A/N: A huge thank you to everyone who reviewed and encouraged me to keep writing this story! Now I present to you, Chapter 2!!!!

Disclaimer: sadly I don't own percy Jackson. Sad day.

Setting: Tartarus

Percy's pov

Chapter 2:

Percy was falling. And falling. And falling. The pitch black tunnel seemed endless. When he and Annabeth had fallen together, the fall hadn't seemed so bad because he had had Annabeth with him. Now that he was alone, the fall seemed more menacing. It also didn't help that the scenes of watching his friends die kept playing over and over again in his head. Percy squeezed his eyes shut, trying to block out the memories.

After a few moments, Percy sighed and opened his eyes. The memories still hadn't stopped but they weren't as intense. Now they were just sounds, images, feelings.

Gradually, he could start to see the outline of his hands. A reddish glow began engulf him as he fell further down. He could start to make out the rock walls of the tunnel. He looked down trying to see the bottom, but it wasn't light enough to see anything other than a few feet in front of him yet.

So, instead of looking for his destination, he instead retreated inside his mind yet again.

Why did they think I was a traitor? thought Percy. Why did they send me here? Why?

Percy's anger grew as he thought about everything the gods had done to him, had done to others. But as soon as the anger appeared, it disintegrated. Percy sighed. He could never be angry at the gods. Sure, they had done bad things to himself and others but they had also helped him and their children. Besides, he couldn't turn on them. His fatal flaw was loyalty. He would always stay loyal to the Olympians.

Finally, the tunnel opened up into a cavern. As Percy fell, he could see the arai and other winged demons flying in the blood red clouds. In the distance, he could see the fiery red glow of the River Phlegethon. The ground was littered with jagged cliffs and mountains. The sulfurous smell clouded his head and made it hard to think straight. He searched the ground for a water source like last time to help cushion his fall.

Fortunately for him, there was a river nearby. The waters were pitch black and seemed restless. The water crashed into its banks angrily, as if trying to destroy everything in its way.

Percy tried to angle himself so that he would crash into the river. He could only hope that it wasn't the Lethe or Styx. The river rushed up to greet him. Percy tried to control the water so that it would cushion his fall, but then he remembered that he no longer had powers over water. Percy's eyes widened in horror as he came closer and closer to the surface.

Percy prepared himself for impact and hoped he wouldn't die on contact.

Percy slammed into the water so hard that, if he hadn't been anyone but a powerful demigod, all of his bones seemed to almost shatter. The moment the water touched his skin, Percy's body erupted into tremendous pain. It felt as if a thousand knives were piercing his skin. His throat burned and his lungs felt like they were on fire. Percy writhed in pain and struggled to crawl out of the river. The pain made it seem like the Styx was a bubble bath. He finally felt the broken glass of the river bank beneath his hands and feet and managed to drag himself out of the river.

Once he was a good distance from the water, Percy flipped himself on his back and gasped for air. As the pain slowly faded away, Percy's mind caught up with what had just happened. Everything hurt and it felt as if his entire body had been boiled alive. Percy guessed that he had landed in the River Acheron. The River of Pain. Not his favorite river in the underworld.

Percy pulled himself up into a sitting position and looked at his surroundings. In the distance, jagged mountains pierced the blood red clouds. On his left, steep cliffs dropped off into nothingness. The ground was made of broken glass and littered with sickly yellow monster blisters.

Strangely, Percy hasn't been attack by any monsters yet. He had expected to be bombarded with monster attacks the moment he set foot in Tartarus. Percy frowned in confusion and stood up. He pulled out his trusty sword Riptide and uncapped it. The sword expanded into a three foot long, double edged blade glowing softly in the darkness of Tartarus. Percy felt a bit more confident holding his sword in his hands and started walking towards the fiery red glow of the Phlegeton. He knew that if he wanted to survive he would have to stay near the River of Fire so that he could drink from it. Even if it did taste horrible.

Halfway there, the monster attack he was expecting finally happened. Percy was climbing over a particularly large rock when suddenly about fifty monsters surrounded him. They came from behind rocks, in the sky, and newborn monsters from their blister. They made sure that Percy would have no chance to escape.

Percy hefted his sword and surveyed the monsters. There were hell hounds, empousai, Cyclopes, wild centaurs, and various flying demons, including arai. The monsters growled and hissed at him. Percy got into a defensive stance and prepared to defend himself.

After a few seconds of silence, an overconfident Cyclopes decided to attack. He charged at Percy, his spiked metal club raised above his head. The Cyclopes went to bring down the club on Percy's head, but Percy sidestepped and stabbed the Cyclopes in the stomach. The Cyclopes fell and disintegrated to dust.

The rest of the monsters roared in rage and attacked all at once. Percy's mind went on auto pilot as he sliced, spun, parried, and stabbed with his sword. Percy killed everything in his path. Even without his water powers, the monsters were no match for Percy. Soon, all that was left of the monsters were piles of dust surrounding a panting and tired demigod.

Percy should have felt good about himself after his victory, but all he felt was pain and weariness. Being in Tartarus had not helped with the painful memories of his friends dying replaying themselves over and over again in his mind. If anything, they seemed to be getting worse. Now instead of just showing ther deaths, he would also hear them telling him it was all his fault that they're dead. That he could have saved them. Percy squeezed his eyes shut and pressed his hands to his temples, trying to block them out.

"Well, if it isn't the hero of Olympus, Percy Jackson."

Percy snapped his eyes open and raised his sword. He knew that voice. That voice had haunted his dreams for months after the war. Percy spun in a circle, trying to locate where the voice was coming from. Percy shouted into the darkness, "Are you a coward? Show yourself and fight!"

The voice only chuckled and said,"Nice try little hero, but I have bigger plans for you."

Percy then felt something hit him on the back of the head and his vision turned black.

A/N: And there's chapter 2 for ya! Hope you guys liked it and don't forget to review!

Until next time...