I haven't formatted any writing like this in a long time so, sorry if there are any major mistakes. Please let me know if you find any major mistakes!
POV Percy
I woke up and felt a weightless sensation; my vision was still quite blurry from the amount of blood loss I experienced, but most of the immense pain had faded. Slowly, my sight returned, and as it did, I realized that something, no someone, was carrying me.This realization jolted me awake; I started moving around randomly in an attempt to escape the grasp of my captor. However, my body quickly began to feel sore again, which forced me to calm down and wait for a better opportunity. I was about to try escaping again, but we stopped moving, and I was tossed off their shoulder and onto the ground. I quickly shot my hand into my pocket and pulled out Riptide, and flicked the cap, all in one fluid motion.
"There's no need for that, my friend!" the being spoke quietly. The voice sounded familiar, but I couldn't quite place my finger on whom it was. The figure then raised his head to meet my eyes, and it all clicked into place.
"BOB!" I shouted, my titan friend had come to rescue me, but how he knew that I was in trouble I did not know. "How have you been, Bob? I'm sorry that I haven't visited you since the war; I've been busy." I told him.
"It's okay Percy Nico told me about what happened; he also told me that you fell into Tartarus; that's why I jumped down, to rescue you," Bob responded. That made me feel even more guilty, I hadn't thought about Bob since I wiped his memory in the Titan War, and here he is jumping into Hell to save me because Nico just happened to mention it to him. "Thank you, Bob, for saving me. Do you know where in the pit we are?" I asked apologetically. "Unfortunately, I do not, but I do know how to get to the friendly Giant's home from here; he knows the pit better than I." I felt the blood drain out of my face as I heard that we were going towards a Giant's lair, Bob must have sensed this and attempted to reassure me that despite him being a Giant he was friendly, much like how titans are not friendly, but he is an exception.
As we walked, the terrain started becoming more rugged, and Bob now seemed to be having an internal conversation with himself. We continued to walk in silence until a loud screech broke it, and we were both instantly on guard. I scanned the landscape around, attempting to spot the enemy, but I couldn't see anything. And then I felt it; razor-sharp claws scrape across my skin; I blindly slashed and connected with something, the pain immediately worsened and forced me down to my knees. Bob had now stepped next to me and was guarding my body against more monsters that may be around. As he was scanning the area for any more potential threats, he began explaining to me that the monster I had just killed was an Arai, the monsters themselves were not too dangerous, but they carried curses placed on their killer. That's just great; I thought to myself Tartarus gets even more hell-like than it already was.
"Are there going to be more of those down here?" I asked Bob.
"Yes, we have to go through their lair to get to Damasen's hut," he responded rather coldly. I nodded continued to walk in silence. I spaced out for the rest of the walk and only became aware again when Bob stopped me with his hand, and in front of us was a large opening that sloped deeper into the pit.
"This is the entrance into their lair; we won't have to spend too much time in there, but we will go through their nesting area," Bob stated. I nodded in acknowledgment.
"How are we going to get through without killing any of them? Won't they be able to pick up on my scent?" I questioned with worry lacing my words.
"Yes, they would be able to smell you, but if you stay close enough to me, we shouldn't have too much trouble," Bob assured me. I nodded again and began to walk behind him, leaving just enough room for sudden stops.
The terrain drastically changed as we entered their lair, going from rough with lots of rocks strewn about to smooth and no pebbles insight. The temperature also changed drastically, going from an uncomfortable; yet bearable heat to a suffocating warmth. I could already feel the sweat starting to bead on my forehead and my shirt becoming wetter and wetter from the sweat caused by the new heat. My senses became fuzzier and fuzzier the further we went in. I turned around a bearing of how far we had traveled, and the entrance of the cavern had just not begun to recede from sight.
"How much farther do we have to go, Bob," I asked with a hushed tone.
"We are about to entire their nesting area, and after that, we're pretty much out," he informed me with no emotion in his voice.
His demeanor towards me had changed drastically from when he had saved me and began to guide me; the only explanation I could think of scarred me. What if he was regaining his memory; Tartarus is the place Monsters go to heal after all. I shook the thought out of my head and refocused on the task at hand, making it out of this dam lair alive and without any more curses than needed.
The cavern opened up into a much larger room, which I knew was their nesting area without even stepping foot into it yet. As we passed into the room, I immediately felt a chill run down my spine and raised Riptide; from my side into a fighting position and mentally prepared myself to get into a fight where I could not hurt my opponent. Within seconds an Arai swooped down from the ceiling, and my battle reflexes kicked in; without thinking, I slashed at it, killing it instantly. Immediately I crumpled to the floor in pain as I felt a large gash appear from the top of my right should down my chest to my left hip. Blood started to stain my shirt, and I briefly debated attempting to control my blood but decided against it, seeing as how much it drained me the last time I used that ability.
Bob stepped back and stood over me, giving me a few seconds to adjust to the pain, all while swatting at the Arai that attempted to swoop down and slash at me. As I stood back up, I yelled up to Bob; that we had to make a run for it and get out of here as soon as possible. I nodded and grunted in agreement. We both dashed forward, Bob leading, as he was the one that knew the right way out of this hell hole.
More Arai swarmed us, this time they were not only going for me but rather both of us; Bob continued to swat at them, which neutralized them, rather than killing them; unfortunately, I did not have the luxury of Titan strength and was forced to wack them with the flat of my blade.
"We're almost to the exit Percy; keep doing your best to defend yourself without killing them," Bob shouted back to me. The Arai seemed to listen to Bob too and started diving more aggressively, attempting to get themselves killed to enact a curse upon me. Two of them swooped down towards me, and I had to make to choice of either getting slashed up or killing them and hoping I did not get an even more deadly curse. I choose to slash through the Arai, killing them instantly.
As soon as they turned into dust, I felt it, the burning sensation inside of my veins; instantly, I knew that the call I made was the wrong one. Despite the immense pain that was flaring all over my body, I knew that I had to keep running forward; otherwise, I would have no chance of survival at all. Somehow I caught up to Bob with no interference from the Arai; as soon as I did, I vaguely heard him mention that we made it out of the lair of the Arai, and we were safe for the time being. I promptly fainted as the words processed in the blur that was my mind.
I woke up to water splashing onto my face, and as soon as my senses came back, the burning started, and instantly I knew the water was from the Phlegethon. After the burning sensation went away, I could feel the cut on my chest close up and stop bleeding. I had forgotten about that cut; unfortunately, the burning sensation that flowed through my body parts did not. I blinked a couple of times to regain and reassess my surroundings, only to find Bob kneeling in front of me; with a makeshift bucket; made out of a hollowed-out boulder.
"Thank you for keeping me alive, Bob," I said with genuine gratitude. His eyes became slightly watery, and he gave a small smile. I recognized the face from the time I had spent with Annabeth, the reaction was genuine, but his mind was elsewhere. His action all but confirmed my theory that he was regaining his memory from being down here. I made a mental note to ask him about it later, but for the time we had more pressing issues, the burning that was going on inside of my body was getting worse.
"Bob, I think something is wrong. My body feels like it is melting from the inside out," I told him as I picked myself up from the ground. A look of worry crossed his face; as he leaned down and pressed his index finger to my forehead. A warm, comforting sensation flowed through my body for a brief second. He removed his finger and spoke, "It seems one of the Arai carried the curse of the Gorgon, one of the monsters you killed, wished for you to experience the pain of Gorgon's poisoning," with worry laced in his words.
"You should get on my shoulders, I can slow the effect of the poison, but Damasen, will have a better chance of ridding it from your body," Bob said firmly. I nodded and climbed onto his shoulders, holding on tight as he began to sprint forwards. I began to let my mind wander, thinking of how I could approach the situation with Bob; he was regaining his memory to some extent but was still being friendly with me, which was good. I decided to mention the subject slowly.
"Hey Bob, I wanted to apologize for not coming to the underworld to visit with you. I know that Nico explained to you my situation, but that doesn't excuse my actions; I left you, my friend, alone at the mercy of Hades," I said.
"It's okay, you had other issues to deal with, and Nico did his best to make sure I had a decent life while working for Hades. And in all honesty, working for Hades; isn't all that bad, especially when comparing it to my brother," he briefly stopped moving when he mentioned the last part.
"Your memories are coming back, aren't they?" I questioned.
"Yes, they have all returned, but they still feel foreign to me, and I'm not quite sure what to make of them yet," he said honestly.
"I want you to know that despite your memories returning, you're still my friend, and I hope it can stay that wall," I told him. He offered no response but seemed to ponder the thought as we continued to Damasen's hut. I closed my eyes again and let my mind wander.
Soon enough, I was thinking back to what the Empousa had said; I was a mistake, a being that shouldn't exist, both greek and roman, that didn't make sense, Gods have two forms, and the wars have happened simply because the demigods were from opposing bloodlines. I had to make sure that I got answers to all my questions and more when I got back to the surface. My thoughts slowed, and I began to fall asleep to the pace of Bob running below me; soon enough, I drifted off to sleep.
AN: It feels great to be writing again! I have been hoping to sit down and write another chapter one of these days, and I have finally done it! I'm sorry for abandoning the story so early on, but it wasn't for the lack of ideas, more or less the lack of time, and then forgetting that I was writing a story. This is a rather short chapter, and the trend will likely follow for the next chapter as well; as I get back into writing and used to explaining events in better detail, the length will go back up, and hopefully, I will reach an average of 3k words per chapter at some point. I have an idea for what I am going to do with Percy and his experience in Tartarus, along with how I will be breaking Annabeth and Percy up; without ruining both their friendship and the story! In the meantime, if anyone has any suggestions, please do share; I like hearing the feedback!