The world around him echoed with the slamming of the door. Percy's hands shook and he took a staggering step backwards. His lips still tingled with the taste of Annabeth's last kiss. He felt his face crumbling, eyes scrunching, nose wrinkling, tears coming. Suddenly he collapsed on the ground, sobs ripping his throat apart. He thought of the last image he had of his friends. Leo half torn between helping and letting it be, circumstance choosing for him. Nico knowing what needed to happen, stopping other from intercepting. Hazel crying into her palm, Piper reaching out, pleading him with her eyes to stay, Frank still, in shock, Jason on the ground reaching out. And Annabeth. Annabeth's last expression would haunt him forever.

Her tear stained face on the ground looking up at him one last time, the face of utter betrayal. He put that look on her face. He made her feel those feelings he was too much of a coward to feel. But, she was safe now. As long as she was safe, he was okay. But still he lay, crumpled by the stone side of a mountain where the doors once stood, unraveling. He'd never see them again. Not only them, no one. Not Grover, his best friend in the entire world. Not his mother who could make him feel better with one kind smile. Not Tyson, his brother who cared about him more than anything. Not Rachel with her doodled on clothing, Thalia with her princess tiara askew, Chiron with his kind words and bad music, not Conner of Travis who always snuck around with him, pranking the others. The names flooded his brain, people he never got to say goodbye to and never would get the chance. Paul, Will, Katie, Miranda, Jake, Lacey, Mitchell, Clarisse, Chris, Clovis.

Another sob ripped through him. He couldn't remember the last thing he said to half those people. He hadn't seen them in over eight months. He always thought after the war he'd throw a huge reunion party. He gave a choked laugh. He had planned so much of it out. He had thought Annabeth would be proud the amount of detail he put into it. They'd never get it. He'd never get to see them again. A loud noise came from his left. His heart jumped into his throat, beating tremendously. He was alone. No Annabeth to cover him, to friendly face to look at after the battle. Everyone down here wanted him dead. He'd never been scared like this before. He was going to die down here.

He tried to swallow but the saliva wouldn't go down. His hands shook as he felt in his pocket for Riptide. He pulled out his trusty sword, one that had gotten him through many battles. The glow of the metal lightened the fog, but did nothing for his line of vision. There could be monsters close to him, hiding in the shadows, concealed in the fog, waiting to attack, so close they can hear how loudly his heart was beating.

He'd never been afraid of death. He always imagined that death wouldn't be bad as long as it was for a good cause. But here, he was alone. Death was all that waited him. Would it hurt? All those injuries he'd sported over the years had hurt. He had ignored them most of the time, kept on fighting, but he would be lying if he said they hadn't hurt. If those hurt so much, how much would it hurt to be injured beyond repair? To die? More tears slipped off of his face.

When he was fighting monsters, some subconscious always thought he might die, but he always thought he had a chance of winning. He always thought if he worked hard enough he could beat whoever his attacker was and go home. But now, he had no where to go. It would just be fight after fight until he couldn't fight any longer. Until the exhaustion or starvation got to him and he could no longer raise his sword.

If only he could have Annabeth here. She would think of a solution. Somewhere to get food. Like she had with the River Phelgethon. But she was where Percy wanted her to be. Safe. He took a deep breath. He didn't want her to be here. He corrected himself. Her being here would only hurt herself. Suddenly an idea came to him. Dameson's hut. He was ashamed it took him so long to come up with it. His gut twisted as he thought of Dameson. How he and Bob had diverted Tartarus's attention away from him and Annabeth. How they vanquished him. How they were both stabbed through the heart and died before Percy and Annabeth even got to the doors.

He had to hope they would come back at some point. He had to hold onto hope. Hope was the only thing Percy had left. Not that he had a lot of it. But, yes. Dameson's hut. He would go there and recuperate. At least until his hands stopped shaking. Lifting his sword high in the position Luke taught him so long ago, he headed back on the way towards Dameson's hut. He tried to remember the way back, but it was foggy. Annabeth would know exactly the way to go, Percy was only guessing. As he walked, he thought of his friends. Not his friends he'd never see again, but his friends that he might be seeing soon. Sooner than he hoped.

Beckendorph, Silena, Lee, Michael Yew, Ethan, Zoe, Bianca, Luke. Actually, not Bianca. He remembered Nico saying after he rescued him from the jar that she had been reborn. He wondered how many more had chosen that path. How many more people he would never get the chance to apologize to. He wondered what they would say to him. He had a direct hand in almost all their deaths. He, of course, was on the ship that Beckendorph died on. He never could save him. He encouraged Silena to keep fighting the drakon. If only he had realized what she'd done sooner. He couldn't close the Labyrinth soon enough which caused Lee's death. Michael Yew he was the one who collapsed the bridge. Ethan, he encouraged Ethan to switch sides, causing Kronos to kill him. Zoe, if only he realized sooner what that dragon did, and then her father. Bianca, it was his idea that she died trying to execute. And Luke. He handed Luke the knife. He was sobbing harder now. Never ending tears in the river that traveled down his face.

Before he knew it, he had arrived. It was almost relieving to see the hut. But, it also pained him. Dameson would never live here again. Add Dameson and Bob onto the list of lives he ruined. Maybe he was better down here. He could hurt less people. But Percy was selfish. He knew he had to at least try to escape. He entered the cabin and fell asleep, the exhaustion and pure fear over coming him to the point where he just shut down.

When he woke up, his face was stiff from all the dried tears. He sat up and rubbed his eyes and messed up his already messy hair. A typically wake up routine for a teenager, but the setting ruined. He looked around and suddenly froze. He heard footsteps outside. He jumped out and gripped Riptide. His heart, a minute ago resting comfortably, was beating loudly. The doorknob turned and the door was opened by someone.

Percy jumped forward ready to strike, but stopped dead in his place. Standing there was a little girl no more than seven. She let out an ear splitting scream and dropped her bucket. She collapsed and ducked under her arms. Percy blinked in surprise. She was so young. And with her golden hair... she reminded Percy of the dream vision he once had of young Annabeth on the run with Thalia and Luke. He lowered his sword. She blinked up at him. Unlike Annabeth she had blue eyes, but they were wide and innocent. Slowly she rose to her feet, lowering her hands.

"You're Percy Jackson." She said in an awed voice. He nodded slightly.

"But, what are you doing here? Dameson doesn't like demigods." Percy couldn't read her expression. Annabeth would know exactly what she was thinking.

"How do you know Dameson?" He asked.

She looked embarrassed. "Well, he... is kinda my friend." Percy looked at her. A little seven year old girl friends with a huge giant. But then, he decided it was no more weird then Bob and Small Bob.

"W-where is he?" She seemed nervous.

"I'm sorry. He's gone." Percy looked down. He refused to cry.

"Oh." Her eyes welled with tears. She blinked them away. She started fidgeting with the hem of her yellow dress and looking at him. She took a step backwards.

"I'm not going to hurt you." She blinked again and tilted her head slightly. Then she nodded very slowly.

"I'm surprised you're here." She said. Her voice changed. It sounded lower than it had been.

"Why?" Percy was skeptical for good reason.

"Well... I- uh... I know that there's a way out of Tartarus." She said that last part very quickly and then looked ashamed. Percy's ears were ringing. A way out? This was almost too good to be true. All those people he thought he'd never see again, he could have another conversation with them. His breath stuttered. But something occurred to him. Something about the way she said it was off.

"How do you know that?" He asked. She swallowed.

"I'm uh an empousa. A lot of my siblings are with Gaea, but I don't believe she's right. But, I uh, I live in the big castle." She looked over her shoulder as if expecting someone to sneak up behind her. Percy could relate. Considering how nervous she was, Percy figured this was the first time she had truly spoken her mind. Even though he had bad experiences with empousa in the past, he decided to trust her.

"What's your name?" He gave her a reassuring smile.

She swallowed. "Claire."

"Alright Claire. You want to help me get the heck out of this place and win the war?"

A goofy smile spread across her face and revealed her missing teeth. "Yeah."

"Then let's go to this castle."