Percy gave Zoe a weird look as she patiently waited for him.

"This is what I mean," he wondered aloud, "Why are you being so… weird?"

Zoe cocked her head to the side. "Weird?" She repeated, confused, "I do not think my actions could be defined in such a manner."

Percy shook his head. "No, you've definitely been acting strange," he insisted, "Like with the whole touching me thing! Isn't that forbidden by Artemis or something? And when we were running along the Phlegethon earlier, how do you have less endurance than me? Haven't you been doing this sort of thing for like two thousand years?"

She gave him a sad look, in the same way Chiron had looked at him when he'd begun inquiring about the Underworld after his mother was abducted by Hades all those years ago. "Percy," she said softly, "I am no longer a Hunter of Artemis. Her blessing no longer affects me."

Now that was news to him.

"What?" He whispered, eyes wide with surprise.

Zoe nodded silently. "My oaths to Lady Artemis lasted until I either broke them or fell in battle. As thou knows," she reminded grimly, "My life ended at the hands of Atlas, and I suppose being put in the stars was Lady Artemis's final act towards me as her Hunter. The moment she chose Thalia as my successor, any connection I had to her faded."

Damn. Percy couldn't imagine living for two thousand years, much less serving a goddess for that long, only to have to watch as that bond was broken. "I'm sorry."

"Why art thou apologizing?" Zoe asked, "It is not through the fault of thee that I have found myself in this predicament."

Percy didn't respond. He had a suspicious feeling she wouldn't take too kindly to him blaming himself for her death again - she had probably seen him agonize over it herself, watching him as he sat quietly on Camp Half-Blood's dock after one of his countless sleepless nights.

So instead he simply accepted her hand, and they began the trek back up the river Phlegethon.

Zoe didn't seem to have a problem with his lack of an answer, humming contently as though they were on a simple stroll through Central Park and not Tartarus. He was a lot more tense - even though she may not have been a Hunter of Artemis anymore, there was no way she still didn't have those manhating tendencies that were (rightfully) ingrained in her since the time of Heracles.

"I have been meaning to ask," she said after a while, glancing up to meet his sea-green eyes with her own brown pair, "How is the daughter of Athena - Annabeth, if I recall? Thou has hardly mentioned her in thy explanation of the quest ye are currently embarked upon, yet during thy previous battles, she was always by thy side?"

Zoe regretted the words as soon as they came out of her mouth.

Percy's expression darkened immediately. "She's fine," he said tersely, "I'm sure she and the rest of the Seven are doing what needs to be done."

The Phlegethon's waters began to toss and turn in tune with Percy's shift in emotions, and Zoe winced. Something had clearly happened between the two, but she couldn't figure out what.

"Apologies," she murmured, eyes fixated on her feet, "I did not mean to drag up unwanted memories."

Percy sighed, raking a hand through his ratty hair as he contemplated what he was supposed to say. Should he apologize back? He felt like his emotions were getting the better of him more than usual down here, though that might have just been the fact that he'd been in a fight for his life since the moment he landed in this hellish place.

"It's not your fault," he said after what must have been an eternity for Zoe, "You didn't know."

Zoe simply nodded, unwilling to press the issue despite the fact that she didn't understand the true scope of the problem.

"We started dating after the Second Titan War, you know," he muttered, "For like the two weeks we had together before Hera kidnapped me. It made sense, considering she had been my mortal anchor and everything."

Zoe nodded. "I believe I remember that."

Percy snorted, though there wasn't any humor to be found for him. "Well, those two weeks were about as good as it got for me. When I woke up eight months later I was in the Wolf House with no memories other than Annabeth's name, an inability to be harmed, and a pair of gorgon sisters after my head for some reason."

"Even without my memories," he continued, "I knew that I would be safe from everything if I had fled to the sea. And yet, the thought of recovering what I'd lost, even if I didn't know what I had, convinced me to cross the Little Tiber with Juno in my arms - just because of her. As the days went on during our journey to Alaska my memory slowly came back to me, but something just felt wrong. Hindsight is twenty-twenty I guess, and as I was forced to review every single memory I'd made over the years with Annabeth I started to see things without the rose-tinted glasses."

"Percy?" Zoe tried, to no avail.

"You know," he chuckled humorlessly, "When we went sailing through the Sea of Monsters together, that she made me let her listen to the sirens? I couldn't say no to her, and she nearly got us both killed due to her hubris. I saw what she saw - a world where it was just her, Athena, her father, and Luke. I was nowhere to be found. And then when we went to Maine for Nico and Bianca, we had to pretend to be students in their little dance. I tried to dance with her, and she hit me. What about when I washed up in New York after my stint on Ogygia? She was pissed at me, the same way she was when Rachel - a mortal who became the fucking Oracle, by the way - hung out with me. It was like she couldn't decide whether or not she liked me."

His voice cracked as he continued to rant, eyes turning misty as he fought the urge to cry. "I turned down godhood for her. I could have been immortal, partying it up with the rest of those assholes right now," he snarled, "But I turned it down for her. I decided that my memories must have been wrong. There was no way I'd love her so much if that was how she really was, right? I decided to wait until I saw her again before I did anything rash. And when we finally reunited at Camp Jupiter, it was like the glasses were back on."

"And then she judo flipped me into the dirt and threatened me if I ever left her again," he choked out a watery laugh at the reminder, "Like it was my fault that I'd disappeared for eight months. And despite all of that, I still wanted to try and make things work! But she decided that we simply weren't going to make it. After a few days on the Argo II, she made her feelings abundantly clear to me."

The Phlegethon's waters churned angrily. Percy's lips had curled back into a twisted mockery of a grin, teeth bared to the pit as he trembled. The waves crashed against the rocky shores, dousing Percy in the liquid fire. His eyes burned with barely concealed rage.

"But I'll be fine," he whispered, ignoring Zoe's pleas in favor of his current mental spiral, "Because I'm Percy Jackson. I've got it made for me. Adventure, drama, violence? A godly parent who's first words to me were about how I was an unforgivable mistake and a mother who probably thinks I'm dead? Perfect! What demigod wouldn't want to stand in my shoes? It's all easy streets for me after this, right? Just one more quest, yeah? Only one more shroud to burn! Maybe I'll break another heart or two before I-"

In the back of his mind, he dimly realized that he was crying again. His knees felt weak, and the only thing that was holding him upright was the fact that Zoe had wrapped her arms tightly around him. She lowered the two of them to the ground slowly, the waters of the Phlegethon slowly returning to normal.

"I'm tired, Zoe," Percy whispered pathetically, "I'm tired of all the war and the death and the nightmares. I just want it to end, and instead I'm stuck in literal hell."

Zoe rubbed small circles into his bare back - his shirt had been ripped up by Hyperion's first volley earlier, and was little more than a bib with arm holes at this point. "I know Percy," she soothed, "I know."

She began to hum a peculiar tune, something that sounded like a cross between a lullaby and a choir hymn. It made him think of his mother in New York, and of the single moonlace that they had planted in her window. Percy unconsciously wrapped his arms around the Titaness, pulling her in close to his heart.

"It'll be okay," she told him once she had finished, "We'll make it out of here."

Percy could tell that even she didn't have complete faith in her own words, but he appreciated the gesture. He just nodded along numbly. His body felt like he'd been left in a freezer.

"Sorry," He muttered, slowly pulling away from his companion and standing back up. "I won't do it again."

Zoe didn't let him fully retreat back into his shell, holding his hand gingerly and squeezing it gently. "It's alright, Percy, don't apologize. Thou hast been through so much, hero. Thou has seen more than anyone should have for thy years."

His eyes were wet. "At least I'm still alive. There's a lot of people who can't say the same."

Because of me.

She wasn't sure on how to respond, so she just held his hand tighter.

And if Percy unconsciously leant a little closer to her as they began their trek anew, she wasn't going to say a word.

–

"So," Percy began, trying to start up conversation again after his little outburst, "Are you immortal again?"

Zoe paused in surprise at the question. "No, what makes thou think I am?"

"Well for starters," he explained, "You haven't been drinking the Phlegethon every few minutes for survival. This place certainly isn't killing you the way it is me. You also said the Phlegethon wasn't a fan of immortals, and that I was keeping his anger in check around you."

Zoe tensed slightly. "Well, I was immortal once, as thou knows, back when I was a Hesperide like my sisters. If certain conditions were met, there is a possibility that I could reobtain my status as a fully-fledged Titan."

Percy raised an eyebrow, intrigued. "What would it take?"

"Nothing that could be done in any reasonable amount of time, much less while we are down here," she responded quickly, tone clipped. Percy didn't miss the way her eyes briefly flickered towards his pocket. It was quick, and barely more than a passing glance, but he just knew she was thinking about Riptide at that moment.

He didn't push her, though. He wasn't willing to risk an argument with his only friend down here.

"You know," he hummed, "I met your grandfather once."

"My grandfather?" Zoe repeated, brow furrowing, "Iapetus?"

Percy's lips quirked up. "His name is Bob now. I kind of wish he was here right now."

"Bob," Zoe repeated, disbelievingly, "And why is that?"

"Me and my cousins fought him in the Underworld a while ago, where he was trying to overthrow my uncle for Kronos," he explained, "I pulled him into the Lethe, and now he works for Hades and Persephone. He was super upbeat - just the kind of thing that this place needs."

Zoe shook her head incredulously. "Thou always end up picking fights with the most temperamental beings."

"I don't choose most of my battles," Percy clarified, "They usually choose me. I just win them."

"It is a good thing thou art an excellent fighter, then. No other mortal has ever picked a fight with so many gods and Titans, much less defeated all of them."

Zoe gave him a side eye. "Speaking of which, thy arsenal has certainly improved since I last saw thee. Some of the powers thou hast displayed to me are practically unheard of."

Percy's smile dimmed. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"You were able to break the chains that bound me to Othrys with your bare hands," she reminded him, "And you were able to defeat Hyperion with your bare hands. Your speed rivalled that of Hermes himself."

He shrugged. "I'd never done that before that incident in the dungeon. Whenever I start getting angry enough, my heart starts beating quicker and my blood feels hot, and I can just… do that stuff."

"You can feel your blood inside of you?" She asked, making a sour face and wrinkling her nose at the thought.

"Only when I'm consciously thinking about it, like how you are now going to be breathing manually for a while and feeling your tongue inside your mouth," he said cheekily, causing Zoe to groan at the feeling, "And it hasn't always been like this. The first time I realized it was probably after I got dipped in the Styx. Everything felt like a curtain had been pulled back on me after that."

Zoe nodded thoughtfully. "Is there a chance that thou are controlling thy own blood in those instances? Speeding up thy heart at increasing thy blood flow for a short-term boost in power and speed at the expense of thy stamina?"

"I…" Percy trailed off. "I mean, maybe? It's not like I have a lot of experience with this sort of thing. I'm not racing to test it out when it takes so much out of me."

The Titaness shrugged. "Something to keep in mind, then. As for the other ability thou displayed during our battle with Hyperion–"

"I didn't do anything else in that fight." Percy said immediately, his tone leaving no room for argument.

"What are you talking about?" Zoe asked, baffled, "You stopped Hyperion from–"

"That was not me," Percy denied, hissing.

Zoe shot him a look. "What else could it have been, Perseus?" She asked rhetorically. "I do not know many other sons of Poseidon with an aptitude for water that are also lost in Tartarus. Such an ability could be invaluable here!"

Percy's eyes were hard. "I'm not talking about this now."

"Fine," Zoe huffed, "But we aren't finished with this discussion."

The image of the angry former-Huntress was slightly ruined as she yawned acutely, stretching her arms out over her head like a cat.

"Tired?" Percy asked, smirking slightly.

Zoe glared at him, and he put his hands up in surrender. He frowned as he felt his stomach begin to rumble again, the constant reminder of his limited mortality down here doing nothing to soothe his mind.

"We should probably find a place to rest for a while," Percy hummed, "Little Othrys is probably coming up again soon. It would suck to have to fight a Titan or two while trying not to pass out at the same time."

Zoe shook her head defiantly. "No, we cannot stop, it is too risky," she insisted, "Rest can wait until we reach the spot Phlegethon pointed out to you."

"You sure?" Percy asked, "It's alright if we take a break."

Zoe nodded. "I fear what might happen if we were caught off guard, or worse, a Giant discovered us. We can not afford such risks."

He nodded, but was still unsure.

Despite her bravado, it did not take long at all for her to begin to falter. Zoe kept up the act for as long as she could, but soon enough she was out cold in his arms as he hurried to find some form of shelter for them. He could always risk trying to create an air bubble at the bottom of the Phlegethon for the both of them, but something told him that wasn't the smartest idea he'd ever had.

Percy eyed the plethora of caves that littered the ashen plains lucratively. Most of them were holding something undesirable deep inside, but there were so many that dotted the earth there were bound to be a handful of empty, abandoned shelters awaiting them.

Sure enough, it didn't take him long at all to find a large, airy cave that only moderately reeked of rotten flesh - and in Tartarus, that was about as good as it got. The ground was also actual rock instead of that pseudo-dirt membrane that spanned most of the terrain.

Maybe that meant there wouldn't be any more prying eyes that were making the hairs on the back of his neck stand up?

Yeah right. He was an intruder down here, and this place definitely had a pretty big belief in castle doctrine.

While he let Zoe rest, there was little else Percy could do but wait patiently and suffer underneath the weight of his own thoughts. Even if he wanted to rest (which he definitely didn't - the demigod wasn't keen on even more horrifying nightmares), someone needed to keep watch for them. It was the same reason they were resting close to the entrance of the cave instead of the depths; if something came to attack them and they were backed up against the wall, the odds would be very grim.

As it was, he could only hope that nothing else undesirable would come for them.

And as he watched a shadow drop across the plains of Tartarus, rapidly approaching their makeshift shelter, Percy feared that was exactly what he got.

—

A/N: Hmmm I wonder who that could be. Shorter chapter again (sorry!), but we're finally moving the plot along again and learning some more information about what happened before we joined Percy on his descent. Little changes make a big difference!

Hope you all enjoyed! See you next time, and make sure to review!