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“I love you guys.” Jason says it so quietly, it almost gets lost amongst the clattering between these walls.
So much noise it engulfs sound itself. Percy can feel his ears ringing to the tune of “never getting out of here, never getting out alive.” It’s been going for days. But those three little words break through his anxiety, through the endless darkness of his noisy head.
“What?” Rachel stares at the blonde. Her beautiful red curls, usually bouncy and fire-bright if they catch the right light, are now matted to her skin; grime and sweat her new shampoo and conditioner. Her elastic broke a week ago, her spare she had used to tie the broken satchel now slung over his shoulder. He shifts the weight of the bag as they both look towards the blonde.
“I said—” Jason takes a deep breath, jaw tense, muscles rippling as he inches forward, towards the growling sound they know is waiting to pounce. “I said I love you guys.”
“Now is not the time for dramatic confessions Jase,” Rachel glowers at him. Percy is in too much shock to react passed a choke in his throat.
“I don’t want to die without telling you.” The blonde looks back at them, blue eyes so much brighter in this inky suffocating darkness. “I don’t want to die without saying it out loud.”
The words settle within Percy, so deeply he cannot even feel the bottom of the well they’ve created. He can feel it behind his ribs, at the back of his neck, the soft inside of his thighs, encompassing his heart.
And then Rachel says, “I love you too. Both of you.”
And the well is filling up so fast and so intensely Percy is afraid he’s going to drown from the inside out. When had he ever felt like this? Like his whole body had finally clicked into place. Like the universe that he existed in finally exists in him. Universe he feels, and he thinks if he stretches his hand out he’ll be able to touch forever.
“We aren’t going to die.” He gasps out, drunk, choking on this filling well, on this burning body, on this infinite love. “I love you.” He says. “I love you and we aren’t going to die.”
The labyrinth gives a low groan.