Her fingers throbbed and ached as she clung to the ragged edge of the cliff, her feet dangling over the edge of the abyss. Her heart hammered in her chest, her breath nothing but short gasps. Her fingers soon became slick with sweat and she slowly started to lose her grip. Just when she though she couldn't hang on any longer, he was there with his strong cool hands on hers. She looked up to find sea blue eyes looking down into hers, and soon enough the hammering in her chest became a flutter.
"I've got you… don't worry-" But then, the cliff started to crumble beneath him as well and they were falling, falling, long enough for a short scream to leave her lips, but before the darkness could envelope them, she felt a jolt and they now were suspended in midair. She looked up to see the love of her life clinging to a sort of root that was extended out only but a couple feet from the side of the cliff, his face scrunched in what could have been pain, his fingers turning white from the strain of holding up the both of them. "Percy…you have to let me go…" She gasped, his hand tight around her own, causing her pain. "Please… Percy please…" She begged, tears squeezing from her eyes. She couldn't be responsible for his death. She just couldn't.
"No." He breathed, the bright blue of his eyes looking down upon her, a despairing look in his eyes. "No, Annabeth, I won't let you go." He gasped as his fingers slipped down a few inches on the root, his teeth gritted in frustration. "Whatever happens… we'll be together."
Annabeth looked up at Percy, a frightened look in her eyes, but that slowly started to go away. Her fingers slowly tightened around his, her trembling lips upturning the slightest in a shaky grin. "We'll be together…" She repeated, Percy's eyes staying on her as he let go and his arms moved about her as they plummeted down until the darkness swallowed them up…
Annabeth awoke with a jolt, her cheek pressed against cold hard ground. A soft groan left her lips as her fingers reached to the crown of her head which throbbed constantly. Upon opening her eyes, all she could see was darkness, but after allowing her eyes a few minutes to adjust she could pick out shapes and outlines. There were jagged chunks of something all around her, which she figured were pieces of the floor that had fallen down here from above. She and Percy were just lucky nothing had fallen on top of them after they landed down here… wait… Percy.
"Percy?" Her voice was nothing but a croak and she began to wonder just how long she had been out cold. "Percy!" She tried again, but there was no response. Her wide panicked eyes scanned what she could see of the room, starting to search on her hands and knees as she tried to find anything that would give her a clue of Percy's location. Soon enough, her eyes picked out a different sort of shape on the floor. The hope was enough for her to scramble over and upon reaching it her fingers grasped soft material and warmth beneath. "Oh gods… Percy…" She gasped as she turned his body over, it being nothing but a rag doll. "Percy please… seaweed brain you have to wake up!" Her fingers gently cupped his cheeks as her thumbs slowly stroked his cheekbones. Leaning down, she pressed her ear to his chest and heard the deep thrum of his heart beating. Oh, thank the gods. She took a deep breath to calm herself and leaned down, lightly pressing a kiss to his forehead as her fingers brushed the dark locks back from his eyes. "I'll take care of you, Percy. I promise I won't let anything happen to you."
She was surprised as she heard a soft noise of pain his lips and soon enough his eyes fluttered open. They looked a little clouded, like he was dazed and confused, but she was just glad that he was conscious. "Oh, Percy, thanks the gods are you alright?" She asked urgently, her eyes and fingers moving over him relentlessly as they searched for anything that could be wrong with him. However, he soon reached up with his hand and took her fingers in his own, making her stop and look at him for a moment, trying to calm her down as she seemed a little frantic.
"I'm fine, Annabeth." He slowly started to sit up, a dull throb in the back of his head as he did so. "Are you alright?" His bright blue eyes seemed to almost glow in the darkness, easily cutting through to find hers.
"I'm okay." She reassured him before tilting her head up and staring at the space overhead, almost expecting to see some sort of light in the distance which would be the hole in the cavern they fell through. However, there was no such luck. It gave her a sort of sick feeling in her gut as it almost seemed to be confirmation that they were indeed stuck down here with no way out.
Thinking about what she and Percy had just lived through was enough to make her breath shorten, her throat tighten, and tears sting at the back of her eyes. It only reminded her that this was only the beginning and that they had much more waiting for them in the depths of the dark. Hearing her gasp for breath, Percy moved quickly to put his strong arms around her and pull her into his chest for comfort, hoping that he could give her a sense of security. "Shh… it's okay Annabeth. We'll be okay. I'll make sure of that. I'm not going to let anything hurt you."
"Percy…" Annabeth curled into his warmth and let him comfort her, but she still had many negative thoughts running through her mind. She wasn't stupid and Percy knew that. She knew what was down here and Tartarus and how it kept some of the most notorious villains, known to the gods, in captivity. If Percy thought it was going to be easy to stay alive down here… he was wrong.
She didn't know how long they stayed like that, she in his lap with his fingers slowly brushing through her golden tangles of hair, but soon enough she felt him move beneath her, starting to stand. We need to start moving. We aren't going to find the exit by sitting around." He kept his arm around her waist though, keeping her close. "But stay close." He warned and Annabeth planned on doing so. She was done being weak. Now was the time to bring out the mighty warrior running through her veins.
Annabeth's ears picked up the soft rustle of Percy's fingers running along the side of the cavern, following it. He figured that there had to be a part in the wall that would allow them a way through and thankfully, there was, but unfortunately it didn't seem to be getting any lighter. Soon, the path opened up into another large cavern, leaving Percy a little more than lost. He took a few hesitant steps into the darkness, but there was a growing sense of unease in the pit of his stomach, something that told him he was about to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. "Annabeth…" He whispered before he heard it. A distant cracking noise sounded, and as it grew louder and more prominent he felt the ground beneath their feet start to quake.
"Percy…!" Annabeth gasped and stumbled into a rough wall of the cavern, her hand slipping out of his as he in turn stumbled in the opposite direction, catching himself on jagged rock. "Annabeth!" Percy yelled over the rumble that was slowly starting to sound more like a roar. Then, in a deafening crack, the floor split in two and bright molten rock oozed up between the crack and slowly crept along, melting anything in its path.
"Percy, what do we do?!" She screamed as the cavern shook more monstrous than any time before, bringing her to her knees and having to brace her hands on either side of her. Then, it went from bad to worse. The crack widened with another deafening crack and molten glowing liquid spewed up into the air as arms the side of tree trunks burst from below, long spindly fingers wiggling and finally bracing themselves on either side of the crack, the large creature slowly lifting itself up from the depths, its eyes glowing red and its body seeming to be made of the glowing molten rock it appeared out of. A deep roar shook the caverns, its jaws opening wide showing off its black jagged teeth as its roar slowly turned into a low rumble of a laugh.
"Never thought I'd see the day the son of the sea god made his way down to these depths." The voice was as jagged as the being it came out of, if that's what you called it. It looked more like a sort of demon to Annabeth, as it was more than ten times their size and didn't resemble anything human that she knew of. Annabeth's eyes quickly darted to Percy across the way who seemed as speechless as she was. The demon's laughter shook the cavern once more as it lowered itself down almost to the point it was eyelevel with Percy, but it still towered over him. "What's wrong little demigod? Scared? Well… you should be." Before Annabeth could do anything, the creature reached out with a massive clawed hand and snatched Percy up; his yells of agony easily reaching her ears.
"Percy!" She screamed and, without thinking, ran after the creature. She didn't even have a weapon at hand, but all she knew was that she couldn't stand by and watch as Percy died. "Put him down or-"
Then, she was flying through the air after the creature whacked her with a massive hand and she hit the opposite wall with a crack, slumping down onto the hard floor of the cavern dazed and confused. She thought she distantly heard Percy's cry of her name, but it was hard to hear with the constant ringing in her ears. A warm flow of liquid oozed slowly down the right side of her face and her body stung and ached where the creature had touched her, the smell of burnt flesh in the air. "Perc…" She wheezed and tried to sit up, fighting through the pulses of sharp jabs in her head and back. Her eyes slowly focused to find the glow of the demon across the cavern and soon anger was flowing through her once more, giving her enough strength to stand, but that's as far as she get because, quicker than she could blink, the demon appeared beside her with Percy in hand.
"I believe you were in the middle of threatening me, daughter of Athena." He chuckled and she thought she saw smoke dancing out of the dark pit of its nostrils. "Go on, I dare you."
Annabeth's lips trembled as she tried to think of something to say, but she figured it was probably smarter to keep her mouth shut.
"Good girl. Your mother did give you some of her smarts." The demon straightened then, looking down over her with Percy still in hand. "Your good behavior deserves a reward, don't you think?" He took a step or so back and then, more gently than Annabeth thought possible, he laid Percy down on the cavern floor where he stayed.
"Perc…" Annabeth gasped and, even though it hurt like hell, she started at a run over to where he lay. She should have saw it coming, should have saw the malice in the creatures red eyes, but she had made a mistake in trusting anything this demon did. The creature struck out easily, stabbing its claws into the earth conveniently right where Percy lay. It had played them, or rather, Annabeth. It could have killed Percy at any moment, and her as well, but for some reason it was toying with her…
"NO!" Annabeth screamed and ran toward where she last saw Percy, and surely enough, as the creature retracted its claws from the ground, Percy was there, lying motionless on the ground. "No no no no…" She went to him, shaking fingers extended to touch him as she fell to her knees at his side. From what she could see, only one of the creature's claws had punctured Percy, but it did plenty of damage. The one massive claw left a massive wound in Percy's middle where it was constantly spitting out blood and already leaving a pretty massive puddle beneath him. His eyes fluttered as if he were struggling to stay awake and that only further enduced Annabeth's mind to panic. "No, Percy you have to stay with me we… I'll get you to water and then you can heal and…" One of his hands reached shakily to hers on his chest; his fingers brushed hers slowly as he beckoned her close, his lips moving as if to speak, but his voice was nothing but a whisper.
"I'm… sorry…" He choked out, blood spurting from his lips in the process and Annabeth had to hold back the burning tears with everything she had as she shook her head, quickly reaching up with her fingers and wiping away the blood from his lips.
"Shh… don't be sorry, Percy. Please don't be sorry…" She bit her lip hard and leaned down to gently press a kiss to the corner of his mouth as her fingers pushed back his dark locks. "I love you, Perc… please don't die you can't die you're not suppose to die…"
"I'm so… sorry…" He gasped out again, his usual sea blue eyes starting to dim until the light was no longer there and his chest ceased to move. Annabeth watched with with her wide silver eyes as if she couldn't accept that he was gone, that he had left her. She had just gotten him back…
"No Percy no…." She sobbed and found herself lost of all strength, falling beside his body and into his blood, the tears streaming down her cheeks hot and relentless. She couldn't do this without him… Her eyes closed tightly, thinking this was all just a bad dream and that perhaps when she opened her eyes once more, Percy would be in her arms, alive and well, but no matter how tight she clung to him and how deeply she wished, she would not feel his heart beating beneath her fingers, or the warmth of her arms around her, or the sweet taste of sea salt on his lips ever again. Percy was dead. She had failed him.
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