A/N: Hello! This is the eleventh chapter. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians.

Percy's POV

The voices refused to leave me alone. The door had closed behind me ages ago, but the words of my friends still rang in my ears as if the words had just been spoken.

They whirled around in my thoughts, mixing together with the voices already in my head to form an unbeatable monster screaming my faults at me without rest. And with them came other thoughts, secrets, and beliefs that I thought I had locked away years ago.

This time I couldn't just convince myself that they weren't true. This time, I couldn't help but believe it to be the truth. If those words had been lies, then they would have disappeared and fizzled out as lies. The truth rang clearly, and it wouldn't leave you alone. If it stuck with me, it had to be true.

Part of me tried to insist over and over again that those beings hadn't been my friends. They would never say those kinds of things, even if they were true.

But I didn't know anymore.

I had made sacrifices that could have been avoided, and now they were suffering because of it. I had carried the weight of those decisions for a long time. After this, the weight increased tenfold.

I had tried to get away from my mistakes. They had been telling me the truth. I knew it. They deserved to hate me. After what I had done to them, I deserved all the pain and suffering they could give me.

I brushed a couple of tears off of my face.

The statue was right. I was more monster than human, and the transition process hadn't just started when Annabeth and I had arrived in Tartarus.

And yet, I still wanted to see myself get out. Call me selfish, but I still wanted to see my friends again, even if they didn't want to see me.

I stood up, pushing the voices to the side. I was an emotional mess, and I still couldn't see straight, but I headed to the door anyway.

I didn't care if I wasn't ready. I didn't care if I was rushing into it. I wanted to be out of here, right now.

I could barely bring myself to stand another moment down here.

I pushed against the door, watched it open, and staggered a couple of feet outside. I drew Riptide and glared at the darkness, almost daring it to try and cross me.

I took a couple of steps forward, wiping the tears off roughly. I didn't know what was in here, but I was very rapidly reaching my tolerance limit.

If this room was anything like the others, then the exit would be on the opposite side of the room. I just had to make it there. I kept moving forward. At the very least, I could try and get to the exit before the main threat appeared to crush those plans.

A small voice in my head tried to bring up all the things that could go wrong in this trial, but I angrily chained it away.

Denial would do me just fine for now. I refused to consider any possibility that things would go wrong.

So what if it was careless? So what if it was reckless? So what if I was risking my life for a pointless pursuit? I didn't care anymore.

Tartarus wanted to see me in pain, and that wish was going to come true. I wanted to curl up and cry, but I also wanted to prove to Tartarus that I wasn't going to give up until I was dead.

They couldn't make me stop fighting. I wanted to show everything in here how monster like I could be.

I wanted to prove to them that I was more powerful than them. I wanted to show them that I could destroy them without breaking a sweat. My friends had died instead of me, and I still carried them with me. I would prove to the world that their sacrifice was not in vain. I wouldn't let them go. I couldn't let them go.

I stalked deeper into the room, anger rolling off of me in waves.

Like the previous two trials, there was no warning. The monsters just appeared all around me, faces blank and unemotional. One moment they weren't there, the next they were. They surrounded me, crowding around me with weapons.

It was eerie. Most monsters that actively tried to kill me had hatred and anger written all over their faces. They were never silent. To see nothing there was unsettling.

I took another step forward, and they all jolted into action.

It startled me so badly I almost dropped Riptide before regaining control of myself. Their movements were jerky and uncontrolled, as though they were being driven by something else. No emotion flitted across their faces as they tried to subdue me.

I stepped behind one of the swords aimed at me and slashed through one of the monsters. As expected, it dissolved into dust. I turned my head away to the next threat and leapt forward to kill another one of them

My gut suddenly lurched, and I turned around back to the first monster. Slowly, the monster reformed out of the scattered dust, clawing its way to their feet.

So this was an unkillable army.

Fantastic.

I underneath one monster, and stabbed it in the back. A second passed and I pulled Riptide free and slashed through the throat of another.

If I really couldn't kill these monsters, then this fight was absolutely useless. I needed to fight my way over to the exit. I needed to figure out a path to freedom.

But at the same time… I was having fun. I was angry at everything down here. I wanted to murder these monsters so hard they never came back.

I wanted to show Tartarus as much pain as I could.

These monsters were the perfect candidates to take my anger out on. They kept reforming, so I couldn't truly hurt them. I could do whatever I wanted.

I could finally let loose.

An idea came to me, and I smiled. Annabeth would have been proud.

There was already water here. I just had to find out the way to use it. I knew that monsters dissolved into dust when they died, but they also ate food and drank liquid. That had to mean that there was at least some water in them. Maybe they had blood but turned to dust when mortally wounded.

Time to test it out.

I reached towards the monster closest to me.

The tug in my navel was sharper than ever, but I pushed past it. If I could do this, then winning would be that much easier.

I would be able to fight better. I could help my friends win this war.

We could be safe. Everyone could survive. No more sorrow, no more mourning, no more pain. I just had to do it.

The monster took advantage of my pause in attacks and swing its sword at me, before freezing in place.

There.

I twisted my arm and watched in morbid fascination as the monster copied me. I sent it towards the other monsters in the area, making it fight against its own kind.

If they sent an unkillable army at me, I would make my own.

I threw myself back into the fight. Dust rained down on me, covering me in a thin coating, and I smiled. This was becoming more and more fun.

I didn't even have to stop here. There was water inside of me as well, wasn't there?

I reached towards the gaping wound on my back, drawing out the water from my blood. At the same time, I also gathered the water left over on my face from my tears.

My face felt incredibly dry, and I was slightly more tired, but I had summoned a small ball of water in front of me.

I smiled evilly at the emotionless monsters in front of me and launched myself into battle.

Normally, with ADHD, everything slows down and I can feel each moment of battle in perfect detail. This time, it was completely opposite. Everything seemed to pass by in a blur.

I stabbed through one monster in the gut, before freezing another monster to the wall with the water and slicing it in half.

Idly, I wondered how far I could go. How many monsters could I control? How much power could I force out?

I stifled a laugh. Now might be the best time to figure out.

I placed Riptide on the ground gently and raised my hands. The closest monsters immediately turned on their brethren, causing chaos to ripple through the horde of demons.

How many was that? Ten? Twenty?

Either way, I still had room for more. With the first monster, the tug in my gut had been painful and present. Now, the sharpness was fading away.

I took control of another group of monsters.

It was almost funny.

I had been fighting these creatures for a little more than half a decade. They had been such an integral part of who I am now. I could barely remember a time where I wasn't engaged in an eternal struggle with these monsters.

With this, I suddenly didn't have to worry about it anymore. I could make them fight themselves. A couple of giggles bubbled out of me as I watched them tear each other to shreds.

I grabbed Riptide off of the ground and stood back up. Now that I clearly wasn't in any mortal peril, it was time to have some more fun.

I whirled through the crowd of monsters, laughing. Now I wasn't alone in my pain and suffering.

I would teach these monsters a lesson about the demigods they constantly tried to kill. I would teach them that sometimes, people were forced to become more powerful than their demons. I would teach them that those people would be their destruction. I would teach them that I was one of those people, and I would make it the last lesson they ever learned before oblivion.

These monsters would keep coming back from here, but at least they would know that I was going to up there with the sole mission of sending them right back down again.

At the same time, I understood them. Before this moment, I hadn't understood why these monsters still attempted to kill us, time and time again. I hadn't understood their bloodlust, their need for revenge.

Now I knew.

These monsters had just as much fun as I did. After all of these years, they had lost their fear of death. For them, hunting a creature that would never come back after death was entertaining. Demigods tried to outsmart the monsters at every turn, but they would eventually fall. And that was where the fun was. Killing a being that had taken the lives of hundreds of other monsters was a badge of honor monsters wore with pride.

That had been why they kept coming after me. Not because I had messed up their plans to seize power from the gods, or not because I had killed a monster they were friends with. They wanted to kill me because I had survived this far. They wanted the glory and bragging rights of being the one to take me down. They wanted the ability to single-handedly send me to the underworld.

I threw my head back and laughed.

I couldn't wait to see all of their faces when the monsters finally figured out what I could do. Maybe it would be enough to make them leave me alone. Or better yet, maybe this would be enough to keep them focused on trying to kill me instead of my friends.

One of the monsters swiped with their spear and grazed my thigh. I let out a short shriek of delight. More water for me to completely destroy them with. The pain was the last thing on my mind. All I could focus on was their destruction.

I wouldn't let them win down here. I wouldn't let them win ever again. Now that I had understood them, I would be able to beat them so much easier.

Laughter kept spilling out of me. I couldn't stop it, and I didn't know if I wanted to. The pure joy of knowing that they couldn't touch me anymore was amazing.

Why hadn't I tried this earlier?

I paused for a moment and glanced around at the state of the battle. The room looked nearly empty. Monsters were struggling to reform out of the piles of dust that covered the floor of the room. The monsters that I had control over were slicing through the monsters that were trying to reform. There wasn't a single threat in this room anymore.

I had destroyed an unkillable army.

I sat back and smiled, observing for another moment. I did this. Nothing here remained to kill me. I had taken this trial and absolutely destroyed it. I was more of a challenge to the trial than it was to me.

It was a wonderful feeling.

Take that, Tartarus I thought. Try stopping me now.

Pride swelled up inside of me. No one else had to die. I could protect them all with this power. Maybe everyone could finally grow up in peace. Maybe I wouldn't have to attend the funeral of another child that had been forced into war. Maybe, with this, I could finally make a difference for those that needed it the most.

I walked through the room, dragging my finger through the piles of dust. I grabbed a handful and let the sand slip through my fingers.

Random weapons were scattered over the floor. I stepped over an axe and picked up one of the swords. There was an inscription on the side of the blade.

'Honor and Truth'

I frowned at the words. This had to be the sword of a demigod. There was no way that a monster would ever have that engraved on their weapon.

One of these monsters had taken this weapon from a demigod. They had most likely killed them and then taken the weapon as a spoil of war.

On the hilt of the sword, my knuckles were a pale white. I shook in absolute fury.

I refused to let that happen to any camper while I was still alive. If I could help it, no demigod would be murdered in such a way again.

I was doing the right thing.

I strode forward through the room towards the fighting groups of monsters. Slowly, in groups of ten, I let go of my control of the monsters. They tore each other apart, warring in a pointless battle. I watched in satisfaction, forgetting the rage.

If I could make them do this to each other, then they would never hurt a demigod again.

I stepped around a couple of the monsters, whirling into battle, and killing them one by one.

They never had a chance against me. I regained control of a couple of them and sent them to put down the reforming monsters.

I needed to move on. I couldn't stay here forever. I had to get back to my friends. I couldn't defend them very well from down here.

I picked my way over towards the door, stepping around the monsters. I trekked through the dust, feeling slightly homesick for the pale sand of the beach at Camp Half-Blood. By this point, I was completely covered in the golden dust, but I didn't mind. It was a measurement of my success. I would wear it proudly, if only to let monsters know that I was not someone to mess with.

I pressed my hand against the exit, watching it slide open. I stepped through and glanced back at the room.

The monsters were still under my control. I dropped everything, feeling the tug in my gut fade away. The monsters turned towards me and headed over. They couldn't cross the barrier and both sides knew it.

I winked at them before turning away.

If only all the challenges had been like that.

The door slid shut behind me, and I faced the next room

Only, it wasn't a room. The cavern I was was huge. I could barely see the ceiling above me. Torches were lit along the walls, covering the area in a soft, flickering light.

"Huh," said a voice. "I haven't seen a person succeed at getting through by themselves in a long time. Usually, the only monsters to make it through the trials are the ones that travel in big groups."

I looked around, trying to place the voice, before finally settling my eyes on the statue near the end of the cavern.

I headed towards it.

"Hello," She said when I stepped closer. "Do you have a message for me?"

"What?" I asked, momentarily stunned by the unexpected question. Did I need one to get through?

"From the statue in the beginning," She said. "If he didn't give you one, it's no problem, but he normally does," she said.

"Why would he give you a message?" I blurted, not thinking.

The statue glanced to the side, blushing. I didn't exactly know how she did that, because she was made out of stone, but I didn't question it.

"He's my other half," She said quietly.

I stayed silent for a moment, waiting for her to continue speaking.

"We were there, you know, when Zeus decided to split humanity in half. You might not know this, but every human used to have four legs, four arms, and two faces. I'm not sure why, but Zeus decided that couldn't happen and divided all of us. I suppose modern people refer to their other half as a soulmate, but they're the same thing. I always thought we were so lucky to have known each other before we were split up."

A lump grew in my throat.

"There's nothing like that feeling of completeness of being together. We were really happy. Then, by accident, we fell down here. Tartarus himself turned us to stone and forced us to be the gatekeepers of the way out."

Oh no.

"Sometimes, he likes to send me messages with the monsters that pass through. I can't ever respond, cause it's a one-way passage, but it's always nice to hear from him."

The statue had been a human.

They had been a couple.

In another world, that could have easily been Annabeth and me.

I swallowed thickly. Could I really tell her that I killed her other half?

"He…" I began. Was I actually about to do this? "He did send a message. I was just curious. He wanted to tell you that he loved you, and that he had been able to earn his freedom."

My voice was a low whisper.

"What did he mean by that?" She asked.

"I don't know," I lied.

"Oh well, messages sometimes get lost in translation, anyway. It's alright," The statue said, quickly moving on.

"You'll find the exit down that path. I don't really know where it pops you guys out, but you'll be somewhere on the surface." The statue indicated a small tunnel that led to the left.

My train of thoughts derailed immediately.

After all of this, the exit was right there.

All of the pain and suffering that I had gone through, and I all I had to do was walk out.

I glanced back at the statue. I would be the last person to go through the trials. She would remain alone here, trapped in solitude, unknowing of what happened to her other half.

I couldn't just leave her like that. I wouldn't let myself add her to my list of people I had let down.

"Oh!" I said. "I remember what he meant by freedom."

The statue looked back over at me. "Really?" She asked.

I stepped closer, glancing down at Riptide. "Can you close your eyes for a second?" I asked her. I didn't want her to see what I was about to do.

"Why?" She asked, suspicion lining her voice.

"Um…" I said. "He gave me something to give you, but he wanted it to be a surprise. I completely forgot about it."

She smiled. "Okay!" She said, closing her eyes.

I wished that I didn't have to be the one to betray her trust, but it was for the best.

I stepped closer again. "I'm sorry," I whispered to her quietly. "You'll be together soon."

"Wha-?" She asked.

Before she could finish, I sliced her head off of the statue and cracked the stone into pieces with Riptide's hilt.

The cavern was completely silent.

Silently, I stared at the rubble of the statue. I had just murdered someone. I mean, I had been the reason behind other people's deaths, but this was the first one that had been directly caused by me.

And if I counted the statue at the entrance, then I had just murdered a second person.

But I had needed to do it. She would have suffered if I had left her here alone. Now, she could be reunited with her other half in the underworld. After eons of separation, they would finally be together.

This was a good thing, even if it really didn't feel like it.

I turned to the open tunnel and headed towards it. I couldn't bear to stand in this room any longer.

If I could help it, nothing else would ever find this room. No one else would get through the trials. With this, the chain of rooms was completely sealed. The Doors of Death had disappeared with the Annabeth, and the Trials would disappear with me. Two fewer ways for monsters to make it out of Tartarus.

The light of the cavern faded slowly as I headed further down the path. Hopefully, this wasn't like the first entrance, where I had to have permission to pass through.

If it was, then I was stuck down here. But it didn't seem to be that way. Maybe it was because there had already been an original gatekeeper, or maybe because the trials themselves almost seemed like a screening process. It didn't seem like they needed anybody else to regulate the flow of monsters to the surface.

I kept walking down the path. Slowly, as I passed through, the walls started to open up. Water dripped down from stalactites as the tunnel gradually became another cave.

Riptide lit up the path before me with a soft glow, and although I couldn't quite see anything yet, I quickened my pace.

I was almost there. I was almost out. I was almost free.

I had done so much to get here, and I was finally at the moment. All of the pain, all of the suffering, all of the feelings of hopelessness and helplessness had led up to this.

I started running, ignoring the pain and complaining of my body as I desperately asked it to do more than its capabilities for the millionth time.

The cave widened some more, and I burst out of the entrance.

It was nighttime. That was the first thing I noticed. That, and the thousands of stars that were littered across the sky.

I closed my eyes and inhaled a deep breath of the fresh air. The smell of saltwater filled my nose, and I opened my eyes again, scanning the area around me for the water.

I ran forward, towards the shore. I could feel the power of the sea in my veins for the first time in a long while. My gut lead me towards the ocean.

There.

I ran out of the treeline and found myself facing the wide open sea.

A feeling of calm automatically washed over me, and I ran straight into the surf. The water greeted me like an old friend, swirling gently around me as I pushed deeper. I ducked down underneath the surface, feeling the soft tingle of the water as it slowly sealed up several of the cuts I had gained down in Tartarus.

Another moment passed before I kicked off of the bottom, breaking through the surface of the water with a shout of happiness.

This was freedom.

I had only spent five minutes back on the surface, and I already felt more energized than ever. All of the pain was slowly disappearing. I was home, where I belonged. It didn't matter if I was halfway across the planet. I was on the surface, underneath the sky, where I needed to be.

I stood up and made my way back to the shore, marveling at the feeling of the water.

After everything I had been through, the water felt incredible. I wished that this appreciation could have come before taking a trip through hell, but I was still glad to have made it.

As I climbed out of the water, I realized how much information I was lacking.

Being in the water had told me that I was somewhere in the Atlantic, but that wouldn't be useful if I didn't know where my friends were or if the battle was over. Time was always different in magical places. It could have been ten years or ten minutes since I had said goodbye to Annabeth.

But that was a problem for another time. Right now, it was all I could do to not collapse in exhaustion. Everything was slightly overwhelming and it would have been incredibly easy to slip into unconsciousness. But I didn't even try to close my eyes.

Instead, I sat down on the soft sand and watched the stars slowly rise above the horizon, mesmerized by the simple beauty of everything.

A/N: Thank you for reading, and please review! I always love to read em!

Published: August 18th, 2018 (Happy Birthday Percy!)

Edited: August 20th, 2018 (Many thanks to Death Fury for pointing out an issue)