Hey! I did say I'd try to update while my laptop is away, and given the trailer I decided to struggle with the old crappy laptop for long enough to at least give you guys a chapter in celebration. I won't be able to reply to reviews because they're not loading on this old thing but know that I have been reading them when I can and I love you all so much!

To say that the hole was dark was an understatement- even with the soft glow of the light above her head. She gripped the rope tightly, using it to anchor herself as slowly but surely she was lowered into the depths, biting her lip hard.

She didn't like the lack of control she felt in this moment, but it was fine. She could cope with it, even with the darkness all around her, the walls close. It was fine. She was fine.

She closed her eyes, taking a slow deep breath.

She'd never been a big fan of enclosed spaces, especially not after the nightmare that had been the carriers all those years ago. And this time she had no control, not really.

No, no that was wrong. She was letting fear get to her head. She was not a coward she needed to calm down and think logically. If she absolutely had to she could just turn into a bird and fly up. Of course that was a last resort because she didn't want to waste magic if there was a risk of needing it when they did reach the scythe.

Percy forced herself to take several slow even breaths, the tension easing some as she did. She wasn't a terrified nine year old any more. She could handle a little bit of a tight space. She'd been fine in the tunnel after all.

She gripped the rope tighter, shifting slightly as she was lowered down to try and look below- into the darkness. But it was still pitch black, there was nothing to see. Gods but how deep was this hole? What if it was too deep for the rope? That could be an issue.

At that thought Percy glanced back up to the mouth of the hole- it seemed tiny in the distance now, but Percy could see a faint light, and the rough outline of- was that Luke? She was pretty sure it was, the shoulders looked broader than Artemis'.

She was probably stood behind him out of sight of the mouth of the hole, helping him slowly lower the rope.

How long had it been now? It somehow felt like she'd been being lowered for hours and also for minutes. Was that her own worry and anxiety or was it the scythe playing tricks on her mind? Neither answer would make Percy entirely happy.

And then, as she glanced down again after what felt like a lifetime, Percy saw something- the darkness of the rock around her gave way perhaps six foot down, she couldn't see what was down there yet, but there was a strange light there, a faint golden glow. One that didn't boost Percy's confidence somehow.

She shook her head, dismissing that thought as she got closer and closer- and then she was in a cavern.

And this one was huge- big enough to house three football fields, and there was the glow- there were strange glowing symbols crawling across the walls. The movement made it hard for Percy to focus on them for a second- but soon enough she managed to focus enough to make sense of some of them- and her skin crawled.

It was a language- an ancient one Percy realised. One so ancient that it had been almost completely lost to time. She could feel it deep in her bones. A language of power, the language the Titans had probably grown up with- raised by their Primordial parents- as much as any immortal being raised a child.

It was certainly one of the oldest languages Percy had ever seen- and one of the most unpleasant, though that was likely because it spoke of death and cruelty and time's terrible power.

Percy grimaced slightly, gripping the rope tighter as she finally reached the ground, looking around slowly as she did.

The hole was at one end of the huge chamber, which was carved out of an obsidian stone, the darkness of the rock feeling like it could almost suck in the light around them.

The writing was worse though, just the sight of it crawling across the rock made Percy feel dirty and uncomfortable- it was fainter at this end of the cavern as well, she noticed that as she looked around- and at the other side of the cavern was, the blade buried deep into the stone, the scythe.

It was hard to see from this distance but Percy didn't need to be close to know what it was.

Now the question was, what was the best option moving forward.

The cavern was unpleasant- and she was aware of that uncomfortable feeling telling her that she wasn't supposed to be there- it was worse now than it had ever been before. If she wasn't actively fighting it it would have been a serious problem.

But the fact that it was uncomfortable didn't actually mean anything did it? It wasn't physically painful, it just didn't feel right. That meant it wasn't actually harming her.

She pressed her lips together tightly, staring at the Scythe for a long moment, keeping her distance for now. A part of her didn't want Artemis and Luke to join her, they'd find it uncomfortable too she was sure, and they'd be safer up there.

But if anything did happen she didn't want to be alone down here, they'd have no clue what had happened if she got herself knocked out or something.

So she took a deep breath, tugging firmly on the rope just one time, before carefully untying it from around her waist and stepping aside slightly.

She'd wait until Artemis and Luke had joined her to approach the Scythe.

A moment later Percy noticed the rope moving- a strange motion that she knew was caused by someone making their way down it.
She waited as patiently as she could-and then after what felt like a lifetime she saw Luke emerging from the hole in the roof of the cavern.

Once he was close enough to the ground he let go of the rope, dropping the last few feet and rubbing his hands with a grimace- his face was slightly red from the effort too, but he gave a firm tug once he was down, before he turned to focus on Percy, giving a small nod.

"It's here." his gaze flicked towards the other end of the cavern, a shudder running through his frame. "I don't know how you can stand it I feel sick just being down here."

"The Scythe doesn't want us here." Percy's gaze flicked towards it once more, "But it doesn't get to decide. We're here and we're not leaving without it."

"I didn't actually believe we'd find it." Luke shook his head, "I-" he swallowed hard, "If I'd have known it was here before-"

"What you'd have done then doesn't matter." Percy spoke firmly, grabbing his wrist tightly when he turned slightly away from her. "You're on the side of good now and that's what matters. You might have been a complete asshole and a dumbass but what's done is done. You didn't find it earlier, and you didn't give it to him."

"What if doing this, finding it... what if it ends with him getting his Scythe back and regaining power faster- Artemis was right to point out the risk."

Percy hummed under her breath before, "Ra and Apophis."

"What?"

"Ra and Apophis, they fought the eternal battle every night as Ra's chariot travelled through the Duat. Ra is order and Apophis was chaos. Apophis wanted to swallow Ra and drag the world into chaos, and when Ra weakened he had Apophis sealed away. Then he- split himself into parts-"

"What?"

"I know it sounds weird but I have a point. Just hear me out. Apophis' prison was weakening, it would break sooner or later. And we needed Ra back to face him. But the only way to try and fix Ra was to free Apophis. We had no way of knowing if the spell would fix Ra. It was the biggest gamble I've ever known."

Luke frowned, brows furrowing. "I think I understand." he said slowly, "You took the gamble."

"It was our best chance, sure it was risky as fuck and it didn't all go great- but we took the risk and it was the right choice in the end. At the end of the day that's all you can do Luke."

"You gave a point." Luke gave a faint smile. "I've already taken enough risks what's one more going to do? I'm dead no matter what if Kronos wins after all this."

"Exactly." Percy let go of his wrist and clapped a hand against his shoulder. "It's do or die, so let's focus on the do part- and there she is-" she tilted her head back, gaze focusing on Artemis as she lowered herself down the rope.

She was a faster climber than Luke- but then she had gloves and it looked like she'd been sliding down for stretches before catching herself when she started to go too fast. More dangerous, but a lot faster.

Once Artemis dropped down to the ground and nodded in greeting Percy turned her gaze towards the Scythe.

"Well. I guess it's time to get what we came here for."

"It can't truly be so simple." Artemis pursed her lips. "Not to say that this journey has been without it's struggles but... something so powerful, if it was so easy surely someone would have gotten it by now. This uncomfortable sensation can't have scared off every trespasser."

"I don't like those weird symbols on the wall." Luke spoke up, his gaze drifting towards the glowing symbols. "They feel... ancient."

"They are." Artemis' voice was firm, "The language was ancient even when I was first born. Nothing it says is pleasant but I do not believe that it's harmful-" she turned her head to look at Percy, "You are our expert in magic, are the symbols themselves imbued with power?"

"I don't think so." Percy shook her head, "I think they're just warnings- mortals wouldn't understand them but-even looking at them and not understanding it- you can feel it."

"Damn right." Luke exhaled slowly. "I really hope we're not stuck down here for too long."

"We'll see." Percy eyed the scythe wearily, "We need to get closer. You two stick close to me. We approach carefully okay?"

"Of course." Artemis gave a little nod, hand moving to her side, where she'd strapped one of her daggers.

"Like I'm going to do anything else." Luke scoffed, a grimace on his lips as the three of them approached it slowly, Percy leading the way, Luke and Artemis just a step or two behind her.

She stopped at about five foot from the scythe, eyes narrowing. The symbols were brighter around the scythe, crawling across the rock of the cavern wall, and Percy realised that they were emerging from the blade of the scythe itself.

The feeling of being so close to it was a strange one, it reminded her of a watered down version of chaos sickness, an almost feverish sensation.

"Well." Percy took a deep breath, "Here goes nothing." she reached out, curling her fingers around the staff of the scythe- and she instantly felt the magic pulsing through the weapon, dark and ancient, conflicted in a way.

The Scythe wanted to be free, to be swung once more. But it was seeking out it's true weilder and it could sense that Percy wasn't it's owner. Perhaps it could sense that she was working against him because within seconds her fingers were tingling unpleasantly and golden symbols were crawling across her skin- which was going paler, thinner looking and wrinkled as if- Percy yelped and yanked her hand back quickly, almost falling over, though Luke managed to steady her before she could.

"What is it?" Artemis had her dagger out and was in a defensive stance instantly. "What happened-"

"The magic of the Scythe." Percy stared at her hand, relief flowing through her as she realised that it hadn't actually turned old and wrinkled, "It-" she took a deep breath, "It felt like it was trying to age me." letting go had stopped the spell in time, but how long would it take to get it free? How old would she get before she had it out?

"We have a small problem but we're going to figure this out." she stared at the staff before, "Artemis, can I use your dagger?"