Legacy of Asgard

The minute the view of the world above disappeared from sight, Percy had an epiphany.
This might not have been the most intelligent decision of his life.
He pushed those thoughts from his mind though as he remembered the look on Reyna's face when she was thrown headfirst into the pit before him. It was a mixture of surprise, fear and acceptance, like she figured out her death was imminent.
Not if he had a say in the matter.
He managed to turn himself around in the air so he could look below where he hoped he would see Reyna. But his eyes only found what looked like endless darkness; a never-ending abyss that was swallowing him whole.
He willed Mjolnir back into a bracelet and tucked his limbs tight against his body, increasing the speed of his fall and he now dove headfirst into the abyss.
The fall seemed endless. He couldn't keep track of time as he fell. It might have been minutes, or hours or even days for all he knew. The only thing he knew was that he was falling with unbelievable speed as he wondered exactly how far down this Greek hell was down there. Just as he was starting to lose hope of catching Reyna before she reached the bottom, the glint of silver armor caught his eye.
Once in sight, it only took a few seconds to catch up to the demigoddess before he spread his legs and arms, using the resistance of the air to slow him down to a pace similar to Reyna's.
"Fancy meeting a pretty girl like you in a dump like this," he said smiled, not able to see the look on Reyna's face.
The daughter of Bellona's eyes snapped open and widened when she laid eyes on Percy falling beside her. She wiped away the few tears that had slipped out of her eyes as she fell to what she thought would be her unavoidable death.
Before she could respond Percy grabbed her arm, pulling her over to him where he put an arm around her waist to make sure they didn't get separated again.
"Percy, we're going to die when we reach the bottom. We'll never survive the fall."
The son of Thor pulled her a little closer as he leaned down to her ear to make sure she could hear him over the sounds of the air rushing past them on their descent.
"I would never let that happen. Not to you. Not while I was still breathing." He whispered in her ear before he kissed her softly on the cheek and held out the hand not around Reyna's waist. Mjolnir appeared in it, glowing like a beacon in the suffocating darkness around them. He held the weapon above his head and held on to Reyna tightly as they suddenly slowed their fall dramatically.
A look of relief crossed Reyna's features as held onto Percy tightly.
"Can you fly us out of here?"
He shook his head, "No. There is no opening above us anymore. The sky is my father's domain and I can feel it when it is above me. Whatever opening we fell through has been closed up."
Reyna's face fell a little as she glanced below them only to find more darkness. A thought crossed her mind as her head snapped back up to Percy.
"Why didn't you just fly out from the start then? Before she could close off the entrance."
Percy looked away from her for a minute, "That was my original plan."
Reyna just looked at him expectantly.
"Until you fell in."
Her eyes widened as she realized that she was the reason Percy was stuck down here in the first place; that he could have escaped if she hadn't foolishly let down her guard and be forced into the crevice.
She opened her mouth to apologize when Percy's head turned back to her looking deathly serious.
"This is not your fault. You tried to help me. Do not apologize. I jumped in of my own free will."
Reyna opened her mouth but then closed it; she was unsure of what to say. These situations were not exactly a specialty of hers. She thought about what Percy said and realized something; he jumped into Tartarus, for her. He jumped into the worst place in existence because it was where she was.
Without thinking any more about it, Reyna's hands moved from around his waist to around his neck before she kissed him deeply, forgetting the fact that they were falling to the most dangerous place for a living demigod to be on the planet.
Percy quick got over his surprise as he used his hand around her waist to pull Reyna closer. As the kiss started to deepen, Reyna suddenly pulled back, a look of panic on her face.
Percy shook his head as their fall slowed again. He smiled sheepishly, "Um, sorry. I, uh, got a little distracted."
Reyna's cheeks turned a little red but she smiled a little at the fact she had the ability to make him forget the fact they were falling into Tartarus with just a kiss. She kept her arms around his neck as they continued to fall at a slower pace into the abyss. She refused to look down again, keeping her face buried in his chest as she thought about anything but their fall.
"I wonder how far it is to the bottom." She said still not glancing down below them.
"Well, Hesiod estimated it would take nine days to fall from the Earth to Tartarus." Percy answered thoughtfully until he saw the look of fear on Reyna's face. "But, he was just a Greek, and you know how those Greeks are so dramatic." He continued happy to see Reyna's lips twitch a little at his comment.
After a few minutes, she felt Percy stiffen. She looked up to find him looking below them.
"We're coming to the end I think." Percy said in a wary tone.
Reyna forced herself to look down as the chute they were falling through opened into a vast cavern. Red clouds hung in the air, clouds that looked like they were made from vaporized blood. Despite how much she wanted to keep up her usual fearless face, she couldn't help but shiver nervously at the thought of what waited for them. The tempature became unbearably hot and the air smelled terribly like sulfur, almost to the point of feeling suffocating.
Reyna looked around, trying to gather as much information as she could about their surrounding while she had the chance. The landscape was dark, filled with what looked like black and rocky plains with a series of jagged mountains and fiery chasms.
Percy slowed their descent to a crawl as their feet touched down. They both looked around wildly, half expecting an attack the minute they set foot in the pit.
The only thing the two new inhabitants of Tartarus found was a deafening silence. Nothing stirred around them. No monsters. No other prisoners of the pit. Nothing. Just a silence that made the duo more nervous than they would have been had found a battalion of monsters waiting to rip them apart limb by limb.
Percy grabbed Reyna's hand and pulled her along, wanting to get away from the place of their entrance before anyone noticed them. The truth was he knew a bit about Tartarus but never expecting to actually end up there limited the amount of effort he put into learning about it.
The area around them was dark, rocky and hot. Fires burned randomly on seemingly inflammable objects like rocks and dirt.
Well, welcome to perdition Percy Jackson, he thought humorlessly.
The two demigods didn't make it far before a few Cyclops lumbered out of a rocky outcrop towards them, stopping in shock when they laid eyes on the two demigods standing alone and looking nervous.
"Dinner!" One of the giant one-eyed ogres said with a crooked toothed grin.
"Dinner!" The other two agreed looking at the two teens like they were a tasty steak laid out just for them.
"Percy, I don't have my gladius." Reyna muttered as she stood behind him as Mjolnir hung in his hand at his side.
Percy didn't respond right away, his eyes on the monsters while glancing around, expecting more monsters to come lurking out of the shadows.
"You know, I always wondered something." He said looking at the Cyclops with his head tilted to the side a little.
The monsters smiled, "What little demigod snack?" One grunted back at him.
Percy smiled back, "Well, when I smash you into a pulp on Earth, you dissolve into dust. What do you turn into when I kill you down here?"
The closest monster opened his mouth to reply when Percy threw Mjolnir at the monster's bare foot crushing it under the weight of the mighty hammer. The monster howled in in pain and reached down to check his foot but Mjolnir was already back in Percy's hand as he lunged forward swinging a fierce uppercut that caught the monster in the jaw and sent blood and teeth flying everywhere.
Percy turned and ducked under the swiping hand of another Cyclops, slipping behind and smacking the back of the monster's knee with his weapon as he turned to the third and hurled Mjolnir at his chest sending him flying backwards and Mjolnir flew back into his hand. He spun and smashed it into the back the second Cyclop's head before he could rise from a knee.
Percy looked down to see the two dead Cyclops lying in motionless heaps, blood oozing from their heads before they burst into clouds of dust and settled onto the tough terrain below them.
"Well I guess that answers that question."
He looked up to see the last Cyclops groaning and starting to stir a few yards away. He quickly ran towards it, unsheathing a dagger he kept at his ankle. Before the monster could realize what was going on, he pinned it down with foot to the throat before driving the blade through the top of its skull.
He pulled the weapon free, wiping the blood off on the Cyclop's tattered clothing before turning back to Reyna who was on a knee and looking like she was having a tough time.
That was when it hit him.
He was in pain.
His lungs felt like they were on fire. Every breath he took was excruciating. He hadn't realized it while fighting the Cyclops but the very air he was breathing was toxic, each breath weakening him and making him want to curl up into a ball and die. His skin burned continuously. The air was so hot, sticky and sulfuric that it was making him feel like he was being boiled alive.
He shook off his pain and quickly his way over to Reyna who was obviously feeling the same discomfort he was.
"Percy, we're not going to survive for very long down here."
Percy didn't answer. He knew she was right. They wouldn't survive these conditions very long at all. He could see the blisters forming on Reyna's skin and knew his skin looked the same. They needed to find somewhere safe and sustainable for human life.
His mind drifted to what his mothers had taught him about Tartarus, trying to think if there was a safe place inside this Greek hell. But his eyes just drifted around at the utterly desolate place surrounding them. All he could see was the dark cliffs and mountains and a lot of fire.
Fire, he thought. That seemed like something important. Then he shook it off trying to think of something useful.
Fire.
The back of his mind kept repeating the word, as if trying to force it into the thick and slow consciousness that controlled his mind at the moment.
Fire.
"FIRE!" He yelled loudly making Reyna yelp before glaring at him.
"Yes, I can see the fire. Thank you for that."
Percy shook his head, "No, we need fire."
Reyna raised an eyebrow and part of her wondered if he had already lost it. Yes, that was what they needed, more fire.
A smile spread across his lips.
"Not just fire. We need a river of fire to be exact."
Reyna contemplating slapping him to knock him back to reality but he continued before she got the chance.
"The Phlegethon River," he explained. "The river of fire. We need to find it and soon."
Reyna just stared at him. "Why is this river important for us to find?"
He held out his hand for Reyna to grab, "Because we'll die if we don't. Please just trust me."
Reyna looked up into his eyes as she reached up and grabbed his hand firmly in her own.
Percy smiled a bit and pulled the daughter of Bellona to her feet. She stumbled a little but he grabbed and steadied her before she could fall. He kept a hold of her hand to make sure she stayed upright... Well, that, and he kind of liked the feeling of her hand in his but he decided it was because she looked ready to keel over and die any second and that would not be happening when he was around.
The walked in the direction the Cyclops had come from, hoping it was the correct direction but for all he knew, Percy could be walking both of them to their certain deaths in the completely opposite direction the Phlegethon was in.
After about fifteen minutes, they reached a cliff. Percy had Reyna wait as he peered over the edge. The minute his eyes landed on what was below, a blast of heated caused him to stagger back a few steps. Despite his shock, he smiled a little; they had found it.
But as he peeked his head over again and his smile vanished at what he saw. The river was down below alright but there was an eighty foot cliff that separated them from the bottom of the canyon. He looked down at Mjolnir which seemed to have a slight glow to it in the dark light of Tartarus. He knew he should be able to fly them down to the bottom of the canyon but his blurry vision and the constant pain on his skin and in his lungs worried him. It wasn't Mjolnir that did the flying. No, it simply provided the magic needed to do it without the aid of the winds. The flying was done by him and the thought of trying to fly him and Reyna to the bottom without losing his concentration once was not something he was eager to try.
He looked back at Reyna to find her on a knee. She didn't look good. Her skin was covered in boils that bled and oozed painfully. Her usually strong and beautiful face looked broken, like the mere thought of standing was enough to make her want to give up. He knew he looked similar but he had more strength than she did at the moment. The glowing hammer in his hand was providing him with more energy than he should have at the moment. The weapon contained so much raw power that it literally energized its wielder simply by holding it.
He looked back over the edge, this time more frantically as he searched for a way down the cliff. A few feet to his left was a small ledge that might be enough for one person to stand on if they stayed on their toes. He turned back to Reyna who was now on her butt, her eyes half shut as she struggled to stay awake.
Percy reached into his pocket where he always carried extra ambrosia in case he needed a quick pick me up. He unwrapped it and frowned when he saw how much he had left after having eaten some during the battle when weariness threatened to overtake him. He shook his head and took that rest of it and made his way over to Reyna, cupping her chin in his hand. Her eyes opened slightly at the contact before a smile appeared on her lips.
"Hey," she said sleepily.
He couldn't help but smile back a little, she was cute when she was out of it.
"I'm going to get you out of here. Open your mouth Reyna."
Reyna's head turned to the side before a mischievous smile appeared on her weary lips, "You know, you could have at least gotten me a drink before trying to take advantage of me."
Percy's eyes went wide. That was about the last thing he ever expected to come out of Reyna's mouth of all people. He shook his head and smiled a bit, "We can save that for later now that I see what you're really after."
Reyna opened her mouth to respond when Percy stuffed the rest of his ambrosia in her mouth. She was surprised at first but when the taste finally registered, her eyes closed and she sighed deeply as she chewed on the godly food, feeling its magic start to work on her many painful sores and restore some of her energy, even if it was just a quick burst.
Her eyes snapped open and landed on Percy before she winced a little at the look of his skin. A thin layer of ash covered his skin that was only broken from where the blood oozed from boils and other painful symptoms of the air down in Tartarus.
"Let's move. This is going to be difficult." Percy said standing up.
"You should eat some too then. You look like hell." She replied standing up as well.
Percy shook his head, "I'm fine. We should just get moving before we run into any more monsters. We need to get down to those cliffs and it's going to be anything but easy."
Reyna opened her mouth to argue before she stopped herself. She looked down at her skin and noticed that while it looked a lot better than his, the boils were starting to come back.
"You don't have any more, do you?" She asked pretty sure he had just given her the last of his ambrosia and taking none for himself.
Percy didn't answer. He walked to the edge of the canyon and found the ledge jutting out before Mjolnir vanished from his hand. He felt his energy drop instantly but he tried not to show it. Reyna stood next to him looking down at the cliffs with a pale white face.
"I can't make it down there." She said nervously.
Percy raised an eyebrow, "Yes you can, you have to. We'll die up here if we don't."
Reyna shook her head, "No Percy, I can't. I..." she paused. "I don't like heights." She said quietly.
Percy turned to her and saw her look of embarrassment. He frowned a bit. Sure this wasn't really an ideal fear to have at the moment but everyone has fears.
"I don't like cats."
Reyna froze. "What?"
"They freak me out. I think it's the eyes. They're just plain creepy."
Reyna just stared for a second before a laugh escape her lips. It was soon followed by others before she was openly laughing at him. He looked less than pleased at her laughter and glared at her.
"I'm sorry," she said between laughs. "It's just, you never seem scared of anything but now you tell me you're scared of cute and cuddly little pets. I can't help it, it's funny."
Percy just continued glaring until her laughter finally died down.
"Can we go now?"
Reyna's face lost its humor again. Before she could speak though, he did.
"Do you trust me Reyna?"
She tilted her head in question.
"It's a simple question. Do you trust me or don't you?"
She waited a second as she thought about it before nodding, "I trust you Percy, with my life."
He nodded, "Good, then get on my back."
Reyna's eyes widened a bit, "What?"
"I'm going to get us down to that river before we're dead. You don't like heights, then get on my back and don't look down."
"But you're weak right now, what if you fall because of me."
His eyes narrowed slightly, "Get on my back. I need you to trust me. I won't fall.”
She still looked unsure but when turned and knelt down a little, she pushed those thoughts out of her mind. She did trust Percy Jackson. He might have been the first person she truly trusted since leaving Circe's Island all those years ago but she was sure she did in fact trust him. She climbed onto his back, wrapping her arms around her neck before he stood up, stumbling for just a second before he caught himself and stood up straight.
"Hold on with your legs, I need my hand to get us down."
Reyna legs tightly wrapped around his waist as Percy got to the ledge, carefully getting down to the ledge below it as his hands were cut up as he held onto the jagged walls of the cliff. It was a painful and slow process but Percy shimmied his way across the ledge until he found another below that he managed to drop down to, Reyna's face buried in the crook of his neck as she tried to imagine herself anywhere but on a ledge inside Tartarus with a river made of fire below them to cushion their fall. She felt slightly embarrassed at the way she was acting. She had been pretty much useless since they fell into the pit while Percy had been strong, protecting them both and even sacrificing the last of his ambrosia so she could have the strength to stand. Now he was literally carrying her down the ledge while he was worse off than her at the moment, at least physically.
She pushed her face a little tighter into his neck as she felt him drop down to another lower ledge. She vowed to make this up to him. She would be stronger the rest of their journey. Forget that their chances of escaping her slim to none at the moment, she would be strong for Percy the rest of the way. She knew how tough he was but she knew he would only be able to take so much. Tartarus was designed to break people and not even Percy would be immune to its effects. When the time came when he stumbled, she would be there to pick him, just like he had done for her.
She heard Percy grunt in pain before a feeling of panic rose up in her chest as the sensation of free-falling reached her. She hugged her body even tighter to his as she prepared to die. If she was about to die, she could think of worse ways to go. Her body was tightly wrapped around this handsome and powerful demigod. But before she could think any more about death, they hit the ground, Percy's knees giving out when they did but he managed to make sure he fell on his chest, protecting Reyna from the impact.
Once she realized she was fine, she detached herself from Percy who groaned a little from the ground. She rolled him over and gasped when she saw the shards of black glass imbedded in his hands and arms. His wounds bled along with his sores as the majority of his body was covered with his own blood. His fingers were bloodied messes from hold them both up on the ledges as he made his way down.
"Percy?" She asked tentatively.
His eyes snapped open and landed on Reyna before a look of relief crossed his face when he saw she was uninjured. His mouth was painfully dry and he felt lightheaded from the effort of carrying them both down the ledges; the loss of blood wasn't helping things either.
"See, I told you we'd make it." He teased but his voice was hoarse and she could imagine how painful it was for him to even get the words out.
"We're here. What do we do now?"
He turned his head, his eyes landing on the river beside them. The thing about the river he mentioned and wasn't sure about until now, it wasn't really a river. Well it was but not of water. It was literally a river of fire. He felt stupid just thinking the words he was about to tell her but he had to hope he was right.
"Now we drink from the river."
He would have laughed at her face if he had the strength. She looked at him incredulously.
"It's fire. You can't drink fire. And besides that, why would we want to?"
He forced himself to sit up, "This river starts in the Underworld and flows down into Tartarus. It's not just called the River of Fire but also the River of Healing. It is used in the Underworld on the subjects in the Fields of Punishment. They force those stuck in punishment to drink from it so they can survive their eternal torments."
Reyna's eyes were wide as she stared at him, "How do you know all that?"
He sighed, "My training included learning as much about Greek and Roman mythology as possible. I used to hate it but now I see it wasn't a waste of time at all, this is our only hope if we are to survive down here. It should heal us and allow us to survive in these conditions."
She glanced back at the river, her face showing doubt, "How do we drink fire though?"
He shrugged, "I'm guessing like we do water. Only one way to find out though."
He crawled over to the river, the heat blistering his skin as he reached the edge. He looked back at Reyna whose expression was nervous before he thrust both his hands into the fire, surprised when it was actually cold instead of hot. Before the pain could hit him, he brought the substance to his lips and poured it into his mouth.
He had a similar epiphany to the one he had when falling into Tartarus as he wondered if he should start questioning his own judgment.
The fire was anything but cold as it slid down his throat and into his stomach. He felt like his entire body was engulfed in flames. His stomach and throat burned as he was burned from the inside out. His body began to shake violently and he coughed as his body tried to make him vomit this toxic substance. Reyna was at his side but could do nothing but watch as his body convulsed. After a few seconds though, the pain began to subside and his body relaxed. He looked at his skin to see the rash and sores healing up. He stopped coughing and caught his breath, the air no longer burning his lungs with every breath he took.
"Are you okay?"
He nodded slowly, "It works. You need to do the same."
Reyna looked unsure. She glanced at the river and then back at Percy whose body was completely healed now.
"What's it like?"
"Think about what it would be like to drink molten lava." He said as Reyna paled. "Then add an excessive amount of hot sauce and you'll have the taste."
"Sounds lovely." She muttered but steeled her nerves. She was a Roman Centurion and if this was what she needed to do, she would not shy away from it. She looked at the river again before mentally saying screw it.
She thrust her hands into the river and did exactly as Percy had done. Her reaction mimicked Percy's perfectly. He waited patiently as her body adjusted to the substance and then watched as her wounds healed. After a few minutes, she composed herself.
"Well that was pleasant." She said dryly.
Percy nodded as those were his thoughts as well. He offered her a hand which she took gratefully as he pulled her to her feet.
"So where to now?" She asked.
Percy looked upriver and then down. He thought about their best option before he pointed downriver.
"It is said to impossible to climb out of Tartarus." Reyna looked less than excited by those words. "But," he continued. "There are supposedly doors leading back into the world above."
Reyna looked surprised but waited for him to continue.
"They're called the Doors of Death and they're not going to be very easy to find or to escape from but I think it's our only chance. They'll be somewhere deep inside the pit."
Reyna thought about what he said and slowly nodded, "Then downriver it is. We need to get back to the mortal world as there's a certain Norse goddess I'd like to run through for throwing us down here."
Percy smiled, "My thoughts exactly. Shall we?"
Reyna gave him a small smile back and nodded.
Percy reached down to his ankle and pulled out the dagger sheathed there, holding it out for Reyna.
"This is all I have other than Mjolnir. Perhaps we can find better weapons inside but this will have to do for now."
Reyna took the blade, grateful to have something to defend herself with and tucked it in at her waist. She turned to walk downriver at Percy's side when she felt something slip into her hand. She looked down to see Percy's hand holding hers, their fingers laced together. She smiled a little at the sight as they began their trek through Tartarus knowing it would be the hardest of their lives. They were both comforted by the fact they had each other though; it was something to keep them going; something to ensure they never lost hope, something to hold onto in a place where hope didn't belong.
"Did you know Frank can turn into a grizzly bear?"