Answers to reviews:
Daua002: Maybe for Sea of Monsters since there are zombies in that one.
ultima-owner: I figured.
Stryker-Stargazer: I'm not sure yet, but I may most likely go into The Heroes of Olympus saga. For now, the series is consisting of the Percy Jackson saga from The Lightning Thief to The Last Olympian.
Guest: Thank you.
ayatoamagiri3425: Thanks.
3bodyjaa: Thanks.
Disclaimer: I do not own Devil May Cry or Percy Jackson and the Olympians. I only own the OC Damian Redgrave.
After a couple of minutes, the shoreline of the Underworld came into view. Craggy rocks and black volcanic sand stretched inland about a hundred yards to the base of a high stone wall, which marched off in either direction as far as we could see. A sound came from somewhere nearby in the green gloom, echoing off the stones—the howl of a large animal.
"Feed me..." Damian stiffened as he heard the howl in English, and he had a feeling he knew who exactly it belonged to... and Charon only confirmed it with his next few words.
"Old Three-Face is hungry," Charon said. His smile turned skeletal in the greenish light. "Bad luck for you, godlings."
'Right, we're in the Underworld. Of course we're going to come across Cerberus. He is meant to gatekeeper of the Underworld.' Damian thought.
The bottom of their boat slid onto the black sand. The dead began to disembark. A woman holding a little girl's hand. An old man and an old woman hobbling along arm in arm. A boy no older than they were, shuffling silently along in his gray robe.
Charon said, "I'd wish you luck, mate, but there isn't any down here. Mind you, don't forget to mention my pay raise."
He counted their golden coins into his pouch, then took up his pole. He warbled something that sounded like a Barry Manilow song as he ferried the empty barge back across the river.
The questers followed the spirits up a well-worn path.
They simply followed the worn down path until they found themselves at a pair of gates. However despite being in the Underworld, instead of looking at giant black gates, like Damian had thought they would see, instead the gates were similar to airport security gates, but instead of security guards there was just some sort of booth with a couple of dark robed figures similar to Charon.
The dead queued up in the three lines, two marked ATTENDANT ON DUTY, and one marked EZ DEATH. The EZ DEATH line was moving right along. The other two were crawling.
"What do you figure?" Percy asked Annabeth.
"The fast line must go straight to the Asphodel Fields," she said. "No contest. They don't want to risk judgment from the court, because it might go against them."
"There's a court for dead people?"
"Yeah. Three judges. They switch around who sits on the bench. King Minos, Thomas Jefferson, Shakespeare—people like that. Sometimes they look at a life and decide that person needs a special reward—the Fields of Elysium. Sometimes they decide on punishment. But most people, well, they just lived. Nothing special, good or bad. So they go to the Asphodel Fields."
"And do what?"
"Imagine standing in a wheat field in Kansas. Forever. Not seeing anything but a giant field of wheat for the rest of eternity."
"Damn, that kind of sucks." Damian mentioned, getting nods form the rest.
They began walking closer to the gates and went they were just a few feet form the gates they saw where the howling had been coming from and caused all four to get a little wide eyed at the site in front of them.
In front of them was by far the biggest dog any had ever seen. It was a giant Rottweiler, that was easily bigger then a normal house, with three snapping and snarling heads, with teeth the size of knives. It's fur was a mix between black and dark brown and it had black spiked collar on each other heads necks.
They noticed that the dead didn't seem to fear it and just walked on past. But they figured since they were dead they did not look all that appetizing to the giant dog.
They however were still alive and they all noticed that Cerberus was staring directly at them licking its lips and with a hungry look on its face.
"I don't think Hades fed Cerberus today." Damian whispered to the others.
Percy's jaw hung open. All he could say was, "He's a Rottweiler."
The dead walked right up to him - with no fear at all. The ATTENDANT ON DUTY lines parted on either side of him. The EZ DEATH spirits walked right between his front paws and under his belly, which they could do without even crouching.
"I'm starting to see him better," Percy muttered. "Why is that?"
"I think ..." Annabeth moistened her lips. "I'm afraid it's because we're getting closer to being dead."
The dog's middle head craned toward them. It sniffed the air and growled.
"It can smell the living," Percy said with a gulp.
"But that's okay," Grover said, trembling next to him. "Because we have a plan."
"Right," Annabeth said. They'd never heard her voice sound quite so small. "A plan."
They moved toward the monster.
The middle head snarled at them, with only Damian and Grover learning what it was saying.
"Hmm, demigods... hungry."
"Oh boy." Damian muttered, sharing a look with Grover.
"Can you understand it?" Percy asked them.
"Oh yeah," Grover said. "We can understand it."
"What's it saying?"
"He's hungry." Damian said bluntly.
Percy took the big stick out of his backpack—a bedpost he'd broken off Crusty's Safari Deluxe floor model. He held it up, and tried to channel happy dog thoughts toward Cerberus—Alpo commercials, cute little puppies, fire hydrants. He tried to smile, like he wasn't about to die.
"Hey, Big Fella," Percy called up. "I bet they don't play with you much."
'We're dead.' Were the thoughts of Damian, Annabeth and Grover as they looked at Percy like he had grown a second head.
"We'll eat him first." Cerberus declared with a growl.
"Good boy," Percy said weakly.
He waved the stick. The dog's middle head followed the movement. The other two heads trained their eyes on him, completely ignoring the spirits. Percy had Cerberus's undivided attention. he wasn't sure that was a good thing.
"Fetch!" Percy threw the stick into the gloom, a good solid throw. They heard it go ker-sploosh in the River Styx.
Cerberus glared at Percy, unimpressed. His eyes were baleful and cold.
"Ten seconds, then I'll eat you first." The three-headed dog said.
"Well, Percy, we've got ten seconds before he turns you into his next chew toy." Damian said with a pat on his friend's shoulder.
"Why me?" Percy whined.
"Because he probably felt disrespected that you thought he was as simple-minded as regular dogs." Damian said with a shrug. "To be fair, it would be beneath him to chase a simple stick. Just watch and learn."
Without hesitation, Damian was striding right towards the three-headed dog.
"Damian!" Annabeth hissed with worry, her eyes wide as were Grover's and Percy's.
Cerberus' eyes, on all three heads, were now trained on the son of Artemis as he approached. Not even a warning growl caused him to stop until he stood right before the big dog, who lowered his three heads to stare at the demigod. That's when Damian did something nobody, not even Cerberus expected.
He reached out and started scratching the middle head's chin. "Good dog! Who's a big boy?" He praised, grinning when he saw the middle head's eyes close in delight at the feeling and inch forward for more.
"That feels good..." The middle head said.
The other two heads barged in, wanting the affection as well and Damian gave it to them happily while continuing to praise him. Cerberus even fell onto his side, allowing Damian to give him a belly rub, to which the three-headed dog began slamming one of his hind legs off the floor.
Cerberus, the dreaded three-headed beast that dwells in the Underworld... acting completely like a regular dog.
Damian looked at his friends and jerked his head, telling them to get going.
Percy, Grover and Annabeth quickly ran for the line while Damian continued to lavish Cerberus in affection to keep him occupied... though he was now really wanting a dog, even though he'll probably have Direwolves for companions if he keeps Luna and Shadow.
Once he saw his friends were safe, Damian quickly went to join them. Noticing the lack of affection, Cerberus got back to his feet with a growl and looked around before spotting them. They were about to bolt through the EZ DEATH line when Cerberus moaned pitifully from all three mouths.
Damian looked apologetic. "Sorry, big guy. We've gotta see your master."
The monster's heads turned sideways, as if worried about him.
"Don't worry, I promise I'll try and make a trip back down here to play with you, I'll even bring the best toys for a good boy like you... even music!" Damian offered.
This made Cerberus happy as he panted excitedly.
"Let's go." Damian said to his friends.
Grover and Percy pushed through the metal detector, which immediately screamed and set off flashing red lights. "Unauthorized possessions! Magic detected!"
Cerberus started to bark.
The kids burst through the EZ DEATH gate, which started even more alarms blaring, and raced into the Underworld.
A few minutes later, they were hiding, out of breath, in the rotten trunk of an immense black tree as security ghouls scuttled past, yelling for backup from the Furies.
"Well, what have we learned today?" Damian asked suddenly.
"Percy;s plans suck." Grover and Annabeth said, causing Percy to pout.
"It wasn't that bad... was it?" Percy asked, only to get deadpanned looks in response.
Eventually, as they ran through the Underworld, they found themselves in the Fielda of Asphodel. It was by far the biggest field Damian and the others had ever seen while there were millions of people just scattered all over the place as far as the eye could see.
Annabeth, Grover, Percy and Damian tried to blend into the crowd, keeping an eye out for security ghouls but they couldn't help looking for familiar faces among the spirits of Asphodel, but the dead are hard to look at. Their faces shimmer. They all look slightly angry or confused. They will come up to you and speak, but their voices sound like chatter, like bats twittering. Once they realize you can't understand them, they frown and move away.
They crept along, following the line of new arrivals that snaked from the main gates toward a black-tented pavilion with a banner that read:
JUDGMENTS FOR ELYSIUM AND ETERNAL DAMNATION
Welcome, Newly Deceased!
Out the back of the tent came two much smaller lines.
To the left, spirits flanked by security ghouls were marched down a rocky path toward the Fields of Punishment, which glowed and smoked in the distance, a vast, cracked wasteland with rivers of lava and minefields and miles of barbed wire separating the different torture areas. Even from far away, one could see people being chased by hellhounds, burned at the stake, forced to run naked through cactus patches or listen to opera music. Damian could make out a tiny hill, with the ant-sized figure of Sisyphus struggling to move his boulder to the top.
The line coming from the right side of the judgment pavilion was much better. This one led down toward a small valley surrounded by walls - a gated community, which seemed to be the only happy part of the Underworld. Beyond the security gate were neighborhoods of beautiful houses from every time period in history, Roman villas and medieval castles and Victorian mansions. Silver and gold flowers bloomed on the lawns. The grass rippled in rainbow colors. Damian could hear laughter and smell barbecue cooking.
And in an instant Damian knew what that place was.
Elysium.
In the middle of that valley was a glittering blue lake, with three small islands that looked like a vacation resort in the Bahamas. The Isles of the Blest, for people who had chosen to be reborn three times, and three times achieved Elysium.
"That's what it's all about," Annabeth said with a soft smile. "That's the place for heroes."
But, Elysium seemed so small, the Fields of Punishment and Asphodel were so much bigger. Did so little good really exist in the world? It was disheartening to realize that to be honest.
They left the judgment pavilion and moved deeper into the Asphodel Fields. As they did, it got darker, the colors faded from their clothes, and the crowds of chattering spirits began to thin.
After a few miles of walking, they began to hear a familiar screech in the distance. Looming on the horizon was a palace of glittering black obsidian. Above the parapets swirled three dark bat-like creatures: the Furies.
Seems some monsters were eager for round two.
"I suppose it's too late to turn back," Grover said wistfully.
"We'll be okay." Percy tried to sound confident.
Damian smirked. "Without doubt."
"Maybe we should search some of the other places first," Grover suggested quickly. "Like, Elysium, for instance..."
"Come on, goat boy." Annabeth grabbed his arm.
They were just about to get going towards Hades' palace when all of a sudden, Grover yelped and his sneakers sprouted wings and lurched forward, causing his legs to shoot forward, pulling him away from Annabeth. He landed flat on his back in the grass.
"Grover," Annabeth chided. "Stop messing around."
"But I didn't—" Whatever else he was going to say was garbled into a scream as he lurched again. His shoes were flapping like crazy now. They levitated off the ground and started dragging him away from them.
"Grover!" Damian said in distress.
"Maia!" he yelled, but the magic word seemed to have no effect. "Maia, already! Nine-one-one! Help!"
Percy got over being stunned and made a grab for Grover's hand, but was too late. Grover was picking up speed, skidding downhill like a bobsled as the demigods quickly gave chase.
Annabeth shouted, "Untie the shoes!"
It was a smart idea, but not as easy when your shoes are pulling you along feet first at full speed. Grover tried to sit up, but he couldn't get close to the laces.
They kept after him, trying to keep him in sight as he ripped between the legs of spirits who chattered at him in annoyance.
Percy was sure Grover was going to barrel straight through the gates of Hades' palace, but his shoes veered sharply to the right and dragged him in the opposite direction.
The slope got steeper and Grover picked up speed. The demigods had to sprint to keep up, Damian ahead of the two as he tried to get to the satyr. The cavern walls narrowed on either side, and they entered some kind of side tunnel. No black grass or trees now, just rock underfoot, and the dim light of the stalactites above.
"Grover!" Percy yelled, voice echoing. "Hold on to something!"
"Like what?!" Grover howled back, as he was grabbed at gravel, but failed to slow himself down even the slightest; there was nothing big enough to slow him down.
The tunnel got darker and colder. It smelled evil down there. It made their hair stand on ends as it felt like they were entering a den of deranged murderers.
Then Damian and Percy saw what was ahead of them, and stopped dead in their tracks for different reasons.
Percy stopped because he recognised it. Damian stopped because of the intense feeling of evil that came just by looking at it.
The tunnel widened into a huge dark cavern, and in the middle was a chasm the size of a city block.
"Tartarus..." Damian whispered with wide eyes, feeling a surge of fear go through his entire body He wasn't scared that they were near Tartarus... it was what was contained within Tartarus that scared him.
Grover was sliding straight toward the edge.
"Come on, guys!" Annabeth yelled, tugging at their wrists.
"But that's -" Percy muttered with wide eyes.
"I know!" she shouted. "The place you described in your dreams! But Grover's going to fall if we don't catch him." That shook the two out of their state as they started the chase once more.
Grover was yelling, clawing at the ground, but the winged shoes kept dragging him toward the pit, and it didn't look like they would get to him in time.
What saved him were his hooves.
The flying sneakers had always been a loose fit on him, and finally Grover hit a big rock and the left shoe came flying off. It sped into the darkness, down into the chasm. The right shoe kept tugging him along, but not as fast. It was now slow enough that Grover could grab hold of the big rock and use it like an anchor.
He was ten feet from the edge of the pit when the kids caught him and hauled him back up the slope. The other winged shoe tugged itself off, circled around them angrily and tried to kick them before Damian shot it with Dawn, sending it down the chasm to join its twin with an injured wing.
They all collapsed, exhausted, on the obsidian gravel. To Percy, his limbs felt like lead, and his backpack seemed heavier, as if somebody had filled it with bricks.
Grover was scratched up pretty bad. His hands were bleeding. His eyes had gone slit-pupiled, goat style, the way they did whenever he was terrified.
"I don't know how..." The satyr panted. "I didn't..."
"Wait," Percy said, straining his ears. "Listen."
They all heard something - a deep whisper in the darkness.
Another few seconds, and Annabeth said, "Percy, this place -"
"Shh." Percy stood.
The sound was getting louder, a muttering, evil voice from far, far below them. Coming from the pit.
Grover sat up. "Wh-what's that noise?"
"It's Tartarus... we're on the edge of falling into Tartarus." Damian said as he stood and whipped out Dawn and Dusk, aiming it down into the chasm. He fired off several shots into the chasm, knowing it was futile but he hoped it would get the message across.
The chanting stopped.
Then, came a cruel laugh could be heard as the chanting came back fiercer.
"Move! Now!" Damian said fiercely, pushing his friends onwards, not wanting to be anywhere near here anymore if that laughter belonged to who he thought it was.
Percy didn't have much time to be distracted though, as he had to focus on getting away from the pit. He felt like his legs weren't moving fast enough, as if the backpack was weighing him down. The voice got louder and angrier behind them, and they broke into a run.
Not a moment too soon.
A cold blast of wind pulled at their backs, as if the entire pit were inhaling. For a terrifying moment, Percy lost ground, his feet slipping in the gravel. If they'd been any closer to the edge, they would've been sucked in.
Struggling forward, they finally reached the top of the tunnel, where the cavern widened out into the Fields of Asphodel. The wind died. A wail of outrage echoed from deep in the tunnel. Something was not happy that they'd gotten away.
"What was that?" Grover panted, when the group collapsed in the relative safety of a black poplar grove. "One of Hades' pets?"
"No." Damian shook his head, pacing with Annabeth watching him worriedly while Percy checked on Grover. "Something much, much worse."
"It-it was him, wasn't it?" Annabeth asked with terror in her voice. Out of all four of them, only the two of them had suspicions after Percy told them about his dreams, the pit, the voice that sounded evil and nothing like a god... and now they were on the edge of falling into Tartarus, where nothing but evil came. And that cruel laugh... Damian could only think of one being so cruel and evil that was older than the gods.
Kronos.
"It's starting to look that way, Annie." Damian nodded, putting an arm around her shoulders and hugging her close when seeing her shaking.
They silently agreed to keep quiet on this, because they didn't need the thought of the Crooked One possibly returning plaguing their heads while they were on their way to see Hades.
Desperate to leave the pit behind, they headed towards the palace of Hades.
The Furies circled the parapets, high in the gloom. The outer walls of the fortress glittered black, and the two-story-tall bronze gates stood wide open.
Up close, the group could tell that the engravings on the gates were scenes of death. Some were from modern times - an atomic bomb exploding over a city, a trench filled with gas mask-wearing soldiers, a line of African famine victims waiting with empty bowls - but all of them looked as if they'd been etched into the bronze thousands of years ago. Like some deranged prophecies that had come true.
Inside the courtyard was the strangest garden they'd ever seen. Multicolored mushrooms, poisonous shrubs, and weird luminous plants grew without sunlight. Precious jewels made up for the lack of flowers, piles of rubies as big as a fist, clumps of raw diamonds. Standing here and there like frozen party guests were Medusa's garden statues — petrified children, satyrs, and centaurs — all sporting some twisted expression between a smile and a scream.
In the center of the garden was an orchard of pomegranate trees, their orange blooms neon bright in the dark. "The garden of Persephone," Annabeth said. "Keep walking."
The tart smell of those pomegranates was almost overwhelming. They had a sudden desire to eat them, but then they remembered the story of Persephone. One bite of Underworld food, and they would never be able to leave. Damian used his hand to pinch his nose together to try and stop the smell. Not because it was a horrid smell, it was the exact opposite. It made him want to eat the fruit but he knew that would only lead to bad news.
Although Damian and Percy did have to grab Grover, and swipe away a pomegranate when he was inches away from devouring it in one bite.
As lovely as the Underworld was, it was not somewhere he really considered calling home.
The group walked up the steps of the palace, between black columns, through a black marble portico, and into the house of Hades. The entry hall had a polished bronze floor, which seemed to boil in the reflected torchlight. There was no ceiling, just the cavern roof, far above.
As they neared a pair of giant iron black doors, there U.S. Marine skeletons there guarding them. They grinned down at the group, rocket-propelled grenade launchers held across their chests. Damian just gave them the evil eye which made them turn their heads.
"You alright there, Percy?" Damian asked, causing Percy to huff slightly.
"This backpack weighs a ton all of a sudden. Did any of you put rocks in here?" he asked but they all shook their heads. Although it did sound like a good prank, Damian kept it for future reference.
"So, do we knock?" Damian asked.
As if in response to his words, hot wind blew down the corridor, and the doors swung open. The guards stepped aside.
"I guess that means entrez-vous," Annabeth mumbled with a shaky breath to calm her nerves.
They stepped inside the giant hall and the first thing they all noticed was the big marble like throne that looked like it was combined with bones and skeletons. At the end of the hall. They noticed it first because the throne was currently occupied.
All four breathing hitched. No doubt the man they were staring at was a god. Just by looking at him, you could see this god like aura around him that demanded respect.
He was at least ten feet tall, for one thing, and dressed in black silk robes and a crown of braided gold. His skin was albino white, his hair shoulder-length and jet black. He wasn't bulked up like Ares, but he radiated power. He lounged on his throne of fused human bones, looking lithe, graceful, and dangerous as a panther.
Hades' aura was affecting them, just as Ares' had. The Lord of the Dead resembled pictures you'd see of Adolph Hitler, or Napoleon, or the terrorist leaders who directed suicide bombers. Hades had the same intense eyes, the same kind of mesmerizing, seductive charisma.
"You are brave to come here, Son of Poseidon." Hades said in an oily voice. "After what you have done to me, very brave indeed. Or perhaps you are simply very foolish."
Percy swallowed the lump in his throat and stepped forward. "Lord and Uncle, I come with two requests."
Damian facepalmed along with Annabeth and Grover.
Hades raised an eyebrow and sat forward in his throne, causing shadowy faces to appear in the folds of his black robes, faces howlingly silently in torment, as if the garment were stitched out of trapped souls from the Fields of Punishment, trying to get out. One had to wonder if that was the same for all of his clothes. What horrible things would you have to do in your life to get woven into Hades' underwear?
"Only two requests?" Hades scoffed. "Arrogant child. As if you have not already taken enough. Speak, then. It amuses me not to strike you dead yet."
Well, it was going as well as Percy expected if he was being honest.
Damian glanced towards the empty, smaller throne next to Hades'. It was shaped like a black flower, gilded with gold. No doubt, that was the throne of Queen Persephone. With Hades seemingly in a bad mood, Damian wouldn't mind having the Queen of the Underworld here. She could always calm her husband's moods. But it was summer. Of course, Persephone would be above in the world of light with her mother, the goddess of agriculture, Demeter. Her visits, not the tilt of the planet, create the seasons.
"Lord Hades," Percy said. "Look, sir, there can't be a war among the gods. It would be ... bad."
"Really bad," Grover added helpfully.
"And we don't want innocent people to get hurt because of it." Damian added as well.
This brought Hades' attention to the son of Artemis and he leaned forward. "So, you're the son of Artemis that I've been hearing so much about lately."
"Um... take it I'm well known then?" Damian asked with a sheepish chuckle.
Hades snorted with a slightly amused glint. "Aside from the reveal of Poseidon breaking that damn oath, the most anyone's been talking about for the last few weeks is that Artemis has broken her oath, married a man... and had a son. Imagine my shock when I was informed of this, as I never thought she'd ever show interest in love."
"Yeah, everyone else was the same." Damian nodded before something occured to him, something he had been thinking about since seeing Elysium. "Lord Hades, may I ask you something?"
Hades stared at him for a moment before giving a small nod.
"Did a mortal named Eva come down here on the date of her death, as well as-"
"As well as your grandfather, Sparda?" Hades finished, causing a surprised look to appear on Damian's face. "I know your bloodline. I met Sparda many, many years ago. For a demon, he sure knows how to handle his drink."
Damian blinked. His grandfather knew Hades?!
"As for your question... your grandmother is in Elysium." Hades said, gaining Damian's attention. "I felt her soul pass through on the night of her death. Seeing as she put her sons' lives before her own, she was granted it. As for your grandfather... I do not know. He's a demon, it's different for them compared to mortals."
Damian nodded, feeling some relief that his grandmother was at peace in the afterlife, even if she couldn't be with his grandfather. "Thank you."
Hades gave a small nod then looked at Percy with narrowed eyes. "Now you, speak your requests."
"Return Zeus's master bolt to me," Percy said. "Please, sir. Let me carry it to Olympus."
Hades's eyes grew dangerously bright. "You dare keep up this pretense, after what you have done?"
Percy glanced back at his friends. They looked as confused as he was.
"Um ... Uncle," Percy said. "You keep saying 'after what you've done.' What exactly have I done?"
The throne room shook with a tremor so strong, they probably felt it upstairs in Los Angeles. Debris fell from the cavern ceiling. Doors burst open all along the walls, and skeletal warriors marched in, hundreds of them, from every time period and nation in Western civilization. They lined the perimeter of the room, blocking the exits.
Hades bellowed, "Do you think I want war, godling?"
Percy wanted to say, Well, these guys don't look like peace activists. But he thought that might be a dangerous answer.
"You are the Lord of the Dead," He said carefully. "A war would expand your kingdom, right?"
"A typical thing for my brothers to say! Do you think I need more subjects? Did you not see the sprawl of the Asphodel Fields?"
"Well..."
"Have you any idea how much my kingdom has swollen in this past century alone, how many subdivisions I've had to open?"
Percy opened my mouth to respond, but Hades was on a roll now.
"More security ghouls," he moaned. "Traffic problems at the judgment pavilion. Double overtime for the staff. I used to be a rich god, Percy Jackson. I control all the precious metals under the earth. But my expenses!"
"Charon wants a pay rise!" Percy blurted out.
"And you should get Cerberus someone to play with. He is getting lonely down here with no one to play with." Damian added as Annabeth nodded.
"Don't get me started on those two!" Hades said, putting a hand through his hair like he had a hard day at work.
"But you took Zeus's master bolt." Percy pushed on, not understanding what was going on here since Hades did have the bolt from what they knew.
"Lies!" More rumbling was felt all around the four as Hades rose from his throne, towering to his full size staring down at them, "Your father may fool Zeus, boy, but I am not so stupid. I see his plan."
"His plan?"
"You were the thief on the winter solstice," he said. "Your father thought to keep you his little secret. He directed you into the throne room on Olympus, You took the master bolt and my helm. Had I not sent my Fury to discover you at Yancy Academy, Poseidon might have succeeded in hiding his scheme to start a war. But now you have been forced into the open. You will be exposed as Poseidon's thief, and I will have my helm back!"
"Whoa! Whoa! Hold on. Your helm is missing as well?" Damian asked, surprised since things now went from bad to worse. Now two of the Big Three's weapons had disappeared and they still don't know who took them.
"Return my helm now, or I will stop death," Hades threatened. "That is my counter-proposal I will open the earth and have the dead pour back into the world. I will make your lands a nightmare. And you, Percy Jackson—your skeleton will lead my army out of Hades."
"Yeah, not happening." Damian said as he whipped out Dawn and Dusk, aiming them at Hades.
Percy reached his boiling point. He was so sick and tired of being blamed for everything! He dealt with that enough growing up, but this? It was stupid!
"You're as bad as Zeus," Percy told the god, "You think I stole from you? That's why you sent the Furies after me?"
"Of course," Hades replied.
"And the other monsters?"
Hades curled his lip in a mockery of a smile. "I had nothing to do with them. I wanted no quick death for you - I wanted you brought before me alive so you might face every torture in the Fields of Punishment. Why do you think I let you enter my kingdom so easily?"
"Easily?"
"Return my property!" Came the demand from the god.
"I don't have your stupid helm! We just want to know where that stupid bolt is!"
"Which you already possess!" Hades shouted. "You came here with it, little fool, thinking you could threaten me!"
"But I didn't!" Percy argued with heat.
"Open your pack, then."
A horrible feeling struck Percy. The weight in his backpack, it couldn't be...
He slung it off his shoulder and unzipped it. Inside was a two-foot-long metal cylinder, spiked on both ends, and humming with energy.
"Percy," Annabeth said. "How—"
"I—I don't know. I don't understand."
"How the hell did we not notice?" Damian asked in disbelief.
"You heroes are always the same," Hades said. "Your pride makes you foolish, thinking you could bring such a weapon before me. I did not ask for Zeus's master bolt, but since it is here, you will yield it to me. I am sure it will make an excellent bargaining tool. And now my helmet. Where is it?"
"Wait, hold on!" Damian said getting everyone's attention. "The master bolt had been in the backpack, and we got the backpack from..."
"ARES!" They shouted not believing they could let the God of War fool like he had. Damian's hands clenched into tight fists at the anger he was feeling. Oh the God of War was going to pay. Percy was the same as any liquid from in the area began bubbling uncontrollably. How he wanted to beat the life out of Ares right now.
"Lord Hades, wait," Percy stammered out, trying to plead his case to the god. "This is all a big mistake."
"Super mistake." Grover added quickly.
"A mistake?" Hades roared.
The skeletons aimed their weapons. From high above, there was a fluttering of leathery wings, and the three Furies swooped down to perch on the back of their master's throne. The one with Mrs. Dodds' face grinned at Percy eagerly and flicked her whip.
"There is no mistake," Hades said. "I know why you have come — I know the real reason you brought the bolt. You came to bargain for her."
Hades loosed a ball of gold fire from his palm. It exploded on the steps in front them, and there was Sally Jackson, frozen in a shower of gold, just as she was at the moment when the Minotaur began to squeeze her to death.
"Yes," Hades said with satisfaction. "I took her. I knew, Percy Jackson, that you would come to bargain with me eventually. Return my helm, and perhaps I will let her go. She is not dead, you know. Not yet. But if you displease me, that will change."
Percy thought back to the pearls in his pocket. Maybe they could get him out of this. If he could just get his mom free—
"Ah, the pearls," Hades said, and Percy's blood froze. "Yes, my brother and his little tricks. Bring them forth, Percy Jackson."
The boy's hand moved against his will and brought out the pearls.
"Only four," Hades said. "What a shame. You do realize each only protects a single person. Try to take your mother, then, little godling. And which of your friends will you leave behind to spend eternity with me? Go on. Choose. Or give me the backpack and accept my terms."
Percy looked at Damian, Annabeth, and Grover. Their faces were grim.
"We were tricked," Percy told them. "Set up."
"No shit." Damian remarked.
"Yes, but why?" Annabeth asked. "And the voice in the pit—"
"I don't know yet," Percy said. "But I intend to ask."
"Decide, boy!" Hades yelled.
"Percy." Grover put his hand on the boy's shoulder. "You can't give him the bolt."
"I know that." Percy said grimly.
"Leave me here," Grover said. "Use the fourth pearl on your mom."
"No!"
"I'm a satyr," Grover said. "We don't have souls like humans do. He can torture me until I die, but he won't get me forever. I'll just be reincarnated as a flower or something. It's the best way."
"No." Annabeth drew her bronze knife. "You three go on. Grover, you have to protect Percy and Damian. You have to get your searcher's license and start your quest for Pan. Get his mom out of here. I'll cover you. I plan to go down fighting."
"Not happening," Damian argued fiercely, "If anyone's going to stay, I should. I'll fight my way out of here."
"No!" Annabeth shouted to Damian. "I'm not letting anyone sacrifice themselves for me anymore. I'll stay."
"Right," Grover said. "So I'm staying behind."
"Think again, goat boy," Annabeth argued back.
"I'll knock you two out." The son of the moon told his friends.
"Stop it, all three of you!" Percy shouted to them, he felt like his heart was being ripped in two. They all had been with him through so much. Grover dive-bombing Medusa in the statue garden, and Annabeth saving them from Cerberus; Damian helping to deal with Echidna and the Chimera. He had spent thousands of miles worried that he'd be betrayed by a friend, but these friends would never do that. They had done nothing but save him, over and over, and now they wanted to sacrifice their lives for his mom.
He honestly had no words for how lucky he felt to have people like this having his back throughout this whole mess.
"I know what to do," Percy said solemnly. "Take these." He handed out the pearls to each of them.
Annabeth said, "But, Percy..."
Percy turned to his mother. The boy desperately wanted to sacrifice himself and use the last pearl on her, but he knew what she would say. She would never allow it. The bolt had to be brought back to Olympus and the truth told to Zeus. To stop this pointless war. She would never forgive him if he saved her instead. The water demigod thought about the prophecy made at Half-Blood Hill, what seemed like a million years ago. You will fail to save what matters most in the end.
"I'm sorry," Percy told her. "I'll be back. I'll find a way."
The smug look on Hades' face faded. "Godling ...?"
"I'll find your helm, Uncle," the son of the sea told him. "I'll return it. Remember Charon's pay raise."
"Do not defy me—"
"And it wouldn't hurt to play with Cerberus once in a while." Damian added cheekily.
"NOW!" Percy shouted as the four stomped on the pearls. At first nothing happened until a sea green like mist appeared around the before suddenly a milky white sphere encased them all. It began to float of the ground before they took off with great speed away from Hades's castle and back towards the surface.
Hades shouted and cursed them as they disappeared while his skeleton warriors were trying to chase after them but were nowhere fast enough to keep up with them.
They went straight through the walls and the very caverns before it just went into complete darkness.
Damian shut his eyes, preparing for whatever was about to happen next. He did know that he would not be visiting the Underworld again anytime soon though.
And that's it for this chapter.