Heart Pierced - Kayla Knowles (1)

XII. The Labyrinth Is A Reason Why Some Things Should Never Be Upgraded

Alternative Chapter Title: I Have A Chat With Chris & Chrisse Becomes A Thing

(A/N: I know Chris spends the entirety of BOTL suffering from the madness Minos gave him in the Labyrinth before he is healed, but seriously Rick, I just find that wrong.

Like, you really gotta torture Clarisse like that bro? I know it's the gods' fault that he has to wait the whole damn book before he gets cured, but like.. you really gotta put Clarisse under that kind of stress? They're kids and teens, god damn it.

Point is, part of why I make these fanfics is just to ease the suffering of other characters. Thalia, Luke, Clarisse, Chris, Pollux, etc. ..like they may be heroes.. but realistically, they would be traumatized shell shocked shadows of their former selves by the time the Great Imperial War ended. They're no different than the 104th Cadet Corps in AOT or Ahsoka Tano in Clone Wars.

They're child soldiers, and it's about time some of us started making fanfics where despite all the things they have to go through, there is some sort of Disney-like plot device at the end that reunites them with those that they lost, even if the Fates hate it.

Okay, rant over. On with the chapter.)

Chris and I just stared at each other for a while, in silence. It was a rather awkward silence to say the least really. I hadn't seen Chris in like a year or two.. I don't know.. and here I was with him in the middle of Arizona after he went into the labyrinth and experienced horrors that no man should ever have to experience - or woman, demigod, or living being for that matter.

And to be fair, the labyrinth I'm talking about isn't just the simple stone maze that housed the Minotaur back in the day. Oh, no.

This labyrinth is what can be safely described as a god damn machine of death. Daedalus was an inventor, but honestly, giving a whole maze a damn mind of its own - basically the ability to be constantly expanding, constantly changing, constantly upgrading itself is a reason why some things should never be upgraded.

It's been said that this thing runs all over the planet, like one massive invasive species. Personally, that's the only part about it that I find impressive. Other than that though, if you don't have a way through this place, you're fucked buddy. Because this thing is designed to shatter your mind and then take your life, and yeah.. I do not say that lightly or with any happy feelings about it at all.

Which makes it a miracle that despite the death of his companions and the insanity given to him by Minos, Chris made it out of there alive. Like, we demigods may be part god, but we are what can be described as basically pure cannon fodder for the labyrinth alongside mortals who don't see through the mist. That's why we avoid the damn place like the plague.

The fact that Luke was sending demigods into that dark place - most likely under the orders of Kronos - was disturbing in and of itself. Because chances are those demigods most likely were ones that we have never seen at camp before - the satyrs have been reporting that they have been coming across less and less demigods in recent months, don't ask me how I know - or ones that had already left camp and most likely like Chris, ended up in the ranks of Luke/Kronos' army. He was sending them into the worst place imaginable for demigods on the damn planet, all to find the string that would allow him to destroy my home.

It was sick.

It was twisted.

It was so, so wrong.

Words couldn't describe how sick I felt to my stomach about it.

"You going to puke there Colton or-?" Chris asked, shaking me out of my thoughts.

"I.. I'm good.." I replied. "Honestly just deep in thought."

"I mean, now is a very great time to reevaluate your life choices if you're me.." Chris joked. "But hey.. what you said earlier.. about me being Clarisse's boyfriend.."