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Percy

The nightmare started as soon as I closed my eyes.

We were in the chamber, under the Emmanuel Building parking lot. It was dim, the only light coming from the hole we'd just blasted in the ceiling, and sticky spider silk was everywhere.

Annabeth stood before me, with an expression I'd never seen on her before-a mix of the worst terror imaginable and an intense relief. She was filthy, covered in dirt and spider webs, her clothes ripped and dirty, her hair a tangle of dusty blonde curls. Tear tracks traced their way through the grime on her face.

She was alive. Our friends ran in every direction, the statue their main concern. The cavern floor was collapsing all around us. But all that really mattered was that she was okay.

Annabeth gasped painfully then and stumbled away from me. "What is it?" I asked. Hazel was yelling behind me, but I wasn't paying attention. Annabeth didn't have time to answer before her legs were swept out from under her and she tumbled toward the pit. I lunged for her, reaching out, but I wasn't fast enough and she went over the edge. Right before my eyes, she fell in and was swallowed by the darkness. Nico nearly tackled me to keep me from jumping in after her. My strength was gone, but still I struggled and cried out against the son of Hades' restraints before all the fight just left me and I could do nothing but stare into the darkness as Annabeth's cries grew farther and farther away and ultimately disappeared.

I jerked upright in bed, my pulse racing loudly in my head, the images of the nightmare replaying before my eyes in the dark room: Annabeth falling, her cries for help, the complete desperation I felt as she fell in and I wasn't there in time to catch her. It didn't matter that that wasn't actually how it had gone down-and thank the gods for that, but it had still seemed so real; it had still been indescribably horrifying.

I took a few deep breaths as my heartbeat dropped to a more normal range, the images fading as I fully came to and my eyes adjusted to the darkness of the room.

I was alone in my bed, which I was pretty sure was not how I'd gone to sleep. Annabeth had definitely been beside me. I was sure of it.

I untangled myself from the covers and stood to look for her as well as to clear my head. The clock on my nightstand read 2:42.

It didn't take me long to find her. The window was open and the September breeze blew the curtain back, revealing Annabeth's silhouette framed in the semi-darkness outside. "I thought this was my hiding place," I said, climbing through the window and onto the fire escape, where she stood.

She shrugged, her back still to me, her hands resting on the railing. "I've claimed it."

I gave a small smile that she didn't see and came to stand next to her. "Couldn't sleep?"

She shook her head. "Nightmare?" she asked me. I nodded, staring with her down at the empty streets below. The main avenues a few blocks over were still alive, even at almost three in the morning. They never slept. I could hear the activity in the distance, and it was comforting, like regardless of how messed up our situations, there were still millions of people living perfectly normal lives all around us and we were still alive to see it. We were both quiet, standing there in the darkness side-by-side. "Do you want to tell me about it?" Annabeth asked after a few minutes, "About your dream?"

I took a deep breath and hesitated, the vision of her falling away from me, down into that pit, flooding my mind again. Had anyone else asked, I probably would have said no, but this was Annabeth. "We were back in Arachne's lair under Rome, when the floor started breaking apart and you got pulled in while everyone else was off trying to save the statue. Except, this time, I didn't grab you in time and you fell in without me."

Annabeth was quiet for a second, processing this, before she asked, "Did you jump in after me?" She tried to keep her tone even, curious, but I could tell that part of her wanted the answer to be yes, the part of her that still couldn't believe I'd really fallen with her in the first place.

"I tried," I answered, "I would have, but Nico tackled me and held me down." I glanced up, shaking my head, and looked at her for the first time, "Gods, it was so awful. I could hear you screaming as you fell and I know it was a dream, but it was so real-"

"I know," she said. I knew she did.

"What were you thinking?" I asked her, "When we were hanging there, before I fell in with you?"

Now it was Annabeth's turn to study the ground below. She didn't answer at first, and it crossed my mind that the memories were probably even worse for her than they were for me. I'd fallen willingly; she hadn't. This was the first time we'd ever really talked about Tartarus, or the events leading up to it.

"I was terrified," she said at last, "And mad at myself for not cutting off that gods-forsaken webbing wrapped around my legs." Despite her words, I almost smiled at that. That was an Annabeth answer, through and through. "I thought I was going to die, obviously." She glanced at me, "That it was the last time I'd ever see you." She glanced down again and I moved my hand to rest atop hers on the railing, "And then I was horrified when I realized what you were going to do. But a part of me, a selfish part, was glad you were, because at least I wouldn't die alone." She looked up again as she finished, "I realized that you really must love me a lot to do something like that."

I just held her gaze for a moment, "Did you really think I was going to let you just fall?" I asked quietly.

She looked down at our hands, considering. "I don't know. I mean, logically, it would have made sense and I wouldn't have blamed you at all if you had. But I didn't expect you to fall in with me intentionally. At all."

"I'm sorry that I had to." She looked at me. "I mean, I wish we hadn't had to, that I'd taken you farther away from the pit or cut the webs myself or something."

"It wasn't your fault," she told me adamantly, "Percy, you can't blame yourself for that."

"I know. And I know it was necessary in the end anyway for us to close the Doors, but…" I trailed off, shaking my head. There had to have been another way. One that didn't involve any half-bloods walking through Tartarus, or Damasen and Bob getting killed.

And with that thought, I only felt guiltier.

"Hey," Annabeth said softly, breaking me from my miserable train of thought. Her gray eyes bored into mine, bright, even in the dimness of the night. "Thank you for falling in with me. I know that's probably an awful thing to say, but I would have never made it out of there without you. I wouldn't even have lived past the impact of hitting the Cocytus."

"You're welcome. Heck, you're more than welcome. I'd do it again if I had to. No doubt about it." I barely finished speaking before Annabeth had closed the distance between us and her lips were on mine. It was a quick kiss, nothing spectacular, but it was genuine and I understood how touched she was to have heard those words. She pulled away and hugged me.

For a few minutes, I just held her to me, neither one of us saying anything. Both our minds were elsewhere, reliving memories and moments that weren't necessarily good. But I was pretty sure we needed to have this conversation, for both our sakes.

"You don't know how helpless I felt down there," Annabeth said, still wrapped in my arms, "When that arai poisoned you and you were dying." Her voice was suddenly thick with emotion. "I just kept thinking that after you'd fallen into Tartarus because of me, you weren't going to make it out." She shook her head against my shoulder. "And I would have to live with it, knowing you died because of me. I didn't think I could live with it." Suddenly I was flashing back to a different scene, over a year ago, on the Williamsburg Bridge: Annabeth crying out, blood soaking her shirt. I'd felt exactly the same way.

"I doesn't matter," I murmured gently, tightening my grip on her, "You don't have to. I'm right here."

She took a deep breath nodded against me. After a minute, she pulled away and stood facing me, meeting my eyes intently. "While we're talking about it, just…" She glanced down for a second before looking back, "Promise me one thing."

"Anything."

"What happened down there, with Akhlys and the poison, don't try anything like that again? Please?"

Immediately I felt guilty again, remembering how Akhlys had begged for me to stop and how I almost hadn't. Annabeth's face…

"Yeah, of course," I answered, "I'm sorry Annabeth. I scared myself too and-"

"It's okay. I'm not mad. I know if you had done nothing, she would have killed us, I just don't ever want to see you like that again. You're powerful, but you're good, and that's why I love you."

"I'm sorry," I told her again, "Trust me, it won't ever happen again. I hate that it happened at all; that I almost lost control, that I scared you-"

"I know. It's okay. We were in Tartarus. You're long since forgiven."

I took a breath and shook my head. "Gods, that was such an awful few weeks."

"Let's not ever go back there."

"Done." I opened my arms to here again. "Come here." She came and I hugged her again. "I love you, okay? A lot."

"I know," she said, her chin resting on my shoulder, "I love you too."

"Good," I said, letting her go and trying for a grin, "Cause I don't fall into Hell for just anyone, you know."

She smiled. "I know." She glanced inside my dark bedroom and back at me. "Come on. We should try to get at least some sleep tonight."

I smiled and moved to follow her back through the window. "Thank the gods tomorrow's Saturday," I said as we climbed under the covers and I read the 3:28 displayed on the alarm clock beside the bed. The last thing I wanted to even think about doing was getting up in two hours to go to school.

Annabeth just smiled, curling into me. "Goodnight, Seaweed Brain."

I smiled myself and pulled her closer. "Goodnight, Wise Girl."

Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed it. Let me know your thoughts. :)

Until next time.