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If Percy thought Waterland looked like a horror movie set, that was nothing compared to this Underworld forest. If you can even call it a forest when it's devoid of life and dead silent. It was like something straight out of Silent Hill (a game his mom would never let him play) with its thick fog and skeletal trees that seem to go on forever. Something about the trees makes him uneasy… but pretty much everything about the Underworld makes him uneasy so that’s a null point. Besides, they have other things to worry about. Like the fact that they’re now down to three pearls. And how he’s not going to be the one using the third.
He strides forward, ignoring Grover’s protests and Annabeth’s oppressive stare.
“Percy, what about you? ” his best friend asks incredulously. Percy winces. He hates splitting up as much as they do, but if it’s a question of saving his mom? Saving his friends? Well, that’s not even a question in Percy’s mind. So he deflects.
“Quests aren’t linear - I’ll figure something out-” he trails off as a gaunt figure appears out of the fog. It takes all of Percy’s self restraint not to jump.
It’s…a person, but there’s something uncanny about their face, with its sunken eyes and serene expression. Like a mannequin - meant to represent a human, but missing some crucial details.
“Sorry,” he blurts out nervously. The figure doesn’t respond. Doesn’t move. Doesn’t breathe.
“They can’t hear you,” Annabeth says slowly. Percy furrows his brow in confusion.
“They?” Grover bleats, picking at his horns again. As they look around, Percy realizes there are more figures peering out of the mist. He doesn’t know how he missed them before - they seemed to blend in with the trees.
“This must be Asphodel,” Annabeth breathes out. As if in a trance, she steps up to the figure, despite Grover’s protests, and lifts the hem of the figure’s robes to reveal…tree roots. Oh Gods. Those are tree roots. Percy feels his stomach twist as that horrifying realization dawns on him - these people don’t just look like the trees.
They are the trees.
Asphodel... A memory jumps out at him, of his mom reading to him about the Underworld when he was younger. She said this was the place people went if they didn’t do enough to deserve the eternal reward of Elysium or the eternal punishment of Tartarus - they were just…ordinary. Percy always imagined it as a huge DMV waiting room, the most boring place he could think of, but this? With its endless stretches of trees - trees that were actually trapped souls...this was so much worse.
Annabeth takes a deep breath. “Souls here are bound by regret. Haunted by choices they made in life… or never made” she says, looking back at Percy with an unreadable expression on her face. He’s about to ask her what that means when-
A loud snarl from Cerberus in the distance jerks them out of the moment. Right. Existential crisis later. Running for their lives now. As Percy takes off into the mist, now giving the trees a wide berth, he feels something nagging at the back of his mind. Grover’s beside him, but where’s-
They stumble to a halt, looking behind them. No. no, no, no, no.
“Annabeth!” Percy cries out, voice nearly breaking. There’s no response. She just vanished. He looks at Grover in a panic and they start racing back the way they came, calling out for her desperately. The fog swallows his cries and the dampness sticks to his skin. His voice is hoarse but he doesn’t care. Nothing matters except finding his friend.
“Guys!” Annabeth’s muffled voice cries out ahead and Percy sags with relief. She’s okay. He and Grover rush over to her and Percy scans her quickly - she seems uninjured, so why does she look so scared?
“We’ve got a problem here,” she says shakily, looking down. Percy follows her gaze, stomach sinking, and-
A root is wrapped around her foot. The same root that traps the souls of Asphodel.
A vision flashes through his mind - of strong, smart, stubborn Annabeth slowly turning into an expressionless tree, and he shudders involuntarily. He can’t let that happen. He’s not letting Hades take another person he cares about.
But as he lunges down to tug frantically at the roots, he feels a wave of dread wash over him. These aren’t normal tree roots - it’s like trying to bend industrial cables. His hands are rubbed raw and the pain helps distract him from the feeling of numbness slowly consuming him, but the roots don’t budge. Somehow he knows even celestial bronze wouldn't be able to cut through them.
“I’ve already tried. They’re too strong” Annabeth says, voice small and defeated in a way he’s never heard her before and Percy wants to scream. This girl has outsmarted Medusa, convinced Hephaestus to let him out of an unbeatable trap, pickpocketed the literal god of thieves - it seems impossible to him that she could be taken down by one measly root. But here they are.
“How did this happen?” Percy demands, looking up at his best friends for answers. After all, Annabeth is alive. And neither him or Grover were trapped. Grover has a knowing look in his eye that Percy doesn’t like.
“Some kind of regret…right?” Grover asks her faintly, but it’s not really a question. Still, Percy shakes his head, as if that will somehow make it not true. What could she regret enough to keep her rooted here? Is it something to do with her dad? Or-
Annabeth avoids their gaze. “It’s okay. Go. I’ll distract the dog and buy you guys some time.”
Percy’s breath catches in his throat, his ears ringing. It’s like the arch all over again, except this time he has no way of taking her place. He dives at the roots again, never mind that his fingers are bleeding. The tendrils are now up to her knees, he realizes with horror.
“Percy!” Annabeth’s voice stops his frantic tugging and he looks up at her helplessly. From her pocket she pulls the second pearl, the one he insisted she take. “This will work. I’ll be okay,” she reassures him, even though he's the one who should be comforting her. Is this how she felt when he was slowly encased with gold, he wonders hysterically. Nothing about this is okay. They don’t even know if those things work, or where it will take them, or-
As if sensing his thoughts, Annabeth puts a grounding hand on his shoulder. “I trust your dad.” she insists. Percy stands up slowly, taken apart by gaze.
“You can do this. I know you can,” she says firmly, not leaving him any room to disagree. In the half light of the Underworld he almost believes her.
Percy suddenly realizes how much he’s come to depend on this girl. To value her opinion. To appreciate her company. And now she’s asking him to leave her behind. Is this what Hermes meant? About hurting the people closest to you? Percy feels like he’s seven again, getting dropped off at his fifth new school and begging his mom not to make him go. He knows he’s making this harder than it has to be, he always does, but-
Cerberus’ howls shake the ground. They’re running out of time.
“Run! Now! ” she cries out.
Suddenly, Percy understands why Annabeth hugged him after the arch. He doesn’t even have to think about it. He just grabs her and holds her close, eyes squeezed shut. Annabeth is shaking in his arms, and she clutches him just as tightly.
“I’ll see you on the other side,” he whispers in her ear. Another roar comes from behind them, much closer this time.
Annabeth pushes him away, eyes shining. “Go! Get your mom!”
He feels Grover pulling his arm and Percy finally lets himself be dragged away, even as every fiber of his being is screaming in protest.
Then he’s running and his chest hurts and his vision is blurry and Percy suddenly understands with startling clarity why Orpheus looked back. As he and Grover reach the treeline he can’t help but turn around, even though he knows he shouldn’t, even though it will only make it hurt more. He can just barely make out Annabeth’s silhouette in the fog. Percy holds his breath until a flash of blue light bursts out of the mist, taking Annabeth with it.
Please, dad, he prays silently. Take care of her.
“She made it! Let’s go!” Grover’s voice brings him back to the present. Right. They still have a quest to finish.
As Percy looks back one more time, his skin prickles and his eyes burn. Something tells him he won’t be forgetting the horrors of Asphodel anytime soon.
Or the feeling of Annabeth in his arms.
“Hold fast, mom.”
Percy throws the pearl to the floor, ignoring Hades’ spluttering, and disappears in a flash of blue light. For a second he feels weightless, then everything goes bright and sensations slam into him. Percy groans, trying to reorient himself. He hears…waves. And there’s wet sand sticking to his face. Where is he?
The next thing he registers is a pair of boots walking up to him. Connected to a pair of legs. Connected to…
Annabeth. He can hardly dare to believe it, but there she is, holding out a hand and raising her eyebrow as if to say What are you waiting for, Seaweed Brain?
He grabs her hand with a small smile, letting her pull him up. Was it really only a week ago since she did the same move after capture the flag? So much has changed since then. He remembers how much Annabeth used to annoy him - how he thought they’d never be friends.
Past Percy was an idiot.
“You hugged me. Is that a thing we do now?” There’s a smirk tugging at her lips. Percy just rolls his eyes fondly, knowing she’s making fun of him. In his defense, how was he supposed to know her being weird the other day was actually because she saw the Fates cut his lifeline and not lingering awkwardness from their hug?
He coughs into his hand to hide his smile. “I wouldn’t mind it… if it was,” he says, and it feels like a confession, but of what he’s not sure. All he knows is that he’ll do anything to keep this girl safe. He’s on her side, no matter what.
As Ares approaches them with fire in his eyes and a dangerous smile, a feeling of resolve settles over Percy. He has his two best friends (and maybe his dad?) backing him up. What does Ares have? A big sword?
This God is going down.