PERCY
There isn't time to think: one second they're walking towards the Argo II and the next he's being dragged along as Annabeth gets pulled towards the pit. Everything Percy knows about Tartarus and the Doors of Death flashes through his mind in an instant, team on the inside, doors need to be closed almost simultaneously, no survivors, and he feels his eyes widen as he realizes exactly what is happening.
He's trying to reach for Riptide when Annabeth slips over the edge, he follows her and, with a wild grab, he manages to catch hold of a tiny outcropping of rock. He lets out an involuntary moan, it feels like his arms are going to rip out of their sockets and he almost wishes that he was holding up the sky instead.
He feels Annabeth slam into the cliff-face and by the time he glances down to see if she's okay she's already staring white-faced and terrified up at him. It's been about three seconds, but he can already feel his fingers slipping.
No survivors.
He can't let that happen. People don't come back from Tartarus, even Thanatos avoids it (and there's something important there, but he can't figure out what), he can't just leave her there alone. He won't. He'll get her out of there if it's the last thing he does. The cliff shakes and he almost loses his grip. There's shouting. He barely notices. He's always known that he'd die for Annabeth. He's never thought that he'd have to think about it before hand.
"Percy," Annabeth gasps out, pulling from his thought, "let me go. You can't pull me up."
He knows that she's probably right, but he tries anyway.
No survivors.
"Never," Percy says when he can't move her even a little bit. He gets Nico to promise that he'll lead the others and then, with his heart pounding so hard the he thinks that it's going to leap out of his chest, he looks down at Annabeth.
There's a bruise forming on her cheek, her hairs so tangled with cobwebs it's hard to tell which is actually supposed to be on her head and there's a blood scratch near her hairline, but he doesn't see any of it. With the light above them, Percy gets what he knows will probably be the last clear look at her face. "We're staying together," he says once her eyes lock with his. His heart clenches painfully tight in his chest, he already knows that he'll have to break that promise. "You're not getting away from me. Never again."
For a second, Percy's nervous, Annabeth can always tell when he's lying, she's like his mom that way. He thinks that she's going to call him out on it, but she says, "As long as we're together."
Percy knows that he's letting his flaw control him, that Annabeth's going to be furious once she's had time to think it through, but somehow when he lets go his only thought is: If I live through this Athena's going to kill me.