[Edited July 27, 2022]

[TW Body Horror & probably more but I'm not sure how to tag them]

 The first thing that he noticed when he came to was the fact that his head throbbed-- the pain told him that he was alive, at least. He peered through slits but his vision was too blurry to get a picture of where he was and even the dim light he was surrounded with hurt his eyes. The next thing he noticed is that the ground was uncomfortably warm. He blinked a few times and saw something move across his vision but he couldn't distinguish much more than a dark silhouette.

In his haze, he couldn't remember where he was or how he had come to be asleep. He groaned as his stomach churned, and he shut his eyes tight to try to keep down whatever was left in his stomach. His head throbbed in time with the floor, which was making him dizzy. Then it all started to sink in. It wasn't his equilibrium that was making the floor move beneath him. He was in Tartarus and the floor had a heartbeat of its own. A wave of intense dread and nausea came over him and he almost lost his battle with his stomach. He turned his face away from the light but he still couldn't find any relief for the throbbing in his brain.

His sense of hearing came back all at once, which he hadn't even noticed was impaired before. He could hear a cacophony from all sides. He had to be surrounded. He was too disoriented to be properly afraid or even to consider pretending to be asleep.

"Good morning, son of Hades." A voice that sounded like a paper shredder spoke to him. Nico pulled one of his hands out from beneath him and he found that it had gone numb. Or maybe his whole body had gone numb. There was an uncomfortable tingling sensation everywhere fabric touched his skin, his arms itched and everything else was numb. His hand was an angry red and it started to sting as blood returned to his fingertips. He hated that feeling.

The demigod pushed himself up onto his knees and was relieved to see that they were attached. His vision wasn't clearing so he started blinking to clear out the fog. It didn't do much but gradually he started to see a clearer picture. He rubbed his eyes with the palms of his hands until they hurt. He didn't have time to be gentle with himself. He was likely surrounded by monsters and he needed to be able to see. He didn't understand why he was still alive, but he was going to make it their problem.

His eyes weren't the only things that were foggy, he couldn't seem to remember how he had come to be unconscious. If he could figure out what happened, he might be able to figure out where he was now and how much trouble he was in. The last thing he could remember was landing at the entrance of Nyx's palace and then nothing. He couldn't remember anything else and whenever he thought of Nyx he was overcome with intense anxiety and he had to think of something else. What had happened in there?

"We didn't expect anyone to be bold enough or dumb enough to try and take back the door from this side. Certainly not a lone demigod." Nico's eyes were clear enough to see a mass of red approaching him. He wasn't sure, but he didn't think that this being had legs. At least, he couldn't see where there was a division. Then he considered that the being may have a body more like that of a snake, but it didn't move much like a snake.

"So tell me," the being crouched in front of the son of Hades and gripped his chin in a fleshy hand, "Where are the others?" Nico put the pieces together. The red coloration, no individual legs, fleshy hands. This was Tartarus himself-- made from the same material as the floor. In fact, it looked like the membrane beneath his knees had risen to take the form of the primordial. The man didn't have legs because when he wanted to move, the membrane shifted with him like there was a man trapped beneath the flesh itself.

It was too much for Nico. He wrenched himself out of the being's grip and promptly lost the contents of his stomach. He was suddenly grateful that his eyes weren't fully clear yet because he wasn't sure he could handle the sight of Tartarus at the moment.

"I won't ask you again, demigod." Nico wiped off his mouth with the back of his hand and wished he had a toothbrush.

"What?" He managed groggily, his voice cracked and his throat felt like he had been screaming for hours. He looked around and saw that the voices, which had now quieted considerably, were coming from the hordes of monsters that were waiting to escape through the Doors of Death.

"Are you deaf?" Tartarus growled impatiently. Nico didn't reply, he was too busy looking for his supplies as his vision had finally cleared enough for him to see details. His sword was a few yards away but there was something more interesting that he had managed to spot in his haze. About fifty feet away, Nico could see the top of a set of black doors over the top of a flock of harpies. They had brought him to the doors.

"No, I--" he winced as his throat felt like it had closed up. He needed water if he wanted to continue speaking. He swallowed a few times but his mouth was dry so it didn't do any good.

"You're trying my patience, boy." Nico shook his head and motioned to his throat.

"Does he have any water in his bag? I want answers and I can't get them if he can't speak." Somebody shoved a canteen into his hands. Nico worked off the cap and downed several mouthfuls before coming up to breathe. He didn't know how they'd come to have his bag, he was sure he'd left it with Akhyls.

"Well?"

"I didn't come with anyone." Nico's voice was raspy, but it didn't hurt as badly to speak.

"Oh really? I find that very hard to believe."

"I'm sorry?" Nico took a few more drinks from his canteen before it was taken from him. It was a cyclops so he wasn't about to make a grab for it.

"Not yet, but you will be. Now, where are the others? You can't possibly expect me to believe that you came here on your own?" Nico had yet to look at the veined mass that was the primordial's body, even though his vision had cleared. He didn't know if his stomach could throw up anymore.

"I did come on my own." The son of Hades insisted. He wasn't sure how he could prove it, but he knew he had to convince Tartarus that he was telling the truth. He'd never get the chance to make a grab for the doors if they killed him now.

"Lies."

"No! I swear of the river Styx." The ground beneath them shook, signifying that the oath had been made. Nico could feel the primordial's eyes on him as he waited for the oath to take another victim.

"So," the primordial spoke again after a few moments, "Are you stupid or suicidal?"

"Maybe both." Nico eased himself into a more comfortable position after he started to feel the tingling in his legs that told him they were asleep. That was at least an improvement from when he couldn't feel them at all.

"You're at the very least unlucky. All that struggle and you'll die with the doors within reach." Nico's heart clenched at the sound of that. He couldn't die now. Not with the doors so close. After all, he had done and everyone he had left behind, he wasn't willing to just lay down and accept defeat now.

"I don't suppose you'd grant a last request?" Nico prompted. He was talking nonsense, but it was the only thing he could think of to buy himself more time. He didn't need much, just enough time to make a grab for his sword. Nico silently reaffirmed the position of his sword and held his stomach as it churned. He'd have to be quick-- he'd only have one shot at this.

"I could humor you and give you the opportunity to choose the manner in which I end you." The primordial seemed amused by this banter, so Nico decided to press his luck.

"Do you have a specialty?"

"You saw the inside of my heart, didn't you? I am well versed in all manner of violence." Nico frowned. He didn't recall anything about a heart. He inched himself closer to his sword as the being's back was turned; or what he thought was his back, it was hard to tell.

"Your heart?"

"The palace of the night? All the rivers of the Underworld pump through my veins. Didn't it occur to you that there had to be a heart?" Tartarus was pacing back and forth and the other monsters were giving the being wide birth. Anything that got too close disintegrated into piles of dust as the veins came near the surface of the membrane.

"It hadn't, actually." Nico was sickened by the implication that he had been inside of the primordial's heart. "And I don't remember anything about being in the palace either."

"Really?" Tartarus made a noise that was probably as close as he could get to humming, "I guess the effects of the palace were too much for you. Be thankful you don't remember it. It would turn stronger minds than yours to mush." Nico didn't know what to think. Was his mind repressing what had happened in the palace? He suspected he'd never get the chance to see a psychiatrist. He managed to close the distance by a foot.

"So, as to the cause of your demise--" Tartarus prompted. It was then that Nico made his move. He leaped up from his place on the ground and dashed for his sword on unsteady legs. He scooped it up and turned to face Tartarus.

"I want to die fighting," the demigod spat, holding his sword out in front of him. He didn't have much energy, but he just had to hold out a little longer. He turned towards the doors and started wading his way through monsters, cutting down any that came within reach of his blade.

"That can be arranged." Nico didn't bother to look behind him and waste the precious seconds he would need to do what he had come here to do.

He almost made it, too.

When he had closed half the distance the ground became liquid and Nico sank to his knees. Remembering the wilderness survival course Batman had given him, Nico used a technique that was used to escape quicksand in order to pull himself free. He laid himself down face first on a section of the ground that wasn't liquid and slowly began hauling himself out on his stomach. Tartarus seemed to be taking his time, as he allowed the demigod to pull himself out and even get to his feet. Nico had only made it a few more feet before he hear the soles of his shoes start to sizzle. He looked to the ground and saw that a red glowing vein had risen to the surface of the membrane. It held waters from the Phlegethon and the heat was melting his shoes.

He scrambled away but no matter where he went different colored veins rose to the surface-- black for the Styx, white for Lethe, and red for the Phlegethon. Monsters and the like all parted as the veins came to the surface. Those that didn't either crumbled to dust or began walking around with a dazed look on their faces until they stumbled into a more dangerous vein. Nico, running out of space and options, swung his sword down into the ground, and water from the Phlegethon gushed out and flooded the ground nearby. Tartarus cried out in rage and advanced Nico made a break for the doors and no one stood in his way.

He made it within feet of the chain before a fleshy red hand grabbed him by the back of his shirt and sent him skidding away from the doors. When he finally stopped, he pulled himself to his feet and found Tartarus between him and the doors. He had been avoiding looking straight at the primordial up until that point and what he saw now made him glad he had trusted his gut.

Tartarus was nothing but veins and squishy pink flesh. He looked like the inside of your cheek and faceless. It was enough to make Nico glad he wouldn't live to remember all of this. Though if Hazel were anything to go by, he still may remember after death. That is even if his soul would be able to find its way to the afterlife.

"I think a death in battle would be too kind for you," Tartarus approached slowly and Nico weighed his options.

He could run away but without his sword, which lay somewhere off to the right, he wouldn't make it far if the monsters decided to give chase. And he'd need it to break the chains that held the doors down later. Running was out of the question; as was attacking straight on. Even if he could get past Tartarus to get his sword, he'd never get close enough with all the deadly veins the primordial could move around at will.

In short, he had nothing.

"What do you mean?" Nico scanned the surrounding areas, hoping to find something he could use.

"I have something... slower planned for you. Seize him!" Two cyclops advanced on the son of Hades and took hold of his arms. Without weapons and still, in a weakened state from his injuries, he was hardly a match. Nico glared at the flesh bag as he approached. He opened his mouth to make a witty taunt but he never got the chance. Before he could utter a word, something hit him over the head and his world went dark.

Sometime later Nico came to in pitch-black space. It was so dark that, at first, he wasn't really sure he was awake. He reached behind him to feel what he had been leaning on and his hand touched cold, hard metal. Panic overtook him as he felt further up the wall and it curved over his head. He ran his hands all over the insides of the metal cell or container and didn't find a single hole. He was trapped. The space was small, he couldn't stretch out his legs while sitting down and he couldn't stand all the way up. It was cold, musty, and his voice sounded wrong when muttered aloud.

The good news was that he still had his sword, his jacket, and his utility belt. So he wouldn't freeze, he'd be able to fight back against his captors, and he had a small number of provisions. Nico pulled everything out of his utility belt that he hadn't lost in the pit. He still had a flashlight, some granola bars, and a pouch of pomegranate seeds.

Persephone's instructions came back to him as he opened the pouch to make sure the seeds were still edible. "They are pomegranate seeds from my garden. Eat the pulp off of one, and you will go into a death trance. A state much like death. Eat one a day as needed." Nico wasn't sure what a 'death trance' was, but he figured it was his only option. He couldn't feel any airflow and he would soon run out of oxygen. Maybe a death trance would keep him from using so much of his air supply. Or maybe it would at least keep him from worrying about when he would eventually run out of air.

He wasn't betting on anyone opening the lid either. After all, Tartarus had told him he was going to devise a slow death for him. This was probably how the Primordial had planned to make good on that threat. Before Nico ate a seed he made a notch in the metal with his sword, just barely being able to see what he was doing with the glow of his magic metal. The demigod got into a comfortable position before eating the pulp of the seed and spitting out the rest. He didn't have to wait long for the seed to take effect. Soon he could feel his heart rate slowing and his eye got heavy.

Was this it? Was this how it ended for him? He supposed it was better than slow suffocation, but he still wasn't ready to go yet. Was this Persephone's insurance policy? When his eyes finally closed, he wasn't sure he would ever wake up again.

++++

[June 22nd]

Reyna's POV

Reyna was livid and she had been for days. Her officers avoided her, her hounds lay dejected at her sides, and even Octavian had got to great lengths to give her space. She couldn't believe the son of Pluto would do this. The letter he'd written her lay folded neatly on the table in front of her, her dagger pinning it to the table. That fool. She thought angrily, though she feared that she was the one who should have known better. How could she have left him alone? Why didn't she realize how weak his promise must have been? If he was willing to travel to Tartarus alone, he was willing to make an empty promise. The word of a man who believed he was dead already meant nothing.

She leaned forward in her chair and reached out for the letter, her hand hesitating over the hilt of her dagger. She didn't need to read it again to know what it said, the words were seared into her mind.

Dear Praetor of the Twelfth Legion Fulminata,

Thank you for helping Hazel and me when I came asking for your assistance. I wish I had the means to thank you in some substantial way, but I don't. So, I'm going to do it in the only way I know how-- closing the doors.

This is the way it's meant to be, Reyna, you have to see that. It even says that the giants are meant to kill me. You know what happens when you try to cheat prophecies. I am deciding that this is how I want to go, by closing the doors and doing some real good.

I'm sorry I broke the promise. I'm sorry that I lied to you about so many things. Many of which will become clear if everything goes how I think it will. I'll see you sometime, ok? Hopefully later rather than sooner.

Nico di Angelo, Ambassador of Pluto, King of Ghosts

As soon as she had gotten his letter, she had written up her own declaration and sent it to the mortals Nico had been staying with. She knew it was a risk to send an eagle to a mortal's house, but she'd deal with the consequences of those actions if it meant preventing Nico from going on his fool's errand. She just hoped it would arrive before it was too late. If she couldn't get the demigod to stop, maybe they would stand a better chance.

It had been three days and she had yet to hear from anyone and Nico hadn't shown back up at camp. She was losing hope that he would reappear. It surprised her how much his disappearance unsettled her. She had come to rely on him in the short time she'd known him. He was easy to talk to and seemed to be very knowledgeable. He wasn't after her position and it didn't seem to be in his nature to use the information he had gathered to coerce favors from people. He'd never given her a reason to doubt his intentions or hinted at an ulterior motive.

It was refreshing to talk to someone without having to worry about them using your words against you in a play for power later on. There was also the fact that he seemed to be everywhere at once. He brought her information in a matter of days that would normally have taken the legion weeks to collect. And until his letter, she hadn't had a reason to question what he had told her. Now she wasn't sure what she could believe.

I'm sorry I lied to you about so many things.

What things? What were the lies and what were the truths? Everything he had told her so far had added up. She hadn't found any of his information to be flawed yet. So what wasn't he telling her? What had he withheld? She didn't think she'd have the opportunity to ask him for a long time.

"Reyna!" A centurion rushed into the Principia, "A letter came and it is addressed to you. You know Bruce Wayne?"

"Thank you," she stood so quickly that her chair made an awful screeching sound across the floor and her hounds whined, "I'll take that." She took the letter from the soldier and opened it eagerly, hoping for good news.

"What is the letter about?"

"That will be all, Centurion." Reyna dismissed him. The boy left, though he clearly wasn't happy about it. Her eyes skimmed the letter hurriedly, sinking back down into her chair. It was a brief letter that got straight to the point. Her heart sank as her fears were confirmed; she was too late.

"I hope it was worth it, son of Pluto," Reyna muttered to herself and laid the letter on the table next to the other. She put her head in her hands for a few moments, for once at a loss for what to do next. She wasn't sure how she was going to break the news to Hazel.

Reyna stared at the letter, but her brain wasn't processing what was right in front of her. Then her eyes lit up and she snatched the letter back, having finally noticed the phone number scrawled at the top of the page. She now had Bruce Wayne's phone number. Maybe he would have some of the answers she sought. She'd call him after the feast if they survived Until then, there were preparations to be made and her camp needed its leader. She had lost a soldier, not her entire army. While it stung, she couldn't take the time to mourn him yet and risk jeopardizing the others. There'd be time for that later.

"You'd better survive this, di Angelo. You have a lot to answer for here on Earth." Reyna placed both letters in her desk drawers and left the Principia to fulfill her duties. There were just three more days before the army Frank and Hazel had described were at their gates and she needed to survive if she wanted to get those answers

  [I love writing angst! IronicGhostie is this better? ;) ]