Percy's POV
Glancing one last time at Athena taking a different direction from me and instead walking away with Anubis I can't help but feel an emptiness with her absence. "We won't be long. That's what she's saying anyway" he senses my hesitation when walking out from the palace and having to follow the woman we know nothing about. Upon stepping outside I notice a difference in the environment immediately, the dark dull pathing now lit up by floating blue flames as if guiding the dead.
"Why has it changed?" I try jumping to catch it but my height once again becomes an enemy to me
"Because of that one over there" He places his hand on my head and spins me towards the colossal figure on the beach in front of us that nearly blends in with the now black sand. The water also having changed from the light green to a dark musky blue. "An-" I stumble to complete my sentence as a recoil of force from an explosive stomp seizes up my bones and making me crunch my teeth together.
"Odd, he doesn't usually walk around this much. The land is alive again cause it's warden is back to watch over it, go introduce yourself" Aeon nudges me forward just inches away from the landing foot of the beast.
"It was inevitable to come here and not meet Cerberus, he doesn't bite." Hel smiles while continuing to walk under him and toward the gate. "He doesn't need to bite when he can just swallow you whole" She finishes before laughing to herself in the distance
"Cerberus? I'm pretty sure that's who Clio wanted to speak to" I place my hand against the leg, making the mistake of looking up and being greeted by the death glare of not one, not two, but three heads. "When she said she made a deal with...him. I thought she meant a little bit more humanoid? I guess." Sighing to myself at the realisation but oddly enough not feeling intimidated by him.
"Cliodhna?" He corrects my abbreviation of her name.
"I-she said that she left her sisters with you...or something?" I cough out under pressure, it wasn't fear. I just didn't expect the calm voice, nonetheless a voice at all"
"And how can I trust you truly know her?"
"She's waiting outside for us, you weren't here before so she wasn't able to meet you" Aeon talks for me
"I see. Unfortunate, but I do have what I promised to her" His body begins to lower, the smirking left head coming in closer before opening his luminescent blue mouth and rolling out a tiny blue flamed orb from the tongue. "What's this?" I pick up the fragile feeling globe and stare into it's odd swirling colours.
"She'll know what do to with it" He stands back up to his full height and recreates the space for us to walk under him
"That was significantly easier than I thought it'll be"
"Cerberus isn't hard to talk to, just get straight to the point and he'll do the same."
"And if I don't?"
He doesn't answer but instead similarly laughs at my expense like Hel before we re-enter the beach, spotting her sitting on a rock and swaying her head side to side. Going to grab her attention but as I reach for her shoulder I recognise the melody she's humming. A painfully sick feeling of nostalgia making me back away from her, Aeon acknowledging this but not commenting on it out loud.
I drop to a knee for a second which she hears, stopping the song and instead running over to me. "Are you okay!?"
"I Just felt a little bit faint, I'm sorry. Can we keep moving, we've just barely left the palace and I feel like I've wasted too much time already" I hurriedly try to rush her but she still takes her time trying to pick me up
"I said I'm fine, please"
"We're not that far from where we need to go so don't worry. I believe Charon should be here soon" She places a finger on her bottom lip as if in deep thought. A mild whistling comes from the space above us before Aeon walks in front of me, a memorable crashing of water and splatters along the beach.
"You didn't need to do that" Referring to Aeon who purposely saved me from having to move out of the way this time
"I sort of destroyed the only hope you had back in the palace, yes I needed to do at least this" He corrects me, walking off without waiting for a reply as the souls of this ferry climb off and make space for us.
"Let's go!" She pulls my arm and skips along the beach to catch up to Aeon. Hearing something in my pocket clank against each other, although I thought I only had the orb from before.
"I'll check it out after" I try to verbally remind myself for later
"What was that?" Hel questions me but I shrug it off as we keep running
-
"Wait don't we need coins?"
"Not for his return trip! What maniac would want to go back to the start after paying the fare already?" She smiles softly and takes a seat down in one of the rows
"You should probably sit down first" Aeon guides me to a seat before sitting down beside me, making the boat tilt again
"Oh, that's what you meant" Realising I'd of basically flopped off the boat if I was still standing while he rushed to a seat. Giving him a look of approval which earns me one back, but spiking my dangerous curiosity.
"You still want to kill me, don't you?"
"I never wanted to kill you, it was a matter of needing to" His pitch turning duller compared to mere moments ago as he now looks away from me and towards the front of the boat.
Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.
"Why then?
"He raises his eyebrow to me and waits for me to continue"
"Your previous non-stop attempts at killing me, suddenly grabbing all of us in the current together, holding us down and guiding through the underworld, apologising for the mirror and other things that happened just moments ago. You could of killed me long ago or right as we left, the only reason why you didn't before is because of Anubis!" I confront him but all he does is stare at me
"I-" The chiming of Charon's bell interrupting him, he takes the chance to ignore my plea and locks his gaze forward once again.
"Sorry" Charon speaks out before reaching for the oar and effortlessly rowing the ferry like before
"It's fine" I lie and turn my body to face the passing small waves under us, admittingly becoming memorised as they break against the wood of the boat
-
My for once peaceful snoozing dreams being stopped by my own knee slamming against my chin from the sudden movement of the water. "Whyyyy" I groan out while rubbing the now pained spot, turning to see Aeon's peaceful face. Standing up but still being dwarfed by him I take the opportunity to examine his face closer, "It's weird not seeing your gleaming eyes" Murmuring out loud in astonishment, he blinks everyday sure. But usually his eyes are his most outstanding feature, the armour he was dawning now removed from before as I scan his body. Noticing some scarring but nothing else other than his grey fur.
My curiosity getting the best of me as he looks unreasonably vulnerable like this. Laying a hand on his chest but becoming alarmed at his grumbles, "What's wrong with you?" his eyes still remaining shut and startling me
"Weren't you sleeping?"
"The day you decide to willingly sleep beside the beast who tore apart the world, let me know how that goes for you" He shrugs before opening his eyes and looking down at me with a shift of his pupil, making me remember the mirror.
"Your reflection...that was-"
"Before I turned, yes" He shuts his eyes as if pain from the memory but insists on speaking anyway, "The mirror I've been told reflects the truth, it was given to Amaterasu as a gift and followed her around like a child to it's mother. Since her disappearance it's only remained there."
"No it hasn't" I correct him
"What do you mean?"
"I saw it before...it was...uh-crying?" I question my own words in a daze
"And where did you see this?"
"When Fenrir-" I pause in my thoughts, falling against his body as if in a paralysis along with the melodic humming returning. "Stop. Her. Please." He picks me up in an arm and walks towards Hel's swaying body.
This time sounds different though, I can hear some words this time.
"There was one, two, three...undo the rule...rewrite the world. I am the..., you are first, he is the..."
"Hel" Aeon calls to her, making her stand up in reaction as if surprised by his presence.
"Oh hello, we're almost there so don't worry. You both looked so peaceful sleeping I couldn't take that away from you" She waves it off and sits back down, leaving Aeon to place me like a chess piece back onto a seat but this time next to her.
"Um, can I ask you something?"
"Sure!" She happily complies
"What is that you keep trying to sing?"
"What do you mean?"
"You keep humming something and I feel like I should know it"
"I don't know what you mean...Percy? I think that's what they called you" She places a hand on her head to indicate she's thinking, almost like she's practicing emotions
"You might not want to speak about it, but what happened to you when-"
"Ooooh we're here! Ask me when we're walking!" She skips and leaps towards the green terrain in front of us, cutting past my question "C'mon here guys before he passes it!"
As if on cue, Aeon picks me up and jumps over with me. Abruptly landing on the mistakenly hard grass and waiting a moment before regaining some composure and waving at Charon as he departs past this eerie garden that's coated by shadows but filled with little pink and yellow orbs of light glowing just above the ground.
"Don't get lost!" She hops in without waiting for us to even process the change in scenery. But nonetheless I didn't wanna get left behind so I trod behind Aeon's footsteps, maybe slightly using him as a meat shield but...yeah no I definitely am.
-
Persephone's POV
"And why did you call us into here?" Anubis immediately demands an answer, Athena entering the room along with him but instead leaning against the inner door frame
"Getting straight to the point, something's troubling me about your so called wife"
"There's lots of things wrong with her, where do we start?"
"We already stayed unconvinced that isn't her, the mirror should of been proof enough of that." I lay down on the bed me and Hades used to sleep in, remembering the silk like sheets against me almost bringing a tear to my eye and distracting me a bit.
"Focus" Anubis clicks his fingers to my face, annoyingly enough bringing me back from my daydreams.
"Your mirror only showed her face as it is" The smart girl I'm growing more fond of by the minute points out.
"Correct, but riddle me this. If that's Hel's reincarnated body which would slightly explain her inability to decay me from the hug, then how did she get into the underworld?"
"It took two of us to open it" He states in acknowledgement
"And in my garden I saw her, the Hel we're all so fond of. Her face still the same and frenzied black hair."
"What are you trying to say?" Athena worriedly walks closer to me with a frowned face
"The mirror says that's Hel, I saw Hel." I sit back up and dangle my legs over the bed, "So, any conclusions?"
"That...isn't the mirror?"
"We saw both Percy and Oracion be reflected in it, that was for sure the mirror." I flick her forehead as punishment for guessing wrong after correcting her. But she steps back towards me after remembering something, quickly darting out of the room and leaving me and Anubis with stunned looks.
"And what's that?" I point towards the book she now holds
"Each section in the library had one of your names, this is the one which I found while with Percy" She holds it up and flicks between pages with increasing pace. "Read it", she places it in front of us.
The previous pages having days on them as if trying to keep track of something, the more later ones just having scratched out numbers on them including the one I'm reading.
"Day -----, I went out. I feel her, she talks to me still. After shutting me away all my life, now she wants to speak to me."
"Day -----, We made a promise, a mutual understanding. To help someone that we both hold dearly and love."
"Are these diaries or something? But why are you showing us these" I stare with now more confusion than before.
"This was in Hel's section. The problem is, you all looked at her like some life stealing embodiment of evil" She comments, as me and Anubis look at each other in agreement.
"Which she was, and what's your point here?"
"So why is she writing a dairy?" Athena leaves us with endless trails of thought as if placing us in mid air to fall but ultimately answering it herself, "She felt alone and lost, that's what I would do in my diary right? A place to confess what's weighing hard on you, just for closure I guess"
"But that doesn't make sense! She's one of two queens in the underworld and most notoriously known for her distaste for mortal life!" I hop off the bed in anger but keep thinking to myself while staring at the ceiling with my hands messing up my hair in frustration.
"She knew we all got reincarnated and separated that's the fact here." Anubis quotes
"But what if...Hel never reincarnated? What if she never left that body" - Athena
"So why did her face change so drastically? What happened to her cold revolting personality that I saw earlier on?" I question Anubis who's just as flustered as me now.
"Anubis, speak to me" I click my fingers in front of him as he did to me, his eyes zoned out staring at me, "She has my mother's face"
"Chris...!?" Athena blurts out
"I need more time to process all this, there's too much to consider for just one person. For the moment, you gave Percy the amulet right?"
"The one Anubis handed me, yeah" She nods in agreement
"Then we'll find out the truth one way or another I guess, Athena keep reading that journal. It might save a life or two" Some colour drains from her face as she realises the risks we took by just allowing them to walk out, but I have faith.