Nico had just reached the ladder when a sharp pain shot up Annabeth's bad leg. She gasped and stumbled. "What is it?" Percy asked. She tried to stagger toward the ladder. Why was she moving backward instead? Her legs swept out from under her and she fell on her face. "Her ankle!" Hazel shouted from the ladder. "Cut it! Cut it!"
Annabeth's mind was woolly from the pain. Cut her ankle? Apparently Percy didn't realize what Hazel meant either. Then something yanked Annabeth backward and dragged her toward the pit. Percy lunged. (this is the part from the Mark of Athena. Everything after this is my story.)
He missed. Annabeth was dragged into the pit. "No!" Percy screamed. He dove for her but she was already too far down. Her hand had grabbed a tiny ledge which looked close to breaking. "ANNABETH!"
She looked into his eyes, her face racked with pain and weariness. "Just remember Percy. I'll always love you."
"ANNABETH, NO!"
The ledge gave away and she was plunged into Tartarus. "ANNABETH!"
Percy almost jumped right in with her, but Hazel and Nico held him back with all their strength. "Let me go!" he screamed. "ANNABETH!"
Hazel didn't want to, but she knew that she had to do it. Grasping Percy's wrist with her left hand, she let go of her right. All 3 almost fell into Tartarus. She searched her belt for her spatha. Cringing, she smacked the side of Percy's head with the hilt. He crumpled, and they finally pulled him away from the pit. "Annabeth..." he mumbled as blackness overtook his vision and he dissolved into unconciousness.
Hazel stifled a sob as she looked into the midnight dark pit. Nico looked crestfallen, his eyes caught between Percy and Annabeth's falling corpse which was no longer visible. Corpse. The word made her break down completely. Her big brother wrapped his arms around her and she sobbed into his aviators jacket, her palms weakly clutching Percy's shirt. A whoosh from behind made her look up.
"Oh thank the gods!" Jason sighed. "Wait, where's Annabeth?" Then his eyes widened, taking in Hazel's sobbing, Percy's unconcious form, and Nico's paler than normal complexion. "Di Immortalis." he whispered, his eyes tearing up. "Percy-"
"Hazel knocked him out," Nico choked. "He was going to fall with her, but-" He fell silent. Jason just stood there, paralyzed. Unable to move, unable to breathe- just stood there, to the sound of Hazel's crying and the roar of Tartarus down below. Frozen.
TIME SKIP - 2 HOURs LATER, ON ARGO II
PERCY'S POV
Percy awoke to his head throbbing and his mouth dry. His best friend, Piper, sat by his bed, sobbing quietly. "What's wrong?" he croaked, but then the memories came back. Crashing down on him like a powerful, maddening waterfall. He leaped out of bed, and didn't stop moving as the blood rushed to his head and made him wobbly. "Percy wait!" Piper cried from behind him. He kept going, up onto the deck, his feet thudding across the wood. "WHERE IS SHE?" he screamed, startling his friends. "WHERE'S ANNABETH?!"