(Y/N)'s POV
"This is such bull." (Y/N) said, running into another dead end, wondering if he should have heard that creepy old guy out, but thinking back on the evil looking guy, he decided that he had made the right choice.
I mean yeah, now he was lost in an underground cavern that he had no idea how to get free of, but at this point, he would have done just about anything to avoid another lecture about how great his mom was and how much of a disappointment it was to see him.
He was far too stressed about other things and far too impatient to suffer any more fools that were trying to grandstand to him. As he turned, doubling back on himself once again, he employed the same tactic.
Closing his eyes and focusing on Hazel, who was the easiest to locate, he headed in that direction, He had tried to shadow travel to her a few times now, but just like with the labyrinth, something was blocking him.
In this case though, it appeared to be not an outside interference, but instead some sort of protective barrier that lined the walls of the room she was in, as if it had somehow been magic proofed.
He had to shuffle around in the dark, because his eyesight was getting worse too, hoping he would run into his friends. Turning down corridor after corridor, he suddenly understood that the weird guy had tried to send him into the door that would stall him a little.
Though he had to wonder why? If the guy wanted to talk to him so badly, why go through the effort of telling him to go through the harder route first? He chalked it up to be some kind of test, and moved on. Taking note of some odd texture on the wall, akin to ash, or scorch marks.
He kept his hands pressed to the leftmost wall as he doubled back, there was a sort of trembling that coursed through the cold stone, a vibration that wouldn't have been noticed if (Y/N) hadn't literally ran into a door not minutes ago.
He took it to mean that this was the magical barrier that shielded him from his friends adorning the walls. He kept his hands to the wall as he shuffled, hoping to drain some of the energy. To weaken the barrier. Since for some reason it would not budge.
There should have been an aspect of his own magic in play here, he shouldn't have been stopped by any barriers, as death could not be impeded. However, every so often, he ran into a barrier like this.
Like the barrier at camp half blood, some were so strong he couldn't pass through them, after all, he was technically only half of his father, death could not be stopped by any barrier, half death, it was a grey area.
A very annoying grey area, some barriers crumpled like paper, others may as well have been stone. At the most annoying moments possible of course. He focused on Hazel, trying to determine her distance from him.
The floating orb of smoke that pulsed through her body was easy to locate, he looked like he was getting closer. He focused, trying to see if he could contact her somehow, telepathy was a bit of a stretch, even for him, but he did try to summon Terry by her side to relay a message.
Nothing. However much he strained, Terry would not arise, at his side or hers. This sent his mind off in a different direction, remembering Terry saying he could no longer help Annabeth, (Y/N) wondered if she now walked these same tunnels.
Though after doing a quick search for any other souls nearby, he quickly found himself both disappointed and worried. Because Hazel, Frank and Leo were not alone. "I swear it's just one thing after another with these kids." He mumbled, breaking into a near blind sprint.
He dashed through hallways and passed through many doors, forgetting where he had come from, and where he had been, solely focusing on getting closer to them. To his annoyance, he saw the three being attacked.
Only what he believed to be Leo still active, he knew they were in dire straights. "Dam it!" He said, racing towards them, but only finding dead end after dead end. "Who even builds long corridors like this if they don't lead anywhere? Why?" He thought.
His question was answered as he was suddenly bathed in an electric blue light. Bulbs he didn't know were present above him flickered to life, the strange thing were, they were lightbulbs that looked ancient.
He didn't mean 1920's candles ancient, or 1970's high pollution ancient, he meant celestial bronze fittings and the use of sunlight to reflect light around the room through blue glass orbs ancient. They were rudimentary incandescent light bulbs. "Oh good, someone found the breakers."
if Thomas Eddison stole the lightbulb, the inventors of it took inspiration from the guy who made these things. They were way ahead of their time, lit only by a single stream of light that shone down from somewhere, probably Rome above. "Did the Greeks secretly build everything?" He lamented.
He stood there for a second in awe of the focused lights, which were fitted with celestial bronze as wire filament, because of how easily it can glow, before sighing, realizing what was at stake and he had to move, blaming Annabeth for imparting random nerdy facts to him offhandedly.
Then, he cursed her for something else, for making him pause, because he suddenly heard a mechanical whirring sound behind him, out of pure instinct, he sprawled to the ground just to see a beam of white-hot energy pass over his head.
He twisted on the ground and turned to his side, now noticing the rows of what looked like magnifying glasses to his right. Burning red hot and focusing on him. He was now aware that he was in a weapons testing facility, and unfortunately, he had wandered his way downrange.
As he ran, it was all but confirmed. He understood now, from the scorch marks on the walls, and the scratches along the floor, even the magical barriers made some sense to him now. He wasn't in a basement filled with only corridors.
He was in a bunker. Next to a development facility, built to test weapons, and contain them, should they malfunction. The long corridors were long because they were in fact testing ranges,, the walls had opened up to expose the weapons, the magical barriers to were stop Rome being harmed by testing.
It was much easier to get around in the light, no more running into walls, though he was mildly inconvenienced by the lasers shooting white hot death at him, "What kinds of idiot just turned the power on!" He screamed internally. "Freakin' LASER BEAMS!"
(Y/N) found himself thankful that he trained as much as he did, and he was as fast as he was, because any slower, and he may have been turned into a scorch mark on the wall himself. That's not to say he didn't have some close calls.
Plus one hit. The second beam tagged him when he was standing up to run, not quite yet at full sprinting speed. The beam of light only scraped by his leg, it's targeting system, he was assuming it had one, was still configuring as it roared to life.
Still a scrape was all it took for the back of his left thigh to be burnt through. Yes, through. He wasn't talking about second, or even third degree burns, he was talking, clean through the flesh, nearly exposing bone, types of burn.
How he walked at that point, or even ran at the speed he was became a mystery to even him, the four turrets tracked him with beams carving into stone, almost catching him, getting so close he had to swan dive out the room to avoid them.
That, was the moment the pain hit him. He felt so woozy the moment he saw the wound he passed out, a cold shock hit his body. He remembered Hades warning, that healing through magic could shorten his life, but didn't care, the pain was too much.
It took him minutes. But eventually he managed to close the wound, regrow the flesh and muscle, which was as disgusting as it sounded, and as he stretched his tender leg, he realized. "My pants!" He said with disappointment at the half a pants leg he now wore.
That was a new one. With another big sigh, he hobbled on one leg, towards Hazel. He soon found himself in a long hallway, which he hoped, connected to the main room the others were in, if their souls were anything to go by. Only to find someone sitting there as if she were taking watch
Leo's POV
Leo unfurled the little strip of paper. It read: That's your request? Seriously? (over) On the back, the paper said: Your lucky numbers are: twelve, jupiter, orion, delta, three, theta, omega. (wreak vengeance upon gaea, Leo Valdez.)
With trembling fingers, Leo turned the rings. Outside the gates, Wolf Head growled in frustration. "If friends do not matter to you, perhaps you need more incentive. Perhaps I should destroy these scrolls instead—priceless works by Archimedes!"
The last ring clicked into place. The sphere hummed with power. Leo ran his hands along the surface, sensing tiny buttons and levers awaiting his commands. Magical and electrical pulses coursed via the Celestial bronze cables, and surged through the entire room.
Leo had never played a musical instrument, but he imagined it must be like this—knowing each key or note so well that you didn't really think about what your hands were doing. You just concentrated on the kind of sound you wanted to create.
He started small. He focused on one reasonably intact gold sphere down in the main room. The gold sphere shuddered. It grew a tripod of legs and clattered over to the Taser ball. A tiny circular saw popped out of the gold sphere's head, and it began cutting into Taser ball's brain.
Leo tried to activate another orb. This one burst in a small mushroom cloud of bronze dust and smoke. "Oops," he muttered. "Sorry, Archimedes." "What are you doing?" Wolf Head demanded. "Stop your foolishness and surrender!"
"Oh, yes, I surrender!" Leo said. "I'm totally surrendering!" He tried to take control of a third orb. That one broke too. Leo felt bad about ruining all these ancient inventions, but this was life or death.
Frank had accused him of caring more for machines than people, but if it came down to saving old spheres or his friends, there was no choice. The fourth try went better. A ruby-encrusted orb popped its top and helicopter blades unfolded.
Leo was glad Buford the table wasn't here—he would've fallen in love. The ruby orb spun into the air and sailed straight for the cubbyholes. Thin golden arms extended from its middle and snapped up the precious scroll cases.
"Enough!" Wolf Head yelled. "I will destroy the—" He turned in time to see the ruby sphere take off with the scrolls. It zipped across the room and hovered in the far corner. "What?!" Wolf Head cried. "Kill the prisoners!"
He must have been talking to the Taser ball. Unfortunately, Taser ball was in no shape to comply. Leo's gold sphere was sitting on top of its sawed-open head, picking through its gears and wires like it was scooping out a pumpkin.
Thank the gods, Hazel and Frank began to stir. "Bah!" Wolf Head gestured to Lion Head at the opposite gate. "Come! We will destroy the demigods ourselves." "I don't think so, guys." Leo turned toward Lion Head.
His hands worked the control sphere, and he felt a shock travel through the floor. Lion Head shuddered and lowered his sword. Leo grinned. "You're in Leo World, now."
(Y/N)'s POV
She sat there lazily in front of him. Her legs sprawled out beneath her as she rested on one side, the only indication she knew he was even there being the slight flicker of her eyes towards him, followed by the distain clear on her face for a second.
She was checking through what looked to be a smartphone, lying between him and the doorway to his friends, she clicked a button and a few of the lights behind them went dark, "You could have done the polite thing and let yourself get vaporized you know." She said idly.
"What are you doing here?" He asked in a small voice, still unable to talk to her without a lump forming in his throat, without remembering that day, that rage that she still oozed from the day her son had died, her righteous and terrible wrath.
"Shut up. Nobody said you could talk." Nemesis said with hatred and a furrowed brow as she sat in front of the doorway. "I'm working." She threw a chilling glare towards him. "You're the one who's not meant to be here."
"It wasn't-" He began, before freezing up at the look in his eyes, remembering she said he wasn't allowed to talk. "My fault I'm not meant to be here? No crap kid, who do you think pushed you down that hole. Before you ask, I'll tell you why."
"Since I know you demigods are all so curious and entitled these days, long story short. I was doing you a favour, quick, painless. Why, I'd consider that downright merciful if you ask me." She continued. "One quick 'pew' and you're out of our hair forever."
"But no, the freak, mutant of a child survives..." She trailed off to herself, (Y/N) raised an eyebrow. "What? That's what you are, even for us, you had no right to be born, no right to be allowed to live even a few days in this world..."
"But alas, I was weak back then, I was naïve, I thought I'd help you, give you a grand prophecy to fulfil, as a present to my favourite brother. The dying in the end, well, I had to balance it out didn't I?" She monologued.
"If I had known you were so tied to that great prophecy, if I had known what you would do. Boy I would have killed you myself-" He sighed, and despite knowing he had no right to, he asked her anyway.
"Nemesis, I understand, I get it. Can we just not. Please. I know you'll never forgive me, I know you deserve to kill me, and I will regret what happened to Ethan with my dying breath." He sighed deeply, again, trying to fight back tears at the mere mention of his name.
"My friends are in there, I have to help them. I don't care if you make me go past you, or through you. I am sick of listening to other people-Ack!" She seethed at him at the mention of Ethan's name, waving a hand, she brushed him aside, literally.
He slammed headfirst into the doorframe behind him, a dull thud echoing through the room. "Boy, you must have brain damage to even think you have the right to THINK his name in my presence after what you've done." Her form swelled monstrously.
Growing to ten foot tall, so large that the halls should not have been able to contain her she shouted "If I hear another mention of his name from your lips from now until the day you die, I'll find everyone you've ever loved, line them up, and carve his name into their hearts while you watch!"
"No you wont." He muttered, the world still spinning. She laughed, it echoed through Rome. "I won't. Is that what you think? What makes you think I care enough to not slaughter you and your friends here?" "Because that wouldn't be balance." He said.
She shook her head, "Listen outlier, don't ever talk to me about balance. When all you've ever done in your life is tip the scales, and then come to me, begging for revenge!" "I never asked you for anything!" (Y/N) answered.
She laughed, the same hollow laugh she had on that day. "You asked me FOR EVERYTHING!" She bellowed, "You asked me to move heaven and earth for what you 'deserved' for a war that you started and then didn't 'want' anymore."
"It was all rooted in revenge, it all stemmed from it! It still doesn't stop, I can feel it. In a few hours you'll be begging for it. The anger will seep into your heart and you won't even notice until it is done."
"That's why I'm here! That little favour for Valdez, I could have done that from anywhere, from atop my throne. But you. You? No, I'm going to watch you beg before the end, I want to see the hope leave your eyes."
"You're going to come begging. Without words, you'll scream and cry. I am going to ruin it. I will take something worse than your revenge, in return for your selfish desire. We'll see how much you scream and cry then? Won't we?"
"I've always wondered how long it would take to break you. By the end of your journey, be it one way or the other, I'm going to find out. The only question I have is, should I kill your friends now? Or let you watch them die later?"
He tried to struggle to his feet, but she laughed and kicked his legs out from under him, "There it is, the mutation, the freak. Who loves too much, and hates even more, who will not let his friends die, until he does."
"The only smidgen of respect I have for you is how heartless you are. For the ones you love you'll tear heaven and earth down, well, no that's a lie, I don't respect it, I despise it. In anyone else, I'd respect it. For you?" She spat at him as he lied on the ground.
"I can feel it growing in you, the hatred for me, after threatening your friends. Stopping you from saving your dear Di Angelo. But here's the thing kid, I'm not the bad guy here. I'm doing my job, my purpose, to them and to you, the only thing is, when you suffer for it, I enjoy it more."
A cold air filled the room, a different voice addressed him, still hateful, but louder, more proud about the suffering inflicted, he looked up. she looked almost the same, no real difference but the temperament in her eyes.
Nemesis was always Nemesis at her core, like her siblings, revenge was revenge, though now she was closer to Invidia than Nemesis, he could see the coldness of the roman goddess in her eyes. She looked him up and down.
"I hate you warrior. With all my form. Know that, but in the moment. Maybe balance will win out. Maybe I'll give you a break. Maybe I won't, after all, he is quite against anyone helping you. So it's a coin toss really."
She went into a tangent. "You mortals never think about that do you? All you care about is your revenge your justice. Gods want justice too. As well as worse things. He wants it so badly not a soul living or dead would dare touch you."
"Except for me, my hatred for you burns even deeper than his. After all, what is mere scorn to the vengeance of a mother for her child? So I have decided, I will kill your friends here." (Y/N) suddenly heard shocking noises behind the door, and two bodies crumple to the floor.
(Y/N) got up on unsteady legs, undeterred. "I have to protect those kids, and I have to find Nico and keep him safe, like I promised his sister, like I promised his father, and like I swore to myself. If you want to try and stop me, kill me, because that's what it's going to take."
He stood up tall against the goddess, who just gave a mocking look of being faux impressed. He held his arms to the side of him, calling her bluff, trusting that an Olympian, even a child of Nyx, wouldn't dare interfere with such an important quest as the prophecy of the seven.
He waited for a few seconds. He expected her to be angry at his audacity as she was before, or even for her to be gone when he opened his eyes, though her response was so much worse than even killing him. She looked almost happy.
Nemesis laughed a dry chuckle, "Kill you? Why on earth would I do that? You haven't began suffering yet. Oh no, not compared to what I have planned for you, I may be an Olympian now, that doesn't mean I'm 'good' or anything."
"I'm not good or bad, I'm me, and I told you didn't I? Your revenge. I warned you I'd take it from you. It was always part of the plan, but seeing you watch it unfurl in front of your eyes, seeing that was my genuine pleasure."
A cold chill hit his body, as he realized that she had been watching this all unfold, waiting for it to happen, she knew that this would happen all along, "Yes, drives you mad, doesn't it?" She said with uncommon glee.
"Are you angry, are you tormented? Are you depressed, I've seen it all, it's what I like to call, 'revenge squared.'" She grinned at her own cleverness. "You see, when people lose their shot at vengeance, their shot at what they have imagined they were owed, they mourn it."
"They grieve what they never had, it's wonderful, know why? Because then they find someone or something else, something to blame, and they want to avenge their wasted anger and vitriol with more of the same. Revenge for a failed revenge. Revenge squared."
"Wouldn't that just be 'doubled?' I don't know I'm bad at math." (Y/N) thought but didn't say. "Now, I can't torment you much physically anymore, since you're...spoken for. But not even Nyx can protect you from what's coming."
"That." She gestured to the hole in his pants, "That was nothing, that pain was a spec. A pockmark to an open wound. What's coming is something not even a freak like you can heal from, not until after your dying breath."
"I know what's got you so scared kid, and you should be. Suffering is too light a word for it, by the end of it all, you're going to break. Mind, body and soul, so I'll keep an eye on you to make sure I am going to be right there to witness it when it happens."
(Y/N) sighed, "I'm getting really tired of gods just talking at me, so if It'll end the conversation, I'll just say this. As I said to your least favourite brother when he first threatened me, same as you have...I'll see you then."
Leo's POV
Lion Head turned and stormed down the stairs. Instead of advancing on Hazel and Leo, he marched up the opposite stairs and faced his comrade. "What are you doing?" Wolf Head demanded.
"We have to—" BLONG! Lion Head slammed his shield into Wolf Head's chest. He smashed the pommel of his sword into his comrade's helmet, so Wolf Head became Flat, Deformed, Not Very Happy Wolf Head. "Stop that!" Wolf Head demanded. "I cannot!" Lion Head wailed.
Leo was getting the hang of it now. He commanded both suits of armor to drop their swords and shields and slap each other repeatedly. "Valdez!" called Wolf Head in a warbling voice. "You will die for this!"
"Yeah," Leo called out. "Who's possessing who now, Casper?" The machine men tumbled down the stairs, and Leo forced them to jitterbug like 1920s flappers. Their joints began smoking. The other spheres around the room began to pop.
Too much energy was surging through the ancient system. The control sphere in Leo's hand grew uncomfortably warm. "Frank, Hazel!" Leo shouted. "Take cover!" His friends were still dazed, staring in amazement at the jitterbugging metal guys, but they got his warning.
Frank pulled Hazel under the nearest table and shielded her with his body. One last twist of the sphere, and Leo sent a massive jolt through the system. The armored warriors blew apart. Rods, pistons, and bronze shards flew everywhere.
On all the tables, spheres popped like hot soda cans. Leo's gold sphere froze. His flying ruby orb dropped to the floor with the scroll cases. The room was suddenly quiet except for a few random sparks and sizzles.
The air smelled like burning car engines. Leo raced down the stairs and found Frank and Hazel safe under their table. He had never been so happy to see those two hugging. "You're alive!" he said.
Hazel's left eye twitched, maybe from the Taser shock. Otherwise she looked okay. "Uh, what exactly happened?" "Archimedes came through!" Leo said. "Just enough power left in those old machines for one final show. Once I had the access code, it was easy."
He patted the control sphere, which was steaming in a bad way. Leo didn't know if it could be fixed, but at the moment he was too relieved to care. "The eidolons," Frank said. "Are they gone?"
Leo grinned. "My last command overloaded their kill switches—basically locked down all their circuits and melted their cores." "In English?" Frank asked. "I trapped the eidolons inside the wiring," Leo said. "Then I melted them. They won't be bothering anyone again."
Leo helped his friends to their feet. "You saved us," Frank said. "Don't sound so surprised." Leo glanced around the destroyed workshop. "Too bad all this stuff got wrecked, but at least I salvaged the scrolls."
"If I can get them back to Camp Half-Blood, maybe I can learn how to recreate Archimedes's inventions." Hazel rubbed the side of her head. "But I don't understand. Where is Nico? That tunnel was supposed to lead us to Nico."
Leo had almost forgotten why they'd come down here in the first place. Nico obviously wasn't here. The place was a dead end. So why... ? "Oh." He felt like there was a buzz-saw sphere on his own head, pulling out his wires and gears.
"Hazel, how exactly were you tracking Nico? I mean, could you just sense him nearby because he was your brother?" She frowned, still looking a bit wobbly from her electric shock treatment. "Not—not totally. Sometimes I can tell when he's close, but, like I said, Rome is so confusing, so much interference because of all the tunnels and caves—"
"You tracked him with your metal-finding senses," Leo guessed. "His sword?" She blinked. "How did you know?" "You'd better come here." He led Hazel and Frank up to the control room and pointed to the black sword.
"Oh. Oh, no." Hazel would've collapsed if Frank hadn't caught her. "But that's impossible! Nico's sword was with him in the bronze jar. Percy saw it in his dream!" "Either the dream was wrong," Leo said, "or the giants moved the sword here as a decoy."
"So this was a trap," Frank said. "We were lured here." "But why?" Hazel cried. "Where's my brother?" A hissing sound filled the control booth. At first, Leo thought the eidolons were back. Then he realized the bronze mirror on the table was steaming.
Ah, my poor demigods. The sleeping face of Gaea appeared in the mirror. As usual, she spoke without moving her mouth, which could only have been creepier if she'd had a ventriloquism puppet. Leo hated those things.
You had your choice, Gaea said. Her voice echoed through the room. It seemed to be coming not just from the mirror, but from the stone walls as well. Leo realized she was all around them. Of course. They were in the earth.
They'd gone to all the trouble of building the Argo II so they could travel by sea and air, and they'd ended up in the earth anyway. I offered salvation to all of you, Gaea said. You could have turned back.
Now it is too late. You've come to the ancient lands where I am strongest—where I will wake. Leo pulled a hammer from his tool belt. He whacked the mirror. Being metal, it just quivered like a tea tray, but it felt good to smash Gaea in the nose.
"In case you haven't noticed, Dirt Face," he said, "your little ambush failed. Your three eidolons got melted in bronze, and we're fine." Gaea laughed softly. Oh, my sweet Leo. You three have been separated from your friends. That was the whole point. The workshop door slammed shut.
(Y/N)'s POV
Nemesis laughed, as if relishing in the fact he would defy her and keep going, prolonging her ability to torment him, allowing her to deliver the revenge she so desperately wanted, and to some eyes, deserved.
She was right when she said earlier that nobody but her could touch him, everyone else was scared of the same being he was, scared of facing it's wrath, but she wasn't, even now her depths of hatred for him overshadowed her fear.
"I hope you don't, but if you do end up surviving this. Tell your friend Leo he still owes me what we agreed on, and he'll pay his toll in the end. This, why this is just a side benefit. His revenge to you in a way."
"What are you talking about, revenge for what? Leo's my friend." "Oh I know, and he would never want this, but any excuse to hurt you, I'll take it, and it is in my job description to make sure people get their revenge after being attacked."
"He should be finished in about, three, two, one." (Y/N) heard a few loud bangs from inside the room, and his friends voices as the door opened. (Y/N) was relieved to hear the others speaking. Something about a sword.
Nemesis grinned evilly, her expression matching her mother's for a moment, the same horrid mirth tugging at her lips as she held up her phone. "Well, don't need this anymore." She said. Pressing a button on her phone. "Whoops." She added, crushing it in one hand.
"See you in a few hours. If you survive." Nemesis taunted, throwing him the broken phone, he instinctively caught it. Wondering what the purpose or the meaning was behind the phone. He looked up to ask.
She was gone, only her laugh remained, bouncing through the corridor, the door swung open, for a moment, (Y/N) could see his friends, standing, and alive, with a rush of relief he stepped towards the door, but never made it through.
The door slammed shut before he could even cry out, leaving him isolated in the corridor, he got out his pistol, ready to free the door from it's hinges like the last, but before he could take aim, he could hear the faint noise, approaching him.
'pop' 'pop!' 'POP' 'POP!' He heard it behind him, slowly getting louder and louder, fearing attack, he turned, gun at the ready, but what he saw was so much worse than a monster. It multiplied tenfold as more and more continued to fall.
He watched in a horrid suspense as one by one, the marvellous lights that illuminated the room went out, one by one, slowly encroaching on the last bastion of light he had in the hallway, made worse by the cause.
It wasn't a monster, or anything he could fight, that made it worse. All he could do was turn back and slam into the door, trying to bust it open with all his force, trying to shadow travel past it or even become a shadow and get through it, but nothing worked.
All he could really do was brace for impact, as the turrets that had fired at him earlier all exploded, sundering the foundations of the bunker, as the cracks along the ceiling began to widen, and the structure begin to shake.
The first rock gave way, approaching him, getting closer and closer, crashing nearer and nearer, until he could no longer escape, until the final light went out, pulled from the ceiling, the glass shattering with a final 'POP!' and the earth around him slowly caved in, and all he saw was darkness.
Leo's POV
You are trapped in my embrace, Gaea said. Meanwhile, Annabeth Chase faces her death alone, terrified and crippled, at the hands of her mother's greatest enemy. The image in the mirror changed.
Leo saw Annabeth sprawled on the floor of a dark cavern, holding up her bronze knife as if warding off a monster. Her face was gaunt. Her leg was wrapped up in some sort of splint. Leo couldn't see what she was looking at, but it was obviously something horrible.
He wanted to believe the image was a lie, but he had a bad feeling it was real, and it was happening right now. The others, Gaea said, Jason Grace, Piper McLean, and my dear friend Percy Jackson—they will perish within minutes.
The scene changed again. Percy was holding Riptide, leading Jason and Piper down a spiral staircase into the darkness. Their powers will betray them, Gaea said. They will die in their own elements.
As for the other, (Y/N) (L/N), he is a sacrifice not for me, but another, another that he shall meet soon, because of your own two hands Leo Valdez. Gaea said triumphantly, the scene shifted once more.
To Leo's horror, it showed (Y/N), sprawled out, unconscious, under piles and piles of rubble. Gaea taunted them. He tried to rescue you, tried to help you, ad you led him to his demise, sprung your clever trap and crushed him with it.
I almost hoped they would survive. They would have made a better sacrifice. But alas, Hazel and Frank, you will have to do. My minions will collect you shortly and bring you to the ancient place. Your blood will awaken me at last.
Until then, I will allow you to watch your friends perish. Please...enjoy this last glimpse of your failed quest. Leo couldn't stand it. His hand glowed white hot. Hazel and Frank scrambled back as he pressed his palm against the mirror and melted it into a puddle of bronze goo.
The voice of Gaea went silent. Leo could only hear the roar of blood in his ears. He took a shaky breath. "Sorry," he told his friends. "She was getting annoying." "What do we do?" Frank asked. "We have to get out and help the others."
Leo scanned the workshop, now littered with smoking pieces of broken spheres. His friends still needed him. This was still his show. As long as he had his tool belt, Leo Valdez wasn't going to sit around helplessly watching the Demigod Death Channel. "I've got an idea," he said. "But it's going to take all three of us." He started telling them the plan.