Chapter 104

[Third Person's PoV] 

As Annabeth and Lucian continued to walk through the Labyrinth, Lucian turned towards her with a mischievous smirk.

"Want to go off on side quests before heading to where we really need to go?"

Annabeth raised an eyebrow, pondering the idea briefly before giving Lucian a smirk of her own. "Sure, let's go and have some fun."

"That's the spirit!" Lucian cheered, marching and leading the way.

Annabeth playfully rolled her eyes at Lucian's antics and followed after him.

"Before we continue, just a warning: don't believe everything you see. This labyrinth is tricky, it has self-awareness and is very malicious," Lucian cautioned.

Annabeth nodded, her expression growing serious.

They continued making twists and turns until a fog started to appear, slowly covering the ground.

They ventured further into the fog until they reached its source: a door that was ajar, with fog slowly escaping from the open space.

"Well, isn't this a warm welcome," Lucian said sarcastically.

"Ladies first," Lucian said, turning towards Annabeth.

Annabeth looked at Lucian as if he were crazy. "You want me to go into this suspicious-looking room first? Do you want me to die or something?"

Lucian rolled his eyes. "Stop exaggerating, you drama queen."

"Look, I'll even go first, deal?" Lucian teased as he slowly opened the door a bit and slipped through the gap without opening the door all the way.

"AAAAAAH! OH GOD! OH MY GOD!"

Annabeth's face paled upon hearing Lucian scream. "LUCIAN!" she cried out, bursting through the door.

She looked around the foggy room and saw Lucian leaning back against the wall, covering his mouth to stop himself from laughing.

When he saw Annabeth looking at him unamused, Lucian started holding his stomach as he laughed.

Annabeth slowly pulled out her daggers and walked towards Lucian, causing his laughter to die down.

"Woah, woah, woah, what are you doing?" Lucian said with an awkward smile.

"Giving you something to laugh about."

"It's just a prank, bro," Lucian said, motioning for her to calm down.

"When I gut you, I'll say it's a prank as well, and it'll all be fine," she said coldly.

As she approached, Lucian spun around and hugged her from behind. "Let's just put the knives down for a bit."

Lucian saw Annabeth side-eyeing him with a straight face. He gave her a kiss on the cheek. "There, better, right?"

Annabeth blushed a bit but still looked a little pissed, so Lucian kissed her other cheek. "How about now?"

He kissed her other cheek again and asked, "And now?"

Lucian repeated the action until Annabeth was bright red, which caused him to chuckle and let go.

As he let go, he walked towards the singular object in the room, the source of all the fog—a treasure chest.

Annabeth, who was behind him, fanned her hot face as she was still a bit red.

Lucian didn't detect any life force from the chest, so he got on one knee and went to open it.

Annabeth, who had managed to calm herself, asked, "You sure it's safe?"

"Yeah, I checked," Lucian said as he reached his hand over.

His danger sense warned him of the danger, causing him to quickly pull his hand away. The chest opened, exposing sharp teeth, and tried to chomp down where Lucian's hand had just been.

"Sonofa—" Lucian stood up and kicked the chest in anger, causing it to go flying back and crash against the wall.

"You fucker, how dare you almost bite me!"

The chest jumped up a bit and started to shake its body, trying to orient itself.

"I thought you said you checked?" Annabeth asked.

"I did. It must be the fog it's releasing. It acts as a suppressant towards detection," Lucian said as he saw the chest stick out a large red tongue and start to drool.

The chest then started to bounce rapidly, making its way towards Lucian. Although it didn't have eyes, Lucian could feel it looking at him with hunger.

As it lunged at Lucian, its mouth fully opened. Lucian shadow blinked behind it and grabbed it by its body.

It let out growls and tried to escape Lucian's grip, chomping its jaws open and shut.

Lucian turned it towards Annabeth and looked at her with puppy dog eyes and pouty lips.

"Annabeth~" Lucian called out in a whining tone, "Can we keep it?"

"What? No! And you better not give it a name. You'd get too attached," Annabeth replied like a typical mother.

Lucian looked to the side, unable to meet Annabeth's eyes. 

"You already gave it a name, didn't you?" Annabeth asked in exasperation. 

"Maybe."

"And what did you name it?"

"Tony Tony Chomper."

"Tony Tony Chomper?"

"Tony Tony Chomper," Lucian nodded in confirmation.

The mimic continued to bark and growl, snapping its jaws. Annabeth covered her eyes with a hand, letting out a sigh.

Before Lucian could react, Annabeth pulled out her dagger and threw it at Tony Tony Chomper, piercing its body.

Tony Tony Chomper let out a whimper as its body slowly turned to dust, releasing Drachmas, jewels, and other accessories.

"TONY TONY CHOMPER!!!" Lucian shouted in despair.

"You monster! How could you!" Lucian cried out towards Annabeth.

Lucian dropped to his knees, picking up the dust particles and the items it released, bringing them close to him. "Tony Tony Chomper, come back to me, I beg of you," Lucian cried, hugging the dust and everything it released.

"We had so many memories together! Like the time it tried to bite me, like when I kicked it against the wall! When I named it, and when… *sniff* And when I adopted him as my son!"

Annabeth had a hard time deciding whether to feel bad, laugh, or cry at what she was witnessing.

*Woof*

Lucian cried harder. "It's like I can still hear his sweet, sweet voice."

Annabeth looked at the black and red mimic behind Lucian, acting like a dog awaiting its owner, with its tongue out as it wagged its body.

*Woof*

Lucian's head snapped towards the noise, and he stared in disbelief, reaching out his trembling hands towards the mimic.

"Tony Tony Chomper, boy, is that really you?" Lucian asked with tears streaming down his face.

*Woof*

The mimic bounced towards Lucian and jumped into his open arms. "IT REALLY IS YOU!"

Lucian started kissing the top of the chest. "I'm sorry, boy. I'm sorry for letting that monster get to you. I won't ever let that monster get to you again."

The mimic started licking Lucian's face while Lucian laughed, happily moving his face from the licks.

Annabeth just stared in disbelief before chuckling and shaking her head. "You're such a clown."

Lucian wiped away his fake tears and stood up, doing a bow alongside the mimic, like they had just finished a play.

"Thank you, thank you," Lucian said as he bowed. "I won't be signing any autographs, I'm sorry." Lucian started blowing kisses. "I love you all, and come again for more."

"Who are you even talking to?" Annabeth said, rolling her eyes.

"Isn't it obvious? To the person who's monitoring us," Lucian said with a smile as he looked towards a mechanical little fly on the wall.

Annabeth slowly turned towards Lucian and stared at him in disbelief.

But Lucian wasn't looking at her, He gave the little fly a creepy smile as he slowly waved hello towards it.