POV: Percy
Percy was awoken from his exhausted sleep from the jolting of the elevator as it landed and then stopped.
Getting wearily to his feet, he patted his hellhound on its massive head and tried to shake himself out of his fatigued stupor.
Judging from the sounds outside the door, the monster army was still out there, and they would not be happy to see him.
The adrenaline from his battle to get to the doors in Tartarus had worn off, but he felt as if something inside of him had broken when he used those powers. Something that couldn't be fixed.
A loud ding resounded, and moments later, the doors opened, blinding him with the sudden sunlight.
His hellhound bounded out, obviously happy to be out of Tartarus. Percy followed, still blinking rapidly at the brightness of the surface.
When he could see again, he became aware of what was happening all at once.
The entire monster army was staring at him in shock, and his friends looked to be stuck in a cage trying to cover for Leo who was burning a hole in the side of it.
"What are you waiting for fools? Attack!"
A war cry came from the army and they all surged forward.
He uncapped Riptide and got into an attack stance. Whistling to his hellhound, he called it over to him and jumped on top, telling it to attack.
The army crashed into him like a wave and he ripped his way through it, his sword swinging at the speed of lightening. But one thing bugged his mind.
When he had looked over at his friends, he hadn't seen Annabeth among them, or Nico for that matter.
Adrenaline coursed through him just as it had when he had fought his way to the doors in Tartarus, and in a moment's glance he made eye contact with Jason.
Jason nodded his head towards a group of big cyclops. And that's when Percy noticed something that he had looked over before.
Annabeth was at the foot of a big cyclops' chair, and he was stroking her like she was some sort of animal.
Anger flared in the pit of his stomach as he saw the cyclops pull on her hair as she tried to run away.
"Don't touch her!"
A wave of pure energy rolled off of him, immediately vaporising any monsters nearby, and creating an invisible barrier between the remaining army and their general. Isolating the group of cyclops that had Annabeth from their protection.
A sneer once again took over the cyclops' face and he held up Annabeth in the air by her hair.
She cried out in pain and tried to get away but to know avail.
"Who? Her? What are you going to do about it half-blood?".
The thing spit out the word as if it tasted bad.
His sneer was wiped off of his face as the ground beneath him began to shake.
Percy held out his hand and grasped control of the cyclops' blood. It's eyes widened as it realized what he was doing.
He forced the cyclops to drop Annabeth and she collapsed onto the ground in a heap, before scrambling to her feet and running out of its reach.
Percy's gaze swept the room and landed on one of the smaller cyclops behind his general. It's eyes widened in recognition.
"You", it snarled.
"Me". He smiled, but it was darker, and sent a chill through the room.
His general turned to him.
"Who is this half-blood. How do you know him?"
"Who's son are you?". The general turned, once again addressing Percy.
Before Percy could answer the smaller cyclops answered for him.
"Darkness. Son of darkness. Slayer of Moros".
The creature began to back away with wide eyes.
Throughout this explanation Percy had taken steps forward until he was now standing right in front of the general.
Percy raised his arm, focusing on the monster's blood. He willed it all outward towards him, and with a clench of his fist the monster disintegrated.
"Now... Who wants to go next?".
Percy turned, looking each remaining monster in its eyes (or eye).
They shuddered, and then a moment later the entire cavern was cleared save for he, his friends, and the piles of golden dust which used to be monsters.
He shuddered, and then sank to his knees, completely and utterly exhausted.
—
POV: Frank
When Percy came out of that elevator everything was quiet. The entire army stared at him, shocked.
He looked like crap. His usually tan skin was ghostly pale, and his hair was overgrown and dirty, clumped together with grease.
But the thing that really made Frank wince were the scars. They were all pink and red, like they had just been made (which he supposed they had).
He had the remains of his shirt wrapped around his midsection, and dried blood stained it from what must have been a nasty injury.
They were odd, though. The skin around them was aggravated too, and the edges of the scar were puckered, almost as though they had been burned shut.
Frank shuddered as he thought about what must have happened to him down there.
He didn't have long to think about it, though, as the entire army shook themselves awake and rushed at him as one.
"No!", Frank yelled though he doubted anybody could hear him. There was no way that Percy would survive.
He turned to Leo, "Are you almost done? Percy needs our help out there".
There were only a few bars left to melt, but Frank knew that Percy didn't have that long. He was forced to watch from his cage.
But the inevitable didn't happen. Percy wasn't killed. In fact, he killed them. He left a trail of destruction in his wake as Riptide cut through the army so fast Frank thought he was dreaming.
Occasionally he would hold out a bare hand and the monster he pointed it at would explode. But that wasn't possible.
Was it?
Whenever he could, Percy looked across the room at them in the cage. Or more accurately, Jason.
They must have been communicating across the room, because suddenly Percy's eyes suddenly snapped away from them, and directly at Annabeth.
It was disgusting, the cyclops were petting her like she was some sort of animal. To her credit she fought back, occasionally landing a good kick or two, but without her knife and in chains there wasn't much she could do.
Frank's blood boiled with anger, and Percy must have felt the same way, as even from across the room, across the battle he could see his eyes darken and hear what he said.
"Don't touch her!".
A wave of energy seemed to emanate from inside of him, and the area around him and the cyclops holding Annabeth became fuzzing.
At a certain point when monsters would advance, they would explode, and the rest of them soon got the message. An invisible shimmering wall now separated the army and their commander, and they were forced to watch from the outside in as Percy advanced towards him.
He moved slowly, almost like a predator.
The general's eye widened in fear before he covered it up with a sneer a split second later.
He held up Annabeth by her hair, as if showing Percy some sort of prize that he had taken.
Percy held out an arm and it shook, as if it was holding up some sort of invisible weight.
Then the strangest thing happened, the general stiffened and he dropped Annabeth on the ground. She ran out of reach, but Percy's gaze was still focused on the cyclops with pure rage in his eyes.
His gaze seemed to sweep throughout the room, taking it in for the first time since he emerged. It landed on a smaller cyclops that was right behind the general.
"You". The cyclops tried its best to snarl menacingly, but Frank could still hear the fear in its voice.
"Me". Percy smiled, a wide smile that wasn't his. It seemed sort of unhinged, and it made a shiver run down Frank's spine.
At that moment, the general got his voice back, and he addressed the cyclops behind him.
"Who is this half-blood? How do you know him?".
The general's eye switched as much as he could between Percy and the other cyclops. It was as though he was stuck and held there by some sort of invisible force.
"Who's son are you?", he addressed Percy now.
Percy smiled again, and opened his mouth to speak, but before he could, the cyclops who had apparently recognised him spoke first.
"Darkness. Son of darkness. Slayer of Moros".
It's voice wavered slightly, and it backed away from Percy in fear, but what it had said confused Frank even more.
Slayer of Moros? As in the primordial Moros?
Percy was now standing right in front of the general, his arm was still extended in front of him, and it shook even more now, as if it was beginning to tire.
With a dark grin, Percy twisted his hand, and the general cried out in pain. He clenched his fist, and the general exploded from within, its last cry of anguish echoing throughout the cavern.
There was silence. Nobody dared speak or even breathe. Frank was still in shock at what he had just seen Percy do, and he could see Annabeth across the cavern, with her hands over her mouth and tears in her eyes.
Percy turned around, the grin gone from his face, and addressed the crowd of monsters.
The invisible wall that had separated them disappeared, and Frank could see Percy drooping in exhaustion, but his voice was still strong and held plenty of malice.
"Who wants to go next?".
The monsters stared at him, wide eyed. The words 'son of darkness' echoed around the cavern as if it were a mantra that was being chanted.
All at once there was a stampede towards the exit, and the cavern was completely clear of monsters in just over five minutes.
The only thing left behind was one hellhound, and Percy and his friends.
As soon as the monsters were gone and they were safe, Percy slumped to the ground.
"Percy!", Annabeth ran over to him, and Frank and the others who were still in the cage crawled out of the newly created hole and joined her.
What they saw when they got there was more confusing than anything Frank had seen that day.
There, slumped over on his knees on the ground, was Percy Jackson, and he was crying.
Tears rolled down his grime covered face. They were silent, he did not sob, did not make a sound. He just cried. And everybody watched him, unsure of what to do.
Annabeth rushed forward and embraced him, crying tears of her own into the crook of his neck.
Even Frank was starting to get a little emotional. Percy was back. He'd actually done it. He'd actually survived Tartarus. Alone.
Finally, after who knew how long, Percy struggled up to his feet and spoke.
"Where are we?".
His voice was different, scratchy, and hoarser than Frank remembered. Like he'd been gargling acid.
"The House of Hades. In Epirus Greece".
Percy nodded at Nico, taking in this information.
"We should get back to the ship", he finally said.
As they walked back through the tunnels, everybody kept casting wary looks back at Percy.
He hadn't spoken much since he had emerged. And there was something in his eyes, some sort of painful sadness that scared them.
What had happened to him down there?".