The Path Of Glory (Annabeth Chase x Male Reader)

69. A Joyless Return

A/N: Hey! Sorry for the time I took to update. Like I said, I was showing Paris around to my brother. We had an amazing time together.
Now I'm back at home. I could've updated a bit sooner (yesterday, actually), but I felt tired and I watched movies instead of writing ^^'
Anyway. Here's the chapter. I know it's not much after two weeks of waiting, but remember everything that happened in the last chapter. A bit of calm is good XD I'll make sure to update as soon as possible next time so you don't have to wait with that in-between moment for long.
See you next time, enjoy!

The volcano spewed out its flames and its lava without stopping. A large cloud of ashes was forming over the crater, and soon it would devastate the area. They had to move, but the feeling that something really bad had happened rooted Y/N to the spot. His legs refused to do as they were told. Something terrible.

After a moment, he managed to take his eyes off the scene and said, "We've got to go."

He grabbed Annabeth by the arm. She took a moment to react, transfixed as she was. Another to look away. One more to get a move on.

Next to her, Ethan was already good to go, though he leaned on his spear as if he needed a walking stick to stand up. "Percy. . . ."

"We've got to go," Y/N repeated. He tried not to bother with what Ethan mumbled. Too late. Now he knew that Percy had been in there, and that presently his body—if his body remained—was flying high up in the sky. He froze at the thought.

Annabeth's voice tore him away from his trance. "Where?"

He turned to her. Under any other circumstances, he would've hugged her and said how much he had missed her. Under any other circumstances, but not now. Now they had no time for that. The cloud of ashes was coming down on them, heavy as it was, and if they didn't run for cover . . . well, they'd better be far away before having to discover what would happen then. And of course, Annabeth had got that. He could see it in her eyes. She was who she was, always using logic. Especially when worried.

Y/N didn't like his own answer: "Into the Labyrinth."

Y/N led Annabeth and Ethan to a hole between two trees—the path he had taken out of the maze earlier. They went into the darkness, and he followed. He couldn't repress a shiver. It was always like that when he entered the Labyrinth. Since he had fallen inside at camp, he had come out several times, but always had to go back. Walking from Chicago to New York was not for him.

Darkness surrounded him again, but that wasn't really new. Then he heard a clicking sound, and a beam of light illuminated the tunnel. He looked around, and saw Annabeth holding a flashlight. Good for her.

"Which way?" Ethan asked.

"I don't know," Annabeth said. "We've lost the spider."

"The spider?" Y/N said.

"Not a real spider," Annabeth explained. "It's . . . complicated. We met Hephaestus, and he asked us to come and check here. It's his forge, you see. And there was that mechanical spider that guided us. But now we need to go find him without it. Tell him what happened."

Annabeth started along the tunnel, as if she knew the way—even though she had just admitted she didn't—but Y/N put his hand on her shoulder and stopped her. "Wait a second. Could you just explain to me what's going on? I want to know what happened. Where's everybody? I mean, you weren't the only ones to go into the Labyrinth, right? Ethan, you mentioned Percy. . . ." He hesitated. He already knew there was nothing to do for Percy. "But Grover and Tyson? Where are they?"

"They're fine," Ethan said. "Well, they should be. We split up when Grover and I sensed Pan's power. They went to look for him while Percy, Annabeth and I kept moving."