Just Observing (Fem. Percy X Young Justice)

16

My body slammed against the ground, a loud thud echoing through the cavern I found myself in. "Sadness?" I said, looking around. "Where are you?" I floated around the cramped space, seeing no sign of that aspect of Percy's self. The more I looked and the more I thought, the more sense it made. That last area was hers, so this would be the next Percys' and Sadness had no reason to be here. Not in the dark, suffocating cavern. 

Drip. 

Drip. 

I shook my head. I can only move forward. Find the next Percy and keep going until I find out how I'm supposed to fix this mess. 

When I crawled out of the small fissure in the wall, I had expected something similar to earlier, with the world brightening and giving me some sort of direction to head for. But no. That wasn't offered to me here. Only darkness and a rolling fog. 

"If there's fog," I mumbled. "Then there's probably water, right?" There was fog in the caves on Mars, but it had something to do with temperature fluctuations on top of the water content of the air. Gray washed over everything in the distance, leading me to wander an infinite maze. Over and over I came to the same dead end, and then another. 

When I was about to lose all hope, wind pushed around me, soft against my skin. I looked towards the wall. Maybe there was a crack. As my hands pressed against the rock's surface, they pushed through, sending me tumbling through to the other side. A false wall?

Why do I get the feeling this is going to be Deception?

On this side of the wall, things were...different to say the least. Pools of water lined the sides, the lures of angler fish glowing bright, and a slowly sloping floor. Hesitantly, I walked up. I emerged surface side. I squinted against the sudden influx of light. Shadows moved on the ground, cast by the dark gray clouds overhead. 

"Oh, these are so pretty." I stopped to smell the blood red dahlias. I smiled, only to feel something slither against my foot. I yelped and flew backwards. A garter snakes disappeared into the undergrowth. I shuddered. Nope. Time to get find Percy before anything in this mindscape has a chance to react to me. I do not need giant mutant snakes chasing after me. 

Again.

The path opened up into a large field. The ground sloped sharply up, with stair after stair after stair. Luckily for me, I could fly. Wind swirled around me, catching in my hair. 

A broken playground sat atop the hill. Twisted, rusted metal making up every piece. The one thing still held together, a single swing, swung back and forth. The set itself rocked with every kick backwards Deception made, tipping dangerously over the back of the hill. As I approached, she rocked forward onto her feet.

"Aura cadaver, in graveyards we gather. In the living we exist, in your closet we persist. What are we?" Deception swayed back and forth. Her white eyes focused on me. A smirk appeared on her face. Then she closed her eyes and tilted her head back. "Childhoods are weird, don't you think?" she asked.

I didn't respond, too busy focusing on the riddle itself. 

"Mine was never normal, you know? Dad left, Mom married this horrible guy, and then- then everything just got worse." 

"Skeletons," I said. Deception sighed and looked at her feet. 

"Correct." Without ceremony, she pushed me down the hill, letting me slip into whatever came next. And what came next was...just a lot of fire and blood.

Anger wasn't even hidden, simply sitting in the middle of the field, a sword driven into the ground in front of her. A red glow surrounded her, flowing from her eyes. The clouds covering the sky seemed to flee from her, and I couldn't blame them, not with the way hatred was swelling within my chest, stoking every negative thought I have ever had in my life. Thunder rumbled and I looked up. 

"You don't want me here do you?" I asked. 

"No, I don't. But this is the only way to get...to get Percy back. So just answer my fucking riddle and get out."

Silence.

"I kinda need to know the riddle."

Anger sighed and waved her hand. "Of the king I am blue and of the peasant I am red. Of the god I am gold and of the monster I am dust. What am I?" A feral grin spread over her face. "I know this one all too well. Pretty sure your can figure it out by looking around."

My gaze drifted from her and then to the mutilated creatures surrounding us. My mouth fell open as I realized some of them were very much human. Did- Did she do this? But Percy always seems so chill? How could she even-

"I'm not proud of some of the things I've done in the past, but I'd do them all over again to keep the people I care about safe. Answer the question before I get too annoyed. And if that happens and you can't deal with it, well, have fun with Loyalty. Anxiety might be bad too, but-" she waved her hand again. "-for different reasons."

I stared Anger down, and she returned it, even as ravens landed on her body. I bit the inside of my lip, hard enough to taste copper.

And just like that, I had my answer.

I...did not feel like doing heavy symbolism. 

Next chapter might be similar for all I know, or I might just skip anxiety 

See yah