Chapter Text
AN: Heya! I know I haven't updated in 5 weeks. To be perfectly honest, due to circumstances outside of my control, my mental health has done a downward spiral. I've scheduled some counselling and I hope that it helps me. Updates may be a little bit sporadic for a few months, but hopefully it won't be 5 weeks without an update again. Thank you so much for understanding!
"Master!" Ethan stammered. He looked sweaty and exhausted from running around the underworld all day, trying to avoid Persephone's wrath. "We have the sword. We should-"
"Yes, yes." Iapetus waved him off. "You have done well, Evan."
"It's Ethan, master."
"Whatever. I'm sure my brother Kronos will reward you. But now we have killing to attend to."
"My lord," Ethan tried again. "You're not at full power. We should ascend and summon your brothers from the upper world. Our orders were to flee."
"Flee?" The titan whirled on Ethan, rage in his awful eyes. "Did you say FLEE?"
The earth shook. Ethan scrambled back, panic flooding his face. "M-master, please-"
"IAPETUS DOES NOT FLEE!" Iapetus roared. "I have waited three aeons to be summoned from the Pit. I want revenge, and I will start by killing these weaklings!"
Leaving a shaking Ethan Nakamura on the ground, Iapetus turned, aimed his spear at Percy, and charged.
Even when weakened, Iapetus was fast. Faster than Atlas had been, on Mount Tam. Back then, they had only beaten Atlas because Artemis had been with them. They didn't have any gods with them this time, and Percy was gravely injured. As it was, he barely managed to dodge in time, and Iapetus's spear clove the ground in two where Percy had been less than a second before.
Ethan tried to draw his sword, but Nico had it covered in a second, summoning a phalanx of skeletons that charged Ethan, locking him in combat and away from the main fight.
Next to Mari, Thalia fired off a volley of arrows, which found their mark in Iapetus's arms, legs and torso. Iapetus roared, but he didn't look hurt. Just pissed off. He heaved his spear from the earth, and turned towards Thalia. Mari stepped in front of Thalia and threw up a shield of the mist, chest heaving with the effort. She'd pushed herself way past her limits.
Iapetus snarled, pressing his spear down onto the mist. Thalia yanked Mari out of the way just in time as the mist shattered. Iapetus's spear tore into the ground, the momentum blasting both her and Thalia with air.
"Here." Thalia shoved her bow and quiver towards Mari, pulling out a set of hunting knives for herself. "Those are just a loan. Be careful."
"Thanks." Mari tasted blood from her nose as she spoke. Her head felt like it was about to split open from exhaustion. She slung the quiver over her shoulder, pushing back against the pain. Thalia, Percy and Nico charged Iapetus. Mari notched an arrow and looked for an opening.
Thalia sliced at Iapetus's legs with her knives, Nico went for his ankles with his emo-sword, and Percy jumped up and launched his sword right at Iapetus's stomach. A bow was a long-range weapon, so Mari couldn't do a lot of damage up close, but she did have the highest access. She aimed right at Iapetus's neck and shot off three arrows, all of which nailed Iapetus right in his scalene muscles.
But there was a problem. Iapetus roared in anger, but he did not roar in pain.
They could spend hours landing hit after hit, but it would all be for squat if none of those hits actually hurt the titan. And eventually they would get tired, or Ethan would defeat the skeletons and make a break for the sword while they were distracted.
Mari got an idea, and she kicked herself for not thinking of it sooner. Daedalus's paintbrush. She'd forgotten about it, zipped into the front pocket of her dress as it was. It was a long-shot, but archery was all about long-shots, anyway. That was why flaming arrows were invented in the first place.
Mari dug Daedalus's paintbrush out of her pocket, and selected the first, most deadly-looking setting she could find. Then, praying to the gods that she wasn't about to blow her own hands off, she painted two lines along the arrowhead.
Then she fired a shot right into Iapetus's neck.
Iapetus roared, as his face exploded with Greek fire.
Thalia, Percy and Nico leapt back, as Iapetus thrashed in pain. After a few seconds, the fire dissipated against the skin of a titan, and Iapetus looked up, rage in his eyes. Across his face was a jagged burn, skin still bubbling like boiling water.
Percy took advantage of the distraction and lodged his sword into Iapetus's calf, right through his lateral gastrocnemius. Iapetus roared, glaring at the lot of them like he didn't quite know who to try and murder first.
Then he wacked his spear into Percy.
Percy went flying through the air, landing on the riverbank of the Lethe.
"YOU DIE FIRST!" The titan boomed.
Thalia tried electrifying her hunting knives, zapping Iapetus with electric shocks all across his spine. Iapetus knocked her aside like she was nothing.
Mari shot an arrow at Iapetus's eye. She didn't have time to paint this one, but maybe it could still-
Iapetus caught it mid-air, snapping it in half.
Then he kicked Mari into the air, sending her crashing to the ground. She gasped, sitting up. Her back felt like it had been stomped on by a herd of angry rhinos.
"YOU DIE NEXT!" he snarled at her. The burn across his face was a bad one, leaking golden blood.
Nico slashed his emo-sword at Iapetus's legs, but the Titan knocked him to the ground like an ant, turning on Percy again.
"I will kill you all!" he roared. "Then I will cast your souls into the eternal darkness of Tartarus!"
Mari tried to reach into the mist again, but the second she got a hold of it, she lost that hold just as quickly. Her ears started ringing. More blood fell from her nose, dripping to the ground.
"You- you're even uglier than your son," Percy groaned from the riverbank, stumbling up with a hand around his injury. The bandages were red with blood again - Percy was in no condition to fight. "I can see where Atlas gets his stupidity from."
Iapetus roared, lunging for Percy with his spear.
Percy grabbed Iapetus's prison jumpsuit, yanking him off-balance mid-charge.
Iapetus roared, flailing to get his footing back, but Percy pulled him further instead, stepping backwards as he did so. The two were at the edge of the riverbank now. Mari figured out Percy's plan a second before it happened.
Percy took one last step, sending himself and Iapetus tumbling into the river Lethe.
"No!" Mari screamed, but there was nothing she could do.
The water closed over Percy and Iapetus like a liquid coffin. Mari stumbled up, a hand over her mouth. Percy couldn't be gone... he just couldn't-
Percy stumbled out of the Lethe, perfectly dry, and hurled one sopping wet titan onto the ground next to him. Mari's breath caught in her throat as she understood.
He'd kept himself dry, just like he'd kept her dry. Percy stared at them all, looking sheepish.
"...Hi," he said.
"Percy..." Thalia stared in amazement. "Oh my gods."
Mari let out a hysterical laugh, kneeling over in sweet relief.
"Sposami," Nico whispered, staring at Percy.
Behind them, there was a crashing sound, as Ethan Nakamura finally finished off the last of Nico's skele-buddies. He turned, probably expecting to find one victorious titan and four very dead demigod husks, but his eye widened with horror as he took in the actual scene in front of him.
"My - my lord?" Ethan called.
Iapetus looked at Ethan, confused. Then he turned to Percy, smiling.
"Hello!" He waved. "Who am I?"
"You're my friend!" Percy stammered. "You're... Bob."
Mari stared at Percy. Bob? Seriously? Bob? Mari would've picked a much better name - like Taylor.
"I am your friend Bob!" Iapetus cheered, looking thrilled about the whole ordeal.
Ethan seemed to have caught on to which way the wind was blowing. From the corner of her eye, Mari noticed him inching towards the sword of Hades.
She snarled, ignoring the pulsing pain in her back as she notched an arrow in Thalia's bow. Then she stepped in between the son of Nemesis and the sword, glaring.
"Hello, Ethan. Remember me?"
Ethan gulped, and tried to lunge around her for the sword. Before he could get more than a step, an electrified knife flew at Ethan, crackling as it whizzed past. If it had been an inch closer, it would've cut clean through Ethan's ankle.
"Not today, kid." Thalia raised another knife, which hummed with static as she stepped up next to Mari. "One more step and I'll pin your feet to the rocks."
Ethan looked at the sword of Hades. Then he looked at Mari and Thalia. Then the sword of Hades again. Then he took off, running for the entrance of Melinoe's cave.
Thalia snarled, and raised her hand to throw another electrified knife. Mari grabbed Thalia's sleeve before she could.
"What are you doing?"
"I think he's had enough," Mari told her. "He's not a threat without that sword."
"She's right," Percy said. "Let him go."
Thalia didn't look too convinced, but she nodded, glaring at Ethan's retreating back.
"Owie," Iapetus said, pointing at Percy's wound. Then he laid a hand on Percy's shoulder and smiled. The bandages fell away, leaving smooth, uninjured skin behind. Mari's mouth fell open. Not even Will could heal injuries that quickly.
Nico picked up the sword of Hades.
"We did it," he said, looking like he didn't quite believe it. "We actually did it."
"We did?" Iapetus asked. "Yay! Did I help?"
"Yeah, Bob." Percy gave Iapetus a tired smile. "You were great."
➴➵➶
Nico had a few more skeletons send for the furies, who showed up to row them back across the Lethe. Their boat was an old, rickety trireme which smelled like it hadn't been cleaned out since ancient times. Sitting inside were three old, haggard-looking ladies with whips and leather jackets. They looked even more evil than they'd looked in Mari's dreams, where they tossed Mason into the Lethe without a second thought.
Mari sat on the opposite side of the boat, as far away from them as possible.
She stared into the river Lethe. Her reflection was clear in the pearly water. Her hair was tangled, she was covered in grime, and dried blood from her nose dripped down her chin like she was some kind of vampire.
The Lethe was quiet as the furies rowed. Mason's voice was long gone. Mari wondered if that would be the last time she ever heard it. Would she forget what it sounded like? The idea filled her with despair, but a tiny part of herself couldn't help but feel relieved.
Mari. He'd called her Mari and somehow, after not calling her by her actual name for years, he'd still managed to twist it into a manipulation. She couldn't remember how long she'd wanted her brother to say her name.
Not like this.
You'll join me here, if you hate yourself so much, he'd said. Or do you really think you deserve to make it out of here alive, after what you did to me?
A tiny part of Mari still wanted to reach into that river. But...
Back in the labyrinth, Mason had been clutching Mari even as he was about to fall into Tartarus. If Adela hadn't caught Mari's legs when she did, and if Mari hadn't killed Mason when she did, then she was positive that Mason would have pulled her down into Tartarus with him. She was also positive that he would have been happy about it.
Piss off, she thought at the river. She startled. She didn't know where that had come from.
"Hello!" a cheery voice said.
Mari jumped and turned around. Iapetus was grinning at her, eyes innocent as a new-born baby.
"I am Bob!" He stuck his hand out, but he didn't seem to know what to do with it beyond that. Mari awkwardly shook his hand, but the guy was huge, so her hand could only fit around three of his fingers.
"I am Mari."
"You have an ouchie, on your back."
"What?" Mari remembered her injury. She didn't have the heart to tell Iapetus that he'd caused it. "Oh, yeah. That."
"Here!" Smiling, Iapetus pressed his hand into Mari's back. She jumped, as her back erupted with a tingling sensation, like pins and needles. When Iapetus removed his hand a second later, the pain was completely gone.
"Thanks."
Iapetus frowned, reaching a hand towards the river. Mari grabbed his arm before he could touch the water and lose his memories again.
"Did... Did I fall in there? It feels like I did."
Mari opened her mouth, then closed it again. She didn't think that Percy had made a mistake. If he hadn't pushed Iapetus, they'd all be dead. But she couldn't help but feel guilty for stripping another person of their memories, even if that person had been trying to kill them all. She didn't know what to say.
"I did, didn't I?" Iapetus smiled. "That's okay. I don't mind. I don't know why, but I think I was very angry about something before. I'm not angry now. I like that."
A desperate part of Mari hoped that somewhere out there, Mason felt the same way.
"I'm sorry about your face." Mari gestured to the burn running from Iapetus's chin to just under his left eye. It had already healed, probably because Iapetus was a titan, but it seemed like it was going to scar, and Mari still couldn't help but feel guilty. "That was me."
"It's okay!" He smiled at her. "It does not hurt."
"I'm still sorry. Do you, uh, do you like the name Bob?"
"Yes!" Iap- Bob cheered. "It's my name!"
"Good." Mari smiled at him. "I'm glad."
The rest of the ride was quiet. Mari taught Bob a super-secret handshake to keep him occupied. Lots of clapping and fist-bumping, but Bob seemed to enjoy it. Eventually, the boat reached Hades's fortress. The furies let the five of them out, then rowed away, sending malevolent looks as they went, as if they were betting on which one of them was about to die first.
Hades's palace loomed above them, tall and awful.
It was like the inverse of Olympus.
Black marble steps led to a huge portico, where obsidian columns supported a pediment inlaid with bronze. Higher up, Mari saw the same shaded balcony where Persephone had 'explained' (forced them to accept) the quest. The fresh fruit that the goddess had offered them was all rotten now.
They walked through Persephone's garden, up the stairs, and into the entrance hall. The place had no ceiling. The floor was made entirely of polished bronze, so shiny that Mari could see the stalactites that lined the underworld in its reflection. Skeletal guards stood to attention at each column, dressed in different kinds of armour from over the centuries. Trojan, Spartan and more modern ones that Mari didn't recognise. They all somehow managed to glare out of empty sockets. Mari glared right back.
This place would terrify a regular person.
Adela had been six.
It made Mari want to burn the whole palace to the ground.
A set of polished doors led to the throne room. They opened on their own, and Mari and the others stepped through.
The throne room was huge. Twice the size of Naomi's street. The floors were bronze again, and the walls were dark marble, lit only by brazier pits of green fire. If Mari looked closely at the flames, she could see the faces of souls. And they were screaming. At the back of the room, there was a raised dais made of black obsidian. There were two thrones on the dais. One was shaped like a black flower, with solid gold accents. In it sat Persephone, silent and tense.
Next to her, sat in a throne made of human bones, was the god of the dead.
Hades looked just as horrible as Mari had imagined. He had pale, pasty skin, which was probably the result of spending all his time skulking around the underworld away from the sun. He wore a crown made of gold and a dark silk tunic, with a himation over the top. But there was something off about the himation - at first, Mari thought that the ancient Greek cloak was also made of silk, but the more she stared, the more she could see faces in the fabric. Souls. Just like the ones in the brazier pits of fire, they had mouths permanently open in silent screams.
Mari pictured a six-year-old Adela kneeling down at the foot of the dais. Had it hurt? Adela had never told her. Mari blinked back tears and imagined pummelling Hades's face into his own polished bronze floors instead.
Mari didn't say a word as Nico explained everything that had happened. She just clenched her fists, glaring at the god of the dead.
Nico went to hand Hades the sword, but Percy stopped him.
"Hold up," Percy said. "We can't just give you a forbidden weapon without an Oath on the Styx that you won't use it against the gods."
Hades went still. Then he curled his bony fingers around the arms of his throne, glaring. "You come to my realm-"
"Your wife kidnapped us," Percy said.
"Trample over the river Lethe-"
"There was no bridge."
"Invite a Titan into my palace-"
"I'm Bob!" Bob waved.
"And now you expect me to make a Stygian oath for you?" Hades glared.
"Pretty much, yeah." Percy nodded.
"Of course." Hades spat. He sounded bitter. "What else would I expect, from the child of an Olympian? They exile me down here, where they can forget about me from their lofty temples on Olympus. They forge their own weapons, their own armies, their own powers. They have never needed permission. And yet, when I do the same, I must take an oath not to harm them. I ask you, boy: where is their oath not to harm me?"
"Maybe it got lost in the mail," Percy suggested.
"Yet more insolence!" Hades snapped. "War is brewing, godlings. I would have thought that the Olympians would understand my need to protect my realm. But no. They do not wish for me to be their equal. They want me below them, in both location and in importance. Tell me, what is it that I have done, to convince them I would attack? Have I let the dead roam the earth? Have I stolen the souls of their children, or their lovers, before their threads are cut? Am I a fiend, who cannot be trusted? No! I am a fair and just god!"
Mari saw red.
"'Fair and just'?" she snarled. "Is cursing Adela 'fair and just'?"
"Pardon?" Hades glared at Mari, his voiced laced with threat.
"Mari!" Thalia interrupted. "It might be a bad plan to antagonise the Lord of the Dead when we're trying to get him to make a Stygian-"
"You heard me," Mari told Hades. "You cursed a six-year-old to kill everyone she touches. You're not fair or just."
"You speak of Hekate's child." Hades scowled.
"She has a name!" Mari spat. "It's Adela!"
"I am well aware of her name! I simply don't care. She disrespected me in my own palace. You would do well to hold your tongue, lest you meet the same fate."
"I will not hold my fucking tongue!" Mari roared. "She was six years old! Six years old and missing her father!"
"She was insolent!" Hades roared. "Insolent and arrogant and presumptuous, just like every other godling who walks these halls before their time, assuming I will cave to their whims for free. Am I to let everyone take their family back simply because they ask? Do you have any idea the chaos such a thing would cause in the world above? I was more merciful than that girl deserved. I let her father live-"
"To spite her!" Mari interrupted. "You did it because you knew she could never see him after your curse, and you wanted her to suffer more! You talk about being 'fair and just', but none of what you did to Adela was fair! So tell me what the fuck you think gives you the right to curse her, you vicious twat-"
"ENOUGH!" Hades roared.
Mari shrunk back.
"You forget, little godling, exactly who it is you speak to. I may have no place on Mount Olympus, but I am the Lord of the Dead, the eldest son of Rhea and Kronos. I will not be lectured by an insolent, arrogant daughter of the sun who forgets her place!"
Mari had gone too far. Shit, she'd gone way too far. She stuck her hands in her pockets, just in case Hades got any bright ideas about re-using old punishments. The shadowy aura around Hades flared, like he was about to strike. Percy and Thalia tried to pull her away, but it wasn't much use. At this rate, they were just going to die along with her, and-
"Lord Hades." Persephone laid a hand on Hades's arm. "Stop."
"You dare-"
"Yes." Persephone narrowed her eyes. "I dare. The child is clearly overwrought. I did not intend to bring her here. Killing her would be a mistake. What message would it send, if your first act after forging a forbidden weapon is to use it to kill the child of an Olympian? We do not want to draw attention to what has happened here."
"Father, that's enough," Nico said.
Hades looked between Persephone and Nico. Then his dark aura faded like a receding fog, and he turned towards Mari with barely contained rage in his eyes.
"You will leave in one piece. But know that I only allow you this because you've done me a great service today. Else you would be blasted into a thousand shadows, never to see the light of day again."
Don't flip him off, don't flip him off, don't flip him off... Mari kept her hands clenched in her pockets.
"Fine."
Hades gave Mari once last glare, before turning to Percy. "Give me the sword."
"Give me the oath."
"Fine!" Hades's nostrils flared in anger. "I swear on the river styx that I will not raise this blade against the Olympians in battle. Now give it to me!"
Percy nodded to Nico, who set it at Hades's feet with a bow.
Hades ignored him, picking up the sword and turning to Persephone. "You defied my direct orders."
Mari tilted her head to the side, confused. Persephone's words from before came back to her.
"The Lord of the Dead has no designs against his brothers. I- He knew they would never understand, however, which is why he forged the blade in secret."
Mari held her tongue. She had the strangest feeling that Hades hadn't been as in on this little 'secret' as Persephone had led the four of them to believe.
Hades turned back to Nico. "You will speak of this to no one."
"Yes, Lord."
"And if your friends do not hold their tongues," Hades told Percy, "I will cut them out."
Just like Circe, Mari thought.
"You're welcome," Percy said.
Hades held the sword out in front of his face, pointing it right up at the ceiling. Behind the blade, his eyes were cold with something dangerous - something hungry. He clicked his fingers and the three furies flew in from over the open ceiling of his throne room, circling around Hades's head. Hades let go of the sword, but it didn't clatter to the floor. Instead, it floated upwards in a swirl of dark smoke, hovering between the circling furies.
"Return the blade to the forges," Hades told them. "Stay with the smiths until it is finished, then return it to me."
The ugliest fury snatched the blade in its talons and swooped off, followed by its two sisters. Mari stared at them as they became pinpricks in the air, trying to ignore the feeling of foreboding in her chest. She couldn't help but feel that by letting Hades keep that sword, they were making a horrible mistake.
"You are wise, my lord," Persephone told her husband.
"If I were wise, I would lock you in your chambers. If you ever disobey me again..." Hades didn't bother to finish the threat. He just glared at the lot of them, except Nico, who was standing a little off to the side.
Then he clicked his fingers, disappearing into shadow.
Persephone wasted no time. She smoothed out her flower-dress and turned to the four of them, a very obviously fake smile on her face.
"You have done well, demigods." She waved a hand, and four red roses appeared, one at each of their feet. "Crush these and you will return to the land of the living. You have my lord's thanks."
Mair snatched up her rose with zero hesitation. Personally, she thought that Hades could take his 'thanks' and shove it right up his soul-covered butt. But she did want to go home.
"Making the sword was your idea," Percy said. "That's why Hades wasn't there when you gave us the mission. He didn't know the sword was missing. He didn't even know that it existed."
"Nonsense," Persephone said. Her hands were shaking.
"Percy's right," said Nico. "You wanted Hades to make a sword. He told you no. He knew it was too dangerous. The other gods would never trust him. It would undo the balance of power."
"Then it got stolen," Thalia said. "You shut down the underworld, not Hades. You couldn't tell him what had happened. And you needed us to get the sword back before Hades found out. You used us."
"The important thing is that Hades has now accepted the sword." Persephone rose from her throne, stepping down to stand before them all. "He will have it finished, and my husband will become as powerful as Zeus or Poseidon. Our realm will be protected against Kronos... or any others who try to threaten us."
"Hades made an oath on the Styx not to use the sword against the gods," Mari pointed out.
"Oaths have loopholes, child." Persephone stared at Mari for a second, her eyes widening as if she could see something about Mari that everybody else couldn't. "You should hope so. If I am not mistaken, you are under a Stygian oath yourself. And made to the very girl you were so insensed about when you yelled at my husband. Interesting. Those are not things to be taken lightly. I do hope you phrased it well. Regardless, Hades now has a way to defend our realm should any unsavoury foes threaten its boundaries."
"And we're responsible." Thalia hung her head.
"You've been very helpful." Persephone smiled. "Perhaps a reward, for your silence-"
"You'd better go," Percy said. "Before I carry you down to the Lethe and throw you in. Bob will help me. Won't you, Bob?"
"Bob will help you!" Bob cheered.
Persephone went pale, the sprouting flowers on her dress freezing in place, as if covered in ice. Then she disappeared in a swirl of wildflowers, leaving the four of them alone in Hades's throne room.
➴➵➶➴➵➶➴➵➶
The four of them said their goodbyes on the balcony where Persephone had given them the quest.
Mari had wanted to stay in Hades's throne room a little longer, to maybe see if she could vandalise any of Hades's nice marble columns while she had the chance, but Nico had grabbed her by the sleeve of her dress and dragged her along with the others. Party pooper.
Bob the titan sat on the carpet, making a dollhouse out of bones. Every time it collapsed, he laughed and started rebuilding. "I'll watch him," said Nico. "He's harmless now. Maybe... I don't know. Maybe we can retrain him to do something good."
"Are you sure you want to stay here?" Percy asked. "Persephone will make your life miserable."
"I have to." Nico's eyes were steely with determination. "I have to get close to my Dad. He needs a better adviser."
"What he needs is a kick in the shins," Mari told Nico. "You're a much better person than him."
"What did you mean, when you were yelling at him about that Adela girl?" Thalia asked Mari. "You said he cursed her hands to-"
"It's not my story to tell," Mari said. "It's Adela's. I shouldn't have said that. I just... got mad. Hades is a monster."
"Whatever he is, he is my father," Nico said. "I have to help him. If I can."
Mari wanted to tell Nico that there was no point, but Percy spoke before she could. "Well, if you ever need anything-"
"I'll call." Nico got up to leave, but then seemed to remember something, turning to Percy. "I hope you haven't forgotten my offer."
"I'm still thinking about it."
Nico nodded. Then he awkwardly shook hands with the three of them as if this had all been some kind of business meeting, and left the balcony. Thalia stared after his retreating back, looking concerned.
"What offer?" she asked.
"Something Nico told me last summer," Percy explained. "A possible way to fight Kronos. But it's dangerous, and I've had enough danger for one day."
"In that case, are you still up for dinner?" Thalia asked.
"After all that, you're hungry?" Percy grinned.
"Hey, even immortals need to eat." Thalia shrugged. "I'm thinking cheeseburgers at McHale's."
"Awesome," Percy said. "Mari, you coming? They probably have vegan options. Like, lettuce or something."
"As fun as that sounds," Mari said. "I'm going home."
Percy and Thalia said goodbye to her, and then crushed their petals. Mari thought they would disappear in a flash of light or something, but instead, two giant roses sprouted from the ground, enveloping Percy and Thalia inside. Then the roses started growing upwards towards the living world at rapid speeds, like giant beanstalks. Mari hoped the ride would be comfortable.
She smiled at the space where Percy and Thalia had been standing. She said goodbye to Bob the titan with their new handshake. Then she crushed the rose between her fingers, gasping as her vision was overcome with petals and she was transported back to the land of the living.
It was strange, though.
As the petals closed around her and she was taken back home, she could have sworn she heard somebody calling her name.
≪•◦ *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ ◦•≫
ADELA
≪•◦ *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ ◦•≫
"Marion!" Adela called.
The journey down to the underworld had been simpler than Adela had thought . Possibly because she'd done it before. She didn't need to search the underworld for Hades's palace - she just went wherever the souls were less dense. They seemed to give the fortress a wide berth, like they were scared of its master. Adela didn't blame them.
Scaling the fortress walls was less easy - her daggers didn't fit in between the stones of the outside walls, so Adela had to use the vines that grew over the side of the palace to haul herself up. But she couldn't exactly go through the front entrance - that would be an excellent way to die.
She kicked her legs over a railing, landing on a balcony with a quiet thud.
It was strangely beautiful. The balcony was covered by dark drapes, though what sun anyone thought they had to keep out in the underworld, Adela had no idea. It was littered with folding chairs, with squishy pillows and bowls of fruit. But there was something sinister behind all that beauty - the fruit was rotting, and when Adela looked more closely, those pretty dark drapes were held to the ceiling with curtain rails made of human bones.
"Marion, where are you?" Adela whispered. "We need to get out of here-"
"What are you doing?" a voice asked.
Adela screeched, and nearly tumbled off the balcony, Gladys in tow.
She found her footing and stared at the source of the noise. When she saw who was lounging on the balcony railing, her limbs locked up in terror. It was the son of Hades, the one she’d seen skulking around when Camp Half-Blood was attacked last summer.
He looked a lot less menacing than Adela remembered - his hair was greasy, like he hadn't washed it in weeks - maybe the dead didn't have great shampoo options. His skin was whiter than bone and sunken into his face, as if he was a living skeleton, and his huge aviator jacket was at least a size too big on him. Still, just because he didn't look like a threat, it didn't mean he was safe. Especially given who his father was.
Adela opened her mouth to answer his question, then closed it again, words leaving her in fear.
"We're still under lockdown." The son of Hades already had a hand on his sword, a horrible-looking vacuum-black thing that screamed death. "So either you explain to me why you're here, or I take you to my father and you explain to him."
"No!" The breath left Adela's lungs, as she finally found her words. "Please, don't call your father. I- I'm just looking for someone."
"Are you looking for Ethan Nakamura?" The son of Hades narrowed his eyes.
Even through her fear, that name made Adela angry enough to make a disgusted face.
"I hate Ethan Nakamura. He attacked my... friend."
"Right." The son of Hades relaxed. "So, why are you here?"
"I'm looking for someone," Adela said, voice shaking as her annoyance dissipated and the fear came back. "Someone else. I'll be in and out in a flash, you won't even know I'm here. Just... please, don't call your father. I don't want him to hurt her."
"Who are you looking for?" the son of Hades asked. "You probably won't find them in my father's palace. But I might be able to help, if you give me a name."
"And why should I trust you?" Adela snapped.
"Well, it's me or my father." The son of Hades shrugged.
"Marion. Her name is Marion." Adela said.
"Oh, you wouldn't happen to be Adela, would you?" The son of Hades's eyes flicked towards the gloves covering Adela's hands, and widened in recognition. "Mari said you guys were friends."
Right. Adela bit the inside of her lip. Friends.
"What's it to you?" Adela drew one of her daggers, but the son of Hades did not look impressed.
"You're too late," he said. "She's already gone."
Adela dropped the dagger, falling to her knees. She slapped her hand over her mouth, shaking.
Gone... she was too late.
Too late, and Marion was dead. She'd lost Marion, the same way she'd lost her father, only this time Marion was actually gone. Adela's hands started shaking. Was this a cruel joke, from the fates? Adela had one person that she lo-felt safe around, and that person was snatched away before Adela had even worked up the courage to tell her how she felt-
"I didn't mean dead!" the son of Hades said. "I meant 'gone' as in, 'left'. She went back to the living world a few minutes ago. You literally just missed her."
Adela sagged against the railing, head between her knees in relief. Marion was alive. Adela hadn't failed, she- she hadn't even needed to succeed. Marion was safe.
"She's okay," Adela whispered, a smile spreading across her face.
"Uh, yeah," the Son of Hades said. "Um, you should probably leave, before my father catches you here-"
"Too late."
Before Adela could react, she was enveloped in a barrage of shadows, and the balcony disappeared.
When Adela opened her eyes again, she was in her own personal worst nightmare.
Hades's throne room looked exactly the same as it had when she was six years old. The same imposing black marble columns, the same polished bronze flaws that probably showed a perfect reflection of how scared Adela looked, and the same horrible god of the dead, sat in his throne. Wait, no. One thing was different.
When Adela had been six, Hades had looked angry. Now, he looked furious.
"No..." Adela whispered. "No, no..."
"What do we have here?" Hades glared down from his throne. "It seems today is full of trespassers, encroaching on where they do not belong. But I must admit, that even in all my divine knowledge, I did not expect to be met with one who should have learned her place the first time she dared to make a demand of a god!"
"I didn't- didn't mean-"
"Tell me, girl," Hades said. "Were the hands not enough? Should I curse your arms, too? Perhaps your eyes. What would it be, to kill someone by sight?"
Adela scrambled up, and she ran.
She got two steps before skeletal hands burst from the bronze floor and grabbed Adela's ankles in a bruising grip, trapping her in place.
"It seems that you are not only an arrogant godling, but an unintelligent one. How dare you come back here, attempt to conspire with my son, and then run from me in the face of your crime! No. You trespassed here to rescue your father when you were six, godling." Hades hissed. "It seems that you failed to learn your lesson. This time, your punishment will be much more severe."
"I didn't mean to!" Adela whimpered. "Please, I didn't come for anybody dead this time, I thought there was someone-"
"Silence!" Hades roared.
Adela froze, mouth hanging open in fear. Her mother's words came back to her, from months ago, when Hekate had told Adela that Mason had kidnapped Marion and brought her into the labyrinth.
"You, daughter, trust far too little. When you were six, you ran away to the underworld. You didn't trust Chiron enough to ask him if it was a good idea or not, and now look where we are."
She supposed Hades was right, in a way. She hadn't learned anything.
Somehow, Adela had made the same mistake twice.
She was all alone down here. Just like she had been all those years ago. Chiron did not know where she was. Her father did not know where she was. Hekate probably knew where she was, but Adela doubted the titaness would intervene a second time. Marion did not know where she was - what would Marion even think? Would she assume that Adela had run away, and left her alone? Because Adela would never - but how was Marion meant to know that now?
Adela started to cry as the gravity of the situation finally hit her.
She was going to die down here.
"Please..." Adela begged. "Please, please..."
Adela could have said anything else - she could have tried to say it was a misunderstanding, or that she was already leaving when he summoned her to his throne room. It would have done her no good, but at least she'd have died knowing she'd tried everything she could. Yet, in that moment, words failed Adela. She was too consumed by pure terror at the sight of the angry god to form a coherent sentence. All she could do was repeat one measly word, over and over, as if that would somehow shield her from the king of the underworld's wrath.
She didn't even really know what she was begging for. Mercy? That was a pipe-dream. But still, Adela begged, shaking in her prison of bones as Hades rose from his throne and began to stalk towards her, eyes alight with death.
"Please!" Adela held up her hands in front of her face, looking away from Hades and wishing she could be anywhere else. "Please!"
"I demanded silence!" Hades finally reached her, and raised one hand. Hades's palm glowed with black fire.
"Though," Hades mused. "I suppose soon enough, you'll be silent forever. Tell me, have you any final words?"
No.
Adela didn't.
The words were completely gone now.
Hades raised his flaming hand, slowly lowering it to Adela's face, and-
"How depressing," a voice said. "Must the child really die?"
Hades froze, hand still flickering with death-fire. "Do you have something to add, Persephone?"
"Actually, I do."
A goddess strode into the room, wearing a black veil and a train of flowers. "Don't tell me you are surprised, my lord. You know I have a soft spot for Hekate's children. After all, the titaness helped my mother search for me the first time you brought me down here. Hekate is a good friend to me, when I am lonely here."
"Hekate betrayed us!" Hades snarled. "She betrayed us for her titan brethren! Or have you forgotten?"
"I have not forgotten!" The flowers on Persephone's dress wilted as she spoke, filling the entire throne room with the smell of rot. "The underworld has fallen to chaos without her to protect mortals from the restless dead, and you know it! Do you truly think that killing Hekate's daughter will endear her to you, convince her to return?"
Hades glared at Persephone. He said nothing.
"Besides..." Persephone shrugged. "You wish to punish this girl, do you not? Where is the suffering in a quick death?"
Adela's heartrate picked up, and she frantically shook her head.
"I suppose having the goddess back would be useful," Hades agreed. "And that her child needn't be dead to suffer."
Then he turned towards Adela again, a cruel look in his eyes. "Yes, your mother is very useful, wouldn't you agree, godling?"
When Adela didn't answer, Hades grabbed her wrists, squeezing her hands until Adela swore she felt her bones snap. "Of course you would. After all, she made you such valuable gloves, to avoid my curse."
Adela froze, hand twitching in pain.
"Answer me!" Hades snarled. "Can your traitor mother still be useful, child?"
"Y-yes!" Adela whimpered.
"Hm," Hades said. "Not to you. Not anymore."
Then, he lit her hands ablaze with his death-fire.
Adela shrieked.
The pain was unlike anything she'd felt before - like her hands were being rotted alive. Her knees buckled, but the bones around her feet and Hades's grip on her arms kept her upright, forced to stare up at the god of the dead as he burned away at her flesh.
Adela was close to blacking out when Hades finally stopped, letting go of Adela's wrists and stepping back with a cruel smile.
Adela collapsed to the floor, gasping. Her ankles, still held in place by the bones, burned at the strain. Adela didn't have it in her to care. She stared at her hands, uncomprehending. It... it didn't look bad. Or, at least, it didn't look worse than before. Same blackened, dead-looking skin. Same rotting fingernails. Same stench of death.
Adela's heartrate picked up, as she realised what was different.
She was staring at her gloveless hands.
"Where..." Adela gulped. "My gloves, where...."
"Hm," Hades nudged a pile of smouldering ashes with his shoe. "There, I suppose. What's left of them."
"No!" Adela launched forward, digging through the ashes for anything she could salvage. There was nothing. "No... no no..."
Hades yanked her back up by the hair. Adela thrashed in his grip.
"I wouldn't mourn for your gloves, godling," he hissed. "You won't be needing them, where you're going."
Then the god of the dead waved a hand over Adela's forehead, and she lost consciousness.
╱╲❀╱╲❀╱╲
Hannah Murray as Marion Carter
Dafne Keen as Adela
García-Sánchez
Tamara Smart as Thalia Grace
Walker Scobell as Percy Jackson
Dylan Schmid as Nico Di Angelo
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