Percy: (jeez what are we on now?) XXII
The water caught him before he could even register the sensation of falling.
He'd known as soon as his feet had left the ground in the Underworld that he didn't want to fall again, that he'd have to catch himself as quick as he could. The first time was bad enough, with that sick feeling as his stomach dropped cleanly out his body... he didn't want to put himself through that again. Luckily, the Phlegethon water caught him smoothly, submerging him in an instant. All sound cut off with a quiet burble. He formed a quick bubble before the liquid fire could burn him, before beginning to lower the water stack.
Right. He had one goal and one goal only: the Lethe. He had seen it before, technically, ages ago with Nico and Thalia, but that was in the Underworld. He didn't know how to find it in Tartarus. Gods, where would it be? Oh yeah, sure, he could guess- it was near those spiky black rocks, right? Like those weren't everywhere. Percy wracked his brain. Would it be near other rivers or far away from them? He shook his head, rubbing a hand over his eyes, and reached down to take out his swords.
His hand went into his jeans, and grazed an object that wasn't there before in his pocket.
It was small. Oblong. A type of flimsy plastic that heated up in his hand, a flare of power.
Hurtling at inhumane speeds in an air bubble, in the pitch black darkness of the river Phlegthon, Percy Jackson withdrew a pen from his jeans.
He breathed out shakily, and fumbled to uncap it.
The light of Riptide filled the small space, a burning glow that rivalled fire itself, the bronze singing a melody in Percy's ears. The water around him steamed.
Riptide must have returned to him when he got out. How had he not noticed?
Percy choked out a half-wheeze half-chuckle, weighing it in his hand. Perfectly balanced. Gods, he had been fighting with his other unbalanced swords for so long that he had almost forgotten what it was like to have a sword finally feel like an extension of his own arm.
Light flooded around the outside of his column of water, a dark red he had grown to loathe fiercely permeating through the bubble. Suddenly feeling a pit in his stomach, he slowed his dropping pace as best he could. The fires burning in the distance reflected in his eyes, and he felt sick. He didn't want to be here. He didn't want to do this again. Percy turned away and looked through the churning water keeping him aloft for the ground, which was now so close he could count the little spikes.
Calmly, as if he was simply stepping out of a lift, Percy opened the bubble two feet from the ground and hopped out.
His feet slammed into the spikes as the wave of heat enveloped his body yet again.
His skin crawled. He breathed in, despising the warm air filling his lungs, and swallowed. This wasn't it. He had a job and a purpose down here. He had stuff to do. No point beating about the bush.
Scanning the horizon, the pit in his stomach got deeper, more of an abyss. He... he had no idea where to go from here. He span in a circle to look around. Left meant skipping over the Phlegethon river and heading into the unknown. Right meant pitch black darkness and heading into the unknown. Behind meant going up a mountain into the unknown. Front meant walking down and down further and further into cave territory and into the unknown. He sighed. Any way he put it, it wasn't looking profitable, but it was better than standing still.
आप पढ़ रहे हैं
Falling for You
फैनफिक्शनIn an alternate series of events, Percy saves Annabeth from falling into Tartarus. Too bad he can't save himself. As Annabeth leads the Seven on a treacherous quest to meet him at the Doors of Death, Percy fights through a wasteland of pain, tortur...
