Chapter 7

Sorry that I didn't post this right away. The student needs her sleep. (Or so the parents thought. :-P)

Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson or anyone related.

Athena's POV

Apollo seems to have decided to not call me up, since he's not up and now is 10 in the morning. Wait… 10 o'clock in the morning? And, where am I? Just then, all last night's memories flood back to my mind. Us telling the mortal parents about the kids in Tartarus, Poseidon soothing me, when Artemis failed to do so, me calling him Sy, all these flooding back into my mind in a sudden flash. I called him Sy. I called him Sy. OH. MY. OLYMPUS. I did not call him that. I hope I'm wrong.

"Oh, good, you're awake. Artemis went back to her hunters just now. And, here's your breakfast." From the door emerged no other than the most annoying kelp head, but holding a tray of food. Hold on… Is he giving me an in-bed breakfast?

"Um… We can eat in the bedroom?" I asked, but I think I sounded stupid, because he's giving me a weird look.

"Well, if you can't I ain't gonna bring it here, right Bird Brain?" Yeah right, very smart. Just as I was going to retort, Hermes flashed in.

"You 2 hurry up! Hephaestus made another TV just so we could watch them now. Everyone is there now, just you guys left, hurry up! Don't get all touchy touchy ok?" Hermes said half-serious-half-jokingly.

"Hermes!" Both shouted together at the uninvited god. He's just so annoying sometimes. (A/N: Note their unity… Very impressive, I'd say. ;-) )

"Whatever, you guys hurry up!" With that, he teleported back to Olympus.

"Sometimes I wonder why he isn't the god of drama. Such drama king." I said to no one in particular while starting to dig in. I should eat faster; the TV is going to give me more information on my daughter.

"Aha! Athena got something wrong!"

"Huh?"

"Drama king is Zeus, definitely and will never ever be Hermes. His acting sucks way too much to bear that title."

"Boys." Oh no, I'm starting to pull an Artemis, gods save me!

"I'm done. Let's go." I was about to flash out when he called out: "Wait!"

"What now?" I asked irritated.

"We need to wash it all." And with a wave of his hands, the plates are cleaned and back to its original place."

"Now, we can go." Finally. With that happy thought, we flashed out to Olympus.

Nobody's POV

Everyone is here, up on Olympus. The tension in the air is so thick that it can be cut with a butter knife. The TV is all set, everybody on their seats, and they wait. The last time, Percy blacked out just to make sure Annabeth is alright. No one knows what happened to them. And now is the time. But…

"WHERE ON OLYMPUS ARE THAT TWO? I'M GONNA F***ING KILL THEM IF THEY DON'T APPEAR IN THREE SECONDS!" Our beloved Zeus is getting impatient, and please note the sarcasm. :-)

A blinding flash and finally the COUPLE turned up. And the scene from last time turned up.

They were at the side of the Phlegethon, with Percy still unconscious. Annabeth was desperately feeding him the fire liquid. Immediately, his boils faded, his lips are back to the colour it should have. He sat up and smacked his lips.

"Ugh, spicy, yet disgusting." Cheers immediately erupted in the throne room. Percy is fine, Annabeth is fine, and that's all that matters.

"Hey, I want to see Annabeth's thoughts." Hades suddenly said, and Hephaestus happily obligated.

She chuckled weakly. "Yeah, that pretty much sums it up." Relieve was clearly heard in her voice.

"You saved us." Percy said, his sound still a bit hoarse.

"For now, the problem is we're still in Tartarus."

He blinked, looking around like he's trying to tell himself this is, sadly, not a dream only. "Holy Hera. I never thought… well, I'm not sure what I thought. Maybe that Tartarus was empty space, a pit with no bottom. But this is a real place."

Annabeth recalled the scenes she saw while falling – the series of plateaus leading ever downwards to no one knows where. "We haven't seen all of it," she warned. "This could be just the first tiny part of the abyss, like the front step."

"The welcome mat." He muttered.

They both gazed upwards, the blood-coloured clouds, the grey haze and the eighty-foot glass cliff. All these are only the welcome mat. They can only go along the river, up or down is the only question.

"We'll find a way out," He assured her. "The Doors of Death."

She visibly shuddered, her thoughts back to when they were still hanging there by the ledge. How he made Nico promise to lead the rest of the 7 to Epirus, the mortal side of the Doors. We'll see you there. Such promise seemed so impossible down here, where everything is designed to torture. That idea seemed so crazy, especially when two demigods wounded, hungry, thirsty, and one of when totally defenceless.

"We have to. Not just for us. For everybody we love. The Doors have to be closed on both sides, or the monsters will just keep coming through. Gaia's forces will overrun the world." He said, encouraging her.

She can't imagine a plan worthy of Athena, not even a plan to keep them alive in this stupid pit. But still, he was right. However, Percy used all the energy he left to control the river Cocytus, enough whining and moaning for a lifetime there, and so decided to not voice out any of these. She will never complain again.

"Well," breathe in, breathe out. We can do this. The gods gasped. Athena shouted franticly at the screen: "Annabeth, behind you, behind you!" However, and of course, she can't hear and kept on.

"If we stay close to the river, we'll have a way to heal ourselves. If we go downstream –" Then Annabeth realised Percy is staring at something behind her.

"I can't look. I don't want to look. Sp—Spider… "Athena mumbled and snuggled towards Poseidon unknowingly. Unsurprisingly, he held her tightly, shielding her from the screen. Everyone held their breath-

Everything happened so fast. Annabeth only had time to realise Arachne was behind her, while Percy already have his sword up. SHINK and AHHHHHHH were heard. Where Arachne was standing is a pile of dust.

And let it out. "You can watch now." Poseidon whispered into her ear. But she still doesn't want to watch, curling up in Poseidon's arm instead.

Annabeth still standing there, shocked, and awed by her boyfriend, who was scanning the perimeter of their surrounding for threats. Anywhere the sword moves, the thick hot air would make a defiant hiss, the glow of the bronze brighter in the gloom of Tartarus.

"She… she would've killed me," Annabeth stammered. Percy's expression was grim and dissatisfied, while kicking the pile of dust.

"She died too easily, considering how much torture she put you through. She deserved more." He had said with an edge that made everyone unsettled.

Everyone in the throne room shuddered. No one is not afraid of Percy when he's angry.

She'd never seen someone so angry or vengeful on her behalf. It almost made her glad that Arachne had died quickly. "How did you move so fast?"

He turned to her, giving her the lopsided grin that she has come to love, and shrugged. "Gotta watch each other's back, right? Now you were saying… downstream?"

She nodded. At least now they know that monsters can be killed in Tartarus. "Yes, downstream. If the river comes from the upper levels of the Underworld, it should flow deeper into Tartarus—"

"So it leads into more dangerous territory, "Percy finished. "Which is probably where the Doors are. Lucky us."

"Great. Just great. Now my son is in more trouble than he already is in. Yeah!" Poseidon mumbled, clearly unhappy about that decision.

To be continued…

Guys! Please give me some reviews on my overall plot so far. Feel free to point out anything that's wrong in the story and help me correct it okay. And PLEASE DON'T KILL ME if I didn't update. Thanks to all the reviewers! And here are some replies:

Guest: Ok I'm kinda confused. How did this random demigod that Apollo healed once, give sally a horrible scar. What's sally have to do with it?

Well, this random demigod hurt Sally, gave her a scar and ran away. When Percy tracked him down and took the water in his body away, which made him fall sick. So, naturally Apollo heals the more serious sickness, so that's where he ended up.

Son of Dragon: Just try to follow the original story (if that possible), but remember to skip scenes on mortal world and explain parts where god/goddesses appear (especially Mr.D/Bacchus)

Well, that's what I intended to do, except for the explaining part, I don't really understand what you are trying to say. 'Coz as far as I know, Bacchus did not appear in HoO but did appear in MoA. Anyways, thank you for reviewing, and I will follow the original story.

smegol26,Princess of Flames, Isabella Frida-Marie Cullen, readingaddict24,Anime Princess, GoddessOfWisdomWar-Athena: Thank you so much for your review! I love you too! Muacks!