I'm back! I hope you all like this chapter- it get's pretty emotional near the end ;) . By the way, I recently began my second FanFic known as Ordoa's Arena, so hop on over there after you finish reading this chapter and tell me what you think!

Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians

Annabeth's POV

"O Iris, Goddess of the Rainbow, accept my offering," Annabeth recited. "Show me Nico Di Angelo on the Argo II."

Using one hand, Annabeth was splashing the lake's glowing waters in an arch, creating a very faint rainbow that would hopefully be enough for the message, and with the other she flipped a drachma through the spray. Upon contact, the coin dissolved.

An image began to form on the mist, fuzzy at first, but rapidly gaining clarity. The colors came together to show a familiar mop of black hair laying on a pillow, sheets pulled up to the chin of the son of Hades.

He's asleep, Annabeth thought, feeling a bit of sympathy at having to wake him up. However, the feeling evaporated quickly and was overcome by her desperation.

"Nico!" Annabeth shouted urgently.

"Ah!" Nico shot straight up, looking around frantically. "Wha-What…Annabeth?" Nico's eyes were wide, as if he couldn't believe she'd just seen him in bed.

Annabeth couldn't help but blush. "Sorry, Nico, but we need your help. Badly." Annabeth, still splashing the water, reached behind her and dragged Percy forward. He was shaking, his eyes still unfocused, and he looked scared, an expression not often seen on his face.

"Holy Hera, what happened to him?"

"He tried healing in this one lake down here, the one I'm actually using for our Iris message right now. It did heal his wounds, like usual, but…I don't know, he got sick from it or something. Do you know anything about a lake in Tartarus, or maybe why he's like this?"

Nico swallowed nervously. "I…I do, but you're not going to like it."

"That lake is the Lake of Life. It's name is deceptive, though, because it in fact does not give life but instead steals it. It was put in Tartarus as a sort of torture to monsters; if they drank, they died a…a slow death. For monsters, it wasn't too big a deal. They'd trample around Tartarus, die, then reappear somewhere else in the pit."

"Wait," Annabeth interjected. "The monsters never truly die down here, then?" The daughter of Athena could see the logic in this. If a monster is killed, where do they go? Tartarus. It'd be the same occurrence even if you were already there.

"I guess so," Nico shrugged. "The Lake basically prolongs their stay in Tartarus before they can return to the upper world to reek havoc again."

"So…" Annabeth turned to look at the sick son of Poseidon. He'd closed his eyes and seemed to be struggling to remain conscious. "What…what'll happen to Percy?"

Nico didn't want to answer that question. He stayed silent, staring at his friend with sorrow-filled eyes, before mumbling, "If he isn't given ambrosia or isn't purified in clean water, he'll…he'll die."

Annabeth couldn't help herself. She let out a strangled gasp, and a tear rolled down her cheek.

"No, this can't be happening," she cried, dragging Percy closer and, using her free arm, pulled him into a firm hug. "He can't die…"

"Annabeth." Nico's voice had suddenly gotten stronger, a steady determination filling every word. "He won't die. We won't let him. Go to the Doors as fast as you possibly can, and we'll bring water and ambrosia to heal him. Please…please hurry." With that, Nico raised his arm sleepily to wave it through the message, but Annabeth demanded, "Stop."

Nico did.

"If the Lake drains a person's life, why did it heal Percy's wounds?"

Nico thought a second before answering, "It's still water. Water heals Percy. The 'life draining' part just sucks away their energy and health, so the water part of the Lake was still able to heal his wounds."

"One last question- where are the Doors of Death? Did you ever find them?"

Nico shivered at the thought of his experience in Tartarus. "N-No, I never made it." Seeing Annabeth's deeply worried expression, he hurried to say, "I did, however, learn their location."

Perking up a bit, Annabeth asked, "Where are they?"

"Surprisingly, you guys aren't too far away right now. Just keep walking to the north of the Lake of Life. I don't know exactly how close you are, but you should reach them that way."

"Thank you, Nico," Annabeth said with sad eyes but a genuine smile.

"Good…Good luck, Annabeth." After they'd said their goodbyes, Annabeth stopped splashing the Lake's water in the air, causing the image to fade into nothing on the remaining mist.

Shaking her fatigued hand and wiping it on her jeans, Annabeth knelt down next to the son of Poseidon.

"Percy…" she whispered, checking to see if he was awake; he'd been pretty still during the whole Iris message, and Annabeth figured he'd fallen asleep. At least, she hoped that was the case…

"Huh?" Percy murmured, barely opening his sea-green eyes.

A single tear slipped out of Annabeth's eye at the sight of Percy like this. He was so weak, so vulnerable, so...not in control. Annabeth needed his leader-like strength to keep her from losing her mind, and now she was being forced to be the leader.

"C'mon, we need…we need to find you water. Clean water. Nico said they'd have some ready at the Doors, so we need to get there as fast as we can." She bent down and wrapped Percy's arm around her shoulders. Hefting him up, he got to his feet, though he was heavily leaning on her.

"Annabeth?" Percy asked quietly.

"Yeah?"

"Am I going to die?"

Annabeth stared at Percy, taken aback by his question. It was obvious that he knew the truth. He was dying, and there was a good chance he wouldn't make it out of Tartarus alive. His shoulders were slumped forward, eyes droopy, and his knees were shaking as the sickness coursed its way through his body.

Hardening her resolve, Annabeth replied, "No, you're not. We are going to get you out of here alive."

Percy gave her his signature smile, then responded with a simple, "I knew you'd say that, Wise Girl."

"Shut up, Seaweed Brain," she retorted, rolling her eyes but smiling nonetheless.

And together the couple walked away from the Lake, continuing their journey to the Doors of Death…and their freedom.

Nico's POV

Nico had fallen back asleep after his talk with Annabeth, and when he woke up the next morning the sun was shining brightly through his window. Stretching his arms as he sat up, Nico rubbed his eyes and got ready for the day.

He sleepily joined everyone in the mess hall below decks, where they were all enjoying breakfast.

Well, enjoying is a bit of an exaggeration. Piper, Jason, Leo, Frank, and Hazel were all silently eating their food, each either staring at their plate or off into space. It'd been like this the all the time after Percy and Annabeth had fallen into Tartarus. It seemed like they had taken all the happiness in the world with them.

Nico slid into the seat next to Hazel, not bothering to grab any breakfast. He had too big of news to share.

"Percy and Annabeth Iris-messaged me last night." Piper dropped her fork at the sudden news, letting it clang loudly on the table. Frank choked on a piece of waffle, and Jason stared at the son of Hades, dumbfounded.

"They what? How- what did- why didn't you tell any of us last night?" Hazel stammered.

"You were all asleep; We all know we need the rest."

Everyone grew silent since they knew it was true. Nobody wanted to sleep; all they wanted to do was find their friends. However, they'd be no help if they were all sleep-deprived zombies.

Clearing his throat, Nico explained their whole conversation, going from the Lake of Life to finding the Doors.

"Since Percy had taken in the water in order to heal himself, he…he acquired the Lake's curse, and he's…he's dying." Nico's voice caught as he finished up his explanation.

Hazel began to cry, turning to sob onto Frank's shoulder. The son of Mars himself looked on the verge of tears. Everyone else's jaws had dropped. The mighty son of Poseidon, part-time praetor of Rome and famous demigod all around, was dying. In Tartarus. It couldn't get much worse than that.

Suddenly, and to everyone's surprise, Leo stood up and left the table, not saying a word. He quickly left to go upstairs, and the last thing Nico noticed before he disappeared was his hand wiping at his eyes.

"Where's he going?" Nico asked to no one in particular.

"I don't know, but we should check on him," Piper said, concern laced into her voice.

Frank bit his lip, then said, "Doesn't he like to be left alone, you know, when he's upset?" Hazel grabbed his arm and pulled him to his feet.

"We're going to check on him," she responded with a glare.

Together, the five demigods left the mess hall and went searching for their friend.

It was easy to find him. Leo was in the engine room, hammering away at a new weapon he'd been working on using the Archimedes' sphere. He looked frustrated, like he always did when he was struggling with an invention, but this time it was covering a layer of sorrow and…was that guilt?

The group of demigods approached the son of Hepheastus, and it was Piper who spoke first.

"Leo, please tell us what's wrong. We're all understandably upset, but I know that there's more to your sadness than you're letting on."

Leo paused, then set down his hammer and rested his elbows on the work bench.

"You want to know what's wrong? I'm a big screw-up, that's what," Leo snapped. He let his head drop into his hands, getting engine grease all over his forehead.

"What are you talking about, Leo?" Jason asked confusedly, truly concerned for his friend.

When Leo looked up again, his dirty face was streaked with tear tracks. "When Frank, Hazel, and I went on our individual quest in Rome and got trapped with the eidolons, I used a deal I'd made earlier with Nemesis. She'd given me a fortune cookie that would help me with something when I most needed it, though the help would come with a price. Well, the eidolons were hurting Hazel and Frank, and they might've died, so I broke the cookie and got help with the Archimedes Sphere in order to save them. I figured the price would be an eye or a limb, but nooo, Nemesis made it cost me Percy and Annabeth's lives!"

Leo was shouting by now, his guilt becoming overwhelming. "It's my fault they're down there! It's my fault that they have to go through that! It's my fault that Percy's dying!"

Leo finished his rant and dropped his head back into his hands, and began to full-on cry, sobs racking his body. Hazel walked over to him and tried to give him a comforting hug, but Leo just shrugged it off.

"It's not you're fault," Jason said, putting a hand on the crying demigod's shoulder. "You can't blame yourself for that."

"But it is my fault!" Leo yelled, looking up at the Roman. "Everything is my fault! I fired on New Rome, I couldn't fix Festus, I…I practically killed Percy and Annabeth!" In a whisper, Leo muttured, "It's okay if you all hate me now; I would."

"Leo!" Piper exclaimed, having heard Leo's mumbled comment. She felt forced to use her charmspeaking skills in order to calm down her friend, or else he'd never stop feeling guilty. Leo's cries quieted, but his tears continued to run down his face.

"Listen to me: stop blaming yourself. You saved Hazel and Frank; you built the Argo II! You have done great things in your life, and you just need to realize them! You are no screw-up, you're our friend, and we wouldn't hate you even if you freed Gaea yourself!"

Leo looked into her kaleidascope eyes, trying to see if she meant it. "Really?" he sniffed. He hated looking weak in front of everyone, but everything he'd said was the truth, and if he hadn't shared it with anyone, he would've exploded with guilt.

"Really." Piper came in for a hug, which Leo didn't try to get out of. He instead accepted it and hugged Piper back. Soon, it turned into a giant group hug, and even Frank joined in, though obviously reluctant to do so.

"C'mon," Leo sniffed, looking around at all his friends. "Let's go rescue Percy and Annabeth before it's too late."

So, what'd you think? I went back and took a quick look at life back on the Argo II, and it turned into Leo's confession. I personally liked that bit; I think it'll pull the demigods closer as a 'family.' Also, if you were wondering, Annabeth didn't get sick by touching the Lake because her body didn't take in any water. Monsters drink it, bringing it into their body, and Percy's body had been absorbing it to heal him. It actually needs to get into the system to take affect. Touching it does nothing.

I have a quick question for all you readers: Would you like Percy and Annabeth to find the Doors of Death soon or have them fight more monsters in Tartarus? I have plans for when they reach the Doors, and I'm eager to write that part, but I don't want to rush the story along. Please leave your opinion in the comments!

Thank you to nicholsndimes08 for the Favorite, thanks to Hibye for the AWESOME review ;), and thank you to ElementalEvolution for the follow AND review! Don't worry, I'll continue to update as fast as I can! Also, thank you to Jamieandtj for following me!

See you all soon,

-8DemigodRunner8

(PS) Any Lazel shippers out there? I am one :) . I do understand that's a little weird to have them like each other, but I just love them together! My only problem is that I don't want Frank to be alone and would feel bad for him if he lost Hazel to Leo. Ugh, darn Uncle Rick's love triangles.