Lost [2]

Death becomes her

The last thing Lila remembered was Nico Di Angelo standing above her worriedly.

Which was not a comforting sight. Especially when you were dying.

Lila woke in the dark alone. "Dicks." She'd expected to find her friends waiting by her side apologising profusely.

"Finally, I was beginning to think you were dead." An unfamiliar voice echoed throughout the darkness.

A short pale girl around eleven or twelve stood behind Lila with her arms crossed. She had pale blue eyes that looked slightly like ice, her purple and black hair was cropped just below her shoulders, she wore a black Nirvana T-shirt that was a little too big for her with a pair denim shorts that peaked out underneath and a pair of old, battered black and white converse.

"Who the fu-"

"You shouldn't swear in front of kids. I am Esmeralda! The daughter of the great Hecate, goddess of witchcraft!" Esmeralda said dramatically waving her arms in the air.

"Seriously?" Lila raised her eyebrows at the children in front of her. "So Esmeralda where the fu-heck are we?"

"I have no idea." She shrugged looking around. "I've been in peoples minds before but it isn't usually darkness. Who the fuck are you anyway?"

Lila stared at her blankly. "Delilah Castellan, daughter of the lame Mercury, god of travellers and thieves." Esmeralda's mouth dropped open.

"Woah, you're one of the kids that went off in the boat!" She said wide eyed. "What's it like?!"

"Hell." Lila deadpanned crossing her arms. She turned trying to make out anything remotely familiar in the darkness.

'If this is my mind shouldn't I recognise something.' Her thought echoed through the endless nothing.

"What the fuck?" She whispered looking around in alarm.

"I don't know why it's all dark like this. Maybe you're stupid, are you stupid?" Esmeralda asked also looking around.

Lila clenched her jaw. "No, I am not stupid."

'Gods, I hate kids.' Echoed in the darkness making Lila groan.

"Hey!" Esmeralda protested. "You're like two years older than me!"

"I'm seventeen." Lila deadpanned.

"Or five." Esmeralda muttered shoving her hands into her pockets.

Esmeralda didn't like not knowing things but that was all she knew at the moment. She didn't know why she'd ended up in Lila's mind, she didn't know why it was empty and she didn't know how to help her. Perhaps her mother was right, maybe she was a disappointment.

"Come on pipsqueak let's get out of here." Lila waved for Esmeralda to follow her and walked off into the darkness.

They walked for what felt like hours before Esmeralda collapsed onto the ground.

"What are you doing?" Lila crossed her arms narrowed her eyes at the younger girl.

"We're not getting out and by 'we' I mean you." She glared up at Lila before going even paler then she already was. "Oh."

"What?" Lila raised an eyebrow suspiciously.

"Erm.. what happened before this?" Esmeralda inspected Lila as she told her about her fight with the giants, saving Jason's life and quitting being a hero.

"Delilah, I um I think you might be... dead." Esmeralda said nervously.

Out in the real world Nico Di Angelo sat solemnly by an unconscious Delilah in the infirmary.

He thought about what Percy said before he'd fallen into Tartarus. 'Look after Lila, tell her I'm sorry for letting her-'

How was Nico supposed to tell them? He wasn't.

"Nico?" Hazel asked walking into the infirmary seeing her brother stare blankly at the wall.

He quickly got up and shut the door behind her. "I need a second opinion." He nodded towards Lila.

Hazel hesitated. "Hold her hand and concentrate." Nico told her.

She did as Nico said but she could barely feel anything. Lila wasn't there.

"S-she's not-"

"Not yet but soon she'll be all the way dead." Nico sighed trying to hide his sadness.

"W-we have a to tell the other's."

"No." He said instantly.

"But-"

"Percy and Annabeth just fell into a pit of horror, the deck is stained with Lit's blood and now Lila's dying. They can't go into war distracted plus Lila would want us to do whatever it takes to win." Nico told Hazel sternly.

"Can't we at least tell Jason." She asked looking at Lila. Her auburn spread around her on a pillow and her arms lay over her bandaged stomach almost protectively.

"No, he's already conflicted about whether what happened was her fault or his. Gods know how he'll react when we tell him that Lila is dying from the injuries she got from saving his life." He said bitterly.

This entire situation was giving him a horrible sense of deja vu. Lila was one of the few people he'd ever call a friend.

"She's not completely gone. We could try to wake her up." Hazel said hopefully.

Nico sighed. "Come on, Let's update the others. I'll do the talking."

The others were all sat around the table in the mess hall trying to process what had just happened.

In the darkness Lila stared blankly at Esmeralda.

"This doesn't look like the underworld." Lila shrugged defiantly. "You said this was my mind."

Esmeralda nodded sagely trying to give her an encouraging smile.

"Then I'm not dead," Lila said matter of factly. "Now come on lazy."

Lila stormed away leaving Esmeralda sitting on the ground. "I'm not dead, I can't be." Her voice shook as she muttered to herself.

When Lila didn't find Esmeralda walking beside her she spun around.

"I hate kids," Lila mumbled. "ESMERALDA!" She yelled at the purple haired girl in the distance.

Esmeralda flinched and closed her eyes. It's just Lila, she's not going to hurt you. She told herself before running after her.

"This is pointless Lila." She sighed as Lila ignored her. "The sooner you accept it the sooner you can leave here and reach the underworld. Why torture yourself?"

Lila had too many reasons to torture herself but she didn't reveal them to Esmeralda. Why burden this young girl that she'd never meet with her baggage?

Suddenly a blinding light lit up the darkness and Lila ran towards it.

By the time they reached where the light had come from it was gone completely.

A tall, muscular figure stood with their back to the duo.

"You do this." Lila asked Esmeralda quietly she quickly shook her head staring the man's back.

"No my love, you did this." A painfully familiar gruff voice said making Lila's heart clench.

"Holy fuck!" Lila gaped as Lit stared at her blankly.

"Hello darling." He smiled softly at her.

"I'm fucking dead." Lila said to Esmeralda who seemed extremely anxious.

A/N

Finally I've got an ending for Lost that I actually like. Percy and Annabeth in Tartarus, Jason in moral crisis, Nico reliving Bianca's death and Lila practically brain dead.

Book three coming soon 💕😉

Love Me Xx