A/N: Thanks so much for the readers so far, you are all incredible people and I love you all so much!
On a darker note, here is chapter 3. Welcome back to Tartarus.
Percy just wanted it to stop.
End, in death, or some lesser oblivion.
The pain of being tortured dragged him into a sharp sense of reality.
My name is Perseus Jackson. I'm the son of Poseidon and Sally Jackson. Annabeth is my girlfriend. I'm seventeen years old. I am back in Tartarus...
He went through the motions, trying to hold on to his sanity. All around him were screams. They tore through the darkness like fingernails on a blackboard and ripped into his head, burning his ears. Worst of all were the intelligible words from across the room. "STOP, PLEASE! STOP HURTING HIM, WE DON'T KNOW!" Their piercing desperation was utterly haunting. "PERCY'S JUST A KID, YOU CAN'T DO THIS!" Zeus was hurting a kid called Percy.
My name is Perseus Jackson. I'm seventeen years old.
Those were his screams -
Percy woke up shaking and spasming. A jolt of white-hot electricity coursed through his veins, burning his insides. Lightning struck, tickling his fingers, then slashing through his arm, shoulder, chest, into his organs, scarring them with bolts fresh from Zeus' fingertips. His sunken eyes rolled. He choked and coughed up a thin stream of bright red blood, sickly and vibrant.
Zeus roared. "You DARE, expulse that rotten venom from your body? How about this then," he snarled. He pulled out his knife - a cruel, eight-inch blade - and Percy shrank back into his chains, flinching at the memories of its uses. Zeus tapped it tauntingly on his blood-encrusted knuckles. He then sliced into the flesh around his fingertip, digging out the nail of his left index finger. Percy cried out helplessly. He gritted his teeth and, as the next nail was torn out, cried into the back of his mouth. Tears were pouring down his cheeks. More blood spurted out of his mouth as he convulsed with shock.
Percy caught eyes with Artemis as he groaned in dread. His eyes were pleading, hopeless, and she felt as useless as a broken bowstring with her wrists hanging limp from the wall. She had to do something.
"I-I-" she stuttered.
Zeus took his attention away from the broken half-blood to look at his abandoned daughter. "You want to say something, child?" he sneered.
"I know- I- There-" Her voice faltered, as she searched her brains for information she didn't know, some forgotten truth that could save this pitiful boy from his fate.
Apollo looked dumbfounded. Honestly, how naive and stupid could his sister get? "You think making up lies will help? How does saying ANYTHING help? Shut up, for Percy's sake. Just shut up." His tone was defeated and submissive, as Percy prepared himself for another onslaught of punishment.
Zeus turned back to him, fury boiling in his dark-rimmed eyes. He smiled sadistically and put his knife to Percy's chest, a little below his trachea. Percy drew breath and clenched his fists as Zeus drew a deep, permanent gash down to his stomach. Thick, hot blood poured from the wound. Zeus chucked his knife aside and curled his fist, then sent sparks once more through his hand, latching onto Percy's abdomen. His whole body shook and he rattled against his chains, crying out. The blinding light from the electricity caused Apollo and Artemis to squeeze their eyes shut. Percy groaned in recoil. His head lulled.
"Getting tired are we?" Zeus snarled. "Too bad you'll still be awake for this next one. Obviously the Hero of Olympus," Zeus made an infuriating mock bow, "isn't quite enough to get these two to crack, so I will need another subject. Still, no point wasting a perfectly good demigod. I want to see your pain as you watch."
Zeus snapped his fingers and the door was flung open. Two hooded creatures dragged a limp body across the bloodstained floor, its feet catching and its hair matted and caked in dirt. They thrust it against the wall. Slowly and painstakingly, they locked its wrists to a set of chains next to Percy. Its hair was short and jet-black, but Percy could tell from the face that they had brought in a girl. She glowed a dull silver, like an aura.
Artemis' breath hitched in her throat. The girl had the glow of a Hunter. Yet she radiated something more powerful, a blessing stronger than that of a normal Hunter, mixed with a very powerful demigod.
"Let's see if her lieutenant's suffering will get dear Artemis to crack."
A/N: Please leave a review, it only takes two seconds! Reviews means happy author, and happy author means faster updates. :)
Constructive criticism adored!
~FlamesOfHestia