Coming of Age Ch. 31 (Percy Jackson) (Patreon)

A/N: Down, down, down... down by the river...

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Somehow, Percy thought that the elevator ride might replace the old boat that Charon was famous for wholesale. But instead, between one blink and the next, they weren’t even in the elevator anymore, but standing on a large wooden barge that the ferryman is slowly poling them down a river on. Not just any river either, but the River Styx.

Stiffening, Percy shoots a warning glance at both Clarisse and Annabeth. It’s not that he wants to believe the two women will try anything, but they don’t have a great track record when it comes to transportation so far. It felt like pretty much any form of transport they found themselves on, no matter what the circumstances were, he wound up getting a handjob, blowjob, or even full-blown quickie from one of the two girls.

But this wasn’t the time for that. Judging by the way Clarisse flushes and ducks her head at his stern look, she was either considering it… or just got off to him giving her stern looks. Annabeth though, isn’t even looking in his direction when he glances her way. Instead, she’s staring out at the river that the ferryman is taking them down, her nose wrinkled in distaste.

“This… this is the River Styx?”

Percy peers out into the darkness alongside her, staring harder at the water itself now that she’s drawn his attention to it. Charon, meanwhile, just lets out a bark of laughter.

“More polluted then you expected, hm?”

Polluted was a good word for it. The River Styx seemed fairly dark and oily and inky black on its own… but there was more than that. Bobbing up and down in the water, covering almost every inch of the river’s surface as the ferryman’s barge cuts through it, are all sorts of things. Trash, really. It reminds Percy of hearing about how polluted the oceans were supposedly coming back in school. How human garbage could completely destroy water sources. It reminded him of his dip in the Mississippi River in fact, but ten times worse.

“Thousands of years of you humans throwing your shit in it will do that, you know. Hopes and dreams, wishes that never came true. You lot aren’t even very considerate when you’re alive. Once you’re dead, you shed your baggage without a worry for those who come after you.”

Percy’s eyebrows raise at that and he finds himself looking closer. Charon is right. What Percy initially took to just be trash and garbage, were actually things with more meaning to them. Beloved dolls. Soggy diplomas. Crushed flowers. Fond memories of the past, brazen hopes for the future, a desire to just be loved… all of that was polluting the Styx.

Of course, he barely has time to fully comprehend all of that before a sense of danger alights on his senses. Percy stiffens up, even as he suddenly finds his sides occupied by Clarisse and Annabeth. He doesn’t blame them, nor does he rebuke them. This isn’t sexual in any way, but rather more of a confirmation that they’re not alone on this voyage of the dead and damned.

They aren’t supposed to be here. Logically, Percy already knew that. How could he not? He’d come to the Underworld and he was still alive. Only a handful of mortals had been stupid enough to do that in all of mythology… or rather, history as Percy supposed he now had to call it. Their chances of getting out of here were next to none, though did increase thanks to his trip to Santa Monica.

Even still, it was one thing to know they weren’t supposed to be here. It was another entirely to feel the weight of the Underworld pressing down on them, to FEEL their lack of belonging in this place.

As the shoreline comes into view, there’s no relief to be had. Not when the howl of a large animal suddenly comes from elsewhere up ahead, echoing off of the cavernous space. Charon cackles, his smile turning rather wicked.

“Ah. Sounds like Old Three-Face is hungry. Bad luck.”

The barge lands on black sand. The dead start to depart. Percy doesn’t pay them much mind. They’re where they belong. He and his companions aren’t. It’s up to him to make sure they all make it out of this in one piece though.

“Best payment I’ve had for a trip in years. For that alone… well, best of luck to you lot. You’re going to need it.”

Percy turns to Charon as the ferryman uses his pole to push off the beach. Truthfully, the Son of Poseidon doesn’t even remember walking forward, but at some point he must have because he finds himself standing on the black sand alongside Clarisse, Annabeth, and Grover. All four of them had made it… but is that really a good thing given the circumstances?

Wordlessly watching Charon depart, Percy finally turns to the others once the boatman has completely vanished into the dark.

“Right. I guess… I guess we press on?”

Annabeth grimaces but nods.

“It’s all we can do, really.”

With that stellar endorsement, the four of them start to move. Percy isn’t sure what he was expecting from the entrance to the Underworld, but he has to admit… this wasn’t it. Instead of some gateway of darkness, there were three different entrances, each with metal detectors, security cameras, and tollbooths manned by creatures of the underworld clad in black robes.

Two of the entrances were marked ‘Attendant on Duty’, and the third was marked ‘EZ Death’. Kind of… disrespectful, wasn’t it? A moment later Percy feels a little stupid for that thought. Hades was the God of the Underworld. Why should he care about being respectful of the dead? Rather, it was the dead who needed to be respectful of him?

“EZ Death must go to the Asphodel Fields.”

Annabeth sounds confident in her assertion, even as Percy glances over at her, making her launch into an explanation. To hear her tell it, there was apparently a court for the dead where famously unbiased and impartial figures from history might sit in judgment of souls who sought out their verdicts. Then, based on what those judges decided, your entire afterlife would be decided.

The Asphodel Fields were for the souls who were uncertain or anxious about their chances of earning a good afterlife based on their actions on Earth. Instead of risking punishment, they went to the afterlife that was the equivalent of standing in a wheat field for the rest of eternity. Sounded a bit… tedious, Percy couldn’t lie.

But he wasn’t dead. He had to keep reminding himself of that. He wasn’t dead, so he didn’t need to worry about where he was going to end up just yet. He just needed to worry about trying to find the Master Bolt.

Glancing to Annabeth, Clarisse, and Grover, Percy opens his mouth to ask their advice but before he can get a word out, a much louder growl than before reverberates up ahead, causing him to whip back around.

They’d been walking closer as they talked, and now suddenly there was an enormous shade standing before them all, about fifty or so feet away. No, it was always there, Percy realized. But before… before it had been more transparent. Now it was becoming more and more opaque. Unbidden, Annabeth lets out a breath of realization beside them all.

“I t-think it’s becoming more real because we’re all getting close to death.”

Well shit.

“B-But don’t worry… I have a plan.”

Wait, what? Percy looks over at Annabeth as she begins rifling through her own pack quickly. She had a plan? Why was this the first time he was hearing about this? Not that he was complaining, but damn if he wouldn’t have preferred to have been in on the plan earlier…

Suddenly, Annabeth pulls out a large red ball. Percy’s confusion on where she got the damn thing lasts right up until he sees the words stamped on its side. WATERLAND, DENVER, CO.

“Cerberus! Ball!”

Immediately, the three-headed dog and gatekeeper of the underworld… perks up. Percy gapes as the big honking canine monster becomes more and more defined. However, it’s no longer glaring at them quite so much. Instead, all three heads are staring at Annabeth… and the ball in her hand.

“You want this ball? Sit!”

Percy can only gape as Cerberus’ nostrils all flare wide. For a moment, he’s convinced that Annabeth is dog chow. But then… the great big lug sits. He sits and crushes at least a dozen ghosts in the process. Percy winces at that, but… well, it worked he supposed?

“Good boy!”

Annabeth then proceeds to do the most insane thing of all, at least as far as Percy is concerned. She tosses Cerberus the ball. The three-headed dog catches the toy in his middle head’s mouth, with the Waterland merchandise almost being too small for him to even chew on. But he manages it, even as the right and left heads start snapping at the middle head, both wanting a piece of the toy.

Percy lets out a low breath. Okay. This was working. While Cerberus was distracted they could-

“Drop it!”

What was Annabeth doing?! Percy stares at the Daughter of Athena, truly bewildered as all of Cerberus’ heads stop fighting and look at her. The red rubber ball is only visible between the middle head’s teeth because of its distinct coloring. After whining for a moment, Cerberus finally drops the ball, letting it roll to Annabeth’s feet. The thing is covered in slime, but Annabeth doesn’t hesitate to pick it up.

And so they find themselves getting past Cerberus by a game of fetch. First, Annabeth gets the three of them through, directing them to the EZ Death line because it’s quicker. Then, with one last throw, she followed them up to the metal detector. There was a frankly disturbing but also heartwarming moment where she had to promise the big dog monster she’d come back later with another ball… and then they all had to run, because even going near the ‘metal detector’ found them out. They had ‘unauthorized possessions’ and ‘magic’ on their persons after all.

Fortunately, they were able to find a place to hide relatively quickly, slipping out of sight just as a bunch of the security in black robes came racing pass them. This in turn gives Percy an opportunity to give Annabeth a bewildered look.

“That was… incredible. Also insane. Where did you learn to do that? And why didn’t you tell me you had a plan earlier?”

Annabeth shrugs.

“Obedience School for my childhood Doberman. It was… a long time ago.”

She gets both wistful and regretful at the same time for a moment. Then, she turns rueful as she shrugs again at him.

“As for why I didn’t tell you… well, like you said, it was positively insane. Didn’t want you to try to talk me out of it.”

That was fair, he supposed. Though he’s not sure he whether he would have or not. Maybe he would have tried his own plan instead though, to avoid risking her. Tch… in the end, did it matter? They were past. And they still had a long way to go from here.

“Let’s get moving.”

The Asphodel Fields are… well, a thing. It’s way more than just a wheat field. It’s a million wheat fields, endlessly sprawling outwards in more than one direction. Thankfully, it’s not endlessly sprawling outwards in every direction, or Percy and his group might have been stuck there forever and ever. Creeping along the edges of the fields, they were able to make their way towards a large black tent that seemed to almost split the different versions of the Underworld into portions. There was Asphodel, there were the Fields of Punishment… and then there was one final area. A small valley surrounded by walls. Elysium.

“That’s where heroes go. That’s where you want to end up.”

As always, Annabeth is a fount of exposition. Percy though, finds himself staring at Elysium and wrinkling his nose just a little bit. Why does the valley feel ever so slightly familiar to him? And why does some part of him balk at the idea of Elysium, of spending his afterlife there among such decadence and happiness?

There were a lot more people in Asphodel and the Fields of Punishment. A LOT more. It was kind of daunting in a way. But of course, none of these places were where Percy and company needed to go.

As they continue on their way, it feels rather strange. He doesn’t really know how to get to where they need to be, and yet here he is anyways, his feet moving in front of the other. Slowly, they leave Elysium behind them first. And then the Fields of Punishment. Finally, even the Asphodel Fields are at their backs. What feels like miles later, Percy hears what has become a familiar screeching noise in the distance.

Looking ahead, he sees what can only be the Lord of the Dead’s Palace. And flying above its parapets, very clearly agitated and angry, were the Furies. Percy narrows his eyes.

“… They know we’re coming.”

Annabeth’s lips thin out at that. Clarisse stiffens. And Grover… Grover yelps.

“W-Whoa! What’s happening?!”

Percy looks back just in time to see the satyr lifting off the ground against his will. Those flying shoes that Luke had gifted Percy back at the start of this adventure are acting on their own now. Grover shouts the command word to shut them off, but it does nothing.

As Grover begins to fly along, Percy and Clarisse both lunge forward in unison, each of them grabbing a shoe at the same time and yanking them off of Grover’s hooves. Fortunately they’d always been rather loose on the satyr’s non-human feet. Though the moment they’re in his and Clarisse’s hands, the shoes try to lift THEM off the ground and drag them along as well.

The two demigods let go… before exchanging a glance as the shoes fly off to the side, away from Hades’ Palace. After a moment, Percy and Clarisse both grin and chase after them, following the shoes somewhere… else.

“Wait! Don’t go any further!”

Annabeth stops them from pursuing the shoes into the massive cave entrance they wind up flying into, with Percy and Clarisse skidding to a halt.

“You idiots! That’s the entrance to the Pits of Tartarus!”

Not a moment later, they both feel something tug at them… like a massive, hot inhale from some giant. It makes them stumble a little closer to the cave entrance, but nothing too bad as they both straighten themselves up, flushed.

Tartarus. Right. Looking at a shaken Grover, a pale Annabeth, and a frowning Clarisse, Percy grits his teeth.

“Don’t trust your gifts. That’s what the Nereid meant, I guess. But… why would…”

Annabeth looks more and more stricken and now Grover is pale as well. But Percy cuts himself off, shaking his head.

“We don’t have time for it. The trap didn’t work. Now we need to decide… do we sneak into the palace or walk right up to it? They’re waiting for us, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they know we’re already here…”

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A/N: Just a heads up, probably gonna roll a D20 regardless of which option gets chosen, to see how well the diplomacy or the stealth goes.