★ 。＼｜／。★

𝗕𝗘𝗟𝗟𝗘

𝖈𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖎𝖙𝖗𝖊 𝖙𝖗𝖊𝖓𝖙𝖊-𝖙𝖗𝖔𝖎𝖘:
EMOTIONS, NOT LOGIC

★ 。／｜＼。★

THE ARGO II hovered right over the town of Sparta. Belle stood outside on the deck, her arms leaning against the rail as she watched Leo drop anchor. The day was filled with July heat and sunshine and should've lifted Belle's spirits, but it really did nothing. Something about Sparta was making her . . . uneasy. It certainly didn't help that she was supposed to go scout out the town with Annabeth and Piper. Her outing with Frank and Piper had been good for her but this was different.

"B," Annabeth's voice suddenly called. Belle turned around to see her standing there with Piper, whom she had gone to wake up. "Piper says she has something to tell us. Where's Percy?"

"Maybe in his cabin," Belle replied. "I can go get him."

Belle went off in the direction of Percy's cabin. She knocked on his door and opened it to reveal him laying on his bed while twirling Riptide's pen in between his fingers. Percy glanced over to see her standing in the doorway.

"Hey, Beauty," he greeted. "What's up?"

"Piper apparently has something we need to hear," Belle revealed. "Come on."

Percy stood up, placed Riptide's pen back in his pocket, walked over to Belle, and placed a hand on her cheek. "What's wrong?"

Her eyebrows knit in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Belle, we've been dating for almost two years. I know when something's bothering you. So what's going on?"

She didn't want to admit that she was having nightmares of Percy torturing Akhlys. Who could blame her? That was the one of the things that terrified her the most about Tartarus. But how could she possibly explain to the one boy that she loved that he was the cause of some of her nightmares? There was no way she could do that to him. Belle had to keep reminding herself that that wasn't her Percy. That was just the Percy who was trying to keep them alive. But still . . .

"I'm just tired," Belle finally answered, which wasn't completely a lie. She really was. "There's just a lot going on right now. It's hard to slow down."

Percy didn't really seem to believe her, but he nodded his head nonetheless and kissed her forehead sweetly. "All right. Let's go see what Piper has to say."

The five of them gathered in the hallway. Piper began to recount her dream to Belle, Percy, and Annabeth — everything about the Giants and hordes of monsters gathering at the Acropolis, unleashing something called the Makhai, Porphyrion (the anti-Zeus, king of the Giants) revealing Mimas was waiting for the Demigods at Sparta, how the Giants were planning to wake Gaea at the Acropolis, and the Oracle of Delphi being taken. Finally, once Piper finished, the toilets on the ship exploded because of one specific person.

Belle rolled her eyes. "Percy."

"No way are you two going down there alone," Percy voiced.

Leo ran down the hall while waving a wrench in the air. "Man, did you have to destroy the plumbing?"

Percy ignored him. Water ran down the gangway and the hull rumbled as more pipes burst and sinks overflowed. Maybe Percy hadn't meant to cause so much damage, but the glowering expression on his face told Belle he wasn't playing around. Piper seemed almost afraid of him at the moment and even Annabeth looked a little on-edge. Belle had seen worse, so she remained calm.

"Hey, we're going to be fine," Belle reassured him, placing a hand on his shoulder. The two locked eyes, and Percy's expression visibly softened just a smidge. "If Katoptris showed the three of us going down there, then that's what needs to happen."

Percy then glared at Piper like everything about this was her fault. "And this Mimas dude? I'm guessing he's a Giant?'

"Probably," Piper responded. "Porphyrion called him our brother."

"And a bronze statue surrounded by fire. And those . . . other things you mentioned. Mackies?"

"Makhai. I think the word means battles in Greek, but I don't know how that applies, exactly."

"That's my point!" Percy insisted. "We don't know what's down there. I'm going with you."

"No you're not," Belle told him. "The Giants said they want our blood, and for Gaea's big sacrifice we need the blood from a boy and a girl. So the last thing we need is you coming with us."

"Then I'll get Jason. And the two of us—"

"Seaweed Brain, are you implying that two boys can handle this better than three girls?" Annabeth cut in.

"No. I mean . . . no. But—"

Belle cut him off by kissing him quickly. "Don't worry about it. We'll be back. Promise."

And before the lower deck could flood, Belle, Piper, and Annabeth went upstairs to leave.

About an hour later, the three girls stood on a hill that overlooked the ruins of Ancient Sparta. They had scoured the modern city already, which was a cute place of whitewashed buildings sprawled across a plain at the foot of mountains colored the shade of purple. Annabeth had insisted they check the archaeology museum, the giant metal statue of the Spartan warrior in the public square, and the National Museum of Olives and Olive Oil (listen, Belle loved plants — daughter of Demeter and all — but she learned more about olive oil than what was probably necessary.) However, no Giants attacked them and they found no statues of chained Gods.

Finally, they reached the ruins on the edge of town. Belle's uneasy feeling from earlier had all traced back to that place, but they had run out of places to look. There wasn't really much to see. Annabeth had told them the hill they were standing on had once been Sparta's acropolis — its highest point and main fortress. The weathered slope was covered with dead grass (which Belle found sad, so she flicked her hand and willed the alive grass to grow a little more), rocks, and stunted olive trees. Below them, ruins of limestone blocks, a few broken walls, and some tiled holes in the ground stretched out for maybe a quarter of a mile.

Piper wiped some sweat off of her forehead. "You'd think if there was a thirty-foot-tall Giant around we'd see him."

"Not everything's easy as a Demigod," Annabeth stated.

Belle didn't respond. She stared out at the distant shape of the Argo II floating above downtown Sparta while fingering the seashell pendant on her necklace — a gift from Percy that he had given her when they started dating after she had given him a rose pendant for his birthday. For some reason, all of her horrible memories from Tartarus began hitting her all at once as she stood there. And, of course, the one that she was having nightmares about the most — Akhlys and her poison.

"You're thinking about Percy," Piper guessed.

Belle absentmindedly nodded. She always thought about Percy. When she was awake, it was nothing but love and adoration for him. But at night, it was the scary thing he had done.

"Hey, B, he's okay," Annabeth added. "He's adjusting and smiling again. Not to mention he's caring about you more than ever. Even when you got stabbed during the Battle of Manhattan."

Belle sat down, her face pale as she suddenly felt very overwhelmed. "I — I'm sorry. I don't know why it's just all rushing back to me so hard. But, the memory of how Percy looked when he stood at the edge of Chaos . . . I can't really get it out of my head." She looked up at the two of them, her eyes sad. "Guys, it's been giving me nightmares. I'm having nightmares about Percy. What kind of girlfriend am I?"

Annabeth sat down next to her. "Belle, you cannot control the things you have nightmares about. I know you feel guilty, but having nightmares about Percy doing that doesn't make you a bad girlfriend. It makes you human because you experienced something terrifying. But I can tell you right now, that Percy you saw down there was just one that would do anything and everything to protect you even if it meant doing something horrible."

"She's right, you just have to give him time," Piper agreed, sitting on the other side of Belle. "The guy is crazy about you. You've been through so much together."

"I know we have, but . . ." Belle trailed off, staring ahead at an olive tree. She flicked her hand and moved the tree's branches and leaves around. "Bob the Titan warned me there would be more sacrifices ahead. All I want is to believe that Percy I could have a normal life someday, but I already did that last summer after the Titan War, and look how that turned out. Percy disappeared for months and I was left with no answers. Then we finally found each other again only to fall into Tartarus." A tear raced down her cheek against her will. "If you two had seen the face of the God Tartarus, nothing but darkness swirling as it devoured and vaporized monsters within the span of a second . . . I swear to you I had never felt so helpless in my entire life. I try my best not to think about it, but it just haunts me."

Piper took one of her hands. "Belle, I know you try to keep a brave face on for the people around you even if you're scared, but you can't just shut out your feelings. You won't be able to. Just let them wash over you and drain out again. You're scared."

"Really scared."

"And angry," Annabeth continued, taking Belle's other hand.

"At a lot of things — Percy scaring me, Gaea, the Giants, and the Gods."

"At us?" Piper asked.

Belle laughed slightly. "Yeah, because you two are staying calm while I'm freaking out."

"It's all a lie."

"And for being the best friends a girl could ask for."

"Ha!"

"And for actually understanding how guys and relationships work. I've been doing this for two years and you still know more than me."

Annabeth blinked. "B, I haven't had a boyfriend. Like, at all. You think I know about boys?"

Belle rolled her eyes and let go of her friends' hands. "Guys, this is so stupid. Why am I talking about my feelings when we actually have a quest?"

"The chained God's heartbeat can wait," Piper told her. "Annabeth and I are your friends. Just . . . remember that, okay?"

However, when Belle went to respond, a roaring sound came from the ruins. The three of them looked to see one of the stone-lined pits was spewing out a large geyser of flames. As soon as it came up, it went away.

"What the heck?" Piper questioned.

Annabeth sighed. "I don't know, but I have a feeling it's something we should check out."

They walked down to the ruins. Three pits laid side by side. Each one was perfectly round, two feet in diameter, tiled around the rim with limestone, and each one plunged straight into darkness. Every few seconds one of the three pits shot a column of fire into the sky. It seemed to be at random times, and each flame was a different color and intensity.

"They weren't doing this before," Annabeth announced. She walked in a wide arc around the pits, obviously engaged in finding a solution to the problem in front of her — daughter of Athena and all. "There doesn't seem to be any pattern. The timing, the color, the height of the fire . . . I don't get it."

"Did we activate them somehow?" Piper inquired. "Maybe that surge of fear Belle felt on the hill . . . uh, I mean we all felt."

"I'm not sure," Belle replied, still a little shaky and pale.

Annabeth didn't seem to hear them. "There must be some kind of mechanism . . . a pressure plate, a proximity alarm."

Flames shot from the middle pit. Annabeth counted silently to herself. The geyser then erupted on the left.

Annabeth frowned. "That's not right. It's inconsistent. It has to follow some kind of logic."

"It isn't rational," Piper said. "It's emotional."

"Uh, I don't mean to question your child of Aphrodite instincts, but how exactly are fire pits emotional?" Belle asked.

She didn't answer. Piper only held her hand over the pit on the right. Instantly, flames leaped up, and Piper retracted her hand as soon as she could. Belle's eyes widened as she watched the girl's nails steam.

"Piper!" Annabeth shouted, running over to her and Belle. "What were you thinking?"

"I wasn't," Piper answered. "I was feeling. What we want is down there. These pits are the way in. I'll have to jump."

"Are you crazy? Even if you don't get stuck in the tube, you have no idea how deep it is."

"You're right."

"You'll be burned alive!"

"Possibly." Piper unbuckled her sword from her bet and tossed it into the pit on the right. "I'll let you know if it's safe. Wait for my word."

"Piper, wait—" Belle began to protest.

Before she could say anything else, Piper jumped into the pit. Belle's eyes widened even further and she started to run over to the pit. However, another flame shot up. Annabeth grabbed Belle's arm and pulled her backwards away from it. Belle breathed heavily, obviously from her scared emotions, and waited for a moment. Her and Annabeth took another cautious step forward. There were no more flames.

"Piper?" Annabeth called down.

"Yeah!" Piper yelled back, her voice echoing since she was so far down.

"Are you okay?" Belle questioned.

"Yeah. Hold on a sec." Piper went silent again, making Belle and Annabeth look at each other. What was she doing? Finally, a couple moments later, Piper spoke up again. "Belle, Annabeth! It's a long drop, but it's safe to come down. Maybe . . . uh, you have a rope you could fasten so we can get back up?"

"On it!" Annabeth responded.

Annabeth got a rope from the sheath that held her Drakon-bone sword. She tied it securely around another piece of rubble from the ruins and dropped it down into the center pit. Annabeth shinnied down it first and Belle followed after her. Belle set her feet down onto the ground and looked around the cavern. There were three decapitated dragon heads (which Belle guessed were the source of the flames), Greek inscriptions on the walls, two dark doorways with gruesome faces above them on either side of the chamber, and finally, a bronze statue of a warrior on a dais with bronze chains anchoring him to the floor.

"Piper McLean, that was without a doubt the dumbest risk I've ever seen anyone take," Annabeth grumbled.

Belle nodded in agreement. "She's right. And considering that I agree when I date a dumb risk-taker, that's saying a lot."

"Thank you," Piper replied while nudging a decapitated dragon head with her foot. "I'm guessing these are the dragons of Ares. That's one of his sacred animals, right?"

"And there's the chained God himself," Annabeth noticed. "Where do you think those doorways—"

Piper held up her hand to stop her. "Do you hear that?" Belle waited for a second and heard something like a drumbeat with a metallic echo. "It's coming from inside the statue. The heartbeat of the chained God."

Belle unclipped Sunflower's keychain from her belt loops, flipped it, and gripped her sword tightly once it appeared as she felt her own heart begin to race in terror. "You guys, I don't like this. We have to get out of here."

"The shrine is ramping up our emotions," Piper explained. "It's like being around my mom, except this place radiates fear, not love. That's why you started feeling overwhelmed on the hill. Down here, it's a thousand times stronger."

Annabeth's eyes scanned the walls. "Okay . . . we need a plan to get the statue out. Maybe haul it up with the rope, but—"

"Wait." Piper was focused on the two snarling stone faces above the doorways. "A shrine that radiates fear. Ares had two divine sons, didn't he?"

Belle shivered from the chill that went down her spine. "Y-Yeah, Phobos and Deimos, which are Fear and Panic. Percy met them once with our friend Clarisse in Staten Island."

"I think those are their faces above the doors. This place isn't just a shrine to Ares. It's a temple of fear."

Deep laughter then echoed around the chamber. Belle's eyes widened in terror as she looked to her right. A Giant appeared out of the darkness to the right. He was small for a Giant, but still big enough for Belle's fear to constrict her body. The Giant was about twenty-five feet tall and held a massive sledgehammer in his hands. His armor, skin, and dragon-scale legs were the color of charcoal and his oil-black hair was braided with copper wires and smashed circuit boards.

The Giant smiled at them. "Very good, child of Aphrodite. This is indeed the Temple of Fear. And I am here to make you believers."

— [ ♡ ] —

GUYS I POSTED A BELLE & ATHENA (PJO AND HSMTMTS) CROSSOVER IN MY SPAM BOOK ATLANTIS IF YOU WANNA GO CHECK IT OUT TEEHEE

anyways I wanna explain something rq

so what we're not gonna do is hate on belle for having nightmares about percy.

I know a lot of people have been saying that dark percy is hot which he definitely is but belle doesn't see it in that way, and here's why.

through her eyes, she saw the one person she loves the most, the one who knows how to calm her down, the one who loves her and his friends so deeply, the one person she can be comforted by, and the bravest person she knows completely start to kill someone so willingly and actually wants to go through with it. that version of percy jackson isn't the percy jackson she knows. that's why belle's so afraid. she feels guilty about it, of course she does, but she can't get it out of her head.

gifs by 1-800-SIMPINGFORSEB !