Prytaneum
Dissolve
"You don't have to come with me?" I told Ryuu, looking over my shoulder. "I mean, I get in trouble a lot, but I'll probably be alright."
"…Even if you don't say anything, Wayland and Mr. Crozzo will worry if you just run off like that, Mr. Jackson," She said after a moment and I ducked my head slightly, scratching my cheek at the reversal.
"What about you, Ryuu?" I couldn't help but ask.
"Naturally, I would worry as well," She replied, face perfectly straight. "Also, you forgot your shirt, Mr. Jackson."
"…Oh," I said, clearing my throat and flushing slightly. Now that we were out of the heat, Ryuu took off the shirt I'd given her and handed it back to me. I put it on with as much dignity as I could must—very little, generally speaking—and then tried to ignore the fact that I was now wearing a shirt that I'd given a girl. Since it smelt faintly of the flowers and trees, it wasn't as easy as it should have been. "Sorry."
"There is nothing to apologize for," Ryuu replied, shaking her head slightly as she followed me through the streets. "I was merely surprised—it seems we both get caught up in things."
It took me a moment to realize what she meant, but then I couldn't help but laugh. Just a while ago, Ryuu heard something alarming about her past and ran off, ignoring everything else, so I'd chased after her, worried. Despite that, as soon as the opposite happens, I go running off as well, too focused on things to care that I didn't even have a shirt on. It was…silly, maybe even a bit hypocritical, but somehow, I thought Ryuu probably understood.
"Yeah," I said. "It's just…it's about a friend."
"I understand," Ryuu replied, just as I thought. "I was simply concerned. But if you wish to be alone, I will depart at once."
"No," I answered, shaking my head. "You don't have to do that. You're a friend, too—and I'm sure he'd be happy to meet you, if…"
If he's still around. And if he wasn't, then I just didn't want to be alone. I'd summon Mrs. O'Leary once we weren't in the middle of a populated street, of course, but that wasn't quite the same—for one thing, she'd probably be more broken up then me, and when your pillar of support start's breaking down, you're kind of screwed.
Ryuu nodded slightly before speaking again.
"Just to clarify," She said. "Daedalus was said to have lived a thousand years ago, correct?"
…I guess it wasn't like she would just miss that, huh?
"Uh," I said, looking down. "Yeah."
"But the two of you knew each other?" She asked. "You were friends, correct."
"Uh," I said, looking down. "Yeah."
Ryuu nodded again, expression unchanging as she looked at me.
"This may be an uncomfortable question, Mr. Jackson," Ryuu said, slowly tilting her head. "But could it be that you are an immortal?"
That was kind of an uncomfortable answer, mostly because I wasn't sure how to answer. Should I say yes and let her make assumptions? No and get into the real mess that was my life? Or should I just try to avoid the question entirely? Ryuu was pretty polite; she probably wouldn't push too hard. But…
…Since we came this far, I guess I might as well just go with the truth. We were friends, after all.
"Ah, no, I…I'm not immortal," I began, stumbling slightly over the words. Even by my standards, this was a bit weird. "I just…died and came back to life."
Ryuu nodded again at that. Then, she kept nodding for several seconds, before furrowing her eyebrows slightly.
"Could you clarify that statement, Mr. Jackson?"
"I would if I could," I swore. "It's just that I don't understand what happened either."
"I see," She said, which I doubted. I really couldn't read Ryuu's face, though—maybe this was a normal day in the life of Orario's Batman. Or Punisher? I didn't keep up with comics that much, because my own life was confusing enough; there was probably someone who fit her better. "Then…you lived a thousand years ago?"
"I…don't think so," I said, shaking my head. "It was probably before that. Daedalus died before I did, so I think he probably came back before I did, too."
"…That seems reasonable," She replied, narrowing her eyes slightly in thought. "Then…would it be accurate to say you reincarnated, then?"
I lifted a hand and waggled it a bit.
"It's more like I respawned, really," I said. "I had an extra life or something, I guess."
That analogy seemed to be lost on Ryuu, but I didn't even know where to start when it came to the circumstances of my rebirth. I'd literally hatched in the Dungeon—from the Dungeon, no less—which I was about ninety-nine percent sure was going to come back to bite me in some way shape or form. I didn't even want to try explaining that one, because I had absolutely no idea what was up with it. Was it a demigod thing? Did I technically even count as a demigod, after being reborn? I had all my powers and stuff, but hadn't it technically been regrown in the Dungeon as well? Were my armor and weapons technically Landform weapons? Was I technically a monster, having been reborn in such a fashion? Hell, if I figured out where and cut myself open, would I find a magic stone?
No idea. But that whole thing seemed like a confusing, uncomfortable mess, so I was doing my best to just ignore it—that was future Percy's problem, if and when it actually came up. I, meanwhile, would procrastinate the hell out of it and pretend it wasn't important. It's not like I could really do anything about it, anyway.
"In that case, however…if he was reborn a thousand years before you…" Ryuu seemed to muse, actually hesitating.
"Then he's probably dead?" I asked, finishing her words for her. "If it was anyone else, that'd probably be true. But Daedalus turned himself into a robot, once, so he might still be alive—and even if he wasn't, he was a really smart guy. If it was him, he might have left something."
"A…robot?" Ryuu asked.
"An automaton?" I tried, trying to think of another word. "A mechanical man? He made a body out of steel instead of blood, basically, and then he put his mind into it."
"Such a thing is possible?" Ryuu asked, sounding surprised as she mulled over it. "Amazing."
"That's Daedalus for you, I guess," I said. "He made all kinds of stuff."
"Were you close?" Ryuu asked, making my smile turn a bit sad.
"Not as much as I would have liked," I said. "We didn't know each other for very long. But…he was still a friend and he did a lot for me. And for Mrs. O'Leary, too. If he's alive, I'll try and find him."
Ryuu nodded, seeming to understand that completely.
"May I ask a personal question, Mr. Jackson?" She asked.
"Sure," I said. "What is it?"
"What is death like?"
I stopped for a moment at that, looking at her over my shoulder. As before I couldn't read Ryuu's face—but I'd heard enough about her to make a guess or two. At first I wondered if she was asking that for herself, out or fear or expectation, but she was enough like me that that didn't seem to be the case. But what Ryuu had said she'd done, the lengths she'd gone to…it didn't seem like the type of thing she'd do without a reason, and I was betting hers was similar to mine.
The truth was, I didn't remember anything between when I did and when I woke in the Dungeon. The worse truth was that, from what I heard, the gods had free reign to decide what happened after death, based entirely on how they felt at the time. But neither of those answers was remotely comforting, so I went with a third truth.
"If you're asking if something like the Underworld exists, sure," I said. "I've been there."
"…What is it like?" She whispered.
"The one I saw was broken up into parts," I said. "The Fields of Punishment for those who did horrible things in life on one end and the Elysian Fields on the other, for the souls of heroes. The Elysian Fields seemed pretty awesome, from what I saw of them."
"Were you not allowed to enter?" She asked.
"I was alive when I saw them," I said, shaking my head, which made her shoulders tense.
"Is that possible?" She asked. "For someone like me?"
Ouch. Another tough question and one I wasn't sure how to answer. I knew from Nico's example just how dangerous focusing too much on the dead could be, even without going into stories about the same. But if it was me—and it was me, honestly, because I'd crawled into the Underworld for my mom when I was a kid and I'd gladly do so again if I thought it would work—the answer I'd want would be the truth.
"…It's not impossible," I said, even though I didn't think it was a very good idea. "Orpheus opened a hole to the underworld and then moved Hades to tears with his music to try and save the woman he loved, though it didn't work out so great. Hercules wrestled death once, to do the same, and someone else bound death in chains to keep people from dying. I've heard of a few people who've cheated death somehow or other and I had a friend once, who could speak to the dead. Odysseus did something like that, too, I think. It's possible. But…Ryuu, be careful how much you focus on the dead. Stuff like that can lead you places you don't want to go—and places you can't come back from. Keep in mind what they'd want you to do, not just what you want."
The words were hypocritical to the extreme, to the point of leaving a bad taste in my mouth—but just because I'd do something horrifically dangerous and stupid for my friends didn't mean she had to. If it came to that, if I somehow found a way to the Underworld again, I'd rather just do it all myself.
"…I'm glad," Ryuu said after a long moment, closing her eyes. "That we might someday meet again. But I also have things I must do and…even if I didn't, I no longer have any right to see them or call myself a hero. I apologize for the strange questions, Mr. Jackson."
I looked at her for a long moment, stopping in the middle of the street. The choice itself might not have been a bad one, but the reason for it was—
"—I don't know whether you're a hero," I said. "And really, I don't think I'm much of one, either. But, even so…you seem pretty great, Ryuu. I think so, at least. And…I'm sure they do as well."
Ryuu turned her face away from me so I couldn't see her expression, but I saw her lips move slightly, along with her shoulders. Before I could even be sure of what I was seeing, though, she spoke.
"It seems we've arrived, Mr. Jackson," She said, lifting a hand to point down an alleyway. "Welcome to Daedalus Street."