Poor Percy. The next couple of chapters are very rough for her, but after that they will ease up somewhat when she makes a decision and changes tactics. Also, Alabaster takes her actually opening up and being honest about how much the first betrayal hurt her as a manipulation tactic to make him feel guilty because he's a lil bitch.
Replies:
Undeath9087: Annabeth: Well Percy would never do that so Gaea is lying and Alabaster is not near her, my logic is flawless and everything she's saying is lies.
Percy in Tartarus: Fuck my life.
Guest: Annabeth when she finds out Percy did in fact kinda team up with Alabaster: WHAT?! WHAT THE FUCK?! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Percy was unhappy, to say the least, exhaustion, thirst and hunger laid heavily on her as she and Alabaster trudged through Tartarus- and it was Alabaster who eventually suggested that they take a break.

Percy wasn't happy about it-she wanted to keep walking, to find Nico and Leo and get this over with, but- with the bracelet on her wrist if Alabaster said they had to stop she didn't really have much of a choice. She couldn't go on without him, as much as she wished she could.

So they stopped, Alabaster managing to find them a small cave at the base of some cliffs, where they could hide relatively easily from any monsters that might come for them.

Percy sat with her back to the glassy walls of the cave as Alabaster managed to summon up a magical fire, more for the light than the heat.

"Here." Alabaster's voice snapped Percy out of her reverie- she must have zoned out without realising it, and she blinked rapidly, eyes flicking down to his bottle.

She hesitated before taking it but- well, she could feel the blisters starting to form on her skin and breathing was getting hard again- so she forced herself to take it- forced herself to take a few large gulps of the horribly hot liquid which burned her senses, but it did its work, and Percy let her head drop back slightly.

"I-" She didn't look at him. "Thank. I guess."

"Don't thank me." Alabaster's voice was almost amused, "I don't want you dead Princess."

And Percy bit her lip to stop herself from saying what she was thinking- after all she didn't think it would go over well if she told him her opinion on what he wanted from her.

"We should get some sleep." She said the words after a moment. "It- I don't know how late it is but I have done a lot today." she felt a sort of bone deep weariness that was not at all pleasant.

"One of us should stay on watch." Alabaster said after a moment, "It's not a good idea to lower your guard too much here." Alabaster gave Percy a sidelong look, "I can take first watch if you want."

And that made Percy feel sick. "You want me to go to sleep with you watching over me. After everything-"

"You're not going to have a choice eventually." Alabaster snorted, "In case you've forgotten you're stuck with me right now, at least until you find your brothers."

"At least you don't expect me to pretend to be happy about it." Percy murmured the words as she exhaled slowly.

"Gods you-" Alabaster let out a soft frustrated noise, "Gods Percy I would do anything for you but nothing I ever do is going to be good enough is it?"

"Good-" Percy scoffed. "Alabaster the reason nothing you ever do will be good enough is the fact that you are insane and the things you did to me- nothing will ever make up for the damage you did."

"Are you telling me that there was never, not even for a second a chance that we could have been together?" Alabaster demanded, "There was never a time when you could have been happy with me? Because I can't believe that. I knew the moment I saw you Percy- you were so beautiful even back then. Sweet and innocent- so alive and happy-"

"Until you tried to toss me down here." Percy pointed out. "Look around us Alabaster and tell me why I should feel bad for not being able to move past what you did when this is the place you tried to toss me down to when I was twelve years old."

"If you'd have joined me-"

"No!" Percy almost snarled the words, "Enough with that bullshit Al. There was never a chance I'd have joined you and if you had even for a second thought through what you were doing you'd have understood why because sure the gods are assholes and most of the time these days I kind of hate most of their guts but they are not as bad as he was! You were going on and on about how horrible the gods were and all that time you were planning on replacing them with someone even worse as if somehow that was going to help us."

"I-"

"No!" Percy shook her head, "I don't blame you for your anger towards the gods I never did Alabaster. But you went about things so badly- you listened to the one being who is undeniably worse than they ever were." she could feel her eyes stinging with unshed tears. "And you hurt me Alabaster. I don't think you'll ever understand how much you hurt me over the years. How much I hated you for everything you did."

"Percy-" Alabaster's hand reached out almost hesitantly to touch her shoulder and she slapped it away, shaking her head as she scrambled away from him.

"Just leave me alone." She snapped the words, curling up on the uncomfortable ground, "I'm going to sleep. You were the one who said we should get some rest."

And there was a long silence after that.

It was Percy who broke it, not opening her eyes as she spoke. "You asked if there was ever a chance." her voice was very quiet. "You want the truth."

There was an uncomfortable moment of silence and then; "Yes."

"If you had come to me before the Hellhound. If you had told me everything, if you'd told me about Kronos, about what you'd done, about why. If you'd show regret, if you'd tried to fix things then maybe, just maybe then we could have been something. Because- because I did like you Alabaster. I really did. But it was all an act I think. You knew all that time what you were planning, you lied to me and you manipulated me and I don't care how you justified it in your mind. You summoned a monster to attack me just to force me to go on a quest. That- that was the moment of no return Alabaster.
Because-" Percy sniffled slightly. "Because you were my first betrayal. You were the first person to ever hurt me like that and- and I never, never got over it. And I never will. I will never be able to think of you without remembering all of the things you did to me, starting with that attack. And as twisted and horrible and traumatic as everything else you've done to me was- the first betrayal hurt the most because- because I didn't expect it. I should have- there were signs I should have picked up on but I didn't and you- you hurt me more than you'll ever know."

There was a long silence and then, "-But I love you Percy. I- I know I didn't always handle things well and I- I know I've been too rough at times but- I- you can't blame me for it when you constantly push-"

"No- no we're not doing this." Percy curled into a tighter ball. "I'm going to sleep Alabaster. I don't- I can't do this right now."

It felt like a lifetime before Percy managed to drift off, Percy didn't really like sleeping at the best of times- with sleep came dreams, but, well, exhaustion won out in the end, and Percy was almost startled to find herself on the beach at Camp.

She turned her head- her eyes widening when she saw a familiar figure sat next to her.

"G-Grover?" Percy gasped the name, her eyes wide, "G-man-"

"Percy?" Grover's voice was faint- he looked exhausted but a huge smile split across his lips. "I knew you were alive- are you- can you hear me?"

"It's like you're in a different room but yeah." Percy answered quickly, "Gods Grover it's good to hear your voice."

"I knew the Empathy link could help." Grover looked near tears, "I can't wait to tell the others I managed to get through to you-"

"Are they all okay?"

"No, they're worried about you guys. Are Nico and Leo okay?"

And Percy faltered, biting her lip- but she'd never been able to lie to Grover, and it was probably not the best time to start now.

"I don't know. We got separated- Grover please don't tell the others I don't want them to worry. Leo and Nico have each other they'll look after one another."

"But- that means you're alone!" Grover looked horrified at that- and then his eyes narrowed as he read something in her expression. "Not alone- Percy-"

"I don't have much of a choice." Percy looked away, feeling shame pooling in her belly. "Without him there's no chance I'd made it back to them and I can't leave Nico and Leo down here no matter how much I'd kind of rather die than stick with-"

"Oh gods-" Grover shook his head, "Percy-Percy tell me you're not with Alabaster. Tell me he's not there with you."

"You and I both know I don't have the luck to get away from him." Percy pointed out very quietly, looking away "He- I hate him and it's going to make things even more unbearable but he's delusional as always, he still thinks that he can win me over and that means I survive so- I don't think I have much of a choice."

"Oh Percy-" Grover reached out, grabbing her hand and squeezing it tightly- and when the tears started his arms wrapped around her and Percy sobbed- she sobbed and sobbed until she felt there were no tears left.

And she wasn't sure how long they stayed like that- she'd have happily stayed like that for years, until she faded away into nothingness- but nothing good seemed to be able to last- and Percy suddenly felt a searing pain in her back- her eyes shot open and she screamed, she screamed loudly- and she could hear Grover's voice in her mind, screaming her name as she jerked awake- and she was flat on her belly, and she felt a hand between her shoulder blades, holding her down, felt Alabaster's fingers pressing into the small of her back.

"What are you doing?!" Percy screamed the words, her voice almost hysterical, "Stop it! Stop it you're hurting me what-"

"Shut up!" Alabaster's voice was a growl- then the pressure on the small of her back lessened and his foot hit her hard, she could almost hear her ribs crack. "Shut up! Shut up! You thought you could manipulate me?"

And Percy was rolling away, desperately ignoring the pain in her ribs as she lurched to her feet, staggering away from
him.

She'd forgotten- she'd forgotten how quickly his mood could turn- how he could go from soft and gentle to cold as ice- or a fiery rage.

Something had made his mood shift while she was sleeping, that much was very obvious- and Percy didn't know what else she could do, not when he was like this, not when his eyes were shining with fury, she remembered how he'd get when she was his prisoner on Mount Orthys, the way he'd hit her, leave her with bruises all over, how terrified she'd been that he'd go further than kissing.

She couldn't even use her powers to defend herself, they were bound by the bracelet.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Percy's voice was pleading as she staggered backwards, "I wasn't trying to manipulate you! I'm not stupid enough to do tha-" and he was in front of her, the back of his hand hitting her cheek hard, snapping Percy's head to the side.

She could feel her mouth filling with blood, thick and cloying.

She didn't even think as she moved, kicking out at Alabaster's knee- he let out a pained yell, lurching over slightly, and Percy whirled around and bolted towards the exit of the cave- and she knew she wouldn't get far, knew the bracelet would stop her before she could escape, but all she could think was that she had to get away from Alabaster before he killed her.