Chapter 20: A Great Fall

Hey, it's been a bit, sorry I have just been a bit distracted with a lot of things. My school starts on the 7th of August so updates may be a bit slower but I will still update as much as I can.

Percy's POV

I hate nymph niches now they suck. Black water that drains your life force 0/10 do not recommend.

We were close to where Nico was being kept from what the Nymphs told us.

Annabeth had gone on her quest and much to Piper's dislike she insisted she would go alone. After that Me, Jason, and Piper went to find Nico. That went bad immediately.

But luckily that was all over. We moved through a few hallways that were old. And I mean really old, like the original Rome old.

We exited into a large cavern filled with almost anything you could think of. There were animals, monsters weapons, and most importantly a ton of explosives.

Sadly I had to restrain myself from blowing something up with them. But the most important item in this room was the large ceramic vase that held Nico.

As cautiously as we could we snuck up to the vase I used my earth shaker powers and punched it shattering the vase. Nico fell and almost hit the ground before I caught him.

I picked Death Breath up and was about to walk away when a section of the ceiling started to lower revealing a platform and wouldn't you guess two giants standing on it.

Eph(Ephilates) was dressed in a purple suit, while Otis was dressed in a green suit (Sorry to those who like Ballerina Otis)

As they descended fireworks were going off behind them which shadowed their faces giving them a sinister look, which wasn't hard because they were eight feet tall.

I sat Nico down and Jason and I drew our weapons I took out my bow which I decided to name Nightshade, and Jason took out his gladius.

Deciding not to let the giants distract us I started firing arrows at them rapid fire. Safe to say the giants were not happy about this as their suits were torn to shreds and the arrows embedded themselves in the giants' skin.

"You cannot kill us, insolent demigod. You need a god and that is something you do not—" Otis was saying before he was interrupted by music. I recognized it as Celebration by Kool and The Gang.

Behind the Giants, a second platform lowered revealing none other than the wine dude, Lord Bacchus.

"I don't know Greenie (Otis) looks like we do have a god," I said over the music.

The whole room we were in started to shake I was confused about what was happening when all of a sudden we were in an arena. No, I realized we were in THE arena this was the Coliseum.

All around us it was being fixed, all the seats were furnished, fresh sand layered the ground, and a small pond stood in the middle of it all. I smiled this was going to be a fun fight.

Jason stood beside me I looked around worriedly for Nico before I noticed he and Piper were in the emperors box with Bacchus.

"Thanks for the help Bacchus"I muttered. Jason grunted in agreement.

I looked at him and words were not needed as we charged the giants I went for Eph while Jason went for Otis. They both summoned spears and armor over their suits.

They met our charge. They were both surprisingly fast and they had great strength weaker than Polybotes but stronger than a demigod for sure.

I traded blows with Eph for a while waiting for him to make a mistake thats when he overextended I smiled inwardly as I dashed in and drove Aestus into his gut. There was a flash above me as Bacchus struck the giant with his pinecone on a stick.

Fearing that he would reform soon I willed the water to take the dust that used to be Eph and start circulating it fast enough that it wouldn't reform into the giant.

I turned to Jason who was struggling a bit with Otis I rushed in to help him while Otis was focused on the son of Jupiter I slashed his heels making him collapse Jason then drove his gladius into Otis's heart, and once again Bacchus flashed above us but this time he waited.

For the first time, I noticed how many Lares were in the stands all cheering their heads off and some were still singing the song that Bacchus played earlier.

The god of Wine raised his fist and his his hand was sideways with his thumb jutting out. All the lares reacted immediately pointing their own thumbs down Bacchus did the same motion with his hand before driving his Pinecone spear into the giants head turning him to dust.

I decided to play nice witht the god of wine saying "Thank you for helping us kill those two my lord" (That last part hurt to say) as the coliseum started to return to its original state and the lares disappeared he responded "Yes it was fun to fight and have some good theatrics in this stadium again" before disappearing in a purple mist that smelled of Grapes.

Nico and Piper started to make their way down to us as the Argo two lowered itself onto the ground. Once he was close enough I gently embraced Nico in a hug with a smile on my face.

"Hey Death Breath how was the jar" I said. He scowled at the nickname me and Thalia had given him before saying "Yeah it was great, especially after being knocked unconscious within five minutes of being in Tartarus" (Nico didn't really experience Tartarus In this he was unconscious almost the whole time and woke up in the jar)

Once the ship landed he looked at all the crew and leaned in and whispered "Where's Annabeth?"

I whispered back "She is on a quest of her own to get the Mark of Athena, we are probably going to get her now." The son of Hades nodded and a small smile formed on his face upon hearing that he would see Annabeth soon.

We boarded the ship and Nico was immediately tackled into his hug by Hazel who was crying into his neck while Nico ever awkward in situations like this just rubbed her back soothingly.

After Hazel composed herself I filled Nico in on everything that had happened so far. He took it all in wordlessly and emotionlessly except when I told him about the part with Heracles, which made him crack a smile, and when I told him about my fight with Jason which made him cringe when I told him about how I cut the son of Jupiter's balls off.

"Ladies and Gentlemen if you look to our right you will see the parking lot that Coach Hedge is about to blow up… FIRE" Leo announced and a second later it was followed by a BOOM from Coach Hedge firing the Ballista.

Once the smoke and rubble cleared we saw Annabeth on the ground and a very large hole. Beside me Nico paled and said "That pit… it leads to Tartarus" I paled along with the rest of the crew.

We threw down a ladder and Nico was the first one down followed by me and Hazel. Annabeth seemed relieved to see all of us Nico helped her up and examined her foot which was in a makeshift cast.

I took out some Ambrosia and handed it to him and he then passed it onto her. Nico cut all the webs from her body when all of a sudden a piece of the wall behind Nico came loose because of a web pulling it down. Nico pushed Annabeth away so she didn't get hurt and took the full impact which sent him headed for the pit.

Without a second of hesitation dove for Nico and grabbed his wrist and securing a small piece the ledge to keep us from falling completely down.

Hazel and Annabeth were the only ones not trying to get the statue into the ship's pegasus stables. I was too far down for them to reach me so I looked at Nico and asked 'Do you think we can close them?"

He had a look of thought on his face before answering "Yes" I looked at Hazel and Annabeth and said "Get them to Epirus we will meet you there" before dropping into the pit.

Annabeth's POV

I just watched them fall as there was nothing else I could do. Hazel had tears streaming from her eyes and I realized I did too. Not just for Percy but Nico too which surprised me.

Something else that surprised me was Nico's willingness to help me. I had always thought that he might have had a crush on me but I was never sure.

Frank was the first to notice us just staring into the hole. He transformed into an eagle ( I was jealous he could do that) and landed beside us and asked "Where are Percy and Nico" When he noticed us crying and where we staring he paled asking "They didn't did they"

When we didn't answer he enveloped both me and Hazel into a comforting hug while he was shaking slightly himself.

Once the others finished loading the statue they also noticed us and the state we were in and had the same realization as Frank… They were in Tartarus.

Chapter 20 done. A few things I wont be going fully in depth of Nico asnd Percy's journey through the pit. Secondly Annabeth's quest was exactly the same as in the books. I hope you enjoyed this chapter.

Sincerely,

Toxin1316