need a code hint?
try the number of this cabin.
if you still need help- well, try this!
the heck am i supposed to call this now that it's on here? A webfic? Do those exist?
Andy Winton was bone-dead. Or was it bone-tired? Dog-tired. Dog-tired and Bone-dead, those two hyphened words seemed to go together to him.
Being a child of Athena sucks. Not just being a child of Athena, being a demigod in general.
(God, he missed Camp Half-blood. He didn't have a place, but at least it was safer than this hell.)
Tartarus sucked. Being left behind for 3 years sucked. Everything pretty much sucked.
But he wasn't done yet. No, he wasn't done yet. No giving up for him.
As soon as he got out of that gods-be-damned hellhole that they call Tartarus. . . he'd make them see. They would all see, he swore on the River Styx.
He wouldn't be the ''Insanity'' definition anymore.
nk ngj ykkt zuu sain, haz nk cgyt'z hrotj.
Andy was a Greek demigod. Child of Athena, legacy of Dysnomia. Those traits mixed. . . interestingly. The salt & pepper black hair didn't help his case either. . . the only thing he had in common with his siblings was his strategy smarts and stormy gray eyes.
I mean, a child of the Goddess of Wisdom and Battle Strategy, with certain genes from the daemon personification of lawlessness.
WOOHOO ANARCHY! I guess. . . but like, seriously though. The Greeks and Romans almost fell at one point, and why? There was an in-man, a spy on the inside, usually working for or with the big bads.
Octavian and Bryce, anyone?
Luke and Silena?
In summary, if Andy had a nickel for every time he witnessed a practically teen-led government become corrupt in real life, he would have two nickels. Which isn't much, but still disconcerting about reproposing the thought.
Either way, Andy was happy when he met Theseus, Aubrey, and Lacey. He finally had friends. He wasn't the only oddling.
Though it was weird, Aubrey never interacted with the other two, only him. Aubrey was only noticed by him.
. . .
Nah, don't think about it. That's the Tartarus in your mind speaking. Aubrey is alive and existing! She bleeds, so she's alive!
Andy enjoyed talking to the ghosts and other docile creatures who wandered around the underworld. Children of a Revolution, that's what they called themselves, the ones he could see. They wandered around, above and below ground, wherever they pleased. It seemed quite tranquil, but also chaotic in a way.
Back at camp, it didn't help that he could see them. He would often be ridiculed and teased. Though he's visited other camps before. At Camp Jupiter, it was a regular occurrence to see ghosts. What did Frank call them? Lares? Whatever.
He liked visiting the Troglodytes, though it had seemed that they had relocated to a different area of the Underworld recently.
They had helped him with his endurance, teaching him to move at inhuman speeds without breaking a sweat. That came to be very useful. . .
When Andy died, he always assumed he would be one of the wandering spirits he's seen oh-so-often around the Underworld.
Not that he didn't want to go to Elysium. . . it was just what he really knew would happen.
He's not a good person. He knows that. But he's tried. And he's tired.
And he's been walking around for so much damn time, he was sure he could get used to the Fields of Asphodel (or punishment) after a dip in the good 'ol Lethe.
Andy loved his mother. He loved his siblings. He loved his old family.
Eh. . . I should switch up the words a bit to clarify.
Andy missed his mother. He missed his siblings. He missed his old family.
He missed his big sister. He didn't miss the bad parts, the angry parts, the inebriated violent parts, he missed the fun parts, the sweet parts, the kind and smart parts.
It was just the 4 of them, in that cheap old motel. It was always hot and sunny out, perfect weather for a dip in the pool.
He loved that pool.
He didn't really like the feeling of swimming in it- it was murky, discolored, and all the filters were jammed up. . . generally unhealthy if you somehow inhaled a gulp of water-
But he liked the familiarity it gave him. It was practically the only slice of home he had at that point, the only thing keeping him sane, he couldn't remember anything else, it all had slipped away- and no matter how much the people at Camp Half-blood told him he had a home there, he just didn't feel the same.
He'd rather swim laps in a disgusting pool then be ostracized by people in the same situation as him.
''Andy, Annabeth told me not to worry much about you. . .''
''She's got her own things to deal with, Thes.''
''Ha, yeah. At least their big quest is almost over.'' ''We just gotta get out of here and we'll be okay. You, me, and Lacey, the best trio!''
''Theseus, there's really just one thing that we have in common. . ."
''And what would that be?''
''Neither of us will be missed!''
I had a double take as we took our first 3 steps out of the Underworld.
Lacey, Theseus, and I looked up.
It was nighttime, I almost couldn't tell if we were in the right place.
The darkness bled into each setting; it just felt the same.
We were in a park. An old playground was near us, rusty and wet from the previous night's rain.
I was out. But I still had this feeling, eating away at me, that I hadn't escaped yet, that this was all just a trick, meant to keep me on my toes. A Paranoid Mania.
That feeling didn't keep me from collapsing on the grass and getting a good 8 hours of sleep.
I leaned onto the neck of a Pegasi. The wind rushed through my hair. The feeling of flying high up in the air felt, well- exhilarating.
I couldnt say the same about my friends, however.
Lacey was dead asleep. Theseus was clinging onto poor Blackjack's neck for dear life- I knew that he didn't like heights, but I didn't know it was to this extent. I guess it's a child of Poseidon thing. . . fair, Zeus doesn't really like Theseus or their brother.
I breathed. Inhaled and exhaled. It seems like the first time in a long time that I've focused on nothing but my breathing.
Inhale and- 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, Exhale. Inhale and- 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, Exhale. You're out of Tartarus, now you just gotta get back home. And as I looked at my friends, I knew I wouldn't want to leave again.