(A/N: Thank you guys for 5000 reads! Here's a bonus chapter. Hope you enjoy. XxD)
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Cressida was barely breathing as they walked along Tartarus' heart, not daring to suck air as they walked past herds of hellhounds or swarms of arai.
At least until Percy stumbled, almost taking Cressida down with him had Castor not grabbed his arm.
"You good, Jackson?" he asked and Percy nodded before he crouched down and his hand touched a red artery.
"There's water in here," he said. "Actual water."
Bob grunted. "One of the five rivers. His blood."
"His blood?" Cressida stepped away from the nearest clump of veins, her revulsion growing. "I knew the Underworld rivers all emptied into Tartarus, but—"
"Yes," Bob agreed. "They all flow through his heart."
"Oh gods," she gagged as Castor rubbed her back, hugging her to him. "Can we get out of here? If we can't..."
Her voice trailed off as ahead of them jagged streaks of darkness tore through the air—like lightning, except pure black.
"The Doors," Bob said. "Must be a large group going through."
"A comforting thought," Castor said.
"Do all the monsters go through the House of Hades?" Percy asked. "How big is that place?"
Bob shrugged. "Perhaps they are sent elsewhere when they step through. The House of Hades is in the earth, yes? That is Gaia's realm. She could send her minions wherever she wishes."
"Of course, that earthy asshole is going to control where we end up," Cressida huffed.
Percy hated how flawless her instincts were right now. Why did she have to be so perfect?
Bob scratched his chin. "You are not monsters. It may be different for you."
Cressida nudged his shoulder, not even needing to look at him to know that fear was already creeping into his head and they didn't need any more of those particular emotions right now. "Positive thinking, remember?" she said. "Don't think negative."
And Percy just felt a little guilty because she was the one that normally needed reassurance and all she'd done this entire time was reassure him.
"And, let's deal with one problem at a time," Castor said. "We get you out of hell, then you can deal with Gaia."
Cressida took a deep breath as she turned to Percy. "Easy enough. Get out of hell and then send Gaia into hell."
"That might be the simplest yet stupidest plan we've ever come up with."
She gave him a tight smile. "But it's the only plan we've got."
The Doors were still too far away to make out much detail, but the Titans flanking either side were familiar enough. The one on the left wore shining golden armour that shimmered with heat.
"Hyperion," Percy muttered. "That asshat just won't stay dead."
The one on the right wore dark-blue armour, with ram's horns curling from the sides of his helmet. Percy had only seen him in dreams before, but it was definitely Krios, the Titan that Jason had killed in the battle for Mount Tam.
"Bob's other brothers," Cressida said. The Death Mist shimmered around her, temporarily turning her face into a grinning skull. "Bob, if you have to fight them, can you?"
Bob hefted his broom, like he was ready for a messy cleaning job. "We must hurry," he said, which Percy noticed wasn't really an answer. "Follow me."
Cressida could breathe even less than before when she finally saw the Doors for the first time.
Actually, it wasn't the first time. Because the Doors were exactly the same as a pair that she was very familiar with, that she had passed through numerous times. Because despite the fact that the colours were inverted, those Doors, they looked exactly like the elevators in the Empire State Building, the entrance to Olympus.
Oh, she was so going to tell Annabeth to redesign the hell out of those doors. Cruel symbolism be damned.
As for Percy, he couldn't breathe because of how homesick he was. He didn't just miss Mount Olympus. He missed everything he'd left behind: New York City, Camp Half-Blood, his mom and stepdad. His eyes stung. He didn't trust himself to talk. The Doors of Death seemed like a personal insult, designed to remind him of everything he couldn't have.
Cords of black iron ran down either side of the frame, like rigging lines on a suspension bridge - chains. They were tethered to hooks embedded in the fleshy ground. The two Titans, Krios and Hyperion, stood guard at the anchor points.
As they watched, the entire frame shuddered. Black lightning flashed into the sky. The chains shook, and the Titans planted their feet on the hooks to keep them secure. The Doors slid open, revealing the gilded interior of an elevator car.
Percy tensed, ready to charge forward, but Bob planted a hand on his shoulder.
"Wait," he cautioned.
Hyperion yelled to the surrounding crowd: "Group A-22! Hurry up, you sluggards!"
A dozen Cyclopes rushed forward, waving little red tickets and shouting excitedly. They shouldn't have been able to fit inside those human-sized doors, but as the Cyclopes got close, their bodies distorted and shrank, the Doors of Death sucking them inside. The Titan Krios jabbed his thumb against the up button on the elevator's right side. The Doors slid closed. The frame shuddered again. Dark lightning faded.
"You must understand how it works," Bob muttered. He addressed the kitten in his palm, maybe so the other monsters wouldn't wonder who he was talking to. "Each time the Doors open, they try to teleport to a new location. Thanatos made them this way, so only he could find them. But now they are chained. The Doors cannot relocate."
"Which means that we have to get past the Titans and break the chains before we can go up," Cressida filled in.
While she was filling herself with determination, not allowing herself to be scared when they were so close, Percy was filled with dread. Not just for him but for her because he remembered the last time they fought Hyperion. Cressida was still healing from the wound of a poisoned blade when she gave Percy her strength so he could summon a hurricane and help Grover turn him into a tree. Both of them nearly died then and now there were two Titans with several thousand monsters for backup. And perhaps a million more helping hands than Kronos had.
"Our camouflage," Percy said. "Will it disappear if we do something aggressive, like cutting the chains?"
"I do not know," Bob told his kitten.
"Mrow," said Small Bob.
"Bob, Cas you'll have to distract them," Cressida said. "Percy and I will sneak around the two Titans and cut the chains from behind. Attack plan Macedonia."
Percy nodded. He could do that. He knew what that was.
"Yes, fine," Bob said. "But that is only one problem. Once you are inside the Doors, someone must stay outside to push the button and defend it."
Percy tried to swallow. "Uh...defend the button?"
Bob nodded, scratching his kitten under the chin. "Someone must keep pressing the UP button for twelve minutes, or the journey will not finish."
Percy glanced at the Doors. Sure enough, Krios still had his thumb jammed on the UP button. Twelve minutes...
One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six...
That was a long time.
"Why twelve minutes?" Castor wondered.
"I do not know," Bob said. "Why twelve Olympians, or twelve Titans?"
"Fair enough," Percy said, though he had a bitter taste in his mouth.
"Big Guy," Castor said, "What happens if the journey doesn't finish? What would happen to the passengers?" he asked, looking nervous for the first time.
Bob didn't answer. Judging from his pained expression, Percy decided he didn't want to be in that elevator if the car stalled between Tartarus and the mortal world.
"If we do push the button for twelve minutes," Percy said, "and the chains are cut—"
"The Doors should reset," Bob said. "That is what they are supposed to do. They will disappear from Tartarus. They will appear somewhere else, where Gaia cannot use them."
"Twins snuff out the angel's breath, who holds the key to an endless death," Cressida recited. "Thanatos can finally reclaim the doors. Monsters are cut off from their lift back to the mortal world. Death goes back to normal - more or less."
Percy exhaled. "Easy-peasy. Except for...well, everything."
Small Bob purred.
"I will push the button," Bob volunteered, and Cressida wanted to cry and throw up at the hurricane of emotions that whirled in her gut at that.
"No. You can't," she cried.
"Bob, we can't ask you to do that. You want to go through the Doors too. You want to see the sky again, and the stars, and—"
"He will," Castor promised, cutting off Percy as eyes turned to him. "I'll stay. I'll hold the button." He gave his sister a weak smile. "Say hi to Polly and Papa for me."
And she let out a sob as she lurched forward and wrapped her arms around him. "You should come with us. You should get to live again."
"But that's not how it works, Cressie," he said, just as teary. "I'm a dead soul. There's no telling what will happen if I go back. I belong down here. I had my time and I've accepted it." His voice broke. "You're alive. You have to go back. You barely got to start living your life."
"Cas-"
"Shh," he whispered. "Let me just hug my baby sister for a minute longer."
"I love you Cas."
"I love you more, Cress." He took a deep breath as his hand hovered on the back of her shoulder. "And I've got your back. Always."
And Cressida cried harder before Bob placed a hand on Castor's shoulder.
"Little Guy is brave," Bob said. "But he will need help to hold the button. Bob will help. And once the chains are cut...my brethren will fight to stop your passage. They will not want the Doors to disappear."
Castor was still holding his crying sister as he looked up at the Titan. "I can't ask you to do that, Big Guy. You should see the sun and the stars."
Bob's eyes were sad. None of them wanted to describe the look on his face any further than that because it would completely kill them. Who knew leaving Tartarus would be so difficult?
"Bob will help friends," was all he said before Castor gave him a sad smile.
"Yeah. Yeah, you will."
And then he turned to Percy, a dark look of anguish in his eyes as he pointed a finger at him. "No matter what happens, you get Cress through those Doors. You get my sister back up there."
Percy knew his decision before Castor even voiced those words. Even with Bob, the possibility of Castor keeping his finger on that button for twelve minutes was remote. He would have to stay behind. He could hold down the button, while Castor and Bob fended off the army. They might have a chance then to get Cressida to safety. But convincing her to leave him behind would be more impossible than holding down the button for twelve minutes in the middle of an army of thousands of murderous monsters.
"I swear it on the River Styx," he said and Cressida pushed away from her brother as she shoved Percy's chest.
"No! No! None of you are doing this! I'm not...I can't...not without you. Please, don't make me do it without you. I can't do it again. Not again. Please, Percy," she wailed, and he swallowed as he held her tight and prayed that her emotional state would make her ignorant of the way his voice broke.
"Never again," he said as his eyes met Castor's over her shoulder. "I'm always going to be with you. We're always going to be together. Nothing can change that."
And for the first time, Percy hated the fact that he chose now to listen to his girlfriend. He chose now to remember all her acting tips and the things that gave you away when you were lying and everything she ever told him about his tells. He didn't lie exactly. Everything he said was true. To a degree. Even if he stayed down here, his heart would always be with her. It was hers the minute they met, it was hers the first time she kissed him, the first time she insulted him. It was always hers. And nothing would be able to change that.
He just prayed that she didn't hate him too much after they pulled this off. He fell into Tartarus to be with her, and he would gladly stay if it meant she lived. Even if she thought he abandoned her, she'd eventually come to realise that he was doing it to save her. And if he had the choice, he'd have been next to her in that elevator car in a heartbeat. Because he loved her. And it was because he loved her that he had to stay behind.
"First things first," Percy said as he pulled away from her. "Let's cut those chains.
"Hang on," she said as she wiped her tears and reached down into her boot, handing him one of the last two vials of Solace Solution they had. "We're going to need this."
Percy pulled the cork off as he held out his vial to her. "I love you," he said, and she gave him a small smile, smeared tears still on her face.
"I love you."
And their vials clinked together before they downed them.
Home stretch.