COULSON FELT BAD.

          He couldn't help but think that this whole thing was entirely his fault. After all, Annabeth wouldn't even have been here if it wasn't for him. She wouldn't be who-knows-where right now. Granted, Mack might still be, but he was a grown man. Annabeth was barely an adult.

          They'd checked the cameras, which had gone dark right about when they'd all split up. They had no leads. It was as if Annabeth and Mack had been simply teleported away—but the evidence proved otherwise. Simmons had concluded the blood spatter on the floor was probably due to ripped stitches, which didn't really clarify who it belonged to, but implied a struggle. Also, the room looked like an angry bull had been let in, so there was that. But still, no leads.

          He felt extra bad as he delivered the news to Percy.

          The poor kid was sitting on his knees outside Mack's treatment room, staring at the blood on the floor as if it was going to give him the answers he so desperately wanted. He looked up at Coulson. His eyes were red and puffy, and he had a dazed look on his face. "No leads, huh?" he said quietly. He pressed his palms to his eyes, wiping his face. "I have to find her. She's. . .she's the world."

Coulson sat down next to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "We can. And we will. We just don't know how at the moment."

"You don't understand," Percy choked out. "She keeps me sane. I don't know. . ." he trailed off, looking lost. "Gods, I don't know. I don't. . .I don't know!" He went from whispering to shouting in a second, and Coulson jumped a little, startled.

"Hey, kid—"

Percy slammed his fists onto the tile floor and screamed in frustration. Somewhere behind them, Coulson heard the faint sound of spraying water. Was the ground shaking a little? He waited for Percy to move again, but he didn't, unless he was counting the rise and fall of his chest, in which case he was moving very quickly.

"Kid," Coulson ventured, "is there anything I can do for you right now?"

The boy in front of him sucked in a breath. "My inhaler," he said, sounding a little panicked. "I left it in the bedroom." His eyes widened. "Oh gods. Annabeth—she doesn't have hers—" He cut off, coughing.

Coulson didn't want to leave him like that, but the bedroom the teens had stayed in last night wasn't far. He wouldn't even be gone a minute.

Percy was still on his hands and knees when he got back. His breathing was considerably worse than before. "I wasn't sure which one was yours," Coulson said, holding out the two nearly identical inhalers he'd found.

Percy just grabbed one and shook it up. He visibly relaxed as the medicine reached his lungs. He took a few more puffs, sitting back on his heels to open up his airway.

          Coulson sat back down onto the floor. He wondered how long the kid had had an inhaler for. Coulson himself needed one when he was young, but he'd grown out of the asthma by the time he was eight. He couldn't imagine living the life he did and not being able to breathe.

         A sad silence hung in the air while they waited for Percy's breath to even out. One shaky breath after another, it did.

        Coulson waited a few more moments before asking. "Are you both asthmatic?"

          Percy let out a small chuckle. "Yeah, I guess you could say that." He stared ahead. Coulson thought he was still looking at the blood on the floor, but he wasn't sure. He could just be zoned out, or looking at the tiles. "My girlfriend and I. . ." Percy stopped, turning the inhaler over in his hands, giving it a resentful glare. "A few years ago we fell into Hell."

          Coulson certainly wasn't expecting that. He thought maybe they'd inhaled some smoke during a house fire. Or maybe they just had asthma.

          Percy looked up at him. "Surprised?"

          "I mean. . .yeah." What do you say to a person who has just told you they'd gone to Hell? "I guess I was expecting something a little less. . .severe."

          Percy looked back down at his hands. "It wasn't Hell in the way people normally imagine it." He took a deep breath, like he was worried his lungs would fail him again. "In Greek mythology, there's four versions of the afterlife. The Isles of the Blest are for the people who have been reborn three times and made it to Elysium each time. Elysium is basically heaven, reserved for people who were really, really good." He sniffed. Coulson wondered if Percy was thinking about anyone in particular. "The Fields of Asphodel are for people who weren't that great but don't deserve punishment. They're cursed to walk through endless fields for the rest of time. The Fields of Punishment is exactly what it sounds like." Percy stopped.

Coulson waited. He figured if the kid had anything more to say, he would say it.

Percy closed his eyes before speaking again. "And then there's Tartarus."

The word sent a shiver down Coulson's spine.

"It's the deepest, darkest pit in the underworld. It's where monsters go when we kill them. They're reborn there. Thousands upon thousands. Giants, dragons, hydras, just about every horrible thing you can imagine and then a bunch of things you can't. Definitely not a good place for demigods." His hands shook. "We were the first people to come out alive since. . .well, I guess since the beginning of time. Besides Nico, anyways."

          "So. . .yesterday. . ." Coulson trailed off, not sure how to word the question he wanted to ask.

Percy sighed deeply. "Yeah. Sorry about that." He turned the inhaler over and over in his hands. He had a lot of nervous energy. "When we were down there, we had to fight these. . .well, basically they're the embodiment of. . .ugh," he said, sounding frustrated. "I have killed a lot of things. If they curse me with their dying breath, the curse becomes a demon. When I killed the demons, I got the curses." He lifted up the black S.H.I.E.L.D. shirt he was wearing.

Coulson's heart hurt. He could only see one side of the kid's ribcage, but it was enough. The biggest scar he could see looked like someone had speared him through the ribs.

"Like this one," Percy said, pointing at it. "I shot a guy through all three of his hearts. And—"

"Sorry, three?"

Percy nodded. "Yeah, super weird. He cursed me with what killed him. But yeah, a lot of the curses didn't entirely go away. The scars and the flashbacks are remnants, I guess. That's why Annabeth doesn't have them. She was kind of. . .out for the count."

Coulson blinked. "You were shot through the heart?"

Percy shrugged. "Technically, I think so."

"How did you survive?" Coulson asked gently.

          "There are times when I think I didn't," he said bitterly. Coulson noted how tense his shoulders were. "We were constantly fighting for our lives. The air was literal poison. We had to drink fire so we wouldn't die of thirst." He put the inhaler in his pocket and held out his hand for the other one. "Every breath burns. Not even the gods can heal hellfire."

          Coulson placed Annabeth's inhaler into his palm. He looked at it, worry etched in his face.

"We'll find her," Coulson told him. "We have technology you've never even dreamed of. I wouldn't be surprised if Fitz put a tracking device on Mack. They're practically connected at the hip."

          Percy slipped Annabeth's inhaler into his pocket. He looked deep in thought. "Are we near the ocean? Or a river?" he asked.

          "Um. . .yeah, I think," Coulson said. "Why?"

          His eyes were dark and stormy. "I need to talk to my dad."

★

          Mack's everything hurt.

          Mostly, it was where he ripped his stitches, and also his head, but it was as if his whole body was put through the wringer and hung out to dry. He forced himself to open his eyes and found. . .nothing.

          Well, probably not nothing. It was just really, really dark. Am I in a cell? he wondered, until he heard a faint dripping noise. Cave? That was probably it, although he couldn't imagine why someone would bring hostages to a cave of all places. That was new.

          "Annabeth?" he whispered, not wanting to alert anyone who might be listening.

          "Mack," came a tiny, relieved reply. "I was  worried." Her voice was barely audible.

          "Don't worry about me, kid," he breathed. "I'll get you out of here."

          "Can't. Can't see. Won't be able to find our way out." Her voice wobbled.

          "Hey," he said, trying to sound soothing. "Where are you?"

          "Right here."

          Her fingers found his arm, and he grasped her hand. "We're gonna get out of here. You and me, we're gonna be just fine."

          He heard her breath catch in her throat, and then a quiet sob. "Okay. Okay, sounds good." She sniffed. "I hate this. Last time I was blind, I almost died like six times."

          "Last time?"

          "It was only like ten minutes," she explained quietly. She was right next to him now—he could feel her breath. "I wasn't alone, but I thought I'd been abandoned. Not good when you're in Hell."

          Mack froze up. "What do you mean, Hell?"

          Annabeth's hands shook. "I mean I was in Hell. I'll tell you about it later. Now's not exactly the best time."

          "Alright, then," Mack conceded. He gripped her hands tighter and looked in the general direction he thought her face might be. "Annabeth, I'm not gonna abandon you. I might not know what's going on, but I'll be damned if I let you deal with it alone."

          He thought she relaxed a little, but he couldn't see her, so it was hard to tell. "Thanks," she said. "But I'm pretty sure this is about you."

          "Either way. You've got me."

          They were quiet, listening to the distant dripping noise and the echo that came with it. Mack wondered how they even got here. What could lift him with ease? Even those bird-panther things couldn't carry him very far. How far away from Providence were they? Hell, how long had it been since the alarms went off? Hours? Days?

          It certainly felt like hours before Annabeth spoke again. "Well, I suppose now's as good a time as any," she whispered. Her voice came from somewhere to his right.

          "You don't have to," he said. "I believe you."

           "You do?"

          "Yeah. Who would lie about that?" He bit his lip. His heart ached for her. He knew she was hurting. He could recognize PTSD. He just wished that her being here wasn't his fault.

          "Well. . .I'll fill you in a little, then." She took a deep breath. "Percy and I fell in. It's crawling with monsters. It was like. . .being the only two bugs in a nest of thousands of spiders. I. . .I was cursed. I was totally blind. They made me think he abandoned me. Almost fell off a cliff. And when it wore off, he was. . ." Her voice cracked. "He was practically dead."

          "Oh." Mack didn't know what to say. This was all very new to him. He just squeezed her hand, hoping she would understand.

          She squeezed back. "And now, we're both blind, and I have to protect you."

          "Don't worry about me," Mack said again. "I'm grown. You don't have to."

          "No, I do. You're my responsibility. I let you get captured. I have to—" She stopped.

          Mack waited a second to see if she would say anything else. "What's the matter?"

          "You. . .you're. . ." She started again. "Mack, I think you're. . .glowing."

          Mack looked down. He didn't see anything at first. But he waited, and then he could make out an ever-so-faint halo of orange light on his skin. It was strongest in his chest, he thought. If there was even a pinpoint of light in. . .wherever they were, they wouldn't have been able to see it at all.

          "Well, would you look at that," he said. "I guess I am glowing."

★

hey guys! me here. i hope you're having a good day! i'm walking to my 9am right now. i'm wondering if y'all could entertain me for a sec. would you want to read another story i've been thinking about? it's in its very early stages. it's about the demigods and it wouldn't be a crossover, but it would heavily feature a few minor characters and a couple of original characters going on a mission to save a friend. thoughts?

anyways. love u guys so much! thanks for reading! <3
cajoling

2/25/20