*DISCLAIMER*
I own none of the characters. They are all Riordan's.
I hope you all don't hate me for this. I was inspired to write this by something I saw on the internet a while ago, though I can't remember from who. Whoever you are, I hope you're happy. It kills me to write this. It may not be the best story, but stick with it to the end. Please.
"HELP!" the sound in Annabeth's voice terrified Percy. He could see her fingertips slowly slipping from the edge of the hole leading to the abyss. Arachnae's last laugh echoed up causing the most intense fury Percy had ever felt rise up and make his vision red. With one leap, he dove for the fingers as they disappeared. Stretching his arm as far as he could his hand closed… on air.
His heart stopped and Annabeth's screams deafened him despite slowly getting softer. "ANNABETH! NOOOOOO!" he stood up without thinking and jumped, the only thought crossing his mind was that he would save her or die trying. His neck jerked and he started choking as Frank's muscular arm grabbed the collar of his shirt, stopping his fall. Frank quickly pulled Percy up and pinned his arm to his side as he started flailing and saying things in Greek that should never be said to any living being. The floor started to give out beneath them and Frank called for help. Jason and Leo jumped down from the Argo II that had just finished loading the Parthenos and helped Frank. It took all three of them to haul him onto the ship and just as they did, the entire floor crumbled, revealing just how big the hole was.
When the ship started to rise, Percy struggled harder and Piper as well as Hazel had to rush over and keep him pinned as Leo took over steering. Frank was sitting on his back, holding his head down, Jason and Hazel held down his legs, and Piper grabbed Riptide, pinning down one arm so he couldn't use it and tried to charm speak him into calming down to no avail. "TAKE ME BACK NOW! I have to save her!" His struggling slowly became weaker and weaker as he started to sob. An unknown amount of time passed as everyone just sat still, the realization of what happened weighing them down, even Festus.
Eventually, he stopped struggling all together and Frank nodded, signaling for the others to slowly stand. Slowly, Frank shifted his weight off and helped Percy sit in a chair Piper had grabbed from below deck. Percy's head lolled to the side and Frank feared that he had put too much weight on him and killed him. Percy's chest lurched with a sob and Frank relaxed a bit, but he could only imagine what was going through Percy's head. Everybody's head turned to the sound of stumbling footsteps as Nico came out of a shadow travel looking paler and more exhausted than ever.
"What's going on?" he asked looking around confused. He didn't like the look in everyone's eyes, they reflected his own. As soon as he noticed that, he saw that they were one person short.
"Nico!" Percy lept at the kid, nearly tackling him. "Tell me she is ok! Tell me she survived!" Nico felt pain shoot up his arms as Percy started to squeeze. He didn't know what else to do so he closed his eyes and felt around the underworld for her spirit.
"Her spirit isn't in the under world…" he trailed off as he found her spirit in Tartarus, still attached to her body. A second later, he felt it violently rip apart from her body as she hit the ground. He winced and felt sick. Everyone saw him wince and time seemed to stop on the ship. Percy's eyes glazed over and became dull as he stumbled back to the chair.
Only one word was spoken. Percy gave a soft "No."