AN: This might become a proper story, but might not. Depends on the reception and interest. Either way, I had the idea and wanted to get it out, and when I did, I thought I would share it.
Hope you enjoy.
Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson or Danmachi.
( - )
Chapter 1
( - )
Something was wrong.
That was the first thing that occurred to him as he walked through the dimly lit corridor. Pausing for a moment, he eyed his surroundings warily.
It wasn't like he remembered.
Reaching out, he gently ran his hand along the closest wall. The stone felt slightly damp and was cold to the touch. But more than that, it also felt almost… alive, in a way.
He quickly withdrew his hand and looked back the way he had just come.
There was only darkness behind him, a deep, pitch-black darkness. The kind that stiffened his spine and filled him with an almost primordial level of dread.
Yes, there was definitely something wrong. Not only with the man-made labyrinth, Knossos. But there was also something wrong with him as well.
It was an odd feeling. One that was difficult to categorise. But if he were to do so, he would say he felt… hollow. Empty. Like there was something within him, something he had long since gotten used to that was now just… missing.
He wet his lips and once again looked around.
The stonework around him looked much older than he remembered. It was no longer a coarse, sandy, golden colour. But was instead a dark, grimy, granite grey.
Though admittedly a part that could be due to the brightly lit sconces that had once lined the walls now being cold and empty.
But he didn't think so.
Noticeably dust and grime covered every inch of the corridor along with the occasional dark stain that looked suspiciously like long-dried blood.
Looking up, he could see suspiciously large cobwebs hanging off vines and tree roots that had somehow forced their way through the cracked and crumbling ceiling.
The air too tasted stale and damp.
It was a far cry from what he remembered of Daedalus' obsession, the man-made labyrinth, Knossos.
Girding himself and palming the Hestia knife, he pushed forward through the gloom.
His footsteps echoed spookily off the surrounding walls as he walked.
It was so quiet he could hear his own heartbeat.
The palms of his hands felt sweaty as he tightened his grip on his dagger. In response to his clenching, the intricate script that ran the length and breadth of his blade glowed a dangerous blue.
Continuing forward he cautiously rounded another bend and persisted with his exploration.
He had been in Knossos a couple of times over the years, as such he could quite easily recognise the architecture and design. But despite that, everything looked far more… ancient and worn than he remembered it being.
The corridors that Daedalus and his descendants had obsessively and painstakingly carved out over the centuries no longer looked as clean or pristine as they once had. Instead, the walls were worn and had become cracked with age. The floor was pitted and covered with a thick layer of dust and piles of long-since fallen blocks of stone. More than that, nature had started to take over the labyrinth as elements of the outside world, like the roots and vines he had seen before, forced their way through cracks and weaknesses in the structure.
He felt the hollow pit in his stomach grow, and a cold feeling ran down his spine.
Even the atmosphere in the labyrinth felt different.
It felt colder and darker than he remembered.
Shifting his head around, he tried to calm his racing thoughts.
He was definitely in Knossos. He had seen the familiar symbol carved into the Dungeon wall and, as he had done before, he had activated that symbol and entered the labyrinth.
Why?
Well, that was because it had made sense at the time. After all, he had been lost on an unfamiliar floor in the deepest depths of the Dungeon and separated from the rest of his party.
Only now that he was in the labyrinth, he was second-guessing himself.
Looking back the way he came; he saw only gloom and mist. The entrance he had used had disappeared the moment he stepped through it, and no matter how much he had looked, he hadn't been able to locate a way to reopen it.
He gritted his teeth and let out a soft sigh.
It had been two days now since he had been separated from his party, and in that time, he hadn't seen any sign of them. No, the last he had seen of them was back on the sixty-third floor, right before the monster he had just slain had crashed into him and sent him teetering over the side of the cliff and falling into the darkness below.
He wiped the back of his hand against his sweaty brow.
Admittedly this was not the first time he had been split off from his team. But at least back then it had been on a much higher floor, and there had been another, at the time stronger, person with him. And even then, he had nearly died.
His mouth felt dry, and he forced his attention away from the looming gloom behind him.
Everything would be fine. He had his pack which still had some water, food and potions in it. His armour was in good condition. He had no injuries. And he had both his weapons and plenty of magic left for his spells.
For the moment, aside from being lost in a distinctly unfamiliar part of the labyrinth, he was fine. All he needed to do was find his way back to the surface. Once he was back in Orario, he would be able to contact the Guild and gather up some friends to head back into the Dungeon and catch up with the rest of his party.
Who knows, he might even meet them as they headed back up. By this point, they had protocols in place. If they didn't find him within the first few hours, they would head back, regroup and then start the search again once they were better prepared for a search and rescue operation, as opposed to the expeditionary one they had previously been prepped for.
Exhaling softly, he centred his thoughts.
He couldn't let himself get distracted now.
He was not a novice anymore, but instead a seasoned adventurer and as such it was time he started acting like one.
Keeping that thought clear in his mind, he pushed on through the darkness, his senses sharp as he kept a lookout for any sign of danger.
That was how he spent the next few hours as he continued to wander. Though whether it was hours or not, he wasn't sure. Time seemed to blur together as he walked through the labyrinth, and the distance he crossed became difficult to gauge.
Occasionally as he walked the general aesthetic of the labyrinth would change – sometimes it looked newer, and at other times older and more decrepit – but mostly it stayed the same. The piles of rubble around him also changed depending on the condition of whatever new area he was in, and he occasionally came across mouldering bones, broken weaponry, and even at one point an odd, rusted blue wagon of some kind – though calling it a wagon might be a stretch considering it looked more akin to a cramped, panelled, metal cage on small stumpy wheels.
Worryingly, no matter whether he went the labyrinth never looked newer. He didn't see any lit sconces, nor any golden sandstone walls. Instead, he saw only gloom and decay. And the only light sources he came across were odd, faintly glowing jewels of light protruding from the ceiling, and the occasional, suspiciously fluorescent mould.
Another thing he had noticed was the complete lack of any other life.
There hadn't been a sign of any other living being, monster or otherwise in the labyrinth. Or at least not up until right that moment as he turned the most recent corner and heard the distant padding of feet.
Freezing up as he heard the approaching noise, he tightened his grip on his blade and sank into a silent crouch.
Whatever was up ahead of him hadn't seemed to have noticed him yet.
Slinking into the shadows, he steadied his breath and started forward.
His heightened hearing could pick out the heaviness of both the being's footsteps and their breathing.
Whatever it was, it was big.
Far bigger than a human, dwarf, beastkin, werewolf or elf.
It also had four legs.
He could hear a slight scraping sound that echoed off the walls with every footstep. From what he could tell, it had several claws on the end of each of its four limbs. Though, they were not long claws by the sounds of it.
He tightened his grip on his blade and scented the air.
It smelt of blood, shit and wet fur.
It wasn't a pleasant concoction of scents.
Taking a short breath, he waited as he heard the creature approach the corner he was hiding behind.
It was almost upon him.
Narrowing his eyes, he watched as it emerged.
The first thing he noticed as it rounded the corner was its size. It was big, almost as tall as he was at its shoulder, and many times wider than him. It was also heavily built. He could see large muscles shifting beneath its dense, midnight-black fur. Each of its legs ended with giant paws each the size of his torso. Protruding from each of its paws there were four sharp, stubby, obsidian black claws. Above all else, however, he noted its burning red eyes. They were the glowing, rage-filled eyes of a monster.
With a snarl, the giant dog, for that is what it looked like, lunged at him the moment it caught sight of him in the gloom.
Darting forward, he moved under and around it in a single smooth motion, his blade extended with whispers of flame dancing across its length.
From his perspective, it looked like the giant demon dog was moving in slow motion.
Lunging out with his blade he plunged it into its soft underbelly and tore it up and out of its torso.
His blade cut through its flesh with little resistance, scorching the flesh even as it bit deeply into its torso and then into the squishy organs within.
Ripping the blade out and moving past the beast, he wheeled around at almost the exact same moment and returned to his crouched stance, his red eyes gleaming as he saw the giant demon dog hit the ground with a heavy, wet thump.
Mere seconds after it hit the ground the monster exploded into a cloud of golden dust. Its remnants glittered prettily in the dim light as they fell around where its corpse had landed.
The fight if could be called that, had lasted less than a second and had ended in a single instant.
Eyeing the golden dust warily, he once again listened, as silence once again pervaded the area around him.
He couldn't hear or sense anything else.
His eyes narrowed a fraction, and he allowed himself to relax minutely even as he shifted forward a few steps toward the mound of golden dust in front of him.
He had never seen a monster turn into golden dust before.
Normally, they were reduced to black dust, and even then, that only happened when a monster's magic stone had been cut out or destroyed. A monster disintegrating into black dust signified that its essence had been returned to the Dungeon from whence it came.
Gold dust, though… that was different.
He wet his lips and eyed the remains cautiously. He couldn't see any sign of the monster's magic stone either.
Something was definitely wrong.
Reaching out, he scooped a handful of the golden dust.
It was very fine, far finer than sand in fact.
He lifted his hand and watched as the dust poured off his palm like water.
He had never seen anything like it before.
Allowing the last of the dust to drift to the ground, he took a moment to think.
When he finally made it to the surface, he would need to alert the Guild to the abnormality.
Nodding to himself at that thought, he pulled an empty potion vial out of his bag and scooped some golden dust into it, before sealing it with a cork.
Lifting the vial to eye level, he frowned as he saw the golden contents within glitter in the dim light.
The peculiarities were starting to build up. He hadn't recognised the monster. He'd never seen gold monster dust before. Nor did he recognise the part of Knossos he was currently in.
He didn't like it, not at all. He took a breath and centred himself. At the same time though, he couldn't do anything about it at the moment either. Instead, all he could do was press forward and hope against hope that he could find his way out of Knossos and back to the surface, and the ancient dungeon city, Orario.
( - )
(Elsewhere)
Percy Jackson woke up abruptly with a sudden, sharp gasp, his hands clutching at his throat.
"Percy?" His friend Grover called from the other sofa. "Are you okay?"
Steadying his breath, he looked over at the satyr. He wasn't sure what to say, or how to explain the dream he'd just had. In classic demigod style, he'd just watched the guy they were looking for, Daedalus, murder his own nephew. How could he possibly say he was alright after he had just seen someone murdered?
"What—what time is it?" He croaked.
"Two in the morning," Grover said softly. "I couldn't sleep, so I was watching the Nature Channel." He nodded over at the nearby television set, his expression turning maudlin. "I miss Juniper."
Frowning at the mention of Grover's dryad girlfriend, Percy rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. "Yeah, well… you'll see her again soon."
Grover shook his head sadly. "Do you know what day it is, Percy? I just saw it on TV. It's June thirteenth. Seven days since we left camp."
"What?" Percy frowned. It couldn't have been a week since they left Camp Half-Blood. "That can't be right."
"Time is faster in the Labyrinth," Grover reminded him. "The first time you and Annabeth went down there, you thought you were only gone a few minutes, right? But it was an hour."
"Oh," Percy muttered. "Right."
Wetting his dry lips, he fought off sleep for a while longer, making some small talk with Grover about his reasons for being on the Quest. Grover had accompanied them with the aim of finding the God Pan, or at least a sign of the God Pan. It was a mission that had been given to him specifically, by the other older, and more experienced satyrs on the Council of Cloven Elders. One that he had been stressing about a lot.
Eventually, however, their conversation petered out, and sleep once again took hold of him. Though thankfully this time, his dreams were boring and normal.
( - )
The next morning, upon wakening, they walked down to the cattle guard, Eurytion, to say their goodbyes.
"Nico, you could come with us," Percy blurted out as they met up with the young son of Hades. After all, they had been through together, and all Nico had been through alone, he didn't want to leave the younger boy alone. Not again.
The pale, dark-eyed son of Hades shook his head slowly. His eyes were red and his face chalky. He was wrapped in a black robe that must've belonged to their former host, the giant, Geryon, because it was three sizes too big, even for a grown man.
"I need time to think." He replied softly.
He was deliberately avoiding eye contact. But despite that, it was clear to all of them that he was still angry.
Percy fought off a wince as he quickly picked up on just why Nico was angry. The other night, they had summoned the shade of his sister, Bianca, from the Underworld, and she had come. Only she hadn't come to see her brother but had instead come to see him and that didn't seem to be sitting well with Nico.
"Nico," Annabeth, the blonde-haired, grey-eyed daughter of Athena spoke up. "Bianca just wants you to be okay."
Reaching out, she put her hand on his shoulder. Only for Nico to quickly pull away, as he turned and started trudging back up the road toward Geryon's ranch house.
"I'm worried about him," Annabeth spoke into the awkward silence that followed. "If he starts talking to Minos's ghost again—"
Percy grimaced at the mention of the manipulative ghost of King Minos. The long-dead tyrant had caused a lot of damage and had almost succeeded in turning Nico against Olympus.
"He'll be alright," Eurytion promised. The immortal cowherd had cleaned up nicely since the death of his treacherous and abusive former boss/ bully. He was wearing a new pair of jeans and a clean t-shirt, and he'd even trimmed his thick, white beard. Most noticeably, he'd donned a pair of Geryon's fancy, cowboy boots. "The boy can stay here and gather his thoughts as long as he wants. He'll be safe, I promise."
"What about you?" Percy asked. He was glad the friendly cowherd seemed to be doing better. He hadn't intended to kill Geryon when he had first arrived at the Three-G Ranch. But had been left with no choice, after the giant had first trapped him, and then extorted him to do an impossible task to go free, only to then renege on the deal after Percy had completed said 'impossible' task.
Eurytion scratched his pet, Orthus, his two-headed dog behind one chin and then the other. "Things are going to be run a little differently on this ranch from now on. No more selling sacred cattle meat. I'm thinking about soybean patties. And I'm going to befriend those flesh-eating horses. Might just sign up for the next rodeo."
The memory of those flesh-eating horses almost made Percy shudder. The 'impossible' task that Geryon had given him, had involved cleaning several centuries of horse muck out of his carnivorous horses' stables. "Well, good luck."
"Yep." Eurytion spit into the grass. "I reckon you'll be looking for Daedalus' workshop now?"
Annabeth's eyes lit up. "Can you help us?"
Eurytion looked away with a frown.
Watching him, Percy got the feeling that the subject of Daedalus and his workshop made the immortal demigod uncomfortable.
"Don't know where it is," Eurytion said after a moment. "But Hephaestus would probably know."
"That's what Hera said," Annabeth nodded her head. "But how do we find Hephaestus?"
Eurytion pulled something from under the collar of his shirt. It was a necklace — a smooth silver disk on a silver chain. The disk had a depression in the middle, like a thumbprint. Eyeing the necklace, Eurytion nodded to himself and handed it over to Annabeth.
"Hephaestus comes here from time to time," Eurytion said. "Studies the animals and such so he can make bronze automaton copies. Last time, I… uh… did him a favour. A little trick he wanted to play on my dad, Ares, and Aphrodite. He gave me that chain in gratitude. Said if I ever needed to find him, the disk would lead me to his forges. But only once."
Percy grinned, as he quickly worked out just what 'trick' Eurytion was eluding to.
"And you're giving it to me?" Annabeth asked.
Eurytion blushed. "I don't need to see the forges, miss. Got enough to do here. Just press the button and you'll be on your way."
Well, that was convenient, Percy thought, looking to Annabeth as she inspected the necklace.
Sending Eurytion one last look, Annabeth pressed the button, only for the disk to suddenly spring to life. Within moments of her activating it, it grew eight metallic legs. This in turn made Annabeth shriek and drop it, much to Eurytion's confusion.
"Spider!" she screamed.
"She's, um, a little scared of spiders," Grover explained sheepishly. "That old grudge between Athena and Arachne."
"Oh." Eurytion looked a little embarrassed. "Sorry, miss."
The spider-like machine scrambled to the nearby cattle guard and disappeared between the bars and into the labyrinth below.
"Hurry," Percy shouted, a frown on his face as he saw the eight-legged coin scuttle away. "That thing's not going to wait for us."
From what he could tell, Annabeth wasn't at all anxious to follow. But unfortunately, none of them had a choice. If they wanted to find Daedalus' laboratory and protect the camp, then they first needed to get to Hephaestus.
Quickly saying their goodbyes to Eurytion, Tyson, his Cyclops brother, pulled the cattle guard off the hole, and they each dropped back into the maze below. First Grover, then Annabeth, himself and finally with a cheery wave Tyson followed them, allowing the cattle guard to slam down behind him, once again casting them all in darkness.
( - )
Jogging along, Percy led the rest of the group as they struggled to keep up with the scuttling mechanical spider. The eight-legged coin was so small and was moving through the tunnels so fast, that it was becoming difficult to keep up with it. In fact, if it hadn't been for both Tyson's and Grover's excellent hearing, then it was likely that they would've never known which way it was going.
Continuing down the dusty, grey-stoned tunnels, he was so focused on following the spider, that he almost fell into a sudden yawning abyss, as a giant hole unexpectedly loomed in front of him. Fortunately, Tyson had managed to grab him and haul him back before he could fall.
Quickly catching his breath, Percy looked out over the hole. The tunnel continued in front of him, but there was no floor for about a hundred feet, just gaping darkness and a series of iron rungs in the ceiling. The mechanical spider was about halfway across, swinging from bar to bar by shooting out metal web fibre like a demented, miniature Spiderman.
"Monkey bars," Annabeth said. "I'm great at these."
With that said, she leapt onto the first rung and started swinging her way across.
Watching her go, Percy couldn't help but shake his head in amusement. His Wisegirl was scared of tiny spiders, but not of plummeting to her death from a set of monkey bars. Go figure.
Once Annabeth got close to the opposite side, he quickly followed.
By the time he was halfway, she had reached the other side and had started running after the spider.
Swinging off the last of the monkey bars and landing with a slight stumble, Percy looked back and saw Tyson following behind. His much, larger brother was giving Grover a piggyback ride.
Waiting for his brother to catch up, the three of them once again started moving, chasing after Annabeth and the mechanical spider.
As they ran, they passed a skeleton crumpled in the tunnel. It wore the remains of a dress shirt, slacks, and a tie.
Continuing the chase, they eventually caught up with Annabeth, even as the tunnel opened up onto a large room.
Wincing as he moved to stand beside Annabeth, the first thing that hit Percy was a blazing light.
Blinking the spots out of his eyes, Percy had to wait a few seconds for them to adjust. Once they had, the first thing he noticed were the skeletons. Looking around, he could see dozens of skeletons and corpses littered the floor around the large chamber. Some were old and bleached white. While others were more recent and a lot grosser – they didn't smell quite as bad as Geryon's stables, but almost. Some of the corpses were wearing distinctly modern-looking raiment, while still others were wearing rusted, medieval armour, or threadbare suits and dresses which looked to be from the 1800s.
Tension building up in his gut he looked toward the centre of the room.
There, standing on a dais and in the middle of a large pile of golden monster dust, was a man. The first thing he noticed about the man was that he was relatively young. Though that wasn't really saying much considering most immortals could choose what they looked like. That or tended to stop ageing when they were in their prime.
Either way, the man looked to be in his late teens, or maybe very early twenties.
He had short, slightly shaggy, white hair, a thin angular face, an athletic build with powerful, broad shoulders and a slim waist, and most noticeably, bright, crimson red eyes.
Pulling Riptide – in its pen form – out of his pocket, he flicked the cap off it. Within moments, the pen extended into a leaf-shaped Celestial Bronze, blade.
Around him he could see Annabeth had unsheathed her dagger, Tyson had raised his fists and Grover had nervously lifted his panpipes to his lips.
They were all tense and ready to leap into action at any moment.
And why?
Well, that was because of the palpable aura of danger the man in front of them gave off.
He was wearing an intricate set of crimson-red armour – the same shade as his eyes. The armour covered his chest, arms, and legs. His head was currently left bare, but noticeably there was a similarly crimson helm hanging idly off his belt.
Shifting his gaze over the ensemble, Percy's gaze quickly noted the unfamiliar symbol that had been inlaid with silver in the centre of the man's cuirass. It was the symbol of a flame-covered bell.
Wetting his lips, Percy also took note of the tightly packed backpack on the man's back – it wasn't the kind of thing he'd expect from a monster or a god. The twin blades in his hands though….
One of them, the shorter of the two, was single-edged, and a dark, almost pitch-black colour. The other was double-edged and completely white. It almost looked like he was wielding a shard of bone.
A cold tingle ran down his spine, and his mouth became dry.
He was feeling nervous in a way he hadn't felt for a long time.
The last time he had felt this tension around a potential opponent had been back when he was facing off against Ares the God of War when he was twelve.
"Percy," Annabeth muttered beside him.
She too sounded tense. There was a hesitance in her voice that he had never heard before.
Behind him, he could hear the scuffing of Grover's hooves against the ground. His old friend seemed to be caught between flight and fight and was just waiting for him to make a call.
Tyson, likewise, was breathing heavier than usual as he walked over to stand at his side. His brother's eye was wide, and his mouth was set in a thin, firm line. He looked as tense as Percy felt.
Turning his attention back to the white-haired man, Percy glanced down and saw that he was currently standing on the mechanical spider they had been following. The eight-legged automaton was struggling furiously to escape from where it was trapped under the white-haired man's armoured foot.
It was like an old-school Mexican standoff.
"You look like humans," the white-haired man said softly, his head cocking curiously to one side. "Or at least two of your number do. But you're not. Or at least not quite. No, you feel too… strong to be fully human. The power within you it feels almost…, but not quite… divine…."
The man's unnerving red eyes shifted over first Annabeth then him before eventually settling on Grover and Tyson.
"I don't recognise what manner of monsters you two are either," the man continued with the same tone. "But judging by your clothing, your demeanour, and the clear intelligence in your eyes, I'm going to guess you're both Xenos."
"Xenos?" Tyson finally spoke up, his voice full of the same confusion that Percy himself was feeling.
"Intelligent monsters, or rather monsters that evolved beyond what they once were and instead developed souls. I'm afraid I am not familiar with what you once were, but it gladdens me to see that you have such a close relationship with these surface dwellers," the man explained promptly, his explanation answering the initial question even as it raised several other questions in Percy's mind.
"But you two," the man pressed on, his attention once again Annabeth and him, "I'm having difficulty gaging just what you are, or your levels. Which is odd, as I can usually do so at just a single glance."
It no longer felt like the man was talking to them now, and instead, like he was just musing to himself out loud.
Either way, the man's stance remained relaxed, even in the face of their drawn weapons. It was almost like the man had taken notice of them, judged their threat, and found them wanting.
He kinda felt a little insulted.
"What do you mean level?" Annabeth asked sharply. Judging by her tone of voice, and the way her grey eyes narrowed, she too had caught on to what he had and was not at all happy about it. Her hubris had always been a weak point for her, and this man's almost casual dismissal of them seemed to have hit her straight in the ego.
"Yeah, are you talking about like video game stuff?" Percy asked, his head cocking to one side. The guy looked otherworldly and certainly felt super dangerous. But at the same time, he wasn't getting the same overwhelming feeling he got when he was around divine beings.
"Video games? I don't know what those are," The white-haired man frowned. He looked confused. "But no, I'm talking about your strength level…, you know the level of your Falna."
"Falna?" Percy asked, struggling with the unfamiliar word.
This time it was the white-haired man's turn to look confused.
"You don't know what a Falna is, a god's blessing?" He asked. "You're in the man-made labyrinth, Knossos, wielding what looks like magical weapons, working alongside Xenos… how do you not know what Falnas are?"
Both he and Annabeth shared a confused look as their postures began to relax. The tension in the air seemed to be fading, even as their odd conversation continued.
"Well, I suppose we do technically have a god's blessing, but we were born with them, and we don't call them Falnas," Annabeth said carefully.
"Ah, so you were born into your Familia's," the white-haired man nodded.
"Isn't everyone born into their families?" Percy asked, a bemused smile crossing his face. The conversation was going in a very odd direction. Not that he was complaining. After all, he would much rather have an odd conversation with the man than try to fight him.
The white-haired man frowned, "It's not uncommon, but it's not always the case. I would have thought that was common knowledge. I mean, I myself was not born into my Familia but was instead given my Falna by my goddess."
"Wait, you're a mortal?" Annabeth gasped, "And you were blessed by a goddess?"
The man ignored the first question and frowned at the second. "As were you."
Annabeth bit back her response and glanced over at him. Her eyes narrowed and she nodded her head in the white-haired man's direction.
It seemed she wanted him to take the lead.
Taking a deep breath, Percy nodded. Their conversation seemed to be becoming circular. "Look err…."
"Bell, Bell Cranel," the white-haired man said, his brow furrowing as if he were surprised that Percy didn't immediately know who he was. Which seemed pretty arrogant in his opinion.
"Bell," he repeated, "It's been interesting, but we should probably get moving." He glanced around the chamber again, taking in all the skeletal remains and corpses, and then returned his attention to Bell and the mound of golden dust at his feet. "I take it that all these er… dead bodies… aren't because of you?"
Bell frowned and looked around. "No, they were here when I arrived. They were killed by some mad Xenos that was, well, standing, right where I am now. And now that I think about it, I didn't recognise what she was either. I mean, at first, I thought she was a beastkin that had undergone a failed beatification, but no, it turned out she was a monster all along."
"What did she look like?" Annabeth asked, her curiosity getting the best of her.
Bell sheathed his white blade and ran his freehand through his white hair mussing it up slightly. His black blade however remained unsheathed, even if it was now held casually at his side. "She had the body of a very big cat, probably a lion, and the head of a woman, only she looked like a Guild secretary you know, complete with the glasses, strict expression and judgemental look. And she kind of sounded like one too, she even wanted me to answer a load of nonsense questions, and threatened to eat me if I didn't… well, as you can probably guess, I wasn't about to let her do to me what she did to all these other poor people, so I ended her."
"A sphinx," Annabeth breathed.
At Percy's side, he heard Tyson whimper.
"Cool," Percy nodded. He had heard about sphinxes before, but other than the whole 'asking riddles thing' he didn't know much else about them. "Thanks for getting rid of her then, I guess. So, well, as I said before, we are on a bit of a time limit here, so would you mind if we continue our way?"
The question was asked very casually, but despite that, he remained tense and kept Riptide drawn. He wasn't sure if he could take this Bell character. But if the white-haired man made even the slightest move for them he would be ready to fight him, even if only to let Annabeth and the others escape.
Bell blinked in surprise, before nodding.
"No that's fine, I wasn't planning on fighting with you. I only had my knives drawn as I just finished off that monster and heard footsteps approaching," Bell said easily his expression warming. "Though since you are here, would you mind pointing out how I can get back to the surface?"
Percy glanced back at Annabeth. "Well, we came in a while back…, but we've kind of been running around a lot since then so I honestly don't know where the nearest exit is. Do any of you know?"
Annabeth grimaced, which immediately told Percy that she didn't know, but at the same time didn't want to admit it out loud.
Both Tyson and Grover were less high-strung though and both immediately shrugged and shook their heads the negative.
"Ah," Bell muttered.
"Yeah sorry," Percy shifted his attention back to the white-haired man. He kind of felt bad. The guy was scary, but also, once he'd gotten over his dangerous aura, he actually seemed like a pretty nice person.
"It's not your fault, don't worry about it," Bell waved him off.
"If you are looking for an exit, then look out for glowing blue symbols on the walls. They signify the exits, and all you need to do is touch one to get out," Annabeth chipped in quickly.
"Glowing blue symbols got it," Bell nodded. He didn't look at all surprised.
"Though be careful, they could end up letting you out anywhere," Grover warned.
Bell paused and frowned, "That could be a problem. I was down in the Deep Floors when I got separated from my party. So ideally, I'd need to end up back on the surface, or at least on one of the upper floors that I'm more familiar with so I can get my bearings."
"Floors?" Percy muttered to Annabeth. He was once again getting strange gamer vibes from this conversation.
"Maybe Hephaestus can help," Tyson added helpfully.
His comment almost made Percy wince, and it definitely made Annabeth do so. He really didn't think it was a good idea to be telling this pleasant but pretty suspicious guy what they were doing and where they were going.
"Oh, Hephaestus!" Bell grinned, his entire face coming to life all of a sudden with pleased recognition. "We're good friends! Do you mind if I tag along?"
His crimson eyes were now alight with joy.
Percy's gut twisted. The expression Bell was making made it very difficult to say no.
He looked over at Annabeth and shared a look. The guy was clearly dangerous, potentially mentally unsound, and for all, he was pretty charismatic, he was also supper suspicious. If they had any sense, they wouldn't let him join their quest party, even if only temporarily.
"Sure," Tyson nodded his head. "It's fun to make new friends."
This time Percy did wince, even as Annabeth literally facepalmed.
"Great," Bell bobbed his head optimistically, finally sheathing his black knife. "Considering how much this spider thing is struggling and the fact that you followed it in here, I'm guessing you're following this to where Hephaestus is?"
"That would make sense," Annabeth nodded stiffly.
"Weird, but not the weirdest thing I've seen," Bell hummed, before with a shrug he raised his foot and allowed the mechanical spider to quickly scuttle away. "Well off we go then."
"Yay!" Tyson cheered, jogging forward so he was now walking at the white-haired man's side as they both started to follow the spider's lead.
"Percy," Annabeth muttered, her voice full of hidden meaning.
"I know, but what can we do?" He grimaced.
"I don't think you should worry too much," Grover added suddenly.
They both looked back at the satyr.
"Sure, he's scary as all Hades, but he is definitely not a monster. He doesn't smell like a god either, or even a demigod really. I mean, he doesn't have the 'scent' at all. But I don't think he was lying. Besides, even if he was, at least this way we can be on guard." Grover said quickly.
Percy frowned at the comment.
Annabeth though, nodded her head thoughtfully. "What's done is done. We'll just have to be careful and stay on guard." As she spoke, she grimaced. "Grover does have a point though. If Bell meant us harm, then he probably would have already killed us."
"I reckon we could take him," Percy said with forced confidence.
Both Grover and Annabeth gave him sidelong looks of disbelief.
Percy didn't answer them or even look at them as he instead started moving, and quickly caught up with Tyson and the very suspect, Bell Cranel.
( - )
AN: Just a bit of fun. I've read a couple of PJO crossovers, and even written one on my Seagate account, which had Percy in the Danmachi-verse, which is why I wanted to explore what the opposite would look like.
Sounded like a bit of fun, hence the chapter. Hope you enjoyed it, if not let me know why. I'm always looking to improve.
Cheers for reading, and please do check out my other stories if you have the time.
Catch you later.
Greed720.