Chapter 12: Rose and the Minotaur-Part 2

At this point, Rose was about to start breaking walls. What was up with this place anyway? It was so chewed up you'd think a caged animal had rampaged in it!

Just in the one stretch of the maze she had been in there must have been fifty gouges in the walls, giant brick chunks littering the floor. The damage was tremendous. It almost looked like something she would do when she was annoyed. Rose chuckled to herself. Well, if would if I wasn't as 'ladylike'. She shook her head, clearing away all the intrusive thoughts. Back to work finding the Prince-Of-the-Yutzes.

"Prince Adonis! Hey! Can you hear me?!" Rose called, cupping her hands around her mouth to amplify the sound. A startled yelp came from three passages over.

"R-Rose? Is that you?" came Adonis's whimpered reply. Rose rolled her eyes. How was it that such a cocky little prince was such a big baby? Where the Tartarus did the muscles come from?! Sighing, the young shifter called back to disembodied voice.

"Are you hurt?" Rose yelled in the prince's supposed direction. His whined 'uh-huh' had her reeling at first. "What do you mean 'Uh-huh'?! Is it bad?!" His answer took the ambrosia.

"I broke a nail! It's terrible!" The Prince practically shrieked. The shifters eyes widened, then she snarled under her breath. Freakin' pretty boy and his skewed priorities... "Do you think you can follow my voice? I'm gonna try, try, to get us out of here but we should probably group up first." There was a sniffle from far away. Another 'Uh-huh' was uttered in a single whine and Rose heaved another sigh. Settling against the wall opposite from Adonis's voice and took a deep breath. And sang.

nsnsnsnsnsnsnsnsnsnsnsnnsnsnsnsnsnsnsnsnsnsnsnsnsn snsnsnsnsnsnsnsnsnsns

It really was surprising that she hadn't noticed. How do you miss a giant bull/human cross right behind you! As the girl settled to the ground, the minotaur crouched behind the corner of the passage, trying to decide the perfect moment to strike. The girl was pretty. Someone would be willing to trade her freedom for his. Hey, maybe he could even get some money!

The minotaur was suddenly pulled from his musings into music. To be exact, the singing coming from said 'pretty girl'. The lilting chords and clear sound made him sigh, as his predatory crouch turned into a relaxed pose of dreamy contemplation. The song had a sad, sweet kind of tune that flowed like water. Unfortunately, his moment of peace was stripped away when a little man in a white chiton ran around the corner.

"Rose? There you are! I have been looking for you!" cried the the boy indignantly. The minotaur had been watching that one. The idiot had been collapsed in a corner suching his thumb for the last two hours. If he was supposed to be the rescue party, then taking the girl would be easier than expected!

The singing stopped. "I know Adonis, I'm the one that started singing so that you could find me. Remember?" 'Adonis' took that moment to look past the passage that Rose was in and spot the minotaur. Screaming shrilly, the boy took off back the way he came, nearly falling on his face a few times. Rose popped her head around the corner.

"Adonis?! I'm right here! Oh, son of a-," the minotaur took his chance to speak to the little lady.

"You're singing is beautiful. Was that one of Orpheus's ballads or...?" Rose whipped around, hand raised, looking like she was going to slash anything that made a move when the question sunk in. Putting her hand down, she gave the minotaur a look.

"No, it's one of mine. I like Orpheus's music but it's too..." She waved her hand, as if trying to conjure up the word. "-Pop-ish, I guess I would say. It's good, but there's nothing other than bubbly feelings with his stuff, you know? Ah! I'm sorry, let me introduce myself. My name is Rose. I'm trying to get the idiot that just ran in the other direction out of this thing. And you are?"

The minotaur looked at her strangely. "You're not screaming. That's new." Rose's gaze shifted from suspicious to curiosity.

"Why would I be screaming? You're not doing anything," she said, cocking an eyebrow at him incredulously.

"Tell that to everyone else. Ever since I was put in this place I've gotten nothing but screaming teenagers yelling about 'the monster'. It's annoying!" the minotaur groaned. It was too. It was most of the reason for him goring people to death. Well, that and it was fun.

Rose's face took on an annoyed look, "Why are they calling you a monster? You couldn't choose who your parents are. That's like calling me a siren for having an okay voice! Stupid people..." She looked up at him with a grin. "So...you know the way out of here, perchance?"

"Can't get out of here without a magic thread. The guy who made this place was a genius apparently. I don't see what makes the guy all that great..." The giant crossed his arms over his chest and lashed his tail.

All of a sudden, a shout came from farther down one of the intersecting passages. "Get away from the D.I.D. monster, or I shall be forced to act!"

"Hercules?! What's he doing- Cassandra! She must have said something!" Rose turned back to the minotaur, " He hasn't seen us yet, but he's going to be trouble if he does. Here's the plan..."

nsnsnsnsnsnsnsnsnsnsnsnsnsnsnsnsnsnsnsnsnsnsnsnsns nsnsnsnsnsnsnsnsnsnsns

"AHHHHH! MONSTER!" Rose screamed shrilly. "HELP ME! SOMEONE HELP!" She sped past Hercules and Icarus, the minotaur right behind her bellowing fiercely. Icarus launched himself at Hercules shrieking.

"The min- The min- The min-" the smaller boy stuttered.

"-Otaur, kid! How hard is that to remember!?" the minotaur grumbled.

"Hey, stick to the script!" Rose huffed over her shoulder. The pair quickly lost Hercules and Icarus but the two boys were close behind- you could hear the quick footsteps. Coming to an intersection Rose skidded to a halt and shoved the minotaur into the shadow of the other passage. The boys quickly caught up, but when they saw the girl catching her breath by the corner and didn't see the 'monster', they became confused.

"Rose?! Where's the Minotaur?" Hercules questioned, sliding to a halt next to the panting girl, Icarus coming up beside him. Rose, still wheezing, pointed for the boys to keep going straight down the passage the pair was coming from. "Thanks! Icarus, give Rose your magic thread. We'll go get Adonis." Then he tore off down the passage Rose had indicated. Icarus slumped down to the floor, gasping, and passed the thread to a slightly worried Rose without raising his face from the ground. Then he dragged himself out of view by his arms.

Is he going to be ok...? Rose thought to herself. Putting her worry aside for later she turned back to the being she had pushed down the side passage. "So, I never did catch your name by the way," she said brightly to the giant.

"Don't have one. I've been 'monster' all my life," he mused. It had never occurred to him to choose a name. Nobody would have used it, but hey, at least he would be able to make a decent introduction. Rose crossed her arms over her chest and frowned.

"Seriously? Well, do you mind if i gave you one? I mean I really don't want to keep on calling you the Minotaur. So impersonal..." She trailed off and gave him a hopeful look. "Please?"

"Uh, go ahead! Can't really stop you," the minotaur agreed, leaning back against a passage wall. Rose paced a little, once in a while stopping to look in his direction and shake her head. She was definitely a beauty. Nice too. She hadn't said a mean thing to him the whole time. Maybe he'd keep her. No ransom, just someone to spend his new free time with. As the minotaur sat back and fantasized about his new life, Rose whipped around and gave a heart wrenchingly cute grin.

"Taurus! Not exactly original but it sounds just right for you. It has an impressive/strength feel."

"Taurus, huh?" The minotaur tested the feel of the name. It did fit him. Tartarus, he felt better with a name. "I like it," he said with a grin.

"Awesome! Alrighty then, Taurus, I need to get out of here. Let's get going!" Rolling the magic thread, Rose skipped down the hall toward the exit. Turn after turn they got closer and Taurus started to feel more and more agitated. What if she was faking? What if she didn't come back for him? They finally stopped at the secret exit of the maze, the magic thread pointing to the wall excitedly. Taurus was a gentleman, pushing open the wall for her so she could get through quickly without her class seeing. Poking her head back around the edge of the rotating wall, Rose passed the ball of magic thread back to the male.

"I need to get permission from my- landlord, to let you stay with me for a while. You should probably stay in here until night comes around, so you don't get caught. I'll tell you what's going on when I get back," she whispered furtively, looking up at Taurus kindly.

"Sounds good to me. See you tonight?" he checked. Wouldn't want to mess this up. Jeeze, it almost sounded like a-

"Yup! It's a date!" she chirped cheerfully. And with that the wall closed and Rose walked away to confront Hades on bringing a boy home for the first time.

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AN: Holy Olympus this took forever. I had Chapter 12: Rose and the Minotaur-Part 2 on top of a blank document for 3 months! I hate being a procastinaaa- ooh butterfly!

~and now a note from your favorite Lord of the Dead~

Thank you, Thank You! I be around. Thanks for all of you who posted reviews! If It weren't for you, this yutz would still be listening to hair metal on Youtube.