(A/N: Given that I have portrayed Kelli as someone who acts more loyal to the protagonists than to Gaea (see my Godzilla/PJO crossover fic "Godzilla: Of Halfbloods and Kajiu" for example), I honestly am going to do so here too, to be honest with you all.)
Chapter Title: I Meet An Empousai With Second Thoughts (And Swears Me To Secrecy)
"Son of a bitch."
Colton felt like he was in Tartarus. He wasn't actually in Tartarus, but close enough. The labyrinth truly was something else.
He hadn't even known what to even expect honestly.. so down here, he was at the mercy of this place.. and he knew it.
That's why he was very.. very cautious to be honest.. as he made his way carefully through the corridors, looking for any monsters or signs of traps that could lurk in every straightaway and around every corner. To his surprise, it seemed like out of all the days this could happen, the labyrinth was giving him a free pass.
The traps sent his way hadn't been complex, lethal, or anything like that.. more of the regular simple variety, those that could be easily detected. So it was literally very easy to dodge and escape them.
Monster wise, he had run into a few, but never in any serious numbers. Every once in a while, he'd come across a lone monster in his path - he'd lost track of where he was minutes ago and was now just following his gut - which he quickly dispatched with a single bullet. It was literally the easiest going in a mission he ever had.. and that was saying much, given that up until now, he had never been outside of camp except for the one mission with Clarisse.
And here I am, whole body deep in the hell hole that's the labyrinth and having the fucking easiest damn time down here, he thought to himself. Fantastic. It's like fate for once is making things easy for me.
The minute he thought that, he felt stupid. The fates never made anything easy.
For them to do so now only meant something was coming. Because of that, he remained on edge, checking around each and every corner before moving across every intersection and around every corner.
For now, though, nothing seemed to come, which was confusing and unsettling in and of itself. Was it this was an elaborate trap in and of itself? Lure him into a false sense of security before setting every monster imaginable on him? It felt like a possibility to be honest, in his opinion. For a son of Ares that was incredibly smart, all the possibilities that he could think of ran through his head.
So what in the fuck was the labyrinth planning for him then? He thought to himself, as he cautiously made his way forward. Chiron hadn't thought of giving him a damn map, which would have helped, but then again, the labyrinth was always expanding, always evolving.. making mapping this damn area difficult if not nearly impossible. So he was essentially going in blind, trusting that with luck, he would get to Hephaestus' forge.
It was almost an hour when he came to a certain intersection that seemed different than the rest. Physically, it looked the same, but what made different was the voice in his head - he didn't know whose voice it was - that started calling out to him.
Come, child..
It was chilling, to say the least..
Come, child.. become the king you were meant to be.
He was confused. King? What the fuck? He thought to himself. As far as Colton knew, the only king around was Zeus, lord of Olympus. Of course, he could count Poseidon as king of the seas and Hades as king of the underworld, but as far as he knew, any other titles of kings had been handed down by the Gods to those they saw worthy, not by a random chilling voice in the middle of the death trap known as the labyrinth calling out for a kid to come to them to be crowned.
Besides, what in the gods was he going to be made king of? He thought as he continued to progress deeper and deeper into the labyrinth. As he went, at random intervals, the voice kept calling out to him, guiding him a certain way.
That's it, child. This way.. come to your destiny.
Personally, Colton hoped it wasn't Kronos calling out to him. He figured that the Titan Lord could be mad that Colton had foiled his plans to break the spirit of Camp Half Blood via Tantalus the past summer, but even Colton couldn't shake the possibility that this could be a trap set by the Titan Lord as a means to kill Colton as revenge for what happened last summer.
Even so, Colton didn't have much of a choice. He had to get those magical weapons or else camp would be slaughtered. That would mean the death of Sherman.. Clarisse.. and Kayla, and by god, he would rather burn in the pits of Tartarus if he ever let that happen.
Like hell I'm going to let that happen, not on my watch, he thought to himself as he kept progressing. He hadn't encountered any monsters for a while now, so he was slightly surprised when he looked around a corner at an intersection a few minutes later..
..and came face to face with an empousai, in its true form. Somehow, despite looking at her in this form, he wasn't paralyzed.
Instinctively, Colton leveled his weapon at the monster. But before he was able to fire, the empousai called out, "Whoa! Whoa! Chill, half blood! I don't want to hurt you!"
Colton hesitated, confused as hell out of his mind. What the fuck is this? He thought to himself. An empousai that is willing to spare my life?
Looking into her eyes, he could tell that the monster was experiencing some form of regret, which was curious to say the least.
Colton moved the weapon from aiming after a few more moments, testing to see if the empousai was telling the truth. Surprisingly, she didn't pounce on him, confirming that she was telling the truth.
"An empousai.. that doesn't want to hurt a demigod.. I have to say, this is a first.." Colton said awkwardly after a few more moments.
The empousai nodded. "These are confusing times to be honest.. what is a demigod like you even doing here in the labyrinth? Especially carrying a gun?" she asked, because to be fair, this empousai never knew that demigods even used guns up until now.
"Let's just say.. I'm different than the others. Firearms seem to be more of my specialty than normal weapons to be honest.." Colton replied. "I'm Colton. Colton Reynolds, son of Ares."
"Kelli.." the monster replied. "An empousai as you can tell, so creation of the goddess Hecate."
Colton nodded. "You wouldn't happen to be heading to Hephaestus' forge, would you?" Kelli asked. Colton couldn't do much, but nod.
"Woman's intuition, if you want to ask how I know.. just a hunch.." Kelli replied. "And about the forge, if I were you, I'd be careful about going in there."
"Might I ask why?" Colton asked.
"I've heard that Telekhines have taken over the place recently.. so yeah.. if you're looking to forge stuff, you're gonna have to fight to clear it first.. just a heads-up" Kelli answered, before glancing left and right, behind herself first and then past Colton when she turned around, seeing if anyone was listening.
"C.. Can I trust you to keep a secret?" she asked, and Colton was a bit confused. A monster asking a demigod, a being most monsters hunted, to keep a secret.. this was a first. Even so, he couldn't risk an attack by Kelli.. so he had to accept.
"Of course.. you can trust me.." Colton replied, hoping she'd take the bait.
Kelli sighed, and then cleared the throat. "I'm supposed to be a part of Kronos' army, but in reality, I'm actually a double agent working for Gaea.. and I honestly am starting to think both are equally bad people.." she spoke, causing Cameron some surprise. Gaea? The primordial of the Earth? Kronos' mother? There was no way, he thought to himself. Kelli could see the surprised expression on Colton's face, so she continued.
"Yeah.. Kronos' not the only one looking to resurrect himself. Gaea is too.. has been for a good few decades.. been trying to resurrect the Giants too.. nearly succeeded in reviving herself in the past.. but was foiled.. even so, one of her kids is alive once more.." she explained, causing Colton to sputter in even more shock.
"Alcyoneus.. the bane of Hades.. he's alive up in Alaska currently, biding his time.. been alive since the 1980s.. but enough of that.." Kelli added on. "As to what I'm doing in Kronos' army, I'm essentially an agent in his ranks if you may. Using his war against the gods as a way to hopefully resurrect Gaea, and honestly.. I'm starting to see how bad things will get for everyone else if either one of them succeed."
Colton nodded. "From what I've heard, life sucked for everyone else the first time either of these bastards ruled over the earth. Zeus is bad too, but I don't see how replacing him is going to make things any better for the children of the other gods, like Hecate, who defected to Kronos and Gaea's side.." Kelli continued. Colton had to admit, for an empousai, she was making perfect sense. But still, the knowledge was troubling. He knew that there were gods that had defected to Kronos' side, but for there to be gods that had defected to Gaea's side too.. it was a troubling revelation.
"I guess you could say that I'm caught between a rock and a hard place then.." Kelli finished. "..and I know, that must be a lot to take in."
"Yeah.. it kinda is.." Colton said, nodding. "So.. even if we - and by we, I mean the Olympians, finish off Kronos and his forces - we're still going to have to fight Gaea eventually, right?"
Kelli nodded this time, causing Colton to mutter a few curses under his breath in anger.
"Well, that's fan-fucking-tastic.." he muttered. "I mean, having to fight the titans is bad enough.. Giants are worse since you need a god fighting alongside a demigod to kill it, from what I know.. so how the fuck does one fight the earth herself?"
"Wish I knew.." Kelli replied. "To be honest, the prospect doesn't look too good."
Colton could only nod in agreement, because she was right. The prospects of the gods and demigods winning in a fight against Gaea didn't really look too good, not at this moment at least.
"What a time to be alive, huh.." Colton said after a few more moments. Kelli nodded. "So what are you doing all the way down here?"
Kelli just glanced back and forth again. "Looking for Daedalus' workshop."
"After the string for Luke, I see.." Colton responded, and Kelli nodded.
"Yep, you guessed it.." she said. "It's more or less punishment for failing against Percy Jackson. He killed Tammi, a trainee of mine."
Colton chuckled. "I mean, you went up against the guy who killed the Minotaur with its own horn when he got to camp.. the guy who everyone in camp talks about.. the guy I desperately want to knock down a peg so bad.. I'm not surprised. The amount of luck that son of Poseidon has is absurd.." he replied.
Kelli looked interested. "I guess you and Jackson have a history then?"
Colton nodded. "Let's just say.. while I don't really hate the guy, I'm still annoyed at him for knocking me off the spot of being third strongest in camp after I worked my ass off to get there.. defeating my own half brother in a fight - not killing him though - to claim that spot.. I worked my way up for three years before Jackson came along.." he explained, his bloodlust and desire for a fight with Percy showing.
Kelli felt sorry for him, honestly. "Ouch, that sounds rough.." she said, placing a hand on his shoulder. He didn't flinch much.
"Tell me about it.." he replied. "Currently, I'm still 4th.. behind my own sister Clarisse, the daughter of Athena.. Annabeth Chase, and Jackson himself."
"And you defeated Tantalus last year.." Kelli said. "I'm surprised you aren't back in the top three."
"Yeah, it's frustrating.." he told her. "Jackson's been at camp for about three years now - he only comes in the summers, and in the wintertime too - but he's gone on more quests than most of us have ever been on. He's currently down here in the labyrinth too.. going on his 4th quest in three years. Like, what is this shit?"
"4 quests.." Kelli murmured. "The fates must really favor him."
"Yeah.. it's annoying honestly.." he replied, just as that strange voice from earlier returned.
Come, child.. come and claim my blessing.
Colton looked around, trying to find the source of that voice. "You looking for something?" Kelli asked.
Colton looked at her. "I've had this weird voice in my head guiding my movements in here for some time now.. telling me to come to it so I can be crowned king or something.. it's weird really.. about as weird as my time in here so far.." he explained. "The traps I've found have more or less primitive, easily avoidable, and for the most part non-lethal.. and I have encountered very few monsters down here. When I do, they are always alone. It's like something is manipulating the labyrinth to give me a easy trip.. I don't know how else to explain it."
"That is so weird.." Kelli muttered. "..I have never heard of the labyrinth acting like that before. Definitely sounds like something else is controlling it."
"Yeah.. but what?" Colton asked.
I am, child. Come to me and you will find the answers you seek.
There it was again, beckoning him towards wherever it was. Colton felt an urge to keep going.
"Sorry.. I gotta go.. it's beckoning me further on.. nice chatting with you.. hopefully we can find a way out of this.. you and me.." he said, flashing a smile at Kelli, who smiled back.
"Indeed, son of Ares.." she said back. "I hope we can indeed."
Then, Colton pressed forwards, continuing deeper into the labyrinth, the sound of his footsteps disappearing into the distance.
Kelli sighed, and continued eastwards or in what seemed to be east in this maze, the red haired, fiery eyed monster girl hoping that there was a way out of all of this.