This bolded paragraph below is from an old chapter dedicated to an authors note. I am no longer on vacation, but the other parts of it are still accurate.

Sorry for not updating in a few days. I'm on vacation and won't be able to update until coming Monday or Tuesday. But I've got a lot of ideas for the next few chapters so once I get back to my computer I'll be writing a lot and updating this story as much as I possibly can. But I can still read replies so if you guys have any things you want me to to incorporate into the story make sure to let me know. And if you have any relationships you would like to see put them in a review. The only pairing I've got set for sure is PercyxArtemis

POV Jason

I could hear the sobbing coming from Annabeth's room down the hall. We were all devastated to see that our leader was gone. He would likely die while down in Tartarus. I knew this and, despite our differences, I knew that A. He was FAR more powerful than me and B. That the seven would fall apart without a proper leader, and no one other than Percy is truly fit to be our leader. I knew that someone would step up and try to replace him, but we would all still feel the void Percy left. The more time that passed, the more guilt started to weigh down on me. I could have tried to fly down and grab him before he fell in, or I could have tried to help Annabeth up, so he wouldn't have fallen in to save her from the same fate. I'm so angry with myself. I am a roman; Romans don't freeze up in moments of stress; we strive in it. Yet, even with many years of training and being a part of the twelfth legion, I froze and, because of it, our leader and friend; is going through the worst possible thing a person can experience in the entire Greek/Roman world. I heard a faint knock on my door and took a second to recompose myself before I walked to the door and opened it. On the other side, Piper stood looking perfectly fine, apart from the slight redness in her eyes. Stupid Aphrodite; can't even let her children look messy when they've just seen a friend willingly jump into; what could only be called a suicide mission. However, I couldn't be mad at Piper about that, she does not even want to be like the typical Aphrodite girls, yet her mother forces her to have the appearance of one, even if she does not act the part. After standing in the doorway, just looking at each other for a few seconds, I cleared my throat and spoke, "Hey Pipes, what's up?"

"Are you alright, Jason? I know Percy, and you didn't always get along; you weren't exactly friends, but I know you still care about him."

"Yeah, I'm fine Piper still sorta in shock about all of this. How are you holding up? I know you looked up to him."

At this comment, she became slightly flustered, and her eyes glossed over with tears.

I said with a slight smirk on my face, "See, I can tell things about you too, and I don't even need any children of Aphrodite tricks." I finished with a slight chuckle and a nudge on Piper's arm. My heart picked up when I heard her let out a small laugh, even though I could still hear the sobs she held back.

"I'm going to go see how Annabeth is doing; I think she could use a friend while she comes to terms with this." She told me. I agreed with her, Annabeth had just gotten him back, and now he is gone again. I just nodded and then retreated to my bed to continue thinking about how we could provide any help to Percy or what I could have done better so he wouldn't have to be in this situation.

POV Leo

Percy is gone. At least for the moment. As soon as he fell, I started to miss him. He was always nice to me and made sure to include me in the group. I didn't feel excluded, but I knew and was aware that I was the outcast among us. I seemed to have ADHD far worse than everyone else, including Percy, who had it pretty bad. Not to mention he was our leader; and best fighter; in my opinion, both he and Jason were pretty great at fighting.

As soon as we got back on the ship, I dove into the work that needs to get done. I need to do something to get my mind off of the sadness that I am currently experiencing; I would rather be productive about it. I had a lot to do while on the flight to Greece. I had to fix the landing gear that got damaged in the 'landing' if it could even be called that; hitting and going through a parking lot seemed a lot more like a crash than a landing. I had to find a way for the Athena Parthenos to stay in place while the ship sailed through the air. We did not want to break the statue after we just went through so much to get it.

I decided that the landing gear could wait; sailing in the water would not be the best idea, seeing that Percy was no longer on the ship with us. I found the ropes that he used to crane the statue up onto the Argo II and repurposed them into straps to keep it from tilting around. I doubted that even if it did fall over that it would break or crack. When I approached it, I felt the waves of power rolling off of it. Though that still left us with many other things that could go wrong if it fell, the statue could damage the floor of the ship and cause us to veer off course; the Parthenon could damage the bottom of the warship enough to the point that even if we needed to, we would not be able to sail. Or if we got REALLY unlucky, the statue could fall through the ship and be lost on the ground below.

While these thoughts were going through my head, I didn't notice that Nico had come down to where I was until he spoke up, "Reyna and I are going me taking the Athena Parthenon to camp half-blood. We're going to leave some time in the next few days. Thought I'd let you know." Nico and Percy had been close; they were friends and probably considered each other brothers. I must have had a hurt look on my face because, after the few moments of silence between us, he spoke up again,

"Leo, you don't have to worry; Percy will make it through Tartarus. He's the strongest of us, and he's always managed to find a way to accomplish the impossible. I am sure that he will be there waiting for us at the doors of death."

I immediately responded with, "Thanks, Nico, I needed that extra reassurance. I'll do my best to find a way to help make the statue easier to transport for the two of you." He gave an appreciative nod and smile; then, shadow traveled out. I finished stapping the statue down then started to look for blueprints or any plans that could assist in the long-distance travel that Nico and Reyna would have to endure.

POV Percy

I made sure to stay a safe distance away, or at least as safe as following monsters can be, from them while remaining close enough to hear what they were saying. Not too long after, I began following them, Kelly, and one of the other empousai, whose name I don't know, began arguing. The other empousai that were with them immediately backed away, giving the two space, sensing that there a fight between the two was about to happen. I couldn't help but come up with names that I would call Kelly's new friend, Empi. I couldn't help but think of what Annabeth would say about the nickname. She would probably say something like, 'Really Percy, Empi, an empousa named Empi? Real clever seaweed brain.'

Noticing that the empousai backing up are now closer enough to see me, I stepped back a few times. As soon as I felt the pain, I felt like screaming out, but still determined to keep my presence unknown, I closed my eyes and clenched my jaw to prevent myself from making noise. However, while focusing on not making a vocal sound, I did not feel my grip on Riptide starting to slip. The sound of my sword clattering to the ground, followed by the sudden stop of the fight between Kelly and Empi, quickly pulled me out of my concentration. I opened my eyes to see six pairs of eyes starring at me with a look of pure desire to devour me; no doubt they would all love a demigod meal. I reached down into my pocket and pulled out my pen; this was another instance that made me eternally grateful that Riptide was enchanted to always come back to me.

I clicked the pen, and my celestial bronze blade grew out. It glowed in the darkness of Tartarus, providing a dim glow around me. The two closest monsters lunged at me; I sidestepped and dogged their first slashes. The closest empousa, who had fully committed to her first attack, was still stumbling after I finished my sidestep; I quickly took advantage of her defenseless position and slashed her head off with Riptide. As I finished my single slash through the monster that was now nothing more than a pile of golden dust, I could feel the other empousai quickly closing in.

I dropped into a role and repositioned myself, trying to become as ready as possible to fight off the last five remaining monsters. The empousai had formed a semi-circle; that was slowly backing me into a wall. The outer two suddenly lunged forward with their sharp claws aiming for a kill. I tried to doge, but there was nowhere safe to doge; If I went under them, there was two more waiting for me, If I went to the left, I would get hit by the monster on my left, and the same was true for the right side. My ADHD worked overtime, looking for the best course of action to take; acting rashly and without any further thought, I lunged at the monster to my left and stabbed it through where its heart would be. Though in doing so, I felt scrapping across my back, that was no doubt the monster that was previously to my left.

The anger that the remaining monsters began to boil with; gave me a few seconds to assess my surroundings. There was the other three empousai that remained from the original semi-circle that was now in complete disorder. Which still left one unaccounted for, Kelly, she was the only one not among the others; I quickly looked around attempting to find her but was unable to. The three empousai, who were previously in disarray, grouped back and seemed to be talking to each other. Unable to hear what they were saying, I took a moment to catch my breath and continue my visual search for Kelly; being unable to find her was starting to make me nervous. I snapped my head back to where the three empousai were before, only to see Empi, the empousa that Kelly was arguing with before, walking towards me with her claws retracted. She began to speak,

"Demigod, if you give up now. We'll make your death quick." that made me laugh, or at least I wanted to, but I stopped myself and settled for a witty remark instead "Now, Empi, as enticing as that sounds, I think I'll have to settle for killing you all instead."

The look of pure confusion and then rage overtook her face when I called her that name and then proceeded to threaten her was absolutely priceless. That alone made me feel like I was not in Tartarus but back up on the surface, egging monsters on and managing to stay alive because of it. While fuming with rage at being called a nickname and then taunted, that got her fuming, with rage she alone charged at me. That is what I wanted; hoping to get an easy kill, I slashed at where she would be. Sadly, she must have gained battle awareness in her millennium of living; she dodged my first strike and threw one of her own; she extended her claws and slashed at my thigh, causing a deep gash to appear. I could feel the blood pulsing out of my wound and running down my leg but felt no pain.

The other two empousai, now noticing that their trickery did not work, clambered up with their claws extended out. All three of them launched attacks in quick secession of each other. I quickly brought my sword up to deflect their razor-sharp claws and launch a counterattack of my own. Instead of slashing this time, like I learned to do at Camp Half-Blood, I stabbed like I shown to do at the Roman camp, the empousa not expecting this and was unable to move due to her surprise; and watched as the blade sunk deep into her stomach and out her back.

Taking note that the monsters only expected me, a Greek, to use greek methods of fighting and not a mix between greek and roman, I knew I had to start combining the two styles into one of my own. Acting upon this realization, I stabbed at the last unknown/unnamed empousai, and just like her friend, who was now a pile of dust, she too fell to my stabbing motion. I decided to try mixing styles in this battle. I might as well start right away. I twisted my body to gain some extra momentum and sliced out of the side of the monster, continuing into an upwards slash; despite Empi being a thousand years old, she was not expecting this level of Roman-Greek fighting style integration. The sword cut through from her hip up and through her shoulder with ease. Both of the empousai dissipated into golden dust.

With those two dead, it left only one more alive, Kelli, which was probably going to be the hardest one to kill, I had fought her before, and she had managed to get me kicked out of school and escape before I could take my revenge.

"Very good Persssseusss, you've improved quite a bit since we've last fought. Your method of fighting is very on par with your actual lineage, vetiti unum."

Forbidden one? That made no sense to me, sure I'm a child of Poseidon, who was born of a broken oath, but this just seemed different. I know that monsters tend to overshare when they think that they'll end up killing the demigod anyway, so I decided to try my luck, "The forbidden one? That's a new nickname; why do you call me that? Is it because I'm born of a broken oath?" She let out a weird scratchy laugh, "No, you insolent fool, you should not exist, both Greek and Roman, a child of both Neptune and Poseidon. You are nothing but a cosmic mistake, a being that is not possible; you should not even exist. Yet you do, and that means I will be greatly rewarded by The Earth Mother when I kill you."

Well, I got my answer to the question. This encounter was quite effective sure I only found out what direction the Doors of Death were in, but I found out why I can easily understand/learn both Greek and Latin, while the other Greeks struggle with Latin and vice-versa. Finished playing games with her, I launched my first furry of strikes at her. I could feel my attacks slowing as I moved around, the deep gash on my leg from earlier; I definitely needed to finish this fight and rest for a bit; hopefully, the firewater could heal a wound this deep. I got a few shallow cuts on her arms and torso, but nothing near-fatal. As I was about to start forming a plan on what to do next, a soft voice spoke in my head; "Feel and control the water inside of her, to slow her movements."

I couldn't think of a better idea that could actually work, so I tried it out. At first, I didn't feel anything, no tug in my gut, and then it happened, the second most intense pain I've ever felt. My stomach had a pain that felt how Apollo's haikus sounded, but I could feel all the water around me, the Phlegethon flowing next to me, and another river, the Styx; I also felt another presence of water which was unfamiliar.

I opened my eyes, and the sight in front of me sent a chill down my spine. I could almost feel the claws that are mere inches away from my neck. I quickly moved out of the way; at this point, I could feel my energy seeping away from me, apparently controlling the water inside of people's bodies took quite a lot out of me. I'd have to practice this newfound ability more when I got out of this place. Acting quickly before my grip on her slipped away, I slashed Kelli's head off and tried to walk over to the Phlegethon but immediately collapsed and passed out.

Sorry this chapter took so long, I hadn't started it whatsoever before I left for vacation. I got back a few days ago and spent some time talking with fellow authors on how I can and should improve my writing and I'm going to try and do that without causing a slow in updates. As you hopefully were able to notice, this chapter was quite a bit longer than my previous were. I want to write longer chapters and will hopefully be able to do that once I get our Hero out of Tartarus and back up to the surface. I've got a few ideas on what I can do next for Percy to be slightly pushed towards using this new power more often or at least exploring what new abilities he might be able to discover. I've got an idea that I would really like to do, but idk how it would work into the story, so there's two paths that the story could follow going forward. I haven't decided on how I'm going to choose which to follow, but I'm sure you guys will enjoy it regardless. Anyway, as always thanks for reading and be sure to comment if you've got anything to say! I'm going to start responding to the questions people leave in the comments, so if you have any whatsoever, please be sure to post them.

2,836 words, excluding both author's notes.