Disclaimer: I only own the plot and my OCs. Anything you recognize as not mine belongs to Rick Riordan, Greco-Roman mythology, and/or their otherwise respective owners.

Author's Notes: Not feeling too happy today, so I'll keep this short and just say I hope y'all enjoy and I'll see you next week.

Sincerely,

~TGWSI/Selene Borealis


~The Finding Home Saga~

~Finding Home~

~Chapter 20: We Meet The Lord Of The Dead~


"I can't believe you just did that," Katie said as we walked down the same path the spirits had used earlier.

"You know I had to," I replied with the best grin that I could manage. It probably came out more like a grimace than anything else, but still. "I mean, I had to know. And not just because Kronos told me to."

Nervously, Katie bit her lip, before she finally nodded in agreement. "I suppose you're right," she said. "But, Percy...are you sure you really wanted to know that the gods are probably debating right now about whether to kill you or night, even if you are innocent? And what about that second figure underneath your dad's? I know you saw it, too."

I groaned. "I did, I did. But we can't think about that right now. Any of that."

She made a face that obviously said, "Try telling yourself that."

And, well...she wasn't wrong. I'd already known that the Big Three had made an oath to not have any more mortal children, and that my entire existence was in spite of that oath...but knowing that my dad had broken that oath not once, but twice? Knowing that there might have just been another kid like me out there, meaning I wasn't as much of an "only child" as I'd thought? Knowing that the gods expected one of us, or maybe one of those children of Zeus, to go up against them because of some stupid prophecy?

It wasn't fair. None of this was fair. Not only had the gods not helped me when I'd needed it the most, but now I was supposed to prove my innocence to them so they wouldn't kill me, when I was probably going to die before I turned eighteen? Because the prophecy had said it all, hadn't it? A half-blood of the eldest gods, shall reach eighteen against all odds? Was I going to die before I could save my mom, chew out my dad, graduate, and...kiss Luke? Was I destined to die like Thalia had, so somebody else could fulfill the words of the oracle?

That thought was enraging. Absolutely enraging.

Hence why, as we walked down the path, I really did try to not focus on it. Thankfully, as we caught sight of the entrance to the underworld, that wasn't hard to do. Because, to be honest, while I wasn't sure what I had been expecting – Pearly Gates, maybe, or a big black portcullis, or something – I definitely hadn't been expecting for the entrance to look like a cross between airport security and the Jersey Turnpike.

There were three separate entrances under one big, black archway which said YOU ARE NOW ENTERING EREBUS, and I could read it without difficulty for some reason. Each entrance had a pass-through mortal detector with security cameras mounted on top. Beyond that there were tollbooths manned by black-robed booking clerks and literal skeletons.

The howling of the hungry animal was really loud now, yet I couldn't see where it was coming from. I did know it had to be Cerberus, the three-headed dog that was supposed to guard Hades' (the land, not the god) entrance, because what else could it be? I didn't know of any other animal that lived in the Underworld besides him – except for maybe the Furies, but of course, they don't really count.

The dead queued up into three lines, two marked ATTENDANT ON DUTY, and one marked EZ DEATH. The latter one was moving right along, while the other two were barely even crawling.

I turned to face Katie and Silena. "Well, what do you think?" I asked.

Katie bit her lip once more. "The fast line must go straight to the Fields of Asphodel," she mused after a few moments. "No contest. They don't want to risk judgement from the court, because it might go against them."

"Wait, you're telling me that there's a court for dead people?" Nico suddenly asked excitedly. He was standing about a few feet away from her.

Katie nodded. "Yeah. They switch around who sits on the bench. Right now, I think it's King Minos, Thomas Jefferson, and Shakespeare. Something like that. Sometimes they look at a life and decide that person needs a special award, so they go to Elysium. Sometimes they decide on punishment, so they go to the Fields of Punishment...or worse, very rarely, Tartarus. But most of the time, people...well, they just lived. Nothing special, good or bad. So they go to the Fields of Asphodel."

Nico blinked. "And do what?"

Katie snorted. "Stand in a wheat field forever, basically."

He flinched. "Oh."

We got closer to the gates. The howling was so loud now, it was starting to shake the ground beneath my feet, but I still couldn't figure out where it was coming from.

Then, about fifty feet in front of us, the green mist that was hanging all over the place shimmered. Standing just where the path split into three lanes was an enormous, shadowy monster that was basically half-transparent, save for its solid, yellow eyes and gleaming white teeth. And it was staring straight at us.

"That's Cerberus, isn't it?" I asked no one in particular, before I almost slapped myself for being an idiot, because I had already gone over all of that with myself silently. "I didn't know that he was a Rottweiler."

Silena shrugged. "Personally, I'd always imagined him as a mastiff," she said, and I nodded in agreement, because I'd thought the same. "But I guess this makes sense as well."

"Wh – why am I starting to see him better?" Bianca asked.

Instantly, the rest of us turned to get a better look at Cerberus, who was twice the size of a woolly mammoth, and found that we were all starting to see him a little bit better as well. I felt practically all the blood in my face leave at the realization, and I saw that both Katie and Silena paled as well. Nico looked mostly cool with it, although there was a twinge of fear to his eyes, as if he knew what that meant but didn't yet fully comprehend the meaning.

"I think..." Silena began, but trailed off for a moment, before continuing with: "I think it's because we're getting closer to death, to – to being dead."

The dog's middle head craned towards us, completely oblivious to the spirits of the dead who were walking right between his front paws and underneath his belly, which they could do without even crouching. It – that being the middle head still – sniffed the hair and growled, as if it could tell that we were living and breathing humans, before it huffed haughtily and returned back to its guarding position.

"...Okay," I said as I stared at him, having fully expected Cerberus to suddenly go into full attack mode and destroy us without another thought. "That was weird."

"It was," Katie agreed. "But I wouldn't worry about it. Hades probably let him know we were coming. He's smart like that."

I wanted to ask her how smart a god could really be if they'd had their symbol of power stolen from right underneath their nose, but I didn't. I knew that I would be killed instantly if I did.

True to Katie's words, we were able to walk underneath Cerberus, barely escaping his drool, and slip through the "magical item" metal detectors without a problem, though the guards were watching us with soulless eyes the entire time. We were able to get through the Fields of Asphodel without a problem, too, which kind of made me a little concerned, but not really. For one, the sad, whispering masses of people who looked lost and wistful in the unimaginably big and full wheat fields sent chills down my spine, and for two, I saw the Furies watching us from a distance. The weight of Mrs. Dodds' beady eyes was practically tangible as they drilled a spot right into the center of my forehead.

On our way through the Fields of Asphodel, however, I couldn't help but look to my right. Part of it was because to my left were the Fields of Punishment, and i really didn't want to look at what was going on there; the screams of pain and torture were bad enough alone. But mostly, my eyes felt simply drawn there, for some unfathomable reason. While I couldn't make out much of what laid after Asphodel, I was able to make out what looked to be a small valley in the distance. It consisted of a gated community with neighborhoods consisting of beautiful houses and grass that rippled in vibrant colors. And in the middle of the valley was a glittering blue lake, with three small islands like a vacation resort in the Bahamas. Instinctively, I realized those islands had to be the Isles of the Blessed, while the valley surrounding it was Elysium.

At the thought, something whispered in my mind. It was a faint, vaguely familiar voice, one which said, "Remember, try for the Isles of the Blest, Penny."

I shook my head and moved on.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of walking, we reached Hades' palace. It was made of glittering, black obsidian, with beautiful parapets and a two-story tall bronze gate which stood wide open. Up close, I realized that the gate was engraved with scenes of death, both modern and ancient, but all looking as if they had been etched into the bronze thousands of years ago.

Instinctively, I shuddered, thinking about it.

Inside the courtyard was the strangest garden I had ever seen. There were multicolored mushrooms, poisonous shrubs, and weird luminous plants grew without sunlight. Precious jewels made up for the lack of flowers, an standing here and there were statues that I easily recognized as the victims of Medusa, as they were all smiling grotesquely and looking as if they had once been alive. And standing in the center of the garden, of course, was a single pomegranate tree, the very one from the myths, which I stared at momentarily before not-so-subtly pushing Silena and Katie, who had also been eyeballing it with wide eyes, forward.

It wouldn't do for my two best friends to become Hades' newest brides, after all.

We 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, and there was no ceiling, leaving the cavern roof visible from far above. It seemed odd to me, at first, until I figured that they probably never had to worry about rain down here.

Every side door was guarded by a skeleton in military gear. Some wore Greek armor, some British redcoat uniforms, and some camouflage with tattered American flags on their shoulders. They carried spears, or muskets, or M-16s. None of them bothered us, but their hollow eye-sockets followed us as we walked down the hall, towards the big set of doors at the opposite end.

"So cool," Nico whispered.

I silently disagreed with him.

Two US Marine skeletons guarded the big set of doors. They grinned down at us, leering, rocket-propelled grenade launchers held across their chests. I opened my mouth to ask them shakily whether or not we could enter, but before I could even get my voice out of my throat, a hot wind blew down the corridor and the doors swung open. The guards stepped aside.

"I guess that means entrez-vous," Silena said uncomfortably.

The room inside was dark and cavernous, with a raised platform of the sorts clear on the other side of the room, which was about forty feet away. Centered on the platform were two black marble thrones, one of which was lined with gold, while the other was lined with an emerald green color. The one lined with gold was larger than the one with green, and off to the side of it sat four unlined, smaller black thrones, but I couldn't focus on those. Not when Hades himself was sitting on the gold throne, looking at us with a carefully neutral expression on his face, anyways.

Hades was at least ten feet tall, with messy and wavy black hair that kind of reminded me of Moses from that one The Prince of Egypt movie, a short black beard, dark brown eyes, and faded olive skin. He was dressed in a black silk chiton with a golden girdle and wore a crown of braided gold, both of which helped him seem like the god he was supposed to be. He lounged on his marble throne, looking intimidating and dangerous, but lithe and graceful, too. For some reason, this made me think of my own father, although I wasn't sure why. I had never met him before: how would I have any idea what he looked like?

"You are brave to come here, son of Poseidon," Hades spoke with a low voice, which instantly told me how much of deep ass shit was I in, regardless of what I wanted to happen next. "After what you have done to me, very brave indeed...or perhaps you are simply very foolish."

I forced myself to take a step forwards. "Lord Hades," I said. "Uncle. I am sorry for the intrusion, but when I took this quest, Chiron said that it would be best for me to venture here into the Underworld, because he thought whoever stole your helm of darkness and Zeus' master lightning bolt would be here, or be connected to your realm, if nothing else."

Hades snorted. "I'm not surprised my half-brother would think such a thing," he said. "Chiron has spent so many millennia training young heroes, he forgets that not everyone has such a weak hold on those who are beneath them as he does."

"R – right," I said. Then, I continued on with the little impromptu speech I had made. "Uncle, when I came down here, I had every intention on finding the culprit, who I thought might have been Eris or one of her siblings due to Chiron's words, and bringing them you so that they could face justice...but I learned this was not the case after I had a talk with the Lady Styx."

Here, Hades leaned forward, and his eyebrows knit together in such a way I hoped he was intrigued and not...y'know, murderous. "Oh?" he said, the curious in his tone confirming my thoughts. Thank fuck. "And what did 'the Lady Styx,' as you call her, have to say?"

I swallowed. "She – she said that the culprit behind your and Zeus' symbols of power being taken was not a god," I replied, "but a titan. Kronos, to be precise. She said he would have the most to gain from you, my father, and Zeus fighting, because your fighting would weaken Olympus and make it easier for him to rise to power once more. And..."

I trailed off.

Hades looked at me sharply. "And what, demigod?" he asked.

"And she said that you like a solemn oath...I think," I told him, before I straightened my posture and looked him dead in the eyes. Pun intended. "So, Lord Hades, I swear to you on the River Styx that everything you just heard was true. I also swear to you on the River Styx that I did not steal your helm of darkness or Zeus' master lightning bolt, or intentionallyfeed into Kronos' plans, because as the Lady Styx told me, I might have done so unintentionally."

Despite us being underground, thunder boomed loudly in the distance both times I mentioned the sacred river and the goddess it was named after.

Hades raised an eyebrow and leaned back into his hair, looking both impressed and disturbed. "Styx told you well, son of Poseidon," he said. "Now, I will tell you even better. Take off your backpack."

I blinked, but did as I was told, slinging Ares' backpack off of my shoulder and putting it on the ground.

Hades gave me a grim smile. "Open it."

I did.

Inside the backpack, which had been pretty much empty, last I'd checked, were two things. One was a thick, two-foot long celestial bronze cylinder that was spiked on both ends, humming with energy. The other was a black, Ancient Greek war helmet, with a black metal plume that, much like the gates guarding Hades' palace, had scenes of death carved into it.

They were Zeus and Hades' symbols of power.

I had the sudden urge to puke. "Lord Hades – " I began.

But he cut me off. "It is all right, nephew," he said with a wave of his hand. "You just swore to me with the most powerful oath that there is that you did not steal these things, and Styx has not appeared to drag your body into the depths of her river. But still, I must know who did. Who gave you this backpack?"

"Ares, Uncle," I answered honestly. "It was Ares."

He snorted again. "Why am I not surprised? Ares has always been more rash than is becoming of a god, especially a god of war. Enyo would have been a better fit for an Olympian...but, of course, my opinion doesn't matter when it comes to such things." He paused to peer down at me. "I suppose that, besides setting you up, Ares also told you that I was the one to take your mother as a hostage?"

"Y – yes, Uncle."

Hades nodded. "Well, he wasn't wrong, I will give him that. I did take your mother, nephew, because I thought you were the one to take my helm of darkness and my brother's master lightning bolt. But, since you did not..."

Waving his hand a second time, he caused a small, glittering ball of golden light to form. The light quickly stretched, getting bigger and bigger, until it formed into a shape of a human – and not just the shape of any human, but the shape of my mom. I watched with wide eyes as she formed inside the golden light, looking like she had the day we had went off to Montauk: perfectly healthy, as if she hadn't gotten into a car crash or had her throat squeezed by the Minotaur.

"Mom," I couldn't help but whisper as I looked at her, tears filling my eyes, though I knew she wouldn't be able to hear me. She probably wasn't even conscious.

"Since my realm isn't...suitable for the living to reside in, much less wake up in," Hades said with a wry smile, "I will transport your mother to your house, where she will wake up in her bed, unharmed. Is that acceptable to you, nephew?"

"I – " I began, but then stopped myself. Was I really okay with my mom going back to our apartment in Manhattan, where the first thing that Smelly Gabe would do when he saw her there is order her around? Where he might slap her, or hit her, or...other stuff, because I wasn't there for him to take his anger out on? Could I really let her go there, knowing that? Where else could she go?

Taking in a deep breath, I said, "Uncle, can you do me a favor?"

Once again, Hades raised an eyebrow. "What kind of favor do you wish for, nephew?"

"It – it's nothing big, I promise!" I replied. "It's just...I sent a package to Olympus, and I have a feeling they're either going to kill me for it or send it back. Maybe both. If the latter's the case, can you make sure the package is somewhere my mom can easily see it once she wakes up? I don't..." I don't want her to suffer under Gabe without me, defenseless, for gods know how long. I want her to have an out, if she needs it. An easy way out.

"...I see," Hades said. He gave me another grim smile. "Very well, nephew. I will do what you ask. And I will make sure that, when your stepfather enters my realm, he will suffer greatly for the heinous crimes he has committed against you and your mother."

He waved his hand a third time, and my mom vanished. I watched her disappear mournfully, knowing that even if I somehow survived this mess, what with the prophecy that was hanging over my shoulders, it'd still be way too long before I saw her again.

Hades cleared his throat, then turned to survey Katie, Silena, Nico, and Bianca. When his eyes landed on the last two, a strange expression passed over his face. "Niccolò, Bianca," he said.

My eyes widened. How could he possibly know their names? And why would he want to know their names?

The watery white circle Styx had conjured appeared in my mind, specifically when all five of the original figures underneath Hades' symbol of power had been positioned there. So, too, did the voice of Styx, specifically when she said, "...Or should I say, Hades, as the only one to have children below the age of eighteen, made everyone think that he had killed his own children."

Fuck. Fuck. No wonder why I had felt like I was in deep ass shit with the Lord of the Dead, even if I was almost completely innocent when it came to his stolen symbol of power.

Bianca shifted her feet, while next to her Nico stared up at Hades with wide eyes. "F – Father?" she asked.

Hades nodded, before he said, "I am sorry, my children, that your cousin and his friends took you out of the home of the Lotus-Eaters so soon...it wasn't my plan for them to. You two were supposed to stay there, ideally, until the prophecy I now presume you heard had finished, so that Zeus would not kill you. But now...now that you have been discovered, sending you back will not be wise, because it will only be a matter of time until Zeus finds out and tries to kill you for it, just like he killed your mother so many years ago..."

...Wait, what? Zeus killed the mom of Nico and Bianca?

Man, was my family so incredibly fucked up.

"S – so where do we go?" Bianca asked him.

Nico looked like he was about ready to pass out from the excitement of it all.

"You can come with us to camp," Silena suddenly blurted out. Instantly, all of us looked at her, causing her to blush and hurriedly add, "I – I mean, no offense to you, Lord Hades, it's just...if Nico and Bianca were to come back to camp with us and we told Chiron and Mr. D about them coming along with us on this quest, both of them might put in a good word with Zeus...right? And if that happens, Zeus probably won't kill them, prophecy or otherwise, because he'd face the same dilemma that he will with Percy, if he does."

"...And perhaps, milord," Katie continued for her, sounding way too formal for my tastes, "you could also promise Zeus and Poseidon not to kill another mortal child of theirs, in return for them doing the same? That way, both your children and Percy would be protected, because Poseidon is very likely to agree with you, since Percy is his son and all."

The "and he has another mortal child out there" part definitely needed to go unsaid.

Hades hummed thoughtfully and idly stroked his beard. Finally, he said, "That's not a bad idea, daughter of Aphrodite, daughter of Demeter. Very thoughtful...and cunning, too. Very well." He turned back to look at Nico and Bianca. "Do you wish to go to camp with these demigods, children? You'd be – "

"YES!" Nico shouted. At his father's amused look, though, he blushed. "Uh...yes, Father, thank you."

Bianca nodded faintly in agreement.

Hades smiled at him, and this time his smile lacked the grimness it'd had before. Then, he stood up and held out his hand. The helm of darkness, from where it still was in Ares' backpack, promptly flew into his hand. "I will send the four of you," he told Silena, Katie, Nico, and Bianca, "to the edge of camp, out of good faith to Chiron and Dionysus. But as for you, nephew," he told me, "there is not time for us to waste. You and I will be going directly to Olympus."


Word Count: 4,119

Next Chapter Title: I Meet My Maker & His Siblings