Hell's Prince To Be

Falling For Forever

"It's getting late, and I
Cannot seem to find my way home tonight feels like I am falling down a rabbit hole falling for forever, wonderfully wandering alone"

Jake woke up from his daze. He was standing atop his car, in an Icy tundra, his clothes ripped, and Σπαθί του Κόλαση (His father's sword. The Sword of Hell) in his hand. He coughed, and wiped blood from his mouth.
"What the hell was that?"
Was- was that Kyle? It was. Jake looked down to see twelve dead bodies ringing around his car, one of them facing dead north. They all had stab wounds through the heart. Jake stumbled off the roof of his car, and Kyle started walking towards him. He grabbed the dead body by the shoulder, and pushed it toward's Jake.
"Mind explaining exactly what's going on?" He asked
"I- I don't know. The last thing I- the last thing I remember was the manticore." Jake fell to his knees, blood dripping from a cut in his shoulder down into the snow.
With a screech like nails on a chalkboard, a fissure opened up in the ground. Deep, thick and dark. With the fissure came a whirlwind like a mini tornado, sucking up all the bodies, the car, and even Jake and Kyle. They where falling into the schism. A shard of glass from the car's windshield sliced through one of Kyle's wings. Looks like they wouldn't be airlifted out of this.
After what felt like an eternity of falling, Jake crashed into a tar like ground, and started rolling towards a river- no fire. "TARTARUS!" Jake shouted, stopping himself from falling into the river Phlegathon. He turned around, to find Kyle laying on the ground a few yards behind him. Jake gave a synopsis of Tartarus to Kyle, and right as he finished, both there stomachs grumbled.
"Look, I don't think I could walk, but if you head-" Jake closed his eyes trying to get his underground bearings. "That way." Jake pointed west. "Then you can get to the river Acheron. Do you think you could freeze some of the water into a whistle?" Jake asked. "And if you happen to come across a monster on your way, can you kill it and possibly bring back some of its meat?"

~•~

Kyle had returned, and was using Jake's sword to hold a large clump of demonic meet over the Phlegathon. Whilst doing that, Jake used a dagger to carve a summoning rune to one side of the ice whistle, and then blew on it as hard as he could. With a piercing ring, the whistle broke into pieces, then there was a giant hellhound there. Kyle turned around, and the meet fell into his lap.
"This is how we'll be traveling in hell."
"I think I burned out all the Poison." He responded, breaking the meet in half, handing one piece to Jake. He took it, and while they where eating, Jake went to explain that the only two ways to leave Tartarus was to find a reforming monster, and latch onto as they respawn on Earth. The safer, but more tedious way to escape was to walk in one direction long enough and then find the edge. Then if they where lucky they could find in opening in the wall that opened up into the main parts of the Underworld. Once there they could make it to Hades' castle, and he could open up a portal back to Camp Half-Blood.

~•~

They'd been in Tartarus for what felt like years, if not decades, however it was only about nine weeks. Still too long for comfort. Jake had gone slightly crazy, having hallucinations. However, unlike Kyle's that where of doors leading back to camp or of a nice cheese burger, they where instead of people. A woman he presumed to be his mother shaming him. Saying he's the reason she was dead. Boreas, though that was more of Jake trying to kill him, Kyle understood, he was there when it happened after all. (I'll tell you later) Deven, Trevor, Cameron, Kyle too, Michaela, Macaria, Alex, Ryan, Other Ryan,Bree, Erin, Ninnia, Aura, Lucia, Thomas, Julia, Paige- when he saw Paige he went ballistic. It was like each day another person from his like came to him. And he sometimes got after images too. Usually after this happened, the two would talk about it, as if in therapy, then Kyle would leave Jake with the hellhound to go find a monster to eat. He convinced himself that the poison he was consuming wasn't affecting him, but if anything it was making his mental state worse. Kyle had found a way to burn the meat by frosting it or something, he didn't really care, as long as Kyle came back and had food. Although a few times he just came back worse then he left. Those where the days they stayed in one place longer than usual. Jake couldn't sleep, because when he did he'd be haunted by everybody. But when he stayed awake they'd come back too. He preferred seeing all this destruction while conscious because then he knew it was trapped with him, but when he was sleeping, the destruction roamed as far as he could think. Then he saw /himself/ the other him had stringy long hair, with a few clumps pulled out. His voice sounded raw, as if he spent his free time screaming into a pillow, there where red bumps on his skin, his hands where chained to the floor, and his clothes where bloody and tattered. At first Jake had no idea what was going on, it always started like that, his mind forgot what Kyle always told him. That it was just his mind playing tricks on him. Anyways, the other person was strafing there, hunched over, his hair covering his face. Then as they got closer he started rattling his chains. Louder. And louder. And then he was just inches away, and he flashed his head up. "YOU DID THIS TO ME!" He shouted at himself. "CHAINED LIKE A MAD MAN! A MURDERER! NOW IM STUCK HERE AND ITS ALL YOUR FAUTL" All your fault. All your fault. It's all Jake's fault. It was ringing in his ears. He jumped back. Kyle dropped his hold on the hellhound. "It's all my fault." He started saying to himself. He was huddled in a ball. "IF IT WERENT FOR YOU ID BE UP THERE!" The other him shouted, trying to point up. But the chain was too low, his hand only got to his shoulder. He kept shouting vulgar remarks at how everything bad that had happened was his fault. It seeped like Kyle wasn't even there anymore. He totally lost his connection to reality. It felt like the shouting had gone on for ages, and he still was whispering to himself "it's all my fault"
Kyle looked in horror. "Jake!" he exclaimed rushing over to him. He had lost it again. Kyle tried comforting him the best he could, "Jake, it's gonna be alright. Don't worry about it. What ever you did or if you even did it, forget about at least for right now, okay?" Kyle had no idea what to do.
"Don't worry. We're almost out of here. We'll sort this out okay?" What could he do? His friend was going insane and he was virtually useless. He couldn't help in the slightest. He forced Jake to look him in the eye. "Look at me Jake. Just calm down alright?"
Jake was oblivious to what was going on, despite that fact that Kyle was telling his the same thing he always did. Jake- the other Jake, lunged at him, and seddenl those chains where gone. He was free. No he was attacking him. And his usually silver eyes where red. He was being chocked. And then he passed out cold. Into an empty black abyss. Stone cold nothing. The only thing that reassured Kyle was the heartbeat in his wrist. It was up to Kyle now.
Kyle made a worrisome sigh and picked Jake up then laying you on the Hellhound's back.
"Why'd you have to give up on me buddy?" Kyle said leaning on the dog to take a minute and think. After clearing his mind, he jumped on the dog and rode for awhile longer. Fighting monsters was a lot harder with only one. Getting more scratches and deeper cuts then usual, he rode off again. Sometime along the road, Kyle had done something that upset the dog, still confused about it he had to go on foot with the hound on his side. "Ow..." kyle groaned. It hurt so much to walk. "Ow.... Ow.... Ow... " he said after every step. "Ow.... O-WHA!" Kyle yelled as his legs gave out. He sighed, time to rest. He spotted something. The outer walls. He smiled a huge smile.
"Jake..... Wake up... "
Jake felt the presence of somebody else in that inky black nothingness. Kyle. Jake turned over, and fell off the hound, and onto the ground "Kyle?" He groaned. And then he saw it. A crumbly arch in the wall. Wait- what wall? Oh yeah. He was in tartarus. Aka the gods' GIGANTIC human cage for everybody they didn't like. Jake stumbled to his feet, forgetting about Kyle- who he hoped had his sword- the hellhound- all of it. He ran towards to archway and passed straight threw it like a magnetic field. It was considerably brighter in the underworld's mainland. So much brighter in fact that Jake needed to squeeze his eyes shut to readjust to the light. No food for three days, no water for three, sleeping for three days. It was too much for Jake to handle. He passed out again do to nausea. "Castle" he said as he collapsed to the ground.
Kyle scratched his head in confusion. "Castle?" Kyle curiously said. Kyle ran threw after Jake and had noticed he had collapsed from nausea. It was bright. Very bright. Kyle held his elbow over his eyes to block the light. "Jake? You alright?" kyle asked coughing out blood. Confused at first, then he understood the blood because his mouth had cracked due to lack of liquids.
"East side." Jake coughed out to Kyle "River Achilles. Go down stream. Find the castle." Jake said in barely a whisper. Compared to Tartarus, this place was the friggen sun. Regardless, he knew Kyle could get him to his father's house. He just hoped Father would give Kyle enough time to explain. So Jake scribbled two rune messages into the dirt bellow him. Warning, and safety. They would get to Hades' thrown room in a similar way morse code would. But now it was up to his father's faith in him.
Kyle stumbled along the river, and then a group of skeletal warriors popped out of the ground, half of them grabbing the unconscious Jake, the other going against all of Kyle's struggles, pulling them toward's Hades' castle. He was standing there, in front of the Castle doors, but they where shimmering silvery. The skeletons dropped Kyle and Jake into the ground, and then Jake woke up "Father?"
"I got your messages. I've opened up a portal to your Half-Blood camp. It'll be best for you there." Jake stumbled to his feet, while Kyle was looking at the red bone marks around his wrists
"Those things hurt" he mumbled.
And then they walked through the looking glass. Stumbling across the barrier over Half-Blood Hill.
"You can keep the sword" he thought he heard as the world went black.