★ 。＼｜／。★

𝗕𝗘𝗟𝗟𝗘

𝖈𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖎𝖙𝖗𝖊 𝖛𝖎𝖓𝖌𝖙-𝖙𝖗𝖔𝖎𝖘:
AKHLYS

★ 。／｜＼。★

BELLE WANTED TO go back to the swamp. It was the first place in Tartarus where she had felt like she could finally relax and let her guard down, even for a little while. She never thought she would ever say she would miss sleeping in a leather bed made for a Giant in a hut constructed of Drakon bones, but Tartarus was a different place. Right now that hut sounded like Elysium.

She had left the hut rejuvinated and clear-headed. But now her legs were sore and her muscles ached again. Her, Percy, and Bob stumbled along the downwards slope in the darkness. Thick and cold air hung around them and the ground alternated in between dangerously sharp rocks and pools of muck. Belle could feel herself being pulled tugged down by the immense force of gravity. She couldn't focus on anything else besides walking downwards and Percy being by her side. They walked closely pressed up against one another while holding hands in effort to both keep themselves warm and not lose each other.

Belle kept thinking about Damasen. She wasn't very good at hiding her emotions at all — especially around Percy since he knew her so well — so when tears began to fall down her face as they walked, she didn't even bother to wipe them away. Belle knew with absolutely certainty that Damasen had to help them. Yet he had turned down her offer, not even considering leaving his little hut to go see the sunlight again. She hated that she couldn't convince him, although she understood that he probably didn't want to leave the comfort of his own home to go find the Doors of Death with two Demigods and a Titan. It was basically a suicide mission.

She wondered what had happened to Damasen after they left the hut. He probably destroyed the Drakon again, but what had he said to their pursuers? They had left the Giant Polybotes and his followers hours ago, yet Belle knew they hadn't escaped them completely. That crew was still back there somewhere following them and pushing them a lot deeper into Tartarus.

Belle sniffled and tried to will herself to stop crying. She really had to pull herself together. Percy leaned over and pressed a kiss to her forehead that reminded her there was indeed still warmth left in the world despite the cold they were enduring. In order to keep her spirits up, she began to think of all of the good things that made her happy. She imagined sitting on the beach with Katie, Connor, and Travis like they normally did and relaxing on the dock of the lake at Camp Half-Blood with Percy, where they had shared a kiss underwater after the Battle of Manhattan.

But those felt like dreams, like a far away thought that couldn't be reality. Belle began to feel that nothing else existed except Tartarus. All of the death, darkness, cold, and pain was what the real world actually was — no. Belle shook that horrible thought off. A dream is a wish your heart makes, Belle reminded herself, those lyrics from Cinderella echoing throughout her mind. She wished greatly that her and Percy would reach the mortal world again. That couldn't happen unless Belle focused on the task at hand. However, it became harder and harder to stay focused the deeper they travelled.

"This place is worse than the River Cocytus," Percy muttered.

"Yes," Bob called back happily. "Much worse! It means we are close."

Belle didn't know what exactly they were close to. Small Bob had hidden himself in Bob's coveralls, and Belle believed that the kitten was the smartest one in their group right now. She would also hide if she had the chance.

She sighed and raised Sunflower a little higher (the Drakon bone sword was hanging from her belt loops), the light from that and Riptide turning her face a bronze glow as she squeezed Percy's hand. "We can get through this. As long as it's you and I, we can do anything. Even if it's escaping Tartarus."

"You're right," Percy agreed. "Should be a piece of cake."

"Although I would like to go somewhere different on a date next time."

Percy nodded. "Maybe Paris again?"

Belle managed to smile at that. A couple months ago, after Belle and Percy had retrieved Hermes' caduceus, the God had sent them to Paris to have dinner. They had eaten at the top of the Eiffel Tower and walked along the River Seine. It was absolutely beautiful, but it seemed like a whole other lifetime.

"I would love to go back to Paris, but New Rome also sounds nice," Belle admitted. "As long as you're there with me."

Suddenly, the darkness dispersed around them with a massive sigh. Belle blinked a couple times to get used to the new light only to see a clearing of a barren field made of dust and stones in front of them. In the very center was a gruesome figure of a woman kneeling on the ground. Her clothes were tattered, her limbs were abnormally thin, and her skin was leathery skin. The woman had her head bent and was sobbing quietly. Belle felt as if all the hope she had just felt was shattered just from the sound.

"We're here," Bob announced. "Akhlys can help."

"Goddess of misery?" Belle questioned. "She's down here?"

Bob ignored her and trudged forwards. Belle exchanged a concerned glance with Percy before they followed after him. Even though this area was less dark, it still was pretty hard to see. They could lose the Titan at any time.

"Akhlys!" Bob shouted.

The woman raised her head, and Belle's widened slightly in surprise. She looked like the victim of a famine. Her limbs were as thin as sticks with swollen knees and knobby elbows, her clothes were rags, her fingernails and toenails were broken, and dust caked on her skin and piled on her shoulders. However, her face was the worst part. Her sunken and rheumy eyes poured out tears, her nose dripped, her stringy gray hair was matted to her skull in greasy tufts, and her cheeks had scratch marks that were bleeding like she was clawing at herself.

Belle didn't want to meet her eyes because she was sure her soul would crush in sadness, so she lowered her gaze. Laying across the woman's knees was in ancient shield. It was a battered circle of wood and bronze that was painted with the likeness of Akhlys holding a shield. The image seemed to go on forever and got smaller and smaller. Belle then recognized it from a page in a book when she had read yet another Greek legend story.

"Wait," Belle voiced. "That shield . . . it's his. But I thought the book said it was only just a story."

"Oh, no," Akhlys wailed. "The shield of Hercules. He painted me on its surface, so his enemies would see me in their final moments — the Goddess of misery." She coughed so hard that Belle felt her own chest hurt. "As if Hercules knew true misery. It's not even a good likeness!"

Hercules. Piper and Jason had said the guy wasn't nice at all. When they had left him at the Straits of Gibraltar, their goodbye to him had included yelling, some death threats from Hercules, and high velocity food from Piper's cornucopia.

"What's his shield doing here?" Percy asked.

The Goddess stared at him with her wet milky eyes and her cheeks dripping blood onto her chest. "He doesn't need it any more, does he? It came here when his mortal body was burned. A reminder, I suppose, that no shield is sufficient. In the end, misery overtakes all of you. Even Hercules."

Percy stepped closer to Belle so that her shoulder was pressed against his arm. She squeezed his hand gently. This Goddess was making her uneasy with the way she radiated pure pain.

"Bob, we shouldn't have come here," Percy stated.

Small Bob meowed from somewhere inside Bob's uniform, and Bob shifted uneasily before wincing. "Akhlys controls the Death Mist. She can hide you."

"Hide them?" Akhlys inquired incredulously. She made a gurgling sound that Belle guessed was her laughing. "Why would I do that?"

"They must reach the Doors of Death. To return to the mortal world."

"Impossible!" Akhlys exclaimed. "The armies of Tartarus will find you. They will kill you."

Belle had to do something. She had to try and convince Akhlys to let them use her Death Mist one way or another. And that meant calling their bluff, just like she had done with Damasen and his healing powers. If there was one thing she had learned to do in situations like this from Annabeth, it was stall.

"Bob told us your Death Mist was powerful, but maybe he's making it seem larger than it actually is," Belle commented, looking down at Sunflower's blade nonchalantly (which Percy had to admit made her look incredibly hot.) "Seems pretty useless to me."

Akhlys bared her broken yellow teeth at her. "Useless? Who are you?"

Belle raised an eyebrow, feigning confidence on the outside even though inside her mind was spinning with freight. "I'm a daughter of Demeter. If you haven't noticed, I'm also mortal, which means that I survived walking halfway across Tartarus which is utterly unheard of. So let me tell you one thing — I did not risk my life for a minor Goddess to tell me what's impossible."

The dust quivered at their feet. Fog began to swirl around them with a sound of agonized wailing. However, Belle didn't let her exterior persona crumble.

"Minor Goddess?" Akhlys repeated. She dug her fingernails into Hercules' shield and gouged the metal. "I was old before the Titans were born, you ignorant girl. I was old when Gaea first woke. Misery is eternal. Existence is misery. I was born of the eldest ones — of Chaos and Night. I was—"

"Yeah, yeah, we get it," Belle cut in. "All you feel is sadness and misery and you're an old Goddess, blah blah blah. But if you're so ancient, why can't you use your almighty power of Death Mist to hide two Demigods? Once again, useless."

Percy leaned his head closer to hers. "Um, Beauty, what are you doing?"

She elbowed his side. "Work with me here."

He immediately straightened up at the flare of pain going through his ribs. "I mean . . . Belle is right! Bob brought us all this way because he thought you could help. But I guess you're too busy staring at that shield and crying. I can't blame you. It looks just like you."

Akhlys wailed and glared at Bob. "Why did you inflict these annoying children on me?"

Bob whimpered. "I thought — I thought—"

"The Death Mist is not for helping! It shrouds mortals in misery as their souls pass into the Underworld. It is the very breath of Tartarus, of death, of despair!"

"Awesome," Percy said. "Could we get two orders of that to go?"

Akhlys hissed. "Ask me for a more sensible gift. I am also the Goddess of poisons. I could give you death — thousands of ways to die less painful than the one you have chosen by marching into the heart of the pit."

All around her, flowers bloomed in the dust. Blossoms the shades of red, orange, and dark purple expelled sickly sweet smells. Belle, however, wasn't bothered. She hadn't experienced those type of flowers, but she had been around plants her entire life.

Belle flicked her hand downwards, making the plants go back into the ground. "Did you miss the part where I said I was a daughter of Demeter? Plants are kind of my specialty. Don't try that with me."

Akhlys snarled at her. "Nightshade. Hemlock. Belladonna, henbane or strychnine. I can dissolve your innards, boil your blood."

"That's very nice of you," Percy replied. "But I've had enough poison for one trip. Now, can you hide us in your Death Mist, or not?"

"You should," Belle encouraged. "It'll be fun."

Akhlys' eyes narrowed. "Fun?"

"Yeah. Just think about it. If we end up failing, you'll get to gloat over our spirits when we die in agony. You'd get to say I told you so to us for eternity."

"Or, if we succeed, think of all the suffering you'll bring to the monsters down here," Percy added. "We intend to seal the Doors of Death. That's going to cause a lot of wailing and moaning."

Akhlys considered that for a moment. "I enjoy suffering. Wailing is also good."

"Then it's settled. Make us invisible."

The Goddess got to her feet, the shield of Hercules rolling away until it stopped by a pile of rocks. "It is not so simple. The Death Mist comes at the moment you are closest to your end. Your eyes will be clouded only then. The world will fade."

"Okay," Percy responded uneasily. "But . . . we'll be shrouded from the monsters?"

"Oh, yes," Akhlys confirmed. "If you survive the process, you will be able to pass unnoticed among the armies of Tartarus. It is hopeless, of course, but if you are determined, then come. I will show you the way."

"The way?" Belle asked. "Where are we going, exactly?"

Akhlys didn't respond. She was already shuffling into the gloom. Belle also noticed that Bob was gone. How did a Titan with a small kitten suddenly disappear in Tartarus?

"Hey!" Percy yelled. "Where's our friend?"

"He cannot take this path," Akhlys called back. "He is not mortal. Come, little fools. Come, experience the Death Mist."

Belle took a deep breath and squeezed Percy's hand. "It can't be that bad. Besides, this is our only way out."

Percy managed a laugh. "Yeah, I guess. However, our next date is definitely going to be dinner in New Rome."

Belle and Percy then followed the Goddess' dusty footprints, poison flowers popping up everywhere the Goddess walked and blooming faster once Belle passed them. And as they walked deeper into the fog, Belle knew that Akhlys would betray them one way or another.

— [ ♡ ] —

help I got the first dose of the covid vaccine yesterday and I am unable to move my arm. and when I tell you I can't move it I legitimately can't move it it hurts too much
:((( but hey if it protects me from covid I'll suck it up

also another belle & percy song is long live by taylor swift and no I will not be taking any criticism

and the next chapter, it's um . . . it's definitely something 🤠

gifs by 1-800-SIMPINGFORSEB !