#before sending it to the depths of tartarus

[viivdle]

born to love with my whole heart, forced to act okay when someone says "sorry i forgot" after making me wait hours for a reply

[pjohoo-reclists]

Powerful Percy Jackson Fic Recs

A list of fics where Percy is abnormally powerful, but not dark or evil. For similar content you can also check out my Dark Percy Jackson and Percy Jackson in Tartarus rec lists. Enjoy!

legend by Nightingale231

T | 200 words | Complete

Percy Jackson & Camp Half Blood Campers

BAMF Percy Jackson, POV Outsider, Camp Leader Percy Jackson

When the lost trio arrive at camp, whispers of a teen named Percy Jackson weave through the camp. There's pictures of people up in the big house, people with war-torn eyes and cracked souls, but in the majority of them there's a boy with green eyes like the stormy sea and black hair like the depths of the ocean grinning up at the camera.

the son of poseidon by Nightingale231

T | 500 words | Complete

Percy Jackson & Poseidon

Powerful Percy Jackson, Deity Percy Jackson, Poseidon is a Good Parent

Percy can sense the way life flows in the beings around him, for the sea spawned life and life remembers that which brought it forth. Percy, who is the son of the sea, the son of the god of storms, the son of the unmade man who shakes the earth on a whim- He is nothing, he is everything, and he simply is.

too much fun by maverickk

T | 600 words | Complete

Percy Jackson/Annabeth Chase

Earthshaker Powers, Percy Jackson & Clarisse La Rue Friendship, Powerful Percy Jackson

An army marches on Camp Half-Blood. Chiron observes and Percy, Annabeth, and Clarisse team up to stop it.

Fatal Flaw by Phoenix_And_Thestral

G | 700 words | Complete

Percy Jackson/Annabeth Chase, Percy Jackson & Annabeth Chase

Post-Tartarus, Character Study, Powerful Percy Jackson

Annabeth knows just how much Percy loves her. Sometimes, it scares her.

Earthshaker by skyekingsleigh

T | 700 words | Complete

Percy Jackson & Annabeth Chase

Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Earthquakes, Tsunamis

Just the thought of her name was enough to make him lose control. Or: a heroes of olympus au based on the prompt, “what if hera had taken annabeth instead of percy?”

The myth, the legend, the man by pannaspanoply

G | 800 words | Complete

Percy Jackson, Annabeth Chase, Camp Half Blood

Powerful Percy Jackson, Character Study, Non Canon Compliant - the Trials of Apollo

Percy was powerful - a look at his adventures could tell you that. When he was playing around with the rest of them at Camp Half Blood, though, it was easy to underestimate that.

Lupa is humbled by everdeen6

T | 900 words | Complete

Percy Jackson, Lupa

Powerful Percy Jackson, Smart Percy Jackson, Percy Jackson Needs a Hug

“There is room for improvement.” Lupa said haughtily as she turned and padded away leaving Perseus to stare at her retreating back with barely suppressed rage.  He had just fought off a pack of murderous wolves with just his bare hands. And nothing else.  ~ Or oneshots of my hoo rewrite

me and you and you and me (no matter how they tossed the dice) by kissofbelladonna

G | 1.0k+ | Ongoing as of 19/5/2022

Percy Jackson/Annabeth Chase

Powerful Percy Jackson, POV Annabeth Chase, Angst with a Happy Ending

Annabeth muses on Percy's powers and then sees them firsthand and the aftermath of that.

Hello there, Argo II (Aren’t you lucky to have a demigod fathered by the god of storms?) by Crystalcatgamer

G | 1.3k | Complete

Percy Jackson/Annabeth Chase, Jason Grace & Piper McLean & Leo Valdez

Storms, Powerful Percy Jackson, POV Jason Grace

The group breaks off into its threes and twos, talking quietly to each other as the rain keeps beating down above deck, the ship rocking and trying not to jump with every loud boom of thunder. It starts getting less and less startling, and Jason thinks he might even be able to manage a light sleep like this, nestled among his fellow demigods. Then the ship shudders something fierce, and they hear Festus roar before it’s lost to the thundering rain. Everyone jolts up just as the ship leans to the side with a groan, sending people tumbling onto their sides. Jason scrambles for purchase, grabbing onto Piper and Leo before they hit the wall. Percy is braced against it, holding Annabeth protectively and looking at the ceiling as Leo swore something fierce. A nasty storm turns the Argo II into a glorified rollercoaster, and Percy steps out into the pouring rain to put a stop to it. (It is a difficult thing to remember that Poseidon is the god of storms, not Zeus.)

I'm not him and I'll never be as good by DiveInsideMyMind

G | 1.6k | Complete

Percy Jackson & Jason Grace, Percy Jackson & Piper McLean, Percy Jackson/Annabeth Chase

Powerful Percy Jackson, Percy Jackson makes a hurricane

Jason Grace finally finds out why Percy Jackson is so respected.

you might wanna start with that next time by DiveInsideMyMind

G | 2.0k | Complete

Percy Jackson/Annabeth Chase, Percy Jackson & The Seven

Powerful Percy Jackson, BAMF Percy Jackson

The prophesied demigods learn just how much Percy has done in his short life.

the waters connect them, unseen by Nightingale231 

T | 2.0k | Complete

Percy Jackson & Triton, Percy Jackson & Poseidon, Poseidon & Triton

Protective Poseidon, Family Fluff, BAMF Percy Jackson

Delphin doesn't know how they're doing it, but somehow it works. He can see Prince Perseus' body change a little, pink and blue scales bubbling just under his skin as King-prince Triton forces him to own up to his heritage. They are so similar in their instinct even when they are different. It's strange, especially to an outsider who happens to know that they didn't grow up together, because looking at them now - clashing but together, a force to be reckoned with - he wouldn't have been able to tell. (Percy, Triton, and Poseidon experiencing each other, from the views of outsiders and, eventually, themselves.)

fight for what's right by Astarisbroughtbacktolife

G | 2.4k | Complete

Percy Jackson, Grover Underwood, Clarisse La Rue, Chiron, Paul Blofis, Poseidon

Powerful Percy Jackson, Family, Loss of Control

Percy reconnects with Grover in his plan to test what he can do.

some things we can't just get away from by Astarisbroughtbacktolife

G | 2.7k | Complete

Percy Jackson & Paul Blofis

Powerful Percy Jackson, Paul Blofis being a dad, Mild Hurt/Comfort

Percy's powers are still growing, and he doesn't know what to do. Telling Paul Blofis is always a good place to start.

i'd live for you (and that's hard to do) by librawritings

T | 3.0k | Complete

Percy Jackson/Annabeth Chase

Powerful Percy Jackson, Implied PTSD, Mentions of Tartarus

After Tartarus, one would hope that Percy and Annabeth catch a break. In fact, the opposite happens. Basically, Percy is powerful. Set between The House of Hades and The Blood of Olympus, because Rick didn't give us a Percy/Annbeth POV in the last book like we deserved, and I firmly believe Percy has god-level strength.

Split the sea by Multifandom_damnation

G | 3.2k | Complete

Percy Jackson/Annabeth Chase, Percy Jackson & Poseidon, Nico di Angelo/Will Solace

Camp Half Blood, Post-Tartarus, Underwater

Camp Half-Blood is under attack by a hungry army of monsters who are doing everything they could to break down the barrier that surrounds the camp in order to get their meal. In a last-ditch effort, the camp suits up for another unwinnable war in which they will fight until they can stand no longer when Percy and Annabeth ride in on the back of a horse to save the day. And Percy, after feeling much more powerful since returning from Tartarus, pulls some tricks from the bible and gets the campers to safety.

terrorbane by Nightingale231

T | 3.3k | Complete

Percy Jackson & Nico di Angelo, Percy Jackson & Triton, Percy Jackson & Poseidon

Powerful Percy Jackson, Brotherly Bonding, Poseidon is a Good Parent

He laughs, wild and free with the power that come of the Storm and the Seas, and lets the earth beneath him give him strength as the Storm does around him. Zeus may be the god of thunder, of lightning, and the ruler of the Winds, but he was not the god of the storms. The Storm and the Seas envelop him as the earth feeds him its strength, and he keeps laughing. It tears itself out of his throat just as he tears a bloody trail through the horde of monsters and leaves nothing but the hint of gold dust suspended in the air. - Or, Percy comes into his full powers, Triton and Poseidon are good family members, and Percy is a fucking badass.

I can't see by DancingInTheSliverGlow 

T | 3.5k | Complete

Percy Jackson/Annabeth Chase, Nico di Angelo/Will Solace, Percy Jackson & Nico di Angelo

Powerful Percy Jackson, Mrs. O'Leary saves the day, Hurt/Comfort

After the Giant War, Percy and Annabeth get kidnapped by one of Gaea's Giantesses who wants revenge on Percy for stopping her mother's plans to wake up. To defeat her, Percy goes all out with his powers as son of the earthshaker & natural disasters.

To be Known and Accepted by DancingInTheSliverGlow 

T | 3.8k | Complete

Percy Jackson & Hermes, Percy Jackson & Blackjack, background Percy Jackson/Annabeth Chase

Whump, Good Friend Hermes, Powerful Percy Jackson

Percy senses the blood before he sees it, the way he can sense water, seas and oceans. It's only a matter of time before his powers leak out, and hurts someone. Chiron talks to him, but it doesn't help. Chiron doesn't know what happened; apparently Annabeth isn't speaking to him, and Percy sure as hell isn't about to spread the fact that he has power over poison, blood and ichor around. He even gets on Mr. D's nerves. The alcoholic god glares at him and says: "I could smite you. Turn your blood against you, your molecules to dust." All Percy can think is, yeah, so can I.

a rose by any other name by IzzyMRDB

T | 3.8k | Complete

Percy Jackson & Poseidon

Alternate Universe, Poseidon is a Good Dad, Eldritch Horror!Percy

It wasn't Poseidon who met Sally on that beach on Montauk, but rather a far older, much more ancient version of him. Percy is born far older and younger than he should be.

Suez Canal Shores, Greek Gods and Memes by DancingInTheSliverGlow

T | 7.3k | Complete

Percy Jackson & Hermes, Ever Given Container Ship/Suez Canal (Anthropomorphic)

Inspired by Tumblr, Crack Taken Seriously, Powerful Percy Jackson, Percy fights Ares and kicks his ass again

The Ever Given’s Captain sits down in his office and covers his face in his hands. This is a disaster. A complete flaming heap of landfill - sized disaster, that will probably haunt him for the rest of his life. ~ ~ ~ “Brother,” Hermes addressed Apollo in their native tongue. “Look.” Apollo looked up and glanced at Hermes’ phone, before laughing. “I’ve seen that meme already,” Apollo replied in ancient greek. “You’ll have to do better than that. Look at the one my son, Will Solace sent me.” Apollo held up his phone and Hermes glanced at it. It consisted of three screenshots illustrating the Ever Given as Ragnarök who would defeat Global Capitalism, as Hela. Hermes laughed. He had to admit, it was good. Apollo looked smug, as if to say that his children made better memes. Hermes narrowed his eyes and glared, as if to say aww Styx no before scrolling through his phone, looking for more memes created by his children. The competition was on.

The Burden of Our Mortal Misery by mrthology

M | 12k | Complete

Percy Jackson/Dionysus, Percy Jackson & Poseidon

Post-Tartarus, Developing Relationship, Powerful Percy Jackson

“Get up,” Dionysus ordered. Percy ignored him. As they always did, memories of Tartarus crept back, a hold on him that never quite left. Falling, falling, falling. Always falling, never quite clawing his way back to the surface. Dionysus hauled him to his feet, hands a burning brand. Percy panted and met his eyes, barely able to stand under the force of the god's divinity. He wondered if this was what people meant when they talked about the myths, why people loved and worshipped the gods and feared them in turn. Percy had never seen them as people to revere and love. They were cruel; petty. They had done nothing but treat Percy like a pawn in their schemes, then thrown him to the proverbial wolves once they’d been done with him. But he thought he was beginning to understand. He felt tiny before Dionysus, insignificant. It was more of a comfort than Percy wanted to admit. “What’s happening to me?” — Percy had left something of himself down in Tartarus, and he didn’t think he’d ever get it back. He wasn’t sure he wanted to.

Reprise by 60sec400

T | 14k | Complete

Percy Jackson/Annabeth Chase

Poseidon is a Good Dad, Powerful Percy Jackson, Immortality

Percy knew he was different from the other people around him. He knew it. Two mortals notice more than they should, and they don't like what they see. But then he'd come to Camp Half-Blood, and he thought he might fit in. But he was different even there. Doubt creeps in like a haunting spectre and Percy has a run in with Truth. Fate is a bitch.

Walking Backward Into My Own Myth by mrthology

M | 19k | Complete

Percy Jackson/Annabeth Chase

Time Loop, Percy Jackson Needs a Hug, Powerful Percy Jackson

"You should have ascended years ago," Zeus said without preamble, looking down at Percy. The other Olympians, even his father, remained silent, watching the proceedings with uncharacteristic solemnity. "I said no years ago," Percy snapped, rage making his voice tremble and hands shake. "I didn't want to be a God then, and I want to even less now. I've seen how horrible eternity is." "You would defy the fates themselves?" Athena asked softly, leaning forwards with narrowed eyes. She looked more godly than Percy had ever seen her, to the point where it was nearly unbearable to look at her face. Percy did so nevertheless, glaring at the Goddess he'd lost almost all respect for. "You had children die today," he snapped, desperate to return to Camp. "Annabeth could still die—hasn't she done enough?" ——— Or, Percy keeps living the same horrible day over and over and over again, regardless of what he does. Eventually, something will have to give. Percy just isn't sure what.

some have entertained angels unaware by Skywalking_through_life

T | 21k | Complete

Percy Jackson & Sally Jackson, Percy Jackson & Paul Blofis, background Percy Jackson/Annabeth Chase

Post-Gaea & The Second Giant War, POV Outsider, Powerful Percy Jackson

"Slumping at the table next to his now slightly raspy stepfather, Percy decided to make one last appeal. "Paul, you can't seriously think me dying of frostbite or exposure on the way to see the Statue of Liberty for the eighty-millionth time is a good death, right? Like, I could do so much better." Paul shrugged, eyes dancing. "I'm not the expert on death in this family, Perce. But I do imagine it's probably more heroic than dying of boredom in US Government class?"' Percy didn't think there was a god of field trips, but if there was...he was pretty sure that they hated him.

I am not what I expected (The poison just didn't take) by dcninja

M | 30k | Complete

Percy Jackson & Hermes, Percy Jackson & Hades, Percy Jackson & Poseidon, Percy Jackson & Kymopoleia

Percy Jackson Needs a Hug, Ascension, Powerful Percy Jackson

After the War against Gaea, Percy finds himself struggling in the life he worked so hard to get back to. The more he tries to fit back in, pushing down his powers and emotions after the war, the more things seem to fall apart. As Olympus prepares to officially reopen at the Winter Solstice, Hermes takes notice that something is off with the Savior of Olympus. But when he asked for help from Hades, none of them could imagine what Percy’s trip to the Pit led to and what it will mean for the hero. Or Percy finally reckons with the consequences of challenging Akhlys with a little help from his immortal family, who he might be around for a lot longer than he thought.

Fishing in Alaska by CaffeinatedFlumadiddle

G | 112k | Complete

Percy Jackson & Triton, Percy Jackson/Annabeth Chase, Percy Jackson & Poseidon

Family Feels, PTSD, Triton is a Good Sibling

[Note: fic was deleted from ao3. Link is to a google drive copy. The hassle is worth it].

“This… this would qualify as a mental breakdown, right?” Triton asked, frowning over his shoulder to where Percy was still fuming in the corner. The lady at the counter curiously glanced over before lifting a questioning brow. “My brother – half-brother, technically, I have much better breeding – decided to run away from home to where our father can’t reach him and now he won’t leave. And now I can’t leave unless he leaves,” Triton continued. Percy opened his mouth to object that wasn’t what happened at all, but the tyrant only waved a hand to silence him. “He’s seen war or whatever, so if you could maybe just drug him then I’ll throw him into a suitcase and we can be out of here by the Summer Solstice!” Silence. Finally, the woman cleared her throat and turned to Percy. “I’m guessing he’s the one you want checked into the mental hospital?” She asked. Triton gasped as Percy punched the air in victory. “Aha!” Or: Getting in trouble works a little differently when your parent is an all-powerful god. Sometimes you have to escape to the land beyond gods and get your immortal brother turned human to drag you back so you can be exploded a million pieces. You know, normal teenage stuff.

alone at the edge of a universe by Sarcastic_Metaphor

M | 281k | Complete

Percy Jackson & Annabeth Chase, Percy Jackson & Sally Jackson, Percy Jackson & Poseidon, More Relationships

Chaos!Percy, Percy Jackson Needs a Hug, Powerful Percy Jackson

The sea is not unlike the abyss; it is deadly, destructive. It hides secrets in its depths and threatens even those that know it well. The sea easily swallows life with no trace left behind. The sea can be quite similar to oblivion. But when the mood strikes them, both the oceans and the abyss can be tempted to create life instead. Or, a complete AU rewrite from pre-canon through all five PJO books: Percy is born a little less human and a little more otherworldly than healthy. With powers he was never meant to have, and a third parent he never wanted, the plans that the Fates originally made for him will be torn asunder.

[captainremmington-13]

𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖉𝖆𝖚𝖌𝖍𝖙𝖊𝖗 𝖔𝖋 𝖉𝖊𝖆𝖙𝖍

𝖈𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗 𝖘𝖊𝖛𝖊𝖓

show!Luke Castellan x daughter of thanatos!reader

DISCLAIMER: I don’t own the image above or any of Rick Riordan’s characters/world-building.

⚠️Warnings⚠️: swearing, angst, crying, some violence, mentions of injury

A/N: i’m sorry this took so long to write😭please forgive me

“Get back!” 

Luke’s sword was pointed directly at the Cyclop’s chest. “Threaten my girl again, and you’ll wish you never left Tartarus.”

You stood next to him, your hands curling around your weapon’s hilt tightly. You were exhausted, but you knew you couldn’t let your guard down. If you did, you would be ripped to pieces.

You and Luke had only been traveling for three days, but you’d faced at least eight different monsters. You felt completely responsible, as you knew your presence was like a magnet for them. The last time you’d been in the mortal world for this long was before you’d been brought to Camp Half-Blood, and even then, monsters were attacking you at every turn. At least now, you had your powers, an ally, and a weapon to protect you. 

Fortunately, none of the beasts that had come after you and Luke had managed to harm you. 

Yet. 

You still had about three days left before you reached The Garden of Hesperides. 

You pointed one end of your dual-ended sword at the Cyclop. It would’ve been even more intimidating if it hadn’t been wearing a cheesy graphic t-shirt that read “Live, Laugh, Love”. “One more move and you’ll be dead.”

It laughed. “You cannot kill me, puny demigod. I have lived for thousands of years, and slaughtered hundreds of your kind. And you think your little stick can defeat me?”

Your temper, which was already short due to fatigue, began to spike. 

“Fuck off,” you sneered. “You know, I was considering letting you live if you gave us some supplies for free, but you’ve really pissed me off now.” 

It cackled. “I’m sooooo scared,” it said mockingly. “Little demigod nobody threatening me? I better run and hide.”

You smiled as its ugly eye widened in horror, observing the smoky black wings appearing against your back. “Yeah, you better.” 

“So, Thanatos has sired a demigod child,” it said, trying and failing to hide its fear. “I never expected…well, no matter. You’re just as capable of dying as any other half-blood.”

Within seconds, the Cyclop was nothing but a pile of dust.

Your sword had been thrown right into its throat, sending it back to the depths of the hellish landscape that was Tartarus.

Luke breathed a side of relief, and placed his sword back in its sheath. 

“Well done, angel,” he said, giving you a soft pat on the shoulder. “We need to get out of here, though.”

“Yeah,” you glance around the sketchy gas station, searching for any other looming threats. Fortunately, it seemed to be empty. That made sense, you doubted anyone would stop here unless it was an emergency. You and Luke had only entered it because you were in desperate need of water. When Luke had tried to steal a few bottles, the young Cyclop disguised as an employee had stopped him aggressively. Then, it revealed it’s true form.

It was annoying how easily they could creep up on you.

After stealing a couple snacks for good measure, you and Luke left the building. 

“So, where to next?”

Luke looked towards the horizon, where the sun was beginning to set. “We should find a place to stay for the night. We’ll get on a train tomorrow, which should take us to Nevada. Then, we’ll only have to hitchhike for a couple days.”

He took your hand, and you began walking along the side of the road. As annoying it was to have to walk so far, it was peaceful in a way. It had given you and Luke time to further explore your dynamic as a couple.

You recognized that you had gotten…softer. You were still strong-willed, strategic, and powerful. But when you were with Luke, you naturally acted sweeter. And he brought out that side, simply by being a loving boyfriend.

You could let your guard down and be vulnerable, knowing that he would accept that side of you.

You had also come to realize that you enjoyed letting him take the lead once and awhile. Of course, you always had a say in everything you did with him. But it felt good to be cared for, to be looked after once and awhile. 

Because of the constant looming threat of danger, Luke’s protectiveness had increased tenfold. You suspected this was because of his past experiences with being on the run. You didn’t know every detail, but you knew enough to understand why he was so concerned about you. He didn’t want you to be attacked and meet a fate similar to Thalia’s.

You appreciated his dedication to keeping you safe. It was nice to know that he cared that much about you. 

Sure, it was a little scary when he got that crooked gleam in his eyes while killing your beastly assailants. But you knew he was doing it to protect you. He’d never let anyone or anything lay a finger on you. 

Besides, as ethically questionable as it was, bloodlust looked really fucking good on him.

________________________________________________

“Hey, you alive?”

Your eyes snapped open, Luke’s concerned voice capturing your attention.

After eating two bags of chips and splitting a mediocre ham-and-cheese sandwich with your boyfriend, your body began to succumb to exhaustion. You felt extremely drowsy, and all you wanted was to get a good night’s sleep curled up in Luke’s arms. 

You didn’t have enough money to stay in a hotel room overnight, so you had resorted to setting up camp in the woods. Luke had taught you how to make a makeshift tent with some waterproof blankets he’d brought along. It wasn’t luxurious by any means, but it would suffice. 

Besides, it felt more like home than Cabin 11. 

“Y-Yeah,” you murmured, sitting up slowly. You’d momentarily dozed off, lying on the blanket-covered ground.  “What were you saying?”

Luke sighed. “Never mind.”

You swallowed. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to ignore you, I-“

“Angel, what have I said about the unnecessary apologies?”

You rolled your eyes. “‘Don’t do it’,” you said, mimicking his voice. You enjoyed teasing him, his face got all flushed and his eyes would become even more piercing than usual.

Luke gave you a playful glare. “You’re such a brat.”

“Am not,” you argued, giving him a cheeky smile. He shook his head, and reached out to pull you into his arms. You settled onto his lap, resting your head on his shoulder. 

“I wish we could stay like this forever,” you whispered, entangling your fingers with his. “Just the two of us, away from the chaos of camp, unbothered by gods and monsters.” 

“Me too,” Luke agreed, pressing a sweet kiss to your cheek. “Sometimes I wish we could run away from camp, so we could live a life of our own.”

“If we did, we’d constantly be attacked by immortals and beasts. Not to mention that we’d have a hard time adjusting to a “normal” lifestyle. We don’t have educations, or a place to stay, or-“

“I know, I know,” Luke cut in. “It’s just a fantasy of mine, that we could put the Olympians and monsters behind us, and be normal teens. I know it’s impossible, but a guy can dream…”

You nodded wordlessly. Luke’s warmth was making your mind shut down, begging for a chance to finally rest. 

“Let’s go to sleep, angel, you look like you’re gonna pass out any second,” he said softly, lifting you off of him and laying down besides you. He pulled a blanket over you, and wrapped a strong arm around your waist. 

Curling a hand around his bicep, you nuzzled into his chest, enjoying the intimate moment. 

“Luke?”

“Hm?”

“I love you.”

Luke smiled gently, pulling you closer to give you a passionate kiss. “I love you, angel. Sweet dreams.”

Within mere moments, you drifted off, dreaming of a world where you and your boyfriend could live in peace. 

.

.

.

Of course, because the gods seemed to hate you both, your blissful night didn’t last very long. 

A lycanthrope that lurked in the woods had tracked your scent, and was now chasing you at full speed. You and Luke had barely had time to grab your supplies and weapons before bolting to avoid being mauled.

“What the fuck are we going to do?” you yelled, looking over your shoulder to see the beast steadily approaching you both.

“Kill it!” Luke yelled back.

“How?”

“Create a diversion! You get above it, and I’ll distract it on the ground so you can cleanly stab it through the neck.”

You tried to avoid using your wings as much as possible. They made you feel monstrous, and they reminded you who your godly parent was, which was something you tried to forget.

But now, it was necessary. You had to use them, or risk letting the lycanthrope kill you and Luke. 

Quickly willing your wings to appear, you launched into the air silently, disappearing into the trees above. You perched on a sturdy branch, watching as Luke kept the lycanthrope occupied. Finally, after a moment, you saw an opportunity to strike.

Your weapon expanded to its full size, which was a little longer than a yard. You swooped down like a hawk catching its prey, and brought one of the blades of your sword down on its neck. Unfortunately, it managed to dodge just enough so that you cut its skin, but didn’t hit anything fatal. 

“Fuck!” you screamed, frustrated that you’d missed your chance to kill it. You swung at it angrily, which only enraged the creature further. 

Luke appeared at your side, raising his blade. “Stay back, or you’ll be cut to pieces,” he warned the lycanthrope. 

It snarled. “You’ll make a fine meal, young demigod. Perhaps by killing you both, I’ll have leftovers by tomorrow morning.”

You stepped in front of Luke, pure hatred coursing through you. Why couldn’t monsters leave you alone for one fucking night? It was completely unfair, especially because it was out of control. It was the god’s fault for creating children that were constantly harassed by vicious beasts. That thought only fueled your anger. 

You lifted your weapon and prepared to strike, but before you could, the lycanthrope lunged. Instinctively, you threw your arms in front of you, even though it wouldn’t do any good against it’s deadly claws and teeth. 

But the fatal bite never came.

When you opened your eyes, you saw a pile of grey ash on the grassy floor, surrounded by all-too-familiar black smoke. 

Had you just killed the lycanthrope without laying a finger on it?

Luke placed his hands on your shoulders, turning you to face him. “Holy shit,” he whispered, his voice trembling. You couldn’t tell why he was so shaken, but you had a feeling he was afraid. 

Afraid of you.

You really were an abomination.

“Luke…” you whispered, feeling your vision fade to black and your head swirl with dizziness.

Luke had just enough time to catch you before your head hit the ground. 

________________________________________________

You awoke to Luke stroking your hair, pleading quietly for you to come back to him. He had a square of ambrosia in his hand, and a water bottle in the other. You could see that his eyes were bloodshot. He had clearly been crying. 

When you fully opened your eyes, the sunlight streaming through the trees made you wince. 

How long had you been out?

“Oh, thank the Fates,” Luke sighed, helping you sit up slowly. He pressed a few frantic kisses to your forehead, being careful not to hurt you. “I was so fucking worried. Here, drink some water and eat this.” 

He placed the ambrosia square in your hand, and held the bottle of water to your lips. You drank slowly, the water soothing your abnormally dry throat.

After finishing the ambrosia, you managed to ask, “How long was I knocked out?”

Luke bit the inside of his cheek. “Well it’s about 9:00 in the morning now, so I’d say at least nine hours.” 

“Fuck, nine hours?” You couldn’t help but start panicking. You’d wasted at least three hours of travel time, you could end up missing the train!

You tried to scramble to your feet, but as soon as you stood up straight, you felt nauseous. 

“Woah there,” Luke said, coaxing you back to a sitting position. “It’s okay, we’ll figure something else out.”

“It’s not okay,” you argued, burying your face in your hands. “We’re gonna miss the train, and then it’s gonna take even longer to get to-“

“We’ll find a way, I’ll steal a car again if I have to,” Luke said firmly. “It’s not your fault angel, we’ll get there one way or another, I promise.”

“Yes, it literally is my fault,” you snapped. “I passed out because something really fucking scary happened with my powers.”

You felt hot tears spill down your cheeks, your insides clenching painfully. “I can kill just by getting angry enough. I’m a fucking monster.”

“No, no no no,” Luke shook his head. He removed your hands from your faced, and cupped it with his palms gently. “We were being attacked. You would have killed the lycanthrope anyway-“

“But I killed it without even touching it. No normal person can do that.”

“That’s because you’re not normal, angel, you’re extraordinarily powerful.”

“That’s the problem, Luke! I-I think my powers are developing, changing, getting stronger. I need to learn to control and understand them before someone innocent gets hurt.”

“Angel, please listen to me,” your boyfriend said, a loving look in his eyes. “Yes, you should learn how your new ability work and the extent of its power. But having it does not make you monstrous. It isn’t your fault that your father is who he is. Forget about him, he can go fuck himself. You can use this newfound power for whatever you want, or you can try to never use it again. It’s completely in your control. And no matter what you decide, I will always love you, and I’ll always be on your side. Understand?”

You sobbed, the tears flowing faster. But they weren’t from sadness or anger anymore, they were tears of happiness and relief.

“Thank you,” you whispered, sniffling quietly.

Luke brushed away the tears on your cheeks with his thumbs, giving you a warm smile. “What for?”

“For not being afraid and running away. For believing that who my godly parent is doesn’t matter. For believing that I’m still worthy of love, even though I’m a direct descendent of death.”

He enveloped you in a hug, his right hand resting on the back of your head. You clung to him, his mere presence soothing your worries. 

“Deadly or not, you’re my girl. My angel. As I said, I’ll always be by your side. Not even the gods could pry me away from you.”

You grabbed the collar of Luke’s shirt gently, and pulled him into a passionate kiss. Gods, his lips were so addicting, it was almost as intoxicating as basilisk venom. You would kiss him for the rest of time if you could. 

When you finally pulled away, you felt a lot better. Luke brushed your hair out of your eyes and stood up, offering a hand to you to help you up as well.

“I’ll help you figure out your new power,” Luke promised. “When we have time, you can practice on small plants and trees and stuff like that.  See exactly how it functions and just how much it takes out of you. Once you get the hang of it, I’m sure it’ll be less draining.” 

You nodded, gripping his hand firmly. “Okay. Sounds like a plan.” 

Luke gave you one last peck on the lips before picking up both of your backpacks and slinging them over his shoulder. “Shall we get going then? I think we can make the train if we hurry. If you get too tired, I’ll carry you.” 

You laughed quietly, leaning against his arm as you headed towards the edge of the woods to return to the city. 

“You’re impossibly sweet, you know that?”

“Only for you, angel. Only for you.” 

taglist: @orionspaperwork, @pansexualwitchwhoneedstherapy, @marvelescvpe, @lovingjasontoddmakemewanttocry, @louweasleymalfoy, @stars4birdie, @stargurl-battleship, @daughterofthemoons-stuff

Thank you for reading! Pls let me know what you think in the comments!!!

The next chapter will include more intense battles against monsters, as well as the reader discovering just how lethal her new power is…There will also be some fluff because I love writing cute moments lol

Let me know in the comments if you want to be added to the taglist!

[elle-p]

All of the Fortune-Teller's P3R dialogue(minus the bit about the Tartarus changes).

Fortune-Teller: Hmm… I feel a strange aura around you… In my mind, I see visions… People's pasts, presents, and futures… For most people, I see clearly and far ahead… But you are different… Your future is filled with both blinding light and stagnant shadow… I can see but a small portion… What lies beyond that is shrouded in mystery… What a peculiar fate you carry… Now, young man… Bearer of light and shadow… If you wish to know more about the near future… come and talk to me… I will share my limited visions with you…

Fortune-Teller: Now, tell me… What shall it be?

Fortune-Teller: Would you like to know your fortune?

{Yes, please.}

Fortune-Teller: Then let us begin… Fortune-Teller: Let us hope that you find fortune in your destiny...

{No, thanks.}

Fortune-Teller: Come back any time…

Fortune-Teller: You have pulled fate's trigger… The bullet passes through many, heading directly to its target… What target that may be, however, is unknown to me… You must find that out for yourself…

Fortune-Teller: A long rail under the empty sky… On it stands youth in disarray… You seem to live a tumultuous life… What do you see at the end of the rail…?

Fortune-Teller: I feel another change… A strong wind blows across the world, sending a blue flower's petals into the air… How will you interpret this wind…? As a weak and frail breeze, or a brave and mighty gust…?

Fortune-Teller: It seems you have made another friend… A late-night affair, unseen by all… A bond made in the darkness, where the shadows lurk… The result of this bond is too distant to be seen… The only way to know how it will end is to see for yourself…

Fortune-Teller: Shadows within shadows… Many shadows crawl amidst the immense shadow… Twelve shadows feasting upon the heart of man… Monstrous, yet dignified… They gather around you… Beware…

Fortune-Teller: Guns scattered in the billowing shadow… Arms reach in to grasp them… Their muzzles pointed at different shadows; their triggers pulled on different occasions… Where do you point your gun? What will occur as a result of its firing…? Can you collect all the guns that have been scattered…?

Fortune-Teller: I see a girl… She stands between light and dark, life and simulacrum… She falters… as if not knowing on which side she belongs… Hm…? She is trying to tell you something… Can you hear her words…?

Fortune-Teller: Three blades close in on you, tearing the shadow apart… A brave howl confronts them… Things seem to be stirring around you once again… There is more… In the depths of the abyss, another blade watches you closely…

Fortune-Teller: A dark past sinking into the deep shadow… It enfolds the people who are involved and captures them… Who are the ones that are trapped…? Hard though I try to see them, my vision blurs, and everything becomes obscure… Can you see…?

Fortune-Teller: The golden sky spreads outside the window… A girl holding a world of white in her slender arms… A boy struggles, searching to find meaning in himself and the girl… But the conclusion has not yet been written… It is entrusted to the girl and her white world… You must stand firmly, and watch things unfold…

Fortune-Teller: After the storm comes not calm, but another trial… Do not despair, however… I sense strong forces at your side, even more so than before… Be brave, and confront this hardship with unshakeable resolve…

Fortune-Teller: A light has disappeared… The shadow grows darker… But the lost light's will lives on in a strong, new light… You have reached a turning point… The light has begun to challenge the shadow… Your time is coming… soon…

Fortune-Teller: A strong wind blows across the world, sending a blue flower's petals into the air… The flower discovered the world, made friends to protect, and has become another light… The lights are gathering around you… Be prepared…

Fortune-Teller: A bridge lit by the full moon… Songs of victory echo in the air as the shadow is overcome… Go… Now is the time for celebration…

Fortune-Teller: Under the fat crescent moon… a feeble light at the hollow tower… A gunshot rings out, shattering my vision into a thousand pieces… I am sorry… I can see no further… But I can say this… The shadow yet remains…

Fortune-Teller: Oh…? Is this a new friend…? How mystifying… No one can see into his essence… No one, save for one girl…

Fortune-Teller: The answer and the secret to life are passed on, one life to the next… Two lights now pierce through the shadow… The hour draws near… How do you fare…?

Fortune-Teller: A girl falls under the full moon… A boy walks amidst shadow, and he himself is shadow… A child who bears shadows within… The immense shadow approaches… Its depth unfathomable; its extent without limit… It comes to end all things… The darkness hidden by the shining heavens… How will you stand against such a fate…?

Fortune-Teller: You have pulled the trigger of fate… I see it now… The target was the shadow of impending doom… Your goal is now clear… Keep your flame of life ablaze until the end…

Fortune-Teller: I see nothing… No… What I see is nothingness… It is the void… But do not lose heart… Emptiness is not necessarily the end… The void is infinite… as is the universe… Whether this marks an end to all things or a beginning… It is in your hands…

[fionajames]

the great wolf

A/N: HELLO HELLO HELLO. IVE EMERGED FROM THE DEPTHS OF TARTARUS TO GIVE YOU THIS. This is the new oc :). Please send requests!!! Enjoy!!!

Fenrir Wixx

portrayed by Cole Sprouse

The night the war officially ended was something Ahsoka never wanted to forget. 

She stood on the command bridge with Rex by her side, when a holo came through. She sucked in a breath as her soul twanged with an odd feeling, like a sense of deja vu. Ahsoka turned to Rex, who was unbothered by the unfamiliar wave of emotions that had flooded her. 

Together they walked over to accept the call, met by the grinning face of Obi-Wan. Ahsoka raised an eyebrow as she instinctively and subconsciously poked at their bond, met with a wave of delighted warmth. Hope sparked in the pit of her stomach.

“I have excellent news,” Obi-Wan greeted them and Rex and Ahsoka exchanged a hopeful glance, the corner of Rex’s lip tilted up ever so slightly. “Grievous has been defeated, Dooku has been captured.”

“That means,” Rex turned to the holo, a small smile creeping onto his face. Obi-Wan laughed before answering. 

“Yes, Captain. The war is over.”

The galaxy seemed to freeze as Ahsoka stared at the holo, her lips forming a smile. From the moment she’d completed her first mission, Ahsoka knew her destiny was to fight in this war, to fight beside Anakin Skywalker. Whether she died, it didn’t matter. She was just another death, another number.

But now, the war is over.

There was no more fighting.

A single tear fell from her eye, like a diamond in the sea.

A howl of glee rang through the air as Rex tackled Ahsoka in a long awaited hug, burying his face in the crook of her neck. He laughed loudly, tears spilling down his face. Ahsoka fell from her shock as she returned the hug, gripping him just as tightly - if not tighter - and crying as jubilation filled her.

Cheers of rejoice echoed throughout the ship as the holo turned off, leaving Ahsoka and Rex to sob with exuberance. They laughed and they cried, they danced and they sang. The ship wasn’t quiet for even a moment for the rest of the trip.

Jesse came to Ahsoka one night, begging for a buddy to sleep with. He was anxious after the ending of the war, and of course, he came with Fives in tow. The three of them gathered as many blankets and pillows as possible, before calling most of Torrent Company to join the cuddle pile.

Ahsoka slept better that night than she had in years. 

When they finally reached Coruscant, the entire planet was bright and alive, cheers and celebrations everywhere the eye could see. Ahsoka practically fell out of the ship trying to get to her family quickly.

Obi-Wan, Anakin and Padme were awaiting her at the bay, and she was immediately brought into a hug by Anakin. More tears were shed, more laughs were spilled and more joy was expressed. None of them had imagined the pure bliss they would feel when the war ended.

The next few weeks were a nightmare for all of them, Padme in particular. The Senate was in chaos, with debt in every direction and fees to pay. But with the guiding hand of newly made Chancellor Bail Organa, the Republic was thriving.

When Bo Katan sent payment for Ahsoka assisting in freeing Mandalore of Maul, Ahsoka immediately sought an apartment. She found a good, temporary one on the middle levels of Coruscant. 

Rex followed her everywhere, and without hesitation, she let Fives and him live with her for a bit. 

She quickly remembered neither of the Clones had civilian clothes, and found great entertainment in assisting them as they shopped. She did the same with Jesse when he turned up at her door at three in the morning days later with the realisation he had nowhere to live.

For about a month, the four lived together in a smaller than appreciated apartment, and the stories that came from their time together were endless. One night, someone tried to break in.

“Do you hear something?” Jesse whispered to Fives as he blinked at the darkness surrounding them. Fives yawned and murmured a ‘no’. “Rex?”

The former Captain rolled over to face his brothers, eyelids drooping from sleepless nights. They all slept very well on their mattresses on the floor, but sometimes it was too comfortable. “The creak?”

“Yeah,” Jesse breathed out, sitting up. He shuffled to his feet - ignoring Fives’ groan - and tiptoed out of their room and into Ahsoka’s. He knocked on the door, waiting for a response. “Vod’ika?”

“Hmm?” Ahsoka hummed in response, and Jesse stepped into her room. She watched him carefully, exhaustion clear on her features. “Yea-”. She didn’t even finish as she suddenly jolted upright and leaped from the bed, pushing past Jesse.

He gaped.

Ahsoka raced into the main room - Jesse hurrying behind her - and lunged forward, tackling something. Just one glimpse and Jesse realised that his sister had tackled what looked like a human figure, clothed in all black.

He leaped forward to help, but didn’t get the chance.

Ahsoka kneed the figure in the groin and punched their face repeatedly, sending them down to the floor with another swift kick. She reached up and hastily ripped the black mask off their face, revealing a teenaged human boy. 

He had wavy and curling soft black hair that fell over the right side of his face, bluish green eyes and light skin. He coughed as blood dripped from his nose, wincing and holding his hands up. “I surrender, ori’haat.” 

“Who are you?” Jesse snarled, moving to stand beside his sister. Rex and Fives were behind them, having rushed out when they heard the fight. 

“Shabuir,” the boy cursed, tears welling in his eyes from being hit so many times. A twang of guilt rushed through Jesse before he pushed it down. “Fenrir Wixx, that’s me.” He was breathless and panting as he struggled to sit up slightly. 

“What do you want?!” Rex growled, pulling Ahsoka behind him. The boy let out a choked, rasping laugh that sent shivers down Jesse’s spine.

“What do you think I’m doing?!” Fenrir snapped, the smirk he was wearing turning sharp and cold. “Committing theft… Please?”

“Did you just ask us to let you steal our stuff?” Fives spluttered.

“Yes.”

“Wha-why?!”

“Well, my mam always says, ‘Be polite, Fen!’ And so I thought it was worth a shot!”

Ahsoka, Rex, Jesse and Fives all exchanged a glance before sighing. 

“And why are you stealing?” Ahsoka asked, relaxing her fighting stance.

Fenrir scoffed. “Well, I’m broke.”

The four exchanged glances again, before Rex sighed, reaching hand forward to pull the boy to his feet. A grateful smile crossed Fenrir’s face. None of them noticed the look of disappointment and frustration that flashed across Fenrir’s face.

“Thanks,” he murmured, suddenly uncomfortable. He knew he had no right to be uncomfortable when he’d tried to steal from them, but he couldn’t exactly change how he felt. “I’ll be going now.”

As the boy turned to leave through the window he’d come through, Jesse stepped in front of him. “We’re not just gonna let you go!”

Fenrir looked between the four before nodding and stepping away. But when Jesse relaxed and moved from the window, the boy raced towards the window. He leaped through the open area, avoiding the class around him as he did.

Behind him, the four raced to the window, watching him fall down the building, legs and arms spread out as he did. Fenrir fell and fell and fell, and when he was finally nearing a platform that would kill him upon impact, he twisted and slowly landed on the platform, the boosters on his boots activated.

The four gaped as he looked up at them, so far away they couldn’t see his features. But they did see the tiny wave he gave them before running off.

A/N: Hope you enjoyed!!! Send requests, pleaseee!!!

(taglist: @skellymom, @techs-goggles9902)

[newathens]

ohhh my god, okay you know that post you made about tsats that was basically talking about how the book completely disregards anyone that helped nico before now, that was so fucking annoying to read. i was taking notes while reading and i wrote "i just don't love how it's kinda framed like nico needed a romantic relationship to feel accepted, i feel like everything that nico is saying will did to make him feel accepted is something that all the other people he knows also did" and "'i like that you want to take care of me, i haven't had someone like that in my life since bianca' - i guess hazel, percy, and jason mean nothing then"

also another big problem i had with the book overall is that it was constantly /telling/ me things and never /showing/ them. like constantly nico would /say/ that will made him happy and made him feel like he belonged but all that we /saw/ was will making nico feel bad for being a child of hades and hating on the underworld.

the themes and stuff where also being constantly just directly told to the reader in a way that brought everything to a grinding halt, like that bull guy accusing nico and will of being homophobic, that demon being like "not a guy!!", and "consent, it makes people feel safe." and like obviously these are good messages and stuff but like the bull guy could have sent nico and will on his stupid little quest without all of that and nico was literally already using they/them pronouns for the demon, i know that it depends on the person and some people would like such direct dialog on the issues, but personally, i would have 100% preferred for queer people to just exist in the story without it having to be a big deal every time.

also nyx was interesting for like 2 seconds in the middle of the book imo (the first time nico was in tartarus) and then at the end she became the most broing antagonist ever. i miss when the main antagonist had depth and nuance and a reason to be doing anything, the "nyx doesn't want this one random demi-god that she has no reason to care about to grow as a person bc she's the primordial goddess of the night" felt like a maaaaajor stretch, maybe i missed something but i did not understand why she cared At All.

(if you care about spoilers for the very end don't read this part yet)

the ending sucked sooooo bad. first of all, it had been foreshadowed throughout the book that nico would have to give something important up obviously from the prophecy, and i was actually really interested to see what it would end up being bc in other books, espesially pjo, i feel like rick did a good job with the prophecy where at the end the audience was surprised to learn what they actually meant but they still made perfect sense, but i couldn't figure out what he would have to give up while i was reading. and then it ended up being the fucking demons???? even that was stupid i thought bc in what world are these random creatures we just met as important as bob? BUT!!!! they didn't even give them up!! they took they back up to the mortal world??!!! they literally did not leave anything behind. one might argue that it was supposed to be a metaphorical letting go of your inner demons but like a major part of the book had been accepting that everyone has some darkness within them and like learning to live with it right??????? so like??? what did they leave behind.

anyway final point, sorry about the essay. at the end hades says that he is the one that sent nico on the quest and then says it's bc like percy opened his eyes and changed things or whatever and like??? how is sending nico, a child, on a quest to fucking /tartarus/ doing what percy would have wanted?????? sending children on quest and getting them to do the gods work is literally what the entire conflict of pjo was about and something that percy has been angry about since literally like the first book, i literally had to stop reading and take some deep breathes when i read that part i was so mad

[skarlette1]

Three Days of Gifts

The first day’s mystery package had intrigued Alexis. Who would send me pearl earrings with no note? she wondered. Still, they were lovely. The rainbow shimmering of the evening light on their smooth, hard surface captivated her. Putting them on, Alexis daydreamed of who might have sent them, and what he might want in return for such a valuable gift. Her dreams that night were vivid and steamy.

The next day’s package was larger, but no less mysterious. Two pearl necklaces, one short with large, beautiful pearls; the other long with smaller spheres in a chain that was nearly endless. Alexis could not say how long she spent caressing its length with her eyes. As good as the pearls looked, they felt better on her naked skin. She relished their tiny, tight caresses. She could not imagine giving them back if she ever found the gift-giver. Her dreams that night were dark and filled with desperate yearning.

The third package was stout, just like the mother-of-pearl-tipped dildo inside. Alexis gasped in shock at its bold, masculine shape. She tried to put it back in the box, but could not stop wondering what it would feel like. In a final fit of defiance, she hurled the naughty thing to the floor.

When its own weight brought it erect and proud, Alexis knew what she had to do. As she rode the dildo toward a zenith of bliss, Alexis heard herself chanting mantras of obedience she had never heard. Each word felt like her mind dripping from her mouth like the juice dripping from her pussy. Each word felt better than the last.

That night, Alexis dreamed of obedience and pleasure. It was a dream from which she would never awaken.

suggested by @pearlqueensposts in Fall 2016

---

Believe it or not, I wrote this nearly five years before I even started my long-running story Pearl Girls! This "Alexis" wasn't originally intended to be Alexis Ames, PhD, aka the superheroine Argent. But re-reading it now, it could indeed form a decent early chapter, when Treasure Tartarus is still wrapping our helpless heroine in her pearl-encrusted clutches!

Like what you read? Will you buy me a coffee and request something rich to sink my teeth into? Or peek into the depths of my longer fiction?

[biancaskingdom]

As Bianca remembers Percy's tragic death and Nico cries by her side, she realizes she must do the thing she swore never to do. She must kill someone. As Luke rides unsuspectingly down the hill on his Pegasus, she fires the shot and feels this guilt and pain rise inside of her. But then, she realizes she must take revenge for Percy. The only man she's ever loved. As Nico falls to the floor sobbing, and crying "Percy You Are Avenged! Father, Send Luke Castellan To The DEPTHS Of Tartarus!" "WAIT!" Bianca cries. She runs towards the dying Luke, hoping to get information out of him before he's gone. He tells her Percy's last words, -"Luke, just tell Bianca I love her. And please, PLEASE don't hurt them. Remember your mother. She loves you. Give this to Bianca, please.' (kisses luke's lips) 'Tell her it's from me. Goodbye, Luke." Bianca gasps, starts sobbing, then realizes she can't waste Percy's gift. She quickly kisses Luke, and as she wraps her ams around him, he changes. She opens her eyes to see Percy. She faints out of shock, as Nico runs towards him, Jumps into his arms, and starts to sob.

[writerwrightlegend]

200-word challenge:Day 8.

I am cursed. Cursed by the radiant light that I've longed to a part of. I used to live above the earth in the midst of the skies where a palace of marble and gold sat atop the snow-white clouds. I was the God of the sun and the stars. Every day, I would ride in the golden chariot across the sky and watch below as the mortals of the land did so many wonderful things on the land and sea. Every night, I would send the stars into the sky and watch them as the sky shined in the moonlight. Life was fine until the Titans returned from the depths of the Tartarus and demanded that one of the gods living in Olympus be thrown down into the Underworld or they would destroy all. The gods decided to go through with the deal, and who did they sacrifice to save their lives? Me. They took my powers and gave it to the youngest gods before casting me down to the pits of Tartarus. If it wasn't for the King of the Underworld rescuing me from the Titans, I would've surely died. Not every part of me survived the fall. My heart was ripped out of my body, and it had to be replaced with a heart made of copper and steel. The King of the Underworld was kind enough to offer me a place to stay in his palace on the condition that I become the gatekeeper of the Underworld. I agreed to his conditions, but it was hard for me to adjust. I went from the God of the Sun and the Stars to a guard who was barely holding onto life. For the longest time, I was ashamed to have even known the gods of Olympus. They robbed me of the radiant light that I once had control over. They stole my fire and tried to snuff me out like the embers of a dying fire. They do not deserve to be praised and to bask in the light that was stolen from me! It seems that the King of the Underworld agrees with me. He's recently informed me of his plan to overthrow the gods above and fix their mess. He even told me that he would give me back my precious sun and stars. If what he says is true, then I'll gladly stand by his side and watch as Olympus crumbles! I think it's about time for all of those above to see how it feels to be robbed of their glorious light and left to be smothered by the shadows below!

Write a piece about a curse

[kingburu]

[fic] two sons of aphrodite (complete)

Summary: godswap; Aphrodite!Jason x Nico di Angelo - The Cupid Scene

Nico’s not really sure how it escalated.

One moment, Jason Grace and he were wandering Split, Croatia, trying to find details about Diocletian’s Scepter. They’re an odd choice. Not discreet in the least, with the son of Aphrodite’s dazzling purple eyes and glowing skin. He even smells nice.

 The next moment, Nico is hopping a fence trying to chase after a wind god. He had to slow down when he realized Jason wasn’t following. Nico barked for Jason to put those muscles to good use while he ran, heard a stumble—and then after that, they found Favonius. Who flirted with Jason, like every other Croatian they ran into.

 Favonius, a male god. Whatever.

 The next, they find his dumb master, who taunts Nico. Has the nerve to goad Nico and anger him, to the point all Nico sees is black in the corners of his eyes and summons skeletons from every fissure, like the anger creeping up the cracks of his heart from the depths of Tartarus.

 But before he can lunge—Jason Grace does.

 Graceful Jason Grace, whose idea of a conversation was, “Well, I know who you are. Sort of. From afar—um, my sister died in the war. Guess we have that in common.”

 Nico is thrown into the fray, and when he comes to, someone is shaking him.

 Someone with glassy blue eyes, a flurry of bright hair, covered in dirt and bruises. A scar rests on his lip—so tiny and small, but unusual of all places. His hands are—red, bruised, and bloody. Not just human blood, though—ichor.

 “—ico, Nico—” he says, “Nico are a-are you okay?”

 Nico’s okay—his anger practically disappears as he stares at the other demigod, flabbergasted.

 “How many fingers am I holding up?” The other demigod holds him a hand—but it’s trembling, pale, and his thumb is crooked.  

 “Jason?” Nico asks—and he refocuses his sight.

 “Yeah?” The voice is undeniable. Blue-eyed Jason blinks, looking uncertain. “That’s me?”

 He doesn’t sound certain. Nico narrows his eyes, trying to get a clearer view of the other demigod. He’s speechless. “Did Cupid shoot you with an arrow?”

 The mention of Cupid sends this blue-eyed Jason into a frenzy, his hair glowing red for a brief moment. His jaw tightens—and he looks at Nico, evidently not comprehending the issue. “What?”

 Before he gets the chance to look at himself, that annoying laugh echoes through the cavern.

 Pretty, awkward Jason Grace stands to his feet—shielding Nico even though two minutes ago he couldn’t even hop a fence.

 Nico sees Cupid now, undignified, at the pit of the cavern with an obvious black eye. Ichor drips from the corner of his mouth, his ornate suit tousled.

 “Look at that, baby brother,” Cupid says, his voice as rich as chocolate. “So flawed, you’re unrecognizable to others. Not even yourself.”

 Jason snarls. Jason knows how to snarl? “Shut up.”

 “Does it feel good to be angry?” Cupid continues, collecting himself to his feet. He floats—and even with crooked wings, he looks beautiful, even when he’s the most disgusting being Nico’s ever lain eyes on. “You were never quite good at loving yourself anyway. Either of you, as a matter of fact—”

 “Shut up.”

 Then Nico sees it for himself. Jason Grace lunging towards Cupid, hair. Jason Grace reaching for a chokehold and missing. Cupid dodges out of the way, and Jason goes for the lapels of the God of Love’s suit. And Jason punches, over and over, while Cupid laughs in glee.

 Nico sees red—but only at Jason’s fists. “Jason—that’s enough.”

 Jason stops—but even while Nico stares at the other demigod’s shoulder blades, Nico knows Jason doesn’t want to. Jason’s shoulders are trembling. His hands are curled into fists, chest heaving from brutal swings—and Cupid still looks smug.

 Nico reminders how they got here. Cupid taunted them. Both of them, but he taunted Nico first. Tried to get him to talk about Percy.

 Getting that out might’ve been less ugly than the angry Jason Grace in front of him now. Nico’s not sure what to think. He can tell Jason is tired, by the way his glamour doesn’t seem to last. But—what remains in its stead only confuses Nico more.

 “What do you know, baby brother?” Cupid muses. “Self-acceptance. You’re as ugly on the outside as you are on the inside. Just as your mother intended.”

 Now Nico wants to punch him. But—

 “At least my nostrils are symmetrical,” Jason berates.

 Nico makes a sound. Because that’s what makes Cupid’s smile drop. Cupid’s nostrils flare—one large O to a 0, and Nico claps a hand over his mouth.

 “Take that back,” Cupid snaps.

 “Mom didn’t,” Jason snaps back—and Cupid seethes—and his hand flies over his nose.

 Much like every other Aphrodite kid Nico’s ever met, the God of Love looks like he wants to run towards a mirror. But again—Jason surprises both of them.

 Jason takes out a set of—sewing scissors?—and swipes them through Cupid’s hair.

 Cupid makes another horrid sound. Nico’s definitely heard that after a bad hair day.

 “Now we’re both ugly on the outside,” Jason says. “Brother.”

 Cupid screeches—looking less like a domineering god and more like a teenager discovering his first pimple. He vanishes into the winds—and from the other side of the cavern, Nico hears the soft clink of metal.

 A silence passes between them. Nico doesn’t move—and neither does Jason.

 Finally, the son of Aphrodite—the other son—turns around, and stares at Nico with violet irises. He holds up the cause of all their troubles—Diocletian’s scepter—in a bloody hand.

 “Got it,” he says hoarsely.

[nyxshadowhawk]

The Lady of the Labyrinth

My entry for @dionysia-ta-astika's City Dionysia contest! I'm very proud of myself for having finished it in a week, and I thought I'd share it here on my own blog.

Hail Dionysus!

*** Everything was lost. My brother was dead. My love was gone.

I was also stranded on a deserted island. I stared out at the vast, empty expanse of the sea. The sunlight on the waves winked at me with a thousand eyes, as though diamonds had been scattered across the surface of the water. Anyone would find this beach tranquil, I suppose, if they were here under different circumstances than mine.

My brother’s name was Asterion.

Most people didn’t know his name, or even that he had one. To most people, he was the Minotaur, a horrible monster with the body of a man and the head of a bull that eats people. Asterion was a monster, and he did eat people.

Beneath my father’s shining palace, he prowled the twists and turns of the Labyrinth that my father’s genius architect built. The Labyrinth was mine, once. Daedalus made it for me as a dancing path, when I was a little girl. But now it is a dark, disorienting maze of seemingly endless passageways, and I was still the only person who knew how to navigate it. When I could have time alone, I would go to the Labyrinth. I felt my way through its pitch-black corridors, memorizing the nicks and cracks in the rough stone, trying to calm my thoughts. I spoke to Asterion through the walls: “You have never seen the sun,” I said to him. “Do you ever wonder what it’s like in the outside world? Or do you like it down here?” I received no answer from the surrounding darkness. If I did hear something — a snort, or hooves on stone, I would have to run as fast as I could away from the sound. Even I couldn’t go too near Asterion — I wouldn’t want to run the risk that he might attack me.

“Why do you go down there?” My sister, Phaedra, asked me. “What could possibly be appealing about that dark, dismal place?”

“I like it down there,” I said, trying to sound as matter-of-fact as I could. “It is peaceful. And I don’t mind the dark.”

She looked at me like I had suddenly sprouted bull’s horns myself. “You know you risk your life every time you enter the Labyrinth, right?”

“He’s our brother,” I said. I don’t know what I intended to explain by saying that. I felt like I had a responsibility to him that extended beyond simply being his sister. I tried to see a man in him, although he sniffed and bellowed and charged like a bull. He could gore me to death like a bull, but I did not fear him. “I can’t say I love him, but I feel something.”

“You shouldn’t feel any sympathy for him. He’s a freak of nature. The gods cursed us with him for our father’s arrogance. He is a shame upon our kingdom.”

She was right, of course. The gods gifted us a beautiful white bull that we were meant to sacrifice to Poseidon, but my father decided to keep it instead. And Poseidon cursed us… Asterion is the unholy offspring of my mother and the bull. And it gets worse. Every seven years, seven young men and seven young women from the city of Athens were brought to the Labyrinth to be fed to my brother. This was because my other brother, whom I was too young to remember, died while in Athens. Athens pays for this slight with the lives of other young people.

I suppose it’s no different than war, or at least, that’s what my father says. All cities send their youths to die for the polis. How was this any different? I could hardly bear the prisoners’ wails of desperation or their pleas for me to help them. When I heard they were coming, I begged my father to set them free, asserting that it was wrong to sacrifice humans to anything. If the gods had cast Tantalus into Tartarus for feeding them his son, then why should we knowingly feed humans to a monster? He laughed at me and asked why I had no pride in my family.

I hated the thought of the fourteen young people being fed to him, but I also couldn’t imagine killing my own brother, even if he was a monster.

I was too young to remember the last time the prisoners came to the Labyrinth. They had come, and my brother had gorged himself on their flesh, and I was none the wiser. This time, I knew, and the horror of it struck me silent as the tributes were paraded through the city like animal sacrifices to the gods, so that we could all see those who were doomed to die. I could hardly bear to look at them. Some of those girls were barely older than me. It felt wrong to sit by and watch as they were brought to the Labyrinth. But what could I do to save their lives? Supplicating my father would not work, and the only other option was helping them to escape, somehow. How could I do that?

In spite of myself, I caught sight of one of the young men. He was handsome, and he had a defiant, blazing look in his eye. He looked straight at my father on his throne. “I am Theseus of Athens!” he declared. “I have come to slay your monstrous son!”

My father had laughed at him, but he consumed my thoughts. That may be because he was absolutely gorgeous, but it was also because if he succeeded at killing Asterion, he would solve all my problems. I wouldn’t have to take my own brother’s life, but he would devour no more innocent lives. And, if this youth survived, he might take me away with him. I knew the Labyrinth better than anyone. Even if he did survive, he could never make it in and out without my help.

Forgive me, Asterion.

The prisoners were held in two dank cells near the entrance to the Labyrinth. The women were kept in one, and the men were kept in the other. Many of the prisoners were crying — not just the women, but the men, too. In my familiarity with the Labyrinth and its inhabitant, I had forgotten just how terrifying both would be to anyone else. The Labyrinth’s darkness and maddening complexity would intimidate anyone, and the prospect of being eaten by a monster within its depths was horrific.

Only Theseus seemed calm. His boldness in front of my father hadn’t been an act. His jaw was set, and he still had raw determination in his steely eyes. He was really going to do it, wasn’t he? He actually meant to kill Asterion. He shone like gold in the gloom of the dungeon — he could have been Apollo. If our circumstances were different, I might have wanted to stroke his chest. “Who are you?” he demanded when I approached the cell, as though I were the one behind bars, and had requested an audience with him.

“I am Ariadne,” I said, “daughter of Minos, princess of Crete.”

“I am Theseus, son of Aegeus, prince of Athens,” he returned.

Prince of Athens. That explained his noble bearing and proud mien, not to mention his handsome features… and yet… “There is no way the King of Athens would have sent his own son to be fed to the Minotaur,” I said. “Why are you really here?”

“I said, didn’t I? I’m here to slay the Minotaur. I volunteered as tribute.” He smirked. “I promised my father that I would return alive. No more of our people will be sacrificed to the monster!”

“You speak with a lot of confidence for someone who is currently in a prison cell,” I said. “What are you going to do, Theseus? Do you have a plan?”

“Of course I have a plan!” he said, a little defensively. “I am going to break out of this cell. And then I will conquer the Labyrinth—”

“How? You’ll be dead of starvation before you even reach the Minotaur, assuming he doesn’t find you first.”

His eyes narrowed. “Are you taunting me?”

I leaned forward, looking directly into his eyes. “No. I was actually going to offer to help you. I know the Labyrinth. I go into it all the time.”

“No, you don’t. You’re trying to get me to sleep with you. Or trying to deceive me on behalf of Minos.”

I opened my mouth to speak, but couldn’t find anything to say in response to that. For a moment I just stared at him. Was he always this self-assured, even in the worst of circumstances? If he wanted to sleep with me, I certainly wouldn’t complain, but why would he assume that I would deceive him? Well, perhaps it was his right to be suspicious, in a strange land where he was kept as a prisoner. “I… no,” I finally replied. “I’m being serious. I’m here to help you.”

“Why, then?”

“I think it is very noble of you to want to save the other Athenians, and I agree that no more innocent lives should be lost.”

He smiled slightly, but still looked suspicious. “You have no loyalty to your father?”

“My father is cruel and selfish. Why else do you think my mother gave birth to a monster, anyway?”

“The monster is your brother? What was his father, a bull?”

“Yes.”

That seemed to have stunned him into silence. I felt some satisfaction at that. “Listen to me. Without my help, you will not get through the Labyrinth. If you want to kill the Minotaur, you need me.”

“What’s the catch?” he asked. “You’re going to want something in return, aren’t you? What?”

“Take me off this accursed rock,” I said. “I am sick of Crete, I’m sick of my father, and I don’t want to have to put up with whatever punishment he might give me for helping you.”

“Well, you are a princess, and I suppose you would make a fine bride for me.”

My heart leapt at those words, and I felt myself blushing. Perhaps I should have known better. “Really? You would marry me?”

“If you help me to slay the Minotaur, then yes, I will marry you.”

“Deal.”

Theseus remained in my thoughts from that point onward. When I closed my eyes, I saw his face, and I imagined the feel of his skin. I’d never seen a man like him before, and oh, if I married him… would I be happy? Happier than I was here, at least? He seemed like the kind of man that Phaedra and I dreamed we would marry as young girls — strong, brave, handsome, and willing to put himself on the line for the sake of his people. All such admirable qualities.

I returned to Theseus when the prisoners were locked into the Labyrinth’s abyssal maw. “Everyone else, stay back!” he ordered, as though he were directing troops. “I will go into the Labyrinth and kill the Minotaur. Stay here, and you will be safe.” He suddenly turned to me. “What have you brought to help me?”

I held out a humble ball of yarn. “This.”

He took it from my hand and raised an eyebrow at it, looking as though he might throw it into the dark. “What am I supposed to do with this?”

“Daedalus gave it to me when I first started exploring the Labyrinth.”

“Daedalus? I’ve heard of Daedalus. He is supposed to be the most brilliant architect in the world, right?”

“He built this Labyrinth, and he gave me the yarn. All you have to do is tie the end here and carry it through the maze. Then you can follow it back out.”

Theseus looked impressed. “He must be a genius to have thought of something like that!”

He may have been a genius, but I was still intelligent enough to figure it out on my own. All Daedalus had done was hand me the ball of yarn, and I immediately understood what I was meant to do with it. But I didn’t bother correcting Theseus. “Do you have a weapon?”

“No,” said Theseus. “I’m not worried. I’ll kill the beast with my bare hands.”

I blinked at him, dumbfounded. I suppose if anyone could do it, he could; he was almost as musclebound as the bull-man. But still. Only an extremely impressive hero with divine lineage could hope to kill a monster bare-handed, that or a total idiot. “You are going to die.”

“Nonsense!” He smiled. “Haven’t died yet! And I have faced many deadly trials before.”

I smiled back. “I’m sure you have, but, well, it’s your funeral.”

“Do you want this monster dead, or not?” he demanded.

“Woah, I wasn’t being serious, I…” To be asked that question point-blank was unsettling. It threw my whole dilemma into focus. But seeing the terrified faces of the other tributes huddled naked in the entrance to the Labyrinth gave me my answer. “Yes.”

“I shall go then.” He tied the yarn to the gate and strode with it into the dark. I admired his confidence, even if the odds were against him. He turned the first corner, and was gone. I stared into the darkness for a moment.

One of the girls gripped the hem of my dress. “Please,” she whispered. “Please help us, my lady. We did nothing to be here. If he dies, will you help us escape?”

I didn’t look at her. I kept staring into the Labyrinth’s depths. “I will do what I can,” I said slowly. Then I followed Theseus. I heard her gasp behind me, as if her last hope had just walked away.

I overtook Theseus quickly. He was moving slowly, blindly hitting walls and getting disoriented by the serpentine turns. He jumped when he heard me behind him, turned on his heel and braced for attack, staring me down with the intensity of a bull about to charge. Then he softened. “Oh. It’s you. What are you doing here? I don’t need your help.”

“I know this place better than you do,” I said matter-of-factly.

He huffed in response. “Get back to the entrance. The Minotaur could arrive at any moment.”

I walked ahead of him. “I know. Every time I explore the Labyrinth, I risk death.”

“Why would you explore this place?” he asked, following me. “What could it possibly offer a girl like you?”

“Peace. Solitude. Time away from my father.”

“This Labyrinth is maddening!” His growing frustration echoed off the walls. “How are you not mad? Perhaps you are mad, with the things you say.”

“I’ve never considered that I might be mad.”

“Only if you were mad would you willingly choose to be in this dark prison.”

“You willingly chose to be here.”

He had no response. We walked in silence for a while, dragging the thread behind us. It was almost impossible to see the thread in the dark. I could tell that Theseus was starting to get agitated. The twining paths of the Labyrinth must be making him feel like we were making no progress. The grim silence and high stone walls made us feel completely cut off from the outside world, like there was no world at all beyond the Labyrinth. “Do you think this is what Hades is like?” he asked. “A deep cavern, under the earth, where there is nothing to do but walk endlessly?”

I couldn’t tell whether that was a sincere philosophical question, or whether he was asking indignantly. “I don’t know. The Fields of Asphodel are supposed to be open, and full of the white flowers… Not quite like this.”

“It makes no difference to me anyway. I will assuredly go to Elysium when I die, and it is the most agreeable part of Hades.”

If Hades is exactly like this, I thought, then perhaps it wouldn’t be so bad. There are worse things than this.

Eventually, we passed the point where I usually turned back. I had never gotten this close to the center before. And then we heard it — the unmistakable sound of hooves. Cold terror gripped me. I did not expect to feel this afraid, especially not of my own brother, but the reality of the situation sank in. We were in a Labyrinth with a flesh-eating monster, and the exit was too far away for any chance of escape. Why did I follow him? Why did I think that was a good idea?

“Our quarry is upon us! You should leave,” said Theseus sternly. “The monster eats the maidens first, so I hear.”

The instinct to run left me. “I’m not going anywhere.”

“Suit yourself, but you will not be able to fight against the Minotaur.”

“You will protect me, will you?” Being with him felt safe, like he was a bodyguard.

“I will.” As soon as he said that, my fear was banished, and my confidence restored.

A few more turns, and we reached the center of the Labyrinth, a place I figured I’d never enter. In the gloom, I couldn’t actually see much, but I was able to see the hulking shape of my brother with his huge bull’s head and wicked-looking horns.

“There is the beast!” A light suddenly blazed to life beside me, and I cringed away from its brightness. It was a torch.

“Did you have that the whole time?”

“I was saving it!” He handed me the torch and the end of the yarn, and I took them, nonplussed. I saw the floor of the Labyrinth’s center, full of human bones. “Wait there, I will make swift work of this!” Theseus took a fighting stance, muscles tensed.

Asterion looked at me. I felt blind panic grip me, but he did not attack me. Perhaps he recognized me. He must have been familiar with my presence and voice by now, enough to know I wasn’t a threat. I stared into his black bull eyes. They were soft, not fiery and enraged. This was my brother. “Asterion… I’m so sorry, Asterion.”

“What are you doing? Get back!”

Theseus’ yell attracted Asterion’s attention. He roared and rushed forward with his powerful legs, horns lowered and ready to gore him to death. Theseus grabbed Asterion’s horns and hurled himself up onto the Minotaur’s back, holding him in a chokehold with both arms. “I shall send you to the pit of Tartarus, fiend!” Asterion thrashed and bucked and slammed Theseus against the wall, but soon enough, it was over. Theseus had strangled the Minotaur. Asterion lay dead.

Theseus picked himself up, looking exhausted but triumphant. “Victory! No Athenians will die today, or ever! This monster will never claim another human life!” He grinned at me. “See, I told you I could do it with my bare hands!”

I stared at the mass of Asterion’s body. “I killed my brother…”

“Nonsense!” Theseus took the torch back from me. The bones crunched under his feet as he walked. “It is hardly your fault that you are the sister of a beast. We have done a good and heroic thing today. Look, look at the bones! Why are you crying, Ariadne?”

I suddenly looked at him instead of the Minotaur’s corpse. I don’t think he’d said my name before. Even in the dim torchlight, he still looked bright, with clear eyes and golden hair and bronze skin slick with sweat. “I couldn’t have done this without you, Ariadne.” He smiled at me. “Thank you. Together we have saved many lives.”

He kissed me, and the torch went out.

The following events were a blur. After we had successfully followed the thread out of the Labyrinth, Theseus triumphantly announced to my father that the Minotaur was dead, and demanded me and my sister as prizes. My father was furious — of course he was. He had essentially just lost all of his children, and all because one had died in Athens before I was old enough to remember. I, however, was elated, and so was Phaedra. Phaedra was as eager to leave Crete as I was, and she seemed just as taken with Theseus’ handsomeness. She didn’t seem distressed that Asterion was dead, and why would she? The grateful Athenians went back to their ship, many of them sobbing with relief. I didn’t look at my father as I followed Theseus to the ship. I never wanted to look at him again. We passed by Talos, and I left Knossos and the Labyrinth behind me.

Crete faded into the horizon, and before me was sunshine and new possibilities. Theseus glowed with triumph and pride, smiling at me and kissing me when he announced to the other Athenians that he would marry me, and that I would become their queen. They fell to their knees and showered me and Theseus with gratitude for having saved their lives. I felt almost as if I were a goddess. Wine flowed freely in celebration, and I took more joy in it than I had in a long time.

It did not last long. Soon after the first few hours I was, if possible, even more miserable on Theseus’ ship than I had been in Knossos. I quickly became tired of his boasts about how he had strangled the beast, without crediting me at all, or so much as mentioning the ball of yarn, even though the other Athenians had seen me give it to him and seen me follow him into the Labyrinth. Every time he told the story, it got further from the truth, and emphasized his own heroism over mine. Is this how it would be when I was queen? No matter what I did, I’d be shunted to the side? Then, Theseus seemed to be doting on Phaedra. She usually attracted more attention. She was prettier than me. She had blond hair that shined in the sunlight and the bright eyes of our mother Pasiphae, the daughter of Helios. My hair and eyes were dark, like the Labyrinth.

I left the celebration, finding a quiet spot on deck. I sat by the edge of the ship, staring out into the open waves and trying not to think about Asterion, but the image of him lying dead in the torchlight haunted me. “Are you okay, Ariadne?” Phaedra asked me. “What is wrong? We are finally out of there, all thanks to you! No more Minotaur, no more tributes having to die, no more Father… We will have a new life in Athens.” I stayed silent. “You look despondent. Something’s wrong.”

I looked up into her eyes. “It’s like you said, Phaedra. Asterion is dead.”

“Do you… mourn him?”

“He was our brother, and I killed him!”

“Theseus killed him! You did nothing!” I knew that she meant to reassure me, but it touched a raw nerve.

“He would not have if I hadn’t led him straight to the center of the Labyrinth!”

“Ariadne…” Phaedra put her hand on my shoulder. “You… you’re… you’ll be okay. You are just a little bit disoriented.” She left me alone.

I looked at the Athenians, who laughed and danced and celebrated their lives. I didn’t feel like dancing. I already missed the Labyrinth. My guilt drew my thoughts back to Knossos. I wanted to hide in the Labyrinth forever, like Asterion had, or else throw myself into the sea for my guilt. The brightness of the waves was glaring compared to the soothing darkness of the Labyrinth.

Theseus approached me from behind. He had been ignoring me until now, maybe because I was so sorrowful. I could feel that he was angry at me, and my skin crawled, but I didn’t turn. “What cause do you have to weep, Ariadne? You should be happy!” he said.

“I am sorry, Theseus. Part of me still mourns for my brother.”

“What is the matter with you? All you have done is sit and stare at the water! If you loved that Labyrinth so much, perhaps you should have stayed there! Now please, put this sorrow behind you. You have no cause for it.” He sighed, softening. “When we arrive in Athens, we shall marry, and there will be much rejoicing.”

“Leave me alone.” The bitterness in my voice rang louder than I’d intended.

He scowled at me.“You are joyless, passionless, and thankless,” he spat, and stalked off. The word useless went unsaid; I could tell he was reconsidering making me his wife.

“Theseus, wait!” I yelled, suddenly sounding desperate.

I stood up, and he turned back to look at me, and I felt as if I were naked under his gaze and that of the others on the ship, which had all quieted and turned in my direction. His eyes were cold, and his nostrils flared just as Asterion’s had. “What, Ariadne? You have shown me neither gratitude nor pleasure, you have not acted like a princess. What do you have to say for yourself?”

Shamed, I said nothing. I sat back down. Then, as he was about to turn away again, I suddenly found my voice. “Why are you being cruel?”

“I am not being cruel. You are being difficult.”

By the time we reached Naxos, I was feeling heartbroken as well as grief-stricken. Theseus was giving me the silent treatment. I think he expected me to come running to him begging for forgiveness. We stopped on the island to rest, primarily because Theseus had dreamt that he would stop here during his homecoming.

I took off my sandals and walked along the edge of the surf to clear my thoughts. The beach was bright and wide and open, the exact opposite of the Labyrinth. Even in the sand, I felt his heavy footsteps approaching behind me. “Ariadne, we need to talk.”

I continued to face away from him. “What?”

“Ariadne, I find your attitude disagreeable.”

I turned on my heel to face him, planting myself in the sand. “I’ve found your attitude disagreeable! All you have done since we left Crete is boast about your heroics, and you’ve barely given me any credit—”

“Credit! You want credit for having slain it, when all you have done is cry over the hideous thing?”

The disdain in his voice stung me like arrows. “You don’t care at all for me or my feelings, do you?”

“If you were to become my queen, I would expect better behavior from you.” He sounded like he was lecturing a child.

“Well… I don’t want to be your queen! You are almost as bad as my father!”

“Good. I have already decided to take your sister Phaedra as my bride instead.” I didn’t reply. “You may still return with us to Athens, but we will have to make other arrangements for you.”

Forget Athens. I didn’t want Theseus to do anything for me. “Oh, forgive me for having been such a disappointment to you! Go ahead, go back to Athens and marry my sister! By Zeus! I’ve had enough of you!”

And I ran. I turned away from Theseus and ran down the beach until my legs gave out, falling in the sand to sulk and wonder where it all went wrong. I regretted having ever met Theseus, or helped him to kill my brother. If I could undo it all, I would. No. Then innocent people would have died. Oh, gods, why am I so wretched?

And then, as I was just beginning to calm down, I saw that the ship was sailing away over the waves. I was stranded on the island. Despair and panic crashed down upon me. Oh gods, gods, why? Had I somehow been forgotten about, or left behind on purpose? Had Theseus doomed me to die? “CURSE you, Theseus!” I screamed at the distant ship. I watched it go until it disappeared over the horizon. I could do nothing but hopelessly stare at the wine-dark sea as the sun set.

“Excuse me, why are you crying?”

I had been sitting with my head in my arms, weeping despondently, and I was startled by the sudden voice, soft though it was. I was certain the island was deserted, but now, a young man stood before me. He was silhouetted against the sky, the sun shining behind his head like a halo. Where had he come from? I hadn’t heard him come. It was though he’d simply stepped out of the sea.

“I’m sorry,” I said, and my voice sounded cracked from crying. “I thought I was alone.”

“May I sit with you?” the man asked. “You look like you could use a drink, something to soothe you, hm?”

“Yes… yes, thank you.”

He sat down in the sand next to me, languidly stretching his legs out in front of him like he was sitting on the plushest couch. With the sunlight on him, I could see him properly — he was the most beautiful man I’d ever seen in my life. He easily put Theseus to shame. His eyes were leafy green, warm and kind. He was lithe, and his skin looked as pale and smooth as a girl’s, and his lips looked so soft. I couldn’t place the color of his hair — it seemed to be dark brown, but it could have been as dark as the Styx, and when the sun caught it, it looked honey-gold. It fell over his shoulders in loose curls. He wore nothing but a fine purple cloak draped over one shoulder, a golden leopard skin around his waist, and a wreath of ivy on his head. His cheeks were flushed, and he had a bright, easy smile. He was so lovely, so breathtaking, it almost hurt to look at him. With delicate hands, he offered me a kylix brimming with wine. “Please, tell me what has made you so upset.”

I blinked at the kylix, and the leopard skin, and the ivy in his hair. “Are you… a Bacchant?” I’d heard of them. They worshipped a mad and savage god with drunken orgies in the woods, and were said to be able to rip animals or even people limb-from-limb in their frenzy. Not unlike Asterion, I suppose.

He flashed a devious smile. “Maaaaybe.”

I took the kylix and drank deeply. The wine was sweet, and somehow, I felt immediately calmer. Slowly, amid my lingering sobs, I told the story — about Asterion, and my father, and the tributes, how I’d decided to help Theseus, how we’d found our way through the Labyrinth, how Theseus had killed Asterion, how Theseus had been so heartless, and how he had apparently left me to die on a deserted island. By the time I finished talking, the kylix was empty.

“How do you feel now?” he asked me.

“Better… I think. But I’m still devastated, and… guilty. My brother’s death… it was really my fault, and I don’t know if I did the right thing or not. Do you think it’s wrong for me to grieve for my brother? I mean… he was a monster…”

“No. I don’t think it’s wrong. It is perfectly understandable that you would mourn your brother.”

“If I had let the Athenians die, I would have mourned for them, too.” I sighed.

“Yes. There must be blood; one sacrifice was traded for another, Asterion, the worthy bull. It is okay to grieve, for as long as you need to, but do not wallow in despair.”

“I tend to do that. I don’t remember the last time I was completely happy. I thought Theseus would make me happy, but… then… I wish I had my Labyrinth back! It was at least soothing down there.”

“It pains me to see people sad,” he said. He handed me the kylix again, and it was once again full of wine. I hadn’t seen him fill it. “Pleasure is a state of mind. The best way to rid yourself of sadness is to focus on things that make you happy. There is always something to take pleasure in! Like the beauty of the sunset, or the sound of the lapping waves. Or wine!”

“Not when you are abandoned to die, with no way off the island,” I said. “How did you get here, anyway? I don’t see a boat.”

“I have my ways,” he said cryptically, with that same mischievous smile. That smile and the teasing sparkle in his eyes were so adorable. His beauty is something to take pleasure in, I suddenly thought, and his company, and kindness…

I took another draught of the wine. “Why are the gods so cruel to me?” I murmured, more to myself than to him.

“The gods are not cruel to you.” He stated it with complete confidence, as though it were an undeniable fact, not as though he were trying to convince me.

“It certainly seems that way,” I replied.

“Life can often seem that way, but then, it gets better, and you will find that the gods favor you,” he said.

“Well… I suppose that must be true, if handsome strangers pop out of nowhere to comfort women.”

He beamed. “Exactly!” He took the kylix back from me, threw his head back, and drained about half of it in one gulp. “You know, I was stranded on a desert island like this one once.”

“Wait, what? You were?”

“Yes! It was a long time ago now, but I was just as pretty back then, and just as fond of wearing purple. Purple is the best color, you know.” He winked. “Anyway, so I was lying asleep on a beach and—” he took another swig of the wine, “a pirate ship rows by…”

“Are you drunk?”

“Always, darling!” That roguish grin of his was really starting to win me over. “Anyway, the pirates saw me sleeping on the beach, saw how pretty I was and saw my fine purple robes, and thought I was a prince. Well. They weren’t wrong… I technically am a prince of Thebes, on my mother’s side.” He laughed like he had just told the most hilarious joke and had another sip of the wine. The amount of wine in the kylix never seemed to get any lower.

“Does that mean… you’re a bastard?” I asked hesitantly.

“Yes, yes it does! I’m such a bastard. I mean… I was born out of wedlock. And my father’s wife, oooh, she hates me.” Another sip of the wine. “Never get on her bad side if you can help it.” He pointed at me as if this was the most important information I could ever learn, and I laughed. “She can’t touch me now, but she drove me mad when I was younger. Literally. Anyway, so these pirates kidnapped me. Thought I’d make a damn cute catamite, and I certainly would, but that’s beside the point. You don’t and kidnap boys no matter how pretty they are. I tried to tell my dad that, but it didn’t go over well.” Another sip of the wine.

“You are slender, but I bet you could take Theseus in a drinking contest.”

“Oh, I could take aaaaaanyone in a drinking contest! Never lost one yet!” His face was glowing, not just with blush from the wine but also with infectious joy. I slowly forgot about my misfortunes as I listened to his story. “So they tried to tie me to the ship’s mast, but found they couldn’t do it. I only tolerate bondage on my own terms. And then…” There was suddenly a mad gleam in his green eyes. “I covered their ship in grapevines, and ivy, and flowers, and the delicious smell of wine. I can’t imagine why such delightful things frightened them so. But I thought I’d scare them more, see, because it was funny. So I turned into a lion! And they flung themselves overboard in fear!” He laughed, and his laugh sounded as musical as flutes on a clear morning, but it had a maddened edge to it. “But I pitied them, y’know?” he continued. “Just as you pity your brother. So I changed them into dolphins. So they wouldn’t drown.”

“You changed… you turned into… did… did your god give you those powers? Or… are you just… really… drunk?” But I knew. I think that intuitively, I knew the whole time.

“Easy,” he said, once again raising the bottomless kylix to his lips with that knowing smile. “I’m really drunk.”

At this, I burst out laughing, and my laugh sounded almost unfamiliar to my own ears. I felt light, carefree, replenished. And then it sank in, that I was speaking to a god. I hastily knelt, and dropped my head before him, although he was still sitting next to me. “Lord Dionysus! Son of Zeus! Lord, lord, thank you for coming to me, for talking to me, for relieving me of my pain, for freeing me from my suffering…”

“You’re welcome, Ariadne.” He lifted my face, so that I was staring up into his eyes, which were now vivid reddish-purple, the color of ripe grapes. A richly purple aura surrounded him, proclaiming his divinity. In his hand was his staff, a fennel stalk topped with a pinecone that dripped with honey, twined with ivy and purple ribbons. And he had horns, bull’s horns just like my brother’s, magnificent and deadly sharp. They curved up above his brow, as much his crown as the wreath of ivy in his hair. The imposing horns created a striking contrast with his delicate features, but they looked right, somehow. Like this was how he was supposed to look.

I didn’t know what to say. My mind had gone suddenly blank. “I’ve never known great Dionysus to have horns,” I blurted.

“Not many get to see them,” he said, his voice suddenly slow and solemn. “Ariadne, will you dance with me?”

Whatever I had expected him to say, it was not that. “Wh—what?”

“Dance with me!” He stood up and twirled off across the beach. His hair floated around his shoulders, the ribbons on his thyrsus arced through the air like the rainbow, and his expression was one of elation. He screamed in ecstasy, and it was an inhuman sound, like the crowing of some unearthly bird. At that, the air filled with cacophonous music — flutes, drums, cymbals, rattles, castanets.

A command echoed inside my head. No, not a command — a compulsion: DANCE! DANCE!

So I danced with the bull-horned god. “Dancing” barely even begins to describe what I was doing. I was filled with an overwhelming, indescribable feeling, like I didn’t fit in my own skin. Like I was about to be lifted out of my own shoulders! I moved like my body was doing everything it could to express this ineffable thing inside me that was so much bigger than me. I spun, I leapt, I ran, I stamped my feet in the sand, I moved wherever the feeling took me. It burned like fire. And Dionysus was all I could perceive. I screamed with both intense rapture and pure, genuine worship: “EUOI! EUOI! EUOI!”

I met his eyes, and there I saw all the raw ferocity of a bull or a great cat, as well as chaos and lust and debauchery and pure mania. All the forces strong enough to tear a person apart! I desperately thirsted for something I could not name. It was more than wine, more than flesh, more than blood. Dionysus took me in his arms, and kissed me on the lips. Passion overtook me.

Maybe I fainted in exhilaration, or maybe I was simply too drunk to remember. All I know was that I was eventually awakened by the sunrise and the sound of lapping waves. And Dionysus… was still there. He hadn’t disappeared into the night, he was still sleeping there in the sand, looking blissful and alluring in his sleep. His tousled curls tumbled over the sand, his soft hand was upturned beside his head, and his lips were parted invitingly. He lay on his purple cloak, and was using the leopard pelt like a blanket, though it was only carelessly draped over his waist.

“Lord… thank you for not leaving me,” I whispered.

His long eyelashes fluttered, and then his eyes opened, once again appearing vine-green. “Mmmm… sleep well?”

“Yes.” I desperately wanted to kiss him, and the seductive look in his eyes tempted me. “May I… touch you?”

“Darling, you may touch me anywhere you like,” he purred. Ravenously, I wrapped my arms around his waist, pressed my chest to his, and our lips met. He still tasted like wine, and I drank him in the way I would wine. We lay there for a moment, entangled in each other’s arms like grape and ivy vines, idly caressing each other’s skin and hair.

“M’lord…” I whispered, “perhaps it might be impertinent to ask, but… what am I going to do now? I can’t go home. I don’t really want to go to Athens. And I still have no way off this island.”

“Why, Ariadne,” he gave me a teasing smile. “If I may be so bold, I hoped you would join me! In fact… I hope you might marry me.”

I was so taken aback by this that I immediately sat up. “You… you’re serious? Marry you?” I knew that gods frequently took mortal lovers, but this was unimaginable. “Actually marry you?”

“Yes, Ariadne. I love you.” He said it with the same sweetness and sincerity that he initially approached me with. Theseus had said no such thing. “You are not destined to become queen of Athens, but perhaps you might be my queen, if you are willing.”

I burst into tears, but they weren’t tears of sadness this time. They were tears of overwhelm, the same kind of overflowing sensation that I’d felt while dancing. “You love me?”

“I am absolutely besotted, my darling! I have had many lovers, but I had not fallen so madly in love since Ampelos, my first love, my darling vine.” A grapevine appeared between his fingers and twined up his arm. “Perhaps something in me is inclined towards mortals over gods, which is understandable, given my parentage. But, that should be no problem. I will bring you to Olympus, and love you for all of time.”

“How… why me?” I sputtered. “What have I done to deserve this?”

“Ariadne, you are letting your human mind interfere, and convince you that you are not worthy to be in my presence. Did you feel unworthy last night, while we were dancing?”

“No… I felt… there was no such thing.”

“Ariadne, do you love me?”

I struggled to find any word that could properly describe how I felt about him. “You are… utterly intoxicating.”

He giggled like a shy maiden. “I get that a lot. And, if you could be worthy of having me as a husband, would you have me?”

Yes. My body and soul ached and burned with wanting. And he made me extraordinarily happy! I’d never dared to believe a god would love me enough to marry me, but that disbelief was only getting in my way.

He looked me dead in the eyes. I nearly flinched away from the intensity of his gaze, and the shimmering madness behind it. “You are more than you realize, Ariadne, guide in the dark, guardian of the gates of initiation. You are intelligent and witty and brave, and you fear no darkness or madness or savagery, do you? You faced them all in the Labyrinth. You would make an excellent addition to my thiasus, even if you decide not to marry me. Ariadne, the most holy and pure, Lady of the Labyrinth.” His words reverberated deep in the labyrinthine pathways of my own mind and soul, like he had revealed an ancient truth that I had known once, but forgotten.

“The Labyrinth is a holy place, of contemplation and transformation. Isn’t it? Not of death.”

He smiled that gorgeous, winning smile again. “Yes! You understand! And even where there is death, it is not absolute.” His eyes shone with feverish excitement. “Oh, I have so much to teach you!”

“Lord Dionysus, I would be honored beyond imagining if I were to become your wife.”

“So is that a yes? You will marry me?”

Something about him felt right in a way that I could not put words to, like the Fates had done all they could to bring me to this moment. This god loved me, more than the other gods love their conquests, more than I could comprehend. “Yes! I will marry you!”

At that, a cool wind blew across the island, swirling his dark hair around his face and making all the vegetation appear to shimmer. It was like the island itself was affirming my decision. “Then, Ariadne, we shall rule the revel together! In honor of our engagement…” A magnificent diadem appeared in his hands, sparkling with seven gemstones like stars. He placed it on my head, and gave me a warm kiss on my lips. “Ariadne, my bride, may you never thirst. May your lusts never go unsatisfied. May your heart always be light and joyful.”

“Thank you. Thank you, m’lord!”

“You can stop calling me that. If we are to be married, you can simply call me by my name. Or, call me what pleases you. Now, come with me!” He stood, offering me his hand. “Unless you would rather spend some more alone time together, I should finally take you off this island! I will take you home to Nysa, or perhaps to Arcadia, and we will have to throw the most spectacular bacchanal in celebration of our marriage!”

“How will we travel?”

He led me down the beach like a child eager to show something to their parent, and gestured toward a golden chariot drawn by two gigantic panthers. The chariot itself was decorated in images of swirling grapevines and serpents and satyrs making love, and the cats’ pelts gleamed. “Oh, gods… I mean… wow. Does it move over water?”

“It flies, silly!” He stood inside it and beckoned to me. “These cats can run on the wind. Hermes gave them to me.”

I climbed into the chariot and held on for dear life as the panthers bounded into the air with great strides. Soon the chariot was blazing through the bright air, and Naxos was far behind us. Dionysus laughed into the wind, which blew his long hair back from his face. As radiant as he was, I was more than a little terrified of speeding through the air high above the sea in a chariot, and felt like I would fall off at any second, although not even my diadem was dislodged from my head.

“You look terror-stricken, Ariadne. Would you like me to tell you another amusing story? That seems to have cheered you up the last time!”

“That depends on whether you can drive a chariot and get incredibly drunk at the same time.”

He laughed uproariously. “Oh, I love you so much! I can do anything and get incredibly drunk, if you were wondering. So, anyway, the story… Mortals have mixed opinions of me. Most love my parties and stories and love my wine, but they seem a bit put off by the madness and violence and lust it brings out in them… Not sure why, it’s not as though all of that wasn’t there to begin with… Mortal kings do not like this, and some of them can be quite unkind to my worshippers, testing the limits of my mercy… but one of them allowed my mentor, Silenus, to sleep in his garden. So kind of him! So of course I offered him any reward he might wish for, and… he wished that everything he touched would turn to gold.”

“Ooh. Let me guess, it backfired?”

“Oh, did it backfire! His food turned to gold and he nearly starved, and even his daughter turned to gold! Hardly my fault, of course. I promised to give him what he asked for, and I did, he just happened to be an idiot. He had the chance to wish for anything in the world, and he chose something as shallow and pointless as gold. Not to mention, he clearly had never heard of inflation, which makes me worry about his kingdom’s economy. Oh, well. He learned, and I changed everything back. I always let humans indulge themselves, but I am not a god of excess. Either they are satisfied by their pleasures, or they learn their lesson fast. The moral of the story: Know your tolerance. Also, if you want to turn things to gold, you have to do it the hard way. Hermes and I were just discussing how to turn lead to gold, in fact…”

His soothing voice and hilarious tales put me at ease, until we were traveling over beautiful mountains and verdant valleys. I had never seen mainland Greece, but the view of it from the flying chariot was incredible. I was no longer afraid of falling. As we flew, I felt as if the wind stripped me of the cares and sorrows of my former life. Dionysus had set me free. I smiled at him, and he smiled at me as the chariot descended into the lush, hidden valley where a throng of Maenads and satyrs waited to welcome home their lord and his queen.

Dionysus helped me out of the chariot, and I stood before the thiasus, their maddened eyes all turned upon me. “I am the bride of Dionysus,” I proclaimed. “I am Ariadne of the Labyrinth.”

[dionysia-ta-astika]

The Lady of the Labyrinth

For Dionysus.

Everything was lost. My brother was dead. My love was gone.

I was also stranded on a deserted island. I stared out at the vast, empty expanse of the sea. The sunlight on the waves winked at me with a thousand eyes, as though diamonds had been scattered across the surface of the water. Anyone would find this beach tranquil, I suppose, if they were here under different circumstances than mine.

My brother’s name was Asterion.

Most people didn’t know his name, or even that he had one. To most people, he was the Minotaur, a horrible monster with the body of a man and the head of a bull that eats people. Asterion was a monster, and he did eat people.

Beneath my father’s shining palace, he prowled the twists and turns of the Labyrinth that my father’s genius architect built. The Labyrinth was mine, once. Daedalus made it for me as a dancing path, when I was a little girl. But now it is a dark, disorienting maze of seemingly endless passageways, and I was still the only person who knew how to navigate it. When I could have time alone, I would go to the Labyrinth. I felt my way through its pitch-black corridors, memorizing the nicks and cracks in the rough stone, trying to calm my thoughts. I spoke to Asterion through the walls: “You have never seen the sun,” I said to him. “Do you ever wonder what it’s like in the outside world? Or do you like it down here?” I received no answer from the surrounding darkness. If I did hear something — a snort, or hooves on stone, I would have to run as fast as I could away from the sound. Even I couldn’t go too near Asterion — I wouldn’t want to run the risk that he might attack me.

 “Why do you go down there?” My sister, Phaedra, asked me. “What could possibly be appealing about that dark, dismal place?”

“I like it down there,” I said, trying to sound as matter-of-fact as I could. “It is peaceful. And I don’t mind the dark.”

She looked at me like I had suddenly sprouted bull’s horns myself. “You know you risk your life every time you enter the Labyrinth, right?”

“He’s our brother,” I said. I don’t know what I intended to explain by saying that. I felt like I had a responsibility to him that extended beyond simply being his sister. I tried to see a man in him, although he sniffed and bellowed and charged like a bull. He could gore me to death like a bull, but I did not fear him. “I can’t say I love him, but I feel something.”

“You shouldn’t feel any sympathy for him. He’s a freak of nature. The gods cursed us with him for our father’s arrogance. He is a shame upon our kingdom.”

She was right, of course. The gods gifted us a beautiful white bull that we were meant to sacrifice to Poseidon, but my father decided to keep it instead. And Poseidon cursed us… Asterion is the unholy offspring of my mother and the bull. And it gets worse. Every seven years, seven young men and seven young women from the city of Athens were brought to the Labyrinth to be fed to my brother. This was because my other brother, whom I was too young to remember, died while in Athens. Athens pays for this slight with the lives of other young people.

I suppose it’s no different than war, or at least, that’s what my father says. All cities send their youths to die for the polis. How was this any different? I could hardly bear the prisoners’ wails of desperation or their pleas for me to help them. When I heard they were coming, I begged my father to set them free, asserting that it was wrong to sacrifice humans to anything. If the gods had cast Tantalus into Tartarus for feeding them his son, then why should we knowingly feed humans to a monster? He laughed at me and asked why I had no pride in my family.  

I hated the thought of the fourteen young people being fed to him, but I also couldn’t imagine killing my own brother, even if he was a monster.

I was too young to remember the last time the prisoners came to the Labyrinth. They had come, and my brother had gorged himself on their flesh, and I was none the wiser. This time, I knew, and the horror of it struck me silent as the tributes were paraded through the city like animal sacrifices to the gods, so that we could all see those who were doomed to die. I could hardly bear to look at them. Some of those girls were barely older than me. It felt wrong to sit by and watch as they were brought to the Labyrinth. But what could I do to save their lives? Supplicating my father would not work, and the only other option was helping them to escape, somehow. How could I do that?

In spite of myself, I caught sight of one of the young men. He was handsome, and he had a defiant, blazing look in his eye. He looked straight at my father on his throne. “I am Theseus of Athens!” he declared. “I have come to slay your monstrous son!”

My father had laughed at him, but he consumed my thoughts. That may be because he was absolutely gorgeous, but it was also because if he succeeded at killing Asterion, he would solve all my problems. I wouldn’t have to take my own brother’s life, but he would devour no more innocent lives. And, if this youth survived, he might take me away with him. I knew the Labyrinth better than anyone. Even if he did survive, he could never make it in and out without my help.

Forgive me, Asterion.

The prisoners were held in two dank cells near the entrance to the Labyrinth.  The women were kept in one, and the men were kept in the other. Many of the prisoners were crying — not just the women, but the men, too. In my familiarity with the Labyrinth and its inhabitant, I had forgotten just how terrifying both would be to anyone else. The Labyrinth’s darkness and maddening complexity would intimidate anyone, and the prospect of being eaten by a monster within its depths was horrific.

Only Theseus seemed calm. His boldness in front of my father hadn’t been an act. His jaw was set, and he still had raw determination in his steely eyes. He was really going to do it, wasn’t he? He actually meant to kill Asterion. He shone like gold in the gloom of the dungeon — he could have been Apollo. If our circumstances were different, I might have wanted to stroke his chest. “Who are you?” he demanded when I approached the cell, as though I were the one behind bars, and had requested an audience with him.

“I am Ariadne,” I said, “daughter of Minos, princess of Crete.”

“I am Theseus, son of Aegeus, prince of Athens,” he returned.

Prince of Athens. That explained his noble bearing and proud mien, not to mention his handsome features… and yet… “There is no way the King of Athens would have sent his own son to be fed to the Minotaur,” I said. “Why are you really here?”

“I said, didn’t I? I’m here to slay the Minotaur. I volunteered as tribute.” He smirked. “I promised my father that I would return alive. No more of our people will be sacrificed to the monster!”

“You speak with a lot of confidence for someone who is currently in a prison cell,” I said. “What are you going to do, Theseus? Do you have a plan?”

“Of course I have a plan!” he said, a little defensively. “I am going to break out of this cell. And then I will conquer the Labyrinth—”

“How? You’ll be dead of starvation before you even reach the Minotaur, assuming he doesn’t find you first.”

His eyes narrowed. “Are you taunting me?”

I leaned forward, looking directly into his eyes. “No. I was actually going to offer to help you. I know the Labyrinth. I go into it all the time.”

“No, you don’t. You’re trying to get me to sleep with you. Or trying to deceive me on behalf of Minos.”

I opened my mouth to speak, but couldn’t find anything to say in response to that. For a moment I just stared at him. Was he always this self-assured, even in the worst of circumstances? If he wanted to sleep with me, I certainly wouldn’t complain, but why would he assume that I would deceive him? Well, perhaps it was his right to be suspicious, in a strange land where he was kept as a prisoner. “I… no,” I finally replied. “I’m being serious. I’m here to help you.”

“Why, then?”

“I think it is very noble of you to want to save the other Athenians, and I agree that no more innocent lives should be lost.”

He smiled slightly, but still looked suspicious. “You have no loyalty to your father?”

“My father is cruel and selfish. Why else do you think my mother gave birth to a monster, anyway?”

“The monster is your brother? What was his father, a bull?”

“Yes.”

That seemed to have stunned him into silence. I felt some satisfaction at that. “Listen to me. Without my help, you will not get through the Labyrinth. If you want to kill the Minotaur, you need me.”

“What’s the catch?” he asked. “You’re going to want something in return, aren’t you? What?”

“Take me off this accursed rock,” I said. “I am sick of Crete, I’m sick of my father, and I don’t want to have to put up with whatever punishment he might give me for helping you.”

“Well, you are a princess, and I suppose you would make a fine bride for me.”

My heart leapt at those words, and I felt myself blushing. Perhaps I should have known better. “Really? You would marry me?”

“If you help me to slay the Minotaur, then yes, I will marry you.”

“Deal.”

Theseus remained in my thoughts from that point onward. When I closed my eyes, I saw his face, and I imagined the feel of his skin. I’d never seen a man like him before, and oh, if I married him… would I be happy? Happier than I was here, at least? He seemed like the kind of man that Phaedra and I dreamed we would marry as young girls — strong, brave, handsome, and willing to put himself on the line for the sake of his people. All such admirable qualities.

I returned to Theseus when the prisoners were locked into the Labyrinth’s abyssal maw. “Everyone else, stay back!” he ordered, as though he were directing troops. “I will go into the Labyrinth and kill the Minotaur. Stay here, and you will be safe.” He suddenly turned to me. “What have you brought to help me?”

I held out a humble ball of yarn. “This.”

He took it from my hand and raised an eyebrow at it, looking as though he might throw it into the dark. “What am I supposed to do with this?”

“Daedalus gave it to me when I first started exploring the Labyrinth.”

“Daedalus? I’ve heard of Daedalus. He is supposed to be the most brilliant architect in the world, right?”

“He built this Labyrinth, and he gave me the yarn. All you have to do is tie the end here and carry it through the maze. Then you can follow it back out.”

Theseus looked impressed. “He must be a genius to have thought of something like that!”

He may have been a genius, but I was still intelligent enough to figure it out on my own. All Daedalus had done was hand me the ball of yarn, and I immediately understood what I was meant to do with it. But I didn’t bother correcting Theseus. “Do you have a weapon?”

“No,” said Theseus. “I’m not worried. I’ll kill the beast with my bare hands.”

I blinked at him, dumbfounded. I suppose if anyone could do it, he could; he was almost as musclebound as the bull-man. But still. Only an extremely impressive hero with divine lineage could hope to kill a monster bare-handed, that or a total idiot. “You are going to die.”

“Nonsense!” He smiled. “Haven’t died yet! And I have faced many deadly trials before.”

I smiled back. “I’m sure you have, but, well, it’s your funeral.”

“Do you want this monster dead, or not?” he demanded.

“Woah, I wasn’t being serious, I…” To be asked that question point-blank was unsettling. It threw my whole dilemma into focus. But seeing the terrified faces of the other tributes huddled naked in the entrance to the Labyrinth gave me my answer. “Yes.”

“I shall go then.” He tied the yarn to the gate and strode with it into the dark. I admired his confidence, even if the odds were against him. He turned the first corner, and was gone. I stared into the darkness for a moment.

One of the girls gripped the hem of my dress. “Please,” she whispered. “Please help us, my lady. We did nothing to be here. If he dies, will you help us escape?”

 I didn’t look at her. I kept staring into the Labyrinth’s depths. “I will do what I can,” I said slowly. Then I followed Theseus. I heard her gasp behind me, as if her last hope had just walked away.

I overtook Theseus quickly. He was moving slowly, blindly hitting walls and getting disoriented by the serpentine turns. He jumped when he heard me behind him, turned on his heel and braced for attack, staring me down with the intensity of a bull about to charge. Then he softened. “Oh. It’s you. What are you doing here? I don’t need your help.”

“I know this place better than you do,” I said matter-of-factly.

He huffed in response. “Get back to the entrance. The Minotaur could arrive at any moment.”

I walked ahead of him. “I know. Every time I explore the Labyrinth, I risk death.”

“Why would you explore this place?” he asked, following me. “What could it possibly offer a girl like you?”

“Peace. Solitude. Time away from my father.”

“This Labyrinth is maddening!” His growing frustration echoed off the walls. “How are you not mad? Perhaps you are mad, with the things you say.”

“I’ve never considered that I might be mad.”

“Only if you were mad would you willingly choose to be in this dark prison.”

“You willingly chose to be here.”

He had no response. We walked in silence for a while, dragging the thread behind us. It was almost impossible to see the thread in the dark. I could tell that Theseus was starting to get agitated. The twining paths of the Labyrinth must be making him feel like we were making no progress. The grim silence and high stone walls made us feel completely cut off from the outside world, like there was no world at all beyond the Labyrinth. “Do you think this is what Hades is like?” he asked. “A deep cavern, under the earth, where there is nothing to do but walk endlessly?”

I couldn’t tell whether that was a sincere philosophical question, or whether he was asking indignantly. “I don’t know. The Fields of Asphodel are supposed to be open, and full of the white flowers… Not quite like this.”

“It makes no difference to me anyway. I will assuredly go to Elysium when I die, and it is the most agreeable part of Hades.”

If Hades is exactly like this, I thought, then perhaps it wouldn’t be so bad. There are worse things than this.

Eventually, we passed the point where I usually turned back. I had never gotten this close to the center before. And then we heard it — the unmistakable sound of hooves. Cold terror gripped me. I did not expect to feel this afraid, especially not of my own brother, but the reality of the situation sank in. We were  in a Labyrinth with a flesh-eating monster, and the exit was too far away for any chance of escape.  Why did I follow him? Why did I think that was a good idea?

“Our quarry is upon us! You should leave,” said Theseus sternly. “The monster eats the maidens first, so I hear.”

The instinct to run left me. “I’m not going anywhere.”

“Suit yourself, but you will not be able to fight against the Minotaur.”

“You will protect me, will you?” Being with him felt safe, like he was a bodyguard.

“I will.” As soon as he said that, my fear was banished, and my confidence restored.

A few more turns, and we reached the center of the Labyrinth, a place I figured I’d never enter. In the gloom, I couldn’t actually see much, but I was able to see the hulking shape of my brother with his huge bull’s head and wicked-looking horns.

“There is the beast!” A light suddenly blazed to life beside me, and I cringed away from its brightness. It was a torch.

“Did you have that the whole time?”

“I was saving it!” He handed me the torch and the end of the yarn, and I took them, nonplussed. I saw the floor of the Labyrinth’s center, full of human bones. “Wait there, I will make swift work of this!” Theseus took a fighting stance, muscles tensed.

Asterion looked at me. I felt blind panic grip me, but he did not attack me. Perhaps he recognized me. He must have been familiar with my presence and voice by now, enough to know I wasn’t a threat. I stared into his black bull eyes. They were soft, not fiery and enraged. This was my brother. “Asterion… I’m so sorry, Asterion.”

“What are you doing? Get back!”

Theseus’ yell attracted Asterion’s attention. He roared and rushed forward with his powerful legs, horns lowered and ready to gore him to death. Theseus grabbed Asterion’s horns and hurled himself up onto the Minotaur’s back, holding him in a chokehold with both arms. “I shall send you to the pit of Tartarus, fiend!”  Asterion thrashed and bucked and slammed Theseus against the wall, but soon enough, it was over. Theseus had strangled the Minotaur. Asterion lay dead.

Theseus picked himself up, looking exhausted but triumphant. “Victory! No Athenians will die today, or ever! This monster will never claim another human life!” He grinned at me. “See, I told you I could do it with my bare hands!”

I stared at the mass of Asterion’s body. “I killed my brother…”

“Nonsense!” Theseus took the torch back from me. The bones crunched under his feet as he walked. “It is hardly your fault that you are the sister of a beast. We have done a good and heroic thing today. Look, look at the bones! Why are you crying, Ariadne?”

I suddenly looked at him instead of the Minotaur’s corpse. I don’t think he’d said my name before. Even in the dim torchlight, he still looked bright, with clear eyes and golden hair and bronze skin slick with sweat. “I couldn’t have done this without you, Ariadne.” He smiled at me. “Thank you. Together we have saved many lives.”

He kissed me, and the torch went out.

The following events were a blur. After we had successfully followed the thread out of the Labyrinth, Theseus triumphantly announced to my father that the Minotaur was dead, and demanded me and my sister as prizes. My father was furious — of course he was. He had essentially just lost all of his children, and all because one had died in Athens before I was old enough to remember. I, however, was elated, and so was Phaedra. Phaedra was as eager to leave Crete as I was, and she seemed just as taken with Theseus’ handsomeness. She didn’t seem distressed that Asterion was dead, and why would she? The grateful Athenians went back to their ship, many of them sobbing with relief. I didn’t look at my father as I followed Theseus to the ship. I never wanted to look at him again. We passed by Talos, and I left Knossos and the Labyrinth behind me.

Crete faded into the horizon, and before me was sunshine and new possibilities. Theseus glowed with triumph and pride, smiling at me and kissing me when he announced to the other Athenians that he would marry me, and that I would become their queen. They fell to their knees and showered me and Theseus with gratitude for having saved their lives. I felt almost as if I were a goddess. Wine flowed freely in celebration, and I took more joy in it than I had in a long time.

It did not last long. Soon after the first few hours I was, if possible, even more miserable on Theseus’ ship than I had been in Knossos. I quickly became tired of his boasts about how he had strangled the beast, without crediting me at all, or so much as mentioning the ball of yarn, even though the other Athenians had seen me give it to him and seen me follow him into the Labyrinth. Every time he told the story, it got further from the truth, and emphasized his own heroism over mine. Is this how it would be when I was queen? No matter what I did, I’d be shunted to the side? Then, Theseus seemed to be doting on Phaedra. She usually attracted more attention. She was prettier than me. She had blond hair that shined in the sunlight and the bright eyes of our mother Pasiphae, the daughter of Helios. My hair and eyes were dark, like the Labyrinth.

I left the celebration, finding a quiet spot on deck. I sat by the edge of the ship, staring out into the open waves and trying not to think about Asterion, but the image of him lying dead in the torchlight haunted me. “Are you okay, Ariadne?” Phaedra asked me. “What is wrong? We are finally out of there, all thanks to you! No more Minotaur, no more tributes having to die, no more Father… We will have a new life in Athens.” I stayed silent. “You look despondent. Something’s wrong.”

I looked up into her eyes. “It’s like you said, Phaedra. Asterion is dead.”

“Do you… mourn him?”

“He was our brother, and I killed him!”

“Theseus killed him! You did nothing!” I knew that she meant to reassure me, but it touched a raw nerve.

“He would not have if I hadn’t led him straight to the center of the Labyrinth!”

“Ariadne…” Phaedra put her hand on my shoulder. “You… you’re… you’ll be okay. You are just a little bit disoriented.” She left me alone.

I looked at the Athenians, who laughed and danced and celebrated their lives. I didn’t feel like dancing. I already missed the Labyrinth. My guilt drew my thoughts back to Knossos. I wanted to hide in the Labyrinth forever, like Asterion had, or else throw myself into the sea for my guilt. The brightness of the waves was glaring compared to the soothing darkness of the Labyrinth.

Theseus approached me from behind. He had been ignoring me until now, maybe because I was so sorrowful. I could feel that he was angry at me, and my skin crawled, but I didn’t turn. “What cause do you have to weep, Ariadne? You should be happy!” he said.

“I am sorry, Theseus. Part of me still mourns for my brother.”

“What is the matter with you? All you have done is sit and stare at the water! If you loved that Labyrinth so much, perhaps you should have stayed there! Now please, put this sorrow behind you. You have no cause for it.” He sighed, softening. “When we arrive in Athens, we shall marry, and there will be much rejoicing.”

“Leave me alone.” The bitterness in my voice rang louder than I’d intended.

He scowled at me.“You are joyless, passionless, and thankless,” he spat, and stalked off. The word useless went unsaid; I could tell he was reconsidering making me his wife.

“Theseus, wait!” I yelled, suddenly sounding desperate.

I stood up, and he turned back to look at me, and I felt as if I were naked under his gaze and that of the others on the ship, which had all quieted and turned in my direction. His eyes were cold, and his nostrils flared just as Asterion’s had. “What, Ariadne? You have shown me neither gratitude nor pleasure, you have not acted like a princess. What do you have to say for yourself?”

Shamed, I said nothing. I sat back down. Then, as he was about to turn away again, I suddenly found my voice. “Why are you being cruel?”

“I am not being cruel. You are being difficult.”

By the time we reached Naxos, I was feeling heartbroken as well as grief-stricken. Theseus was giving me the silent treatment. I think he expected me to come running to him begging for forgiveness. We stopped on the island to rest, primarily because Theseus had dreamt that he would stop here during his homecoming.

 I took off my sandals and walked along the edge of the surf to clear my thoughts. The beach was bright and wide and open, the exact opposite of the Labyrinth. Even in the sand, I felt his heavy footsteps approaching behind me. “Ariadne, we need to talk.”

I continued to face away from him. “What?”

“Ariadne, I find your attitude disagreeable.” 

I turned on my heel to face him, planting myself in the sand. “I’ve found your attitude disagreeable! All you have done since we left Crete is boast about your heroics, and you’ve barely given me any credit—”

“Credit! You want credit for having slain it, when all you have done is cry over the hideous thing?”

The disdain in his voice stung me like arrows. “You don’t care at all for me or my feelings, do you?”

“If you were to become my queen, I would expect better behavior from you.” He sounded like he was lecturing a child.

“Well… I don’t want to be your queen! You are almost as bad as my father!”

“Good. I have already decided to take your sister Phaedra as my bride instead.” I didn’t reply. “You may still return with us to Athens, but we will have to make other arrangements for you.”

Forget Athens. I didn’t want Theseus to do anything for me. “Oh, forgive me for having been such a disappointment to you! Go ahead, go back to Athens and marry my sister! By Zeus! I’ve had enough of you!”

And I ran. I turned away from Theseus and ran down the beach until my legs gave out, falling in the sand to sulk and wonder where it all went wrong. I regretted having ever met Theseus, or helped him to kill my brother. If I could undo it all, I would. No. Then innocent people would have died. Oh, gods, why am I so wretched?

And then, as I was just beginning to calm down, I saw that the ship was sailing away over the waves. I was stranded on the island. Despair and panic crashed down upon me. Oh gods, gods, why? Had I somehow been forgotten about, or left behind on purpose? Had Theseus doomed me to die? “CURSE you, Theseus!” I screamed at the distant ship. I watched it go until it disappeared over the horizon. I could do nothing but hopelessly stare at the wine-dark sea as the sun set.

“Excuse me, why are you crying?”

I had been sitting with my head in my arms, weeping despondently, and I was startled by the sudden voice, soft though it was. I was certain the island was deserted, but now, a young man stood before me. He was silhouetted against the sky, the sun shining behind his head like a halo. Where had he come from? I hadn’t heard him come. It was though he’d simply stepped out of the sea.

“I’m sorry,” I said, and my voice sounded cracked from crying. “I thought I was alone.”

“May I sit with you?” the man asked. “You look like you could use a drink, something to soothe you, hm?”

“Yes… yes, thank you.”

He sat down in the sand next to me, languidly stretching his legs out in front of him like he was sitting on the plushest couch. With the sunlight on him, I could see him properly — he was the most beautiful man I’d ever seen in my life. He easily put Theseus to shame. His eyes were leafy green, warm and kind. He was lithe, and his skin looked as pale and smooth as a girl’s, and his lips looked so soft. I couldn’t place the color of his hair — it seemed to be dark brown, but it could have been as dark as the Styx, and when the sun caught it, it looked honey-gold. It fell over his shoulders in loose curls. He wore nothing but a fine purple cloak draped over one shoulder, a golden leopard skin around his waist, and a wreath of ivy on his head. His cheeks were flushed, and he had a bright, easy smile. He was so lovely, so breathtaking, it almost hurt to look at him. With delicate hands, he offered me a kylix brimming with wine. “Please, tell me what has made you so upset.”

I blinked at the kylix, and the leopard skin, and the ivy in his hair. “Are you… a Bacchant?” I’d heard of them. They worshipped a mad and savage god with drunken orgies in the woods, and were said to be able to rip animals or even people limb-from-limb in their frenzy. Not unlike Asterion, I suppose.

He flashed a devious smile. “Maaaaybe.”

I took the kylix and drank deeply. The wine was sweet, and somehow, I felt immediately calmer. Slowly, amid my lingering sobs, I told the story — about Asterion, and my father, and the tributes, how I’d decided to help Theseus, how we’d found our way through the Labyrinth, how Theseus had killed Asterion, how Theseus had been so heartless, and how he had apparently left me to die on a deserted island. By the time I finished talking, the kylix was empty.

“How do you feel now?” he asked me.

“Better… I think. But I’m still devastated, and… guilty. My brother’s death… it was really my fault, and I don’t know if I did the right thing or not. Do you think it’s wrong for me to grieve for my brother? I mean… he was a monster…”

“No. I don’t think it’s wrong. It is perfectly understandable that you would mourn your brother.”

“If I had let the Athenians die, I would have mourned for them, too.” I sighed.

“Yes. There must be blood; one sacrifice was traded for another, Asterion, the worthy bull. It is okay to grieve, for as long as you need to, but do not wallow in despair.”

“I tend to do that. I don’t remember the last time I was completely happy. I thought Theseus would make me happy, but… then… I wish I had my Labyrinth back! It was at least soothing down there.”

“It pains me to see people sad,” he said. He handed me the kylix again, and it was once again full of wine. I hadn’t seen him fill it. “Pleasure is a state of mind. The best way to rid yourself of sadness is to focus on things that make you happy. There is always something to take pleasure in! Like the beauty of the sunset, or the sound of the lapping waves. Or wine!”

“Not when you are abandoned to die, with no way off the island,” I said. “How did you get here, anyway? I don’t see a boat.”

“I have my ways,” he said cryptically, with that same mischievous smile. That smile and the teasing sparkle in his eyes were so adorable. His beauty is something to take pleasure in, I suddenly thought, and his company, and kindness…

I took another draught of the wine. “Why are the gods so cruel to me?” I murmured, more to myself than to him.

“The gods are not cruel to you.” He stated it with complete confidence, as though it were an undeniable fact, not as though he were trying to convince me.

“It certainly seems that way,” I replied.

“Life can often seem that way, but then, it gets better, and you will find that the gods favor you,” he said.

“Well… I suppose that must be true, if handsome strangers pop out of nowhere to comfort women.”

He beamed. “Exactly!” He took the kylix back from me, threw his head back, and drained about half of it in one gulp. “You know, I was stranded on a desert island like this one once.”

“Wait, what? You were?”

“Yes! It was a long time ago now, but I was just as pretty back then, and just as fond of wearing purple. Purple is the best color, you know.” He winked. “Anyway, so I was lying asleep on a beach and—” he took another swig of the wine, “a pirate ship rows by…”

“Are you drunk?”

“Always, darling!” That roguish grin of his was really starting to win me over. “Anyway, the pirates saw me sleeping on the beach, saw how pretty I was and saw my fine purple robes, and thought I was a prince. Well. They weren’t wrong… I technically am a prince of Thebes, on my mother’s side.” He laughed like he had just told the most hilarious joke and had another sip of the wine. The amount of wine in the kylix never seemed to get any lower.

“Does that mean… you’re a bastard?” I asked hesitantly.

“Yes, yes it does! I’m such a bastard. I mean… I was born out of wedlock. And my father’s wife, oooh, she hates me.” Another sip of the wine. “Never get on her bad side if you can help it.” He pointed at me as if this was the most important information I could ever learn, and I laughed. “She can’t touch me now, but she drove me mad when I was younger. Literally. Anyway, so these pirates kidnapped me. Thought I’d make a damn cute catamite, and I certainly would, but that’s beside the point. You don’t and kidnap boys no matter how pretty they are. I tried to tell my dad that, but it didn’t go over well.” Another sip of the wine.

“You are slender, but I bet you could take Theseus in a drinking contest.”

“Oh, I could take aaaaaanyone in a drinking contest! Never lost one yet!” His face was glowing, not just with blush from the wine but also with infectious joy. I slowly forgot about my misfortunes as I listened to his story. “So they tried to tie me to the ship’s mast, but found they couldn’t do it. I only tolerate bondage on my own terms. And then…” There was suddenly a mad gleam in his green eyes. “I covered their ship in grapevines, and ivy, and flowers, and the delicious smell of wine. I can’t imagine why such delightful things frightened them so. But I thought I’d scare them more, see, because it was funny. So I turned into a lion! And they flung themselves overboard in fear!” He laughed, and his laugh sounded as musical as flutes on a clear morning, but it had a maddened edge to it. “But I pitied them, y’know?” he continued. “Just as you pity your brother. So I changed them into dolphins. So they wouldn’t drown.”

“You changed… you turned into… did… did your god give you those powers? Or… are you just… really… drunk?” But I knew. I think that intuitively, I knew the whole time.

“Easy,” he said, once again raising the bottomless kylix to his lips with that knowing smile. “I’m really drunk.”

At this, I burst out laughing, and my laugh sounded almost unfamiliar to my own ears. I felt light, carefree, replenished. And then it sank in, that I was speaking to a god. I hastily knelt, and dropped my head before him, although he was still sitting next to me. “Lord Dionysus! Son of Zeus! Lord, lord, thank you for coming to me, for talking to me, for relieving me of my pain, for freeing me from my suffering…”

“You’re welcome, Ariadne.” He lifted my face, so that I was staring up into his eyes, which were now vivid reddish-purple, the color of ripe grapes. A richly purple aura surrounded him, proclaiming his divinity. In his hand was his staff, a fennel stalk topped with a pinecone that dripped with honey, twined with ivy and purple ribbons. And he had horns, bull’s horns just like my brother’s, magnificent and deadly sharp. They curved up above his brow, as much his crown as the wreath of ivy in his hair. The imposing horns created a striking contrast with his delicate features, but they looked right, somehow. Like this was how he was supposed to look.

I didn’t know what to say. My mind had gone suddenly blank. “I’ve never known great Dionysus to have horns,” I blurted.

“Not many get to see them,” he said, his voice suddenly slow and solemn. “Ariadne, will you dance with me?”

Whatever I had expected him to say, it was not that. “Wh—what?”

“Dance with me!” He stood up and twirled off across the beach. His hair floated around his shoulders, the ribbons on his thyrsus arced through the air like the rainbow, and his expression was one of elation. He screamed in ecstasy, and it was an inhuman sound, like the crowing of some unearthly bird. At that, the air filled with cacophonous music — flutes, drums, cymbals, rattles, castanets.

A command echoed inside my head. No, not a command — a compulsion: DANCE! DANCE!

So I danced with the bull-horned god. “Dancing” barely even begins to describe what I was doing. I was filled with an overwhelming, indescribable feeling, like I didn’t fit in my own skin. Like I was about to be lifted out of my own shoulders! I moved like my body was doing everything it could to express this ineffable thing inside me that was so much bigger than me. I spun, I leapt, I ran, I stamped my feet in the sand, I moved wherever the feeling took me. It burned like fire. And Dionysus was all I could perceive. I screamed with both intense rapture and pure, genuine worship: “EUOI! EUOI! EUOI!”

I met his eyes, and there I saw all the raw ferocity of a bull or a great cat, as well as chaos and lust and debauchery and pure mania. All the forces strong enough to tear a person apart! I desperately thirsted for something I could not name. It was more than wine, more than flesh, more than blood. Dionysus took me in his arms, and kissed me on the lips. Passion overtook me.

Maybe I fainted in exhilaration, or maybe I was simply too drunk to remember. All I know was that I was eventually awakened by the sunrise and the sound of lapping waves. And Dionysus… was still there. He hadn’t disappeared into the night, he was still sleeping there in the sand, looking blissful and alluring in his sleep. His tousled curls tumbled over the sand, his soft hand was upturned beside his head, and his lips were parted invitingly. He lay on his purple cloak, and was using the leopard pelt like a blanket, though it was only carelessly draped over his waist.

“Lord… thank you for not leaving me,” I whispered.

His long eyelashes fluttered, and then his eyes opened, once again appearing vine-green. “Mmmm… sleep well?”

“Yes.” I desperately wanted to kiss him, and the seductive look in his eyes tempted me. “May I… touch you?”

“Darling, you may touch me anywhere you like,” he purred. Ravenously, I wrapped my arms around his waist, pressed my chest to his, and our lips met. He still tasted like wine, and I drank him in the way I would wine. We lay there for a moment, entangled in each other’s arms like grape and ivy vines, idly caressing each other’s skin and hair.

“M’lord…” I whispered, “perhaps it might be impertinent to ask, but… what am I going to do now? I can’t go home. I don’t really want to go to Athens. And I still have no way off this island.”

“Why, Ariadne,” he gave me a teasing smile. “If I may be so bold, I hoped you would join me! In fact… I hope you might marry me.”

I was so taken aback by this that I immediately sat up. “You… you’re serious? Marry you?” I knew that gods frequently took mortal lovers, but this was unimaginable. “Actually marry you?”

“Yes, Ariadne. I love you.” He said it with the same sweetness and sincerity that he initially approached me with. Theseus had said no such thing. “You are not destined to become queen of Athens, but perhaps you might be my queen, if you are willing.”

I burst into tears, but they weren’t tears of sadness this time. They were tears of overwhelm, the same kind of overflowing sensation that I’d felt while dancing. “You love me?”

“I am absolutely besotted, my darling! I have had many lovers, but I had not fallen so madly in love since Ampelos, my first love, my darling vine.” A grapevine appeared between his fingers and twined up his arm. “Perhaps something in me is inclined towards mortals over gods, which is understandable, given my parentage. But, that should be no problem. I will bring you to Olympus, and love you for all of time.”

“How… why me?” I sputtered. “What have I done to deserve this?”

“Ariadne, you are letting your human mind interfere, and convince you that you are not worthy to be in my presence. Did you feel unworthy last night, while we were dancing?”

“No… I felt… there was no such thing.”

“Ariadne, do you love me?”

I struggled to find any word that could properly describe how I felt about him. “You are… utterly intoxicating.”

He giggled like a shy maiden. “I get that a lot. And, if you could be worthy of having me as a husband, would you have me?”

Yes. My body and soul ached and burned with wanting. And he made me extraordinarily happy! I’d never dared to believe a god would love me enough to marry me, but that disbelief was only getting in my way.

He looked me dead in the eyes. I nearly flinched away from the intensity of his gaze, and the shimmering madness behind it. “You are more than you realize, Ariadne, guide in the dark, guardian of the gates of initiation. You are intelligent and witty and brave, and you fear no darkness or madness or savagery, do you? You faced them all in the Labyrinth. You would make an excellent addition to my thiasus, even if you decide not to marry me. Ariadne, the most holy and pure, Lady of the Labyrinth.” His words reverberated deep in the labyrinthine pathways of my own mind and soul, like he had revealed an ancient truth that I had known once, but forgotten.

“The Labyrinth is a holy place, of contemplation and transformation. Isn’t it? Not of death.”

He smiled that gorgeous, winning smile again. “Yes! You understand! And even where there is death, it is not absolute.” His eyes shone with feverish excitement. “Oh, I have so much to teach you!”

“Lord Dionysus, I would be honored beyond imagining if I were to become your wife.”

“So is that a yes? You will marry me?”

Something about him felt right in a way that I could not put words to, like the Fates had done all they could to bring me to this moment. This god loved me, more than the other gods love their conquests, more than I could comprehend. “Yes! I will marry you!”

At that, a cool wind blew across the island, swirling his dark hair around his face and making all the vegetation appear to shimmer. It was like the island itself was affirming my decision. “Then, Ariadne, we shall rule the revel together! In honor of our engagement…” A magnificent diadem appeared in his hands, sparkling with seven gemstones like stars. He placed it on my head, and gave me a warm kiss on my lips. “Ariadne, my bride, may you never thirst. May your lusts never go unsatisfied. May your heart always be light and joyful.”

“Thank you. Thank you, m’lord!”

“You can stop calling me that. If we are to be married, you can simply call me by my name. Or, call me what pleases you. Now, come with me!” He stood, offering me his hand. “Unless you would rather spend some more alone time together, I should finally take you off this island! I will take you home to Nysa, or perhaps to Arcadia, and we will have to throw the most spectacular bacchanal in celebration of our marriage!”

“How will we travel?”

He led me down the beach like a child eager to show something to their parent, and gestured toward a golden chariot drawn by two gigantic panthers. The chariot itself was decorated in images of swirling grapevines and serpents and satyrs making love, and the cats’ pelts gleamed. “Oh, gods… I mean… wow. Does it move over water?”

“It flies, silly!” He stood inside it and beckoned to me. “These cats can run on the wind. Hermes gave them to me.”

I climbed into the chariot and held on for dear life as the panthers bounded into the air with great strides. Soon the chariot was blazing through the bright air, and Naxos was far behind us. Dionysus laughed into the wind, which blew his long hair back from his face. As radiant as he was, I was more than a little terrified of speeding through the air high above the sea in a chariot, and felt like I would fall off at any second, although not even my diadem was dislodged from my head.

“You look terror-stricken, Ariadne. Would you like me to tell you another amusing story? That seems to have cheered you up the last time!”

“That depends on whether you can drive a chariot and get incredibly drunk at the same time.”

He laughed uproariously. “Oh, I love you so much! I can do anything and get incredibly drunk, if you were wondering. So, anyway, the story… Mortals have mixed opinions of me. Most love my parties and stories and love my wine, but they seem a bit put off by the madness and violence and lust it brings out in them… Not sure why, it’s not as though all of that wasn’t there to begin with… Mortal kings do not like this, and some of them can be quite unkind to my worshippers, testing the limits of my mercy… but one of them allowed my mentor, Silenus, to sleep in his garden. So kind of him! So of course I offered him any reward he might wish for, and… he wished that everything he touched would turn to gold.”

“Ooh. Let me guess, it backfired?”

“Oh, did it backfire! His food turned to gold and he nearly starved, and even his daughter turned to gold! Hardly my fault, of course. I promised to give him what he asked for, and I did, he just happened to be an idiot. He had the chance to wish for anything in the world, and he chose something as shallow and pointless as gold. Not to mention, he clearly had never heard of inflation, which makes me worry about his kingdom’s economy. Oh, well. He learned, and I changed everything back. I always let humans indulge themselves, but I am not a god of excess. Either they are satisfied by their pleasures, or they learn their lesson fast. The moral of the story: Know your tolerance. Also, if you want to turn things to gold, you have to do it the hard way. Hermes and I were just discussing how to turn lead to gold, in fact…”

His soothing voice and hilarious tales put me at ease, until we were traveling over beautiful mountains and verdant valleys. I had never seen mainland Greece, but the view of it from the flying chariot was incredible. I was no longer afraid of falling. As we flew, I felt as if the wind stripped me of the cares and sorrows of my former life. Dionysus had set me free. I smiled at him, and he smiled at me as the chariot descended into the lush, hidden valley where a throng of Maenads and satyrs waited to welcome home their lord and his queen.

Dionysus helped me out of the chariot, and I stood before the thiasus, their maddened eyes all turned upon me. “I am the bride of Dionysus,” I proclaimed. “I am Ariadne of the Labyrinth.”

[reushq]

Gorgeous, gorgeous apps - thank you everyone who took the time to write & showed interest in these skeletons ! We are now three characters away from a full house, and we couldn’t be happier at how everyone is fitting in. As this concludes our Friday-but-actually-Saturday acceptances, make sure to go through our checklist & send your accounts in 24h. Welcome to Reus, in the year of Chaos 2130, on (almost) the second week of our event !

CONGRATULATIONS, ZOE ! You were accepted for Alecto with a Han Sohee playby. The competition was tough for Alecto, which is always a bittersweet thing to see for us mods. But your application struck such a fine balance of precision and detail, Zoe, and gave us a complex personal universe in simple, hard-hitting terms. You wrote Alecto with their bright rage, but you also added so much more. Your plans for their development open the possibility to all sorts of interactions, and we cannot wait to start reading those threads as they come ! Highlight: “There are good moments– solid, even, where you feel like a person and less like a thing created against a bleak backdrop for pity. You do not accept it, even when given.”

CONGRATULATIONS, AMANDA ! You were accepted for Dusa with an Adeline Rudolph playby. Amanda, your application was a thrill to read, from its beautiful prose down to its highly innovative format (search results! Tala-proxy boards! we love to see it!). But beyond that, it was also illuminating: you brought out details about Dusa we could’ve never imagined, and complemented the lore of the Gorgonias (and implicitly Tartarus) better than we ever could’ve. Thank you twice over for bringing Dusa to us ! Highlight: “your  formative  years  are  spent  learning  the  ins  and  outs  ,  the  ups  and  downs ,  of  the  depths .  in  lethe  ,  your  form  of  rebellion  is  no  radical  thing . the  theft  of  your  own  agency  is  respected .”

CONGRATULATIONS, ANNA ! You were accepted for Prometheus with an Ok Taecyeon playby. Your application rendered a version of Theus that is both dynamic & dimensional - we felt we were able to glimpse into everything about them, past and present, ideals and terrors, and, naturally, the muddy shores of their future agenda. We particularly adored what you prepared for them in case their plans go wrong; it’s a touch of genius that few characters would’ve taken the time to think about! Your Prometheus is unlike any other - which is, of course, half the point. Welcome to the show! Highlight: “It wasn’t long before you finally realized that the Quorum wasn’t a garden with soil that would nurture your visions, but a swamp that wouldn’t allow your ideas to take root — and when you did, you gave up on the golden job you had secured.”

[plus-size-reader]

Surprise

Percy Jackson x Plus size!reader

Word Count: 1585 words

Warnings: none 

Summary: Aphrodite’s youngest daughter makes friends with Percy, only for him to be shocked when he finds out who she is.

——————————————————————————————————

Sending you to bond with Percy alongside Grover made the most sense of all the demigods. You were the most gentle, the sweetest, and there wasn’t a being in all the cosmos you couldn’t charm. 

You wouldn’t be in any serious danger outside the walls of the camp, and besides, you had Grover to keep you out of too much trouble. 

It just made the most sense to surround Percy with as many allies as he could have in the mortal world, and you agreed to be a part of it without question.

If you could make the whole transition easier for him, you had to do your best. 

It was what campers did for each other, though it didn’t really seem to be a traditional sort of quest. It was more of a countermeasure than anything else, and you were okay with that. 

You had never been the hunting monsters kind anyway. 

...And of everything, that was the first thing Percy took in about you. 

Grover introduced you to him as a friend, and that was all he needed to know. In truth, Percy didn’t have all that many so he couldn’t be picky and if Grover was going to voche for you, you had to be pretty cool. 

It was simple, for a few days. 

However, as most things did in your life, it eventually came crashing down around you. In this particular instance, it was because every monster for a thousand meters thought Percy had Zeus’ lightning bolt...Something they were willing to kill for. 

Which could only mean one thing. 

It was time to take Percy Jackson to Camp Halfblood. 

“Look, it doesn’t make any sense, but you just gotta trust me” Grover assured, rushing him along the sidewalk as quickly as he could with you following close behind. 

If the fury's knew he was here, it was only a matter of time before every other horror from the depths of tartarus found its way to him. Percy’s life was in danger, and nothing could change that now. 

Not even his father. 

“Grover’s right Perc, we have to get out of here” you huffed, trying to keep up with the two of them while also dodging the oblivious civilians just on their way to a nine-to-five. 

If only they knew what else the world had to offer, and what dangers it beheld right beneath their noses. They probably would never sleep again and at this rate, you couldn’t blame them. 

Still, you kept on because it was your destiny as a demigod. You had been born to do this, and there was no choice in the matter. Percy would come to terms with that same reality soon enough. 

He had to.

“We’re gonna take you somewhere safe” 

~ 

It was safe to say that the news of Percy Jackson arriving at Camp Halfblood shocked everyone. However, by that point, all you could think about was the way he had taken out the Minotaur without any formal combat training. 

It should have been impossible. 

No one should have been able to survive that with such little preparation and it surprised you that he was still breathing. Even still, no one had visited Percy as much as you had since he’d gotten there. 

“Is he awake yet?” you wondered, peeking your head in toward where Grover was sitting, at the end of Percy’s bed. You had been checking on him constantly, but nothing had happened quite yet. 

There had been no new development in the last day, and you were getting tired of it. 

“Right on time” Grover allowed, gesturing you over to where he was, not even bothering to answer your question. He knew what you were here for, and what you had been here for. 

That wasn’t going to change. 

The secret reason for your visits wasn’t lost on your shared friend, but Grover didn’t care. As far as he was concerned, no one would be better suited for Percy anyway. 

There was no point in outing your crush right now. 

Luckily though before Grover had to worry about that, he got to inform you that Percy was waking up, you would be able to bother him in the flesh, instead of through the satyr. 

“Y/N?” Percy muttered, his words a little slurred, likely do to the multiple days he’d been asleep. He knew that it was you, of course, but there was something different about you. 

You were almost glowing in the light streaming in from the tent. 

...He must have really hit his head. 

“What do you remember, Perc?” you tried, letting your hand fall lightly on his face to brush his dark hair from where it was sticking to his forehead. He had worked up quite a bit of a sweat in all this time. 

Not that you could really blame him. 

Anyone else wouldn’t have survived what he did. 

“Just a crazy dream. There was this camp, and Grover had goat legs or something...there was this monster” he rambled on, doing his best to recall the strangest details of the odd vision. 

This was going to be good. 

“Um, Perc?” you laughed, stopping him with a glance over your shoulder at the satyr. The big, brave protector had some explaining to do if this was going to go over well. 

It was quite the transition but Percy was about to learn that nothing in the world he knew was how it seemed...least of all, you. 

All things considered though, you decided to just let Grover take over from this point, knowing he would do much better at it than you would. After all, you had only signed up for companionship, not full guardian duties. 

“So you’re telling me this is all real?” Percy repeated, thinking it over. He had only been up for a few minutes, enough to comprehend what was going on, but not long enough to start panicking.

It was the perfect time to introduce this whole new world to him. 

“Wait, so if my mom couldn’t pass through the gate, but Y/N can, that means-” he connected, looking at you with narrowed, but gentle eyes as if you were hiding something he couldn’t see. 

...But Grover was quick to pick up the slack. 

“Percy, Y/N is like you” he laughed, speaking slowly as he talked to the other male. It should have sunk in by now but Grover couldn’t blame him after the spill he’d taken. 

Anyone would be a little mixed up over that. 

“This ray of sunshine is Aphrodite's youngest daughter, and the greatest archer I’ve ever seen” Grover started, smiling at you as he spoke. 

You two had been friends for a long time, but you never got tired of being around the satyr. He respected you, and you never once felt anything but loved around him. 

There was silence in the room for a moment. 

Percy knew all about Aphrodite of course, but he hadn’t made that connection in all the time that he’d been around you. Sure, he’d always found you compelling, but he didn’t give it much thought until now. 

...Had that been the only reason? 

Perhaps the feelings he thought he had for you were just the work of some cosmic magical crap that he couldn’t hope to understand. However, a part of him hoped not. 

He wanted it to be real. 

“Wait seriously? Are you sure?” he asked, staring between the two of you with wide eyes as if he was somehow being tricked. It made sense, given everything he was taking in right now, but there was something else. 

Something about the way he asked hurt you, as if he didn’t believe that you were who you said you were. 

Perhaps it stemmed back to years and years of being told that you should have looked different than you did given your parentage, but you couldn’t hold it back. 

You felt like he was insulting you, even if maybe he wasn’t. 

“Yeah, pretty sure...why? Were you expecting something different?” you wondered, not even bothering to cover up the hurt tone in your voice. After everything you two had done together, this was really what was getting him? 

It didn’t make any sense. 

“No, I just wouldn't have guessed that is all” he shrugged, clearly missing the fact that he had seriously hurt you just now. 

Normally, you would have just let it go but you had been hearing that forever and to hear those words from Percy’s lips was too much. Maybe the others you could get over, but not him. 

Percy was important to you, and you cared about him...but he was just like everyone else. 

He was going to reject you simply because he thought you should be different, that you should be like your sisters. 

Your mother had more demigod children than nearly every other God, and every one of your sisters was a perfect, spitting image of your mother, except for you. 

It was bound to weigh on you eventually. 

“Sure, I get it” you sighed, leaving quickly before you could let either of them see you cry. Percy hadn’t meant to hurt you, but knowing that wasn’t enough to stop the hot tears leaking from your ducts. 

It stung to think that even Percy couldn’t see past your appearance, just like everyone else. 

After all, what could you expect from him? Clearly, Percy Jackson was just like every other half blood in the camp. 

[bellasredchevy]

Maybe not an unpopular opinion but I’ve never seen anyone talk about it: yeah we all know imprinting is gross and all that, but the fact that Edward can read Renesmee’s mind??? Imagine being a teenager and having your dad know everything you’re thinking, you’d never have a shred of privacy in your life

i’ve said this before i’ll say it again: if i was renesmeé i’d either have to run away from home forever or kill edward myself and send him to the depths of tartarus like zeus murdered kronos

have your “i’m just gonna say it” moment and drop your unpopular opinions about twilight anonymously in my inbox

[thebigqueer]

Solangelo - "Promise?" - One-Shot

Summary: Will and Nico are in Tartarus, and Will's hurt.

TW: slightly graphic description (just cuts); SPOILERS: Tower of Nero

Word Count: 1595

Read on AO3

Heat pulses in the air, boils over Will’s skin, strips him of his stamina. The world is tilting around him, and he can’t find a place to keep himself steady. His knees fall to the ground. He’s helpless, tired, done. He just wants to lie down and never get up again.

Distantly, a desperate voice calls his name, but he can barely comprehend what it’s saying. He’s drifting from consciousness, drifting from reality. Exhaustion pulls at his eyes and he has to fight to keep himself awake. It’s possibly the hardest battle he’s had to deal with, even after going against a countless number of monsters.

The voice is louder now, calling to him, but he’s falling into unconsciousness. The ground rocks his body back and forth, but he doesn’t have the energy to stand up.

And soon he gives himself up to the darkness. He’s done.

~

Ever since Will’s collapse, anxiety and guilt has been eating at Nico’s heart like a parasite. He knows that Will will be alright - Bob and Damasen told him so - but even then, he can’t help the churning in his stomach, the nervousness in his blood. Every time he looks at Will lying in the bed, with his curls plastered to his forehead and gashes all over his body, with his eyes scrunched in pain, a spiked rope pulls at Nico’s heart and makes him lose his breath.

Lucky for both of them, Nico was able to fight off the dracanae just in time for Will to pass out. He tried to call the blond’s name, to keep him awake for just a few more moments, but he was falling too far. Just as the last dracanae fell, so did Will, and for a few very long moments, Nico almost believed he’d lost his boyfriend forever.

Then Bob leaned down and picked him up, checked up on his breathing, and assured Nico that he was alive - just barely.

So together, with Will dangling over the shoulder of the Titan, they ventured further through the boiling depths of Tartarus, down to the small house of Damasen. All the while, Nico’s heart thudded in his chest. He and Will had barely eaten anything, and while Nico didn’t even have the appetite, he knew that if he didn’t get something soon he’d be pretty much useless.

Now, as Will and Nico reside in Damsen’s house and Bob helps the other giant to make food for the boys, the son of Hades finally takes the time to destress. He knows that this relief from the depths of Tartarus will only be short-lived, but he’s grateful to have it anyway.

He just needs the time. He needs. He needs. What does he need? He needs space. He needs to think.

Being back in Tartarus hasn’t been easy on him. But Nico supposes he was expecting that anyway.

There’s a constant buzz underneath his skin, simmering over his muscles, and he just wants to run, run, run from here. Why is he here? Why did he do this? Oh, yes. It was Bob. He needs to save Bob. Bob. Bob. Bob.

Nico’s mind feels on edge, curling in over itself. He doesn’t want to be here. He doesn’t want to be here.

Taking a deep breath, he steps over to Will’s limp body, taking his pale hand into his own. Heat emanates from his body, and not the comfortable kind - it’s feverish, red, painful. Gazing up at Will’s face, Nico’s breath hitches. Sweat gleams over him in the firelight and a greenish tint has come over his skin. His curls no longer look soft and golden - they look pale and bleached, like he’s been dyeing it over and over. His body has thinned out so much that Nico is almost convinced even a puff of air will blow him away.

Will whimpers in his sleep, begging for mercy from all the new nightmares, all the new fears. He looks so pitiful. Tears prick Nico’s eyes.

The son of Hades runs his hands over the gashes on Will’s body, starting from the bandages on his shoulder and forearm. The blond flinches and hisses, so Nico lets go, afraid of causing him more harm than he needs to. Instead he turns to the slashes against his torso, running his fingers over the ripped fabric of his orange CHB T-shirt. Blood soaks through them, green tinging the edges of the wounds. Nico grimaces.

Nico sighs and rests his head against Will’s shoulder. The heat of his skin spreads into the son of Hades, down to his very core, and his heartbeat quickens even more. He sighs. “I’m sorry, my love,” Nico whispers softly, pulling his fingers into the dampened curls on Will’s head. “I hate seeing you like this. You don’t deserve any of this pain.”

Will doesn’t answer. But as Nico speaks, the crease between his eyebrows lessens its strain, just for a little bit, and a trickle of relief drops into Nico’s body. At least he’s still semi-conscious.

Nico stands and releases his hold on Will. He starts wandering around the little cottage, soaking up the terrifying familiarity of the place. The glow of the fire, the scorching heat, the scent of smoke and meat. His eyes land over Damasen and Bob, and suddenly he remembers why he’s here.

“Bob,” he says, but his voice is scratchy and dry. “Oh, gods, Bob.”

The Titan looks up, fixing his silver eyes on the son of Hades. Seeing him, a wave of emotions flows in Nico’s stomach, catches up to his chest, rises up his throat. He rushes over.

“Bob, listen,” he chokes out. “You have to come back with us. I… I’m sure that you’re the one who’s been calling to me. I’m here to take you out of here. You… you don’t deserve life in Tartarus.” Then Nico fixes his stare to Damsen, who’s watching Nico with pitiful eyes. “You either. You both deserve the outside world. You both deserve to see the sun, breathe fresh air, to… to live.” He staggers forward, forcing urgency into his voice. “You need to. You helped us, and now it’s our turn to help you. Will you come?”

Damasen and Bob turn to each other, carrying a conversation between their eyes. Bob’s mouth curls into a frown.

“Nico,” he says, almost as if tasting how familiar the name is in his mouth. “Tartarus is hard to get out of. Bob isn’t sure… The last two demigods tried and failed. It is not worth bringing Bob up.”

Dread trickles down Nico’s throat. He blinks. “What? But… weren’t you the one sending me the voices?” Confusion pricks his head, threading itself into his thoughts. “Who else could it have been?”

Before either Damasen or Bob can reply, though, a soft moan echoes from somewhere behind. With a start, Nico realizes it’s Will. He jumps and rushes over, anxiety pulling his hard into a chokehold.

“Will!” he exclaims, placing his hand over the blond’s bicep. “Hey, are you awake? Can you hear me?”

Will groans. “Pain,” he mutters. “Help.”

Nico presses his hands to Will’s curls in a hurried attempt to try something to soothe him. “Is there anything you want?” he asks. “Like, something you need?”

“I want… up.”

It takes a moment for Nico to realize he means to sit up. He entangles his right hand with one of Will’s own feverish ones and uses his other arm to guide him into a sitting position. With a lot of struggle and hissing from the blond, the boys manage to get him into a more comfortable position.

As soon as Will’s sitting up, he groans and holds a hand to his head. “Ow.”

Nico bends on his knees and balances his fingers over Will’s jaw, tilting his face just a little. “How are you feeling?”

Will only offers a hum of disagreement, which Nico takes to mean he doesn’t feel good. “Nico, it… hurts.”

“Your cuts?”

“Mhm.”

“Yeah, I know. But we put salve on them the moment you got here. It’s much less now than it was then, trust me.”

A look of doubt flashes across Will’s eyebrows but he says nothing more. He only pulls into Nico’s body, looking for some kind of refuge from the cruelty around him. Nico wraps his arms around his boyfriend’s shoulders, and for a second Will’s found himself in bliss again, safe from the world around him. He rests his aching head against the son of Hades’ shoulder and sighs. Nico’s own skin feels feverishly warm, but at this point, Will doesn’t care. He just needs to know that he isn’t alone.

“Nico?” he whispers.

“Yeah?”

“I’m sorry you had to go through any of this in the first place.”

Nico’s body flinches at his words. Then gentle fingers slide down Will’s back. “It’s okay. At least this time we’re together, right?”

“Nico?”

“Mhm?”

“Don’t let me go here. I promised you we’ll ride or die together, and that’s what I intend. Just… don’t leave me, okay? And I won’t leave you. Promise?”

“Promise.”

“One more promise.”

“What?”

Will raises his head, his glazed eyes trying to catch a hold of Nico’s. “We’re only riding. We’re not dying. Promise me that.”

Guilt flashes against Nico’s face. “Will, I-”

“Even if you can’t promise, at least lie. Make it sound like the truth.” Hot tears scorch Will’s eyes. “Please,” he urges.

Nico nods and pulls Will to him again. “We’re not dying. We’ll make it out of here, my love. I promise you that.”