νεκρός || Annabeth Chase x Fem!OC

Vol. 3-11: I'm aggressive to my brothers

TEMPEST

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There was no sense of morning in the maze, but everyone woke up around the same time. I decided to serve them a fabulous breakfast of granola bars and juice boxes, and we kept moving.

I could tell that Annabeth and Percy had some strange dreams. Melinoe is, after all, the goddess and bringer of nightmares. I could tell very easily that whatever they had seen had shaken them up. But after that last line in the prophecy that Annabeth told me, I wasn't about to ask her more questions. I knew exactly what was going to happen by the end of this quest; something about Luke.

Percy, however? Well, I didn't have any hesitations about that.

"Jackson."

He looked up at me and nodded. I drifted back a little bit, walking alongside him. Annabeth led the way, with Tyson and Grover in the middle, standing a solid three feet apart while Percy and I were right next to each other. Not touching, but nearly.

"You saw something in a dream," I said.

He frowned. "How do you know?"

"Divine intuition."

Percy hesitated. "It..." He sighed. "I saw Icarus."

"When he was young, or-"

"When he fell."

I nodded. "Dreams about death... Interesting. Did you see King Minos?"

He nodded. "You know a lot about that stuff, huh?"

I nodded. "Anne and I have been researching the Labyrinth endlessly, and with that, we've been researching Daedalus. She's been into the more technical side of things- his inventions, the history of them, the construction. I looked a lot more into his story. Specifically, the fall of Icarus. Call me morbid, but I usually look at the deaths in myths more than the main point."

"I think the main point of that myth is that Icarus died."

"Not... exactly," I hesitated, and kept my voice down for the sake of my friends. "The point of that myth is not to be overzealous, not to get too full on yourself. That's where we get the saying 'don't fly too close to the sun.' Yes, that's why Icarus died... On the outside. Icarus had been in prison his entire life. He was locked on that island with his father. Minos wanted to keep Daedalus all for himself, like he was a tool on a shelf rather than a human being. Daedalus was the most prized trophy of the time, the world's best inventor. Minos needed leverage. Originally, he had given Daedalus a woman, and they fell in love. She died, of course, but not without giving Daedalus the heaviest anchor of all."

Percy looked very sad. "Icarus."

I nodded. "Yes. Icarus was born into captivity and he stayed in captivity his entire life. The Fall of Icarus is a tale we tell children and learn about in camp as a way to teach ourselves not to get too cocky. But think about it; when you're locked somewhere you're whole life, and suddenly, you're given the purest form of freedom you can possibly conceive... Well, it's impossible not to get high off it. Icarus got to taste flight, freedom, and joy for the first time his whole life, and it killed him in the end. Minos killed him in the end."