Percy II

Percy dreamed he was on the Argo II. He was in the mess hall looking around at one of the saddest bunches of demigods he had ever seen, Piper and Jason were holding hands on the table but no one was talking or even looking at each other. They were all just sitting there staring morosely at their food as though hoping it would eat itself. After a while Leo stood up,

"I'm going to check on Festus." He trudged dispiritedly from the room.

One by one the demigods and Coach Hedge made their excuses and left. Eventually Jason and Piper were the only ones still at the table. Jason stood up still holding Piper's hand.

"Leo..." he said jerking his head in the direction of the bronze figurehead, she nodded and followed him out into the night. Percy trailed along behind them. Leo was indeed conferring with Festus.

"So Leo... what's the plan man?" Jason asked as he came level with him.

"Oh well, we're going to try flying directly South-East to Greece. It's faster, plus on the water we're at a disadvantage since... since Percy... fell."

"Yea... hey listen man you're not still blaming yourself are you?"

"It was my fault; I opened Nemesis's fortune cookie. I accepted the consequences and then Percy and Annabeth fell into Tartarus you think that was a coincidence?"

Piper spoke up "You can't blame yourself! Blame Gaia or Arachne! Blame Nemesis and her stupid fortune cookie! This is NOT your fault Leo! And we'll get them back!"

Even in a dream Percy could feel the charmspeak washing over him erasing everything else; suddenly he hated Gaia, Arachne and Nemesis. He would make them pay and Percy and Annabeth would be saved! He snapped himself out of it; Piper's charmspeak was getting powerful. He figured if it affected him this badly in a dream Leo and Jason had no hope. Sure enough Leo was looking positively cheerful and Jason had actually pulled out his sword and was looking around on the off chance that one of them would appear so he could exact his revenge. Upon seeing the boys reactions to her words Piper looked horrified.

"Oh gods, I'm so sorry sometimes I do it without meaning to!"

As she said this the spell was broken, Jason lowered his sword and though his eyes remained slightly glazed he turned to Piper and smiled,

"Its fine Pipes we know you didn't mean to."

She grinned at him in a sheepish manner "Yea well I'm going to go to bed before I convince you to jump over the side of the ship or something."

Leo made a big show of going stiff and beginning to walk towards the railings that surrounded the Argo II.

"Shut up!" she said but she walked over to him and gave him a hug "night admiral."

She gave Jason a kiss. "See you in the morning sparky."

Jason laughed "Sparky? Have you seen your hair?"

"What?" she reached up and felt her hair which was now standing up on end like she'd been exposed to high levels of static electricity. "Jason!"

"It was an accident!" he replied trying and failing to look innocent.

"You're impossible!" and with that she left to go to bed.

Leo moved closer to Jason. "Her charmspeak is getting powerful though." Jason looked at Leo incredulously,

"I wanted to challenge Gaia to single combat! Powerful doesn't even begin to describe what she can do! But… she was right man" Jason clapped Leo on the shoulder "we'll get them back."

"Yea" muttered Leo "but at what cost?"

Thousands of miles away Percy awoke with a start. Annabeth was still asleep; he'd wait until she woke up to tell her. He thought over all that he'd seen making sure he could remember it all. They were flying South-East to Greece, They were all upset he and Annabeth were gone, something about Nemesis and a fortune cookie and everyone was alright even if they were a bit depressed. Percy looked around; being in Tartarus was terrifying and lonely at the best of times. After seeing the Argo II and the people he'd come to regard as family, being here was almost unbearable. He figured if not for Annabeth he would've already gone insane, and they hadn't even seen any monsters yet. No wonder Nico had that shattered look in his eyes, being down here all by himself; it's amazing they didn't have to book him a padded cell. Annabeth woke up a little while later.

After a quick breakfast Percy decided to tell Annabeth what he'd seen.

"I had a dream."

"Really? I had a nightmare!"

"What happened in yours?"

She looked at him, "We fell into Tartarus."

"Ha Ha Ha." He said sarcastically "Why aren't you a comedian?"

She grinned at him and he realised how incredible she actually was. In the past day she had broken her ankle, stood up to her greatest fear and fallen into Tartarus. Yet here she was making jokes tying to keep his spirits up despite the fact that she was in just as bad a situation as he was. It made him feel guilty for being negative.

"Well?" she said "What happened in your dream?"

He told Annabeth everything. She sighed with relief to hear that the other demigods were safe. She laughed when I told her about Jason, Piper and Leo's antics but the sound faded quickly, lost in the endless Abyss.

"How's your ankle?" I asked her.

"It's fine." She said reaching down with her knife to cut off the bubble wrap cast. We were quiet for a while then she said "What are we going to do Percy?"

"What do you mean?"

"We have to battle our way through Tartarus. How do you kill something that's already died and gone to Hell?"

"I don't know, how do you kill something that's already died, gone to Hell and come back again? Numerous times. 'Cause that's what we're doing every time we kill a monster back on the surface."

She laughed, "I suppose you have a point… How do you do it Percy?"

"Do what?"

"Believe that everything will just be OK?"

"Because," I said, lacing my fingers through hers "I know we're together and if we are, we can do anything. I know that I love you… and there is no way I'm letting you die down here. Plus we are not going to die while the gods owe us."

She looked at me inquisitively "Owe us what?"

"You're kidding right? We've destroyed monsters and fought Titans, saved Olympus and battled Giants. We fell into Tartarus for Zeus's sake! The Gods OWE us a happily ever after!"

She laughed yet again, "Very true."

I bought her hand still entwined in mine, up to my lips and kissed it. And, despite the fact that we were alone in Tartarus and we were probably going to die, for a moment I was just glad to be with her.