Chapter 36

The Road to Hell

A colourless night had fallen over Elysium. Sparse few stars still clung to the fabric of the sky. Desperate flickers of light while the ragged curtains tried to close themselves. Their lone spectator was the lifeless moon that hung in the air.

The endless battlefield at the foot of Elysium had finally resolved itself into a pyrrhic victory. The monsters had retreated, pulled back into their awful shadows and desecrated holes.

No land was claimed or lost, Olympus had merely pulled back their forces, leaving behind barren and scorched earth.

In all directions the world had been leveled completely. A completely flat surface where only the titan's stronghold remained like a gravestone atop a nameless mass grave.

It was quiet at least.

Percy could appreciate it. The constant droning of fighting and danger sometimes made him forget how precious a moment of nothingness was. To just have his head empty and his heart bare.

The obsidian roof terrace was isolated from the rest of the structure, requiring one to two twists through several hallways before one could find this small corner of paradise hidden in hell.

Black flowers with white hearts swayed gently in the wind. Percy wondered who in Mount Othrys took the time to take care of them. Maybe the palace itself had manifested them?

Footsteps sounded behind Percy. He heard the sound of heavy set doors being pushed open.

Alas, that peaceful quiet didn't last terribly long.

"Good news, everyone unanimously voted not to kill you," a voice half jokingly declared. The girl moved past Percy and sat down. Her cape spilled out like a waterfall and pooled around her. Reyna released an exasperated sigh and buried her face between her hands. "What a shitshow."

"You did pretty well," Percy tried to compliment the former Praetor. It was hard to find things to say at a time like this. "I am amazed with how much you managed to do here."

"It's mostly Prometheus," Reyna raised her head. Her hair fell to the left of her face. Although everything about her appearance said she was at her end, her eyes still held that deep piercing power. "That sleazy bastard managed to get all the contacts and people in place, he advocated strongly for your survival."

That was…unexpected. Last Percy had thought about Prometheus was during the battle of New York. He didn't expect to see the titan here, but he didn't feel so great about it.

"What's Prometheus' role in all of this? I haven't heard anything about him in a long while."

Reyna thought for a second. "He came to Mount Othrys together with your friend, Nico. He said he had a plan, Titan of Foresight and all that. I don't trust him a lot but just like you withK ampê, we don't really have a choice. But for what it's worth, he has been invaluable in planning the attack on Olympus and getting us into contact with other groups."

"So you really are going to attack Olympus." Percy concluded. He tried to imagine it. The city of New York, as it had always been, but this time the sky would be filled with dragons, planes and chariots.

It would be a beautiful bloodbath.

"Well, what else do you suggest?" Reyna clenched her fists. She glared at the stars. "We're being wiped out and we don't have anything left soon. A final battle, it's not that bad, right?" The Praetor frowned. "Still, it's best if you head to the Underworld tomorrow at dawn. Prometheus might think he has all his allies under control, but I rather not have you assassinated."

"It would bring peace," Percy wistfully offered. "Assuming of course the gods can be trusted to keep their words."

Reyna cackled a dry laugh. "No, if the gods want you dead, then you absolutely have to live." Her eyes sharpened. "I've seen too many friends and soldiers die to give up. We keep going, no matter the costs. No matter what the gods say, not until we get back what they took from us."

A restless wind blew across the wasteland and began to play with Reyna's hair.
Percy suddenly said. ""It's a trap."

"Why do you think that?" Reyna didn't look surprised. She must have suspected something herself. Regardless, Percy shared his thoughts. "I know Athena and if she says something, there's a plan behind it." Percy couldn't help but to think about how Annabeth would have handled this. "I think Bessie accidentally swimming into the frame is the main point of the broadcast. They left him alive because he is bait, they want to lure us to Olympus."

Reyna frowned.

"Think about it, if their objective was killing me, then Athena just played their entire hand. We're talking about Athena here, Athena always has a plan."

Reyna raised her finger. "This assumes the gods are rational."

"Athena is," Percy released a deep breath. "I spoke to Hestia about this, the gods act and behave the exact same, except for their desire to kill all of humanity and the demigods."

Reyna didn't answer.

"Well, then we're walking right into a trap." Her gaze hardened. "But it doesn't matter if they're waiting at the gate. If you and Nico managed to take control of the Doors of Death then we can fight until the bitter end and even past it."

Percy nodded solemnly.

Tartarus.

He couldn't help but to shiver. That place he swore he never wanted to see again. The place that broke down minds by just conceptualizing it in its monstrous entirety.

"Percy?" Reyna spoke.

Percy frowned.

"You froze for a second."

Percy scratched his head. "I'm sorry. I don't have good memories of that place."

Renya gave Percy a look of pity. "I've heard from Nico that he didn't tell you about the plan beforehand."

Percy shook his head. "Not a word."

Reyna bit her lip. "Well, I apologize for announcing it at the war meeting. I thought you knew."

"I don't know a lot these days," Percy admitted with a sheepish smile.

A look of concern softened her hardened eyes. "Still, I don't know if I can ask you to plunge into Tartarus again. I thought you already agreed to this beforehand."

Percy stayed silent. He hadn't fully processed the thought yet. It all came so abruptly, and then more chaos arrived in the form of Olympus' broadcast.

There was barely time for him to breath and to think things through. It was almost as if this universe was set on tossing Percy into every direction it needed, and then pull him away with the same carelessness.

When exactly had Percy lost control over his life?

"You don't have to." Reyna said. Her eyes burned with resolve. "You can come with me, fight on the surface against Olympus. Fuck Nico, if he didn't tell you, then let him and Prometheus figure it out together."

Suddenly Percy found his hands intertwined with Reyna's. "I refuse to be like the gods," Reyna said softly. "People are not pawns on a board. And you're still my friend despite everything."

"Would we even be able to find and control the Doors of Death?"

"I don't know." Reyna muttered softly. "Nico says it will work, yet we are flying blind., No prophecy, no guidance from above or even encouragement that we are doing the right thing."

A small silver streak fell down Reyna's cheek. "I don't know what the right thing is, but I do know that sending a friend into Tartarus is not right, not ever."

A chill crossed Percy's spine.

"I'm giving you a choice Percy. You can come with me, we can fight together and maybe even die together." The last part was uttered softly. "But at least it's something I am sure of is the right thing."

"I don't know what to do," Percy admitted. "I don't know."

"Well," Reyna gave him a wry smile. "You have until dawn to decide."

"I have my own mission," Percy suddenly said. "Something I want to do, something just for me."

Reyna's hands felt surprisingly warm. However, despite holding them tight and feeling her fingers weave into his, Percy couldn't help but to feel the distance between them was endlessly wide.

"I need to know why the gods are doing this." Percy finally said.

Reyna pulled her hand back.

"I know it's dangerous to know, but I have to find the answer to the question. The truth."

"Does the truth really matter anymore?" Reyna asked softly. "If all it does is destroy the world, maybe we shouldn't know it."

Percy grimaced. He knew she was right yet a small flame inside him hungered for it all the same. "I have to know. For Leo, Annabeth, Whitefall. For everyone that we lost."

"I see," Reyna smiled thinly. "So that's what kept you going all this time. For some it's revenge, other's it's desperation and for you it's the sacred question."

"Don't you want to know?" Percy asked.

Reyna shrugged. "I've thought about it. I talked to people, monsters, gods."

"And what do you think?"

Reyna tugged at the edge of her cape. "Tell me Percy, imagine if you could do the right thing, would you do it?"

"Of course I would, that's the reason I helped Olympus my entire life." A bitter resentful feeling roared inside Percy's stomach. The unfairness of it all was hard to swallow, even now. "The reason for Luke's oath and for my loyalty was all for doing the right thing. I had all the gods and titans trying to tell me what was to do but I kept trying at least."

Reyna nodded. "Okay, now imagine if you always could do the right thing. Do you think everyone would be happy?"

Percy paused. Images of Tartarus played against the back of his mind. The monsters he sent down there. The demigods who fought with Kronos, the promise to Bob. The lifeless bodies he left behind everywhere he went.

Percy forced out the answer he didn't like. "No."

Reyna smiled. "What if that's what Olympus thinks right now?"

The restless wind died down. The lifeless moon overhead continued its arc. The world sang its twisted tune.

"I just have to know," Percy quietly muttered.

A heavy weight fell against Percy. Reyna rested her head on his shoulder. "It's something you shouldn't want to know Percy."

"I don't have a choice," Percy chuckled sardonically. "If I don't know the reason, then everything has been for nothing."

"Ha," Reyna smiled softly. Percy felt her soft skin touch his. "Well, let me enjoy this moment for now. Until we both make the wrong choice, okay?"

A darkness darker than black. A void so impenetrable words lose meaning. The eyes couldn't see the dark, they could only detect a miserable absence of light.

Stars don't shine down here. Stars didn't even want to look in this direction. Stars were lifeless corpses of light that hadn't realized it was long dead.

Or so Percy thought, but as his eyes adjusted to the suffocating darkness, he did begin to see tiny specks of light.

Percy stepped forward. His legs plunged into the unknown and challenged it with his presence. The darkness drifted away from him.

A figure cloaked in darkness sat next to a white table. On top of the spotless white table 2 steaming cups of tea arranged in a classic manner.

An empty chair awaited him.

Suddenly the figure in the chair moved. Percy then understood she wasn't cloaked in shadows but rather she was the very darkness that covered her.

Two tiny spots of starlight stared curiously at Percy.

"It's not often someone wants to return to the House of Night, but you are most welcome, Perseus Jackson."

The darkness began to choke him.

Percy's body shot up, jolted awake by the feeling of invisible tendrils suffocating him from the inside.

The dead moon hovered over the horizon, dipping its lower half beyond it and ready to pass the torch to the day time.

His heart still racing, Percy tried to collect his thoughts. His fingers twitched and his head hurt.

Next to him Reyna slept peacefully. She was curled up, fragile and yet so at ease in this moment, it hurt Percy to pull himself from her grasp.

"I'm sorry," Percy softly whispered as he left her behind.

He had to find Nico and Kampê.

A/N and we're again moving closer to the finale.

I keep writing accidental romance. I can't help it! Someone. Release me of this curse.

Also thanks for following and reading the chapter. Extra thanks if you left a review. And if you feel like discussing shit join the discord.

-CaptainMoonShine-