A/N: Thanks for your lovely reviews! I'm so glad that quite lots of people have taken interest in my story. I guess I really can't ditch it anytime, can I?

Special thanks to pepper34, GinaRogers, Chaotic Forces and jhett599 for following and favoring my story. I'll try my best to not disappoint you, but of course, no guarantee. :D

Guest 1: Thanks for your comment.

Jacksaw12: Glad that you like that idea. Percy's selfless; he'll do things like that to keep people safe. And yeah, Hestia's kindness really is admirable. And you don't need to be really well-prepared. Things will be fine. :D

Olympus97: Your excitement really motivates me! And is he joining Gaea or not you'll have to find out.

AN (Guest): God, you're so evil! As I recall, dear friend, you volunteered to drag yourself into this. Besides, I must remind you with all my respect that it's my story and I have the right to delete it if I feel like it! And I'm sorry to say that your threatening me doesn't really work. Almost everyone around me wants to finish me off and they never do. Besides, like our Percy said: "I'll die, sooner or later." I won't feel too bad if death looks for me early! Anyway, don't need to be so murderous for the next chapter because here it is!

This chapter is for Elliott, my sweet reckless adoptive brother.

Chapter 3: Mortal spot

Percy's Point of View:

Mrs. O'Leary shadow-travelled me to where Nico was. I described the jar to her and she just ran into the shadow with me on her back. Since I had my memories wiped out, I had completely forgotten what it was like to run into the dark but strangely, when I got that feeling again, I was totally cool with it. I had changed. Roman Camp really did shape me into a mindless fighting machine and I wasn't so proud about that. But it also had its undeniable good side so I wouldn't complain too much about it.

"Twins snuff out the angel's breath."

Line number 3 of the Prophecy rang in my mind as my eyes glued on the thing that Nico di Angelo was in. Immediately, the urge I had of strangling the kid for not informing me that he knew me during my amnesic was gone when I realized the real meaning behind the line. The twins here were two twin giants, Ephialtes and Otis. My mind had difficulty in trying to process the angel's breath detail. Sure thing did I recognized that it was Nico they prophecy was talking about, but angel? Obviously, Nico di Angelo was young… Wait a second… Maybe that stupid word, angel did relate to the son of Hades. My jaw dropped open then I quickly grasped the idea which just sparked in my poor brain. Angelo. It was Italian and it meant angel in English.

Nobody messed up with my cousin and got away with it, I felt the same force of energy forming inside me again, just like when the Minotaur captured my mother when I was twelve. This time, I would use my anger wisely. The power that emotion provided me was beyond all the trainings could ever get me. Only if I could unleash it at the right moment and things would be just fine. My hand reached for Riptide. This might be one of the last fights before I returned it to my dad's domain. The jar looked stuffy and surly, Nico could be suffocated anytime soon. I eyed the whole "jail" and closed my eyes. I was ready.

10 DAYS LATER (A/N: Sorry guys, I couldn't describe the battle since I hadn't read Mark of Athena. I just simply wanted to get Nico out before Percy executed his plan since the kid would play quite an important part later.)

Everything was done. I meant done here really meant done. The next thing I knew? Jeez, please tell me your nerves are strong enough or I wouldn't dare revealing the truth. Will you readers be okay? I guess you will since you might be not okay even more if you didn't know. Maybe I'd skip the tragic part. Good news or bad news first? Maybe they were all the same? Okay, let's just get through this thing.

Nico had got out of the hell hole with Mrs. O'Leary.

The giants were exterminated, thanks to my stable emotion.

I was in Tartarus, thanks to a titan that I didn't bother to remember the damn name.

So which of them do you like best, the victory part or the lame excuse for having lack of caution and ending up in the worst place on Earth? The main thing was I was being chased by a bunch of monsters and almost all of them knew my identity. It wasn't odd since I was the one who sent most of them to this place. I didn't regret that and I'd be glad doing it all over again and again to the rest of my life. The only issue I was having that every time I slain a monster it just ended up being here again since it was the place where monsters went after they were destroyed. The ambrosia I brought wasn't enough if I didn't find the way out. Now the Minotaur was charging me. I gave it glares that I didn't know I could. The Minotaur had history with me twice, first time when I first went to camp and the second one during the First Prophecy. It was understandable that it was pissed off. It was hard for me to kill it quickly since I didn't have the curse of Achilles anymore. But I knew one thing, even in my weakest state, I wouldn't let this piece of beef of a burger had the satisfaction of beating me.

Unknown's Point of View:

A demigod. A powerful one. No believable reasons for having punishments in this place. I was certain. I just knew. He survived well enough but it wouldn't last long. Should I step in? He was close to his limit. Panting like a dying person, he still fought without fear. No hesitation. No doubts. Just slash, dodge, jump, kill. He was a hybrid, like me. But I was worse. To him, I was a kind of monster myself. He was the one who pissed my creator off a few months ago. I enjoyed seeing the bastard being defeated. The Fates weren't fond of him. They didn't spare any creatures. They certainly saved him a special destiny. Ironically, they had no control over me.

The Drakon's smell. Nasty. He wasn't Ares' creation. No chance. Should I help? Why should I? Maybe I just felt like exterminating beasts. I'd done being useless.

I jumped in. My life changed.

Percy's Point of View:

A figure joined me in the battle. I wasn't sure whether that person wanted to help me or not but that obvious wasn't a monster. The figure had slender torso. Her face was hidden by the black hood of her long black cloak. Based on the long unbelievably bronze-chocolate brown hair, I figured it out that was a "she". I was glad I had a helping hand even it might end up her wanting me dead. The Drakon was having an urge of tearing me into pieces. The girl's moves were skillful, flexible, impossibly strong and tricky. Maybe she was a demi-god. Nonsense, no demi-gods deserved to be in this hell. My lungs were screaming me to give up and just die. Every muscle was burning under my skin, begging me to quit. My back was face-to-face with my new fighting-companion. Monsters surrounded us but the strange thing was they seemed to fear her. Maybe she fought them for a long time and she never gave up. If a little girl didn't give up, why would I? I clenched my teeth tight and composed my tiny amount of energy I had left. Who knows how much longer I could stand this unending battle?

"Focus, hero." – She spoke loud enough for me to hear, clear as crystal, softy as silk.

I wasn't sure if it was a command or not but I knew I needed to listen to her.

"Well, I'm focusing on not getting myself killed. What do you want me to focus on, exactly?"

"Not getting yourself distracted." – came the short reply.

"By…?" – I raised my eyebrow while dodging some serious attacks along with sending weak blows towards some monsters.

"The desire of giving in."

Was she a mind-reader or something? How did she know I wanted to give up? Neither of us was son nor daughter of Ares so defeating the Drakon seemed to be impossible. Then I saw a sight that gave me small relief that I wasn't the only insane person on this planet. The girl dived when the Drakon bore its ugly teeth out towards her, then she jumped on the Drakon's head after it missed its target. She ran among its long neck without losing balance and hold onto its wing. The girl shouted:

"Hold my hand."

I was too tired to ask for the reason. But I didn't need to.

"You have to get out of here."

"You're coming with me!" – I shouted back without thinking.

"We'll see."

I ran through the crowd of monsters using my sword to block anything from hurting me. I didn't really understand what her plan was; hopefully it wasn't as crazy as mine. But things were never like we expected. Her strategy was even madder mine which I couldn't decide whether it was good or bad. It was obvious that she didn't know where the Doors of Death was so she would bring us out by the way we went down. Or at least I went down. I wasn't sure about how she got here at first place.

Reaching for her small but impossibly strong hand, I gripped it with a little hesitation. Could she bear my weight? But I didn't have to worry about it. When my fingers met her palm, she caught my whole arm and pulled me up to the Drakon's back without even trying. What was this girl? Then she did something that I swore no demi-gods would have guts to do.

"Go, little Drakon!"

Did she just call it "little"? The monster didn't show any sign of wanting us to get off its back which was good and weird but it didn't seem to understand her command either.

"Sit. Try not to fall." – She headed to the Drakon's head.

It was the most terrifying scene I'd ever seen. When the Drakon felt her footsteps on it again, its claws reached for her wildly and the girl didn't even flinch. She made her way quickly to the opposite spot on its long mouth and looked into its eyes. Was she trying to suicide or something?

"Don't do that, it'll paralyze you!"

She didn't listen to my words. I was pretty sure she heard me. My vision blurred so I wasn't able to see the whole thing clearly but one thing I was deadly sure: The girl looked straight into the Drakon's orbs. Then she spoke really slowly and gently like soothing a child:

"Fly. Us. Out. Of. Here."

After that she darted back to the spot behind me to keep me sitting steadily. I felt ashamed for causing her troubles and holding us back but I couldn't help it. The Drakon seemed to get some ideas of her order but it was considering about it slowly. Even my ears weren't working well, I couldn't miss the sigh coming from her.

"Borrow your sword."

"Wait, what?" – I turned around to see her as she reached for Riptide without waiting for my respond.

"It needs a push." – Another short answer.

"What needs a push?" – I asked dumbly, sometimes I got frustrated because of my own stupidity.

The good thing was my new fighting comrade never left a question unanswered, but she had a weird way responding them all. Some answers were pretty spooky and I'd wished that she just didn't reply. I heard metal sawn off the hard scales of the Drakon and a roar tore off the air. Its wings started flapping slowly and lifted two of us up in the air. That girl actually hit the Drakon with Riptide like she was giddy-up a horse! Flying speed increased and I began having stars in my blurred vision. Wind and smoke wasn't a perfect combination because the smell was driving me sick with its stuffiness. My nerves suddenly were shocked by a small impact and I figured that she just kicked my back.

"Stay conscious."

"Stop being so bossy, kid!" – I groaned in depression, not sure it was because I was tired of being wounded or because of her being bossy.

"For your own good." – Why did she have to answer so shortly like that?

"How can the Drakon fly us out of here?" – I changed the subject with a good question.

"By its wings." – Was that a clear-as-crystal obvious?

"With this speed, it'll take weeks to the Underworld." – I stated tiredly while looking at the dark tunnel.

"It won't."

Then a chill ran down my spine. My internal organs seemed to be frozen. A familiar feeling rose. I felt this when Kronos slowed the time down in the battle on Andromeda ship. The sensation was stealing my consciousness even I tried to hold on to it. Knowing this, I turned my head to look at the figure behind my back.

"I think I'll take a small nap."

"Not now." – Came that short respond again and also a promotion. She punched me in the cheek that made me yelp.

"Hey, what was that for?" – But this time, there was no answer.

3 HOURS LATER

"Watch out." – Her calm voice entered my eardrum when the Drakon crashed to the surface of something.

Some souls of dead were surrounding us with angry expressions. I was too tired to feel scared or anything else. We both raised our weapon and she solved the problem quickly. But as she wiped out the ghosts, more and more of them came and we were outnumbered. So it came to second solution that we had to run before it was too late. My legs felt like they were made of marshmallows and soreness consumed my body but still, my mind screamed at my legs to run fast. It was a shame that I, a boy, let a girl fought for me. The kid, I decided to call her, was right behind me, blocking all the attacks from the angry ghosts. They were apparently trying to drag us back to Tartarus. No destinations were formed in my poor brain and the kid didn't bother asking either. We just ran, without any plans. Such a dramatic situation it was.

"Kid, can you spot any drops of water around here?"

She lowered her pace a little but still fast enough to catch up with me. After a few seconds running like mad, she reached for my hand again and started leading the way. The guards of the Underworld joined the fun, too. It seemed like creatures in Hades' palace loved playing tig/tag though there was a certain difference: the loser would not just simply lose the game but also their lives as well. Then I started to recognize she was leading us to. My eyes were hit by a familiar place, with statues of old warriors from the past and a big long black river flowing. The River of Styx was in our sight.

"I didn't mean this kind of water!" – I tried to drag her away from the river but it was too late. We were completely surrounded.

"Then what kind of water?"

I gave her a quick stunned glance, she didn't seem to be the kind of person who was slow like me, but it was clear that she didn't know what the River of Styx was. It was weird that she didn't know about it but she was able to bring us here.

"It's real water, I sense it. What's wrong?"

Having no energy to explain the whole situation, I, along with her turned to combat-fighting mode instead of playing tig/tag like few minutes ago.

"If we fall down, we might die."

"Might. Not will." – She repeated the modal verb of my statement. I had a bad feeling about this.

Being distracted by her respond, a ghost with its spear stabbed through my thigh. I hissed through my teeth painfully and automatically wrapped my hand around the wound to stop the bleeding which was a huge mistake. Seeing their chances, the ghosts attacked with full force at once and we were barely able to stand. The kid's strange sword slashed through the crowd but it was futile. She lost her balance when a ghost held her foot from the ground making her growl murderously. My mind went blank; the agony from everything was too much. With that, I jumped into the river of acid without thoughts.

Do any of you have enough time to make a list of how many times I escaped death since I knew I was a demi-god? Probably not. If you do, use that amount of time for other useful activities, like enjoy your peaceful as long as it lasts. This is an advice which comes from my heart. Anyway, as I prepared my body for the water to burn my skin into ash, I felt nothing. Maybe because I was in too much pain that I couldn't feel anything anymore. The water didn't hurt like last time, and I didn't anything at all. Was I already dead? No way, I didn't allow myself to. Looking through the darkness, I saw her. The hood had left her head after the fall, revealing her face. The most special and soul-sucking part was her eyes. They were blue, but not electric blue like Zeus and his children's. The color was much more beautiful than that kind of blue, it was indescribable. Deep, pure blue, sparkle through darkness, glowing with power but unmistakable gentle and completely emotionless. There was nothing in the depth of those charming orbs. I snapped out of my train of thoughts as I remembered where the hell we were.

"Get out!" – I tried to send her the mute message.

I focused on her face. She didn't know what to do, just flowing among the water. I swam after her and caught her with a big effort. We reached the bank and that was when darkness swallowed me.

A/N: So how was it? Give me some comments about it and we'll see if I'm going anywhere with this story. Just want to know if you're still interested in it. Thanks for spending time reading my story! Just leave a comment, okay?