Sorry to keep y'all waiting- I've gotten back in the habit of updating the stories in a specific order so I don't end up not updating a story for a year or something like that (which has happened twice I'm very sad to say...). But for you Lukyn shippers, you get some fluff :)

Chapter Quote:
"I try not to think. It interferes with being nuts."
~Leo Valdez, Mark of Athena
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Chapter 34: We Head to the Doors of Death

Silena and Derek were more sleep deprived than they realized because they slept for ages, not even waking up when a drakon came to attack Damasen. Luke, on the other hand, did, and the first thing out of his mouth was Bryn's name.

Bryn couldn't help but smile at the sound of his voice, partially from relief that he was okay and partially from hearing him say her name as if he cared about no one or nothing else but her.

"I'm here," she replied, getting out of the chair that was way too big for her. Luke struggled to sit up but Bryn stopped him. "Take it easy. You had some nasty curses put on you. Last time I saw you awake, blood was coming out of your nose and eyes."

"Really?" Luke blinked in surprise.

"Yeah." She stroked his hair back, trying to entice him to lay back down. It didn't work though. He sat up (after a lot of effort) and leaned against the wall.

"Gods it's good to see you moving and talking," Luke said, giving her a smile. "I thought I'd never hear your sassiness again."

Bryn chuckled as sat next to him, resting her head on his shoulder. "I'm not letting you off that easily."

"I wouldn't want you to." Luke kissed her on the head. "So where are we?"

"Have you ever heard of the giant Damasen?"

"Yeah, he was supposed to be the bane of Ares or something."

"This is his place. He's giving us shelter. He's out right now. You'll meet him later." The two of them fell silent but Luke picked up on the turmoil in Bryn's mind, as he usually he did.

"What's bothering you?" Luke asked looking at her.

"We're stuck in Tartarus. Pretty sure that's a good enough explanation," she replied. It wasn't a lie, but it wasn't everything. How was she to bring up the topic that Luke had pretty much killed the arai by controlling their blood? It wasn't exactly an easy thing to bring up.

But whatever thoughts were about to run through her head disappeared when Luke kissed her. His hand cupped her face, pulling her closer. When they broke it off, Bryn whispered, "What was that for?"

"To remind you that whatever is going on with you, no matter how big or small it is, I'm here to help you," he replied. "Also I just really wanted to kiss you again."

Bryn sighed, unable to figure out how to bring up what she wanted to talk about. Finally she simply asked, "How did you do it?"

"Do what?"

"The arai. I know you were the one that killed the rest of them. I couldn't because I was paralyzed, Silena was blind, and Derek was being viciously attacked by an arai. So how did you do it?"

"Why am I getting the feeling you already know?"

"Because I want to hear it contradicted. If you did what I think you did... that's a dark path to go down Luke."

"I couldn't think of anything else, Bryn," Luke said, cringing. "You were about to die, Silena was about to wander off to a place I wouldn't have been able to see her, Derek was being mauled by an arai... I couldn't think of anything and I'd rather risk going down a dark path if it meant saving your lives than staying on the good path and letting you die. I already got you killed once and damn it, I'm not doing it again."

"And I would rather die knowing that you're safe and good and staying on the right path. Going down that dark path could turn you evil. I'm not kidding. It could turn you evil and I'd had to fight against you instead of with you and I couldn't do that. I'd be ordered to kill you and I couldn't-" Bryn was unable to finish her sentence, choking up her words at the thought of having to kill Luke. "There are some powers that no one should have, and if they do, they shouldn't use them. So promise me you won't do it again, no matter what the circumstances are. Promise me Luke."

"If it comes to your life or Silena's or Derek's, I'm going to choose your lives over whatever happens to me. I can't promise you I won't use that power again. I can stay on the side of good and still use it. And it was only once. I don't think I'm going to go all dark side after using it once."

"One time won't turn you dark immediately if you're on the side of good, but there have been others beside you who have said the same thing. They said they'd use it to protect the ones they loved but in the end, they went dark and ended up killing the ones they loved themselves. You say you want to protect us so do that by promising me you won't use that power again."

Luke hesitated before saying, "I promise."

Relief washed through her. She gave Luke a kiss and said, "Thank you."

At that moment, the door opened. Damasen walked in with a visitor behind him, the silver titan.

"Ah, you're up," Damasen said, staring at Luke. "I am Damasen. Welcome to my home."

"Thank you for taking us in. We really appreciate it," Luke replied, giving him a smile. His attention turned to the other giant. "I remember you coming to save us, but I never got to thank you, nor did I get your name."

"I am Bob," the titan said. Pointing to the saber-tooth kitten on his shoulder, he said, "This is Small Bob."

"Thank you for saving our lives Bob and Small Bob. We owe you."

"Thank you Bob," Bryn said.

"How are you two feeling?" Damasen queried.

"I've certainly felt better but if it wasn't for you two, I wouldn't feel anything because I'd be dead," Luke answered. "Why?"

"Bob got some food for you from Shrine of Hermes. On the way, he reported monsters have your scent and are tracking you. They won't attack while you're in here because they know better than to mess with me but the minute you set foot out of here, you're fair game. You all need to get to the Doors of Death soon. I can escort you there. They're not far from here and unlike Percy and Annabeth, you do not need to face Nyx."

"If anyone attacks us, we're not alone," Derek mumbled, sitting up.

"What do you mean?" Bryn inquired.

Silena rolled over to look at her boyfriend as he explained, "I can raise armies of the dead. If any monsters attack us, my skeleton armies can hold them back."

"You're awesome," Luke said.

"Thanks. By the way, what did you do to get rid of the arai?"

Luke shifted uncomfortably. "I don't really remember. I kind of went into a rage."

"That's some rage. Well, until we're in dire straits of needing to leave, I'm getting some more sleep. I'm seeing double." Derek plopped back down on the bed and closed his eyes, falling asleep within seconds.

"I'm going to get some more sleep too. I need all the energy I can get before we set off again," Bryn said. Kissing Luke on the cheek, she crawled up next to Derek and closed her eyes, feeling strangely safe in the house of the giant.

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When she woke up, Luke and Silena were at the table, talking. Derek was with them but he didn't look happy about being up.

"Morning, afternoon, evening, whatever time it is Catwoman," Luke greeted.

"Thanks Sharkboy," Bryn mumbled. "Are we leaving soon?"

"Yeah, in a few minutes actually. We were debating about who should wake you up since none of us wanted to be zapped."

"That was once."

"That you remember. You've zapped all of us on more than one occasion when we've tried to wake you."

"Oh... sorry," she said sheepishly. "Where's Damasen and Bob?"

"They're killing some monsters to give us some more time."

"And we did a rather good job," Damasen announced, striding into the room. "But we still need to leave soon. My oh-so wonderful father is still kicking and he'll resurrect them sooner rather than later. Grab your weapons and anything else you brought although I don't think you did. The trip will take about four or five hours."

Bryn hopped down to the ground and elongated her sword Keravnó. Luke gave her a kiss on the head in greeting. Her stomach had butterflies at the contact and she wondered if she'd ever get used to the feeling. He took her hand in his and announced they were ready. Silena and Derek seconded it. Damasen and Bob nodded, grabbing their own weapons, before setting off to the Doors of Death. This all seemed too easy to Bryn but not wanting to ruin the mood, she stayed silent. Now if only her thoughts stayed silent too...
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Derek

Besides the thought that any moment could bring his death in the next few hours, the only other thing he could think of was comparing the current situation to the Lord of the Rings and how he very much felt like a Hobbit following Gandalf.

The four demigods stayed quiet for the most part, only speaking if checking up on one another if they stumbled. They were all too alert and anxious being down here. Even though they'd probably only been walking for an hour, if felt like days. For all he knew, an hour down here could be a day up on earth. What if an hour down here was a year up there? What if that was true and they'd been down here for seventy-two hours which meant that his parents, Percy, and Annabeth were all dead and Hallie, Bradley, and Brady were all in the late eighties or early nineties?

Snap out of it. Derek thought to himself.

"Stop, just down there. Those are the Doors of Death," Damasen said, pointing to massive, ornate, black and silver doors.

"So do we just waltz on down there or do we need to call Thanatos or something?" Luke questioned.

"We walk down there, but carefully. Something or someone can pop up at any moment."

"Someone's already down there," Derek said.

"What do you mean?" Silena asked.

"Tartarus. He's down there. He's waiting for us."

"Can we like... I don't know, go around?" Luke said.

"Oh yeah, let's just go around. That's a great idea. It's not like Tartarus won't see us. It's not like we're in Tartarus," Derek replied sarcastically.

"Okay, I get it. Bad idea. Sheesh."

"I've tried flying down here. The air won't let me," Bryn said dejectedly.

Derek grimaced. "Then there's only one way to go, and that's down."
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Uh oh. Hope they are going to be okay (probably not to be honest). And considering this story is actually quite close to being done (I know it's shocking!), you might just get another chapter after this. Review please :)