Pain. That was the first thought that ran through Annabeth's brain after she hit the floor with a thump. She looked around, taking in her surroundings, and her heart dropped; darkness surrounded her, making her incapable of seeing even one foot in front of her.
Before she could do anything else, one thought surged through her brain: Percy. Before she could stop herself, she screamed, "Percy!" As soon as she screamed it, she knew it was a mistake. She could almost feel the darkness swallow her voice. She didn't remember much, but she did know that her and Percy fell for quite a while. He might not even be anywhere near her. For all she knew, they could be yards apart.
She swallowed a lump in her throat, feeling helpless, as she scolded herself. Not only was there a very small chance Percy heard her, but she also alerted every monster in the area of her whereabouts.
Not knowing what else to do, she slowly got up. "Fuck!" she yelled out. After everything that had happened, she still had a broken ankle. A searing pain shot through her leg, and she fell down almost immediately. She buried her face in her hands, on the verge of tears. Just when she thought she was going to break down, she heard a faint sound in the distance. "Annabeth?"
"Percy?" she whispered, not daring to scream again for the fear of what monsters could be lurking around them. "Annabeth!" he shouted. She saw a faint light about a yard away, and she realized Percy had uncapped Riptide, giving him a source of light. "Shut up, Seaweed Brain! You want to get eaten?" she whispered back. She could almost imagine him blushing, that little frown he did whenever he was embarrassed. She smiled, wanting nothing more than to see him. If anything gave her strength, it was being with Percy.
She could see the light moving closer as he whispered back, "Sorry." Before she knew it, Percy was kneeling beside her. "You okay?" he asked, holding her hand. "You mean besides falling into Tartarus, with a broken ankle, no weapon, and no way out? I'm great, you?" He rolled his eyes. "Annabeth, we're going to be fine." She laughed and shook her head. "Percy, what are we going to do?"
She looked around, and for the first time in her life, she felt extremely small and insignificant. Even during the Titan War, as impossible as it may have seemed, she always believed they had a fighting chance. Now, in the one place monsters were strongest, and no living creature was ever supposed to escape from, she really felt like they didn't have much of a chance.
"Percy," she said, pulling her hand out of his grasp, "I really don't know how much more we can take." "I told you," he replied, "We'll be fine. We're together, and that's all that matters." Before she had a chance to respond, he leaned in and kissed her. For a moment, she was able to forget about everything. Forget about being trapped in Tartarus, about the pain in her ankle, about Gaea rising, about her home, Camp Half-Blood, about to be destroyed. For just a moment, she was able to sit there, wrapped in the arms of the person she cared for more than anything else in world. When they finally pulled back, she felt as if a spark had been lit inside the pit of her stomach. Like they could actually make it out of here alive. And she was ready to kick some serious ass.
"You ready to get going?" he asked. She nodded, wrapping her arm around his shoulders. "On three. One, two, three!" He lifted her up off the ground, and she landed on her feet, lopsided, banging her broken ankle against the hard ground. She yelped out in pain - she couldn't help it. It felt as if Percy had just stabbed Riptide into her foot as hard as he could. The pain shot all the way up from her foot to her head, making her wobble in Percy's arms.
"Sorry," he said, and went to put her back down. "No!" she screamed, and whacked him so hard on the head that he practically fell over. "What's wrong with you, Seaweed Brain? If you put me back down, it'll only be that much harder to get back up!" He sighed. "Sorry, again," he said, steadying himself, momentarily making it easier to hold the weight of two people on his shoulders. She draped her hand across his chest, and was surprised to feel his heart almost jumping out of it. Up until now, he had tried so hard to be strong for the both of them, when inside he was actually terrified. She wanted to give up so badly, just lay down on the ground and wait for monsters to kill them, to put them out of their misery. But of course, she didn't. She was Annabeth Chase, and the last thing she was going to do was throw in the towel just because things weren't going their way. She took a deep breathe, wrapped her arms around Percy, and together they waded out into the darkness.
Thanks for reading! I know it's not all too long, I'm new around here and wanted to give writing a go. If you liked it, or didn't, a review would mean a ton. If I get a couple, I might even go on (I was thinking of going back to Nico, Leo, Jason, etc.)