15

                                    

                                          
"Do you really think this will work?" I asked, looking at the Percys. "Couldn't I just end up making it worse?"
                          
Loyalty bit her lip. "We...We don't really know. It's not like we have a lot of options, so it's kinda our only chance at getting back to normal. Well, not our only chance but-"
                          
"It's the only chance that won't end up with us in debt to someone we don't want to be in debt to." Sadness finished.
                          
"Shouldn't we get Canary? Or Kaldur? Or someone?" I didn't like this. Ever since I joined the Team, they'd told me not to use my powers on teammates, or not to use them 'irresponsibly'. I'm not sure where this would fall, but I'm pretty sure Canary wouldn't approve. 
                          
"No." Anger crossed her arms, red eyes boring into me. "They can't know."
                          
"They'd want to go with you," Anxiety said. "It's bad enough you'll see whatever messed up mindscape we have, we don't need any one else seeing it. Especially not Canary. She'd just try to put us on meds, and the meds never work. They just make things worse, they don't work."
                          
"As much as I hate these guys, they're right." Deception sighed. "You're our only shot at getting back to normal. Plus you've already seen one of our nightmares." Her white eyes flicked over me. Judgement lingered in them, distrust obvious. Why though? She just said- Oh. Right. She's the one that lies. 
                          
"I'll do it, but...we should probably not do this in the library. Or during the day. Batman tells us if we have missions before night so we can get some sleep. We shouldn't be interrupted at night." I hated to go behind everyone's backs like this, but if this was the only option. Well, if this was the only way the Percys were going to do this option, I didn't have much of a choice beyond letting them remain as they are. 
                          
And based off of the way they're beginning to act, I don't think leaving them like this should be the option I go for. They've become steadily more expressive and confrontational, especially Deception. Most of the time we can't be around Anger, Sadness, or Anxiety because we start feeling those same emotions, and, well, putting Connor near someone who's making people angry isn't exactly the best recipe in the book.
                          
"Come to our room tonight. You'll be quieter than us," Anxiety said. I nodded and we quietly finished up planning what we were going to do. The rest of the day passed without issue. Hours crawled by, so I filled my time making cookies and keeping a close eye on any Percy in the room. None of them acted any different than usual. Batman didn't give us a mission, Canary only stopped by for some optional training and therapy, and soon it was midnight.
                          
Kaldur and Connor were long since asleep as I snuck through the hallways. Opening the door to Percy's room, I stepped inside. They all sat on their beds staring at me. 
                          
"You ready?" I asked. They nodded. I took a deep breath and released it. "All right, here we go." 
                          
At first, it was dark. Infinitely, infinitely dark. No matter where I looked, I couldn't see anything aside from an inky, black abyss. "Hello?"
                          
From all around me, my voice echoed back. I took a step forward, hearing my foot brush through grass which hadn't existed a moment before. Before I thought to question it, a small light shown in the distance. As if under someone else's influence, I walked towards it. The tiny blue light flickered and danced, hanging in midair as if by a thread. It wasn't alive, nothing in here really was. Everything's just a manifestation of Percy's thoughts...so why can I feel this? I reached my hand out, brushing it against the cool flame. Immediately, it sank into the ground. That same blue glow coursed through the area, fighting back the darkness and revealing the area around me. 
                          
Large trees stretched up to the sky, blocking out sunlight but doing nothing to stop the rain passing through the canopy. I frowned and shaped myself an umbrella. I couldn't see Percy, and the trees are too thick to fly. "Good thing I don't skip leg day," I mumbled, forcing myself through the quickly muddying forest floor. It felt like I was walking forever. Each step seemed to send me two back. Wilted flowers cropped up under trees, sheltered by low hanging branches. Finally, I entered a clearing.
                          
Among a field of purple hyacinths, a lone weeping willow sat, its top occasionally lighted from an arc of lightning. Beneath it, a small fire burned. My feet carried me towards it. Wind tore at my clothes and my hair, trying to buffet me back. I fought through, eventually ending under the protection of the tree. Water dripped onto the ground from my clothes and hair.
                          
"Percy?" I asked. The figure in front of me startled. She turned and looked at me with dull blue eyes. "Sadness?"
                          
Without saying a word, she turned back to the abyss in front of her. The roots of the tree were trying desperately to hold it together, but there were large enough holes for a human to slip through. I opened my mouth to say something, but she spoke. "Thirty men, but only two women, yet these two hold the most power. Dressed in black and white they could fight forever. Who are they?"
                          
I frowned and sat in the air. "Thirty men, but only two women." So it has to be something where there aren't a lot of girls. "Yet these two hold the most power." Queens? "Dressed in black and white- Oh! Chess pieces!"
                          
Sadness nodded. "Correct." She grabbed my wrist and pushed off, dragging me into the abyss.
                          


                          


                          
I'M ALIVE
                          
And I also had more planned but you'll get that in a different chapter because I have a dnd session to run
                          
Remember votes and comments are welcome
                          
(mainly cause I forget books exist)
                          
See yah