Keep Going

He held her hand as they fell. They yelled and screamed as the wind made their hair fly back and clothes ripple. As they fell, he squeezed tighter, to make sure she knew he was there. She squeezed back. He didn't know how long they were going to fall. How long does it take to get the bottom of an endless pit? Obviously, it had to end at some point, but when? He knew that the impact from the fall would kill them; their legs just wouldn't be able to take the shock, especially with Annabeth's broken leg. He knew that they had to survive this, so he started focusing with all of his might. He felt the water in the air and the walls around them. He tried to stretch this feeling downward, but he couldn't sense the ground. He decided to stop trying to find the ground and return back to focusing on the air. He knew that there was a lot of water in the air, especially underground. He imagined a pillow made out of water under their bellies, because they were falling like a skydiver. He imagined it a few feet thick, then it changing from liquid to solid, well Jell-O-like, solid, but liquid at the same time. He kept it there. It was hard, but he managed to keep it there, with Annabeth was in awe, while they fell. Soon, he could sense the ground below them. He focused extra hard on the Jell-O water and had it absorb the impact for them. Despite, their predicament, he couldn't help but wonder if monster had to fall, or if the dust just reformed in the pit. If so, he really envied monsters for once. As soon as they rested on the ground for a little bit, they knew they had to keep moving. He grabbed her arm and threw it around his shoulders and helped her walk. He had a little ambrosia in his pocket, but she denied it, knowing that there would be more serious injuries in their future. They kept walking. It was a creepy hallway, much like the labyrinth, but luckily there were no human bodies, but that was just because no humans had been there before. The ground was dirt and uneven. The walls were dirt and full of cobwebs. The ceiling was made up of stones, but dirt was falling every once in awhile, just like a child dropped a handful of dirt in their hand. So basically, they were in Gaea's domain with no way out, no help, no resources, and no idea what they were going to do. He would have felt fear, but at that point he was just thinking of Annabeth and the task at hand. The Roman camp rubbed off on him like that. They didn't talk much as they walked. There wasn't much to say. Actually, that was a lie. There was a lot to talk about. The elephant in the room was enormous. But it all was worries. All dread. They knew that saying the overall fears would be too much and make them all so real. It would crush them before Gaea got the chance to. All of a sudden, the quiet, scary calmness of the hallway of hell was not so calm. A dracaena came from around a corner. It was not prepared for a fight, or to see demigods. That made it even more aggressive. It had not had a meal in probably a long time, and two demigods sounded great. The monster attacked with vigor. Percy knew Annabeth wasn't up to the fight and dropped her immediately. He pulled out his handy dandy pen and got to work. The hallway was skinny so there was limited range of motion. There wasn't really any room to dodge or spin, or even get in a good hack with his sword. That made it a lot more dangerous. They were only fighting for a few minutes and he already had some wounds. This fight would normally only have taken him a few seconds, but now it was taking him some energy. Finally, after a few bad claw scratches, he finally got a killing blow on the monster. He collapsed on the ground next to his love and caught his breath. She rubbed his shoulders and kissed his check. He appreciated the gesture and gave her sweet kiss on her lips. It was short, but said everything that needed to be said. After a break and some water, that he conjured of course, they knew it was time get move. He hopped up and gave his hand to his love. Though it was hard, they kept moving. They knew what was coming would be worse, but continued on.


Winston Churchill once said, "If you're going through hell, keep going."
And that's exactly what they did.

thanks for reading!

-T