「019. fnaf but ancient rome」

CHERRY WASN'T scared of the dark, thankfully. but that being said, she didn't particularly enjoy the fact their light source had been cut. but on the somewhat bright side- the eildons didn't look like they'd be arriving anytime soon. over her head, the marble floor shuddered, and cherry heard a muffled 'oof' come from frank. she turned around, noticing he'd changed back into human form, wheezing in the dark.

"what now?" frank panicked.

"okay," leo spoke calmly, "so like- don't freak the fuck out. but. uh- i'm gonna summon a little fire, just so we can see."

frank didn't look to comfortable with the fact there was a fire. but he gulped and nodded, "thanks for the warning."

a second later and leo's index finger blazed like a birthday candle. in front of of them was a stone tunnel with a low ceiling. just as hazel had said, it slanted down and then leveled out and went south.

"well," cherry said, "it only goes in one direction."

"shame they split up," leo added.

cherry gasped at him for a few moments, before shaking her head, muttering as she grabbed his wrist and tugged him along as he personal flashlight, "let's just go find hazel."

they made their way down the corridor, leo going first with the fire, cherry beside leo and frank behind them. after a hundred feet or so, they turned a corner and finally found hazel. in the light of her golden calvary sword, she was examining a door. she didn't even notice them until cherry tapped her shoulder and said, "hiya!"

hazel whirled, trying to swing her spartha. fortunately, cherry managed to doge and peeped her head back up and said, "let's try not kill each other."

"what are you guys doing here?" hazel demanded.

"we ran into some angry tourists," leo said. briefly,he began explaining what had just happened moments ago, skipping over the whole sharing sad stories things and straight to the part where they just jumped underground.

hazel hissed in frustration, "i hate eidolons. i though piper made them promise to stay away."

"well," frank said, looking like he hated what he was going to say, "technically, piper made them promise to stay off the ship and not possess any of us."

cherry groaned, "so that means they would have followed us, and used other bodies to attack us. great, and it's not even breaking the vow."

"great," huffed leo, "eidolons who are also lawyers. now i really want to kill them."

"okay, look- forget them now," hazel said, "this door is giving me fits. leo, can you try unlock it?"

leo cracked his knuckles, sending a wink at cherry, "stand aside for the master, please."

the entire door was coated in imperial gold. a mechanical sphere about the size of a bowling ball was embedded in the center. the sphere was constructed from five concentric rings, each inscribed with zodiac symbols—the bull, the scorpion, et cetera—and seemingly random numbers and letters.

"these letters are greek," leo said in surprise.

"well, lots of romans spoke greek," hazel said.

"i guess," leo said. "but this workmanship...no offense to you camp jupiter types, but this is too complicated to be roman."

"leo how about we not insult the romans?" cherry suggested.

"i'm just saying-"

frank snorted. "whereas you greeks just love making things complicated."

"hey," leo protested. "all i'm saying is this machinery is delicate, sophisticated. it reminds me of..." leo stared at the sphere, trying to recall where he'd read or heard about a similar ancient machine. "it's a more advanced sort of lock," he decided. "you line up the symbols on the different rings in the right order, and that opens the door."

"but what's the right order?" hazel asked.

"good question. greek spheres...astronomy, geometry..." his eyes widened. "oh, no way. i wonder...what's the value of pi?"

frank frowned. "what kind of pie?"

"he means the number," hazel guessed. "i learned that in math class once, but—"

"it's used to measure circles," leo said. "this sphere, if it's made by the guy i'm thinking of...never mind," leo said. "i'm pretty sure pi is, uh, 3.1415 blah blah blah. the number goes on forever, but the sphere has only five rings, so that should be enough, if i'm right."

"and if you're not?" frank asked.

"well, then, leo fall down, go boom. let's find out!"

leo tried not to smile. how was he seemingly so goofy, attractive, yet made her worry all at the same time?

he turned the rings, starting on the outside and moving in. he ignored the zodiac signs and letters, lining up the correct numbers so they made the value of pi.

nothing happened.

"i'm stupid," leo mumbled.

"no you're not-"

"no i am, cherry," huffed leo in a frustrated tone, "pi would expand outward, because it's infinite."

he reversed the order of the numbers, starting in the center and working toward the edge. when he aligned the last ring, something inside the sphere clicked. the door swung open. leo beamed at his friends. "that, good people, is how we do things in leo world. come on in!"

"i hate leo world," frank muttered.

leo looked like a kid in a candy store, and the big grin on his face sent butterflies through cherry. the room was about the size of the forge back at camp half-blood, with bronze-topped worktables along the walls, and baskets full of ancient metalworking tools. dozens of bronze and gold spheres like steampunk basketballs sat around in various stages of disassembly. loose gears and wiring littered the floor. thick metal cables ran from each table toward the back of the room, where there was an enclosed loft like a theater's sound booth. stairs led up to the booth on either side.

all the cables seemed to run into it. next to the stairs on the left, a row of cubbyholes was filled with leather cylinders—probably ancient scroll cases. leo looked like he was about to head toward the tables when he glanced to his left and nearly jumped out of his shoes.

flanking the doorway were two armored manikins—like skeletal scarecrows made from bronze pipes, outfitted with full suits of roman armor, shield and sword.

"dude." leo walked up to one. "these would be awesome if they worked."

frank edged away from the manikins. "those things are going to come alive and attack us, aren't they? it's like that video game about the animatronics..."

"five nights at freddies?" asked cherry.

"you know it?"

"katie used to play it in the hermes cabin with travis and conner," shrugged cherry, "i came along sometimes- but it's one weird and creepy game. i saw conner burst into tears once."

leo laughed, "don't worry. they aren't complete." he tapped the nearest manikin's neck, where loose copper wires sprouted from underneath its breastplate. "look, the head's wiring has been disconnected. and here, at the elbow, the pulley system for this joint is out of alignment. my guess? the romans were trying to duplicate a greek design, but they didn't have the skill."

hazel arched her eyebrows. "the romans weren't good enough at being complicated, i suppose."

"or delicate," frank added. "or sophisticated."

"i'm sure leo doesn't mean it like-"

"hey, i just call it like i see it." leo jiggled the manikin's head, making it nod like it was agreeing with him. "still...a pretty impressive try. i've heard legends that the romans confiscated the writings of archimedes, but—"

"archimedes?" hazel looked baffled. "wasn't he an ancient mathematician or something?"

leo laughed. "he was a lot more than that. he was only the most famous son of hephaestus who ever lived."

"and you're sure these are his designs?" asked cherry.

"it has to be!" leo said, "look, i've read all about archimedes. he's a hero to cabin nine. the dude was greek, right? he lived in one of the greek colonies in southern italy, back before rome got all huge and took over. finally the romans moved in and destroyed his city. the roman general wanted to spare archimedes, because he was so valuable—sort of like the einstein of the ancient world—but some stupid roman soldier killed him."

"there you go again," hazel muttered. "stupid and roman don't always go together, leo."

frank grunted agreement. "how do you know all this, anyway?" he demanded. "is there a spanish tour guide around here?"

"no, man," leo said. "you can't be a demigod who's into building stuff and not know about archimedes. the guy was seriously elite. he calculated the value of pi. he did all this math stuff we still use for engineering. he invented a hydraulic screw that could move water through pipes."

hazel scowled. "a hydraulic screw. excuse me for not knowing about that awesome achievement."

cherry glanced worryingly to her friends. leo was honestly just excited, but she could see his blunt excitement was slightly insulting to hazel and frank.

"he also built a death ray made of mirrors that could burn enemy ships," leo continued. "is that awesome enough for you?"

"i saw something about that on tv," frank admitted. "they proved it didn't work."

"ah, that's just because modern mortals don't know how to use celestial bronze," leo said. "that's the key. archimedes also invented a massive claw that could swing on a crane and pluck enemy ships out of the water."

"okay, that's cool," frank admitted. "i love grabber-arm games."

"well, there you go," leo said. "anyway, all his inventions weren't enough. the romans destroyed his city. archimedes was killed. according to legends, the roman general was a big fan of his work, so he raided archimedes's workshop and carted a bunch of souvenirs back to rome. they disappeared from history, except..."

leo waved his hands at the stuff on the tables. "here they are."

"metal basketballs?" hazel asked.

"guys, archimedes constructed spheres. the romans couldn't figure them out. they thought they were just for telling time or following constellations, because they were covered with pictures of stars and planets. but that's like finding a rifle and thinking it's a walking stick."

"leo, the romans were top-notch engineers," hazel reminded him. "they built aqueducts, roads—"

"siege weapons," frank added. "public sanitation."

"yeah, fine," leo said. "but archimedes was in a class by himself. his spheres could do all sorts of things, only nobody is sure..." his eyes widened and his left eye twitched. cherry knew that look."oh, gods. this is it!"

he gingerly lifted out one of the scrolls. "guys, this is the lost book!" his hands were shaking. "archimedes wrote this, describing his construction methods, but all the copies were lost in ancient times. if i can translate this...the secrets of archimedes," he murmured. "guys, this is bigger than daedalus's laptop. if there's a roman attack on camp half-blood, these secrets could save the camp. they might even give us an edge over gaea and the giants!"

"okay," hazel said. "we didn't come here for a scroll, but i guess we can take it with us."

"assuming," frank added, "that you don't mind sharing its secrets with us stupid uncomplicated romans."

"what?" leo stared at him blankly. "no. look, i didn't mean to insult— ah, never mind. the point is this is good news!"

he looked hopeful in that moment. and cherry smiled. of course, naturally that's when everything went to shit. on the table next to hazel and frank, one of the orbs clicked and whirred. a row of spindly legs extended from its equator.

the orb stood, and two bronze cables shot out of the top, hitting hazel and frank like taser wires. her friends both crumpled to the floor. cherry tried to help them, but the armored manikins leo had promised wouldn't move drew their swords and stepped towards leo and cherry.

the one on the left turned its crooked helmet, which was shaped like a wolf's head. despite the fact that it had no face or mouth, a familiar hollow voice spoke from behind its visor. "you cannot escape us, leo valdez," it said. "we do not like possessing machines, but they are better than tourists. you will not leave here alive."

turns out the machines were exactly like five nights at freddies. hazel and frank had been knocked out by the tendrils of a possessed steampunk bowling ball and the two suits of armour were about to kill her and leo. leo couldn't blast them with fire, and cherry didn't really know if summoning a large rock or throwing it at the armour would really help their situation.

"a male and female demigod," said the lion head, "these will do, if the others die." its hollow face mask turned back to leo and her, "unless you and your friend wish to be the ones to die? if not, we have no use for the two of you."

"oh hey!" leo tried for a winning smile, "you always need us!"

the one with the wold-headed helmet snarled, "i have seen your mind, leo. i helped you start the war."

cherry frowned, glaring at the armour, "that was you?"

"you made me fire the ballista?" demanded leo, "you call that helping?"

"i know how you think," said wolf head. "i know your limits. you are small and alone. you need friends to protect you. without them, you are unable to withstand me. i vowed not to possess you again, but i can still kill you."

leo clasped cherry's hand again, and squeezed it. except his usual goofy demeanor changed. his eyes no longer said: this is fun, huh? no. it said, stall.

stall?

cherry could do that. she squeezed his hand back before she glared at the two suits of armour, "how dare you say that. leo is never- and will never be alone. and i'll be damned if you even try to kill him." she snapped, adding a snide, "so go back to the underworld, you pompous bastards."

"and another thing," leo said, "bye."

he lunged for the stairs and bounded to the top. the suits of armor were scary, but they were not fast. especially when cherry managed to slide some of the dirt from the ceiling down to block their path. as

leo slammed both gates shut and summoned fire to his hands, fusing the locks. the suits of armor closed in on either side. they rattled the gates, hacking at them with their swords.

"this is foolish," said lion head. "you only delay your death."

"delaying death is one of my favorite hobbies." leo responded.

"what do you want me to do?" whispered cherry.

"maybe collapse a few rocks on them?" leo replied, "just make sure they don't break through the gate."

"got it," grinned cherry, she hugged him for a few moments, before muttering, "try not to die when you do whatever your doing."

"i'll give it my best shot. you only live twice, right?"

she smiled, "you only live twice."

she couldn't see exactly where the armour pieces were, but it was quite fun to hear loud clangs along with inaudible yells come from the other side of the gate. she didn't turn to look at what leo was doing, mainly because she genuinely might get a bit too distracted. she could hear him working, cursing a bit as a loud spring came out.

"one basketball to rule them all," leo muttered.

chery had no idea what he meant- but she hoped he didn't mean he was literally going to throw a basketball at them. nevermind that, she thought to herself, let's play pin ball with a twist.

she sent her hand down again, her stomach twisting- warning her she was probably straining herself a bit too much. but a loud thump was heard, and she heard the spirits, howl, "open this gate or i will kill you both!"

"a fair and generous offer!" leo yelled from behind her, "just let me finish this. a last request, all right?"

this must have momentarily confused the spirits, because they stopped hacking at the bars. she let out a whimper, feeling her body burn as she sent a final weak boulder-like ball of dirt down onto their enemies. she stumbled back, onto a table, her forehead beaded with sweat and her head dizzy.

"can't," she managed, "head..."

"it's alright," leo said, "you got any ambrosia? take a moment, i got this for a sec-"

the eidolons started pounding on the gates again.

"who is it?" leo called.

"valdez!" the wolf head bellowed.

"valdez who?"

she tried for a weak laugh as she shoved a square of ambrosia in her mouth, the bar melting as soon as it hit her tongue. by the looks of it, the gate probably couldn't be opened. but sooner or later, the wolf head might force cooperation and cherry wasn't ready for that. she tried to regain her strength, letting the warm feeling of the ambrosia spread through her, clearing her mind.

"valdez! adams!" the wolf head pounded on the gate, "our third comrade will kill your friends!"

"yeah," he called in a rushed and annoyed tone, "okay! you got me. just... just a sec."

"no more seconds!" roared the wolf head, "open this gate now or they die."

cherry stood up, finally regaining some sort of strength, small shoots of clovers glowing around them. she looked to leo, who had tears of frustration falling down his face as he cursed loudly, "fuck!"

he ran a frustrated hand through his hair, before he finally turned to cherry, a determined look on his face, he pressed his lips against hers. just a short peck. she didn't have much time really to describe the fireworks she felt, or the warm feeling that felt like she'd just chugged nectar. no- the adrenaline was pumping. they were going to die- and all he had the nerve to say after letting her go, "you only live twice. wish me luck."

she didn't really think she could form a proper sentence, her mind was working too slow yet too fast for her to register anything, "good-"

he stuffed his hand into his pocket and brought out a fortune cookie, "i need the access code for this sphere."

and then, he broke the cookie open.

spoiler alert: cherry didn't register her and leo had actually kissed until... very later. so we continue, with leo opening the fortune cookie. leo made a hand signal, muttering something along the lines of, "sword. power?" before turning the rings on the sphere. cherry took his weird mumbling to suggest perhaps she should arm herself with her sword or perhaps use her powers.

"what are you doing?" the wold head demanded, "stop your foolishness and surrender!"

"oh, yes, we surrender!" leo said. "totally surrendering!"

"enough!" wolf head yelled. "i will destroy the—" he turned in time to see the ruby sphere take off with the scrolls. it zipped across the room and hovered in the far corner.

"what?!" wolf head cried. "kill the prisoners!"

"bah!" wolf head gestured to lion head at the opposite gate. "come! we will destroy the demigods ourselves."

"i don't think so, guys." leo turned toward lion head. his hands worked the control sphere, and he felt a shock travel through the floor. lion head shuddered and lowered his sword. leo grinned. "you're in leo world, now."

lion head turned and stormed down the stairs. instead of advancing on hazel and leo, he marched up the opposite stairs and faced his comrade.

"what are you doing?" wolf head demanded. "we have to—"

blong!

lion head slammed his shield into wolf head's chest. he smashed the pommel of his sword into his comrade's helmet, so wolf head became flat, deformed, not very happy wolf head. "stop that!" wolf head demanded.

"i cannot!" lion head wailed.

"you will die for this!" called wolf head in a warbling voice.

"yeah," leo called out. "who's possessing who now, casper?"

the machine men tumbled down the stairs, and leo forced them to jitterbug like 1920s flappers. their joints began smoking. the other spheres around the room began to pop. too much energy was surging through the ancient system. the control sphere in leo's hand grew uncomfortably warm.

"...guys!" leo shouted. "take cover!"

cherry ducked underneath a table along with hazel and frank. cherry had no idea what leo had done, but suddenly the armored warriors blew apart. rods, pistons, and bronze shards flew everywhere. on all the tables, spheres popped like hot soda cans.

finally, cherry climbed out from beneath the table and leo grinned at them.

"you're alive!" he said.

hazel's left eye twitched, maybe from the taser shock. otherwise she looked okay. "uh, what exactly happened?"

"archimedes came through!" leo said. "just enough power left in those old machines for one final show. once i had the access code, it was easy."

"the eidolons," frank said. "are they gone?"

leo grinned. "my last command overloaded their kill switches—basically locked down all their circuits and melted their cores."

"in english?" frank asked.

"i trapped the eidolons inside the wiring," leo said. "then i melted them. they won't be bothering anyone again."

"well," cherry said, a small flick of her hand casting an inch of dirt over each of the dead armour pieces, "just in case."

"you saved us," frank said.

"don't sound so surprised." leo teased before he glanced around the destroyed workshop. "too bad all this stuff got wrecked, but at least i salvaged the scrolls. if i can get them back to camp half-blood, maybe i can learn how to recreate archimedes's inventions."

hazel rubbed the side of her head. "but i don't understand. where is nico? that tunnel was supposed to lead us to nico."

"oh. hazel, how exactly were you tracking nico? i mean, could you just sense him nearby because he was your brother?"

she frowned, still looking a bit wobbly from her electric shock treatment. "not—not totally. sometimes i can tell when he's close, but, like i said, rome is so confusing, so much interference because of all the tunnels and caves—"

"you tracked him with your metal-finding senses," leo guessed. "his sword?"

she blinked. "how did you know?"

"you'd better come here." he led them up to the control room and pointed to the black sword.

"oh. oh, no." hazel would've collapsed if frank hadn't caught her. "but that's impossible! nico's sword was with him in the bronze jar. percy saw it in his dream!"

"either the dream was wrong," leo said, "or the giants moved the sword here as a decoy."

"so this was a trap," frank said. "we were lured here."

"but why?" hazel cried. "where's my brother?"

a hissing sound filled the control booth. at first, cherry thought the eidolons were back. then she realized the bronze mirror on the table was steaming.

ah, my poor demigods. the sleeping face of gaea appeared in the mirror. as usual, she spoke without moving her mouth, which could only have been creepier if she'd had a ventriloquist puppet.

you had your choice, gaea said. her voice echoed through the room. it seemed to be coming not just from the mirror, but from the stone walls as well.

i offered salvation to all of you, gaea said. you could have turned back. now it is too late. you've come to the ancient lands where i am strongest—where i will wake.

"no offence queen dirtbag," cherry managed, "but your plan failed. the eidolons are gone." there was silence, and cherry dared her silently to question her, "go on- i'm not wrong, am i? posses me again- you fowl woman. maybe then i'll get more of your dumb powers and use it agianst you in spite!"

such vigour, gaea laughed, but you all fail to see. you four have been separated from your friends. that was the whole point.

the workshop door slammed shut.

you are trapped in my embrace, gaea said. meanwhile, annabeth chase faces her death alone, terrified and crippled, at the hands of her mother's greatest enemy.

the image in the mirror changed. cherry gasped as she saw annabeth sprawled on the floor of a dark cavern, holding up her bronze knife as if warding off a monster. her face was gaunt. her leg was wrapped up in some sort of splint. cherry couldn't see what she was looking at, but it was obviously something horrible. she wanted to believe the image was a lie, but he had a bad feeling it was real, and it was happening right now.

the others, gaea said, jason grace, piper mclean, and my dear friends percy jackson and barbara allen—they will perish within minutes.

the scene changed again. percy was holding riptide, leading jason, barbie and piper down a spiral staircase into the darkness.

their powers will betray them, gaea said. they will die in their own elements. i almost hoped they would survive. they would have made a better sacrifice. but alas, hazel and frank, you will have to do. or perhaps cherry and leo? she laughed. should i make you fight?

"your... your sick in the head," cherry managed, trying to blink away the image of barbie in potential danger, "stop it."

hm, no matter. my minions will collect you shortly and bring you to the ancient place. your blood will awaken me at last. until then, i will allow you to watch your friends perish. please...enjoy this last glimpse of your failed quest.

all she could hear was the laugh of gaea, echoing around her mind, turning her near insane until a flaming white hand melted the mirror into a puddle of bronze goo.

"sorry," he said, putting a comforting shoulder around cherry's, "i didn't like what she was saying."

there was silence for a few moments before frank said, "...so what do we do? we have to get out and help the others."

after an even longer pause of silence, cherry finally recovered from the strangely hollow sounds of gaea laughing around in her head and she said in a fierce yet confident voice, "we find a way out of here. and we help our friends."

"i think i have just the idea," grinned leo, "but it's going to take all four of us." he sent a wink at cherry, which was perhaps when her mess of emotions cleared. the anger literally diffusing out of her as one thought stayed in her mind: leo kissed me.

perhaps that was a weird thing to think of in such a time- but it was better than the eternal madness that lead with the earth goddess.

rosie speaks!

SELF PROMO (you have been
warned). so basically i have a
poem book and am now going
to pathetically self promo it.

MOVING FORWARDS. we are so
close to the end of this book and
i'm actually so close to crying.
i love you so much and the amount
of friends i made by writing
this book is unreal. i love every
one of you. and don't worry i'm sure
you'll find even more thanks in
the authors note <3

thoughts ??

(also total word count for
cherry baby is so close to 200K
i mean how insane is that ??)

word count: 4,551 words