All rights belong to Rick Riordan

Chapter 3

We Take a Bath

(Annabeth)

The last thing I remember, was trying to remember all of Seaweed Brain's stupid ideas before he had cut me off with a kiss and then tipped both of us off the bank and into the tepid river. When Percy had explained how he had felt when he had first taken a dip in the Styx. He described it as the most painful experience of his life, which as someone who has been stabbed, crushed by the weight of the sky, poisoned, and blown up, along with several other instances of extreme suffering. It describes something that you do not think, yeah, you know what. I want to do that too. But sure enough, the idiot had given me no choice and by the gods I was going to make him suffer after this if we survived.

However, I realized something very quickly I felt fine except for the lack of air usually found underwater (unless you are a son of Poseidon) and I could see clear around me despite the dark waters appearance when seen from the shore. Percy was still next to me but was mouthing words to someone I could not hear or see and seemed quite annoyed by the look on his face. As I kicked towards him, I grasped his hand drawing his attention from whatever was distracting him and swiftly noticing me holding my breath, he quickly created an air bubble around me so I could breathe.

"Percy what's the matter" I asked him quickly noticing he was a little paler than usual.

"I've been talking to Lady Styx, who isn't too happy about me losing her blessing and trying to get it again." He replied the annoyed look returning, as he turned back towards what I could now see as a pale skinned lady who had appeared in the waters a short distance away. It was therefore quite easy to tell to work out that she was the living personification of the river.

"Well, what does she want us to about it, can we just leave instead?" I asked nervously, Styx was the living goddess of Hatred after all. The last thing we wanted was to upset her whilst being at her mercy in these waters, or anywhere really.

"No, that's the thing she will give us her blessing, but this time there will be terms which I don't think you are going to like." He replied ominously.

(Percy)

When I had first taken a dive in the Styx, outside the entrance to the true underworld with Nico back before the Battle of Manhattan. I had not known what would happen, instead I had been lead there by the son of Hades and told it was our only chance. All that had happened upon arrival was Achilles had warned me of the risks in what we were doing and then left us to make my choice.

So, I was literally unprepared for what happened to me. I fell in as soon as I stepped in this river, the pain was simply so great it felt like someone was flaying the skin from my body whilst crushing me. This time felt like I was simply taking a bath, I felt absolutely fine, throwing me into confusion and making me lose hold of Annabeth (oops). That was before the voice of a woman started to assault my ears as if coming from every direction at once.

"Perseus Jackson what are you doing in my river again? I only give my blessing once son of Poseidon." The voice demanded angrily.

"Wait are you the spirit of the river?" I asked nervously.

"Of course, you foolish son of Poseidon just like your rivers on the surface, we rivers of the underworld are ruled by gods as well. Even if Lethe is a bit useless and never remembers the meetings but that's part of his nature I suppose. But that is beside the point what are you doing back in my river child of the sea?" The goddess Styx demanded with a tone now of simple annoyance.

"My friend and I are in need of the Curse of Achilles, to help us fight the Giant Horde and help the gods to close the doors of death, in doing so we can stop Gaia from ending the world." I responded desperately however from the moment I said 'Curse of Achilles' the waters had noticeable chilled several degrees.

"It is not a curse! It is a blessing! One that I rarely give as it is, just because that fool Achilles managed to get himself killed in the end. It took the assistance of a god to help the Trojan find his weak point, Luke Castellan deliberately killed himself and you lost it in the Tiber. If not for my blessing you all would have died long before your time. Achilles would not have been able to slaughter the Trojans for years, Luke would have died by Kronos's essence filling him and you would never have made it to New Rome in the first place, the Gorgons would have killed you after you left the Wolf House." She explained in exacerbation, to her credit for someone who was confined to the Underworld and Tartarus she was remarkably well informed of what transpired on the surface.

"Ok I admit it was really useful on those occasions, but the point still stands that we need your help, if we are to save Olympus and get out of here.' I pleaded hoping to sound sincere and get on her good side. The irony of trying to get on the good side of the personification of Hatred was not lost on me. For an uncomfortable few seconds I could almost feel increasing tension in the water around me as if thinking it over.

"I will make an exception just this once but there will be conditions to the 'curse' as you call it" The voice said almost spitting out the word curse like it left a bad taste in her mouth.

"What do you mean conditions?" I asked a frown appearing on my face as I started to make out a figure in the gloom and the voice gained a sense of direction rather than be all-encompassing like before.

"Condition one: If you break any oath on my river you will die, you will not go to the underworld, you will come to my river and spend eternity with me.

Condition two: If either of you are killed in battle while bearing my blessing. The Survivor will lose most of theirs, it will become intermittent or for your simple brain I will protect the survivor when I feel like it.

Condition three: Your friend as you call her will not be aware of here mortal point I will select a point and it is up to her to be careful, you will have the same point as before"

Just as she finished speaking Annabeth had grabbed my hand and I turned to look at her face, quickly noticing her rapidly changing colour through oxygen deprivation. I quickly erected a bubble around her much to her obvious relief before her attention became focused on the distant figure I was talking too.

She decided to ask me a few questions before asking what the problem is and I was forced to quickly explain the conditions Lady Styx had offered.

"I have no problem with the first two points we should be able to deal with them avoid breaking promises, doable and don't die we have done a great job of that so far for years. But why can't I know my weak point? How am I supposed to defend myself, if I do not know what I am supposed to be defending, it could be anywhere." She finished indignantly glaring at the figure in the gloom. If Styx was bothered by the look, she did not show it.

"Annabeth, we have no choice if we want to get out of here, I will stick by your side and make sure nothing can hurt you. Perhaps there is some way we can calculate your Achilles point once you have it, by trial and error if need be" I tried to sound reassuring to her but seemed to be failing epically. Judging by the look on her face which showed abject horror at my use of the phrase of 'trial and error', in her mind there was only facts. I guess that is Athena's fault.

"Look at the bright side, you will be only the the fourth person ever to receive the curse." I hoped I could trick her by using her sense of pride and judging by the look on her face changing I was succeeding.

"Try and avoid open combat by using hit and run like before, that way no one will even be able to hit you to threaten you. Think of it as simply extra insurance in case of the worst." I told her before seeing her shoulders slump in defeat.

"Fine but we are sticking together from now on, I don't want to take any more blades meant for your back. Like that one time back on the bridge. Gods I still feel that now.' She replied sarcastically though it was clear she was only agreeing to do this out of desperation.

"Very well, you might want to brace yourself. This will hurt a little as I am sure you remember Perseus" The spirit said as I suddenly lost sense of everything all of my senses were sudden assaulted by sharp intense pain despite this is continued holding Annabeth as tight as I could.

(Annabeth)

I still could not believe the river goddess was holding out on such important information, but then I was reminded I would be famous just for bearing the curse. Obviously as well as everything else I had accomplished, but then again pride was my flaw, as I remembered from my travel to the sea of monsters. When I had heard the Sirens song, Hubris. Olympus could be rebuilt dozens of times, but fame was eternal. Regardless Percy's flaw would drive him to protect me, no matter what trouble we got ourselves into in the future.

I was still thinking this over when I heard the river tell us to brace ourselves and then it hit me; nothing I had ever felt before could have prepared me for the full force of the river. All I knew for what felt like an eternity was excruciating pain it was as if my nerves were on fire. My whole body wanted to curl up and just let me die, but despite this I noticed a faint new feeling around my chest, as Percy grabbed me by the waist and held me tight.

I began to see images of my friends and family first my siblings at Camp Half-Blood. Then my mortal brothers Mathew and Bobby with my step mum and my dad, then Athena and the look of pride on her face as she made me the architect of Olympus. Then the long distant memory of Thalia and Luke back in the old days and finally Percy, his unruly black hair blowing in an imaginary breeze his sea green eyes now with golden irises. The new look still surprised me but I was sure I could get used to it before he leaned towards me and gently kissed me pulling back he said two words.

"Wake up" He shouted desperately.

I woke up to find myself on the shores of the river with Percy leaning over me, looking frantic with worry. Before long noticing my eyes open and suddenly pulling my torso up, grabbing me into a hug that could have crushed a Cyclops. 'Point to note my chest is not vulnerable.' I thought with amusememt.

"You had me so worried there, you were in the river for far longer than I was. Even Lady Styx wasn't sure if you were going to survive for a while." He explained with a tone of worry.

"Holy Hades, how did you ever want that again? That was like a thousand times worse than holding the sky?" I asked surprised, after all we both knew how that burden had felt.

"It wasn't so bad this time" He answered honestly with a shrug as I gently stuck him on the chest out of his lucky escape this time.

We looked back towards the river only to see a figure floating above its surface. I could make it out to be a very beautiful woman with black hair this contrasted deeply with her pale white skin, she was even paler than Hades after all at least he can venture to the surface occasionally if he should so wish. Her river began in the Underworld and ended down here in Tartarus, it was not a lot of sunlight on that course I supposed.

"Remember my conditions heroes, as much as I would like company. It would be very unfortunate and shame if I were to see you again." She said as she faded below the waterline.

(Percy)

Well, I was glad that was over with. I could not help but be worried about Annabeth though, to not know your own weak spot sucked and I promised myself to do everything I could to protect her. I had been so worried when she had taken almost an hour longer to wake up than I did though it did feel good to always know the time but bad to know this diversion had taken almost a full day in the real world above, we were running out of time if were to reach the others in time.

We travelled back to where Kronos had faded to retrieve our gifts. Annabeth was now able to retrieve the blades despite the Stygian Iron's properties due to her essence being protected from the blades power to absorb souls, like that of Nico's and Hades blades. I almost felt a little jealous, the knives looked cool with the three metals interweaving in a helix from hilts to points. Once I retrieved Backbiter I noticed a supple difference from before, it was now sheathed in celestial bronze with Imperial Gold inlayed letters that took me a while to decode due to my dyslexia 'Kronos wielded me in the name of Domination, Perseus wields me in the hope of repenting for my sins, my name is Maelstrom.'

I looked down at the blade I held in my hands and truly understood the Titan's final words about the blade in front of me. I secretly hoped I could help both of their legacies to be greater than they had been. However, the new name of my new sword got me back to thinking about Annabeth's knives, as I began thinking of a name for them.

"Percy, you have been staring at that sword forever." She stated annoyed and I realized it had been almost another half an hour, dyslexia sucks, why couldn't the engraving be in Greek I thought to myself as I hefted the blade out of the ground. Only to find it down the flat of the sheath on the far side in Greek as well. 'Perhaps I truly am a seaweed brain sometimes.' I thought to myself in embarrassment. I decided to show the inscription (Greek side of course) to her, to which she looked genuinely surprised but also, she seemed to be content as if finally believing Kronos had meant well in the end.

"Annabeth, I thought maybe you should name your knives as well seeing as I have Riptide and Maelstrom, they are pretty unique as far as weapons go and deserve a name to be remembered by." I asked still thinking of them already. What can I say I had a thing for cool looking weapons, I used to enjoy spending time in the Camp Armory for exactly that reason.

"I suppose but I don't know anything that fits, should I name them individually or as a pair? I could call them anything yet I can't think of anything that fits." She replied surprising me. Normally she would know something like this instantly, after all she was Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena, Goddess of Wisdom. That was when it struck me the perfect name.

"Annabeth, I know one that fits you great" I exclaimed causing her to look at me incredulously.

"Well go on then we haven't got all day." She asked in a mixed tone of impatience and possibly annoyance at being beaten at this minor challenge of thought.

"How about Chasing Wisdom? After all, your surname is Chase and well your mum is goddess of Wisdom, so how about it?" For a few seconds she looked at me surprised, before long a smile began to fill her face as she warmed to the idea and before I knew it, she leapt at me and kissed me passionately. I sure was glad the curse let us feel somethings, otherwise our future would be awfully boring once we were done with this war.

As we separated eventually, we decided what to do with our new weapons, Annabeth strapped her knives to her belt so both could be drawn simultaneously, while I was left with a bit of a dilemma as I was holding essentially a four foot long from pommel to tip longsword. Which meant I could put it at my belt and it was likely the point would brush against the floor or I could strap the sheath to my back, so the hilt was behind my head and the bladed ended at my knees which would be a pain if I was to sit down but in combat would allow the sheath to act as extra armour for my weak point, which was one thing we sadly lacked at the moment as a result I decided to favour this idea. Also, because it was only a practical sheath location people might not suspect that it was my weak point behind it.

"Percy how about we get out of here, I have enough memories of this place to last me a lifetime." She said gesturing towards the way Kronos had suggested, following the Styx upstream to the distant walls of Tartarus. I simply nodded my head in agreement and so we began the trek mostly in silence. Every so often we would briefly discuss everything that had happened today, or at least what passed for one in Tartarus. Time down here acted strangely it seemed, one minute it would feel like I tens of seconds past in the blink of an eye, other times it felt like an eternity for but a single second above to pass.

Annabeth finally asked something that had been bothering me for a while "Percy, who do you think will be waiting to help us? Kronos said he was both a friend and an enemy what could that mean?"

I admitted even though I had a few ideas none of the seemed plausible, many had pretended to be our friends only to betray us, I immediately thought of Luke, but Nico had assured me had tried for rebirth after being given Elysium when I asked of his fate, there had been a few others Ethan Nakamura or Circe but none of them seemed plausible.

Perhaps I was looking at this from the wrong side, perhaps it was an enemy who had become friends with us, yet I could not remember many in that category and certainly none who were likely be here in Tartarus to help us.

After a few hours of constant walking, we could hear the sound of cascading water ahead of us. Only for the gloom to dissipate suddenly, part revealing steep black cliffs as high as the eye could see and from somewhere above them the Styx was falling besides us into a deep pool. Before once again flowing ever onward from the direction we had just come. Wordlessly we began to turn right, as we walked away, I took one final look at the river to see Lady Styx looking back with a sad almost regretful look on her face and I felt sorry for her, to be forever stuck in the underworld or worse. Only having visitors when they wanted something or as punishment for broken oaths, which was normally gods who she was unable to truly punish.

As we followed the cliffs the terrain became flatter and the fog remained clear allowing us to see a fair distance, before long we could make out a large figure about a kilometre away fighting a small army of monsters. By the shear height difference in height between the figures it was quite clear they must have been some form of divine. We decided to hurry in case it was one our friends or the gods needing our help or searching for us or our mysterious contact.

As we approached, I could make out the figure was clad in blackened bronze armour and wielding a massive spear in both hands. However, he was bleeding golden ichor from multiple points under his armour, as though he seemed quite able to hold off his attackers. There were however hundreds of them as a result even with however many he slew one, would occasionally get through with a lucky strike. As he turned to impale a hellhound that had encircled him from behind, I caught sight of his face and understood Kronos cryptic reference and why Annabeth would have no idea, after all she hadn't been there when Hades sword was stolen.

"Percy, do you know who that is? He is obviously an immortal, but I don't recognize him from the gods, yet Kronos said we would.' She asked hoping I knew

"Yeah, I do, and we need to help him quickly." I said before running towards the figure who had become locked in combat with my favourite monster, the son of Pasiphae himself. I sprinted between the two figures before upper cutting the Minotaur straight in the jaw with Riptide's pommel staggering him back amongst the rest of the horde.

Those closest to us approached us wearily now while some of the empousai seemed to whisper amongst themselves causing the advancement to halt as whatever rumour was passed around. As I looked around, I recognized some of the other monsters such as the three-bodied Geryon and Kelli the Empousai from Goode High School.

The dark armoured giant of a man finally turned to look down at me before looking me in the eyes and gaining a surprised look on his battle-scarred face.

"Nice entrance and glad to see you have finally arrived, I see you have spoken to my brother already. Lord Perseus." I turned back towards the monster horde, who seemed to be parting for something behind them to pass through.

"Nice to see you too, Bob." I responded hardly holding back from grinning madly.