(A/N: So now, what you've all been waiting for: Percy and Annabeth in Tartarus! Sorry, if it's a little short compared to the last chapter, but I was having writer's block. Thanks to EmMarie96 for reviewing! Hope you enjoy! Please R&R!)

PERCY (VII)

Percy hugged Annabeth to his chest as they fell through the darkness. He felt his consciousness start to ebb away, so he pulled his girlfriend into a tighter embrace. He did not want to let her go. He had promised they would stay together.

He felt Annabeth grab his shirt. He almost felt offended. Didn't she trust him to hold onto her? He forced himself to calm down. She was probably just as scared and worried as he was.

Down below, Percy could just barely make out a ledge in the creepy darkness, and he and Annabeth were headed right towards it. He twisted in midair so that his back was facing the rock and braced himself. When Percy's back hit the ledge, the wind was knocked out him, pain shot through him like a million volts of electricity, and he passed out cold.

The sweet taste of ambrosia roused Percy from unconsciousness. "Annabeth?" he asked, his head pounding. He opened his eyes to a fuzzy image of the blonde-haired girl leaning over him, feeding him the food of the gods. Once his vision cleared, he tried to sit up. He yelled out in pain as he tried to put pressure on his left wrist.

"Careful," Annabeth muttered, helping him sit up so he didn't feel any more pain. Unfortunately, it didn't work out like that. Percy gritted his teeth so he wouldn't cry out from the pain in his shoulder and wrist. "You hit kind of hard." Percy gazed at Annabeth. The worry on her face was pretty prominent. He couldn't blame her, though. He was clammy from the ambrosia healing his body and his face was probably as white as Nico's, which is to say, death.

Instead of dwelling on what he looked like, he reached out with his right hand, and grabbed hers. "Hey," he said calmly. Annabeth reluctantly turned her intense gray eyes to Percy's sea green ones. He gave her a small, hopeful smile. "We'll make it to the Doors of Death and we'll shut them, okay? We'll meet the others there and we'll defeat Gaea. I promise." Percy instantly felt guilty. How could he possibly promise that they would save the world?

Annabeth nodded, but sighed, like she really didn't believe him. "I guess you're right." She broke a square of ambrosia in half and handed the other half to him. Half-heartedly she sat down next him, her ankle still in her makeshift, bubble wrap splint, and started nibbling on the brownie-like food.

Percy silently followed her example and the pain from both his wrist and his shoulder slowly faded.

When Percy was finished, he realized for the first time that there was no water anywhere to be found. This posed a big problem since they wouldn't have any clean water to drink, and Percy's mouth felt as dry as sand. He was pretty sure Annabeth felt the same way, even if she wasn't showing it.

"Annabeth?"

She was silent for a moment before answering, "Yeah?"

"What do you think they're doing right now?" Percy looked down. He wanted desperately to believe that they could make it to the Doors of Death at the same time, but Percy had an ominous feeling that something had gone wrong for the others. That's when Percy realized he had no idea how much time had actually passed.

"You mean Nico and the others?" Percy nodded in the shadows, hoping that Annabeth could see. It was pretty dark. "Well, I'd imagine that Nico is leading them to Epirus, like you told him to."

Percy opened his mouth to speak, but before he could, he heard something he didn't expect to. He tensed and nudged Annabeth. Her head shot up, trying to listen to the faint sound.

"What…what is that?" Annabeth asked. Percy guessed she was agitated about not knowing anything about what was in Tartarus. He would've laughed if the situation hadn't been so serious. Annabeth not knowing something = bad things happening.

Percy shook his head when the sound started up again. It sounded so…inhuman. Almost like a child, but it seemed so ancient and evil, Percy couldn't believe it was human. Percy shuddered at the thought of being in Tartarus for eternity and suffering eternal punishment. It could have been mortal long before, but sent to Tartarus for some horrible reason and left to rot…. Percy paled.

Annabeth noticed. "Percy? What's wrong?" She grabbed for her dagger before realizing that she didn't have it anymore. It was somewhere in the bottomless pit they were trapped in. The wailing started up again, but this time, it sounded closer. Percy pulled Annabeth closer. He needed to stay brave for her sake. He heard another sound, a low growl that sent shivers up his spine. He had heard it before, in fact, he had one as a pet.

"Percy," Annabeth warned. Percy stood up, helping Annabeth to her feet as well. He could almost see the gears turning in her head. Her stormy gray eyes were darting around, calculating who knows what. She seemed to know what was going on, at least more than Percy, because then she said, "Percy, uncap Riptide."

He tried to protest but she gave him one of her signature do-what-I-say-Percy-or-I-swear-if-we-make-it-out-of-this-alive-then-I-will-kill-you looks. He brought Riptide out and uncapped it. The celestial bronze glowed eerily in the inky blackness that surrounded them. The sight of his sword gave him a tiny spark of heart. Maybe there could be light in the middle of despair. So maybe they could finish their quest and lull Gaea back to sleep. Maybe they could save the world and continue their lives at CampHalf-Blood.

Percy had a pang of homesickness. He wanted to see his mom and Chiron and the Stoll brothers, and yes, he would even like to see Clarisse. Then he felt mad. He got mad at Hera and the gods and the giants and Gaea. He wanted to be back in Cabin Three with Tyson and he wanted his life to go back to normal. Well, as normal as it got for him. He didn't want to be in Tartarus with everything evil. He shuddered involuntarily as he realized that all of his enemies (The Minotaur to name one) were in the bottomless pit. He was in their home territory now.

"Percy!" Annabeth brought him back to the present. "Hey, we've got company," pointing to the origin of the growl. Suddenly, the stench hit him. The smell of rotten meat was filling his nose, making him want to gag. Percy knew exactly what he was about to face.

He gripped Riptide tighter. He couldn't believe it. It was like thinking about it brought it there. From the shadows, appeared Percy's first monster, the Minotaur.

I hope to at least get five reviews for this chapter. I think I might redo it, though. Please tell me what you think!