He was falling endlessly through memories, looking on helplessly as an empousa leered at him, her grotesque face twisted even more by the flickering light from a river of fire, and Annabeth was calling for him with all her might, her pleading voice changing to a blood-curdling scream that echoed in his ears as she tumbled over the cliff edge, her unseeing eyes screwed shut against the wind that enveloped her as she fell downward, ever downward. And he followed, as he always had and always would, the gale pulling him down towards darkness and fear, loss and death.

Percy was on his feet before he knew it, pinning something against the floor with his sword at its throat and his left arm pushing its arms above its head. Just as he raised Riptide to dispatch the creature, Percy looked down and saw a seriously freaked out Jason squirming frantically away from the blade that was currently moments away from decapitating him. Percy finally came awake and rolled off of the other demigod, hurriedly capping his sword and helping Jason up.

"Nightmare?" Jason panted, still out of breath from the surprise attack. Percy nodded, rubbing his eyes tiredly. "They always get worse when we're up in the air."

"Ready to talk about it yet?"

"Not yet."

It was Jason's turn to nod. He waited a minute for them both to calm down before saying, "I don't know about you, but after all that, I'm probably not going to get much sleep. You want to grab a bite to eat?"

"That sounds good."

The two demigods walked over from Percy's room, each grabbing a bagel as they passed the dining hall and strode out into the grayish-blue of early morning.

Percy sat down at the edge of the ship, absentmindedly munching on his bagel as he gazed towards the east, keeping an eye out for any hints of morning. There were none. Jason made a quick stop at the command center to lower the Argo 2 down to the ocean before joining Percy in watching the horizon, noting worriedly how troubled his friend still looked, even after they landed on the sea.

"Do you ever get tired of all this?" Percy asked abruptly, still staring out over the ocean, "I mean, we put our lives on the line time and time again, saving the world and repeating history, losing our trust, our love, heck, even our sanity, and all for what? Our parents, who won't even acknowledge us until we serve a purpose to them? Or maybe it's for our friends, but that can't be right because they are picked off one by one, either too broken to exploit, or too young to face the rising odds! Why am I fighting anymore? I know I used to have a cause, but I guess it's either faded away or I'm just too blind to see it, because I don't care anymore. I'm fighting out of habit. This isn't about a righteous cause anymore; it's about survival, and sometimes, I'm not so sure that I can survive."

Having said this, Percy got up and tried to walk away, but before he could, a hand closed around his forearm and pulled him back down. Dumbfounded, Percy sat back down and listened as the other demigod said his piece.

"You want to know why you're still fighting? It's that little voice inside your brain that whispers 'maybe' when the rest of the world is screaming 'NO!' it's what makes everything possible for those who are willing to trust themselves and hold on. I's remembering that the pain doesn't last forever and the darkness will fall someday. Hope...that's why I'm fighting. And if that's not a good enough reason for us to carry on, then I don't know what is."

As the other demigod explained this, Percy watched the sunrise. It started small, with a faint blush of pink that barely reached over the horizon. Then, a slightly deeper shade of purple started creeping over the horizon as if it were sneaking up on the night sky, banishing the stars to their own realm one by one and chasing the moon towards the end of the earth. Just as the moon disappeared over the far horizon, the sun burst into being, its golden beams of light bathing everything in an ethereal glow that dispelled any remaining thoughts of nighttime in an instant.

After an endless twilight, the sun had finally risen. It was dawn.