Ughhh... Go home and play streets of rage 3, kiddos. I just played it for like 7 hours in a row, jeez.

Here's the new chapter. I'm so so so so so so so so so so sorry for the wait, Christmas has been hectic and this story has no plan, it's all improv. If you have any ideas for where it should go, please review. I'll try to update more regularly from now on.

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Chapter 4

Annabeth II

Annabeth groaned and let her head fall into her arms.

They had about five more days until they got back to camp. She had been sat at her desk for a solid two of those days, searching her laptop for something, anything on Tartarus. She'd thought that she had lost her backpack and dagger, when the floor had collapsed when she was fighting Arachne, but apparently Jason had seen it hooked on a web and picked it up before it could fall. This was good, as only Daedalus' laptop could keep up with her fingers flying about the keyboard in search of answers. She'd researched myths, facts, eyewitness accounts that she could tell were fake but read anyway, until her back creaked with a locked strain that only ADHD hyper fixation could give her.

There had to be a way to help Percy.

A knock on her door had her blinking blearily at the outline of Piper as she came into the room. Her eyes burned at the sudden revelation that her lights were on. It must be night time. Piper walked over to where she was sat, worry on her angular face, and she placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, Annabeth. You know, it's getting pretty late. You need to eat." Piper said, firmly yet softly.

"No." Annabeth shook her head insistently, gesturing to the piles and piles of paper strewn across her table. "Not yet. Not until I find at least one thing we can use from all this."

Piper's face creased with concern.

"Have you been sleeping?" she asked, "You have bags under your eyes."

Annabeth resisted the urge to roll her eyes, partly because she knew that if her eyes rolled upwards, she might pass out. "I've been sleeping when I need to." she said.

It was half a lie and half a truth.

"Let me guess," said Piper, too intuitive for her own good, "You haven't needed to?"

Annabeth didn't answer.

"I know you want to help him, but…" Piper started, and Annabeth knew exactly what she would say next. "Percy wouldn't want you to do this to yourself."

Annabeth looked at her friend; she knew she cared, and deep down below her desperation, she really appreciated it. She needed a friend like Piper more than she had realised. But just not right now. "Piper," she said, hating the plea in her voice, "If you're not going to help, then just please leave me alone."

She half expected Piper to walk out at that, not come back, maybe get angry at her, or snap at her. But she didn't. The daughter of Aphrodite took Annabeth's hand gently, cold from all the typing on her keyboard, and tugged her out of her seat. Her back was so scrunched and kinked, she couldn't help but sigh out loud as everything aligned back into place.

"No, Annabeth." Piper told her, looking immensely regretful, "You need to eat and then sleep. Remember?"

Annabeth dimly heard a faint melody caressing her eardrums. It whispered Piper's words to her softly, and though Annabeth felt a loud thought trying to burrow into her conscious, a reminder of… something (a warning, perhaps?), she ignored it instead. She found herself obediently nodding. It really hit her how much she needed to eat and then sleep all of a sudden. Why hadn't she done those things before? Quite silly of her not to. Eating and sleeping were essential.

She saw walls moving, felt footsteps under her walking boots.

Eyes turning in her direction.

Quiet, and then low voices, one a little more defensive than the others.

A chair pushed under her, and then eventually, a feeling of warmth in her stomach.

It was only a few minutes later that Annabeth became more aware of what she was doing. Where she was. She blinked and the image of the dining room wafted into view; she was sat at the table in the dining room, at the head of the table. To her left sat Leo, Jason and Piper, to her right, Frank, Hazel and Coach Hedge. They were all tucking into their Chinese food. Her eyes flicked to the windows opposite. It was dark outside, darker than she'd ever seen the night sky, not a star in sight, and the sea shook their boat every now and then, wild torrents of black waves hitting the wooden sides. Her attention refocused to the sudden coldness of the metal cutlery in her hands sinking into her skin, murmurs sharpening into actual words around her. The taste of soy sauce rested in her mouth.

She blinked again.

"You used charmspeak on me?" she demanded to a suddenly guilty-looking Piper across the table, slamming her cutlery down with a loud bang.

All conversation fell silent, and they shifted nervously. She saw them glance at each other, exchanging looks of panic, and not one of them directly looked her in the eye.

"Annabeth, we're really sorry, but you needed to-" Jason started.

"So you decided to Charmspeak me, like you would some common monster?" she snapped.

"You weren't eating-" Piper rose to the defence, looking indignant.

"I was-!"

"Those little half-melted cereal bars don't count-"

"They do-"

"You needed to come down and eat a hot meal!"

"And I would have!" Annabeth found herself raising her voice louder than she had in days, "When I'd found something! Something useful, that we could do something with! But until that time, I was going to work!"

"It's been two days since we last saw you, we were worried-" Hazel reasoned, and as much as she tried, Annabeth couldn't calm down.

"What? That I couldn't take care of myself?" she asked them.

"That's not what we-"

"That I'm that helpless without him that I don't have enough common sense to function?"

She could tell that it didn't go unnoticed that she skipped his name, and she saw Frank and Jason exchange a glance across the table. A deep scowl fell onto her face, and she watched Leo go pale.

"We just wanted you to come sit down and-" Piper didn't get far before Annabeth cut her off again, unwilling to listen, and- though she knew deep down she meant no harm- slightly wary of the Charmspeaker.

"Just stop it!" she snapped, "I don't have time to sit down and play happy families! He's in Tartarus. Tartarus! Do you get that? You know, I may not have found a way for him to get out, but I did discover one thing. Did you know that time passes differently down there? One day up here could be a week, a month, a year?"

She noticed Hazel and Nico look guiltily at each other.

"Did you know this?" she rounded on them angrily.

"Yes," Nico said flatly. "I've been there, remember?"

Annabeth cooled off a bit at that. She dropped her eyes, and sank back into her chair. She just wanted to help, but nothing was telling her anything. It wasn't even that the sources were wrong, it was that the sources in general were far and few between. But Nico had been there, and though she knew it was a delicate subject, she couldn't help but give in to the urge to ask him. She knew it had been bad for a son of Hades, but shadows and monsters were part of his domain. Percy's natural strengths were in the sea and the rain, neither of which she guessed were down there. She leant forwards, almost unconsciously. Nico knew and she had to as well. She needed to know everything she could to help Percy.

She tried to phrase it tactfully but thought it would be better to say it outright than hop around the question and insult his intelligence.

"What was it like? For a demigod?" she asked.

Nico hesitated, and as much as they obviously tried not to, everyone looked at him. His eyes flashed as he crossed his skinny arms.

"It was bad, Annabeth." Nico said simply, "You know it is. It's literally hell. I was in there for a few days, I think, on the surface at least."

Annabeth knew she shouldn't, knew that it was still fresh and vivid in his mind, but she pressed on. "Yes, but what was it like?"

Nico scowled harder.

"Hot. Dark. Endless." he paused between each word, and though the young teenager visibly tried to control himself, he couldn't seem to stop his skin getting whiter with every description he tossed out.

Ignoring the mimed warnings being thrown her way, Annabeth kept on digging at her first credible source; and maybe she hadn't quite forgiven Nico yet, for hiding Percy at Camp Jupiter from her.

"As a son of Hades, how do you think a son of Poseidon would fare?"

Nico didn't answer; he seemed to not want to.

"Like I said, I barely survived." he said eventually, avoiding the question, and his voice grew smaller as he spoke, as if he was falling back into the void of the underworld, "Gaia's forces overwhelmed me instantly. They're so powerful down there… I almost went insane."

He looked up at Annabeth, and she felt such a strong wave of empathy from the boy, she almost didn't recognise him. But to her, the look in his eyes… it looked like pity. Like she was a grieving widow, and he was patting her on the back at Percy's funeral. Annabeth hated pity.

"What does it look like down there?" she asked, a whole stream of questions entering her mind, "Would there be any way to navigate it? Any way to send a message, or to receive a message-"

"Annabeth-" Frank interjected worriedly.

"-Any way at all to help him, to send down supplies, at least?"

"I don't-" Nico was getting annoyed, but that just set off Annabeth in turn, who was sick of him skirting over what she was asking.

"Just give me a straight answer!" she demanded.

"Annabeth, I don't know!" Nico snapped loudly, shooting up to stand in his seat, "I wasn't exactly down there sketching the architecture! It was just monster after monster after monster, with no end in sight until those Giants kidnapped me. I don't know what can be done to help Percy, probably because there's nothing that can be done!"

With that he pushed away his chair, which fell on its back with a loud bang, and strode out the door. The shadows in the room flickered, and for a second, Annabeth thought she saw ghostly faces in them. Hazel slipped out after him, sending Annabeth a disapproving frown.

There was an awkward silence lingering after, and Annabeth sat down. She hadn't even realised she'd stood up. All the indignation had gone out of her, draining into a tired kind of guilt. These were her friends. She shouldn't fight them. They were just as unhappy as she was, and each of them had cried their fair share in the first few days. She had heard Jason and Frank blame themselves harshly, saying that they both should have flown down to go catch him, even though Nico had assured them that they would have been sucked down too, which would have been even worse.

"It just feels like no one else wants to help." Annabeth mumbled.

"Of course we do Annabeth." Jason told her gently. "We miss him too."

"I just- I don't want him to- to come back like- like-"

The words hung in the air, and she could tell they all heard what she hadn't said, the unspoken end to her sentence.

She didn't want Percy to come back like Nico. All ghostly white and weak and frail, and the opposite of who he was. She didn't want him to forget about her either; if five days could be five years, would he even still remember her face? Remember their plans? Would he come out shredded and sickly, in his early twenties, more monster than mortal?

"Guys, this is Percy." Leo said, "He'll be fine. Dude can do anything."

"There are rivers in Tartarus." Annabeth murmured.

They weren't nice rivers though. Amnesia, depression, pain, more pain, and certain death. She hoped he could control them.

"That could be good, Annabeth. But there isn't really anything we can do until we have the Gods back." Piper placated, still on the subject, unaware of Annabeth's thoughts racing at a million miles an hour.

"I know that!" Annabeth said shortly, but winced after. "Gods, sorry, I-"

But she was cut off by a loud crash that echoed from the deck above them.

Their heads snapped up and weapons were drawn instantly as the boat shook, and the heavy pattering of footsteps swarmed the floorboards above them. Annabeth gripped Riptide tightly, in its pen form in her pocket. She had kept it with her since Percy had left it behind. It was vaguely comforting, like a bit of him was still there with her.

"Monsters." Frank frowned.

They all got out of their chairs, taking out their weapons. At the risk of setting the ship on fire (again), Leo seemed to have foregone his usual flaming hands, and gripped a solid looking hammer in his hand. Taking the lead, Jason gestured for them to wait.

"Let me check first." he said firmly, before taking a breath, and ducking around the corner.

They waited a beat, but Annabeth wasn't having it; she pushed past, and the others followed her as she rushed out onto the deck.

The sky was black outside, the noise of the tempestuous sea roaring in her ears. The only light in the battle came from some solar power lights Leo had strung around the mast, though she could see him hurrying to set ablaze a torch in the corner. Hazel and Nico were already fighting, blurs of black and gold, and a slightly overwhelmed Jason was methodically cutting down a small group trying to bite him. His gladius was wrapped in electricity like barbed wire, flashing light illuminating the snarling monsters. There was quite an assortment, a couple Harpies, some Empousai and a Hellhound. That was quickly dealt with by Nico though, who sent it back to his father with a snap of his fingers. To her left, Annabeth vaguely saw a large sea monster vanish into the water, one that had seemingly brought the crew of monsters to attack their ship. Desperate for any action to take her mind off of Percy, she jumped straight into the fight.

"Fight me, you ugly looking skunk!" Coach Hedge yelled behind her, as he waved his bat around his head, before clocking a Harpy across the jaw.

Piper ran through a Harpy in a satisfying burst of gold as Annabeth drew the last empousa into a fight.

"Think you're missing someone aren't you?" mocked the monster, and there was something in its voice that Annabeth briefly recognised, though she couldn't see it too well in the black of the night.

The remaining monsters howled in laughter.

"Shut up!" Annabeth shouted, lunging at the head.

"Annabeth, behind you!" Frank shouted and the next thing the monster, who had been sneaking up behind her, knew, an eagle dragged it over the side of the ship.

The empousai blocked her jab but Annabeth was already following it up with a skilled disarm, aiming a kick towards the non-goat leg, some kind of wooden peg-leg, which her mind dimly realised was strange, as most empousai usually had celestial bronze legs. "You don't get to speak about him." she spat.

"What, you think we don't know where your boyfriend is?" the empousa cackled, "Every monster knows where he is! And believe me, we've all totally got more than enough grudges against him."

Annabeth saw a couple heads turn at the words, her friends' expressions alarmed.

"You know he's all on his own down there!" the empousai giggled.

"I know!" Annabeth gritted out, swinging violently.

"He's going to die down there." it hissed.

"No, he's not!" Annabeth shouted, and jumped the monster, slamming it strongly down to the ground.

The move caught it by surprise, as Annabeth kicked its weapon across the deck. It seemed to forget to fight, and whether it was distracted, or just in shock that a daughter of Athena would do such a reckless thing, it made no difference when Annabeth held her dagger against its throat.

"Tell me where he is!" she shouted, as Leo killed the last one to the right of her, swinging his hammer like a bat.

The others crowded round the pinned empousai, whose torn clothing seemed familiar, and Annabeth felt wary eyes on her, but she ignored them.

"He's in Tartarus, duh!" the vampiric monster laughed beneath her.

"I know that!" Annabeth hissed, digging the tip of her dagger into the paper-white skin, "Where is he down there? Is he okay? Is he close to the doors?"

The empousai snorted. "He won't make it to the doors!"

"Why?" Annabeth said, digging her knee into where she knew a sensitive point was in empousai, in the torso above the donkey leg. It gasped, and began to splutter.

"Isn't it obvious, Athena spawn? He's a demigod in Tartarus. Monsters can totally smell him from hundreds of miles away, can smell the blood on his clothes and the stench of the sea on his skin. Add that to the fact that he's pretty much unarmed, and well... you'll never see your precious boyfriend again!"

"Pretty much unarmed?" Annabeth tried to tune out the rest and focus on the odd phrase. "Does that mean he is sort of armed?"

"He left his magic sword up here, didn't he?" the empousai smiled sickly. "Can't fight with his bare hands forever."

It nodded towards the pen sticking out of Annabeth's pocket.

"That's it, isn't it? Jackson's sword."

Annabeth readjusted her grip. A wave hit the side of the boat and sent a spray of water droplets over the group. She tried to stop fantasizing about stabbing the arrogant vampire. "That's not what I asked." she said, "Does he or does he not have a weapon?"

"Don't you recognise me?" it replied instead, voice losing all playfulness and dropping into a spiteful tone.

Annabeth knew it was stalling for time but blinked a bit to clear her tunnel vision. Leo held the now lit torch over her head, and their little part of the deck flooded with orange-tinted colour. She only had to glance at the uniform to realise who she had pinned.

She remembered Kelli. Two years ago, at Percy's freshman orientation, he and their friend Rachel Dare had been attacked by empousai disguised as cheerleaders. One of them had been Kelli. Later, the same empousa had attacked them in Daedalus' workshop. Annabeth had stabbed her in the back. She gritted her teeth. She had faced a lot of bad monsters over the years, but she hated empousai more than most.

Men were especially susceptible to their powers. Kelli had almost killed Percy. She had manipulated Annabeth's oldest friend, Luke, urging him to commit darker and darker deeds in the name of Kronos. The empousa's favourite tactic was to make a guy fall in love with her, then drink his blood and devour his flesh. Not a great first date.

"Kelli." she said icily.

"You know her?" asked Nico.

She nodded. "I can't say it's a pleasure. Now answer me: Does Percy have a weapon?"

"Well, you know what? I think my memory is improving. Weapon, weapon…all I can say is that he didn't when we attacked him." Kelli cackled.

"What? You've seen him?" Annabeth shouted, eyes wide.

"How is he?" asked Frank.

"Is he okay?" Hazel rushed to ask.

"Put it this way, he won't be down there for long," Kelli giggled, before squeaking as Annabeth dug her knee in again, "Broken arm, coughing up blood, and I know I totally bit him on the arm…" she trailed off teasingly.

"Wait." Annabeth said, a few things clicking in her head. "You... attacked him. But now you're here. You say you didn't kill him. He killed you, didn't he?" she smiled for the first time in a few days. "He killed you without a weapon!"

"He had a weapon!" she snapped, all mocking gone, replaced by angry indignation. "He punched me in the face and then the little brat stole my metal leg, killed my friends with it and then me! Mother Earth brought me back quickly to kill all of you, but look at what I got for it!"

She waved her wooden leg around as best she could under Annabeth, "A wooden leg! That's so not trendy! He killed me with my own leg! I can't even!"

"He's armed." Leo said, "He can fight."

"If you see him again, tell him I love him." Annabeth said coolly, before plunging her knife into Kelli's chest and getting up.

"Now, we have information. Now, we can have dinner." she said, significantly more relaxed and yet more worried. She had just sent her back to Tartarus- back to Percy. What if she actually attacked him again? Annabeth took a breath and just told herself the facts again.

"He's injured but not enough to fight. That's good. That's good."

"That's great." Hazel said soothingly. "This is Percy, he can fight his way through anything."

"At least we know now that he survived the fall." Jason said.

"I would've known if he had died." Nico reluctantly spoke up.

Annabeth's head snapped up. Her legs wobbled a bit from exhaustion.

"Nico, I need updates, every day, whenever you feel any difference." she told him quickly.

Nico nodded. "It's how I knew he had survived the fall."

"That's good." she said again. "That's good."

Leo raised an eyebrow at her.

"What?" she snapped, the adrenaline of the fight and of finding out more about Percy leaving her a little on edge.

They stared at her, and she swallowed.

"Look, I'm sorry, I just- I-"

They looked at her with such understanding that a lump formed in her throat, and she couldn't take it anymore. She turned and walked quickly off, her nose stinging as she held back the urge to cry. Gods, her emotions were a wreck nowadays. She heard a quiet buzz of conversation behind her, before footsteps echoed, catching her up.

"I don't want to talk right now." she said succinctly. "In fact, I need to Iris message Sally. I think she should know where her only son is." she sniffed loudly at the end, not making eye contact.

"That's fine. I'll come with you." Frank offered.

"No! I don't need a chaperone!" Annabeth snapped, but it was in a wobbling voice, turning the corner towards the bedrooms.

"I'm not a chaperone, Gods no. I'm just a friend, here to help you break bad news about someone I care about as well."

"Fine." Annabeth said bluntly, too drained to argue any more.

She walked straight into Percy's room. Frank didn't say anything. Not even a meaningless platitude about how everything was going to be alright, which she was grateful for. A quick root around found a spare drachma under his bed. The duvet still smelt of him.

She threw the coin into the mist created by the small bottle on his bedside drawer.

"O Iris, Goddess of the rainbow, show me SALLY JACKSON, UPPER EAST SIDE, MANHATTAN."

The air shimmered a delicate silver, waves of rainbows drifting across as if trying to get signal. Annabeth watched it connect tersely, unsure of whether she actually wanted it to go through. Sally had been through enough already.

But too soon, the image of the Jackson-Blofis apartment swam lazily into view, and Annabeth felt like sobbing. That apartment was like a second home to her; she looked at parts of the living room and her mind was flooded with memories. She looked at the dining table and instantly saw herself having Chinese take-out with Percy and his parents. She saw the television and looked on sadly as she and Sally watched a documentary together, chatting away like the mother and daughter they each never had. Her eyes drifted to the sofa, and she could suddenly feel the warmth of Percy next to her as they fell asleep, his strong arms around her waist making her feel safer than she'd ever felt before…

The apartment door opened, and Paul and Sally walked in, shopping bags in hand.

Sally stopped dead when she saw Annabeth, who offered a weak but wobbly smile. Their eyes met. The shopping bags crashed to the floor.

"Annabeth!" Sally sprinted over to her, Paul not far behind. "Have you found him?"

"I-"

"He left me a voicemail a little while ago!" Sally spoke urgently, and Annabeth winced at the hoarseness of her voice, "He was in Alaska? He said something about a quest? Please tell me you found him!"

A lump formed in Annabeth's throat. Percy's mother clearly wasn't sleeping, judging by the dark shadows and red rims around her eyes. She hadn't seen her son in over eight months. Paul looked worn-out next to her, and he too looked at Annabeth as if she held their lives in her hands.

"We- we did find him-" Annabeth started.

"Oh, thank the Gods!" Sally seemed to visibly deflate, and she leant into Paul, who wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "How is he? Where is he?"

Frank wasn't in view of Percy's parents, but Annabeth saw him send a sympathetic and wincing look in their direction.

"I just want to start by saying that he's alive." Annabeth said, knowing that that was probably the most important thing to tell them.

Sally's eyes snapped up, watery and worried.

Annabeth felt her own prickle with tears.

"Hera." she said, "Hera took his memories."

Paul gasped. "He doesn't- he doesn't remember us?"

Annabeth shook her head quickly. "He got them back, but she kept him in a sort of coma for six months. Then she woke him up and took him to Lupa, a Roman Wolf Goddess who trained him for two more months. He- he went to a camp like Camp Half Blood, but for Roman demigods. But- but then there was another Prophecy, another Great Prophecy about the world ending, and- and we're still in it, trying to stop it, stop Gaia, but he-"

She paused. The two mortals had been listening to her story with rapt attention, their faces getting more horrified by the second. Frank gave her an encouraging nod, though he too seemed affected by her words.

"I had to do something to get the Gods back," she told them, "They're gone right now, so I- I had to go on this quest. I was in this- this lair, and Percy and the others got there soon, but- but the floor collapsed, and I was going to fall in too, but- but he saved me-"

She sobbed into her hands. "But he f-fell instead. He fell."

"Fell where?" Sally had tears streaming down her cheeks in sheer desperation, her hands splayed over her slightly more prominent than usual stomach, Paul next to her looking blank with shock.

"Into- in- in-"

"Into Tartarus." Frank said gently, suddenly next to her as her shoulders shook.

Annabeth didn't look up from her palms, and no one spoke. The silence was full of shock. She sniffed hard, trying to rein herself in; it was harder than she thought it would be, and even Frank's hand on her back was shaking. She looked up.

"We'll get him back." she told a stunned Sally fiercely, "We know he's alive, and we know that he's- he's armed. I swear to you, we'll get him back. I swear on the river Styx that I'll find him even if it kills me."

"Tartarus." Sally whispered, with wide blue eyes, and Annabeth could tell that every myth she'd ever heard and every monster she'd ever seen was flying through her head.

Her bottom lip wobbled, and for a second, Annabeth thought she would turn on her and blame her, curse her for damning her son to hell. Her hands started to shake, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

But Sally's face just split into a sob, and she began to cry into her hands.

Paul quickly pulled her into a tight hug.

"Oh Gods. Oh Gods, what are we going t-to do? My- my little boy's in Tartarus, Paul. My- my little boy- oh Gods-" she cried into her husband's shoulder, her body wracked with sobs.

"We'll find him." Annabeth whispered, her throat thick with emotion, "I'll find him."

Frank sniffed next to her, hugging his arms around himself. It was horrible to watch Sally cry, to see the despair in Paul's eyes. Annabeth had to look away.

She didn't notice when the message fizzled out, too busy staring at Percy's blue hoodie on his chair with faraway eyes.

Frank held out a hand and though she didn't need to, she took it. He needed comfort after that whole disaster too. Standing up quickly, she brushed away tears from her blotchy face.

"You need to sleep." Frank said gently. "We need you awake and assertive so you can tell us all off tomorrow."

"I'm sorry for yelling earlier." she sniffled.

"Uh, that's fine." Frank said, now a little awkwardly, clearly unsure what to do. "Which one's your room again?"

Annabeth hesitated.

"Here." she decided eventually. She curled up on Percy's bed, letting her exhausted and dehydrated head fall onto his pillow. Frank shifted from foot to foot.

"Okay," he said, "But you're dealing with Coach Hedge. Break his rules and he just goes crazy. You know, he threw a baseball at me last time I..."

Frank's voice drifted off as Annabeth slowly passed out, the smell of sea salt and cold air in her nose.

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Went ice skating again. This time I only fell over 3 TIMES! Personal best.

Watch San Andreas, the one with The Rock in it. Is v good and has the Annabeth actress in it as well as the original Mr Fantastic.

Please review if you want me to continue.

Yoyoyo updated 7/11/18 and 3/4/19