A/N. Yes, this is the Soulmate AU, though it isn't so much focused on it anymore. It's like a regular story with a soulmate element mixed in. Anyways, enjoy.
Percy watched as Zoë's life drained from her eyes. Ladon's poison bubbled in her side, killing her slowly and painfully. He felt her pain, literally. Tears shined in her eyes, like the stars up above. She looked over to Percy.
"I'm sorry, Perseus. I was wrong. Not.. all.. Men." She closed her fist around his hand, which still held her sword. "Wield Riptide, and wield it well." She looked into his eyes, showing that she meant it, and also conveying nother message. One she couldn't say out loud. Not with her mistress right next to her. Percy nodded, understanding.
Artemis looked at Percy confused, but he ignored her.
"The stars m'lady... I can see the stars.." Zoë said. Her final words before her eyes closed.
But the final gut punch came to Percy when Artemis did some magic. Zoë's body shimmered into silver smoke, wafting up to the sky. Slowly, lights began to blink into existence in the sky, forming a new constellation. The same one on his chest over his heart. The same one he saw every time he looked into the mirror when he didn't wear a shirt.
His soulmate tattoo...
He pulled at the hem of his shirt. And looked down at his chest. Sure enough, the mark, that was once a bright silvery color, was now a dark black. Sure, he knew, but this was the final nail in the coffin. His soulmate was dead.
The Fates were cruel.
LINE BREAK
The wind whistled in Percy's ears. His shirt flapped as he fell into the bottomless pit. What was it that Annabeth told him that one time? 9 days? It would take 9 days to fall to Tartarus from Earth. And that was if you were a bronze anvil.
Maybe he'd starve before he made it down. After all, after a week without food, you were pretty much brain dead. Oh, wait, he forgot about water. He would die of dehydration before he would face whatever waited for him at the bottom.
He resigned himself to his fate, ready to die. At least he would see Zoë again. Wait, she was in the sky... and he would end up in... Actually, if he died in Tartarus, or during the fall, where would his soul end up. Would he be cursed to wander the dark caverns for eternity?
He opened his eyes, only to see everything tinted red. He took in a deep breath, only to smell rotting eggs, sulfur perhaps? He saw the black landscape sprawl out into the distance, so far that he couldn't see. It looked to be made of an opaque glass, obsidian. But that was all, just glass. No water, no trees, just barren wasteland.
The ground was coming closer with every passing second. He estimated an impact in a few seconds. He turned onto his back, thinking that he could maybe break through the glass into whatever was below. It was a stupid idea.
With an impact that was heard around Tartarus, Percy Jackson died.
LINE BREAK
Percy awoke, not knowing how long it had been since he blacked out. He felt something being dragged along his back. He then realized he was being dragged. He was being held at his ankles as a woman dragged him along the shattered glass on the floor.
But he had to do a double take when he saw his ankles. He seemed to be made of a mist of some kind. When it would solidify, it made him look kind of like a dead body. He looked to his hands, only to see the same.
The woman turned to look at him. She looked like she was a victim of death. She had sunken eyes, bloody cheeks that dripped blood onto her tattered dress, a nose that wouldn't stop dripping. She looked like him, a corpse.
"Don't try struggling darling. I am a primordial after all." She said.
She dragged him for about another hour. While she told him not to struggle, he did so anyway. It didn't seem to bother her anyway. When they reached their destination, she dropped him.
Percy got to his knees and looked around. The corpse primordial walked around him. Percy didn't notice before, but now he could see that flowers would sprout wherever she would walk. They would then decompose into what he assumed was poison.
She seemed to be chanting in a language older than ancient Greek. Maybe magic, maybe older. He then realized that he was at the edge of a cliff. And the ground gave way to... to nothingness. Perhaps Chaos itself.
From the edge rose a woman. Percy assumed it was another primordial. Her skin was pale, but not in a deathly way. She had eyes like the night sky Zoë had shown him on the quest years ago. She had black hair, and massive wings made of shadows on her back.
She stared at Percy, before turning to the weeping woman. "Have you brought me a sacrifice, daughter?"
"Yes, mother." The goddess said, kneeling.
"Excellent." The dark woman murmured.
Percy got to his feet, and started running. He ran away from the dark primordial, only for her arm to slam down in front of him, blocking any escape. Poison started to flow towards him on the ground. He saw this and consciously thought to keep it away from him.
He ran to the edge, and looked down. It was pure nothing, except for something that glinted down below. It seemed to be a pure black mansion. It was a hard fall, so he had to jump carefully. Especially since if he missed... Well, he could already feel himself being torn apart atom by atom.
The poison crept closer, and Percy wasn't actively keeping it away. It touched his shoe, and started to burn through it. Normal poison couldn't do that, Percy thought. Maybe the depressed lady commanded super poison or something.
The poison acid hybrid thing ate through his shoe, and touched his foot. In reflex, he jumped. His eyes widened as he realized that he was once again free falling. He looked down, seeing the ground get closer.
He missed by a couple of inches. Luckily he was able to grab onto the ledge and pull himself up. He looked at the building, only to realize that it seemed to resemble the White House, only in dark colors. Percy guessed that even the dark goddess moved with the western flame.
He walked through the front lawn and onto the front porch. What he didn't see coming was the giant guard hellhound. Yeah, it tore him up. His intestines ripped out of his abdomen, and his head decapitated from his body. His blood stained the porch.
Percy had died twice in the same day.
LINE BREAK
Percy woke up in a comfy bed. He almost didn't want to open his eyes, but he decided to see where he had woken up. He opened his eyes to see that he was in a homey hut. He was in a large bed, like it was meant for something giant. Over in the corner was a kitchen, with ingredients in little boxes made from bones.
Oh, and a giant was cooking something over a fire.
The giant was around 20 feet tall, pretty short for a giant. From the waist up, he was humanoid, with skin the color of cherries. His beard and hair was the color of rusted iron, and he had grass, flowers, and other plans in his dreadlocks. His face was scarred, like he had fought with something that had sharp claws. Perfect shivered at the thought of the hellhound's claws. From the waist down, he was also red, with the clawed feet of a dragon. He wore a shirt sewn from some sort of sheep skin and some green leather.
The giant glanced up to look at Percy. "Oh, you're awake. Just in time for dinner."
Percy sat up. "You're... you're a..."
The giant stood up. "A giant?"
Percy wordlessly nodded his head.
The giant sighed. "Come, I'll explain over dinner."
The giant explained that he was Damasen. The giant born to oppose Ares. Because he was Ares' opposite, he was a peaceful giant. He lived with some mortal farmers. When a drakon came along and killed one of the mortals, Damasen avenged him by shoving a tree through the drakon's jaw, killing it. That caused him to be sent to Tartarus, where he would fight the drakon every day, or whatever consisted of a day in this hellhole.
"...That is my curse." Damasen finished.
Percy nodded, digesting everything that he had been told.
"But you're cursed too." Damasen murmured.
Percy put down the plate that he had been holding. "What do you mean?"
"You suffer the Curse of Tartarus." Damasen said.
"The Curse of Tartarus?"
"Any being that goes to an afterlife, shall they die in Tartarus, cursed to forever wander the pit they shall be. No escape, just eternal wandering." Damasen explained.
"You mean..."
"That you're trapped here, yes."
"There has to be some way out. I mean, monsters leave all the time!" Percy exclaimed.
Damasen shook his head. "Out of every person who had suffered the curse, none have found a way out. In fact, they all went crazy and killed themselves by jumping into the sea of Chaos. As for monsters, they have a special way, one hidden by MY curse."
Percy went pale. He then hardened his face. "I'll escape, I'll find a way." He said, determined.
He woke up in Damasen's bed a week later. Damasen was stirring some stew in a makeshift pot made from the skull of the drakon.
"Let me guess, you died trying to get out." Damasen said. A 'told-you-so' tone was present in his voice.
"Shut up. I was close." Percy grumbled.
The giant laughed, before serving the stew. "You joining me?"
Percy decided to join him.
They were silent for the majority of their meal, only for the silence to be broken by Damasen.
"You have a soulmate?" He asked.
"Yeah. At least-"
"You used to?" Damasen finished the question.
"Yeah. Wait, how'd you know that?"
"Your shirt is in tatters. I can see your soulmate tattoo. And it's black. Which means.." Damasen didn't finish the sentence.
Percy was silent, before nodding. "Yeah." He said silently.
"I'm sorry." Damasen said, apologetically.
They were quiet through the rest of the meal. Percy kind of put his bowl away, before staring out of the window into the swamp.
"Do you need a place to rest?" Damasen asked.
"Yes, that would be nice." Percy said.
But that wasn't the end there, as Percy had a soulmate, and if soulmates shared pain, shouldn't they also share curses?
LINE BREAK
Zoë cursed her stupidity. She had gotten too in her thoughts and now she was falling into Artemis knows where. The only thing Zoë knew was that she smelled rotting eggs, and the bottom was an endless pit.
Fucking Orion.
She stared down into the empty air, and before long, ground appeared. It came closer, and closer. Zoë closed her eyes as she accepted her fate. She hit the ground.
Zoë Nightshade died in Tartarus.
LINE BREAK
Percy was hunting. He followed the tracks in the rocks. While they were harder to spot than if they were made in dirt or sand, they were there if you knew where to look. These suggested a pack of hellhounds, and personally, Percy was tired of just drakon meat. Hey in Tartarus, food was food. Sure, he could just starve and get resurrected, but starving wasn't very pleasant. He knew from personal experience.
He heard the sounds of paws hitting the ground, and a bark every so often. He came up to a cliff. The sounds came from down below, so naturally he looked. The hellhounds were feasting on some monster, eating it alive.
Percy waited till they were done, before jumping down. He rolled, absorbing the impact. He came to his feet , drawing his sword. He sliced one's leg off, before stabbing it. Percy had learned that if you sever a body part from the monster without killing it, it was a guaranteed spoil of war. He made sure to sever all of their legs, leaving them like sausages with heads.
He started to stab them all in the head, killing them. He was about to finish off the last one, when an arrow came from above and nailed it in the forehead.
Percy quickly grabbed all the legs, putting them in a bag. There were 20 in total.
The sound of someone hitting the ground came from behind him. Percy turned around to see someone he thought he would never see again. Zoë Nightshade.
She seemed to be older. At his age of about 17. She was dressed in a tattered white shirt, (not that it was still white, covered in dirt and all) and torn jeans. She held a bow carved from a bone of something that must've been pretty big. A quiver made from something Percy didn't recognize was carried on her back. Her face was cut up, and blood was slowly trickling down. Her eyes held surprise as she stared at Percy.
Zoë saw a man that was far from the kid she had seen long ago. His hair was still windblown, and the gray streak that she had last seen on him was gone. He was wearing a chest piece made from some sort of scales. They were black, but some yellow and green peeked through, like they were painted over. He wore some pants that were made of the same scales. A sword made from bone hung at his side. His face was more scarred than last time. His eyes were still sea green, though they definitely didn't hold the same shine that they used too. But as he stared at her, they slowly changed back to how they used to be.
"Zoë..." He murmured. He didn't know what to say. They had had something unspoken up until right before she died. Literally confessed to each other at Annabeth's house. Even more, she had taken his virginity in that car transport train. He didn't know if they were still a thing.
Zoë was thinking along the same lines. She had been happiest in that couple of hours before her untimely death. "Where's Riptide?" She asked.
Percy rubbed the back of neck. "Uh, so apparently it doesn't come back to you if you're dead. And since I'm technically dead..." Percy said, leaving the rest of the sentence.
"You're dead?" Zoë asked in shock, before pulling at the hem of her shirt. Sure enough, the 'trident in a wave' that was tattooed over her heart was no longer blue, but black.
Percy nodded. They were silent before he spoke up again. "Uh, I was just hunting for dinner, if you would like to join us."
"Us?" She questioned.
"Yeah, you'll see." He said, turning back to head to Damasen's.
LINE BREAK
Zoë didn't know what she expected, but a couple of huts on a swamp was not it. Especially with one of them being occupied by a giant. The 2 skinned and cooked the hellhound meat, serving it with a side of salad, grown from Damasen's garden.
Dinner was awkward, as Zoë and Damasen were new to each other. But finally Ares' opposite spoke up.
"You're his soulmate?" He asked.
Zoë nodded awkwardly. "How'd you know that?"
He pointed at her chest. "I can see your tattoo. And besides, Percy's looks like you."
Zoë instantly covered up the tear that was exposing part of her breast. Percy got up, before disappearing into the smaller hut. He came back with a blue shirt made from sheep's wool. He handed it to her.
She took it, thankful that he knew she was uncomfortable. They were silent, before Damasen spoke up again.
"Percy, you never told me how you almost escaped. Mind telling us."
Percy sighed. "I found them."
"Them?" Zoë asked.
"The Doors of Death." He finished.
Damasen stopped eating his hellhound leg. "You don't mean-"
Percy nodded. "I was there, at the heart of Tartarus. Thousands, if not a million monsters stood between me and the monsters. I had no weapon. They tore through me like I was paper."
Zoë flinched, knowing what that was like. Hell she had felt it when it happened, not that she knew that was what she had felt at the time.
"Do you still want to escape?" Damasen asked.
"Of course! But how the fuck would I do that." He responded.
"Well, with Zoë here, and I'm sure I could help you."
"But you can't leave the swamp." Percy said. "You told me you tried before!"
"Maybe, maybe I could leave. But maybe not. But you two could do it. It would be hard, but you could."
"Maybe." Percy muttered. "I didn't see anyone holding a button, so I assume it's like a normal elevator..." He was talking to himself like a madman.
They planned to try the next day. After all, if they died, they would just wake up in some place in Tartarus, most likely the swamp. Zoë decided to stay in Percy's hut, since his was like a 2 room apartment. She would sleep on the couch in his living room.
In the middle of the night, she knocked on his door. Percy stumbled to the door and opened it. It wasn't like he could sleep anyway.
"Hey, can I sleep with you?" She asked.
Percy nodded, allowing her in.
The next morning, they gathered their supplies for their journey. They were teased by Damasen the entire time. Apparently they were way louder than they thought they had been. Zoë especially. Not that she would ever admit it.
But with backpacks on, filled with the water of the Phlegathon, and other remedies, they left the safety of the swamp. They were only told to find Akhlys, as she could turn them into death mist, and that would shield them from monsters.
They walked for hours, before the fog of Tartarus became thicker. They kept walking before it cleared up. Standing in the middle was the corpse lady from his 1st revival. The sound of their shoes hitting the ground must've alerted her to them as she turned to them.
Before she could speak, Percy spoke. "Look lady, we need your death mist, no sacrifice thing this time."
Zoë looked at him confused, but she dropped it.
The lady didn't say anything, but did a 'come along' gesture as she walked away. They followed her. They came to the same cliff that Percy had been at last time. Poison lady did some weird thing with her hands, and suddenly they found it hard to breathe. They fell to their knees.
Akhlys cackled with laughter. Poison started to flow, reacting to her glee. "I've done it! After all the misery I gave him, I've finally made Percy Jackson fall in despair! All those sleepless, painful nights! He kneels before me, the goddess of poison, the causer of misery!"
Percy stared at the goddess. She was the cause? She caused all that pain. All of it from Gabe, from the kids at school. The abuse, the bullying, the days where he was beaten from an inch of his life and he would feel miserable, was her?
His anger brewed, changing his corpse-like face from cool indifference, to raging anger. He rose to his feet, and felt his gut about to pop. Pure power shone from his eyes. The poison started to rise, forming a tidal wave behind him.
He felt eyes on him. He turned to see Zoë. She looked scared for a second, before she looked at Akhlys. Any other person would have told him to stop. But she understood what he was doing. She knew about all the pain Akhlys caused. Hell, she had felt it too. Her face hardened. She nodded for Percy to do it.
He turned to the sobbing goddess. He thrust his hands forward. The poison rushed forward, covering the ground alarmingly fast. The liquid surrounded Akhlys. It burned her skin, causing her to shriek out in pain, but Percy didn't relent.
The poison started to enter her mouth and dissolve her from the inside. Percy kept it up until the goddess was gone. Faded, done in by her own element.
The poison flowed off the cliff into the sea of chaos. Percy dropped to his knees, exhausted. He rested for a minute, before getting back to his feet.
They walked again, for about a day, before they got to the heart of Tartarus. The ground was purple, and squishy. Veins in which the 5 rivers of the underworld flowed through. Just like how Percy had described, about a million monsters waited to use the Doors of Death. 2 titans stood guard next to them. Hyperion and Krios.
They walked through the crowd of monsters undetected thanks to the death mist. The duo reached the doors, and were about to go through, when the ground shook. It shook again, and again.
They looked over to see a giant... monstrosity stepping towards them. The shaking ground caused by his steps. His flesh was purple, and he had no face. On his head was a swirling whirlpool, which seemed to suck in everything. Percy could feel gravity have less of an effect on him. The giant thing wore armor engraved with the faces of horrifying monsters, such as gorgons, and drakons. They were so lifelike, that they seemed to be trying to escape. His feet were as large as coffins. Stygian iron boots covered the feet. Percy knew at once that this was Tartarus.
"I watched you two for a long time." He said. His voice seemed like it couldn't escape the vortex of his 'face' as it seemed to go in instead of projecting out. "And I didn't interfere, but you are too close to escaping. And I cannot allow that."
Percy gripped his sword. Zoë gripped her bow and knocked an arrow. Tartarus snapped his fingers and every monster disintegrated. The titans behind them turned to dust as well. The death mist was washed off of the couple. But worst of all, the Doors of Death were damaged, and as per their damage policy, they disappeared, vanishing from Tartarus all together.
As Percy and Zoë watched their only hope of escape vanish, Tartarus laughed. It boomed across the landscape. He had every right to. It was a demigod and former hunter of Artemis against a primordial. It looked like the end.
"Be grateful. Even the Olympians didn't get my full attention."
They did not feel like being grateful. So much so that Zoë shot her arrow. Only for the primordial to catch it and snap it like a twig. Percy nodded. "Naturally that would happen." He said.
A roar was heard from in the distance. Came crawling across the terrain was the maeonian drakon, being ridden on by it's former enemy, Damasen. They charged into a shell-shocked Tartarus, making him stumble.
Percy started to charge at Tartarus' back. He jumped up and stabbed the primordial in the back. The bone sword stuck into the back, causing the primordial to shake Percy off. The sword stayed stuck leaving Percy weaponless.
Zoë continued to shoot arrows into the primordial but she was running out. Damasen was still distracting tartarus, but there wasn't much they could do. The fight was over almost as soon as it started.
At least until Percy tripped while backing up. He looked up to see that he tripped on a vein that had an underworld river coursing through it. Percy could feel the power waiting to be released. He had no idea how he knew he could control it. After all his father was god of the sea, not every water everywhere. Maybe the curse of Tartarus had something to do with it.
Deciding not to look a gift horse in the mouth, he concentrated. The tug in his gut increased 100 fold. The vein in front of him exploded like a geyser. More veins exploded, creating more geysers.
He held his hands out, bringing the rivers together. The rivers mixed, creating something new. It glowed purple, and seemed to be some new river. Percy made it harden and turn into a trident. He picked it up and aimed. He threw.
The trident sliced through the air, before striking true. The chest of Tartarus. It went straight through, leaving 3 holes connected in his chest. Luckily it avoided Damasen.
Tartarus fell to his knees. Percy summoned more of the new river, making it freeze into a new sword. He walked to the fallen primordial before placing the blade below his chin.
"Not possible." Tartarus gasped. "You are puny."
"And yet you kneel before me." Percy said, his voice cold, dark..
Tartarus went to stand up, not that he could anyways, but Percy wasn't taking any chances. He slit the pit's throat. He then passed out because creating shit was exhausting.
But Tartarus faded knowing he had the last laugh. After all, if the personification of something faded, what happened to that something?
It disappeared, that's what.
The landscape around the 4 started to flicker, frightening the group. Well, except for Percy, since he was still asleep. This was looking to be the end, yet again.
The fates flashed in, panicked. They looked around frantically, before looking at each other. The middle one, Lachesis, nodded. She pulled out a sea green life thread. It seemed to have some volcanic black mixed in there, for obvious reasons.
They slowly added some reddish black in there. All the while Percy floated in the air. He started to glow before he was covered in the golden light. A throne started to rise beneath him, made of the purple river. It seemed to be metallic, like titanium.
The light died down, leaving Percy in a white shirt covered by a black metal breastplate, and some baggy pants. A crown sat on his head, made of clack and red, with gems made from the river. He was slowly let down onto his throne, still unconscious.
Zoë climbed onto him and kissed him. She had a good idea of what was going on and just in case he didn't make it, she wanted to remember the sensation of his lips.
She pulled back, as she waited. She looked around to see that the heart of the once Tartarus was now flooded with Percy's new creation. His throne sat on an island in the middle. She had an idea for a name for it if he wanted it. The River Perseus, the River of Destruction.
Monsters started to check out what was going on, testing the water, only to have it sting.
And when Percy finally awoke, the monsters bowed before the two, the king and queen of Tartarus.
After all, soulmates if soulmates shared pain, and curses, they should share the title too.
A/N. Wow. That was honestly one of my favorite one shots. No idea why, but I like it alot. Were you expecting the ending? Anyways, I don't have much to say.
Thoughts?