Fairytales and Gods

Chapter 1

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Percy stared up into the irate eyes of the insane primordial goddess. She had bought their ruse of being tourists for a while —As stupid as that sounded— but her husband had not. He was floating there beside his wife, his body purple, curved ram horns making their way out of his head. Percy wondered momentarily if that was where people had gotten the image for the devil from, before his thoughts were torn to more pressing matters.

You would deign to attempt to fool me and my wife?

Erebus didn't speak, he conveyed messages directly into Percy's head.

"My lord Erebus, we didn't mean to-"

Silence girl.

Annabeth was cut off mid sentence, and Percy swallowed. Their best chance of getting out of here alive was if Annabeth could convince the god to spare them. If that wasn't going to happen, Percy didn't love their chances.

"No, no, they will explain. If you are not here as tourists, you will tell me why you are here. If you lie to me this time, you will personally know the horrors within my mansion." Nyx seemed to overrule her husband. Despite the primordial goddess being crazy, Percy had to admit she was still terrifyingly powerful.

Annabeth and he locked eyes. He shrugged helplessly. He didn't know what to say to get them out of a situation like this, that was supposed to be her ballpark. Point him at something to slash and stab and he'd get the job done, but diplomacy and convincing ultra powerful gods not to smite them was something he was not great at. In fact, if he opened his mouth he would find it more than likely that he'd increase their odds of being turned into piles of ash.

She turned her attention back to the primordial gods impatiently waiting for their answer. Swallowing her fear, she decided to go for the ultimate hail mary; the truth.

"We fell in. Well, I fell in, and he fell with me. We're trying to find the doors of death and leave, so that we can stop Gaea from destroying humanity."

Nyx frowned. "No humans would be a good thing, I think. No more nasty light pollution. I would get all my constellations back. Oh, that would be wonderful." she turned it into a smile, as if imagining how much less of a hassle she'd have to deal with if more than seven billion people lost their lives.

Erebus nodded along, seemingly not disagreeing.

And why would we care for the humans?

The question was simple, but the answer was not. Percy and Annabeth glanced at each other hopelessly. There wasn't a reason that would make these beings want to help them, as far as they could tell. If their reactions were anything to go off of, their opinion of Gaea wasn't low enough to manipulate, and their opinion of humanity not high enough.

"Because we'll do anything," Was the only thing Percy could say. "I don't know what you want, if anything, but I'm a demigod of two great prophecies. If you help me survive, let humanity survive, I'll do anything you want."

Percy meant the words, even if he didn't like them. He hated the feeling of selling his soul to this thing before him, but the alternative was likely dying, and letting humanity collapse.

A booming laugh and a high cackle were the first responses he got.

And what could you possibly do for us that we could not do ourselves?

This question Percy was more prepared for than the last, even as Annabeth took his hand.

"There have to be things you can't accomplish on your own that you want done. Demigods have a purpose, and even if there are no rules stopping you, you're hardly subtle. I've also been told on more than one occasion my life can be some pretty good entertainment." It was a gamble, he knew, but he didn't have much to lose at this point. If they decided they had better entertainment elsewhere or that they didn't need him for anything, then he was just where he started, right?