Chapter Text
Piper was just rolling out of bed that morning, later than usual, but still in time for breakfast. She was cutting it close though. But through the rush of getting ready as quickly as possible she hears Annabeth's name thrown around.
Out of the corner of her eye she sees Lacy and Mitchell sitting on the former’s bed. Mitchell is combing through Lacy’s hair while they talk.
“How many times do you think Annabeth and Percy have been in the underworld?” Lacy shoots over her shoulder.
“Between their first quest together and the last, I think they’ve both been there… twice? Might’ve been more though, those two are always in the most dangerous places like it’s nothing.”
The underworld on the first quest? Piper’s first quest had been a quest across the world and based on what she faced, she can’t imagine adding on the stress of an underworld visit.
Drew chimes in from where she’s curling her hair across the room. “Does Tartarus really count as a part of the underworld? I feel like that would fall into a different category.”
Lacy rolls her eyes from the other side of the room, no longer intimidated by Drew “Of course it counts, it’s literally described as the deepest part of the underworld.”
“Percy was there three times, remember when he went on the trip with Nico and came back with the curse of Achilles?” One of the other cabin members chimed from her spot at the mirror.
Piper, curious at the information of her friends that she hadn’t previously known about, despite living in the same space for well over a year past the quest where they were stuck on a boat together for what felt like an eternity, chimes in at this point.
“What were they doing down in the underworld the first time?”
The others in the cabin trade glances before Mitchell answers her, “You haven’t heard?”
“No?”
Drew pauses in her practiced movements through her hair to swivel towards Piper, “Their first quest—the search for Zeus’ Lighting Bolt?”
Piper just shakes her head lost.
Lacy chimes in, “They had to go confront Hades to see if he had the Lighting Bolt. Back then Percy really only went to find his mom.”
“Sally was missing?” Piper loves Percy’s mom. That woman single-handedly threw her a birthday party since Piper had never really had one due to her father’s busy schedule.
Lacy nods, continuing, “Yeah, Hades sent the minotaur to take her when they got to camp. Her husband was all over the news blaming Percy for it, it got annoying while I was at school.”
“Paul blamed Percy? And Sally was trapped in the underworld?” Gods bless that woman.
This time it was Mitchell's turn to explain things to her, “Percy’s old step-dad said it. His name was… Gabe? I think? But yeah, they ended up saving her by defeating Ares.”
Piper blinks for a second, stunned, “Wait Percy defeated Ares? How did Ares even get Sally?”
Drew shakes her head exasperated, “Hades had Sally, Ares had Hades’ Helm of Darkness.”
“So then they beat Ares on the way to the underworld?”
“Nope, I think it was afterwards.”
“So why did they go to the underworld first?”
Mitchell, done with Lacy’s hair, stands to go and finish his hair, “They didn’t know about Ares and thought he had the lightning bolt.”
“Did Hades have the lighting bolt?”
Drew grabs her satchel and throws out the answer before she leaves, “No it was in the shield Luke gave him.”
This serves to make Piper more confused, “Who’s Luke?”
The air in the cabin quickly grows stale, everyone except Mitchell and Lacy seem to leave in the seconds that follow. Lacy and Mitchell, though they stay, don’t answer the question.
“Who is Luke?” Piper tries again, stubbornly seeking the answer.
Lacy cringes and tucks her hair behind her ear, “He was a Hermes kid.”
Even though Piper is burning to ask why he had the lightning bolt in the first place, she holds the question for another time. She understands he’s not commonly discussed and likely no longer around, hence the past tense Lacy refers to him with. If she needs to she can always ask Percy or Annabeth, since this was their quest, so naturally they’d know the most about it.