Chapter 2

Percy's limbs hurt; a fierce, burning pain that meshed well with the terrible taste of blood in his mouth. But his throat felt so dry that he couldn't swallow it away, that too feeling like fire.

It reminded him distinctly of when the telkhines threw fire over him in the volcano when he and Annabeth had that quest in the Labyrinth. His limbs burned similarly now to then, feeling like a fire was growing down his arms and threatening to engulf every inch of him.

Percy knew, realistically, that he wasn't on fire. It was just the ache of dozens of gashes on his body that throbbed in unison with each movement, each stumbling step that he took in Bob's wake. The Titan speared a hellhound through the back of the head, catching it in mid-air and slamming it into the ground as it leapt at Percy from the side. The monster didn't have time to let out a single startled sound before it dissolved.

"Where did the Doors go?" Percy repeated to Bob. The Titan shushed him when a loud bellow tore across the plain, a large hand closing around Percy's arm and dragging him behind a purple-fleshed rock. Percy stumbled against it and sharply recoiled at feeling the fleshy membrane, revulsion making him shudder. Bob stopped him from throwing himself straight out into the open with a heavy frown, dragging him back down.

"Gone," Bob said once Percy calmed somewhat, his voice low and soothing. It still didn't stop Percy from clenching his hand around Riptide, his heartbeat roaring in his ears, pain bursting along the cuts and gashes. Blood rolled off Percy's fingers, making the hilt of Riptide slick and dripping onto the ground. Percy grimaced and wiped at his arm, flinching slightly as it caused more fresh blood to well from the gashes and smeared it over his arm amidst the monster dust. Percy quickly gave up at trying to wipe it all off.

"Yeah, you've said that already," Percy said, voice tinged with both pain and impatience as he tried to poke his head out around the rock and see what had caused Bob to hide them both. "Gone where?" A cyclopes bellowed as it ran at them, smashing aside a fleeing hellhound that ran across its path as Percy heard another loud crash from elsewhere that made the ground rumble. Bob flicked his spear towards the cyclopes as soon as it got close enough, piercing it through the belly before jerking his spear back out. Percy spluttered as monster remains drifted over him, spitting sulphuric dust out of his mouth.

"Twelve minutes gone," Bob said to Percy with a large shrug of his shoulders where he crouched as he hauled him back behind the rock again; Percy caught a glimpse of the rocky form that Tartarus had taken before he ducked back down, the large head of the figure disappearing amongst the blood-mist overhead. "Annabeth is at the surface. The Doors moved." The demigod stared back behind them at where the Doors had been, watching the large cat that was Small Bob bound along after them, mouth soaked with monster blood and dust. "Now, we must go," Bob said as Small Bob paused to lick at some of the blood and golden specks in his fur in a futile attempt at cleaning himself.

The son of Poseidon followed after Bob, hesitating briefly as he stared out across the deep valley, his eyes landing on the figures of Damasen and Tartarus still fighting each other. Of the drakon that Damasen had ridden into battle, there was no sign. His expression twisted. "We need to help-"

"No," Bob said, not even looking back at Percy as he kept moving. "We go. He cannot be beaten."

Percy swallowed, his limbs cold. He shivered slightly, scurrying along at Bob's feet as the Titan's presence cleared a path through the mass of monsters, lest the monsters be trodden on. Hellhounds snarled and bared glistening fangs at Percy as they slunk away, Small Bob hissing back at them. Percy was grateful for the cat's presence… and for Bob's too, of course. He kept looking behind them as the plateau where the Doors had been locked into the ground grew further and further away, half expecting them to reappear in the same place. He'd make a run for them and hope that Bob could hold the button – but Percy couldn't do that, he quickly decided. Damasen was fighting Tartarus to give Bob and Percy time to get away from the Doors and out of the death trap that was the valley. Percy couldn't just let him do that and it all be for nothing.

Percy looked across the mass of monsters spread out around them, held at bay only by Bob's presence – amnesiac as he was, the monsters were clearly still aware that he was a Titan, and liable to slaughtering them all – and the blood red mist hanging distended above them. A cold chill crept into Percy's gut, feeling sick as he realised that it was over.

The Doors were no longer held open, but Percy was stuck in Tartarus with only Bob and Small Bob for company. The rest of the Argo II would have to go on without him to stop the Giants and Gaea.

Would Percy ever see the bright blue sky overhead again, or would he be stuck in eternal darkness for the rest of his life? As short as that life was now likely to be since he was stuck in the realm of monsters.

Percy squeezed his eyes shut, feeling terror rear its head in his stomach, threatening to throw up drakon jerky and fire water all over the ground. Percy worried that Tartarus would somehow feel it and take offence at the demigod's action – but maybe that would be a good thing, at least then the monsters wouldn't get to him. His limbs stung, blood trickling out of dozens of cuts and gashes.

The demigod stumbled along in Bob's wake, struggling to keep up. There were bellows and snarls from around him from all the monsters kept at bay by Bob, Percy uneasy and trying to keep an eye on as many monsters as he could even while he staggered after Bob. The weight of the Pit seemed to be weighing down on him. Nothing like when Tartarus had first appeared and it was clear that Damasen still held Tartarus' attention, but it was enough that each step seemed to take more effort than it should. The Primordial's mere presence was enough that it made Percy want to find a rock to crawl under, but he gritted his teeth and forced himself to take another step forwards. At least Bob's brilliant silver hair and spear point seemed to glow in the darkened Pit, points which Percy made sure to keep an eye on as he staggered forward.

A hiss from the side was the only warning he received before a dracaenae was stabbing a spear at him. His reaction was slower – he was tired and worn, the heaviness of failure on his shoulders and a bitter taste to his mouth – but Percy still managed to bat away the dracaenae's spear and step forwards to cut it in half. A roar alerted Percy to the cyclopes bearing down on him from the side, emboldened by the dracaenae's attempt. An orange blur swept in from the side and savaged the cyclopes' chest, Small Bob hissing and growling at the monster. The mass of monsters reeled back in panic as Bob's swear swept out at them, turning a dozen to dust at once. Dozens trampled each other in their frantic efforts at getting away from the enraged Titan. Percy tried not to let himself collapse in his relief, his heart roaring in his ears. He had to stay on his feet.

Percy's own blood dripped off his fingers which were clenched around Riptide. His chest felt tight and his vision wavered slightly.

Bob cast a critical eye over the monsters with a fierce and disapproving scowl, causing many more to back off lest he skewer them too.

The sounds of Tartarus and Damasen fighting still echoed around the valley, great thuds like claps of thunder which rolled through the ground. Percy hesitated briefly as he glanced back. Small Bob – still Large Bob – brushed past Percy, fur scratching past Percy's waist as he padded along in Bob's footsteps. The ground around them was dotted with debris and craters, dislodged from eons of confrontations which had likely occurred between the inhabitants of the Pit. Immortals older than Percy could imagine likely lurked in the darkened corners of this alien world. Percy noted that some of the new craters were slowly filling with a viscous, gold-flecked ooze that threw thick smoke into the red-blood-mist hanging over their heads. One of the hellhounds squabbling with a cyclopes near the rim of a crater stumbled and slid into the liquid, panicked yelps twisting into pained howls. Percy winced as he watched the monster dissolve and a layer of monster dust spread across the surface of the liquid in the crater.

Percy scrambled forwards, Riptide a heavy weight in his hand as he struggled to keep up with Bob. The Titan moved with an ease that made it obvious the air wasn't sticking in his lungs like glass. Immortals were built to withstand the poisonous air of the Pit, but mortals weren't. If the monsters didn't get Percy, then the poisonous air would do him in before he could get out. The thought made his chest ache, worrying about Annabeth and his family on the surface – he wouldn't be able to see his mother again, or to say goodbye to her.

Small Bob leapt onto a large boulder, claws digging into the thin, flesh-like membrane that covered everything to help haul him up like large grappling hooks. The large cat purred and licked at the bottom of his padded paws, attempting to get clumped monster dust out from between them. Percy was gasping and shuddering as they finally reached the end of the valley, Bob leaving a path of gold dust in their wake as he slaughtered any of the monsters which tried to kill the demigod staggering along behind him. Percy turned and looked behind them, casting his gaze back to the destruction within the valley. The sounds of fighting between Tartarus and Damasen had died off now, leaving only the endless wails of monsters echoing around them.

Percy's lungs burned with each breath.

Small Bob bounded past Percy again as Percy eyed the cratered ground uneasily, taking note of those pools forming where the craters were new and raw. Most of the monsters had already left the valley, leaving it eerily empty where before they'd been crowded in like sardines, unable to twitch without bumping into another monster.

Percy glanced back to Bob, who'd been marching forward in silence. "Bob?" Percy asked, voice hoarse and tinged with pain from the burning in his lungs.

"Yes, friend?" Bob questioned as he looked back to Percy.

"We do we do now?" Percy whispered.

Bob blinked at him. His silver eyes didn't seem as clouded as they had been for most of their time down in the Pit so far, while Annabeth was still there. Percy worried that their meeting with Bob's – Iapetus' – brothers, Hyperion, Krios and Koios might have shaken memories loose that he didn't want to have to deal with on top of everything else. If Bob decided to turn on him then Percy wouldn't have a chance. He recalled how terrifying that duel with Iapetus by the Lethe had been before and didn't want to have to repeat it in a place where he was dying from the very air he was breathing anyway.

"Find shelter," Bob finally said as he turned his head away.

Percy eyed him uneasily before he continued stumbling after him. His vision swam, each little breath piercing at his lungs. Small Bob purred and licked some of the blood smeared along Percy's arm, making Percy flinch and jerk away from him slightly. The cat just blinked back at him before prowling off around another large rock they passed. Percy made sure to keep an eye on the cat as it pranced back to Bob's side.

"Where?" Percy asked as he stumbled along, throat and lungs throbbing like he'd swallowed nails.

Bob hummed. "Caves in the rocks," he said to Percy as he swept his silver gaze over the area around them. The valley still stretched out behind them and to their left there was a protrusion from the ground, an extension of the cliff-face back within the valley that Bob was heading towards. The ground was layered with golden dust back in the valley, some clumps piled high and others spread across the ground. Percy didn't know how many monsters had been killed in the chaos. He found he didn't really care either.

Percy hesitated briefly, uneasy with finding shelter within the pits and hollows of Tartarus, but Bob seemed sure of himself and Percy's limbs felt as if he had been holding the sky again. Percy was in no position to protest; he just wanted to be able to close his eyes and rest for a while.

The demigod followed with sharp relief when Bob found an overhang, the shelter beneath somewhat set back a dozen feet and semi-enclosed. It wasn't a large space by any means, but Percy stumbled into it with gratitude. He winced as he lowered himself down in the shelter, his limbs aching and throbbing. Little rivulets of blood trickled to the floor. Percy let out a slow breath as he rested his head back against the membrane wall behind him, pulling a face of disgust as he felt it touching the back of his head. Riptide he rested across his lap, relieved to unclench his fingers from around the hilt and flex them.

Percy blinked up at Bob, the Titan glowing against the darkness of the Pit. Two piercing silver eyes bore into Percy, and Percy's mouth ran dry. But then the moment passed – Bob blinked – and the amnesiac Titan beamed brightly.

"Shelter," Bob said happily. "Not safe – but shelter."

"That's-" Percy choked on his words, coughing and spluttering. His breath rattled in his lungs. The air in Tartarus, Percy thought. He wiped his hand against his mouth, blinking blearily as it came away with smeared monster dust and blood.

"Friend Percy?" Bob questioned, his voice distant. There was an edge of concern, something that relieved Percy as his vision darkened and his head lolled to the side.

If Bob was concerned for Percy's wellbeing, then maybe Percy could count on him to keep him safe.

At least Bob might want to heal Percy if he was worried about him. Percy's vision faded before he could even try to speak to the Titan to ask.

I'll probably be posting a 3rd chapter for this just before the 22nd (21st maybe?), and then it'll be straight into the main story.

Reviews:

Guest: thanks! I'm excited too XD

ThePrincessAndromeda: thank you! It's been a long time since I did anything with CbT but I'm hoping I do them all justice (or at least more than last time)!