The pain, the pain, it won't go away! I want it to go away!

It started after coming up from Tartarus with only half of my body functioning. They started out with little whispers telling me to stop everything and give up. Annabeth tries to help, but she doesn't understand, she doesn't know what actually happened down below Hades. She tries, she really does, today she suggested writing in a journal. I suppose I should do that, just to make it look like I'm doing fine. I need to have a strong mask, I can't let anybody else know how much The Pit affected me. I need to be strong for the camp.

My Journal

So let me tell you, or me or whoever reads this, the oh so pleasant adventures of Tartarus. That was sarcasm by the way, one of the voices made me explain that, it said some people don't have enough brain capacity to understand sarcasm. I can only think of one person that fits that description, my previous step-father Gabe. Now would you look at that, I'm getting sidetracked right off the bat, stupid ADHD. I can add that to the list of why Annabeth calls me Seaweed Brain. Anyways, back to the beginning of my wonderful adventures in The Pit.

"Let go!" Annabeth yelled.

"No, never! I just got you back and I'm not losing you again!" I exclaimed in response.

I turned my head to Nico, who was quite a bit away to my left, and said, "Take care of them alright little bro. I'll meet you on the other side."

With that said, I let go of the crumbling ledge of spider web and masonry and seized Annabeth in the tightest embrace possible. Watching the light of the sun fade away, I blocked everything except Annabeth out. All I focused on was her hair which was whipping next to my face and I dug my face into the crook of her neck.

Just a lonely line a lonely line a lonely line a lonely line a lonely line break.

I heaved myself and Annabeth up and over the ledge to get out of the miserable river. My whole body felt like giving up, but I knew that I had to keep going, if not for me, than definitely for Annabeth. I realized that Annabeth hadn't pulled herself out of the unconscious state the river somehow put her in. I tried shaking her, I slapped her, I even kissed her! I mean come on, it works in the movies, why can't it work now! I need her! After trying everything to get Annabeth up, I hear this distorted maniacal laughter. It had two tones. The first was really high pitched but sounded like sandpaper rubbing against itself. The second tone was very deeply pitched, but it was being used in a choppy way, it kept skipping syllables. Although disturbing, the voice was coming closer to where we were laying. When the owner of the voice finally came over the top of the ridge, I realized in horror who it belonged to.

"Kronos" I whispered in horror.

Here I was, exhausted after my tango with the RIver of Misery and laying down next to Annabeth who was definitely down for the count. I was too exhausted to carry her away from the Golden Boy and I definitely couldn't leave her alone with one of our most deadly enemies. Another tiny detail is this, this is Tartarus, the home/prison of all monsters in creation. This is where monsters are at their strongest and I at my weakest. While I had been thinking how royally screwed we were, Kronos had gotten closer, close enough to smell over delicious demigod scent.

"Ahahaha," He exclaimed, "Oh what a surprise, demigods brave enough to travel the grounds of The Pit. And my oh my, the greatest delicacy of them all, the two Heroes Of Olympus!"

I could tell that he had gotten significantly stronger. And oh gods! The way he held himself, it infuriated me! If it were possible, his posture was even more confident than when he had attacked Olympus in the Second Titan War. His eyes were the only thing I was able to focus on, their burning gold pigment felt like a black hole. They just sucked in anything and everything. In the back of my mind I analyzed his new appearance, the entirety of his head was covered in deep burn marks and scars that looked like someone had taken a dull tree saw and slashed his face up. The rest of his body was covered in similar scars. Once I looked past them, my eyes practically bulged out of my head, his whole body was a rock and looked like it had the power of Niagra Falls.

"My master shall be pleased, very pleased indeed." He sneered at me.

I wanted so bad to retort back at him but I was frozen in place, almost like time had been stopped around me. Suddenly everything went black after a sharp pain in the base of my neck. My last organized thought was about Annabeth and how much I love her.

When I finally came to, the first thing that reached my senses was a crazed laughter. When I actually opened my eyes, they were assaulted by such a freaky sight and my first response was.

"What the Fuck!?"

The laughter only got louder.