The floor had been the first to crack, the first to crumble.
Then the walls.
The ceiling, and now, everything else along with it.
Annabeth had won, she really had. Outsmarting the famous nemesis of her mother's past, yet her victory fell into a swift defeat as she began to slip off the edge.
Pulled by her foe's web, the daughter of Athena flew off the ledge, about to make a direct and painful entrance into the darkest pit known to the gods.
A hand caught hers. As Annabeth turned, a bronze blur flew by her head, cutting off the spider web connecting to her foot.
Looking up at her boyfriend, the man who had done everything labeled impossible, the man who despite his entire existence being against him, kept a smile on his face day, after day, after day.
All for her, he always said. Annabeth couldn't have been more fortunate to have him. Which is why she screamed at him...
"LET ME GO!" She cried, noticing immediately that her body weight was making his grip start to slip.
His stupidly perfect face flipped from looking at her, to his hand, just barely holding them to the edge.
A blonde teen suddenly appeared on a ladder, hovering above them.
"Leo! Just a little bit more!" The teen yelled upwards.
A scrawny, tanned fellow leaned over the side of the flying ship. "That's the lowest I can go without crashing the ship!" He called back.
The blonde let out a series of curses in both Greek and Roman.
"Jason, if you don't catch my girlfriend I'm coming after you." His dark hair lifted softly in the wind as Annabeth tried to process what he had just said.
"W-Wait NO-!" She realized all too late.
Gripping the edge with all his might, the son of Poseidon let out a roar, swinging Annabeth upwards with extraordinary strength.
Focusing all of his power into the swing, he felt himself lose the grip he had on the ledge.
The entire world seemed to slow down for Annabeth as she watched her beloved boyfriend slip, and begin to free fall towards certain death.
"I'll see you on the other side, Miss Independent." He seemingly whispered, yet she could hear ever word clear as day, as if the Fates wanted to torture her with the soft passion of his deep, loveable voice.
His body disappeared into the darkness.
Annabeth broke, struggling in Jason's grasp as she tried to jump in after him. She couldn't let him be in there alone. She just couldn't.
As determined as she was, Jason regretfully let a shock run through his veins before electrocuting Annabeth to the point where he could safely climb up the ladder, bringing her back on board.
"P-Percy..." Annabeth's last words were a whisper, falling unconscious against the wooden deck of the Argo II.
No one aboard the flying ship spoke. For they were still processing the fact...
The fact that the purest soul, was now a victim to the demons of Tartarus.
Forced to wade in the waters of the darkest dangers, faced with the impossible, yet again...
Annabeth hadn't left her room the entire day. Everyone on board had tried to cheer her up, but instead, she spent their flight time to the other side of the stupid doors, locked in her room.
Tears flowed freely as her speaker started to play a single song that held so many memories within it.
'Miss Independent' was a song Percy had sang her one night. It had been a few weeks since they had defeated Kronos, at the very start of their relationship.
Annabeth remembered it so vividly...
______________
Annabeth curled her hands into a fist, grabbing the sand as she let it drop onto his dark hair.
"That is despicable." He pouted, making her smile widen until she couldn't hold the laughter back.
Opening her eyes after a moment, she realized Percy was no longer beside her.
Turning around, still seated on the sand, she watched as he pulled a small Bluetooth speaker out from the small bag they had brought.
It was late, the calming waves crashed softly against the beach as the beat to a very special song started to play.
As the beat started, it wasn't Ne-Yo singing, but Percy's voice was equally as entrancing.
He snaked his arm around her waist, cupping her cheek ever so softly.
Annabeth looked into his eyes, enjoying the bright vulnerability that only showed when he was with her.
Annabeth cried, burying her beautiful features into the sheets.
"Beth?" Piper's careful voice rang out from her rooms door, the lock having been picked.
Seeing that she was crying, Piper quickly closed the gap between them, hugging her friend tightly as they sat on top of the bed.
"He's alive Beth, you have to trust him to make it out alive." Annabeth sensed no charm speak, yet her friends words felt more powerful than said ability.
Did she trust Percy?
With all of her life, despite how unpredictable he could be.
"I-I trust him Piper, I really do, but this is Tartarus!"
Annabeth felt disgusted with how many tears she had cried in just the past few hours, but her emotions were at an all time high.
Losing her boyfriend the moment she fell in love with them, then getting him back, only to watch him fall into the worst place possible soon after.
"W-What he has to do Piper, by himself... I-I trust him with my life, but how can you expect me to just be okay with this?" Annabeth sobbed.
The Cherokee demigoddess wrapped her best friend in a tight hug.
Suddenly, the daughter of Athena felt her shoulder dampen slightly. Raising her head, she realized a few tears were resonating from Piper's flawless cheeks.
"I-I've only known him for this short trip, but he's impacted me more than you know." Piper started.
"He's done everything from giving me advice when it comes to being with Jason, to showing me how to be... me."
Annabeth chuckled slightly, still sobbing softly. "That sounds like him."
Wiping her best friend's tears away after wiping her own, Annabeth stood up.
Offering her hand, Piper took it. "Let's go get him back, because if there's anything Perseus Jackson can do, it's the impossible."
_____________
Percy wasn't having a great day.
Not that this universe ever let him, but he thought he had finally gotten the happy ending his hard work deserved.
Instead, he felt the wind press against his face, like it had for the past hour.
Falling into eternal darkness was... interesting to say the least. He had time to think, yet it was also hard to focus with the air creating a constant loud whistle in his ear.
After yet another hour, the whistles of the wind became silent. He wondered if his ears had cut the sound out, or if he was starting to enter the pit, where everything probably worked differently.
Sighing, Percy closed his eyes. "How did I get here?" He chuckled depressively.
As if on cue, all the memories since he was twelve started to come back. In all reality, Percy could easily blame the sisters of fate for anything and everything. Just because he was born into this world, that meant he had to lose?
Fate never seemed to be on his side, and even worse, he was now in the worst place in the world while his friends fended for themselves on the surface.
That feeling, was an interesting concept to Perseus. It always had been.
Being there, he could at least accept the outcome. Dying to protect his friends, his family, his... love. That was something he'd willingly do, every single chance he had.
But now, he had left them. He wasn't there to protect them; to die for them.
Something inside, told him he just couldn't accept that. If Annabeth was here with him, he could accept dying inside the pit, forever tortured by the demons of the past, present and future if it meant she would survive.
But she wasn't; no one was.
Perseus tried to distract himself from his dangerous thoughts, by reflecting on how he got here, but he only focused on the good memories.
His mom...
He was so glad his mother was able to find Paul. Percy knew he couldn't ever visit her for long, without Paul, she'd be as lonely as he was now.
That wasn't fair for him to do, even if he had no choice in the matter. In that sense, Percy was eternally grateful for Paul.
Chuckling, the son of Poseidon realized that no matter how dark this world got, especially when it seemed like it was trying to do everything to get him killed, he was always grateful.
Grateful for what he did have, rather than what was taken. Of course, there were the rainy days, sitting inside, the faces of his fallen brethren flashing across his mind. The sad, scared expressions on their faces, it was like the fates purposely made them ever so vivid. Every detail, the grime and dirt of battle, the sweat of survival... and the blood.
The blood of death.
"Fuck." Percy cursed, blinking rapidly, unable to stop a tear from swimming down his tanned cheek, before flying off of his skin. So much for focusing on the good memories.
After probably another hour, Percy felt the temperature slowly start to rise.
The bare minimum comfort that the warm air gave, reminded him of Annabeth. Her warmth, her soft breath when she whispered lullabies, softly bringing him into a perfect sleep as they held each other tightly each and every night.
Gods. Her soft, blonde hair, curled like a princess. He made fun of her for it, calling her princess to test his limits every now and then, but she truly was royalty. A girl that beautiful, a girl that strong, with a super soft side only he got to see, she deserved nothing less than the world.
Percy worked every day to make sure she felt like she had the world. Quickly in their love story did Annabeth notice this, she had addressed the world as something she didn't need, as long as he was with her.
After Hera had taken him, Annabeth had made him change his promise. Instead of the world, he had to promise to never leave her.
In that special moment, he had seen how truly vulnerable the blonde was when he was the topic. The butterflies from their first kiss came back in that moment, and they hadn't left ever since. Each time he opened his eyes to see her, his heart skipped a beat.
If that wasn't love, he didn't know what it was. The best part, was that Percy had always been able to tell that she felt the same. Blushing each time he removed his shirt, just like the very first time she had seen him shirtless. The daughter of Athena never stumbled over words; never stuttering, but when he pushed her against the wall of his cabin, pressing his lips to her flawless, sun kissed body, she was left as a spluttering, love sick mess.
As if the fates knew he finally reached his pleasant thoughts from the smile on his face, Percy felt the heat increase rapidly.
Suddenly, the darkness gave way to light. An unpleasant glowing orange, resonating from a large river far below as he descended.
Watching the ground approach rapidly, Percy realized that Tartarus did not have a cushion for those who decided to pay a visit. His hand flew to his pocket, where he found Riptide waiting as always.
Changing his direction mid air, he placed himself just to the side of a large mountain.
As the rocks became a blur, Percy unsheathed Riptide from it's comatose state in it's pen form, the bronze blade appearing seemingly out of nowhere. Clenching his abdomen, the son of Poseidon drove the blade into the mountain side.
Thankfully, it was a magical sword, not one to be defeated by some rocks.
Slowly but surely, and with much effort, Perseus was able to slow his fall to a complete stop, landing on the ground safely before ripping Riptide out of the small tremor his landing had left in the mountain side.
After dusting himself off, the raven haired demigod finally looked around, and was met with a very, very unfriendly sight.
"Hey guys, don't suppose you're here to welcome me?" His poorly timed comedy never failed him as he stood just yards away from a small army of about fifty monsters.
Each of them, dracaena, hellhounds, cyclops, whatever they happened to be, they all looked at him with hatred. Percy had killed a lot of monsters in his demigod career, it was very possible they all had a vendetta against him.
"Die today, you will." A cyclops growled, his poor speech almost making Percy laugh.
"Yoda? Is that you?" Perseus asked, confusing the cyclops who had stepped forward. While the big monster was distracted with his stupid joke, it had little time to react when the one eyed creature realized the son of Poseidon was running towards him.
Raising his large arms above his bald head, the cyclops brought them down onto the ground, creating multiple cracks as he had barely missed Perseus.
The rest of the army watched as the cyclops roared in pain, the demigod expertly weaving through his blind spots, striking so swiftly that the monster could only react to the pain.
Slipping in and out between it's legs, Percy remembered that human body lesson Annabeth had given him. Biology was ever so boring, yet she had insisted some monster's were built similar to the human body, in this case... cyclops.
Slashing the giant's ankles and calves, he targeted specifically the Achilles tendon, used for almost any athletic act, the cyclops could barely move, limping around in heavy pain.
For such a dumb creature, it was a little too easy. The one eyed monster tried to bring his fists down on Percy again, only to miss and lose his balance, unable to put any weight on either of his legs.
It's life was swiftly ended the moment Percy drove riptide into it's pain ridden eye.
Suddenly, a whistle rang out through the air. Thanks to his impressive reflexes, and battle hardened experience, Perseus managed to lean to the side in time to dodge the powerful arrow, though it did nick his shoulder, creating a burning cut in his shoulder.
"So that's how were going to play it Barbara?" Perseus put his hands on his hips, looking over at the dracaena who had shot the arrow.
She looked ever so confused, before snapping out of it, firing another arrow directed at his head. Slicing the projectile in half, Percy continued to play with the monster. "Listen, I know I fucked your mother, but that's no reason to commit murder, right?"
"Sssssshut up!" The snake like woman hissed, firing another arrow as her friend joined her.
Lunging out of the way, Perseus watched as the rest of the monsters started to approach him together. It looks like he wasn't going to get a one on one with each dear friend here.
Still having the curse of Achilles would've been really helpful in this situation, instead, Percy was forced to rush into a small army around four dozen monsters with only Riptide.
The first ones to reach him were the hellhounds, bounding towards him with impressive speed. The leader of the pack lunged into the air, intent on crushing him under it's weight. Percy waited until the right moment, sliding under the beast as he let Riptide split it in half, cutting it's underside apart.
As the creature burst into a cloud of golden dust, Percy pushed himself off the ground he was sliding on, throwing his foot into the head of another hellhound, stunning the beast before Riptide plunged itself into the hound's eyes.
As an arrow flew past him, Perseus set his sights on the dracaena, their range was starting to become a threat.
Slashing arrows out of the air as he approached them, he managed to cut down three of the snake women before one of them managed to catch his sword with their bow, momentarily locking them in an exchange of strength.
Perseus won almost instantly, but the fallen dracaena had given her companions enough time to launch arrows close to point blank. Any normal demigod would've been porcupine by every single one, but not the savior of Olympus.
Spinning around before dropping to the ground, the son of Poseidon dodged them all...except for one.
Pain erupted from his left shoulder as an arrow buried itself into his flesh. The burning feeling took over his senses. "Nice shot..." He grunted before slicing off the snake woman's head.
The rest of the army started to descend on Perseus yet again, pushing him to the edge of a nearby river. Usually this would've been an amazing turn of events for the son of Poseidon, but jumping in a river that was located in the underworld was never a good idea.
This one happened to be on fire as well, and the instant realization jogged Percy's memory. "River Phlegethon." Annabeth's voice rang out inside of his head.
"What's that?” Percy had asked. His girlfriend rolled her eyes, having told him the lesson before. "Some legends refer to it as the river of healing, Seaweed Brain."
Well, it wasn't like he had the privilege to take a drink without worry for his life right now, but that was useful information.
Percy suddenly had a very, very bad idea.
Dropping Riptide as his back was to the river, and all the monsters were rushing him, he felt that very familiar tug in his gut, yet this time, the feeling made his gut burn...
The monsters stopped in their tracks as suddenly, the river of fire rose like a wall of hell, a wave of pure heat that looked like it could only mean death.
Every single one of them turned on their heels, sprinting away from the wall, but it was too late, and they were all too slow. Throwing his hands forward, sweating profusely, the wave of fire traveled over Perseus's head like a real wave would, though it looked far more dangerous when the water was on fire.
The entire small army of monsters fell within ten seconds. Looks like it might be the river of healing, as long as you don't take a full dip within it's waters...
After making sure the coast was clear, Percy bent down to the water. Reluctantly, he found the willpower, forcing himself to cup the fire into his hand.
His hands felt like they were on fire, but no real damage was done to them as Percy started to drink literal fire.
Coughing as if he had been smoking for three hundred years, the son of Poseidon felt like his lungs were burning from the inside out. Luckily, the pain quickly subsided, and he felt most of his energy returning.
Pulling out the arrow from his shoulder, he realized the fire hadn't fully healed the wound, but a deep cut was now just a small cut that refused to bleed.
Standing up, Percy took the time to look over what he could see of Tartarus.
A mix of purple and orange glow, the only lighting to a dark, deserted wasteland filled with what looked like volcanic rock, yet no volcanos. The place looked like a black desert with the sand being solid stone, going on for miles with no sign of an exit.
The son of Poseidon took a deep breath, and then a deep sigh, before forcing himself to start his journey across the hellhole that was the primordial Tartarus.
Walking an hour, Percy found it odd that he had seen absolutely nothing aside from the first group of monsters.
Just as he hiked his way to the top of a massive mountain, he sighed heavily, now realizing why he hadn't seen a soul.
Atop the mountain, the son of Poseidon looked down to see an army of what easily could've been a few thousand monsters staring up at him.
"You cannot hide son of Poseidon." A deep, mangled voice called out from seemingly the dark clouds in the fiery sky.
"Let me guess, I'm doomed, there is no possible way I can escape, and I'll be tortured for eternity here?" Percy looked at the sky.
The cruel voice laughed, though it sounded more like a horrible cough. "Precisely, you cannot escape because this pit is me, you cannot hide, I will know where you reside, and you cannot fight an army of this might."
Where ever the primordial was, he was probably confused as Percy started to clap his hands. "Wow! Bravo! I just adore the poetic sound of your ugly ass voice."
"Enough!" Tartarus yelled as the monsters took that as their signal to advance up the mountain.
Looking down at the army, Perseus weighed his options.
If he stayed here, even if he somehow beat the entire army, Tartarus would weaken him down slowly but surely.
If he ran, there was a chance he could find something. Anything to help him escape alive.
To die, or to live, did he really have a choice?
If it wasn't for Annabeth, he'd have been dead a long time ago, without reason to push through every trial and tribulation.
As long as her beautiful face stayed fresh in his mind, there was nothing he couldn't do.
So he chose to live.
Turning on his heels, Percy took off down the other side of the hill.