The cold wind whipped around the two of them, pushing them down, down, down.
A small speck of light could still be seen at the surface, but Annabeth wasn't sure if that was her imagination or not. It most likely was. She knew she was crying, but as they fell deeper and deeper into the cold, she didn't recognize the feeling. Her skin was growing numb. The warm rivulets of tears made no impressions on her cheeks.
The one thing she could still feel was Percy.
As they fell, he had somehow pulled himself down to her, and they were now wrapped around each other so tightly, Annabeth could barely breathe. His face was buried into the crook of her neck; she could feel his breath coming rapidly on her skin. The cloth from his shirt was damp from perspiration, but she clung to it anyway. His heart was hammering against her own, their beats uneven as they screamed inside of their chests. Their mouths may have been screaming too, but nothing could be heard except for the whistling wind.
Something irked the back of her mind that she should be feeling guilty for literally dragging Percy down with her, but she wouldn't listen. All that rang in her ears were Percy's words.
You're not getting away from me. Never again.
She supposed Arachne was supposed to be the greatest fear of the children of Athena. Annabeth had faced her, and had been terrified. But she was now certain that her greatest fear was being without Percy. She'd already had to live through that once and never wanted to experience it again. Even if they were both tumbling to the pits of the world at the moment, he was here with her. That's all that mattered.
I love you, she thought, hoping against all odds that he would hear them through all of the wind in their ears. Like a miracle, he must have, for he pressed her even tighter against him.
Annabeth closed her eyes tight, trying to focus on Percy and her breathing. If she didn't, she thought too much about what was at the bottom of this pit. They were plummeting to the place where Kronos had been imprisoned for eons, where the evildoers of Ancient Greece had been banished. The hell of Greece. Death may actually be a blessing. She knew there would be a bottom, but she had no idea when that would come. Right now, it didn't matter.
Whispers came around them, taunting. That could be imagination again, but it still struck her spine. Percy squeezed her hand tightly; he must have felt her jump slightly at the voices, and she hugged him tighter.
They were falling, falling, falling, but she didn't care. They were together. They could face anything, even Tartarus.
A/N: I am just getting WAY too impatient for House of Hades. This oneshot is considered a companion to 'Never Let Me Go' mostly because that song is such a Percabeth song, and I listened to that the whole time while riding this. Too many feels guys. It's short, but I hope you enjoyed it!
The Percy quote and characters are Riordan's.