When the group finally emerged from the maze in the Necromanteion, Percy stopped short in his tracks.
Everybody turned and looked at him in confusion. He had stopped, mid-step. He stood facing the sun with his eyes closed.
One more tear slipped down his cheek, but this time it was accompanied by a smile, a genuine one, one that he hadn't made in a long time.
"Percy? Are you okay?", Annabeth asked gently.
He opened his eyes and seemed to realise for the first time that everybody was waiting for him.
"Sorry. I haven't seen the sun in a long time".
His words silenced the quiet conversation that had begun between the crew since they had left the cavern.
Percy closed his eyes again, taking a deep breath of fresh air.
He never thought that he would get to smell the scent of sea salt off the water again. The scent of blood down in Tartarus was completely overpowering, and it was all that Percy ever thought that he would smell again.
Once he was ready, the group continued on, hiking back down the hill and climbing aboard the Argo II.
Leo retreated away from the main group to begin guiding the ship back to New York, letting the others say their hellos.
The girls and Frank all had tears in their eyes as they each gave him a hug.
Frank's hug made his wounds scream in protest, but he ignored them and squeezed back just as fiercely. He had missed his friends immensely, and never thought that he'd be able to see them again.
Last in line was Annabeth, his wise girl.
They looked each other in the eye for a few moments before rushing together. Percy brought her mouth to his and nothing else mattered.
He didn't care about the hoots and hollers that his friends made, or the disgusted sound that Leo made over the intercom after seeing what they had done over the cameras.
All he cared about was that he had his wise girl back, and he was never going to let anything get in between them ever again. Because when Moros had shown him Annabeth's destiny, that singular moment when he had seen Annabeth murdered right in front of his eyes. Even though it wasn't real, and even though he held her in his arms now, that still was, and always will be the worst moment of his entire life.
When they finally separated, they left their foreheads touching, and their chests heaved in rhythm with one another.
"All right. Break it up you two!", Jason said, stepping in between them and throwing Percy a grin.
"Yeah, come on, Percy. We have to go get you cleaned up in the infirmary", Piper said, grabbing his arm and trying to pull him away.
"No, no. I'm fine. I don't need to go to the infirmary".
They all looked at him incredulously.
"Dude, you just got out of Tartarus. Of course you need to go to the infirmary", Jason said.
But Percy didn't listen, and gently pried his arm from Piper's grasp.
"I can take care of myself", he insisted, giving Annabeth one last peck on the cheek before turning towards his cabin.
"But Percy-".
"I said I can take care of myself!".
They were shocked and a little bit hurt at his outburst, and Percy's face immediately showed regret and guilt.
He came back towards them a few steps, guilt in his eyes. "Look, guys. I'm sorry. But don't worry about me. I'll be fine".
He flashed them one of his signature lopsided grins, but Annabeth wasn't convinced.
He wasn't fine, he wasn't okay, and he couldn't take care of himself. Not after all that he had been through.
But she decided to give him some space. Smothering him would just make him angry.
And besides, he'll come to realise it himself given a few days.
The others had already accepted his apology, and with that reasoning in her mind she, too, nodded her head in forgiveness.
He smiled once more before turning around and entering his cabin, closing the door behind him.
As soon as the cabin door shut behind him, Percy dropped the façade and broke down.
His entire body ached, and he no longer held off the shaking in his muscles from fatigue.
He stumbled his way over to his bed before collapsing. He couldn't let the others see him like this, he just couldn't. He had to be strong, to be the leader that he had been before.
Gathering his strength, he stumbled over to the bathroom and took a shower.
What remained of his shirt peeled off of his skin, stuck there with dried blood. The wound had opened up again, and was bleeding.
The shower water cascaded off of him, turning red and black with grime and blood.
When he emerged, he definitely felt better. The water had given him energy that he hadn't had in a long time, and he felt refreshed.
He held a small towel to the still bleeding part of his wound, and walked over back into his room to where he had dumped his stuff.
His water bottle, now almost dissolved from the heat and potency of the river water, still had some of the Phlegethon water in it.
He walked over, picked it up, and laid down on his good side on the floor of his cabin.
Unscrewing the bottle, he poured out some of the fiery liquid, and it splashed onto his open wound with a hiss and sizzling sound. It began to close, but Percy had to bite his tongue painfully to keep from crying out.
Instead, low groans filled his cabin, and the smell of burning flesh, a smell he had hoped to never smell again, filled his nostrils.
When the wound had completely closed, he stopped pouring gratefully, and set the almost empty water bottle on the ground next to him.
He lay there, panting and catching his breath for a while before he examined the new scar.
It still looked angry and red, and the edges were puckered unevenly from the heat, but it had closed completely, and hopefully wouldn't open again.
He mopped up any excess fire water and blood with the now scorched rag, and got dressed.
He was completely, and utterly, exhausted. And he felt as though he could probably sleep for the entire trip back to New York.
But at the same time, he knew what would be coming if he fell asleep.
He was out of Tartarus, but he'd never really be out. His nightmares would taunt him about it for the rest of his life.
He lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling. But eventually he couldn't keep his eyes open anymore and he fell asleep.
Running. Running. Always running.
They were gaining on him. He knew they wouldn't hesitate to rip him apart, piece by piece.
And then what would happen? Would his soul go to Elysium? Or would it just stay down here, stuck for all of eternity.
He looked back. Big mistake.
They were right on top of him and his legs were tiring. He couldn't keep this up for much longer, there had to be somewhere in this gods forsaken canyon that he could hide.
There.
A cave. Higher ground.
Climbing. Blood rushing through his ears so fast that he could barely hear the sounds of their barking underneath him.
But they couldn't get him, he was safe up high.
Wrong.
An almighty ripping sound and he was knocked completely off of the wall save for one hand.
It took him a few moments to realise that that ripping sound of his own flesh. Flesh that was now hanging off of him in strips.
Then the pain hit.
Pain, pain, pain, pain, pain.
His mind chanted it like a mantra. He could focus on nothing else.
By some sort of miracle he managed to fling himself into the cave and collapse onto the floor.
Screaming.
Nothing could make it stop. Nothing could make it go away.
There was blood forming a puddle underneath where he lay on the ground. His blood.
Too much, too much was on the ground instead of inside of him.
His vision started to go dark.
"Percy! Percy, wake up!", someone screamed in his ear, shaking him violently by the shoulders.
He was still lost in between the nightmare and reality, and the movement caused him to scream in utter and absolute suffering.
Pain, pain, pain, pain, pain, pain.
"I'm sorry, Annabeth. I'm sorry I can't keep my promise".
"No, Percy! No! We rescued you! You're okay now".
He went still.
There were tears in Annabeth's eyes now and she slapped him across the face.
"No! You don't get to leave me like that!".
His eyes cracked open, he was still breathing abnormally fast, and he was drenched in his own sweat. But he was still alive. Still alive and out of Tartarus.
Once Annabeth saw that he was awake she flung herself on top of him and cried. The others who had come into the room alerted by his screams just stared at him with various emotions on their faces.
But the most common one was horror.
Annabeth tore herself away from Percy and stood up, giving him some room to breathe.
His eyes darted nervously around the crowded room, alert.
They stared at him, not speaking until he had recovered and was breathing at a normal rate again.
His scar still ached with remnants of his nightmare, and he stood up, his fingers absently tracing the jagged edges.
The crew was all still gathered in his room, staring at him as if he was some sort of pitiful creature on the side of the road.
His eyes hardened. "What are you guys doing in here?".
They visibly flinched.
"You were screaming and yelling. We thought that something was attacking you", Jason said, more brave than the others and stepping forward.
"Percy… Did you— Did you die in Tartarus?", Piper asked, stepping forward to stand next to Jason.
He looked confused, "What? No. Why would you ask that?".
"It's just… You kept screaming in pain, and then you said that you couldn't keep your promise to Annabeth anymore and that you were sorry, and then you went completely still. Like you—Like you had died".
The crew stared at Percy, obviously all thinking the same thing that she had.
When Percy finally answered his voice was quiet and his eyes were unfocused, like he was somewhere else.
"No… No, I didn't die".
He tore his hand away from the scar that he had been rubbing suddenly, and walked out of his room.
"So! Where are we?". His voice was chirpy and his signature lopsided grin was back on his face.
The sudden switch alarmed the crew and nobody answered, just stared.
Another tear ran down Annabeth's face, and Hazel just shook her head.
Surprising everybody, Nico spoke up.
"We're about a day or two outside of New York. You've been asleep for a while".
Percy looked over at the younger boy and gave a grateful nod before turning and walking out onto the deck.
It was mid afternoon, and the sun was shining. They were flying, not wanting to encounter any unwanted sea monsters, and the Atlantic below them was a beautiful blue.
Percy stood in the centre of the deck with his eyes closed and face tilted towards the sun.
The others climbed out right behind him, still eyeing him warily.
Leo went back to the helm of the ship, and Nico never came onto the deck, instead turning around and going back to his cabin.
But all the others gathered behind him, concern in their eyes.
Percy's eyes were still closed, but the peaceful expression was gone from his face.
"Percy?", Piper asked, stepping forward and touching his arm.
Before they could ask him if he was okay, he spoke.
"I was being chased by a pack of hellhounds".
Nobody spoke, knowing how hard it was for Percy to tell them.
His face was twisted, and his eyes were still closed as he told them what had happened.
"It was this big… canyon. And there were caves in the walls that I used to hide in".
"I was climbing up the wall to get to higher ground. But they were too close. One of them jumped up, and-and caught me around my waist".
He took a shuddering breath, and his hand went to his scar again.
"When it fell back down again it— it, uh, ripped through me".
His face contorted in pain, but his eyes were still closed.
"The pain, was, unimaginable. I don't know how but I managed to get myself into the cave. I was on the ground, slowly bleeding out. I didn't think that I was going to make it. My vision kept going in and out, but I managed to somehow pour some Phlegethon water on it before I completely blacked out".
He tore his hand away from he scar as if it burned him.
His eyes opened, and he hurriedly wiped at the tears that had fallen down his cheeks as he turned to face the rest of the group.
"That's what I was reliving".
Annabeth rushed forward and gave him a tight hug. It hurt, but Percy didn't mind.
Her hair smelled like lemons, and he tucked his chin on top of her head as he hugged her back.
The others came over, hugging him, or simply patting him on the back and saying comforting things.
When they pulled away, he did feel better. But he still had to get away, if only for a little while.
"I'm going to go for a swim. Okay? I just… I need to clear my head".
They nodded and Annabeth gave him a sad smile.
"Leo! Can you lower-", before she could finish Percy had already climbed onto the edge of the deck and jumped off.
"Percy!".
They all ran to the edge and looked over just as a large column of water shot up and caught him mid-dive.
He didn't come up, but they all knew he was fine.
"Seaweed Brain", Annabeth muttered to herself with a small smile.