ENJOY!
Replies:
Drizzle: I wouldn't worry much, and sorry but he won't be holding the Doors.
Jubby1905: Because I'm mean? Because Alabaster is still very much irredeemable- if he thought for a second that Percy would actually leave him? Yeah he'd be losing his shit again and hurting her.
Undeath9087: Around fifty chapters all together- and you'll have to wait and see. And yeah, there's no actual redemption for the stuff he did- this is a guy who would have forced himself on her if he could and he'd have seen no problem with that, a guy who every time Percy pulls away would hurt her.
Guest: You are very right. And Alabaster's very much acting like he knows what he's doing and trying to make it up as he goes along.
ArachnidHiveMind: I mean- a little- here's the thing he's still very much a bastard- but it is the fact that he's not actually being a threat and Percy's still there like 'Hmmm, yeah! Let's do this.'
MkDemiGodzilla-Warrior: Well I mean, you must wait and see.

It took far too long for Percy to even start to be able to see again- the ambrosia undoubtedly saved her life- she'd been bleeding out, that wasn't even a question. If Alabaster hadn't given her that ambrosia she'd be dead in his arms and he'd undoubtedly have died not long after.

Still, the ambrosia couldn't work miracles and it took time. Even though the bleeding had stopped Percy was still in pain all over- though she was fairly used to that and she'd be able to keep going. The problem was her sight.

It was slowly returning, in one eye anyway. It was slightly blurry but regaining clarity- but that was only in one eye. Percy was not even remotely happy about that fact.

She was curled up next to Alabaster- he'd managed to drag her through the forest of trees to the other side, into one of the many caves- and really there were far too many caves in Tartarus for Percy's tastes.

She wasn't sure how long she'd been there, her head resting in his shoulder when she heard it. It was very faint- very faint but- she was sure it was a voice calling her name.

She recognised it from somewhere she just wasn't entirely sure where. And Alabaster heard it too- because even as she straightened up, lifting her head from Alabaster's shoulder he grabbed her arm, his eyes wide, and there was a gleam of fear in them.

"Percy please." his voice was incredibly soft, "Please- they have a Titan to look after them- please. You- you love me you feel the same for me as I feel for you I know you do Percy. You- you can't leave me. Please. You can't just leave." and Percy stared at him for a long moment.

He truly did look desperate- and hopeful. He didn't think she'd leave him-not now. Not after everything they'd just been through. He thought she loved him back.

Maybe Percy should have felt guilty for that but she found that she didn't. She felt a thrill of excitement as she glanced towards the entrance of the cave. If she was right, that was probably Bob. Which meant Nico and Leo were close.

And that meant that she didn't need Alabaster any more. She turned her head to look at him, giving him a sweet smile- her vision was clear enough in her good eye that she could see a look of relief flooding across his face. "Thank you." his voice cracked, "You won't regret staying with me."

"I won't regret any of this." Percy told him honestly, ignoring the pain as she shifted some more, so that she was on her knees facing him, and she leaned in, ignoring the pain that shot through her chest as she pressed her lips to Alabasters.

And he kissed back, hands reaching up to press against her cheeks- but they didn't reach it- they stopped part way up and he let out a choked noise as Percy pulled away, her lips leaving his, and she raised her hand slowly as he let out a cough, hand flying to press to his throat.

"W-what-"

"I got you good. Didn't I?" She gave an innocent little smile. "You fell for it didn't you? Bas. You actually believed that you were getting through to me. You know, I never thought that your delusions would help me but- for once I'm glad you proved me wrong." she curled her fingers, and she didn't even get that uncomfortable feeling in the pit of her stomach any more as he started clawing at his throat, and as she shifted backwards he toppled forward, writhing on the ground, his face going red as he tried to lift his head, to meet her gaze.

"P-Per-"

"You tortured me." Percy pointed out. "For years, you abused me and you tortured me." her hand shot out and she caught his right arm, pulling it away from his throat, and it took barely any focus now, he was crying, water bubbling past his lips as he tried desperately to cough it up even as Percy pinned his arm down flat on the ground.

"You know. You should blame yourself for this Bas." she carefully slid her thumb ring down, so that she could use the sharp point.

"Because before you... before you I'd never have been capable of this. I hated the thought of hurting anyone but you- you I love the thought of hurting." she let out a happy noise as he managed to shift his head so that his gaze locked on hers- and clearly he was smart enough to see what she was going to do because he was trying to shake his head- and Percy stopped pulling the water from his body into his lungs- he wouldn't be getting up yet, he'd need a few seconds to recover and she wouldn't give him that.

She pressed the point of the ring into his wrist- and she let out a bright little laugh as he let out a scream, she shifted so that she
was kneeling on his forearm. And he couldn't get away as she leaned over- and she found it was easy to ignore her own pain, ignore the fact that she was currently still blind in one eye. It was so easy to ignore those things when she had him there screaming like that. It was very, very beautiful, the way his face twisted with pain, the tears that were pouring down his cheeks.

Actually she wanted to see more of that. She focused her powers- and tears started to flow more as she drew out more of the salty liquid- and was it just her or were they kind of pinkish? He was crying blood, she was bringing blood though with the tears.
Cute.

She shifted her focus again. "Come on. You enjoyed it when you did it to me." she slowly used the sharp point of the ring to slice into the tender skin that had once been his mortal spot- and his screamed were echoing through the cave.

It didn't take Percy long. She wasn't doing anything fancy. She carefully carved a small trident onto his skin, "See Bas." her voice was upbeat as she tapped the skin, getting blood on her fingers. And it really was bleeding a lot. Maybe she'd nicked a vein or an artery.

It was possible. And she didn't give a shit if she had. "You have my symbol now just like I have yours." she declared.

"Y-you-"

"Except- hm... that doesn't make it clear enough." and she pressed the point in again- and he screamed even louder, if that was possible.

It wasn't hard to do a big X over the small trident symbol. And when she was done Percy let go of his wrist, shifting off his arm. "You know. Taking of the bracelet might just have been a big mistake Bas. Don't you think?"

"Y-you-"
"Oh come on." Percy spat the words, "How could anyone be that fucking naieve? Even I'm not that naieve." she leaned in close, fingers gripping his chin, nails digging in hard. "You basically blackmailed me into agreeing to stick with you. It was that or die and you know I'd agree because I wanted to get back to Nico and Leo." she focused her powers again- and within seconds he was coughing up water, even as she released his chin and shifted again-she didn't bother trying to stand, her ankle was still very much broken.

Without her powers he'd have been able to overpower her easily but with them? She could beat him down when she was on deaths door.

Her fist hit his cheek hard- and the next mouthful of water he choked up was bloody. Whoops .

She gripped his hair, gripping it on either side of his head, pulling his head up before smashing it down. "Remember?" she hissed the word, "Remember, in the cavern up above. Years and years ago now Bas? Remember how you did this to me?" she did it again. And again, his eyes were rolling, his body was jerking slightly- probably from the drowning- she let go of the powers as he finished coughing the water that she'd pulled into his lungs- she could see blood on the ground beneath his head from where she'd just cracked his skull.

"You want to know how I felt?" she whispered, "You want to know how terrified I was of you? You liked it when I found this side of my powers- you liked it when you got to watch it. You saw that there's a darkness inside of me. Well you're right there is." she pressed her hands to his cheeks again- and- it was hard to describe what was happening- the blood vessels around his eyes were bursting, leaving little red marks, and blood was welling up in his eyes, and on his cheeks too, little drops of blood, she was pulling it up through the layers of skin. Humans really were fragile weren't they? And she was pulling so much blood through, it was slick, pooling around them, coating her hands and clothes.

"I do have a dark side. You made it, you turned me into this Bas." she brushed her lips against his- and Alabaster was barely even conscious, it was all he could do to let out broken little noises.

She wondered if she'd given him brain damage- he hadn't been able to breath while she'd been drawing water into his lungs. How long had she done it for? A few minutes at least.

She patted his cheek, lightly smearing the blood there. "You made so many mistakes Bas." she drove her elbow into his chest, just because she wanted to hurt him. "You're paying for them now."

She slapped him again- before pressing her hands to his cheeks again- his noises were pained wines- he couldn't even scream anymore, even as she forced more blood out- her hands were slick with the liquid now, his face was coated with blood- and she absent-mindedly wiped it onto her tee, before shrugging and using it to wipe some more of the blood off of his face, before slicing down his cheek with the thumb ring, and pushing her thumb into the cut.

And she knew- she knew logically that what she was doing was torture- it was so far beyond anything she'd ever done before.

Percy had never been cruel for the sake of cruelty. Not ever.

But she didn't care. It was fun, there was a deep satisfaction that came from embracing the years of hate and anger and fury- and she could feel tears start to pour down her cheeks as she hurt him. Not of shame of guilt but of relief.

Percy long given up on the idea of being able to live free of fear, free of Alabaster.

But there was no fear now. Not any more.

She'd broken him. She'd finally broken him just as thoroughly as he'd ever broken her. It wasn't justice.

There would never be justice. But- but it was vengeance. And right now it felt just as good. Seeing him like this, it was hard to believe that she'd ever been afraid of him.

She would have probably kept going like that forever if she could, hurting him over and over again, like he'd spent so long hurting her, but a little "Meep" from the entrance of the cave drew Percy's attention and she slammed Alabaster's head into the ground again, for extra measure before she turned her head to look- and she saw a tiny little skeleton kitten.

It was kind of cute- and not at all scary.

It was surprising enough that Percy forced herself to move, shifting around and crawling on her knees to the entrance of the cave.

"Hey there." her voice was soft. "What are you doing here little one?" and then-

"Percy? Where is Percy?" and yeah, yeah Percy definitely recognised that shout.

"BOB?!" Percy called the name as loudly as she could, gently sliding an arm under the kitten and using the wall of the cave to slowly drag herself to her feet, hopping forward- and then she saw Bob- emerging from the trees. And if Bob was there- by all the gods Percy hoped she was right and Nico and Leo were close.