Bathing in the Styx

Alright! I'm back again, baby! College is out for the semester, and I'm on Winter Break until Jan. 10, 2024, meaning I should hopefully be cranking out some chapters.

It also appears that FFN has fixed their email system, but I'm still going to cross-post on FFN and my Ao3.

For anyone that didn't see it already, I have made a "story" on my Ao3 that is all my collected essays and unrelated one-shots. It is called "Essays and Other Drabbles," and it is where I will continue posting any other essays and one-shots I came up with.

All that being said, let's tune back into the adventures of Marina, shall we?

Disclaimer: I don't own PJO or Elden Ring

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This was actually Marina's first time shadow-traveling. She found the trip through the dark pathway that carved through time and space to be rather drab. Using Cosmic Tunnel and Golden Displacement was so much more fun.

During the trip, she was busy brainstorming where to put her weak spot, and what a thought process it was.

To begin, she reviewed what she knew about Achilles. Son of Thetis who was held by his mother by the ankle when she dipped him in the River Styx (ignoring how Thetis even got to the River Styx or how the baby Achilles survived being dipped in the river in the first place), and grew up to be a powerful and legendary warrior, who also had a boyfriend called Patroclus. At least, that was how Marina thought it went. Anyway, Achilles eventually met his end when Apollo aided Paris by guiding his arrow, which struck Achilles in his heel.

Pretty cut and dry, if you ask Marina. Invulnerable in all but one spot, and when that one spot was seriously damaged, you die. However, there was a caveat to the story that Marina recalled: the arrow was poisoned.

To Marina, this implied that there was more to the weak spot than just damaging it. The fact the arrow was a poisoned arrow implied that depending on where the weak spot was, a little extra oomph was required to actually make the blow lethal. After all, just shooting someone in the heel with an arrow most likely wasn't going to kill them outright. Cripple them, certainly, but not instant death. Even if the artery or vein was punctured or severed, there would still be a few minutes before too much blood was lost. Therefore, it wasn't actually the arrow itself that killed Achilles, but the poison that entered his body.

However, implications were not facts. Ultimately, there just wasn't enough data to go on to form any concrete conclusions about the nature of the Achilles Curse. Was any amount of damage to the weak spot instant death? Did the weak spot just have to be lightly touched to result in death? Depending on where the weak spot was located, such as a nonvital area, was damage to that area the same as a normal wound, or still instant death?

For example, if Marina chose her weak spot to be the bottom of her foot, and she stepped on a Lego, would she drop dead even thought the Lego didn't actually go into her foot? Or what if she stepped on a nail and the nail went through her foot? Would she drop dead, or would she just need to need to remove the nail and heal herself?

As previously stated, not enough data for any solid conclusions. All that Marina had to go on was a single story, and as such, decided it was best to er on the side of caution and determine a spot that was both inaccessible in battle, or at least really hard to get to, and inaccessible in moments of intimacy.

Following that criteria, locations were admittedly limited.

As far as places that were hard to reach in battle, Marina did think about her private areas. Her first thought was her perineum, the little spot between her vagina and anus, and she thought about places along her inner thighs, the curvature of her ass, between her ass, and above her clit but below her belly button. Objectively, in terms of battle, those locations traditionally weren't going to be on anyone's list of places to attack. Who was out there fighting a girl and thinking to themselves that kicking her between the legs was a good idea?

In terms of intimacy, however, not so much. Marina did want to have a family of her own one day, a king consort to love and love her in return, and a gaggle of children to wake her up in the morning with excited squeals of laughter and joy. She wasn't stupid or ignorant of how children were traditionally made, and she did want to make them in the traditional way. Marina was the princess and goddess-apparent of an entire hemisphere, after all, and she was well-educated in health, anatomy, hygiene, and noble etiquette. While she was a virgin, taught in the traditional way that her virginity was exclusively for her husband, she did want to have sex one of these days.

She didn't want to be having sex and her man touch her somewhere below her belt and she died right there in the bed.

With areas that would be difficult to reach in battle yet easy to get to in times of intimacy eliminated, Marina was left brainstorming places that would be hard to reach in battle. She thought about the backs of her knees, but then thought about someone coming up to her from behind and dead-legging her as a joke, something that the Stolls, Clarisse, or Annabeth would definitely do. Marina thought about the fronts of her legs, such as her knees and shins, but dashed those places as well since she sometimes incorporated kicks into her attacks. Her torso, back, and neck were obvious no-goes, since if anyone was going to be trying to kill her, they'd certainly be aiming for those places on her body, and she also eliminated anywhere atop her head or around the back, because dying via haircut was just embarrassing.

Marina thought about inside her nostrils, as those would be impossible to hit during battle, and there wasn't a soul alive or dead that Marina would allow to put anything they had inside of her nose. But then she thought about mucus and that little tool the doctor used to see up her nose, and there went the nasal idea. Death via blowing her nose or routine checkup were not appealing.

A similar thought process went for Marina's ears, including the shell, behind, and her earholes.

The princess was really starting to run out of ideas.

Of course, this was all based on the idea that a mere touch to her weak spot would be enough to kill her. That was one end of the extreme. The other end was taking the concept behind the poison arrow, that the object penetrating the weak spot also had to impart some kind of lethal effect depending on where the weak spot was located. Back to the foot analogy previously, where if the bottom of her foot was punctured but all she had to do was get basic first aid, then Marina would've been far less critical on determining where her weak spot was.

As it was, the only places left on her body that she could think of were her arms, and those weren't exactly stellar places to have a mortal weak point, even if Marina did have top-notch armor. It wasn't a question of whether her armor could protect her—that she had full confidence in—but whether someone could land the utmost of precise blows in the chinks of her armor. Or, in this world of gods and monsters, if someone had the physical power to actually breech her armor.

There was one place along her arm area that Marina considered: her armpits. Those would definitely be difficult to hit in the heat of battle, and in the heat of passion, Marina seriously doubted any man she was with would have anything to do with her armpit. In terms of personal hygiene, in that Marina was a big fan of keeping her body silky smooth from her hairline down to her toes and everything in between, including her crotch and butt, she didn't need to worry about being nicked by a razor since, as the daughter of Poseidon, she had discovered the ultimate shaving hack in that she could just use the shower water to get the cleanest shave conceivable by mankind.

Easily protected in battle, and not a place anyone would think to touch during something like sex, Marina decided that one of her armpits would be the best place for her mortal point following the extreme idea that a touch would be all that was required to kill her.

Her conclusion arrived just in time, too.

Mrs. O'Leary exited the shadowy tunnel, bounding out of the darkness cast by a rock formation right on the banks of the River Styx.

"Huh," Marina said.

"What?" Nico asked.

"Well, with something like shadow-travel, there's hardly anywhere in the world we wouldn't be able to reach. All we would need is a shadow."

"That's not how it works, actually," Nico said, and then he explained. "Physical distance is still a factor. The first time I shadow-travelled, I went from Camp Half-Blood to China and passed out."

"I remember that," Marina noted. "Had me worried for a week, you little turd."

Nico blushed. "A-Anyway, physical distance matters. Also, it's not teleportation. We actually had to move through what you could say is a subspace dimension, one where all the darkness in the world is linked. There are plenty of gods who are tied to 'darkness' in some way that could reach us while shadow-traveling, and also some monsters that dwell in the darkness that could try their luck. Also, since shadow-traveling is basically like taking a magic road, someone magically inclined could alter the direction of the road, and pull us off course to wherever they want. Not to mention that somehow getting stranded inside the darkness is also possible, which would not be good for your mental health."

"How do you know all of this?"

"Books," Nico said proudly. "Dad lent me a few books and journals from his library written by various gods, sorcerers, magicians, himself, and my big brothers and sisters from decades and centuries past. Lots of people have experimented with the darkness."

"Cool," Marina said. "Is shadow-travel something anyone can do, or…?"

"Since it is a power ultimately rooted in magic, anyone who is magical can theoretically pull it off, but it is like all areas of study: some are able to grasp the concept, while some are unable. However, unlike all areas of study, magic is something you either can do, or you cannot do." Nico said this with a grin, clearly proud of himself for being able to recite something he read in one of educational materials. "So, putting it in shorter terms, you can learn the theory behind it, put it into practice, and then you'll either be able to pull it off, or you won't."

"We'll have to try it out later," Marina said.

She looked at the rushing black waters of the River Styx.

"I just…walk in? That's it?"

Nico nodded. "From the one and only recorded time this has ever been tried…yeah."

"Okay."

Marina did just that. She went over to the black water, but just before she could step foot, someone stopped her.

"Wait."

Nico gasped, and when Marina beheld the speaker, she couldn't help but blush a little. 'He's hot,' she thought to herself.

Then she felt a little awkward because the handsome hunk in question was dead.

Vaguely translucent and standing with a faint, shimmering aura was a Greek warrior of old. Tall, muscular, hair cut in a military buzz, a face marred with a few scars that he made work, and clad in suit of armor from over 3200 years ago. His complexion was fair, and his eyes dark, piercing, and melancholy.

"Achilles," Nico breathed.

"My lord," said the shade, bowing to Nico in reverence since he was the son of Hades.

Marina's eyes lit up. The one guy she could actually ask for information about the nature of the weak spot was right here in front of her! "Hi! I'm Penny, short for Penelope, daughter of Poseidon."

"I know who you are," Achilles said evenly. "I am here to beg of you: do not bathe in the River Styx. The risk of being destroyed is too great, and the reward for survival is too much. The power will corrupt you in mind and spirit, and you will become a walking nightmare to those that call you friend. I know this because I was there. I lived this. What ultimately killed me was not the poison arrow, but my own arrogance. I believed I was untouchable and unkillable, and so I defied my mother's warning when she told me she foresaw my death in the city of Troy."

"So…be humble and don't get lost in bloodlust?" Marina summarized.

She truthfully didn't view herself as arrogant. She was confident and had a high sense of self-esteem, but knew where she was in the pecking order. Her mom and dad, Marika and Radagon, could kick her ass with ease, and her elder siblings Ranni, Radahn, and Melania could all give her a good run for her money in all out combat. Marina knew she was among the best, she was the next in line for the throne, after all, per the Greater Will, but she knew she wasn't the best.

Besides, she didn't even need Achilles's Curse in the first place. She just thought it'd be a cool thing to have, and could certainly be of great long-term benefit.

"That is…an oversimplified way of putting things," Achilles said. "And also a complete lack of respect for my dire warning."

"Look, Achilles, I'm not you. I'm not about to go back out there and lay siege to a city because some dude's wife ran away with a man she actually loved, or however the story goes. I'm going out there to protect my sisters, family, and friends from the Titans, an army of monsters, and a whole bunch of demigods that think the Titans are trustworthy. Not to mention a whole planet that is in desperate need of order. Bottom line: I'm not going to have this power and get it into my head that I'm unbeatable. If anything, I'm going to be making triply sure that my weak spot is going to be well protected."

After a few seconds of consideration, Achilles released a heavy breath. "Very well. Time will prove the sincerity of your words. May the gods witness that I tried to dissuade you from this course."

Marina nodded. "I appreciate your efforts. Hey, while you're here, I have some questions about the weak spot thing."

"Very well."

"How does it actually work? Like, the story goes that your heel was pierced by a poison arrow, which to me means that even though your weak spot was pierced, the wound itself wasn't fatal, but the poison was. So, if I pick a nonvital area, and it gets hit, I won't actually die, just experience the same kind of injury as a normal person would in that spot."

Admittedly, Achilles's answer could've gone in any direction. Considering there was only one case of his curse, that left a lot of room for freedom of interpretation. As such, Achilles answered like this:

"Your assumption is correct. The breaching of your mortal point is not an instant death sentence, depending on where that point is. If you were to put it over your heart, then that is one thing. Somewhere like me heel is a different matter altogether."

"Got'cha," Marina said. "What about just touching it? Like, whenever you got an itch on your heel, or were lacing up your sandals."

"The feeling will vary depending on the intensity of the touch," Achilles said. "A light scratching to alleviate a small itch will create an unpleasant tingling sensation, as if the area is beset my a horde of small insects. A forceful touch with the intent to harm yourself will feel as if you are being stabbed already."

Marina stared at the deceased legend, hung up on the words "intent to harm yourself."

Achilles stared back at her, his dead eyes heavy and speaking volumes.

"I see," Marina said at last. "Thank you for your words. I will not forget them."

The old war hero bowed his head and faded away.

With a deep breath, Marina entered the Styx.

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Imagine, if you will, the next door neighbor. You've lived next to each other for years, don't know each other's names, and the only time you might see each other is the morning of trash day, when you might run into each other taking the trash out to the curb and you exchange a curt "good morning," and that the extent of your interaction for maybe two weeks to a month. The neighbor keeps to himself, never playing his music or TV too loud, never screaming at the TV because of a videogame or a sports program, and since he lives alone, he never yells at the wife, girlfriend, or children.

You lived next to him for years, but you hardly know each other.

In this same way did Marina know what pain felt like.

Oh, sure, she had tasted physical pain plenty of times when sparring with her siblings and parents. She knew what it felt like to be cut, stabbed, bludgeoned, and blasted with magic, and she even knew what emotional pain felt like when King William, the king she had been sent to live with as punishment for her unruly behavior during her birthday party years ago, had passed away in the night.

All paltry compared to what the Styx felt like.

The small part of her brain that wasn't going absolutely haywire wondered if this is what Melania's Scarlet Rot felt like, but then dashed that thought. As bad as Scarlet Rot probably was, it was nothing compared to the Styx.

Marina felt like her skin had been peeled from her muscles and she was being doused in salt and lemon juice. More than just physical agony was mental turmoil. Broken promises, shattered dreams, destroyed hopes, and more—all of the anguish carried by the river flooded into Marina's mind, drowning her sense of self.

Then came the clear voices through the cacophony.

First came Piper of all people, Penny's childhood friend that she hadn't sent a letter to in almost a month. "Weirdo," Piper sniffed with clear disdain. "I had to wear pull-ups to help with my bedwetting, and you wanted to wear them too because they had Cinderella on them. You're weird."

Admittedly, that one was so far out of left field for Marina that she actually forgot she was being melted alive by the River Styx.

The image of Piper seemed to blush as if realizing how odd and ineffective her insult was, and then Piper was replaced by Ranni. Red, wavy hair, golden eyes, pale complexion, dressed in the royal robes of a Carian princess, and with the same disdainful expression Piper had been wearing.

"We were never sisters," Ranni sneered. "Our bastard father broke my mother's heart by running away to fuck that whore goddess, and after they bred two mistakes, they tried again and finally managed to pull it off. A bastard father for a bastard girl."

It occurred to Marina that this was either her mind playing tricks on her, or the spirit of the Styx itself was tormenting her, trying to get her to give up and let herself be destroyed in the black waters. Whatever the case, Ranni's blatant lie really pissed Marina off. Yeah, Ranni could be strange and distant, but she definitely did not think like that.

Marina chose to believe it was the river messing with her, and so all her anger was directed at the Styx.

Her eyes glowed, her expression morphed into a scowl, and her chest blazed. The pain in her mind and body instantly vanished, replaced with righteous fury.

"I am Marina, daughter of Queen Marika the Eternal, and heir-apparent to the throne! I will not be bullied by a river!"

Back on dry land, Nico screamed as the River Styx exploded as if someone detonated a bomb from below. In an impressive display of demigod strength, he leapt a hundred feet backwards in a single bound, moving himself far out of range of the toxic spray.

Marina landed on the bank, her skin steaming and smoking, but otherwise unharmed. She kicked some dirt into the water in a grand display of maturity. "Stupid river."

Nico hesitantly joined his adopted big sister. "Did it work?"

She held out her hand. "Let's find out."

Nico pulled his Stygian Iron sword from the sheath on his belt, and with a pensive expression, drew the blade with some force across her palm. There were a few sparks as tiny chips of metal came flying off, but Marina's hand was completely unharmed. There wasn't even a red line where the sword had been.

"Well," Marina said, "that settles that. Let's go talk to your dad."

"Huh? What for?"

"Beckendorf died. Selina's sad. I want Charlie back."

"I…uh…that's not how that works."

"We'll see. Come on."

Marina grabbed Nico around his waist, making him blush.

"What're you—ahhhhh!"

He screamed like a little girl when he was suddenly rocketing into the air as Marina pulsed with purple energy.

"Gravity magic!" she giggled.

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Short chapter, and still not the Battle of Manhattan, but we'll definitely get there next chapter, I promise!

I never specified just where Marina's weak spot is, but I did hint at it. The question is: does she even know where her weak spot is?

Also, I just introduced what is going to become the most enduring meme of this story: Gravity magic!

It's gonna come up a lot in future chapters.

In the meantime, please Fav, Follow, and Review!

And check out my book, yeah? The link on my profile doesn't work for whatever reason, so PM me for details!