Disclaimer: Percy Jackson & Lost Heroes-verse is all Mr Riordan's. I own nothing but the crazy alternative plot like thoughts in my head.

AN: Thanks again for everyone reading and reviewing. I really love all the feedback! So here's the next chapter. Not sure if I'll be able to update as quickly throughout the week this week if at all but I'll give it a go. I just want to thank my serial commenters as well, Emmafakedherowndeath and TagicHeartBreak. Thanks for always letting me know what you think! And hello to all my new followers. Hope you all enjoy. :)

Tempting the Fates

Chapter Twelve

Gorgon Sisters Gourmet Grub

Percy

Figuring out Nico di Angelo was, arguably, a full time job. Arguably, because he was pretty certain that whoever was going to take on such a task probably needed some kind of advanced degree in interpreting different levels of silence and hostility. He had known the kid— er, teen— since he was a little boy with Mythomagic cards but Percy still didn't have even a meagre guess as to the inner workings.

If there was one thing to be said, he was fierce and always came through when you needed him. As for everything else, that was anyone's guess. And yet, watching him with Bob was a piece of a section of a puzzle of the son of Hades that Percy was completely unacquainted with.

"I don't have nearly as much kelp between my ears as everyone thinks! I've got a brain up here, you know," Percy shouted to Nico's retreating form. "And I even know how to use it!"

He saw the younger boy's shoulders shake; he pretended not to notice it was from the hoarse wheezing he was starting to recognise as Nico's laughter.

"Samples, honey! Try some samples!"

"What the f—"

Up ahead, Bob the Titan has stopped and with his broom resting against his left shoulder, his right hand was reaching out to take a small bit of something from a glinting hand.

Brass.

The word came to mind without any effort on his part. Even in the dimness, she was familiar. Fangs curved viciously hugging her bottom lip. Her eyes were wild and her skin a sickly spring like hue but the most distinctive feature? The blue serpents slinking and skirring across her face. As he got closer the distinctive hisssss filled the air.

Gorgons. Here we go.

Sure, Percy had suspected from the moment they hit that he would be reliving some of life's not-so-greatest-hits in the monster department but Kelli and now this? The SPQR tattoo on his arm itched a little— it sometimes did when some conflicting memory emerged reminding himself of his time as a Roman.

"This is very good!" He heard Bob boom, who was enjoying what looked suspiciously like a bat wing except about a hundred times larger. Percy had to cast a suspicious glance upwards to make sure something the size of a pterodactyl wasn't going to drop down on his head (not that he could see far enough up to have a clue if they were circling overhead like vultures).

Nico stood next to the towering Titan looking even more cadaverous in the dim light— a fact that probably worked much in his favour. Just like being recently bathed in the Phlegethon, did. The son of Poseidon was glad to let the mist of Tartarus haze his eyes but for the few moments he concentrated to let himself really see, Nico was a pale boy with skin pulled gaunt over his skin, purple bruises under his eyes, hollow cheek bones and darkness rolling off him in waves… wait, what? Waves? That was new.

The blue serpents slipped tongues from lips tasting the air and turned towards the son of Hades and for a moment he thought they were going to snap… but they remained alarming but inactive. Bronze claws pointed to Nico waving one of the dripping samples towards him.

Nico waved a hand in dismissal.

"No, I don't suppose your kind would want any, would you?" She sniffed.

What is she, blind? Percy wondered. Then again, Nico was looking more and more skeletal. The effect was making his skin crawl.

Turning her attention back to the more reasonable of prospects, she began her gimmick.

"Best in all of Tartarus! Fresh made daily by my sisters and I. Euryale collects them herself, you see. Meddy used to but so many of them turned to stone," leaning across the makeshift counter of her tiny hut labeled Gorgan Sisters Gourmet Grub, Bob shifted forward not wanting to miss a word. Bat juice— or something— stained his lips and the other half of the sample was clutched preciously in his meaty hands.

"And that just doesn't make for sellable merchandise. Oh, oh, or a good product, of course! And we only offer the best. This one is called Gorgon-zola. Get it, the cheesy flavouring? So what do you say? Would you like one? Or ten? What about a truck load?" She swapped in seconds from a woman describing a mutually experienced plight to an old friend to a shrewd business woman trying to push her product on a credulous would-be customer.

The Underworld's janitor, not the brightest crayon in the box before his dip in the Lethe was even further from it then; reaching into his overside pockets of his coverall started rooting and routing for some kind of payment. In the end he produced what looked oddly enough like seeds. "This?" Bob asked and munched the last morsel of his whale of a bat wing. A bit of gorgonzola was stuck between his teeth and another bit stained the front of his worker's coveralls.

Charming veneer vanished and the snakes facing forward snapped at Bob. He withdrew his hand.

By that point, Percy was attempting to sneak up the side of the shack without making any noise. Riptide was clutched in his hand. Nico, still and tongueless visibly tensed; he had spotted Percy out of the corner of his eye. With just the briefest wave of the hand at his side, he signalled for the older demigod to go around the back.

Why? His eyes questioned, locking with brown ones.

Nico responded simply by moving a single finger again, motioning to go around back.

Then he heard it through the wall. Something crashed inside and two voices followed, muted through the walls that were made of… bone? Was this shack actually made up of some larger monster's ribcage? Holy shit that was absolutely disgusting. Way to look out for your own and all that… the voices shouted back and forth presumably arguing. Then came the hissing and a few more bumps and the wall near him rattled. Okay, so they were probably fighting and that meant that the gorgon wasn't alone.

Gorgon. Samples. Family business. That meant this one was Stheno and inside would be her sisters. Eurayle and Meddy… a gorgon named Meddy? That couldn't be right. Meddy… Med… Medusa! The name flashed into his mind like bright neon lights and Percy clutched the handle of his trusty sword with more conviction. As if he hadn't gotten rid of her once just for her to come back down here.

Tilt of the head, Percy slipped around back.

From the front he could hear Stehno shrieking. "That money is no good here! Surely you must have something else. What did you say your name was again?"

"Bob," the titan replied.

"That's ridiculous. There's no Titan named, Bob. Hey you… kid… where are you going?" Nico must have moved.

With his brain going into that buzzing overdrive where everything was hyper focused even in as bleak a place as this, he had to shrug off the fear for Nico. The kid could take care of himself and he had Bob. What he needed to do at that moment was sneak in through the back and help dispatch at least one of the other serpent haired sisters.

Turns out he didn't even have to break into the shack. Whatever it was that had been knocked over caused smoke to pour out the door, and along with the smoke came two of the sisters, one running from the other.

"It was an accident," Medusa shrieked.

The red serpents snapped forward as her sister, Eurayle chased her with fangs bared.

"You worthless piece of ogre droppings! No wonder Athena cursed you. Absolutely useless!"

"I am not!" Her arms were held up trying to protect her face as bronze claws flashed and her sister smacked at her. "Not the face. NOT THE FACE!"

"Like anyone would want to gaze upon you! They turn to stone, Medusa. No one wants to look at you!"

Medusa screamed from where she lay on the floor and launched herself forward at her sister.

Like hi guys… demigod right here. Definitely interested in wasting you. Although I could probably escape without being seen. Maybe the lot of us could…

But that thought was cut short.

"Why, you're not a ghoul at all! Sissssssssters!"

Fuck.

Time for action. Medusa had her back to him which was perfect because it meant he wasn't going to turn into a giant sculpture Percy who would be far less useful than the Athena Parthenos. His heart tugged just a bit at the thought.

Throwing himself forward he slashed without warning and the gorgon's head went rolling. Gore spirited from her neck and he was careful to jump back, only a few drops spraying his shirt and eating at his skin. It was venomous just like the green snakes in her hair still slithering because of their fallen mistress and snapping at his feet. Her body turned to golden sand and fell to the ground, consumed by the blackened earth shortly after.

"That is seriously gross. I mean, Tartarus just like, absorbs you? Sick?"

"Percy Jackson!" Eurayle snarled, the red snakes of her hair snapping forward, fangs extending. Bronze claws forward, she launched herself and the two went head to head. Percy ducked, tucked, rolled, slashed, swapped, kicked, dodged, swiped, and stabbed at her. The clang of blade on bronze claws echoed through the air— a part of himself briefly wondered if that was like sounding some kind of dinner well. This way, monster blood and delectable demigods for dinner! Poseidon's son shuddered even to think.

Riptide, familiar in his hand, was still heavy in Tartarus. He found he was tiring faster than normal, limbs moving just a bit slower, his legs feeling leaden. Euryale noticed, her eyes sharp, and more than once her snakes came closed to taking his eyes out. One even grazed the tip of his nose.

"Ow, bitch! That's not even fighting fair."

"All's fair in the family business. How do you think we expanded? Four locations in all of Tartarus!" Shrieking, her hand shot out and she knocked Percy off his feet. His wrist ached where her talons had connected but he was up in a crouch and throwing himself forward soon after.

"I'm going to enjoy killing you! And then I'll make a one-time-only special. Perci-Perci flavoured kabobs! Spicy and cajun! Delicious!"

Mind was so completely focused on her he barely noticed the way the bone walls came down. Bob crashed through the shack holding Stheno like a rag doll. "No one is mean to Nico!" he shouted.

She was raking bloody streaks across the Titan's arms. Blue snakes whipped back and forth biting anywhere they could sink their fangs. The Underworld's janitor barely even registered it. The hissing increased when she caught sight of Percy.

"Percy Jackson! In Tartarus! The contemptible son of Poseidon rotting away in a god's belly. Oh this is too rich! And so worth the price!" Her cackles cut off, the force with which she hit the ground had her crumbling to golden dust and disappearing below Bob.

Percy was about to swipe at the remaining Gorgon's head but as he moved forward, a blade appeared through her neck and she dissipated from the shoulders down. Percy had a fraction of a second to control his forward momentum or risk decapitating himself as well so he did the only thing he could, which was throw himself down and forward in a somersault. This of course caused him to run into the legs of the one who had killed the gorgon: Nico.

The force of the roll took out the smaller man's legs and the two wound up tangled in one another.

"Careful, ghost boy. You nearly killed me."

"Someone had to save you." He spit right back.

Dusting himself off— literally, he was dusting off pieces of Euryale that hadn't yet sunken or dissolved or whatever they did into the ground— Percy pushed himself up to his feet and offered his hand. The son of Hades looked at the offered hand aghast, eyes soft. They hardened just as quickly concealing whatever he was keeping from the other and accepted his grasp. Nico weighed of nothing when Percy helped him to his feet.

Nico swayed but when he offered an arm around his shoulder to help, the Ghost King shoved Percy away, dark eyes narrowing.

"Don't touch me."

Stepping back a foot, he raised both hands like white flags.

Bob lopped up beside them rubbing at his belly. Every so often he glanced over his shoulder, a frown playing on his lips. From his belt he pulled one of his rags and began ringing it in both hands. A hiccup left him, probably from the ribs, but the thought left his mind just as quickly. The younger half blood had a hand resting on Bob's massive wrist and his head was tilted upwards.

"It's not your fault. She tried to hurt us— you were only protecting us. Thank you. You saved my life."

Was that a… Bob took the grease stained rag and wiped at his face, casually discarding of a few tears on his cheeks. With a nod of his head, he sniffled. His sigh was deep enough to literally blow Percy's hair around his head more dishevelled than before.

"Thank you, Bob." Nico whispered.

Bob nodded and looked down. "You're my friend. I will always help you. And Percy, too." Glancing up, the Titan locked eyes with him. Something inside of Percy softened.

There were monsters above and below but in front of him was tractable Titan. Who knew.

"Thank you, Bob," Percy echoed.

After a heart beat, Percy's stomach growled. "So I'm just going to be the first one to say it. How was it, Bob? And do you think it'd edible? Like for people… me and Nico?"

"Oh, gross."

"What? Like you weren't thinking of it!"

"I was not."

"You have to be starving. Like, physically. You must be starving. Look at you! I swear to the gods I was am actually so hungry that I hallucinated and thought you were a skeleton. Literally, I thought I could see your bones and this murky mist and…"

Reaching over, Percy poked at Nico's ribs. The younger boy flinched and smacked his hand away, yelping.

"See, all ribs!"

"I'm not a skeleton!" Nico was practically baring his teeth at the son of Poseidon. "And I am not going to eat… whatever that is! It could be people for all you know!"

"Did you see what Bob was eating? And besides… we're in Tartarus. Where do you think they'd get people?"

Sputtering, Nico smacked at Percy's hand when the teen attempted to tickle the other's ribs once more. "I don't know! I don't know! But I'm not eating it. It could be anything!"

"Suit yourself. Bob, you and me, buddy. Let's eat some ribs." Smacking the Titan on the back, he picked his way into the wrecked shack and only as an afterthought tossed over his shoulder. "Eating something from down here, that won't like, pull a Persephone on us will it?"

An answer wasn't immediately coming so he turned around, half holding one of the massive bones up in his hand turning his attention away from seeing if any of the food was salvageable.

The chill came off Nico in waves, darkness rolling over the ground and lapping at Percy's feet; when it hit a shiver ran up his back. The son of Hades was clenching his fists and with his eyes shut, visibly struggling with something. And just like that the blaze left him and his shoulders stumped.

"Sei incredibile! Esasperante! Vi sarà la morte di me," he mutters leaving Percy blinking blankly. "Come on. I'll help you."

And Nico begins digging through the rubble alongside Percy and Bob. Turns out, most of it's left, and they have quite a bit of monster jerky. It's probably the first upside (if there can be an upside) to all of Tartarus.

Nico elbows Percy when he tries to tickle his ribs again. The glare is softer than before. Percy just laughs maniacally like he's won some kind of prize while Nick shakes his head staring upwards.

AN: That's it this time! Next chapter will very likely also be another POV, potentially from a character I've not tried yet. I'm loving writing Nico and Percy but I think I want to try another character I'm not too enamoured with. Maybe Jason. We'll see what the muses say when I sit down to write next! :)