First off, I want to say I am sorry for the long wait. My company just got back form the field, so I spent the last week or so in the woods kind of. Since you guys had to wait so long, I decided to make this one about twice as long hope you guys like it, and please review and tell me how it is.
Before Percy even had the opportunity to find out how to escape, his attention was placed else where by the sound of a scream. He picked up the laptop and ran towards the scream. It didn't sound like Reyna's voice, but at the moment Percy didn't really care.
Running wile caring the laptop was more difficult then he had thought. It weighed more then it had a few moments ago. Percy didn't know if it was the actual laptop, or if Tartarus was playing another mind game with him. As he ran and turned corners and run some more he heard the screams get louder so he must have been going to right way.
He saw a light, a dim light like one made from a fire or a candle. He didn't really know what to expect at this point but he felt like he was going the right way. When he reached the lighted area he couldn't believe what he saw. Reyna and some other demi-gods were fighting a monster.
It took Percy a moment to see the monster that they were fighting, he knew he saw it before. It was tall, about twice as tall as he was, and its horns were as long as his arms. It was by far one of the most fearsome looking things he had ever seen. Then he remembered perfectly. The Minatare.
Percy had guessed that the monster remembered him too, because as soon as it saw him, it lost all interest in the others. It, snorted something fowl that Percy could smell form where he was, and charged aiming his horns right at the son of Poseidon. Percy dove right to avoid it, falling on some hard rock in the process.
The bull didn't miss a step, it ran right into the wall, slamming head first into the stone that made up this prison. Although you couldn't tell, the only thing that seemed to do was make it madder. It charged again, this time Percy dove to the left. He really wish he had a sword with him right now. Unfortunately the monster anticipated the thought, and slightly changed direction so it was headed straight for Percy.
Before he even had time to react the force of what Percy could only compare to as the sky itself slammed into him, he could have swore he heard a crack in the side of his ribs.
Holding onto the horns of the beast wile it charged straight into a wall didn't seem like the smartest idea either. Luckily Percy's reflexes had a better memory of battle then he did. He leaned against one side of the Minatare causing it to stab its horns into the ground and then catapulting it into the wall behind them. The sound it made resembled Percy's own grunts of agony as he tried to get up knowing full well that this was going to hurt before it even got better.
As the monster tried its best to get up, Percy was wondering if monsters could get concussions, because he was sure that the Minatare had to have one. Percy stood up, having to place his arms out in front of him to keep from falling over. He remembered watching one of the old Rocky movies that a friend had shown him, or maybe it was a goat. Anyways, he felt like that on the last round of the final fight.
The monster finally seemed to get its bearings. It, locked eyes onto the young demi-god and did the stereotypical bull kicking the dirt thing. Percy knew that it was going to put everything it had into this one last charge and he had to come up with something.
As it ran for him, faster then it had before, faster then anything Percy had seen before, he only thought of one thing. He grabbed onto its horns, and tried his best to push hold the beast there. It, made a loud awful screech that made Percy's headache even worse. Percy did the only thing he thought, he started to twist the monsters head, hoping to turn it upside down and in for a good strike or two. Instead something else happened. Percy put all of his strength into the twist, and instead of flipping the best over, he ripped its head off.
The sound it made grossed him out more then the sight. The crunching noise, with sound of flesh being ripped apart made him almost throw up what ever it was he last ate. Just as he ripped the head off, the body fell to the ground, before turning into dust like it always had before. The head turned into ash right in his hands.
Before he even had time to celebrate his victory he was tackled by something else. He turned around ready to through another punch only to see the girl that was hugging him. Her brown hair was in a long braid with a feather in it. When her eyes opened they seemed to change colors like a kaleidoscope.
"Oh my gods thank you Percy thank you so much." Piper said, as she nearly squeezed the life out of him.
"Piper wh...what are you doing here?" Percy asked, wondering how she had got here when she was suppose to be doing some sort of important quest.
"We all came as soon as we could." Hazel said, stepping out of the shadows much like her brother does.
"I told you we sent a party looking for you." Reyna said, crossing her arms and putting on a sly smile like she knew something the others did not.
"I thought that you all were going to war with each other? I thought you were going to destroy Camp Half-blood." Percy said, none of what they were saying was making any sense to him, but he didn't care, not anymore as long as they were here.
"Octavian was killed, with him gone, I was able to calm them down." Reyna said, then she motioned to behind Percy.
"Then I became Praetor again." The voice of Jason Grace said be hind him, he was so happy to have all of them here with him.
"So what do we do now?" Leo asked, stepping out of a dark corner playing with fire on his fingertips.
"Well, I suppose we just wait, I mean someone is bound to come get us." Jason and Reyna said at the same time.
This almost made Percy, jump, just waiting here, to be rescued? Then he remembered the laptop. He looked for it on the ground, hoping it didn't break in the fight with the Minatare. After about five minutes he finally found it, under a small pile of ash, that he was hoping was already there before the fight and not a product of it. He opened it up, and found the icon again. He wanted to tell everyone about it, but something in his head told him not too, that he should be the only one to look at it.
He clicked it and found that there was more words then he ever thought possible on a computer. Reading it, he found out that it wasn't hard, he figured that Daedalus must have had it set so that demi-gods could read it with their dyslexia. Reading it gave him chills down his spine, and what he found out was something he wish he would never have to do.
Welcome, if you are reading this then I must presume that you are trapped in Tartarus, this is a guide to how to get out of it. First off don't believe in anything you see, hear, smell or feel. The chances are it is not real.
Reading this Percy looked up to see his friends, wondering if they fell into the qualifications of this.
Second, there is only one way out of Tartarus for a mortal, and that is to find the doors of Death and walk out of them, good thing they are always within reach, because they constantly move around.
The third and final part of this guide is by far the worst, so I apologize for it, but the only way to locate Death's Door, is to face your biggest fear. Not Conqure it, that is often confused, for you will never beat your fears in this prison, but you must face it and any pain that comes along with it.
Thank you for using my guide "Help Escaping Tartarus." If you survive please come back soon.
Percy closed the laptop and looked off into space, not knowing what to think. He knew now that he had to find Death's Door, and the only way to find it was to find his biggest fear and endure it. Now all he had to do was think about his biggest fear. Just as he thought of that he heard Leo and Jason talking.
"So, do you know where Annabeth is?" Leo said, not even trying to make his voice a whisper.
"No, last time I saw her must have been three days ago." Jason said the same tone as Leo's, uncaring and irritated with the topic.
Percy had to find Annabeth, if she was in this prison too, he had to make sure she was alright.
"When did you last see her" He shot up out of his seating position. Jason and Leo both looked at him stunned then they had smiles on their faces.
"Oh don't worry man, I am sure she is alright." Leo said, in a way that sounded almost nothing like him.
"What are you talking about? This is Annabeth, I need to save her, we need to save her." Percy said, everyone was looking at him now, with a confused look like he had gone mad or something.
"Percy, I am sure she is fine, I mean, why wouldn't she be? She is a Hunter of Artemis after all." Hazel said, trying to calm him down, witch just made it that much worse.
"What do you mean, a hunter, no she isn't." Percy tried to say, but the memories of her taking the oath years ago, seemed to be making their way into his mind. He had no idea if what they were saying was true.
"Just calm down, take deep breaths. You need some rest Percy." Piper said, and suddenly Percy found himself getting tired.
"Rest, rest does sound..." Percy thought about it then it dawned on him that she was using her charm speak on him.
Do not trust what you see, hear, smell or feel.
The words read over his mind again.
"How can I believe you, none of you would ever abandon Annabeth or anyone.." Percy was cut off by the sound of blade cutting into flesh, and when he turned around behind him he saw Reyna had stabbed him in the back with a dagger.
"I'm sorry Percy, but you are to dangerous for the Legion." She said, before he had time to say anything, he heard the sounds of blade's everywhere unsheathing. He turned around and saw all of his friends, ready and eager to end his life because he was far to dangerous to be able to go back to the real world.
He didn't even say anything, he just ran, ran for the nearest hall he could find, hoping to get away from them all of them. As he was running he heard the voices of everyone he once knew, telling him how he was going to die, be tortured, skinned or just about anything you could think of. He looked down at his hands, all he had with him was his laptop and the cloths he wore, witch were now in ripped tethers.
He didn't even know where he was running too, but he just hoped it would be away form all of them, he looked behind him to see if anything was fallowing him. Then he ran right into someone.
He got up, in a hurry, and was ready to attack the person that was now trying to kill him, the person had long curly blonde hair, and her stormy gray eyes were searching for what ever it was that bumped into her. Until they saw him then they nearly got as big as the moon, and filled with tears.
"Percy... Oh my gods its you." She said, running up and hugging him, the second he saw her, he felt like he was on Olympus again and nothing would ever hurt him again.
"Annabeth..." Was all he could say before she wrapped him in a hug that nearly killed him.
"Percy we have been searching everywhere for you." She said, and the word "we" snapped him back to the present time.
"Annabeth, we have to go, we are in danger." He said, still wrapped in her hug, she pulled away, and with worry eyes looked at him.
"What are you talking about Seaweed Brain?" She said, with a look of confusion on her face.
"The others, they are not who they look like." He said, looking back at the tunnel that he just ran form.
"They are trying to kill..." The next thing he felt was the sharp pain of a knife stabbing him in the abdomen. Looking forward he saw something made him give up on all hope. Annabeth Chase, had just tried to kill him.
"I am sorry Seaweed Brain, but I have to do this." She said, with a monotone voice, and a look of sadistic emptiness in her eyes.
"No... not you." Was all he said before, the did the only thing he could do. He pushed her off of him. He would never be able to hurt Annabeth, no matter what she did to him. Luck however seemed to favor him for just a moment, and the face of the beautiful girl that he loved turned into a hideous monster that he had no problem killing. The monster lunged at him, and all he did was grab the knife from his stomach and cut the creatures head off.
It fell right into his hands, and the before he could throw it away, he heard a sound of doors opening. All he could do was fallow it. Walking to the doors, he saw what could only be Jason Grace and Nico D'Angilo waiting for him, ready to kill him.
As he stumbled out of the darkness, he fell to his knees because of the pain. Jason and Nico ran up to him, he heard their voices but couldn't understand them, he didn't care too. All he knew was that he was not going to be killed by them, so he did the only thing he could do. He punched Jason or Jason's imposter as hard as he could and sent him flying off the cliff they were on. Then he turned his attention to Nico.
Before he had the chance to attack the sound of a war horn off in the distance got his attention, and he summoned all of his strength and ran and leaped off the cliff and into the river below. He didn't care, what it was anymore, he just knew that he was going to kill it, before it tried to kill him.
Well damn, I hope you guys like it and I hope it explains why Percy punched Jason off of the cliff. If you are wondering, yes the next Chapter Annabeth will see Percy again, but it wont be the same happy exchange we saw in MOA. Don't forget to review, and thanks for reading.