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Chapter Text

Something yanked Annabeth backward and dragged her toward the pit. Percy lunged and missed; Annabeth's hand slipped through his fingertips.

"Help her!" Hazel yelled.

Annabeth glimpsed Nico hobbling in their direction, Hazel trying to disentangle her cavalry sword from the rope ladder and Percy sprinting in her direction, his face etched with desperation and white with fear. Their other friends were still focused on the statue, and Hazel's cry was lost in the general shouting and the rumbling of the cavern.

Annabeth sobbed as she hit the edge of the pit. For just a moment, she locked eyes with Percy. Then her legs went over the side and she disappeared from sight.

"Annabeth!" screamed Percy. He reached the edge just in time to see her blonde princess curls disappear into the dark.

Percy screamed again, a cry so inhuman and raw that it echoed across the cavern and finally caught the attention of his friends. He was poised and ready to jump in after her when he felt a pair of hands clasp around his waist.

"LET GO, NICO!"  Percy shouted as he tried to shove him off, but Nico had Percy locked in a death grip.

"Percy, if you go you'll both die in there," he said, his words shaking while Percy thrashed.

"I DON'T CARE!" Percy howled as Hazel finally arrived to help her brother hold him down. Her cheeks were wet with tears.

"IT'S ANNABETH, NICO, IT'S ANNABETH," he sobbed, trying to pry the two of them off of him. His entire body was shaking as he tried to free himself, his hands useless as he tried to escape.

"She's gone," Hazel said, her voice trembling as much as his hands. "Percy, she's gone. You can't save her."

Percy turned to Hazel, his eyes wild. Nearby, the gasoline tank of one of the cars in the chasm exploded and burst into flames.

"You have to let me go," he begged.

"You won't survive in there!" yelled Nico. "You'll die!"

"LET ME!" he shouted, his voice ringing throughout the cavern. Frank glided down as an eagle, landing next to Hazel.

"It's going to collapse, we have to get him out of here," Hazel said to him. The chasm groaned again as if to prove her point.

"Leave me!" Percy screamed as he continued to fight them. Riptide still hadn't appeared in his pocket, which was lucky because he would have used it.

Jason finally flew down. It took both him and Frank to pick up a flailing, desperate Percy as he continued to yell Annabeth's name; flying him back to the ship was like trying to control the ocean during a storm. Meanwhile, Nico and Hazel made a run for the Argo II.

"I TOLD YOU TO LEAVE ME," Percy screamed at them all, his voice already going hoarse.

A voice from the chasm laughed.

A sacrifice. A beautiful sacrifice to awaken the goddess.

Percy went wild again, the gasoline tank on another car exploding into a fiery blaze.

"ANNABETH, ANNABETH!"

The three of them fell onto the quarterdeck just as the Argo II took off. Everyone was on deck when the cavern collapsed. The entire place imploded, taking the rest of the parking lot with it. The pit to Tartarus had been buried under several tons of debris. Annabeth was gone.

Percy sat in silence on the wooden planks with his knees drawn up against his chest. His eyes were blank, his shoulders slumped and shaking as the Argo II began to rumble. Pipes burst, toilets exploded, and showerheads shattered. Down below in the city a fountain went off like a bomb, flooding the streets with a never ending stream. Water exploded out of restaurants and houses, making its way into the streets where it raged like the ocean itself.

Piper sat with Percy, speaking softly to him as the others, dazed with grief, loaded the Athena Parthenos into the hold.

"Percy." Piper charm spoke with a shaking voice. "Everything will be alright."

The storm of water below deck and in the city showed no signs of stopping.

Coach Hedge was too miserable to help. He paced the other side of the deck with tears in his eyes, pulling at his goatee and slapping the side of his head muttering, "I should have saved her! I should have blown up more stuff!"

Finally, Leo told him to go belowdecks and secure anything he could for departure.

The five demigods gathered around and gazed at the column of dust still rising from the implosion. Piper continued to charmspeak to Percy, with no effect.

Leo spoke first.

"It's my fault," he said miserably.

The others stared at him. Only Hazel seemed to understand.

"No," she insisted. "No this is Gaea's fault. It has nothing to do with you."

"Gaea."

The water throughout the city seemed to roar as everyone turned to look at Percy. Piper offered him a hand but he refused it. He stood on shaking legs, his usually calm green eyes ablaze and murderous.  Without realizing they had done it, everyone had taken a step back. When he spoke his words were sharp and sure.

"I swear on the River Styx that I will destroy Gaea." The sky rumbled as he glared at the other six demigods, daring them to contradict him. "I will tear her apart limb by limb for what she did to-"

He swallowed. "For what she did to-"

A sob choked back his words and he collapsed.

As the son of Poseidon fell to the ground, the water on the boat and across the city grew silent. 

Chapter Text

    Percy hadn't slept in days. He moved about the Argo II like a ghost with bloodshot eyes, refusing to make eye contact with anything but the ground. The only time he spoke was to ask Nico about Annabeth or to ask Leo if they could go any faster. They needed to get to a place called Epirus in Greece and find an old temple called the House of Hades. The remaining demigods had reasoned that it was the only place they could meet Annabeth, if she could make her way through Tartarus alone. As far as Nico could tell Annabeth was alive. He could feel that her soul was still intact.

Their path should have been simple. To reach Epirus, all they had to do was go straight east-- over the Apennine and across the Adriatic Sea. But it hadn't worked out that way. Each time they tried to cross the spine of Italy the numina montanum, mountain gods, attacked the ship. Percy was beginning to grow impatient.

"We need to find another way," he told Leo, who was already doing everything he could.

Ever since Annabeth had fallen into Tartarus, Leo had been working almost nonstop. He'd been acting angrier and even more driven than usual.

"Another way," Leo muttered. "Do you see one?"

On his monitor glowed a map of Italy. The Apennine Mountains ran down the middle of the boot-shaped country. A green dot for the Argo II blinked on the western side of the range.

"It's our fault," Hazel said. "Nico's and mine. The numina can sense us."

Hazel and Percy glanced back at Nico. His black shirt and jeans hung off his skeletal frame. His olive complexion had turned a sickly greenish white, like the color of tree sap. Although his skin color had been the new normal since they had rescued Nico from the giants, the twisted look on his face was not.

    Hazel's heart dropped and she glanced at Percy. His face was blank. He made his way towards Nico and Hazel followed as if in a trance.

    "How is she?" Percy asked, his words shaking. Hazel could hear the panic rising in his voice.

    Nico looked down. Hazel saw her half-brother blink rapidly, his eyes filled with sadness and fear.

    "Annabeth?" Percy whispered.

    Without looking at him, Nico give a small shake of his head.

   Something inside of Percy shifted as his worst fear was confirmed. The two of them had been through everything together. Now that Annabeth was gone, so was Percy.

    For a moment everything was quiet, like the calm before the storm. Then Percy fell to his knees, head in his hands, and something below deck exploded.

    "What's happening?" Frank yelled from down below. He had already been on his way to quarterdeck and appeared in an instance, expecting to see more mountain giants tearing the Argo II apart.

    Water made its way through the slats of wood on the deck, dangerous and out of control. The rest of the demigods made it on deck in time to find that, even though they were hundreds of miles from the Adriatic Sea, Percy had brought the ocean to them. Every drop of water on board burst and crashed like waves across the deck. Leo was thrown from the wheel before slamming into Piper, who caught him by the shoulders before he fell overboard. Percy was in the center of it all, unmoving, as the water began to swirl around him. Everyone else grabbed the railings and held on.

"Frank, take Leo to the wheel!" yelled Hazel. Her curls were wet and plastered against her face. "We need to land!"

Frank transformed into an eagle, plucking Leo out of the waves. The Argo II groaned and shuddered as some of the boards on deck began to snap.

    "Piper!" Nico locked eyes with her as another wave soaked him. "He's going to break the ship! You need to charmspeak; tell him to sleep!"

    As he spoke, more explosions could be heard from below deck.

    "Hurry!" Jason yelled over the roar of water. He had taken off into the air, trying his best to control the winds in a way that would slow the waves. Frank was trying to drop Leo at the wheel, but the water around it was dangerous and choppy.

    Piper swallowed hard. Her charmspeak had not affected Percy since they lost Annabeth. She doubted it would work now but she had to try.

    "Percy!" she yelled against the roar of waves. His back was to her, the water continuing to swirl higher and higher off the ground and around his body. She realized that she would have to work fast; if the water reached his ears, her charmspeak would be rendered useless and the Argo II would be destroyed.

    "Look at me!" she shouted, her charmspeak so powerful that everyone within earshot turned towards her.

    Percy's head moved slightly in her direction and she took the chance.

    "Stop!" Piper shouted desperately. "Annabeth would want you to stop!"

    Percy turned to look at Piper when she said Annabeth's name. Even from across the deck she could tell that he was broken. The water slowed, becoming a bit calmer, but it continued to rise.

    Piper locked eyes with Percy as she saw him mumble two words: I'm sorry.

    She tried to keep her heart from breaking.

    "SLEEP!" she shouted, putting as much conviction and desperation into her words as she ever had. Percy fell forward, hard, along with several tons of water and a few demigods. Only Nico, Hazel and Piper remained standing, the children of the Underworld looking dazed. The water in the air fell down and broke like a water balloon. Some of it slid overboard while the rest of it drained through the holes in deck. The three of them looked at one another before diverting their attention to a battle cry from below.

"DIE! DIE!"

Coach Hedge appeared with his baseball bat in hand, his eyes still bleary from sleeping. He charged, soaking wet, before slipping in a puddle and landing on his tail. It took him a moment to take in the damage done and process the situation.

"What happened?" he asked gruffly. He was still wielding his baseball bat and looking around wildly.

The three remaining demigods couldn't look at him.

"Well?" he asked again, swinging his bat onto his shoulder. He was starting to look annoyed.

Hazel spoke first, keeping her eyes on the puddles.

"Percy..." 

She burst into a sob, burying her head in Nico's shirt; he hesitated a moment before wrapping his arms around his sister.

Realization hit Coach Hedge over the head. His face dropped as he looked at the water damage across the deck. His voice was the softest they had ever heard it.

"Annabeth?" he asked in a whisper.

Piper shook her head, her tears mixing with her already damp cheeks. The four of them stood without speaking for the longest time, listening to Hazel's sobs as the Argo II glided towards the horizon, the wind whipping their wet faces as they mourned the death of their closest friend. Annabeth Chase, Daughter of Athena, was gone.

Chapter Text

He flickered in and out of consciousness. Occasionally he would come to only to be lulled back to sleep by the murmur of a sweet voice, his mouth full of what tasted like his mom's homemade chocolate-chip cookies. Sometimes a girl with dark hair and braids fed him, her face fixed in worry. Sometimes she had blonde hair curled like a princess's. She smirked while she scraped drips off his chin with a spoon.

When she saw his eyes open, she asked, "What will happen at the summer solstice?"

He managed to croak out, "What?"

The sweet voice intervened, and lulled him back to sleep.

She stood before him looking stunningly beautiful.

Before he could figure out how to apologize for being such an idiot, she tackled him with a hug, then pulled away just as quickly. "I'm glad you're not a guinea pig."

"Me, too." He hoped his face wasn't as red as it felt.

The scene faded out and the nine muses cranked up the tunes; the music could be whatever you wanted it to be. She touched the new streak of gray in his hair that matched hers exactly-- the painful souvenir from holding Atlas's burden.

"So," she said. "What did you want to tell me earlier?"

The music was playing. People were dancing in the streets. He said, "I, uh, was thinking we got interrupted at Westover Hall. And... I think I owe you a dance."

She smiled slowly. "All right, Seaweed Brain."

So he took her hand, the music sounding a little sad, but maybe a little hopeful, too.

Everything around them turned to red. The heat was horrible and he began to sweat. The telekhines were on their heels but he had a plan.

"But you'll be killed!"

"I'll be fine. Besides, we've got no choice."

She glared at him like she was going to punch him. And then she did something that surprised him even more. She kissed him.

"Be careful, Seaweed Brain."

He turned just in time to see her fall, clutching her arm. A demigod with a bloody knife stood over her. She had intercepted the knife with her own body.

But why?   She didn't know his weak spot. Nobody did.

"Get back!" he slashed the air in a wide arc, driving the rest of the demigods away. "No one touches her!"

He was so distressed he almost awoke, but the soothing voice kept him from doing so.

"Interesting," said Kronos.

New York City melted into the Camp Half-Blood pavilion. She laughed and put her hands around his neck. When she kissed him, he had the feeling that his brain was melting through his body. Her gray eyes were sparkling and they continued to when they landed in the lake. Not that it mattered, their kiss was even better underwater.

Suddenly, she grabbed his wrist and flipped him over her shoulder. He slammed into the stone pavement. Romans cried out. Her knee was on his chest as she pushed her forearm against his throat.

"If you ever leave me again," she said, her eyes stinging, "I swear to all the gods-"

He had the nerve to laugh.

"Consider me warned," he said. "I missed you, too."

He studied the fierce look on her face and watched it melt. Her gray eyes softened, the corners crinkling as her mouth turned into a smile; her blonde curls spilled over her shoulder like a golden waterfall.

Percy was lost in Annabeth's smile and now he was lost without her. He had broken his promise and left her alone again. Maybe if he had caught her, maybe if she hadn't slipped through his fingertips, perhaps the two of the could have made it through Tartarus together. Now he would never know. Annabeth was gone and it was his fault.

He awoke with a start.

It was night and his cabin was dark and quiet. Piper had dozed off sitting upright in a chair, her voice no longer convincing Percy to fall back asleep. Momentarily, he was fine. Then the weight of his pain fell back upon his shoulders; Atlas's burden had been easy to carry when compared to the weight of losing Annabeth.

He tried to stand but almost blacked out. His entire body felt heavy and stiff, as if he were filled with wet sand. His fingers found bandages on his forehead, his thoughts muddy as to how they had gotten there. Not that Percy cared. 

From where he sat Percy could see the view from out the window. The city below him sparkled with thousands of lights, like constellations earthbound. As he watched their reflections dance in the canals of Venice, Percy wondered how anything could dare be so beautiful without Annabeth around to see it.

Chapter Text

Jason survived-- barely.

Later his friends explained that they hadn't seen him falling from the sky until the last second. There was no time for Frank to turn into an eagle and catch him; no time to wake Percy to control the water or for the rest of the crew to formulate a rescue plan.

Only Piper's quick thinking and charmspeak had saved his life. She'd yelled WAKE UP! with so much force that Jason felt like he'd been hit with defibrillator paddles. With a millisecond to spare, he'd summoned the winds and avoided becoming a floating patch of demigod grease on the surface of the Adriatic.

"Percy!" he shouted at the others as soon as he made his way back on board. "I need to talk to him!"

"What is it, Jason?" Piper asked, helping her boyfriend to his feet.

Jason felt so awake, he doubted he would sleep for a week. His hands were jittery. He couldn't stop tapping his feet. He guessed this was how Leo felt all of the time. Speaking of which-

"Leo," he called behind him as he made his way below deck. Everyone began to follow him, some looking a little concerned. "We need to stop in Split, Croatia."

"Weird spot." Leo grinned from the stairs. "But, hey, you're the boss!"

"Are you feeling alright?" Hazel asked, but Jason didn't hear her.

While making his way towards Percy's room he recalled the dream he had during his fall. Jason had been on the Empire State building. Reyna and some of the other demigods from Camp Jupiter encountered a mortal girl and faun. No, not a faun, a satyr.

He opened the door to Percy's room and made a beeline for the bed. Just as he had predicted, Percy was asleep. He had been sleeping nonstop since the news about Annabeth, only ever awaking to find someone convincing him to eat. He was beginning to lose his tan. His hair was even more of a mess than usual.

"Percy, wake up!" He was unable to contain his grin as he shook his friend awake.

"Let him sleep!" whispered Piper from the door. Everyone else had gathered in the doorway, looking uncomfortable to see Percy in his current state but curious to see what Jason was so excited about.

"She's alive, Percy, she's alive!" Jason shouted as he shook him.

Hazel gasped loudly as Percy rolled onto his back. He looked up at Jason.

"Annabeth?" he asked quietly. His shadowed eyes looked a little brighter; they began to glimmer with hope.

"Annabeth is alive! She's making her way through Tartarus!"

"How?" asked Frank as the rest of the crew pushed their way into Percy's room.

Jason explained his dream: the Roman demigods encountering Grover and Rachel, how Reyna was going to join them, and their conversation about Annabeth's note.

"A note from Annabeth." Piper shook her head in amazement. "I don't see how that's possible, but if it is--"

"She's alive!" Leo concluded. He beamed as Percy sat up in bed. "Thank the gods!"

"And I can't believe Reyna would try to find us," Frank added. "It's taboo, coming to the ancient lands. She'll be stripped of her praetorship."

"If she lives," Hazel said. "It was hard enough for us to make it this far with seven demigods and a warship."

"And me." Coach Hedge added as he appeared in the door. "Don't forget, cupcake, you've got the satyr advantage."

Percy smiled for the first time in a long time; it hurt his cheeks. Coach Hedge looked at him curiously. Ever since Percy had almost destroyed the Argo II, the satyr had avoided him at all costs; he had no idea how to comfort the grieving boy. Now he looked around the room suspiciously.

"What are you cupcakes so happy about?" he asked kindly. A small, excited smile flitted across his face.

"Annabeth's alive!" Piper exclaimed. Her eyes glistened with tears and looked even more multi-colored than usual. Meanwhile, Coach Hedge looked thrilled, a facial expression usually reserved for after he clobbered monsters with his baseball bat.

"She's alive?" Coach Hedge asked excitedly.

"She's alive," Percy said quietly, smiling to himself. Slowly, he began to beam, his grin growing like dawn breaking across the open ocean. His happiness was infectious. Soon everyone else in the room was smiling too. Only one of the demigods had not joined in.

"Wait a second," Nico interjected. All eyes turned to the skeletal boy. He wore a confused look on his face. "How come it feels like her soul is gone?"

It was true that Nico had never been wrong before. After a long pause, Hazel spoke first.

"Maybe Tartarus is different," she suggested. "Maybe what you thought was Annabeth's soul leaving earth was just her entering Tartarus."

Her voice got quieter when she spoke next. "You did say your soul felt different when you were in there, and you're a child of the Underworld. Not that it wasn't difficult for you to make it through, but that most likely gave you a little bit of an advantage."

Nico's eyes glazed over for a moment. As he fell back into dark memories of the place, Hazel wished she hadn't reminded him of Tartarus. He eventually nodded.

"Alright," he replied, still not entirely there.

"And how did she survive the fall?" Frank interrupted. "Annabeth is smart, but she must have fallen for a few days. The impact should have, you know, killed her."

"I don't know and I don't care," Percy said. He got out of bed, alert and bright for the first time in a long time. "But if anyone could figure out how to do it, it would be Annabeth."

Percy radiated hope and it began to fill the room. Even Nico managed to not grimace for more than a few moments.

Chapter Text

The darkness took on a gray-red tinge. She realized she could see her hands as she plummeted. The whistling in her ears turned into more of a roar. The air became intolerably hot, permeated with a smell like rotting eggs.

Suddenly, the chute she'd been falling through opened up into a vast cavern. Maybe half a mile below her, Annabeth could see the bottom. For a moment, she was too stunned to think properly. The entire island of Manhattan could fit inside the cavern-- and she couldn't see its full extent. Red clouds hung in the air like vaporized blood. The landscape-- at least what she could see of it-- was rocky black plains, punctuated by jagged mountains and fiery chasms. To her left, the ground dropped off in a series of cliffs, like colossal steps leading deeper into the abyss.

The stench of sulfur made it hard to concentrate as she looked at her surroundings. Annabeth began to panic as got closer and closer to the ground. She was out of ideas. She had no special powers. If only she had the power to fly-- like Jason, who could control the wind, or Frank, who could turn into a winged animal.

She felt tears begin to run off her face as the ground came into view.

"I love you, Percy."

She was going to die, and she wanted those to be her last words.

Suddenly, her fall began to slow. Annabeth couldn't tell why until she saw that she was beginning to tangle in more and more spider silk. Her heart began to throb. She almost wished she could hit the cavern floor instead of face Arachne again, who had spun a funnel with a woven, trampoline-like contraption beneath it to catch Annabeth. She had no idea how Arachne had figured out exactly where Annabeth would land, which frightened her even more. Arachne was smart and she wouldn't let her pride get in the way a second time.

Finally Annabeth hit the cavern floor. It didn't kill her, but hit her just hard enough to hurt.

Hopelessly tangled, Arachne approached. Her tusks were inches from Annabeth's face, her beady eyes glinting with smugness. Annabeth couldn't decide what smelled worse-- Arachne or Tartarus. She wasn't proud as she squirmed in the web like a helpless bug.

"Well hello, my sweet." Arachne let loose a violent laugh, a rip-rip-rip that seemed to echo. Annabeth remained silent, her mind blinded with panic. Her thoughts were like threads of spider silk and she was unable to weave even the smallest of webs.

"I couldn't let you die so easily." She was so close her words cut into Annabeth's eardrums like knives.

"Go ahead," Annabeth finally managed to spit out. She gathered up her strength and looked the spider in the eyes. "Kill me. You have your chance."

The spider smiled, and Annabeth did her best to maintain her steely stare. If she was going to die, she was going to stare Arachne down for as long as she could.

"Now why would I do that when I can take you to Gaea herself?" she smiled.

Annabeth's stomach clenched like a fist and she felt sick.

"Ah yes, my sweet. Imagine how I would be rewarded when I, Arachne, bring the much needed demigod sacrifice. I would get revenge on you and your mother and-" her eyes began to glaze over, "my tapestries will be brought out for everyone to see. They will look even more beautiful in the light of day."

As Arachne continued on, Annabeth felt something hard underneath her body. Her one free hand felt around before clasping on a handle. Somehow, Annabeth had landed in the exact same spot as her celestial bronze dagger. She slipped it under the web and out of sight as Arachne continued-- at least now she was armed.

"Well, no need to waste time." She began to spin a rope. She attached it to Annabeth and began to drag her across the rocky terrain and deeper into Tartarus.

"Come along, my sweet." Annabeth could hear her wicked smile. "Not that you have a choice."

Chapter Text

    Her vision was blurry and her stomach was in knots. Annabeth wanted to cry out in pain every time Arachne yanked her bad ankle over a rock or bump. She kept hoping the black-glass beach she was being dragged across would help cut the spider silk but she was out of luck; it remained unharmed.

    The atmosphere was about as healthy as a nuclear blast zone. Annabeth's throat felt as if it was blistering. She had to escape Arachne and find a way to survive-- and fast. Her hand was still clasped around her knife when she cried out.

    "My ankle!" She began to wiggling violently in her woven trap as if writhing in pain. "And my lungs; I can't breathe. I don't think, I don't think I-"

    She made her entire body go limp, pretending to pass out. Arachne stopped moving.

    "My sweet," she called out suspiciously. "Wake up!"

    She moved to inspect her prisoner. Annabeth could feel the monster hovering over her, the spider's hot breath on her face.  It took every ounce of Annabeth's self control to lie still and keep her breathing steady. Since they had stopped moving Annabeth had been purposely making her breaths slow and shallow, as if the binding around her chest was restricting her breathing. She figured Arachne wouldn't let her die before they reached wherever the spider was taking her. Luckily, she was right.

    "This better not be a trick," Arachne hissed.

    Annabeth continued to lie still. She could almost feel Arachne thinking. If Annabeth was actually dying, she wouldn't gain glory for providing Gaea with a demigod sacrifice. If she chose to loosen the webs, Annabeth could attack her.

    "You better not move, my sweet," she murmured as she began to unwind some of the extra webbing. Annabeth could feel the tension on her arms beginning to release. "If you do, I will kill you myself."

    For just a moment, there was nothing but the heat of Tartarus and the sound of Arachne unwrapping Annabeth. Then, with a speed that only years of Camp Half Blood training and half a dozen quests could have prepared her for, Annabeth attacked.

    The bronze dagger slashed through Arachne. A horrible wail escaped from the spider as she burst into a cloud yellow dust. It rained down on Annabeth like tree pollen. For a moment she was stunned. Then Annabeth began to frantically brush herself off, wanting to rid herself of any evidence of her tormentor.

    She scanned her surroundings as she dusted her clothes. Above, she couldn't see the cavern roof-- just blood-colored clouds floating in the hazy gray air. It was like staring through a thin mix of tomato soup and cement.

    The black-glass beach stretched inland about fifty yards, then dropped off the edge of the cliff. From where she stood, Annabeth couldn't see what was below, but the edge flickered with red light as if illuminated by huge fires.

    A distant memory tugged at her-- something about Tartarus and fire. Finally, it came into focus. She walked towards the edge of the cliff and felt her heart plummet as she looked at the eighty foot drop to the Phlegethon at the bottom. She would have to drink from the River of Fire to survive.

    Feeling hopeless, she wanted to sit down and curl into a ball. Annabeth knew that if she did, she would never get up. She was debating doing just that when an image of Percy flickered into her head; it was the look on his face as she was falling into Tartarus. Something shifted inside of Annabeth. Even if he wasn't here, she knew she had to go on for Percy and the others. She continued to stand, even if her legs shook, and began her descent down the side of the cliff.

Chapter Text

"I am immortal!" Pasiphaё wailed. She took a step back, fingering her necklace. "You cannot stand against me!"

"You can't stand at all," Hazel countered. "Look."

She pointed at the feet of the sorceress. A trapdoor opened underneath Pasiphaё. She fell, screaming, into a bottomless pit that didn't really exist.

The floor solidified. The sorceress was gone.

Leo and Percy stared at Hazel in amazement. "How did you-"

Just then the elevator dinged. Rather than pushing the UP button, Clytius stepped back from the controls, keeping Annabeth trapped inside.

"No!" shouted Percy, who began a dash towards Clytius, armed with Riptide.

Hazel and Leo were thirty feet away--much too far to reach the elevator-- but Leo pulled out a screwdriver and chucked it like a throwing knife. An impossible shot. The screwdriver spun past Percy, past Clytius, and slammed into the UP button.

The Doors of Death opened with a hiss. Black smoke billowed out, and a body spilled face first onto the floor. Annabeth was as limp as a corpse.

Hazel sobbed. "Oh, gods..."

Percy was nearly to Clytius when the giant put out a hand. Tendrils of black haze traveled airborne to Percy. Riptide clattered to the ground as Percy fell to his knees, clutching his throat. He hit the floor face first and passed out cold.

"No!" Hazel ran toward him, but Gale the polecat chattered urgently on her shoulder--a clear warning.

The giant tilted his head. His diamond eyes gleamed. Annabeth lurched like she's hit a power line. She rolled onto her back, black smoke coiling from her mouth.

"Not quite dead." Annabeth spoke in a voice that wasn't hers--the words as deep as a bass guitar. "A terrible shock to the mortal body, I would imagine, coming back from Tartarus. She will be out for a while."

"Stop that!" Even from thirty feet away, Hazel could sense Annabeth's life force waning, her pulse becoming thready. Whatever Clytius was doing, pulling words from her mouth--it was killing her.

Clytius made his way to Percy's head and nudged it with his foot. Percy's face lolled to one side as black smoke spilled from his mouth.

"I'll tie them up and take them to Porphyrion in Athens." The words boomed from Percy's mouth. "Just the sacrifice we need. Unfortunately, that means I have no further use for you two."

"Leo," Hazel whispered desperately, her mind reeling. "Fire. He's weak against it."

"Oh, yeah?" Leo growled. He turned to the giant, his eyes burning. "Well, maybe you got the smoke, buddy, but I've got the fire."

His hands blazed. He shot white-hot columns of flame at the giant, but Clytius's smoky aura absorbed them on impact. Tendrils of black haze traveled back up the lines of fire, snuffing out the light and heat and covering Leo in darkness as Hazel screamed.

The giant chuckled, using Leo's vocal chords this time. "You were counting on that, eh? It is true I do not like fire. But Leo Valdez's flames are not strong enough to trouble me."

Somewhere, behind Hazel, a soft, lyrical voice said, "What about my flames, old friend?"

Gale squeaked excitedly and jumped from Hazel's shoulder, scampering to the entrance of the cavern where a blonde woman stood in a black dress, the Mist swirling around her. Hecate had arrived.

Chapter Text

    The chamber rumbled. Another stela crashed to the floor and shattered.

    "The House of Hades is unstable," Hecate said. "Leave now. We shall meet again."

    The goddess dissolved and the Mist evaporated.

    "Always polite, the gods and goddesses," Annabeth mumbled.

    The others turned towards her, as if just realizing she was there. She was sitting on the cavern floor next to Percy, who was still knocked out from his encounter with Clytius. Her hair was ratted, her skin looked pale, but her gray eyes shone as they always did, even if they looked older.

"Back from Tartarus!" Leo whooped. "Thank the gods!"

Piper threw her arms around Annabeth and cried.

"Dude," Jason grinned, nodding his head in approval.

    Annabeth smiled at her friends, looking dazed. She still had one hand on Percy's back. Before she could say anything, the ceiling shuddered. Cracks appeared in the remaining tiles. Columns of dust spilled down. There was no time for celebration.

    "We've got to get out of here," Jason said. "Uh, Frank..."

    Frank shook his head. "I think one favor from the dead is all I can manage today."

    "Wait, what?" Hazel asked.

    Piper raised her eyebrows. "Your unbelievable boyfriend called in a favor as a child of Mars. He summoned the spirits of some dead warriors, made them lead us here through...um, well, I'm not sure, actually. The passages of the dead? All I know is that it was very, very dark."

    To their left, a section of the wall split. Two ruby eyes from a carved stone skeleton popped out and rolled across the floor.

    "We'll have to shadow travel," Hazel said.

    Nico winced. "Hazel, I can barely manage that with only myself. With seven more people--"

    "I'll help you." She tried to sound confident. She'd never shadow-traveled before, had no idea if she could; but after working the Mist, altering the Labyrinth-- she had to believe it was possible.

    An entire section of tiles peeled loose from the ceiling.

    "Everyone, grab hands!" Nico yelled.

    They made a hasty circle, including a passed-out Percy in their linked hands. The cavern collapsed, and they dissolved into shadows.

    They appeared on the hillside overlooking the River Acheron. The sun was just rising, making the water glitter and the clouds glow orange. The cool morning air smelled of honeysuckle. They marveled at the sunlight in the trees. Nico realized he was still holding Percy's hand and quickly let go.

    Leo staggered backwards. "You know... I think I'll sit down." He collapsed. The others joined him. The Argo II still floated above the river a few hundred yards away. They knew they should signal Coach Hedge and tell him they were alive, but at the moment the group was too tired to do anything but sit and relax and marvel at the fact they were okay.

    They began to exchange stories.

    Frank explained what had happened with the ghostly legion and the army of monsters-- how Nico had used the scepter of Diocletian and, and how bravely Jason and Piper fought.

Hazel then recapped what had happened in the cavern, recalling her fight with Pasiphaё and Clytius and how Hecate had stepped in. She finished with explaining how Percy had fallen and hit his head after he had charged the giant in a failed attempt to save Annabeth.

"Seaweed Brain," she teased quietly, a faint smile dancing on her lips.

Frank turned apprehensively to her. "But, Annabeth... Tartarus has to be the real story. What happened down there? How did you...?"

Annabeth's eyes flickered. For a split second, her glazed expression bore a startling resemblance to Nico di Angelo's. She looked down, her gaze landing on Percy as he drooled in his sleep. The corners of her lips turned up and formed a small smile.

"I'll tell you the story," she promised, keeping her eyes on Percy. She laced her hand through his limp one. "Just not so soon. I don't want to remember the place just yet."

"I hate to interrupt," Piper said, giving Annabeth's other hand a squeeze. "But I think our ride is coming."

The Argo II veered into port, its aerial oars in motion, its sails catching the wind. Festus's head flinted in the sunlight. Even from the distance, they could hear him creaking and clanking in jubilation.

"That's my boy!" Leo yelled.

As the ship got closer, it became clear the Coach Hedge was standing on the prow.

"About time!" the coach yelled down. He was doing his best to scowl, but his eyes gleamed as if maybe, just maybe, he was happy to see them. "What took you so long, cupcakes? You kept your visitor waiting!"

"Visitor?" Hazel wondered aloud.

At the rail next to Coach Hedge, a dark-haired girl appeared wearing a purple cloak, her face so covered with soot and bloody scratches that Hazel almost didn't recognize her. Reyna had arrived.

As they began to board the ship, Annabeth stayed put on the grass.

"You all go ahead," she insisted. She could hardly wait to see his sea green eyes. "I'll wait for Percy."

Chapter Text

Percy awoke with the sun on his face. Despite the tranquility of the orange-tinted clouds and the blue sky overhead, he was panicked and disoriented. He had no idea where he was, why he wasn't in a cavern fighting a giant, and whose hand was holding onto his. It took him a few moments before he remembered why he had charged Clytius.

"W-Where's Annabeth?" he asked frantically, sitting up so fast it made his vision go dark.

"Lie back down, Seaweed Brain," a voice said. It was as sweet as the honeysuckle-scented air.

When he turned and looked up to find Annabeth, his heart plummeted.

"Am I in Elysium?" Percy slurred, still foggy. He tried to sit up again but his head began to spin.

"Well, hello to you, too." Annabeth squeezed his hand tighter and smiled.

"What's going on? Am I dead?" he asked, trying to open his eyes. Annabeth tried not to laugh at his slurred words. She pulled ambrosia out of the small bag her friends had given her; the knot on his forehead was swollen and an alarming color.

"Eat some ambrosia," she said, while feeding him some with the hand that wasn't holding his.

Slowly, he began to come around. Eventually his eyes sharpened and he sat up.

"Annabeth?" he asked, finally realizing that she was sitting in front of him. He pulled her in for a hug, not caring how they had wound up on the hill together; he was too happy that the two of them were together again.

She laughed for the first time since Tartarus. "That's what I've been telling you, Seaweed Brain." As she wrapped her hands around Percy, tears began to well in her eyes.

He pulled away for a moment to look at Annabeth, her face gently clasped in both of his hands. He seemed perfectly content just looking at her and she felt the same way.

"I thought I lost you," he choked, his sea green eyes glistening.

"I left you, you left me-- looks like we're even now," she teased as tears rolled down her cheeks. She pulled him in for another hug. The clouds were white by the time they pulled away.

"Annabeth, how-"

"Please," she cut him off, already knowing what he was going to ask. She laced his fingers through his. "I promise to tell you, but I don't want to remember. Not yet."

Percy nodded and they sat back down. He put his arm around Annabeth and she melted into his side. They watched the glittering river and the Argo II floating above it, both of them thankful to be back where they belonged.

----

Thank you for reading this far!! It has been so fun to write out what I thought might have happened.

As of now, this is the end of my story. If you have another idea on a scene or even just some critiques of my work feel free to message me or put it in the comments below.

Thanks again!