Chapter Ι

I Almost Get Killed, Again and Again and Again

Disclaimer: I own nothing involving Percy Jackson or near-death situations

My first fanfic, so go easy on me, please leave me some good comments.

J

ust when I thought my luck couldn't get any worse; I almost get sucked into a bottomless pit of eternal torture, again.

Maybe starting at the beginning would be good.

You see, after the Titan war (another story, figure it out), everything was great for all of two months before it all started falling apart. About two months after I turn down godhood for her, my girlfriend dumped me.

I mean, not that I had been totally sure we were going out anyway, but the symbolism was still there. A few minutes after I turned down godhood and gave the gods my terms, she and I went for a walk through destroyed Olympus. You'd think that walking through the destroyed city of the gods wouldn't be romantic, but it was for me.

I was in heaven, almost literally, and about to drop clear through to hell.

We had both met at Olympus for winter break; Annabeth was the architect in charge of rebuilding Olympus. She was going to be there anyway, so I figured we could hang out together while she was in the neighborhood.

We were looking at a ruined statue of Hermes, and Annabeth was looking at it like she was planning how to remake it, probably twice as tall with gold gilding. After a few minutes of that, she started looking restless, no shock, she is ADHD, but she was looking at me nervously. That was new, Annabeth almost never looked nervous.

"What's up?" I asked curiously (is there any other way to ask).

She shuffled her feet, "I was just thinking."

You'd think that'd give me a hint, back off before something bad happens, but of course I had to go and open my big mouth.

"What about?"

She looked up quickly, then back down at her feet, "Us."

Me, being the huge idiot that I am, took this as a good sign; I thought for once we could go on a date that didn't involve deadly missions.

"Percy, we've been going out for while…"

"We have, wish someone had told me that."

"What else would you call it?"

I remained silent, I wasn't totally sure if all the deadly missions counted as dates.

"But I really think we should just be friends."

Ah, the three most deadly words in any relationship, just be friends, wish I could say I'd seen that coming, but I didn't. I just stood there in shock for either two minutes, or a year and a half, I couldn't tell. When I came out of my temporary paralysis, I asked the one question I definitely did not want an answer to.

"Why?"

She bit her cheek, "I just…"

"Annabeth?"

We both froze, Apollo, god of the sun and archery, not to mention bad haikus, was walking towards us.

"Did you tell him?"

I looked at him, my emotions moving in slow motion, first I was just confused, then horrified, then angry enough I felt my glare should blast that idiot right out of his shoes. I was too angry to even speak, so I did something that was possibly the worst in a long line of bad ideas.

I punched the god of the sun in the face, then in the gut.

I didn't stick around to see anyone's reaction, I just ran, ran through the city.

I yelled out with my mind, Blackjack, I need a ride, and then kept running past minor gods and goddesses, who looked at me in shock. They were obviously surprised to see the hero of Olympus running away as if a pack of hellhounds were after him.

I could almost hear the voice of Kronos in my mind, mocking me the same way he had years ago, on my first quest. Hail the conquering hero! I should have realized I wouldn't get to enjoy our victory long. The Fates seemed to have a permanent mindset that I couldn't be happy for long.

When I finally reached the edge of Olympus, I jumped, it might be crazy, but Blackjack had never let me die yet. Check off one near death situation.

Blackjack swooped under me, matching my speed so I didn't land too hard on his back. He extended his wings and glided back up to the height of Olympus, which he circled once before heading towards camp.

What's eatin' ya, boss.

"Annabeth dumped me, for Apollo."

Ouch, that one's gotta bite, but don't beat yourself up about it. If she thinks you're not good enough for her, she has too many ego issues anyway.

"Thanks, man, just put me down at my mom's place, kay?"

You got it boss man.

Blackjack landed on the roof of my mom's apartment, keeping in the shadow of a cloud to make it harder for him to be spotted.

I hopped off, "Thanks, Blackjack."

Don't worry about it, I wasn't doin' nothin' today anyway.

I watched him take off, and then climbed onto the fire escape. Even if I was miserable, seeing the city awake made me feel better. I figured my mom would eventually be home, but until then, I planned to just lie down on my bed and avoid thinking about Annabeth or Apollo.

I was just about to hop in the window when I froze.

Below, on the street, was a hellhound, not Mrs. O'Leary, which was almost too big to fit in between the apartment on either side of the street, it had just turned a corner and saw me. It looked ready to pounce; I slowly reached my hand into my pocket and took out Anaklusmos. I didn't uncap it yet, I knew it would pounce if I did.

It tensed; I grabbed the cap of Anaklusmos.

It pounced in the same second the celestial bronze sword had fully formed in my hand; I slashed at the giant paw it had reached toward me cutting off one of its claws. It had barely phased it, as soon as it made contact; I felt a powerful force connecting me to it, like a giant magnet. The whole world went dark; I realized we were shadow traveling, when we came out, the force connecting us ceased, and the hellhound launched into the vast void behind me. There goes near death situation number two, here I come number three.

I just lay there in shock for a while; the hellhound had taken me to Tartarus.

Then I heard a horribly familiar chuckle and a voice that seemed to speak straight into my mind, I may have lost this war, but I will always return, you cannot stop time, and I speak for time. Even if I cannot win this battle, I will have my moment of satisfaction after I destroy you. The voice then began a chant, one that he had heard before. It was Kronos, and he was trying to pull him into Tartarus.

I ran for all I was worth, towards the exit passageway, I turned around a corner and stopped. Where the tunnel would usually exit to the fields of Asphodel, there was a huge metal door.

I ran up to the door, banging on it for all I was worth, the chant was nearly done, I remembered from last time, and this time I would get pulled in.

A shape stepped out of the darkness next to me and grabbed hold. So began the second episode of shadow travel in so many minutes.

When we landed, we were in the palace of Hades. I looked around and saw Nico, son of Hades, grinning at me.

"So, Percy, how's it going?"

Hey, what do you know, I beat all three of the near death experiences in the last five minutes.

I could tell this was just going to get better and better.

So, there it is, give me enough comments and I can say, 'So begins an epic story, involving love, heartbreak, monsters and multiple types of cheese.'

Bowing to the crowd, yes, I know, I am awesome.