A/N This chapter is super random.
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"'I'm fine,' you said. I wasn't fine for days."
"I was OK, you should never worry."
"I do anyways."
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As much as I wanted to leave, I knew I couldn't. I didn't want a repeat of what happened the last time I was in the Pit. Last time, I had fallen in. Last time, I had a possible way to escape.
I knew it wasn't the same. I knew what to do this time, yes. But I was banished this time. Sentenced to spent the rest of my miserable life in the deepest part of Hell. The last thing on my mind was escaping. It was impossible, and I knew it.
Tartarus. Hell. The Pit. Whatever you want to call it, it's real. I always knew it was. Even before I found I was half god. Hell is real. Always has been, always will be.
Because Hell is real. And it wasn't hot. No, it was cold. Freezing. My soul is- was- freezing.
Hell continued to be real. Hell could be the jealousy I had felt whenever I saw a happy couple walk by. Why couldn't I be that happy? Hell could be the way my stomach churned and my heart broke. Hell was the nightmares. The way they broke me, shattered me.
Pieces fell-
-onto the floor-
-of my soul.
Hell is real. I knew it. I experienced it. I felt it.
Why did they deny? Hell was being taken away from my other half. My soulmate. My love.
I had had a dream a few nights before the day I saw the mist. I saw a person I had known. I saw them die.
I thought they were lucky. My soul was too compromised to feel much. I smiled.
At the face of death, I laughed. Death was an old friend of mine.
Death wouldn't take me to Hell. No, it would free me from it.
Hell is real.
You know that.
I know that.
Hell is real. Dark, misty. Hell was an experience no one enjoyed. I didn't want to die. No, I knew I couldn't. I had something- someone- to live for.
And, well, I was immortal.
"You're on the road to Hell," a woman told me the day I saw the mist. "You can't escape. Can't go back."
I took drakon skin- hide?- and dried it. Made a sort of material. A paper like material. Maybe even a cloth-like material. It was thick, tough. Made good armor. Made good clothing.
I never told anyone I knew how to sew. My mom taught me a bit. Annabeth taught me some weaving. They taught a type of sewing at one of the military schools I went to.
Also, for some reason, Damasen had a sewing kit. An extra large one, too. The thread was made of drakon hide- he had a lot at his disposal, I guess- and the scissors and needle were drakon bone.
I'd never been too good at sewing. The blessing of Aphrodite helped, I suppose. By that point in time, I'd made boots- light and easy to run in. I'd made a chestplate, too, along with a skirt-type armor that looked weird but was good for battle.
By that point, I was determined to make myself look as creepy as possible. Monsters freak out their prey by looking creepy, I guessed. So I was going to make myself able to scare the scariest monster.
See, the day I saw the mist was a strange one. It was the day I first wore my hellhound-hide leggings (don't ask). It was the day I went for a walk. It was the day Zagreus proved he could defend himself.
It all started when I woke up from a strange dream. "You're on the road to Hell," a woman told me in my dream. "You can't escape. Can't go back."
I didn't see anyone. I just heard this voice.
I grabbed the hellhound-hide leggings and slipped them on for the first time. I put my battle skirt on over them, and threw on my chestplate. The chestplate with the hood with drakon skin lining the outside and hellhound fur lining the inside. It kept my face warm and hidden.
I put Zagreus's collar on, grabbed some drakon jerky, and together we headed out into Tartarus. We headed out through the clearing, and I could see the Forest of Curses getting closer to our side as we headed out towards the Acheron.
I headed towards same spot I had come in from. Zagreus growled when we were in the middle of the river and forest. I put a hand on his head, signalling him to calm down. We walked until we were next to the banks, a few rocks jutting out of the ground next to us.
I pointed to the other side of the river, where, at least a half hour walk from the shore, the Hermes shrine lay in the distance. I'd been training Zagreus more than anything else.
At first when he shadow-traveled, it was short and he was exhausted afterwords. We discovered he was fine traveling shorter distances later. The farther he went, the more tired he was. I was only asking a short distance, a bit further than the other side of the shore, knowing it wouldn't make him tired. I knew it would hardly do anything, even if we were traveling a long distance.
"Can you take me there?" I asked, handing him a piece of jerky. He let out a low yelp, moving so I could get on him.
I got on him, connecting my control over darkness with his. It helped make him stronger, so he would be fine. Sudden darkness took over us, and as disorientation subsided I noted we were a bit farther than I had planned. Zagreus, despite my worries, seemed fine.
I patted him on the head and together we started towards the shrine, and I manipulated the shadows to hide us better.
As we grew near, I saw that it was abandoned. There was food there- something I knew was not a usual occurrence. It was only a small bit, but as soon as I saw it I sprinted for it. Zagreus had seemed surprised at my sudden movement, and tried to keep up through stumbling steps.
I devoured the food, leaving a bit of meat for my pet hellhound. I took out riptide and a piece of dried hide-paper. I uncapped my pen, watching as it changed into a familiar bronze sword. I sighed, placed the cap the the hilt of the sword, and watched as it shrunk back into a ballpoint pen.
I started writing. "Dear Annabeth..."
I looked over to Zagreus who was lying next to me. I continued writing, not too sure of what I would say. "I'm immortal. A gift I never wanted. Is that the thing I'm most concerned about? No. I miss you more. I'll wait forever for you. I hope you'll do the same. Don't bother to write back. I'll be gone. I'm fine, if you were wondering. I'm just in Hell. I think we've always been in Hell, though.
"I'm staying at the shack, if you were wondering. I haven't had many run-ins with monsters, well, nothing big. I saw a giant a bit back, but that isn't important. I'm safe. I have food, thank Hestia. Anyways, love you,
"-Seaweed Brain."
I shoved my pen in my pocket, then reached into the small pouch connected to my war skirt. I found a match-like-twig, flicking it on some hide. I watched as a small flame leapt up, and I couldn't help but think of Leo.
I shook my head, dismissing the thought. I folded the paper, and wrote "For Annabeth" on the top.
I set it down, and grabbed the lighter and flicked it once more. I watched as the flame leaped into the air, and put it against the edge of the hide. It lit immediately and I watched solemnly as my note went up in flames.
She would've got it soon, I reasoned. I hadn't been shore (haha) of when.
Once again, I shook my head. I stood up and went over by Zagreus, shaking him softly. "Hey buddy, let's go, okay?"
He yawned, stood up, and started towards the Acheron once more. I walked beside him, riptide held tightly in my hand. Once we got a good 20 feet away from the bank, Zagreus motioned for me to mount him.
I got on him, connecting my power over darkness with his. Once again, we shadow-traveled to the other side of the river, disorientation taking over until a few seconds afterwards. I stumbled off my hellhound, looked around, and noted we were, in fact, on the banks of the correct side of the river.
I handed him a piece of jerky, using my heightened senses to make sure nothing was hiding, waiting in the darkness. The first thing I noticed was that I felt nothing but the hellhound at my side. I couldn't feel the forest, the rocks jutting out of the round, or the River of Woe crashing behind me.
The next thing I noticed was the mist. It was like any mist, like the type you might see resting over a mountain. That, like everything else, seemed off. I didn't remember mist from before. I looked around, trying to see if I could see better than I could sense.
It didn't do much. I suddenly heard giggling, like that of a teenage girl. Empousa, Annabeth's voice whispered in my mind. Vampires.
I looked towards the direction I heard it from, but as soon as I did, I heard more giggling from behind me. Empousa are fast, I remembered. They can charmspeak and manipulate the Mist.
Only then did I realize what was surrounding me. It wasn't any normal mist, no, it was Mist- a magical barrier that covers up demigods to mortals, and sometimes even demigods. I had a bit of power over them, yes, with my resistance to charmspeak, but I still tensed, readying myself for a fight.
Next to me, Zagreus growled, and I heard a huff of annoyance from what I assumed was an empousa.
"They didn't tell us he had a hellhound!" a girls voice screeched.
"It doesn't matter," another voice said. "We aren't supposed to fight him."
I was a bit confused, to say the least. What did they mean by they weren't supposed to fight me? I figured there was only one way to find out. "Show yourselves!" I said.
Out from the Mist walked 3 figures- empousa- and they all walked towards me, grouping up. When they stood in front of me, I decided to ask the question that was running through my mind. "What do you want?"
Empousa would've been undoubtedly beautiful if it wasn't for the one metal and one donkey leg and flaming hair. I didn't recognize any of them, which was a bit surprising because I'd seen too many empousa for my lifetime.
"We bring a message," the one on the left hissed.
"Yes," the one in the middle- the leader, I assumed- said. "We bring a message from our mistress."
"Mistress?" I inquired, tensing once more.
"Yes," the one on the left said. "Our Lady of crossroads."
Hecate, my mind supplied. Goddess of the Mist. "What would the goddess of the Mist want with a so-called traitor?"
"Percy Jackson, Hero of Olympus, a traitor?" the one on the right asked. "That is the funniest thing I've heard in a long time."
The one in the middle rolled her eyes. "She wishes to bestow the ability to see through and control the mist to you. She also wanted to form an alliance."
I ignored the ability part. "What kind of alliance?"
"That if you are in need of help, we empousa will help you and not hurt you in any way unless you do so first," the leader said again.
"I accept," I said. "Do we swear on the Styx?"
"Yes," the one on the right said. "We've already done so. But if you'd like us to do it again..."
"I swear on the River Styx to accept your alliance and follow your conditions as long as you do the same," I swore.
"We swear on the Styx to our alliance, and to follow our conditions as long as you do the same," the one in the middle said, sealing the deal.
I felt the mist swirl around me, and found myself standing on the banks on the Acheron, alone all except for Zagreus standing by my side.
And with that strange experience, we made our way back to Damasen's shack.
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Word count: 2099
So this is the 2nd longest and most random chapter so far. I hope you enjoyed this strange experience. He now has an alliance with empousa. Don't ask me why, I made it up on the spot.
The image is of the Acheron with mist. It has Charon, because, well, Charon sails on the Acheron. I tried to find a better image, but you get what you get and don't get upset,, I guess.
Anyways, have a nice day (or night)!