A/N: We finally made it out of Tartarus! Let me know what you want to see next. Thank you all for the support. I couldn't keep writing or find the motivation to continue without all of your support. I'll try to update soon.

Disclaimer: Characters are not mine, Plot is mine

Back to the Surface

(Percy)

After my meeting with Tartarus, I walked back to the room I was staying in to gather my things, but right as I entered the room I realized the stupidity of my decision. I had nothing to grab. My special armour from Hades was always on me and there was no need to change it, and Riptide stayed in my pocket no matter where I left it. So I decided I'd get an early start on the way to the throne room.

It took a couple of minutes to find my way, but I made it to the room about 5 minutes before he was expecting me. I walked in and it was completely empty. It was eery and most definitely creepy being in the throne room alone, but I couldn't think of anything better to do.

It felt like forever, but eventually the room started to fill up and Tartarus flashed in. My time had finally arrived to go back. Oh how great it feels. It makes me wanna jump up and down and break out into song.

As much as I wanted to do it, I knew there would never, ever be a time and a place for it, so I decided not to. Lost in my thoughts, I almost missed it, but Tartarus cleared his throat expectantly and the crowd went quiet.

"We have gathered here today, because we have a new hope. There is a grave danger lurking in the night, but we have a new champion to bring back the day. Nyx will try to kill us all, but this hero here in front of us can change that. He will train, and once he is ready, he will return and lead the fight for our lives!"

The crowd was exhilarated and cheered loudly as he described a way to save them all. It was obvious they were scared of Nyx and the coming war, so they were willing to listen and put their hope in almost anything. Even if they have even less trust in me helping them than I do in Zeus ever doing the right thing. Once the cheering died down, Tartarus began to give war plans to the room on their strategy to defeat Nyx.

It seemed to go on and on because everything he said had nothing to do with me, but I stuck with it. I knew it was just a matter of time before I was back on the surface and I was already starting to make a list of things I needed to do once I got back.

As Tartarus was talking, giving directions and instruction on the war plan there was a crash that shook the palace to its core.

It felt like I was back on the Argo II as it was being attacked by the griffins and other monsters during the Giant war. The floor was shaking, the ceiling and walls were cracking and looked on the brink of collapse, and the throne room erupted into chaos.

It was obvious just from my own intuition that the Giants had arrived. I knew they would be chasing after me, but why they were going the extra step and attacking the Palace was beyond me.

Before I could finish my thought, a ceiling beam took the brunt of another booming assault causing it to break apart and crash down right on top of me. I was an inch from being crushed when Tartarus jumped up and tackled me out of the way.

"You saved my life! Why put yourself at risk like that? Don't get me wrong, i'm happy, but why?"

"Cause I need you. Like I said before, you're my only chance in this war, and you can't die now. That's why you need to get out of here. I was wrong about my children. Those bastards were always rash, but to attack their own father without even talking to me. Nyx must have done one hell of a job manipulating them. It's obvious they've come to wipe us out. We can probably hold them back, but we'll be severely weakened."

"I'll help you. We can hold them back. If we work together we can win right now."

"No Perseus. We cannot risk you being captured or killed right now. You must leave. I can sense more than just the Giants here. Nyx has also sent a significant portion of her army as well. We can probably hold them off, but we need to hedge our bets. If you get out and we lose here there's still a chance to win but if you stay here we're doomed."

As he was talking, another crash shook the room and a cannonball took out the front wall of the throne room. The huge hole in the wall gave me a view so I could see out into the field where the Giants and Nyx's army were beginning their attack. The army was huge and obviously well trained. The Giants were leading the charge and following behind them was a couple hundred monsters. If that wasn't enough it looked like they'd been preparing for this attack for a long time. The entire army of monsters had armour and an assortment of Greek weapons, and they came with the artillery as well. They had the catapults they had used to ravage the throne room, battering rams to bring down the gates, and siege towers to climb over the walls. It was like the war games at Camp Jupiter, but life or death. If they took the castle the fight would go from difficult and unlikely to succeed to basically impossible. We needed to hold the palace, but Tartarus was right. It was a good possibility that we would lose, so I needed to leave for the surface before it's too late. We can't all die here or Nyx takes everything.

"You're right Tartarus. I hate to leave this fight, but living to fight another day might be our only option here."

Before Tartarus could respond, we heard the noise of the battlefield quiet down. We looked out with curiosity and we saw Porphyrion walk out in front of his army.

"Why Father? Why did you betray your sister? She is right you know. We deserve this world for ourselves."

Tartarus' face immediately turned into a scowl. He stood up to retort, but before he left he bent back down and whispered to me.

"Behind my throne is a tunnel, it's small, but you can crawl through it. It will take you to the surface. If we survive, I'll contact you when the time's right. Remember what I told you. The time will come when we need you… Be ready."

"Yes Lord Tartarus, I will do what needs to be done. The world won't fall if I have anything to say about it."

He smiled, probably because I called him Lord after our argument about that exact topic yesterday, but then it turned back into a scowl and he walked out to confront his children and the army of Nyx.

I quickly ran away and located the tunnel. He was right about one thing. It was small. I could barely fit into it crawling on my hands and knees. I crouched down to fit in, but before I left I took one last look at my surroundings. Tartarus, the legendary pit of evil, the place only one hero has ever escaped twice.

I took one last look, then I turned back to go up the tunnel and my vision disappeared into darkness, but not before I saw Tartarus pull out his gigantic broadsword, yell at Porphyrion to fight him, and charge into battle.

(30 Minutes Earlier)

(Apollo)

I was sitting in my temple putting the finishing touches on a new bow with my blessing. I'd been warned about a month ago that I needed to make one, but I wasn't told why. All I was told was that the fate of the world relied on it. How could I refuse? The Giant war had already left me in bad graces with Zeus, so I needed a way to prove to him I wasn't a complete mess up. What better way to prove it than to save the world?

As I was twiddling the wooden bow intertwined with golden strand, I heard the voice in my head like an old radio tuning in. I looked up and I immediately stood.

I almost squealed with excitement, but I was able to keep it hidden. It's almost time.

The voice began to talk. I knew it was ancient and powerful, but it sounded desperate. It whispered 'Now's the time. I hope you're ready. Meet my ally at the pickup point and help him if you can. No one can know where you have gone, so make sure you're not being followed.'

I was still confused so I tried to communicate back in my head. 'Why so secret?'

To my surprise the voice talked back 'You will know in time.'

Before I could respond the tuning came back and died out signifying the voice was gone.

I turned around and I walked for the door of the temple. Time to find out what this is all about.

(Present)

(Percy)

Of all the things I expected from the tunnel. Extreme claustrophobia, complete darkness, miles of tunnel, I couldn't anticipate a quick journey. That's exactly what I got though. Once I was completely in the tunnel it sealed itself off behind me, and I was in complete darkness. It would have been just fine for the average demigod, but this exact situation is my greatest fear. Suffocation. I discovered my fear when Gaea almost killed me that way. It was one of the worst thing I'd ever experienced and now those memories were coming back with a force. It was like Annabeth with spiders. I could feel myself freezing up, but I was so close so I kept going. One foot in front of the other.

Fortunately, I didn't need to go too far. It seemed to be a theme with Tartarus. The way in is seemingly bottomless, but the exit is actually pretty quick. The doors of death were a 12 minutes ride, and now this small tunnel was seemingly about 20 minutes of slow crawling.

That was when I saw the light at the end of the tunnel. It was faint, but it was obvious what it was. The surface. Once I could see my way out, my pace quickened significantly. In no time at all, I could finally see the exit back into the world.

I was still wondering why the light was so faint though and didn't get brighter as I came up until I was right on the edge of the tunnel, then I found out why. It was nighttime, and the light was a little streetlamp that's light had flooded over into the hole.

It didn't take much longer until I finally emerged, the tunnel vanished, and I symbolically placed both my feet on the dewy grass like I was Neil Armstrong landing on the moon. It was an unbelievable rush of adrenaline and joy, I was about a second from falling to my knees and kissing the ground when I heard a god flashing in behind me.

The Olympians had probably sensed the tunnel was open and they were sending someone to investigate so I quickly transformed my armour into a cloak and cowl that I pulled over my face before I turned around to face my visitor.

"Apollo! What are you doing here?"

He frowned like he recognized me but couldn't place his finger on my identity, and I almost blew my instructions from Tartarus before I was even out for 10 minutes. He told me not to trust anyone, because most of them had betrayed me, but I almost did it anyway. Loyalty may have been my fatal flaw, but they have to earn my loyalty, and as I see it no one up here has besides my mom and Paul. Even them though I can't contact because they will be monitored constantly.

"You should know why I'm here. You're the voice's ally. He told me to meet you here, make a delivery, and help you if I can."

Then it dawned on me. Tartarus had told me I would have someone help me once I made it out, I just hadn't expected it to be Apollo. I was about to believe him, but I had some questions first to make sure he wasn't setting me up.

"Apollo, what did the voice in your head tell you?"

"It said I was needed to help save the world and I was the only one who could do it."

"And why did you listen to it? You are a god after all."

"Because the voice was ancient and powerful, much more than me, and I believed it. Things have been weird lately ever since Percy left. Something fishy is going on and I don't like it."

I was never the greatest at reading people, but from all the signs I could see he was telling the truth, and I was starting to believe him.

"What do you mean since Percy left? He's only been gone a couple weeks, a month at most."

Apollo's cheery sun spirit seemed to die away at the mention of me not being gone for all that long.

"Well I don't know what world you live in, but Percy's been gone for 2 years. He accepted a mission to Tartarus and never came back."

Everything I'd heard in Tartarus was awful, but I'd heard it before. Oh no! The world's ending. La di da. Big whoop. I can deal with that, but two years of my life just gone!

That didn't even make sense. The last time I was in Tartarus the time matched up with real world time.

Then it dawned on me. It was the Mansion of Night. It all made sense. I stayed there for 2 nights and 2 years passed. That was the only possible explanation. I had only passed by last time, but now that I stayed it must have screwed everything up. There's no telling what's changed in that time.

"Is that one of the reasons you decided to help us then? For Percy?"

I could tell he was getting uncomfortable with the conversation.

"You could say that, but don't say another word about him. He was the greatest hero I've ever met, and I was lucky to be as close to friends as a god and a demigod can be. I regret those last couple of hours every day. We never should have let him leave."

"Okay Apollo, you've said enough. I believe you. I wanted to find out the truth, and I wanted to find out whether you were here to help me or hurt me. I've found my answer. You're here to save the world and you clearly want to help me."

To make it dramatic I emphasized the me, then I pulled the cowl down off of my head to reveal to him my true identity.

I swear to the gods his jaw actually touched to floor. He looked like he was about to pass out.

"Per… Perc… Percy… is that really you?"

"Yeah Pollo, it's really me. What else did you expect? You did call me the greatest… "

My sentence was stopped as Apollo ran up and smothered me in a massive bear hug. He definitely let his excitement get the better of him because he almost crushed me.

"My ribs… Please... "

"Okay, okay. I deserve this though."

He finally let me go sparing my life, but not before squeezing me one last time.

"I can't believe you're really alive, it's unbelievable. I can't wait to tell everyone else. We've all mourned your death every day since you've left. It's been hard on us all. We've lost control with each other and the camps have suffered as a result. We need you back."

"No Apollo, I can't come back, and you can't tell anyone about me or my reason for being here."

"What do you mean? We need you, and you're right here."

"I know Apollo, I want to come back and help too, but it's more complicated than that. A war's coming, and many of our former allies have become our enemies."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean Nyx started a war to take over Tartarus, then the world after that."

"Are you serious? We have to tell the council. They would actually do something this time."

"That's the problem. Parts of the Olympian council are most likely allied with Nyx."

"What? That's impossible."

"Before you overreact let me explain everything I know."

So that's what I did. I told him about my adventure. My fights with all the different monsters and defeating the Titans. I told him about meeting Tartarus and the journey to his palace. I told him about Nyx plan and Zeus' betrayal. I told him the voice in his head was Tartarus and that Tartarus is fighting to save to world, but losing. I told him about my mission, and that to succeed anyone with connections to Olympus could never find out my true identity.

To be honest, from the facial expressions and body language I saw from Apollo, he didn't want to believe me, but he did. Everything from the past two years of normal time was finally starting to fit together for him. Once I finished and I finally took a breath he looked at me with pity and he nodded his agreement with the plan Tartarus formulated.

"I may not like the idea of working with Tartarus, or sending you on your own to train, I don't see any other way. I'll keep my eyes and ears open on Olympus to see if I can help in any more ways, but for now I'm going to keep my head down so I don't give you away."

"Thanks Apollo. I need people I can trust, and I know you're one of them. Make sure to stay in touch with me, okay."

"Yeah Percy, It's great to have you back. Before I forget though, I have a gift for you."

I was interested. What could he have possibly been told to bring? Then he pulled out the wood I'd seen in my dream. The one with gold strands intertwined in it. Then he pulled out a gold string and looped it on the ends of the wood to form a bow. It was longbow originally in his hands, but once he handed it to me it transformed into a pure gold compound bow. It transformed like my armour from Hades so I assumed that I could also transform this bow with my mind as well.

"It's a bow? Why do I need this? Everyone knows I can't shoot a bow. I have no use for this."

"Exactly why you need one. It all makes sense now why Tartarus told me to make you one. If you learn to use it and train, then you will never be mistaken for Percy. It's the perfect disguise. You won't need a quiver though because it automatically generates arrows on the string when you need it"

"Wow, that actually makes sense. Me as a bowmaster is literally inconceivable. No one will know I'm Percy. Apollo you may have some brain cells left yet."

"Hey! I'm a god. I can still smite you with a snap of my fingers. You're lucky you're my favorite."

"Yeah. I guess I am lucky. Before you go though, where am I and what type of training should I do to get good with the bow and hunting?"

"You're in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. In my opinion you should train here and learn how to survive off the land. Then once you learn how to shoot like a master archer and hunt well enough to survive, you should help people and test yourself. How you do that is up to you, but you must push yourself, because from everything I've heard we are running out of time."

"Thanks Apollo, good luck."

"No Percy, good luck to you. You're gonna need it more than I do."