Chapter 1: Percy

Percy had never really been one for schedules. Being ADD, he could never follow an exact plan without getting distracted. But he was pretty sure that throwing yourself and your girlfriend into Tartarus would never be on anyone's schedule. But of course, it had to be on his.

Now, Percy had taken some pretty crazy falls before. In fact, years ago, he had jumped off the St. Louis Arch to avoid a crazy Chihuahua (now that was a long story.) But that had felt different. Along with the all-consuming fear, he had felt the warmth of the sun and the rush of wind in his hair. He was falling towards his element, the water, one of the only places he felt safe. Falling into a realm that even the gods didn't dare visit, he felt… well, nothing. He was hot and cold all at the same time. He knew from the overall aching in his body that he had a lot of bad injuries, but he couldn't pinpoint where his pain was coming from. It was like a stampede of party ponies decided to have one of their crazy parties… all over his body. But it wasn't just the pain, or the not knowing how to feel that made his plunge so horrible. It was the whispers. All around him he heard them. They were whispering words of failure, things that made him lose hope. They were reminding him of all the times he'd felt helpless. He heard the bitter voices of heroes who had fallen before him. For a moment he thought he'd heard Luke, his old mentor. He was laughing in a not so friendly way. More like a haha-and-I-thought-I-had-rotten-luck. Great. Glad even the dead pity me now, Percy thought bitterly. He turned to Annabeth, only to find that she wasn't there.

He panicked then. His final promise to her had been that he wouldn't let her go ever again, and he'd already lost her. He flailed around in the air, frantically searching for her in the dim light of the chasm. He cursed. It was too dark to see his legs, let alone his girlfriend. Then he felt the familiar weight of his pen in his pocket. He reached in his pocket and brought it out. As soon as he uncapped it, it became the celestial bronze sword called riptide. It gave off a faint glow that would frighten away even the worst monster. He waved it around, desperately searching for those grey eyes that he had always loved. He spent another five minutes scanning the chasm for Annabeth, but he had no results. She wasn't there. In frustration, he threw his sword, knowing it would return to him in a matter of minutes. As he was watching his sword go down, Percy saw something that shocked him into action. He couldn't be sure, but he thought he'd seen a flash of curly blonde hair in the light of his sword. He blocked out all the other noises and tried to focus on that one spot. Finally, he heard her. She was sobbing. Percy felt a guilt like nothing he'd ever felt before. She was scared to death and had too many injuries to count, including a badly broken ankle, and on top of all that, she was alone.

He'd never say it out loud, but he'd always been a little jealous of Jason. OK, he'd been extremely jealous. Percy hadn't asked for it, but he'd always been the leader at Camp Half-Blood. Then on this crazy quest Hera forced them into, he'd had to take orders from other people, including Jason. Just thinking about it made him cringe. But fighting the twin giants had brought the two together, and they had become a stronger force because of it.

But now was not the time to have gooey feelings about his newfound friendship with the son of Jupiter. He thought back to all the times he'd seen Jason fly. At the moment, Percy was in spread-eagle, like he was going to do a belly flip into some nonexistent pool. When Jason wanted to reach something below him quickly, he shifted his body so he was vertical and extended his arms, kind of like superman. Percy put his body into this position and sure enough, he quickly descended to where he had heard Annabeth.

At first he felt nothing, but then his hands touched something soft. Annabeth's hair. Unthinkingly, he gripped it. Hard.

"Ow! Ow OW!" cried Annabeth. Percy cringed and loosened his grip.

"Sorry! Gods, Annabeth, I thought I'd lost you already."

"You aren't getting rid of me that easily, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth said. She took Percy's hand and pulled him downwards so they were face to face. Percy looked at her and immediately felt better. She had been crying, that much was obvious, but she still looked beautiful. Her grey eyes that were always changing colors had a little blue in them now, and they reminded him of the sea right after a storm. To him, she was prettier than Aphrodite, even now. She had a spark in her eyes that told him she was happy to see him, but he also saw confusion on her face.

"What is it?" Percy asked, worried that her injuries were worse than she'd let on.

"You're smiling," she said.

He hadn't realized it, but now he could feel the huge smile plastered on his face. He tried to turn it down a few notches, but he was just too happy to see her. He blushed a bit.

"Yeah. I guess I am," he said. She stared at him.

"Percy, we're falling probably to our deaths. Even if we do live, we are going to have to face the worst monsters of all time. Then, if by some miracle we defeat the monsters, we have to fight through all of Gaea's forces to close the Doors of Death. Then, if by some chance we manage to make it through all of that, we still have to defeat Gaea. What could you possibly have to smile about?" She stared imploringly at him with beautiful grey eyes that held no hope at all.

"Because," Percy said, "I'm with you." Then he kissed her, and for a moment, they weren't in Tartarus. They were back at Camp Half-Blood with all of their friends. There was no Gaea, and they were going to live a happy life together. But their happy moment ended as quickly as it had begun. Instead of the darkness he had grown used to, Percy saw something else. The ground. They were hurtling towards the ground at fatal speeds.Percy held Annabeth and braced himself for the worst.