Percy:
Falling. That's the last thing I remember. Falling into a pit of nothingness. All I could hear around me was the rushing of the wind. I saw Annabeth's face next to me looking deathly pale but she looked at me reassuringly. "I love you," she mouthed, her voice ripped away by the harsh winds of the abyss. I tried to speak to her but my voice refused to obey. I looked down and saw what looked like a river below us. We reached the end. Yelling at it in defiance and frustration I pulled Annabeth close as the blackness rushed to meet us, holding her as tightly as I could.
I hit the water alone.
Around me, the river burst to life, cold liquid invading my lungs in an instant, forcing its way through my body. Panic washed over me, I could feel myself drowning, this was a new feeling. Whatever this water was, it was not friendly. I tried to control it but it fought me every step of the way, every push I made countered by a pull at least twice as strong. I felt its coldness work its way through my bloodstream, climbing up through my body. My brain went cold and my thoughts were numbed as the currents washed through my mind itself.
The depression hit like a tidal wave. "Just give up," a gentle voice said softly. "I am all that awaits you. Why fight the currents of change? Embrace me."
No. I thought to myself. This isn't real, whatever this is, this isn't real.
"I am very real, child. Now open your eyes and see the truth."
I felt my eyes being forced open, I had no say in the matter. All around me I saw the faces of all those I failed. Bianca. Zoë. Calypso. Beckendorf. Silena. Micheal. Ethan. Luke. There were so many names, so many faces, I could see them all so clearly it was as if they were truly with me. However one face stuck out above them all. Annabeth.
I saw her leaving my bed in Cabin Three, kissing my forehead and pulling the back sheets over me to keep me warm. She walked towards the front door and threw it open. Outside was a tidal wave of shadows. I watched as tore through her and into her, pulling her far away from the cabin and into further darkness. I watched as she thrashed around, clutching at her throat, gasping for breath, fighting for her life. Quickly, her thrashing become twitching, then she was still. The shadows receded from her body and melted into the night.
I felt my legs drive me towards her body, within seconds I was there, cradling her head in my hands.
"No, Annabeth, stay with me. I'm here, I'm here. Just stay with me." I knew she was gone, she was too still, too cold. But I pleaded anyway.
"At least it was quick". I heard her say. I whirled around, looking for her, but she was nowhere to be seen.
I heard her laugh, such a warm, happy sound. "What are you looking for, Seaweed Brain. I'm right in front of you."
I looked back down at her body. This wasn't her. This was just a shell, a memory, a-
"A remnant," I heard her say. "Just cold flesh and bone".
Pulled her body close to mine and hugged her, she just lay there loosely, nothing more than deadweight.
"I'm so sorry, Annabeth," I cried. "You needed me, I wasn't there…"
"You failed me, Percy." She whispered.
"You failed all of us." The voices of all those I failed said as one.
"No I-"
"If you had just been faster. If you had noticed my wounds." The voice of Zoë said.
"If you hadn't got us captured. If you hadn't left me! I'd still be alive. Silena would still be alive!" The voice of Beckendorf said.
"No… No I… I didn't."
"If you had actually been the hero. You could have stopped Kronos. I didn't need to die!" The voice of Luke said.
All around me I saw them stand and fall, each and every one of their deaths played out in front of me for spectacle again and again. Like dominoes, one after the other, they all fell. I reached desperately out to try and intervene but a strong set of arms held me in place.I turned to face my attacker and was met with my own cold eyes.
"Why are you doing this?" I asked. Pleading with myself to let me help.
"I am you," it responded in my voice. "This is all we ever do. We watch, we let the others take the fall for us. Time and time again. This is what we do."
"No." I yelled defiantly, shaking myself free and surging upwards. I broke the surface of the water and gasped for breath. I thrashed around in a panic desperately trying to reach the river's edge, to pull myself to safety. I tried to once again force the currents to obey me but the more I pushed for control, the more helpless I felt. I scanned the riverbank and spotted a startled looking man with silver eyes dressed in a janitor's uniform sitting near the river's edge. Bob. He looked like he was… fishing?
I waved to him to try and get his attention. "Bob! Bob help me!" I pleaded desperately. I could feel the raging current beneath me, clawing at my ankles hungrily, desperate to pull me under again.
Bob looked towards me and his eyes narrowed. "You left me Percy. You left me behind. Again." He said in a broken tone.
"No! I didn't want to, I had no choice!" Even as I said the words I knew that wasn't true. I could have taken his place, I just chose not to. I chose the quest over him, I chose myself over him.
"I brought you through Tartarus himself to the Doors of Death and how was I repaid? You just left me. You left us." Bob hissed in a whispering echo of what was once his voice.
To his right another figure stepped out of the shadows. As wide as a truck and as tall as a giraffe, he easily towered over the silver Titan. Damasen. His once kind eyes were now empty voids of blackness, transfixed onto me.
"We died for you," They hissed in unison. "You ran and we died."
"No." I managed. "I didn't run, I had no choice." I lunged for the river's edge in one last desperate attempt to escape but they were there in an instant, blocking off my avenue of escape. With that final effort. I leaned back and let the current take me. I couldn't fight anymore, I hadn't the will for it.
"He awaits you, Perseus, he awaits us all. You cannot fight the call to the void." They chanted. Bob gave me a mocking wave and Damasen tilted his head and smiled at me as I was pulled back into the darkness again.
I clamped my mouth shut desperately trying to keep the water from forcing itself into my lungs but it was too strong. The current was like a pair of hands, it took hold of my jaw and violently opened my mouth and flooded back within me. The murkiness of the waters cleared and I could see clearly. There. Just below me was… Annabeth. I swam as fast as I could to reach her but the closer I got the faster she was pulled down.
"You will never reach her. She is beyond you now." I heard a voice say. It was a deep rumble, its sound carried in every direction. Something about it was deeply unnatural, instead of the sound being projected outward, it was like the sound was being pulled back in. A shiver ran down my spine as I remembered where I'd heard such a voice before. Tartarus.
"Yes, little demigod. I told you once before, you had earned my attention, now it is undivided. You stole my wife, my children from me. So I will take your future. Every dream you have, every ambition, every hope, I will be there. That pit in your stomach, that little seed of doubt in your mind. That is me, always and forever. I am not my wife, I do not play games, I do not tease, I do not relish this. I simply am, I will always be. You can run, you can hide, you can fight, you can cower. I will be there all the same."
I couldn't speak, my body was frozen in terror, my mind blank. Just the presence of Tartarus was overwhelming. There was no fighting this, I was simply a spectator in front of him, all I could do was watch.
"Percy!" I heard a girl's voice yell. I just tried to ignore it. I couldn't listen to any more of this.
"Percy!" The girl's voice shouted again.
"No…" I mumbled. "No more, no more."
"Oi, Kelp Head! Wake up!" My world went numb as a sharp shock pulsed through my system, I felt my body regain control of itself and my senses returned to me.
I sat up, blinking groggily as I tried to focus. My surroundings felt familiar, but my vision was too blurred to make anything out clearly. Then, I noticed something above me… watching, tracking my every move. Eyes. Piercing grey eyes.
"Annabeth?"