pan sighed. "Everybody's a cynic. But as I was saying, my dear Grover, each of you must take up my calling."

"But…no!" Grover whimpered.

"Be strong," Pan said. "You have found me. And now you must release me. You must carry on my spirit. It can no longer be carried by a god. It must be taken up by all of you."

Pan looked straight at Percy with his clear blue eyes, and the boy realized he wasn't just talking about satyrs. He meant half-bloods, too, and humans. Everyone.

"Percy Jackson," the god said. "I know what you have seen today. I know your doubts. But I give you this news: when the time comes, you will not be ruled by fear."

He turned to Annabeth. "Daughter of Athena, your time is coming. You will play a great role, though it may not be the role you imagined."

Then he looked at Tyson. "Master Cyclops, do not despair. Heroes rarely live up to our expectations. But you, Tyson—your name shall live among the Cyclopes for generations. And Miss Rachel Dare…"

Rachel flinched when he said her name. She backed up like she was guilty of something, but Pan only smiled. He raised his hand in a blessing.

"I know you believe you cannot make amends," he said. "But you are just as important as your father."

"I—" Rachel faltered. A tear traced her cheek.

"I know you don't believe this now," Pan said. "But look for opportunities. They will come." He then looked at Silena. "and you daughter of Aphrodite, I know how good you are, keep it up and let not only your own beauty shine, but everything else around you as well."

Silena nodded with tears of her own running down her face.

Pan turned back to Naruto and smiled. "And you, the surprising heir of three, I know you are upset with how things are going, but this is the way things need to be. And despite going to your world a few times, I have seen a lot of good that came with the bad. You don't know this, but I know of the Sages, Ninja with God like power. I feel that you will need it when you face what is to come. Both from your old world and this one. Stay strong and to your own ideals and you will prevail."

Naruto nodded, not trusting his voice right now.

Finally he turned back toward Grover. "My dear satyr," Pan said kindly, "will you carry my message?"

"I—I can't."

"You can," Pan said. "You are the strongest and the bravest. Your heart is true. You have believed in me more than anyone ever has, which is why you must bring the message, and why you must be the first to release me."

"I don't want to."

"I know," the god said. "But my name, Pan…originally it meant rustic. Did you know that? But over the years it has come to mean all. The spirit of the wild must pass to all of you now. You must tell each one you meet: if you would find Pan, take up Pan's spirit. Remake the wild, a little at a time, each in your own corner of the world. You cannot wait for anyone else, even a god, to do that for you."

Grover wiped his eyes. Then slowly he stood. "I've spent my whole life looking for you. Now…I release you."

Pan smiled. "Thank you, dear satyr. My final blessing."

He closed his eyes, and the god dissolved. White mist divided into wisps of energy, but this kind of energy wasn't scary like the blue power seen from Kronos. It filled the room. A curl of smoke went straight into everyone's mouths, but of course a little more went into Grover. Naruto also noticed a scroll forming in one of his hands. The crystals dimmed. The animals gave them a sad look. Dede the dodo sighed. Then they all turned gray and crumbled to dust. The vines withered. And the group was alone in a dark cave, with an empty bed. Tear whimpered at the loss of the old God.

Percy switched on his flashlight.

Grover took a deep breath.

"Are…are you okay?" Percy asked him.

Grover looked older and sadder. He took his cap from Annabeth, brushed off the mud, and stuck it firmly on his curly head. "We should go now," he said, "and tell them. The great god Pan is dead."

They all nodded before leaving the cave to go back into the Labyrinth with Naruto noticed the title of the scroll that formed in his hand. 'Secrets and Truth of Sage Mode'

XXXXX

And that is where I am ending that chapter folks. If you are still with me, that is freaking great! Oh and I did get that full time teller position! Whoot! And I can still type up my stories, so yay!

Anyway, yes, Naruto will be learning Sage Mode…or as Pan describes it in the scroll as God Mode. That will be useful against Sasuke and Typhon!

Review!