i am quiet; i bury no one.

nobody said that it would last forever. 

— hades&persephone;

you’re going to die in your best friend’s arms. and you play along because it’s funny, it’s written down, you’ve memorized it, it’s all you know. i say the phrases that keep it all going, and everyone plays along. 

it wasn’t okay.

she wasn’t sure if he was telling her that, or if he was trying to whisper it to himself, to find some peace in this ending. he deserved it, peace in the end, with his mother and the ghosts that had followed him. but she knew him, and they both knew. it wasn’t supposed to end like this. but his blood was spilling down the cornucopia and time was running out, and any second he’d stay longer was another second he suffered through pain he’d never deserved.

percy wished she could feel something, too. her stabbed-through foot and the pain in her shoulder had long left her for a chill that overtook her whole body, everything was cold now, his lips as they brushed against hers the only warmth this night had to offer, and even then, it wasn’t enough. it wasn’t his fault, though. it was hers.

she hadn’t done enough.

not to help him, or anyone. she could’ve stopped the panic overtaking her limbs when she took out ari, when she took out eli. the odd pride she’d been trained to feel in the bloodbath. she could’ve taken on the goddamn jaguar at the bottom of the cornucopia if only she wasn’t scared of dying in a way he didn’t seem to be anymore. not anymore. she hoped he wasn’t scared.

she could’ve done so much more.

he could’ve done so much more.

it wasn’t okay. it was the same thing rocky said, we forgive you. it didn’t matter what last words the dead could offer her when they felt cold under her fingertips already, whatever mercy they could extend to her, she couldn’t give back to them when she’d be the one to take the last blood from their broken bodies and tired bones.

she just wanted to go home.

but he’d been home to her.

and she didn’t know where to go next.

maybe it was good she couldn’t speak with his lips against hers, some last act of charity on his part. she felt sick with all the words she hadn’t said, words that wouldn’t comfort him or take away the pain. words that would be muttered into the night sky and disappear like he would, too. some words searching for forgiveness that percy wouldn’t find in the emptiness between her fingers.

so she held him, instead. her hand brushing through his hair one last time.

then, a knife.

into his chest like she’d done before. his heart was tired and his bones were weak, it shouldn’t have taken more than a second for him to leave. a violent contrast to whatever they had moments before, she couldn’t bring herself to do any more than what she’d been trained to do. muscle memory was a funny thing,. wasn’t it ?? this elastic that had always pulled her and hades together, this reaching into emptiness, waiting for him to appear right beside her. the knife in his chest, like she knew how to do, because she’d been trained for it.

she loved him.

she hoped he knew.

Three times it took, to summon a ghost.

He’d called out for the ones he’d lost too often. 

Three times to summon a ghost. It took more than double to become one yourself. 

Persephone’s knife pierced his chest and sank into his heart and Hades released a breath. The steel didn’t hurt. Not more than the bites had, anyway. 

All he felt then, was peace. 

And Percy didn’t let go of him while his chest rose for one last time, didn’t let go while his grip on her shirt went limp and the tension left his bones. He’d been so tired and exhausted and in pain and all of it drained from him in a matter of seconds. 

This was the end. 

She’d asked him not to look at her and he hadn’t. 

If I look back, I am lost.

He wasn’t lost. Not anymore. 

Wait for me. Wait for me. Wait for me. 

dead doesn’t mean gone.

“then don’t leave me !!” it was a futile protest. he was bleeding out and she couldn’t let him suffer.

if there was anything she learned, though, after seventeen years, it was that he wouldn’t leave, not truly. hell, she’d thrown everything she held within her at him before, every part of her that tried to burst out of her skin and set the world in front of her on fire, all the rage and the anger and the spite she’d held. he’d stayed. he’d stayed through all of it like it was his bloody job, like the stars had been right and there was some destiny for them, hades and persephone,  like their names had been fated beyond what everyone else had spelled out for them. he’d stayed the whole time. now he couldn’t anymore.

he knew, though. he knew. and they both knew. this was the end. neither of them could leave the other behind, and hades would wait wherever he’d go next, and percy would have him in her mind like he was right beside her. they knew. she hadn’t expected him to say it back, but then – she hadn’t said it. neither of them needed to. it had been seventeen long years, and she knew him like her own heartbeat, even as it overtook all the other noise, just the blood rushing through her ears. she knew. she couldn’t make him stay. she needed to do this. and he knew. he knew she loved him.

“penny, don’t look. i don’t want you to look.” when had she ever begged for anything ?? she’d always assumed they were on the same wavelength and yet so far apart, him miles behind her, trying to keep up, willing to give into whatever whim she expected of him. now she was begging him. she didn’t want him to remember her like that, the blood on her hands and the panic in her eyes. they’d never had quiet moments, though. she didn’t know how she wanted to be remembered. they’d been a whirlwind, if only because of persephone’s contribution, because she refused to keep still, because she refused to wait for the world and for hades to catch up with her. because she was too bloody stubborn and she refused to die.

she wished she could.

“i’ll make it, okay ?? for the both of us. i’ll make it. and i don’t – i don’t know what happens after that, and i don’t care, but..”

none of this was in vain. she couldn’t let it be. hades’s blood on her hands like she’d promised, not like she’d wanted. it had to mean something.

“don’t look, okay ?? please don’t look. just promise me you’ll wait.”

She was begging him not to look, but how could he not? She’d be the last thing he’d see. The twinkling stars and Persephone. But the stars weren’t real, but she was. She was as real as the blood on their hands, the guilt on their consciousnesses. She was as real as the comfort she made him feel and as real as the suffering of the past few days. Percy was a constant. It was selfish to think, but he was glad he wouldn’t have to live without her. 

“Okay,” he choked out. “okay. It’s okay.” 

She didn’t want him to look at her but he didn’t want to close his eyes and drift away, before her knife would sink into his skin. Was he getting terrified again? He was. He was scared of dying. To die without his best friend there. Hades felt the strong pull on his soul, tugging her away from him with every breath he tried to take. If she was asking him to look away, he wanted her close at least. 

Before the end. 

Hades let go of her hand and reached up, fingers curling into the fabric of her shirt. He tugged and pulled her down, pressing his lips against hers.

he wasn’t the one that should be searching for forgiveness. it was her, his hand in hers giving her the strength to reach into her pocket with her free hand, grab a knife. it was not a commitment, not a promise, like she’d promised before. she couldn’t do that, the knife shook in her hand, that much was obvious. she wasn’t ready.

but was there such a thing ?? to be ready to leave behind the one constant she’d had in her life ?? her mother was dead, she didn’t have any friends. her father was an uncaring murderer, and percy was too. she needed hades to be her mirror, a better half to everything she despised about herself. there was something in the vulnerability he displayed so much more easily than she did, a sense of recognition. they were the same, weren’t they ?? they had to be at this point, they’d never been without one another. no matter what walls percy had tried to put between them – there was still them.

until there wouldn’t be.

shut up and let me die in peace.

he held some of her anger too, at least. she wondered if it came naturally to him like it did to her, or if it had seeped into his skin like he’d crawled under hers. this was no time to reflect. this was a time to die. he’d said so himself.

she couldn’t do it.

percy leant forward, her head on his chest carefully. just to hear him breathe. hear it until she couldn’t anymore. she wasn’t ready, she’d never be. dead meant gone, didn’t it ?? that was penny’s thing, not hers, yet it rang in her ears like her own raised heartbeat – there were so many parts that belonged to him that were hers, too.

“you need to wait for me,” she told him, instructed him like she always had, like she’d have yelled it before and would’ve expected him to stay. but he wasn’t staying, not here. “i don’t – i don’t know what comes after this. and i don’t know when i’ll get there. but you better fucking wait, wherever you go next. wait for me.”

she felt sick – she didn’t know what it was, if it was the blood smeared on her hands or the words she still needed to get out of her dry throat somehow. she felt so horribly sick, and she tried to breathe, tried to breathe through it like there was any way she could get through this.

“penny, i –”

i love you.

but that’d be selfish to say, wouldn’t it ?? it wouldn’t be for his benefit, it would be to ease her conscience. like she could catch up on all the times she’d shouted horribly at him if she just said it now. she was selfish to her core, she’d already demanded he stayed put in whatever afterlife awaited him, just so she could catch up someday. not today, though. because percy was a coward and just damn well wouldn’t die. percy was a coward and couldn’t say the words.

she hoped he knew anyway.

there were so many things she’d never said to him.

He grabbed her hand tighter and as her head leaned against his chest, he forced himself to forget the pain and relish in the feeling of her pressing against him. Hades would never feel this again. He’d never feel again. If Persephone was the last thing he’d feel, see, sense, it would be enough. He couldn’t remember anything before her, anyway. There wouldn’t be anything after her, either. 

Wait for me. 

Hades would do nothing but wait for her, he felt like. But he hoped it would take her a while to get back to him, even though he’d sink into loneliness while she was gone. Someday, she’d come back to him. Someday, but not on this day. 

Wait for me. Wait for me. Wait for me. 

“Dead doesn’t mean gone,” he whispered. His mother was dead and yet she’d never been truly gone, as long as he looked into mirrors and thought he could see her behind him. Claude wasn’t gone. Hades could still hear his last words in the back of his head. Thank you, Hades. They were all still there. Dead didn’t mean gone. His mother had been right about that. 

He didn’t even see her hold the knife, but he heard her words, even though he felt as though the crimson that was pouring from his body was pulling him further and further away from her. 

Penny, I-

“I know,” he breathed the words, because there was not an ounce of strength left in him anymore. He stared up at the night sky. “I know.”

He squeezed her hand again, weakly. Percy had always been stronger than him. She’d have to be stronger now, too. “I know.” 

His breaths came ragged now, irregular and hoarse in his throat. There was so much blood. So much blood. There was more running down the side of the Cornucopia now than inside of him. “I know.” 

she’d promised.

she had. had she meant it, even back then ?? no, she couldn’t have. those were words of anger and spite, so quick to push him away, so easy to shout at the top of her lungs like nothing mattered to her at all. she needed him then, she knew it too, somewhere in the back of her mind, even as she’d promised she’d be the one to end it. everything had felt wrong. it had felt wrong since. what percy did with wrong things was push them to the back of her mind until they were forgotten, until they were nothing but vague whispers and regrets she couldn’t recount.

but she’d promised.

she promised she’d kill him.

the knives were in her pockets. the bloodied knives in her pockets had killed before, she’d killed before. it was a simple motion. she’d killed him before, in her skills presentation.

she couldn’t. she couldn’t move her hands away from him, her fingers now tracing down his arm like this was some calm before a storm, like she could allow herself this moment. she couldn’t reach into her pocket, she couldn’t breathe. she couldn’t breathe. she was crying, she’d realised. she hadn’t realised she had tears left after rocky, but her vision grew blurrier and she cursed herself because she needed to see hades. they didn’t have long left.

“i — penny, i can’t. i can’t do that. don’t — don’t make me do it, please. we’ll – we’ll figure things out. just tell me how to do the fucking bandages, penny. tell me and i’ll do it, and you’ll be okay, and i — i need you to be okay, penny. i need you. just – tell me what to do, tell me how to fix this !!”

“Percy,” he begged, the sound gargled as more blood collected in his mouth. Hades only momentarily turned his head to haphazardly spit out the blood so he could turn back and look at her again. Their time was running out and much like the answer to her question, it was painfully obvious. Was his vision becoming blurry from the way his mind was becoming dizzy or was he crying too? They’d spent their lives mirroring one another, it would’ve been strange had the tears that were shining in her eyes not welled up in his as well. “This...” he took a deep breath while his lungs barely filled up. “This won’t get better, Percy, ple- please.” 

Jack cut him off again with a hiss, a growl and a loud cry that pierced his ears to a point where he had to squeeze his eyes hut for a moment. “Perc-” He was cut off again and even despite the pain he was in, he slightly huffed while the jaguar just didn’t let up. He kept scratching and growling and Hades just wanted enough time to say goodbye to his best friend. There wouldn’t ever be enough time to say goodbye to someone who’d been his only constant for seventeen years, but he would damn well try to make this work. It was the last thing he would do, after all. 

There was another angry thud as the feral cat threw its body agains the Cornucopia again. Another cough tickled his throat. Jack growled. “Shut up and let me die in peace,” Hades snapped. Then, silence followed. 

Almost satisfied, Hades’ eyes moved up to catch Percy’s again and he reached for her hand, painting her skin red as he clenched it as tightly as he could. “Percy, I can’t go on. I can’t. I- I really can’t. I’m so-” He swallowed down more blood. “I’m sorry. Forgive me, okay? For-forgive me.” 

“well, i’m not going to leave you here, am i ?? so i need to — need to patch you up !!” she responded stubbornly, though panic gripped her tone more than she was willing to admit to. the bandages in her hands shook. there wasn’t a point to it, she realised as she looked at the blood he’d spat out. she wasn’t going to stop, though. persephone was many things but she wasn’t a quitter, and she’d always gotten hades through as well. “we need to keep going, penny, we need to..”

but she’d had blood on her hands before. now it was his, warm between her fingers as she grasped at his shirt like it would do anything, still. now it was penny’s blood. she wondered when it’d be her own again. she’d killed penpen already, wasn’t sure if the jaguar particularly cared about her. but she saw where this was heading, as much as she’d want to deny it, and didn’t see this going any other way than her dying right beside him.

but that had always been her issue, hadn’t it ?? she was too damn stubborn to lay down and die. she hadn’t done it when antigone spoke of paradise, hadn’t done it when she’d found her mom. persephone was a coward, the way her heart was beating in her throat the proof of it.

“penny, what do we do ??”

she’d never looked to him for any kind of guidance before. she bruteforced her way through life and expected him to be right behind her, always. she didn’t know what to do now, though. the realisation settled in that soon, she might just have to figure it out on her own.

no, no, no, no, no.

“penny, what do we do ?!”

Penny, what do we do?!

The answer was obvious, even to his muddled mind, drunk on the pain and the numbness that spread through his body like a curse. It was painfully obvious while he lay on his back, feeling on fire while the blood that poured out of his body formed small rivers down the side of the hollowed out skull. How he’d managed to climb up here just moments before, whereas now he felt unable to move, was a miracle to him. 

This was the end. 

And this was real. 

This wasn’t another dream, another time he lost himself in the thought of insignificance. They don’t need me. Percy doesn’t need me. Percy won’t need me. Those thoughts had terrified him before, gripped his heart and squeezed until nothing was left of it but dust. But now, as his hand clumsily moved over his stomach and held his guts inside as though that would change anything, he realized that there was nothing to be afraid of. 

Percy wouldn’t need him any longer, and perhaps that was for the best. It was better this way, otherwise she’d meet an end similar to his. 

This was the end. 

This was real. 

Penny, what do we do?! 

“Listen, I-” He was cut off by a feral growl at the bottom of the Cornucopia, the jaguar relentlessly jumping and scratching and hissing to reach him. “Percy, you know how- how this-” He coughed again, drops of copper trailing down his cheek. He was in so much pain, even though he could only feel half his body at that point. Hades didn’t want to drag this on, for his own sake and hers. “Percy, you promised.” 

he fell forward and she knew. he was losing blood, too much of it, too quickly ( or not quickly enough, if there was any mercy to be found in death ). percy had lost everyone already, her mom, anti, rocky. but not penny. she refused to lose him. the games were cruel enough to only let one person leave, but they never escaped the arena, still. percy realised this as she watched hades’s blood, a sharp contrast to the pale cornucopia. she’d die here too, in one way or another.

she still had bandages. rocky had been too far gone, he’d wanted to die, she wouldn’t believe hades was the same. no, he and percy stuck together, even if he protested, even if it took her shouting at him until her throat was raw. they’d always been a duo, and his bleeding out was just the next pathetic excuse of him to try and leave her. she wouldn’t let him, she couldn’t let him.

but her hands were shaking and things had never been this way before – he always patched her up, after all. her aching shoulder seemed some awful reminder. percy knelt down next to him, bit down on her lip to stop herself from whatever noises wanted to escape her throat: there was a scream in there somewhere, some desperate shout for him to get up; a hiss because her foot still hurt and now her whole body ached; an apology. she hadn’t done enough. look what happened.

“we’re — we’re gonna get some bandages on you, okay ?? just tell me what to do. we both know i’m not good at this but – you’re right here, you can help. you need to help me. we’re gonna do this together, then we’re gonna kill your stupid jaguar, and we’re gonna keep going. it’s just us.. just us, the girl from twelve, and leona. we can do this. we can —” one of her shaky breaths got stuck in her chest as her hands ghosted over his injuries and she realised she had no idea where to start. that there was no good place to start. that it was pointless. “just tell me what to do !!” she insisted, the panic in her tone making her voice shoot up an octave.

He coughed and all of a sudden blood was in his mouth, the copper tang leaving a bitter taste behind as he turned his head and spit it out, letting it join the ever growing crimson lake. He coughed and Percy felt so far away while he lay in his bubble of blood and pain and misery. The universe had given him his brush and paint to mark his blank canvas with. There was nothing desirable in this piece of suffering. It wasn’t beautiful, it wasn’t artful. Sometimes, blood was just blood. 

Drops found their way down to the scratching and hissing and growling jaguar and the sight of it seemed to only spur his former companion on. Jack jumped and tried to get purchase on anything he could hook his claws into, but gladly, to no avail. He jumped and scratched, hissed and growled. It was an entirely new rhythm to what he’d been used to. 

Click. Thwack. Squelch. 

All that noise and rhythm, without a melody to accompany it. And neither him nor Percy was in any state to dance. 

Hades looked up at Percy and tried to swallow the blood that threatened to come up his throat once more. “Are you trying to patch me up?” If his stomach hadn’t been missing pieces and he felt like he was on fire, he would’ve laughed more than the ghost of a grin that twisted his lips. “Perce, that’s not-” He coughed. “-not going to work. You’re shit at that.”

blood always looked worse than it was. she hadn’t much a chance to look, anyway. just a free path to the cornucopia and hades trailing behind her. he had to be okay, they had to run, she’d trust he’d be right behind her – and they’d figure out the rest later.

percy climbed the cornucopia again, frantically this time. the blood on her clothes left a trail on the cornucopia’s outside and it almost looked like it had belonged there all along. the edges were starting to crack now, the end must’ve been in sight, if the animals were turning on them and percy couldn’t tell whose blood was under her nails anymore. but not penny’s. it couldn’t be penny.

she rolled onto the cornucopia and gasped for breath – she hadn’t realised she’d been holding it. she held out her hand for penny to follow, like she could pull him up somehow. like she had any strength left in that body of hers as slowly the realisation started to settle uncomfortably in her stomach that the blood on her best friend didn’t just look bad, it was bad. it was horrible.

“penny c’mon !! we need to —” it was always we, always them. but percy didn’t finish her sentence then, because just the idea he’d manage to climb onto the cornucopia to join her almost seemed like a goddamn miracle. this was bad, this was so, so bad.

“we need to —” she tried again, couldn’t find the words, still. they needed to kill this fucking jaguar. they needed to kill everyone else. they needed to go home. they needed to live. they needed to be together, like they always were. no other words could form from her dry throat because she didn’t know any different ones. it had always been them. he was older, she’d never known a world without him.

and suddenly, the idea of it, a world without them, seemed to visualise in front of her as she watched the blood gush from his wounds.

Climbing up there, if he could manage at all, would be one of his more impressive achievements in life. He had blood on his hands, and this time it was entirely his own. It made getting a hold of something to pull himself up all the more hard. He glanced over his shoulder and saw Jack trotting up the path towards him again, with less feral energy, but no less determined. 

Hades scrambled to somehow climb up the side of the pale skull, despite his arm giving up on him and his leg screaming in pain. He glanced up when Percy reached for him, and he almost took her hand. She wouldn’t be able to pull his weight, not when he was already slipping off of everything because of the blood that made his skin slick. “Wait,” he said, hastily. “Wait, I’ll be up there in a second. Don’t- don’t worry.” 

It was a miracle to him, but he did it. Somehow, he pulled his half useless body up the smooth bone, taking a hold of the empty eye socket and with the last bit of adrenaline fueled energy, he pulled himself up. Below him, scratching sounded from where Jack had reached the Cornucopia as well, and was trying to follow him up to the top. 

Up above, Hades fell forward as soon as he was safely on the top. He rolled himself onto his back and let out a breath, while his strength and energy left him the way his blood formed a puddle underneath his body. 

it’s – she’d known what he was going to say. she’d spent seventeen years by his side, it would almost be an insult to everything they’d ever been if she hadn’t guessed that he would’ve told her it wasn’t going to work. they didn’t have any other options though, not yet, not now. it was running or dying. it almost seemed the decision was made for them, though, percy with her bad foot and penny with his awful leg.

they didn’t make it far, not far enough, before the jaguar had gained on them and attacked hades. “penny !!” the knives were in her hands in a matter of seconds, crucial seconds, it wasn’t enough. she threw a couple from where she stood, her hands shaking, but her training overtaking her. finally. at least being a bloodthirsty career was a second nature to her when she hadn’t the time to consider the consequences.

they landed in the jaguar’s shoulder, it wasn’t enough. “penny, we need to – we need to run still !!” they didn’t have a better option, not even with hades on the ground and percy desperately shouting at him to do something, anything. she was a goddamn coward, should’ve taken on the jaguar with her bare hands.

she didn’t want to die.

“penny, c’mon !!”

The jaguar had sunk his teeth into his shoulder and ripped at him, while all Hades could do was let out a guttural scream. The pain was almost familiar, but it didn’t make it hurt any less. Blood gushed from the new wound and the taste of it only seemed to spur the jaguar on. The pain sent waves of shock throughout his body, and while it was enough to momentarily root him to the spot, unable to move, it spurred him into action a few moments later. 

Percy threw knives, and Hades heard them sing through the air, until they stuck with a thwack in the feral animal’s shoulder. Jack whimpered and stopped tearing at his flesh for a few valuable seconds. Hades’ hand, slick with fresh blood, grabbed the bat tighter and with the bit of sense he had left in him, drilled into himself throughout six years of academy training, he pulled himself together and turned underneath the weight of the cat. He turned, and let the bat connect with the side of Jack’s head with all the strength he had left in his body. The cat stumbled off of him and shook its head, disoriented from the harsh hit. 

There was no time to hesitate and no time to thank Percy for shouting at him to move, because focusing on her instead of the pain that enveloped him was the only thing that got him to get onto his feet and keep stumbling forward. “Go,” he croaked out, the metal of the bat slipping through his fingers as rivers of blood cascaded down his ripped shoulder. “Go, go, go.” He repeated the word with every gasped breath he took. 

The Cornucopia wasn’t far and Jack seemed to still reel from the hit and the knives stuck in his shoulder. Perhaps they could do it. Perhaps they could. But even then, he had chunks of him missing at this point, from his leg, his stomach, his shoulder. Bits of him were no longer his own while his blood flowed from him without any sign of stopping. He was beginning to get lightheaded, but the adrenaline kept him on course. “Go, go, go..” The sound of the words was almost indistinguishable from the rushed breaths he took to keep himself on his feet. 

rocky was dead and percy had more blood on her hands. she’d worry later about whether she could differentiate it still, what shade of red belonged to whom. for now, she couldn’t get the thought out of her mind; penpen had tried to attack her, geminae had attacked rocky. jack the fucking jaguar would’ve been trying to get rid of hades. and all percy could do was hope she wasn’t too late as she ran back to the gift shop, as quickly as her bad foot could carry her there.

hades had called out to her and she appeared by his side, it almost felt natural, like destiny, like what they’d always done. “we need to run.” she’d have tried to help keep the door shut, but she knew there was no use in it – she wasn’t strong enough, and even if she pushed against it as well, the two of them could only keep a jaguar locked away for so long. she turned, tried to assess the best route to get out of here, avoid the cat, whatever they could, because they’d damn well stick this out together. she’d not have it any other way.

the cornucopia.

she’d climbed on top of it before, had stared out at the rest of the zoo like she owned it. had breathed cooler air and found some new resolve. then she’d killed everyone, and if she hadn’t known the blood on her hands came from other tributes, she’d have believed it to be her own bleeding heart.

“penny, i’m gonna count to three, we’re gonna run for the cornucopia. we’ll climb on top of it, then i’ll take out jack, okay ??” she had her knives still. she’d lost track of how many there were, there were more important numbers floating in her mind ( four tributes left, five tributes killed by her own hands ).

“one, two…”

Running, he’d seen how well that’d worked out when Rocky and him had gotten some weapons off the pile the gorilla had been guarding. Just barely, he’d escaped. Only because Jack and Geminae had distracted the gorilla enough so that he could limp over there with his mangled leg and take what he needed before disappearing again. He couldn’t run from Jack. Hades knew that much. He could try, but even injured, the jaguar was superior to him. 

“It’s-” he cut himself off before he could finish the sentence as he felt the jaguar collide with the door yet again. It’s not going to work. His two options were standing there and holding the door until Jack somehow broke through, or running and hoping for the best. Hades glanced over at Percy and noticed she was drenched in blood again, fresh this time. There was no time to ask whose it was, and Hades almost didn’t want to. Did it matter? He was drenched in the copper liquid as well, but the difference was that it was his own. Partly fresh, as it streamed down his side, and partly dried and crusted.

“Alright,” he forced out between clenched teeth. Persephone began to count. 

One, two...

Hades tensed up as Jack jumped against the door once more, holding his own breath. 

Three. 

He let go and turned, beginning to move as fast as the wound in his leg would allow him to. Searing pain erupted in his body, but Hades powered forward and forced himself to ignore it, jaw clenched so tightly he was sure his teeth would crumble to dust in his mouth any second. He staggered in the direction of the Cornucopia next to Percy, while the door burst open behind them with a loud crash, and the jaguar leaped towards them. 

Was it his boots pounding over the ground or his heartbeat in his ears? He couldn’t tell at this point. Both were irregular at best. The only thing he could differentiate was the way the jaguar gained on them in a matter of seconds. Hades still clenched the metal bat in his hand, prepared to use it. 

He got about halfway to the hollowed out animal skull when Jack collided with him once more, sharp claws sinking into his shoulder blades and throwing him harshly onto the ground. A pained grunt left his mouth as he fell down into the grass, feline on top of him, growling deeply into his ear as it prepared to sink its teeth into him once more. And this time, he’d finish the job. 

Or not might have been, but definitely had been instead. He’d foolishly grown to trust the feline with the razor sharp claws and teeth, while he should’ve been on the look out every day the animal had curled up next to him to sleep. But it was hard not to trust a creature that’d saved his life, perhaps more than in one way. Jack had been a friend, a steady companion. And then, midnight had rolled around and it’d looked as though someone had flipped a switch. 

The calm had melted away from the creatures eyes like the ice in the arctic adventure under the relentless heat of the sun. One moment, Jack looked at him like he always had, and then the feline bared its teeth and gotten to its feet. 

The rest had happened in a blur. He ended up outside of the gift shop, leaning against the door with all the strength he had left with him while he had one knife less, and gained another bite in his side. Jack threw himself against the door, over and over again, in his murderous rage. 

Hades felt disappointed, but at the same time he just felt empty. Jack was more foe than friend now, and he was alone. Even Percy had gone off. Would he die like this? Alone? 

The hinges of the door creaked dangerously as the jaguar collided with it again, and Hades realized that if he let go of the door, the animal would strike. 

Panic joined the yawning numbness once more, the only emotion strong enough to conquer him these days. “Percy,” he called out, pained. “Percy, please tell me you’re around here somewhere.”

persephoneleon​:

rocky carried with him an axe and the same attitude percy and penny had – it was just too fucking warm to fight. percy had felt on edge since yesterday, blood not belonging to her caked to her skin like some useless sign of her anxieties getting the better of her. she didn’t want to kill, not now, not rocky. her knives were bloodied and in her pocket and percy made no attempt to reach for them – when she regained her breaths and composure yesterday, she regained some of the mercy she held in her heart. it had just been too late to take back eli’s death, or ariadne’s.

( only one of them would live in the end. it had to mean something. it had to be her. )

she tried not to think about it.

“i feel like our zoo trip has kind of gone to shit, guys –”

a familiar noise interrupted whatever half-hearted quip percy could have made. noises. more than one.

three sponsor gifts floated down outside the gift shop. percy dared to step outside for only a moment, not willing to face that damn heat for any longer than absolutely necessary. but a gift.. it wasn’t like she’d turn that down in any case, was it ??

“mine’s a bandana..” she announced, sounding equally confused and weirdly proud.

@rocky-chiffon​

Rocky laughed at her comment, because really, it had gone to fucking shit, there was no other way to describe it. He watched as she opened her gift, before he finally reached for his, pulling out an identical piece of material.

“Mine too” he commented, holding it up for her to see before he turned towards Hades. “Did you get one too?” He asked, going for the note, which seemed a bit of a lie already. “What are we meant to do with a fucking bandana?”

@hadeserpentine​

He picked up the third parachute and opened the box, pulling out a third bandana. Hades furrowed his brows, but he snorted at the note that was in the box. Betting only on you, promise! “Yep,” he responded, dryly. “One of the sponsors out there seems to be a bit of a liar, huh?” He dropped the box to the ground, note fluttering away as well, while he looked down at the piece of fabric. “Do they want us to wear this as a fashion statement? Bit of the wrong place for that, I feel like.”

“I think we let them distract” he nodded to their animal companions. “And we fucking run, grab what we want, and then fucking run again” he said, because he didn’t see another way. He couldn’t take ok the gorilla, but hopefully the gorilla would feel he couldn’t take a wolf and a Jaguar. “We’ll need to be fast though, are you ready?”

Hades grimaced. Fast enough? It looked like a good chunk of his leg was missing and he was more dragging himself throughout the Arena than walking. If he could be fast was debatable. The distraction wouldn’t only have to be enough, it would need to be perfect. Nonetheless, he wanted a weapon. “Fast, got it. Let’s do this.” Hades’ hand slipped to settle on Jack’s back. The jaguar barely glanced back up at him, but he knew the feline knew what to do. It was strange, the way this connection seemed to work without words. Then, Jack darted forward.