This chapter gets emotional in parts, both with percabeth stuff and some other stuff. Also, sorry not sorry for the cliffhanger at the end, you'll have to wait til next chapter to see what happens.

Percy had never felt anything quite like holding the sky before-and she prayed she never would again.

Every muscle in her body turned to fire. Her bones felt like they were melting. She wanted to scream, but she didn't have the strength to open her mouth. She began to sink, lower and lower to the ground, the sky's weight crushing her.

She heard Annabeth's voice in the distance, a terrified scream of her name, she wished she could respond-but at the very least the sound of her voice made Percy redouble her focus, forcing herself to breath.

She couldn't fail, not like this, she had to do it, for her friends- she closed her eyes tight-and she heard Nico's voice in her mind, 'C'mon Percy, you can't die like this' and she let out a sob, tears pouring down her cheeks.

"Nico-Nico I'm sorry-"

'Don't be stupid, I chose to do it. Now c'mon, where's my brave big sister- you're strong. Don't give up now.'

"I miss you-"

'I know you do, but you can't give up! You've gotta save the day like you always do. I know you can do it Percy-"

"But I don't." Percy let out a faint sob. "I don't think I can Nico it's too much, too much. Gods Neeks I miss you so much-"

'Well duh. But I'm not here. You need to be strong sis. I know you can do it. Hold the weight, it won't be long now it won't.'

And somehow, even as the voice faded Percy felt an extra wave of strength-she managed to force her eyes to actually open-though her vision was blurry from tears.

She could see Artemis facing Atlas one on one-and Annabeth and Thalia facing off against Alabaster and his monsters.

She closed her eyes again, gritting her teeth and forcing herself to breath-she heard a cry from Annabeth and she opened them once more-despite the exhaustion and pain- and Annabeth was on the ground, a hand pressed to her leg as Thalia parried a blow from Alabaster that would have killed her.

Their eyes met across the distance and then Annabeth was moving, dragging herself towards Percy-she wasn't getting up though-Percy wondered how bad the wound was-then her eyes flicked back to Artemis, who wasn't fairing well-she was still exhausted from holding up the sky.

Percy felt her heart sinking- Artemis wouldn't be able to do it alone.

Gods they were going to die here.

Then-and Percy must be losing time because she was sure she hadn't been looking away for that long, the weight of the sky lessened-it was still painfully heavy but it was nowhere near as crushing and her head snapped to the side, her mouth dropping open in shock as she felt a hand brushing against her own.

Annabeth was next to her, gray eyes shining with determination. "You're not alone Seaweed brain."

Percy felt as if she'd been struck as together they held the sky, eyes glued to one another. If she could move-if she'd had enough strength for that Percy would have surged
forward and pressed their lips together.

But there was something she could do.

"I love you." her voice was weak, but there was no doubting the sincerity in it. "Annabeth I love you."

"I love you too Percy." and Annabeth's eyes were filling with tears "It's not a bad way to die, is it? Together."

"Always."

And now that some of the weight had been lifted Percy could see properly again, her vision was clearer as she blinked away her tears.

She looked away from Annabeth when she heard Thalia cry out-she was staggering backwards, her eyes wide as she stared at- there was a figure, it wasn't clear and Percy realized with horror that it was made of the mist-Alabaster was manipulating the mist. Percy wasn't sure what Thalia was seeing but even from a distance she could see that
Thalia was terrified-and the skeleton warriors were surrounding her, edging her towards the edge of the cliff-"

"No-" Annabeth had followed her gaze, and her voice shook, "No not again-no-"

And Artemis was crying out in pain as she was struck by Atlas.

Percy felt a wave of despair-they were losing- and then Annabeth's voice cut through her thoughts.

"Percy! Percy help her please my leg's injured I can't run-"

Percy turned her head, her eyes meeting Annabeth's, and she saw her own determination reflected back at her in them.

"I love you-"

"I love you too." Annabeth blinked back tears. "It's not a bad way to go-" and then Percy was moving, ducking down and giving Annabeth the weight-and Annabeth gasped loudly as Percy staggered out from under the sky-gaze flicking between Artemis, who was dragging herself to her feet and Thalia, who was being held by two of the skeleton warriors-and Percy could see the figure in front of her clearer now as she sprinted towards the daughter of Zeus, a beautiful woman with poofy blonde hair clutching a bottle of vodka, and Thalia didn't seem to be able to look away.

Percy felt sick as she sprinted-and she spotted her mom and Leo-and Leo twisted, meeting her gaze as he stepped away from Sally, and his gaze flicked towards Artmis and Atlas and suddenly he was engulfed in flame, sprinting away from Sally- launching a fireball in Atlas' direction-and Percy had to give it to him, the kid was brave.

As he sprinted in front of her he gave a small nod and a goofy grin, shooting Percy a thumbs up- "Leo to the rescue!" his voice was high and goofy and she let out a laugh despite herself as she just kept running-at least Artemis had some back up now-even if it was an untrained boy who was literally on fire.

She glanced towards them as she ran-snorting as he tackled Atlas from behind-and the Titan bellowed in pain-he hadn't expected that-and Leo was still on fire somehow- though he seemed to be in zero pain, and Artemis was lunging at Atlas again, taking advantage of his momentary distraction- Percy felt a rush of relief, her gaze flicking back towards Thalia-and she let out a horrified yell because Alabaster was stood in front of her, his golden sword gleaming as he raised it to bring it down on the daughter of Zeus' neck.

Percy sped up, colliding with him hard, screaming, "Thalia it's the mist! Snap out of it!" even as she and Alabaster both hit the ground, rolling, coming to a halt after about three full rolls, Alabaster managing to twist them so that he was leaning over her, shifting so that he was practically sat on top of her, his hands either side of her head.

"Why can't you just for once listen to me?" Alabaster's voice was torn between anger and desperation, "Please Percy I don't want to have to hurt you."

"Because you're insane." Percy snapped, panting as she glared up at him, "I'll never join you-"

"I love you!"

"This isn't love!" Percy snapped her head forward, forehead hitting his nose hard-probably re-breaking it based on the crunching noise-and she used his moment of distraction to flip them, hand wrapping around his throat to pin him down, "It's obsession! If you loved me then you'd know me and you'd know I could never join Kronos!"

"I want to save you-"

"I don't need saving!" Percy slapping him, and then they were rolling again-no weapons just hands and fists, raining blows down on each other as both of them tried to get the other hand, tried to get to their feet-though every time one of them managed to get onto their knees the other would end up throwing themselves at the one getting up.

Neither of them noticed that they were heading towards the edge of the cliff until they reached it, Percy pinned beneath Alabaster as the older boy stared down at her.

"Nowhere else to go princess."

And Percy stared up at him, her heart pounding as he leaned closer, breath fanning across her face as he whispered, "Please. We could be so great-you know we could-" and he was going to kiss her.

He was actually going to kiss her.

Percy didn't even think, kicking out, managing to knock him off of her, back onto the ground the other side of her- he'd managed to lean to one side to avoid getting tossed off of the cliff. He landed with a thud and a gasp of pain, and she was turning her head, pushing herself up onto her elbows, "Don't fucking touch me-" then there was a cracking noise and the ground was shaking.

Percy's head snapped to the side to look in the direction of Artemis and Leo-and Thalia had joined them-she'd clearly pulled herself together-she was fending off the skeletal warriors that were attacking the goddess and Leo-and Leo was honestly impressive, he was literally a living fireball, and he was pretty fast too, and they were moving him towards Annabeth, towards the sky-Percy felt a rush of relief.

They were doing it-they were actually doing it.

Then came another cracking sound, and this time it was closer-and Percy felt a rush of horror as she felt the ground giving out beneath her.

She screamed, throwing herself back towards the more steady ground, but she knew she wasn't going to make it-she managed to catch a rock jutting out, crying out in shock as she managed to temporarily stop her fall-but she knew she wouldn't be able to hold on for long.

She could hear screaming from up above and some commotion from below-something was going on with the army of monsters but Percy couldn't focus on that, couldn't bring herself to look down to see what was happening as she raised a hand to grab the rock jutting out with both hands, holding on tightly as she closed her eyes, shaking violently.

She couldn't climb back up, there was no way she'd be able to reach up to the actual ledge and there was nowhere for her to put her feet. She was going to fall, probably sooner rather than later unless someone managed to grab her- and what were the chances of that.

She felt something settling in her chest, she closed her eyes.

"I'll be with you soon Nico." she whispered the words softly, a strange sense of peace falling over her despite everything.

Then there was a voice from above.

"Percy! Oh gods Percy no." and Percy opened her eyes, tilting her head up, her gaze meeting familiar emerald green eyes.

Alabaster was leaning over the ledge of the cliff, his right hand reaching down for hers, his expression filled with genuine horror "Percy. Percy please take my hand! Take my hand I'll pull you up."

And Percy stared up at him. She remembered Aphrodite's words.

It might be a twisted love, but he does love you.

And she could see it in his eyes. He didn't want to lose her, he was terrified of losing her.

And then she remembered the last time she'd been clinging on for dear life, she remembered how Alabaster had pushed her that time-how he'd stared down at her as she'd begged him to help her, begged him to save her.

She'd have done anything to have him reach down and grab her hand that time, to have him change his mind.

She wondered how different things would have been if he had-would she have forgiven him? If he'd saved her and shown regret?

No. No she wouldn't. He'd pushed her into Tartarus, no matter why he'd done it he'd still done it. Then she heard Nico's voice again.

'You'll be okay Percy. You know what you have to do.'

She felt a sudden clarity as she slowly loosened one of her hands grip on the rocks, reaching up and grabbing the offered hand, gripping it tightly as they stared into each others eyes. She did know. She knew what she had to do- and she knew Nico's voice was a figment of her imagination, she knew it was the trauma, but it was comforting in that moment.

"I begged you." her voice was soft, "I begged you to stop. I begged you to pull me up when you tried to throw me into Tartarus-"

"It wasn't like that Percy." Alabaster squeezed her hand, "You know it wasn't. I love you Percy." Percy's gaze shifted, focusing on their hands, and she shifted her grip, rubbing her thumb over the inside of his wrist, sliding her hand up slightly so that she was gripping his wrist, thumb pressing into his wrists pulse point.

"Y'know the funny thing?" Percy wondered if she was losing her mind-she had no idea how she was being so calm, but she just felt numb. "I liked you. I really did Alabaster. You-you were so kind those first days. But it was all a lie-"

"It wasn't-" Alabaster shook his head, "Percy please- yes Kronos told me you were the one who needed to be sent on the quest but- but I knew you were special from the moment I saw you, from the moment you walked into the Cabin."

"It could have turned into something more you know." Percy's voice was barely more than a whisper but she knew Alabaster could hear. "If you'd stopped-if you'd changed your mind down in the cavern, before you pushed me in. I really did like you."

"Percy please you didn't give me a choice."

"You watched me beg." her voice was distant-and she saw Alabaster's expression start to become nervous.

"Percy-" and then she was pulling, and Alabaster was leaning over far enough that he had no chance of balancing when she yanked down.

He let out a scream, his eyes going wide with shock as she pulled him off the edge of the cliff, using all of her strength to do so, releasing his wrist as soon as she was sure he was far enough away from the edge that he wouldn't be able to grab on-and he screamed as he fell, dropping past her.

And Percy watched, clinging onto the rock above her head with one hand for a long moment before she looked up- and then she let out a slow, content breath as she closed her eyes. "I'll be seeing you soon Nico." she whispered the words as she pressed her feet to the too smooth rock and she pushed herself backwards and away from the cliff, releasing her grip as she did, throwing her arms out, and in that moment, in her own mind she wasn't falling.

No she was soaring free.