Legacy of Asgard

Tartarus' Spirit Squad

Reyna stopped walking, "What?"

Percy tried not to laugh, "Yeah, when Jason got hurt, Frank came out, morphed into this huge grizzly bear and laid the smack down on some monsters until he took a few arrows in the midsection. It was awesome until he got hurt. But he'll live at least."

Reyna was at a rare loss for words. She didn't even know where to begin so she just shook her head, "Of course he did. Why not? I'm walking through Tartarus with a son of Thor and Frank turns into animals. Just a normal day in what has become my life since I met you."

Percy smirked a bit, "Hey, it's perfectly normal to be in a little shock, I'm a heavy dose of awesome to take in all at once."

Reyna rolled her eyes but a smile tugged at her lips when she felt Percy squeeze her hand softly. Sure they were in Tartarus and things couldn't really get much worse, but despite it all, things weren't entirely bad. She couldn't really deny how she felt about Percy anymore and having him there with her made it all a little better. She wished they were walking through the streets of New Rome instead of along the banks of the River of Fire, but it would do, for now at least.

They walked for what felt like hours, making their way through the black shards of glass that lined the river and through narrow passages as carefully as they could. The terrain was treacherous and they stumbled more than once, leading to a number of cuts and scrapes that were slow to heal up. On the bright side, the river seemed to be working. They were immune to the effects of the air and temperature. They were hungry, thirsty and exhausted but they weren't on the verge of dying so that was something to be thankful for.

As they walked, they talked quietly, careful to avoid being overheard by any nearby creatures. Percy told her his life story, the real story of his life and Reyna did the same, most of which she had already told him about but this time neither held anything back. Both were eager to learn more about the other and it helped to pass the time and to keep their minds focused on something else other than how utterly hopeless their journey most likely was.

In the sky, they could see dark figures swooping in and out of the blood-red clouds but they tried to not mention it as there was little they could do about it other than hope whatever they were, they were more focused on the sky than what was quietly making its way across the ground.

Reyna was suddenly grabbed hard and pulled to the left, off the banks of the river and into a side passageway. She tried to yelp but a hand covered her mouth making her panic until she saw Percy looking at her and shaking his head as he put a finger to his lips.

She looked confused until she heard the sounds of voices coming from the where they had been walking. Percy silently pointed down the path they were on, telling her to walk before they were found.

She nodded, pulling the dagger from her waist as they crept as silently as they could down the path. They walked for a few minutes as they passageway narrowed a bit, wide enough for four or five people to walk abreast through it. On the walls of the narrow path were chains nailed into the rock, hanging down with shackles on the end. Bone or what was left of bones could be seen on the ground to the sides of the trail. What the bones were of, it wasn't possible to tell. But it did nothing to help ease their nerves.

After a minute, Reyna calm to an abrupt stop, dropping into a crouch which Percy mimicked quickly. He wasn't sure why they were doing this until he heard the sounds of footsteps coming from in front of them. He turned around and heard the same sound coming from the direction they came.

A trap.

And they had walked right into it.

Mjolnir materialized in his hand as he turned, slamming it into the wall as one of the chains broke off and clattered to the ground in front of him. He looked at Reyna whose expression was nervous before he snatched the dagger from her hand. She looked at him in shock but nothing compared to when he replaced the dagger with his most prized possession.