Warnings: Blood and suicide for reasons other than depression.

Michael and Katelyn were exploring a new area that (as far as they knew) hadn't been explored by any one in Camp Oasis. It was a forest that the couple walked through enjoying their alone time as they didn't get it often, not that the two minded as Camp Oasis was often very lonely for the three half bloods residing there. Michael son of Athena, Katelyn daughter of Aphrodite, and Ritchie son of Hermes. There was also a camp counselor Miss Kaykrae, who was part serpent, as well as the Oracle who was to be guarded by Kaykrae.

With the rest alone time there two were getting they turned their exploring into a little date. And so far it was going great!

At least Michael thought it was. He really hoped it was. Michael really liked the girl and was only a little worried about her not liking him. Considering that they were dating he was pretty sure she did anyway.

The two had been laughing and talking as they walked. Each more worried about enjoying the others company than fighting monsters or actually exploring. That was until they came across a cave.

The cave was shaped like a skull and had this oddly foreboding aura. Standing before the cave Michael got an awful feeling.

Katelyn however seemed unaffected. "What is this place?"

"I'm now entirely sure." Michael shrugged walking a bit forward, closer to the entrance. "But I intend to find out. You stay here while I look around inside."

"Why should I wait out here?" Katelyn frowned at her boyfriend. "It could be dangerous, so we should both go in."

"Yeah it could be dangerous," Michael rolled his eyes,"which is why only one of us should go in. This way if anything bad happens, like, I don't know, it caves in or something jumps out and attacks me, then you can work as backup."

"Well I'd prefer if nothing bad happened to you." Katelyn sighed. "Alright let me know when I can follow."

Michael laughed and jogged back to give her a peck on the cheek before turning back and promising to be quick.

He stood at the entrance and stared up at the cave. His feeling of dread had doubled in ferocity and he realised that he wanted nothing more than to turn around grab Katelyn and leave. He wouldn't do that though. He was a child of Athena and his curiosity and thirst for knowledge wouldn't let him. Although, he couldn't help but wonder if it was worth it. Taking a deep breath he stepped over the threshold of the cave entrance.

He froze as he did, his eyes scanning the area only to find... Nothing. Frowning he stepped further in and examined the area more closely but he had been right the first time. Nothing was here. That caused a pit to form in his stomach as he looked.

There should have been something. Anything other than the empty darkness of the cave. Any animals, moss or other plants, monsters. But instead he found nothing. Despite that however, nothing dangerous seemed to be around. Clutching The Art of War Michael wondered further in and have down a few little pathways that seemed to lead deeper in.

It seemed safe.

Michael let it a small breath of relief and turned back towards the entrance.

"It looks safe!"

Katelyn moved forward and hesitated at the opening. Michael could tell she was nervous so he headed over. He smiled at her and took her hands. She smiled back and stepped through with him.

That's when it happened.

Instantly there was an odd rumbling sound and everything shook. Michael grabbed Katelyn and shoved her away from him right as the entrance collapsed. He felt pain shooting through his eye and something hit his head before he blacked out.

Katelyn let out a scream as she turned from Michael's shove only to see rocks falling and him being crushed beneath. After everything stopped shaking she rushed forward and started trying to claw the rocks off him.

"Michael!?" She called his name as she searched. He didn't answer though so she kept searching shoving rocks to the side and digging until her hands bleed. She was near her breaking point after about fifteen minutes of searching. Her hands ached and bled and she was sure she had seen him be crushed. She was about to give up but then she spotted a bit of purple from under the rocks. Katelyn redoubled her efforts and soon Michael was uncovered.

He'd been lucky. Some of the rocks that had fallen landed beside him and were large enough to stop some of the other rocks from completely crushing him. But his luck hadn't completely saved him. His face was covered in blood and Katelyn could see it was from at least two wounds. One on his temple and one that slashed across his eye. His leg had also been crushed by rocks he wasn't protected from. Both major injuries where on his right side and seemed bad.

Pulling Michael free of the debris, she quickly worked on trying to cover his eye. She ripped off the bottom part of her grey hoodie she carefully wrapped it around his eye and head. She then used the rest of her hoodie to cover the bleeding on his leg.

After making sure he wouldn't bleed out, Katelyn moved examining the cave for any thing that could lead to an exit. She noticed what appeared to be the beginings of different paths but each had been blocked by rocks.

"Damnit..." She muttered glancing at her unconscious boyfriend. "Don't worry Michael I'll get you out of here." She promised him as much as herself. He was her first priority, the same way she would be his if the roles were reversed. "You'll be fine. I swear it..."

Continuing her examination all she could find was a small inscription on the wall in a language she didn't understand. It looked similar to Greek but was different enough to where she couldn't read it.

After that she took to trying to clear the entrance, using her sword in an attempt to move the rocks. However they refused to budge no matter how hard she struggled. It was as though the stones were being held in place by some sort of magic, and if that were the case...

"Oh please let me be wrong." She begged quietly.

She tried each route but it wasn't long before she gave in though, as it clearly wasn't working. Katelyn moved and sat next to Michael, carefully running her hands through what was showing of his hair. All she could do was hope he would wake up.

Michael slowly woke up and as he did the first thing he became aware of was the throbbing pain on his face and leg. Forcing his eyes open, everything was blurry and from what he could tell only one eye was working properly.

"Michael?" He heard Katelyn's voice. "Are you awake?"

"I think so..?" He muttered as Katelyn appeared above him looking down at him. "What happened?"

Katelyn helped him sit up as she answered "The cave entrance collapsed. You got caught under it. Are you feeling okay?"

"Um, Not really. If I'm being honest I hurt, like, all over." Michael now sitting against the wall looked Katelyn up and down, concerned. "What about you? Are you hurt?"

She shook her head. "You pushed me out of the way, remember?" He stared at her blankly.

"I did?"

"Yeah. Do you really not remember?"

He shrugged, not looking too concerned. "No I don't, but that sounds like something I would do. So why are we still here?"

"Well," Katelyn hesitated not meeting Michael's eye before quickly spitting out a quiet "Wecan'tleave.Theentrance isblockedandIthinkit'ssomekindofmagic.NomatterwhatIdoitwon'topen."

Michael started at her wide eyed. "I'm sorry, but would you mind repeating that in English this time. C'mon chances are I already have a concussion so take pity on me and speak slower, please?"

Taking a deep breath Katelyn looked up to meet Michael's curious and concerned gaze. "We can't leave. The entrance is blocked and I think it's some kind of magic. No matter what I do it won't open."

"Oh."

Michael stared blankly as his mind tried to catch up with her words. They couldn't leave. That's an issue. That's a big issue.

"Yeah."

"Okay so," snapping himself back to reality and forcing himself to keep calm, Michael focused on taking control of the situation, "did you try breaking through the rock slide?"

She shot him a look. "No I didn't. I can't believe I didn't think of that."

"Geez, sorry. Pretty sure I'm concussed so cut me some slack." He huffed and let out a slight hiss of pain as he accidentally shifted.

"Are you okay?" She jumped up and held her hands out as though to help him in some way but quickly realized there was nothing she could do.

Michael almost snarked his answer until he saw the look on her face.

"Don't worry. I'll be fine." He gave her a small smile as he reassured her. "Did you try all the paths?"

"Yep, but none of them even budged."

"Well..." Michael paused to think before asking, "did you see anything that could help us?"

"Actually, I saw some weird writing on one of the walls. But I couldn't understand it."

"I should check it. I mean, being the son of Athena, there's a good chance I could understand it. Where is it?"

"It's over there. Here let me help you."

Katelyn supported most of Michael's weight as the two crossed the cave, due to Michael's leg making him pretty much immobile on his own. The entire time they moved Michael's leg was in intense pain while his head was ringing. Yeah he hasn't been completely joking about the concussion. Meanwhile Katelyn couldn't stop glancing back at him in concern. She could tell he was hurt badly due to the fact that he wasn't trying to reassure or console her. That was a big testament to his injuries severity. By the time they reached the wall with the writing Michael was breathing quickly and shaking slightly, pain showing clearly on his face now

"Do you wanna sit for a moment?" Katelyn asked gently.

"No, I... I'm fine. Let's see." Michael pushed his pain into the back of his mind and focused on trying to make out the writing. "Yeah I... I think I can read this. Give me moment."

Michael stood being supported by Katelyn as he squinted to read the wall. His sight had never been the best, even without his eye being injured, so reading the small round in the dark wasn't easy. It took Michael good few minutes to work out the first sentence.

"Okay so this place is apparently called The Cave of Erebus and... Let's see... Two may enter-" Michael got himself off abruptly.

"Michael? What's wrong?"

Michael didn't answer Katelyn as he stood there rereading the words over and over. He was praying that the words would change or that he'd realize he'd read them wrong but no one seemed to be listening as the words didn't change. They just stayed the same. He felt his stomach churn and resisted the urge to vomit. By this point Katelyn had caught on to Michael's plight. She could tell he knew what it said and she would wager a guess that it wasn't good. She waited patiently for Michael to collect himself.

Michael let his legs give in as Katelyn quickly lowered him to the floor. She kept glancing between him and the words nervous, but desperate for an explanation.

Michael swallowed. "It says that this is the the Cave of Erebus, and that two may enter-only one may leave."

Katelyn sucked in a breath. "Well, there has to be a way around that. Right? Michael!?"

She has started shaking him when he didn't respond but he had hardly noticed. He was busy racking his brain trying to think of if he'd ever heard of this place before but...

He looked at her numbly and slowly shook his head. "I don't know... I've never heard of this place before! I don't know if anyone has ever come through here and lived! I just don't know Katelyn!" Michael voice for louder as he spoke he could hear the edge of hysteria on his voice and tried to calm down. "Look, we may very well be the first people to ever come across this place. So we'll have to be the first to escape too. But to do that you have to calm down for me, okay?"

Katelyn nodded slowly and took a few calming breathes. "Okay. So where do we start?"

"Well..."

The two continued to examine every part of the cave again Katelyn doing the looking while Michael pointed things out of sent her in different directions. They tried to brute force it again but it wasn't working. Another thing not working was the bandages Katelyn had tried to put on Michael.

The makeshift bandages had slowed the bleeding but it seemed to refuse to stop and more than once Michael found himself losing consciousness and blacking out for small bits of time. It didn't seem like he had much time left. By this point it had probably been over a day according to Katelyn, as she was the one who was conscious the whole time. When she had mentioned this to him it made him realize just how long he had actually been unconscious. The longer they remained trapped the more they lost hope.

Eventually they both just sat in the darkness in silence. Neither sure what to do from this point on. That was until Michael made a suggestion.

"You should kill me." He'd said it quite plainly. He'd said it so plainly, in such a matter of fact time that his words took a moment for Katelyn to register.

"What!?"

"Thinking about it logically, you should kill me. Now before you argue, think about it. I'm too injured to even move properly. There's a good chance that I wouldn't even make it back to camp. In fact me making it back on my own is extremely improbable. If you left making it back to camp would be easy. You follow?"

"You're joking. Please tell me you're joking. I can't just kill you. That's insane."

"Well if you can't kill me then what? We both sit here? The result would be the same." Michael was glaring at her in frustration. "I'm going to bleed out and you will leave. I'm just telling you to speed up the process."

"I love you," Katelyn growled. "How can you expect me to just kill you?"

"If you can't do it yourself then hand me The Art of War." Michael motioned to where his spear lay in the spot he originally sat.

"..." Katelyn could only stared at her boyfriend in shock.

"You'll be the one leaving either way." He repeated.

Katelyn was silent for a moment before standing up and grabbing Michael's spear. It was almost as if the spear knew what she planned to do, and as it was a gift from Athena she wouldn't doubt it. Katelyn held the spear tightly glancing back at Michael's expectant face. He held his hand out for her to place the spear. That was what sealed her decision.

"Michael?"

"Yeah?"

"Please, don't ever forget I love you."

"Katelyn what-!?"

Before Michael could react Katelyn plunged the spear into her chest. Michael screamed and tried to throw himself too her. She had collapsed and now laying in a puddle on the ground. Michael crawled up to her side but it was too late. She had a peaceful expression on her face. Her eyes where shut with a small smile gracing her features.

The world around him shook around but he paid it no mind. He couldn't take his eyes of her and everything around him seemed muffled. He felt like he was underwater his mind and body simultaneously going numb. He looked around and spotted the entrance and decided her death would not be in vain. With what little strength he had left Michael stood carefully picking up Katelyn's lifeless body he stumbled his way out of the cave and set her down gently against a tree.

"I don't have the strength to carry you back to camp." Michael spoke, his voice barely a whisper. "But I promise I'll come back for you." Turning Michael began to walk towards camp. He only made it a few yards before collapsing. He was going to try to force himself up when he heard the sound of wings flapping. Then a voice yelling his name. He glanced up too see that Kaykrae was flying towards him Ritchie was with her riding Diaval. That was the last thing he saw before he passed out once more.

A/N: So my first one shot, hope it wasn't trash. The whole reason I wrote this was because I couldn't stop thinking of how this while event went down. I imagined it was quite different than what happened to Xylo and Shadow. Also Michael is my favorite character so I was really wanting to write about him. If you see any typos or grammer mistakes just comment on them and I'll fix it. Hope you all enjoyed!

Also next one I've planned is young Mitch and Jakey from before the whole Trident issue.