Hiya!

Next few chapters will only be in the perspective of Percy, Annabeth and Natalie till they get outta Tartaus, because my fic is mostly cannon and it would not be much good to just keep typing what people already know. So, until they manage to get on the elevator, the perspective would be of our Tartarus Trio only.

Chapter 23

Annabeth's P.O.V.

Annabeth hadn't cursed anyone this much in her entire life. Cursing mentally as much as she could have done, with a very colorful selection of words for Arachne, Annabeth held on to Percy and Natalie's hand, the only signs of comfort. Percy had pulled both of them close, and they clung to each other, their only assurances that they were in this together. Annabeth didn't know how much time it had been since Percy had let go of the ledge. She didn't even know how she was managing not to completely break down and keep mentally cursing that wicked monster Arachne.

She was trying not to break down as every second passed, trying to accept the reality of the situation. She was falling. Into the Tartarus. From a place so evil that no mortal had returned alive from there. And now she was in it. And the possibility of them getting out? Annabeth estimated that it would be about as small as a grain of sand in a desert. That too, if they could even land somewhere. After all the time they had been falling, Annabeth knew that it had been a long way down, and the velocity with which they were falling, they would die on impact with the ground. That, if there was any ground. There were so many that's and ifs that Annabeth tried to clear her head. If she was going to die, she would rather be close to her friends. She clung on even tighter to them.

Annabeth braced herself for the impact, for her death, whenever that would come. She wondered if she would get entry into Elysium. After all, she actually had found the Athena Parthenos. Perhaps Athena would do something. But seeing as how things were going currently, she doubted Athena had even glanced at her while she was finding the statue. Well, Mom, she thought, at least you got your statue back. You can have many daughters after me with other mortals now.

Darkness was so thick that it was hard to believe she hadn't gone blind. But, was it just her imagination, or the scenery was actually getting lighter. No. It was getting lighter. Annabeth clasped one hand firmly around Percy. She awaited her death, when suddenly she could hear.

"Water," she whispered hoarsely. It was the first thing she had spoken after the gods knew how long. "There's water beneath us. Percy, Natalie."

She could see their faces now. Percy's eyes were full of horror, but he nodded. Natalie had shut her eyes close, but now she had opened them. She looked around, and then Percy and Natalie tightened their hands, focusing. They yelled defiantly, and water came rushing towards them above, enveloping them completely. Annabeth, being smart, immediately stopped breathing so as to not inhale it.

The cold nearly shocked her jaw out of her mouth. It was electrifying. Literally electrifying. But more than ever, it felt as though what Annabeth had been holding back had just snapped. She felt hopeless. Nothing would help her. They would not get back. She, along with Percy and Natalie would die here. That was all left in their life now. No hope, no dreams, no happiness, no nothing. Voices whispered in her ears, beckoning her to give up and drown in the river.

Cocytus, something said in the back of her mind. She could feel Percy near her, his desperate movements to get out now slowly failing. Annabeth steeled herself and grabbed Percy from his waist. She stretched out her hand in the water, trying to find Natalie. Finally, she felt her and wrapped her hand around her wrist.

"It's the Cocytus," she spoke to her. "We have to get out."

Natalie remained still for a moment, then she perhaps broke out of a trance, and they started to drag Percy towards the shore. All of them collapsed on the black ground. Annabeth felt thousands of prickles across her body. She looked down. The ground was not sand, but mini shards of black glass. Annabeth couldn't breathe properly, and green mist hung in the atmosphere. Everything was red and evil looking, and she got chills even by looking at it. But it was getting harder to breathe.

Great, it wouldn't even need something to finish them off. They would automatically die by asphyxia.

"We're really in here," Percy coughed.

"Seems like it," Annabeth said.

"No, it doesn't seem like it. This is it." Natalie whispered gravely, coughing.

"I hate to say this," Annabeth said. "But we need to do something or we are going to die in this atmosphere."

"Great, let me just pull out some oxygen masks and respirators from my pocket." Percy coughed again.

"Good to know you can still joke," Natalie pointed out. "It seems like people say. When you know you're about to die, everything seems...weird? I dunno."

"So how do we survive for the next ten minutes without going out of oxygen?"

Annabeth stood up rasping. The poisonous air was really getting to her.

"Look, guys, I have a plan."

"Which totally does not mean we're gonna like it?"

"No."

"Great," Percy sighed, getting up and offering Natalie a hand.

"We need to find Phlegathon, the river of fire."

"And what are we gonna do there? Take a bath so we can die more quickly?" Natalie asked, getting up.

"No. Souls that are damned here drink from it to be able to endure Tartarus. It's our best shot."

Grudgingly and slowly, they dragged themselves in the search for Phlegathon. Natalie supported Annabeth, since her leg wasn't at the best, but it was healing. Natalie didn't look much good, and Annabeth felt a bit embarrassed having to be lugged along by her. She looked deep in thought.

"Are you alright?" Annabeth asked.

"Are we allowed to ask that question in Tartarus?"

"Good point," Annabeth agreed.

"But I was just thinking…. that maybe...No, it's too good to be true."

Annabeth realized what might be going on in her mind. That probably her brother would have also used his powers and not died. But such a possibility was very slim. Surviving the fall was one thing. But it had been nearly ten years since that incident. Nobody could stay here that long, and that too, if they figured out how to survive the atmosphere, which even Annabeth hadn't done yet.

Then Annabeth saw light. Light that felt as though it was coming from molten lava.

"There." She pointed, her hands shaking. Her head was spinning. "We just have to get there," she whispered weakly.

Natalie tugged her along, but she looked ready to pass out any moment. They reached a ledge. Behind them, the water of Phlegathon flowed slowly, the only source of brilliant yellow light around them.

"We have to get down there."

"What do we do? Jump?" Natalie stumbled, but Annabeth supported her. Her leg was fine now. The ambrosia had worked at least.

"I'm fine," she said, regaining her posture.

"We can get down from over there," Percy pointed towards stones. It looked like a ladder-like structure, but they would have to be careful. One wrong step, and they fall down. And Annabeth had already had a very bad fall and broken her ankle today, she didn't want any more of that.

Annabeth didn't know how, but they somehow made it down. She was definitely on the verge of closing her eyes and passing out. She forced herself near the river, and dipped her hands in the water, bracing herself for the heat of the lava. Surprisingly, the water was cool. It looked like it was boiling alright, but it was so cool Annabeth was afraid her hands might freeze if she kept them in there for long. The three of them somehow tipped some of the river's content into their mouths.

Her throat felt as though it was on fire. She began coughing rapidly, trying to choke out what she had just drank. But the sensation eased. She collapsed onto the ground. Percy and Natalie collapsed just beside her, coughing slightly.

"I didn't know I would ever say this," Natalie rasped. "But drinking fire really worked."

"Now all that's left is to find the Doors of Death."

"Yeah, easy stuff," Annabeth agreed.

"I really feel like Anakin right now," Natalie whispered.

"What?" Annabeth and Percy asked together.

"Nothing. Let's just lay down here for five minutes, and then we'll go search for the doors."

"You know, after having the gist of underworld rivers, I feel really bad for that time I pushed Bob in Lethe."

"Bob who?" Annabeth asked confusedly.

"You know, Iapetus."

"Oh, yeah." Annabeth remembered it very well.

"Come on, we gotta move now. We go downstream, because this might lead us deeper into the underworld, which is exactly where the doors are, according to Nico."

"Yeah," Annabeth got up along with the others. "We might as well stay near the river, so that we can drink from it from time to time to survive. That is, assuming something else doesn't kill us."

"Well," a voice said from behind, "you just got the wrong assumption, didn't you? Because I'm about to kill you right now, and the river can't do anything to help you survive."