Chapter 23:

Ruined Hell

A vast darkness blanketed the hellish landscape. Torn glass, bleeding trees and festering hills rose from the dry earth and bled into the horizon, where everything came together in a gruesome singularity of flesh and darkness.

The ominous skies above him were nothing but a fragile illusion. If he peered long enough at the red clouds that masqueraded the sky, he would not be able to unsee how the red sky was merely another layer of flesh, only decorated by odd stalactites that pierced from the red rock like long jagged teeth. He was walking down the maw of a monster.

A deep guttural noise arose from the depths of the horizon and rolled over the deserted landscape. A cold wind passed by Percy and he felt the skin on his body form a layer of ice on top of it.

Percy oftentimes had heard people describe hell as an endless sea of fire and torment. Maybe that would have been more merciful than the desolate emptiness ahead?

Fire gave meaning. Fire was life, disparity and warmth.

Here he felt none of that. There was only loneliness and the cold. And as far as he knew this went on forever.

His footsteps made loud gulping noises as his feet dragged through the black water. If it even was water. The liquid had infested his shoes and soaked his toes and threatened to drag him down to the bottom. Every step felt like he was sinking deeper into himself.

He felt so cold.

His feet kept moving forward. Treading towards a goal that was out of sight and out of mind, but he had to be going somewhere, right?

Not many thoughts ran through Percy's mind. The ones he had were all about keeping up the pace. Using whatever little heat his own body produced to warm itself, lest the ice would spread out on his body and cover him.

Percy couldn't feel his toes anymore. His feet only felt like one clump of flesh, barely stuck to his leg. He didn't feel himself moving. He felt...nothing.

He absolutely felt nothing.

His body stopped making the familiar sound of breathing.

The cold had faded away.

He looked through his glazed eyes, wondering whether this was the end?

Water slowly submerged his vision until there he felt it cover his entire body. He was sinking. Deeper.

This was it. The end.

The end of what?

How did he get here?

What was this place?

He was drifting away.

"Tartarus,"a voice suddenly answered. A voice that sounded so familiar, Percy felt something inside him light up.

There was the sound again. Something moved through the water.

A force roughly pulled him out of the water and the splashing sound crashed through his brain. Air filled his lungs. Blood suddenly rushed through his veins again. An almost electric-like jolt shot through his body.

"You are in Tartarus. Seaweed brain," said the voice. Percy tried to blink the water out of his eyes. Colors swam in his vision, starkly contrasting the pale world around him. He saw orange, yellow and a soothing gray manifest in front of him.

He tried to call her name but words failed him. However, she understood. He felt her slowly caress his stiff face. Something inside him began to heat up. He felt his weight decrease.

"You fell deep, but you have to do something, remember? Stop whoever is controlling the gods," Annabeth spoke softly. "You promised."

The Olympians. Percy's mind was flooded with the memories. The Iris Message—The betrayal. He had been sent flying to Ogygia. More images flashed in front of him.

The graves. Memento Mori. Hestia. Kampê. Whitefall. Apollo—

And then there was pain and the festering cold and the remaining question; why?

"Think about it, seaweed brain," she chided him. "The gods went to the depths of Tartarus to investigate something. After that they all declared war. What can we extrapolate from that?"

I am not as fast as you Percy wanted to say but his mouth refused. The vague colors and forms blend together to form the vague outline of Annabeth's face. "Something down in Tartarus changed the gods. Now someone is controlling the council from the shadows. Put the dots together with the seaweed brain." Her voice sounded harsher now. More insistent.

Around Percy the darkness that had kept to the horizon started to crawl into his little corner of hell.

"Remember our time down there. Someone is controlling the Gods."

Nyx.

Even though the darkness had snuffed out most of the light left in the world Percy could slowly see Annabeth's smile come to life.

"Go on Percy. Save me. Save everyone."

And the darkness submerged his vision.

Light exploded around Percy. Colors. Sounds. Smells. Everything came at him at once. He almost crumbled instantly.

"Easy there." Percy felt someone move his body. "Take it slow and breathe in."

Confused, but willing to listen, Percy followed the advice. He found himself seated upright, leaning against something.

"Annabeth," Percy muttered.

"-No." The voice said. It was a male voice Percy just realized. He forced his eyes to focus while the person in question slowly chugged water down his throat.

Haphazardly his eyes moved. He noticed he was on top of a ruined apartment complex. A small kind of camp was set up.

He then realized that another face was uncomfortably close to his own. His vision sharpened and he saw dark brown eyes move over him. The boy's pale face was so oddly familiar.

"N-nico?" said Percy.

The young boy in question stepped away from Percy and spread out his arm. "I am here."

Perplexed, Percy looked at him, expecting him to vanish like another cruel joke.

But he didn't. The hesitant smile on Nico's face was almost surreal. His entire presence was unreal.

"I have finally found you, Percy." Nico repeated, his voice slightly more weary than before.

Long black strands of hair fell over his face. He wore a black jacket and tattered jeans and sneakers in a similar state as the rest of him. Disheveled and utterly uncaring about the style.

Percy slowly got up. His body felt stiff. As if his joints had locked up from the cold. Yet he persisted.

"Everyone thought you had died," Nico said, his voice again, lower than before, barely a whisper even. "But I didn't." his voice was strained. "I kept believing. I told them you were still somewhere. Alive. Then came the call from Whitefall and I…well, we headed your way."

Percy slowly nodded as he found his footing.

"We came just in time, Kh-" Nico stopped to consider his words. "My partner chased away Apollo. Your wounds are all healed up and—"

Percy suddenly embraced the young Demigod.

A tear fell down on Nico's jacket. More followed.

A bitter cry echoed through the empty city.

More followed.

A/N Nico is still alive. Dead irony in there somewhere.

Good job Chill Panda for guessing it was him. Capital9810 thanks for the compliment and good to see you back Alice Fairchild.

More fluff is on the way.

Bye.

-CaptainMoonShine-