it was the moon who told me lies,
beautiful lies intertwined
with the false sense of hope.
it was the moon who told me lies,
delicate lies that danced and swayed in the wind
to the music of love.
it was the moon who told me lies,
gentle lies that lu...
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' i take back my thanks, Apollo, Artemis. '
—CELENA WILSON DIDN'T KNOW HOW LONG SHE WAS FALLING. Didn't that one dude who was an old Greek poet speculated that it would take nine days to fall from earth to Tartarus? She hoped Hesiod was wrong. Otherwise, they'd be in deep shit. Celena didn't know how long her and Annabeth had been falling. She just hoped that her friends were okay. Celena felt Annabeth squeeze her hand and she realized that they've been holding hands since their fall. Celena pulled Annabeth closer, as if they weren't already close, hugging her tightly as they tumbled through absolute darkness.
Celena closed her eyes, inhaling Annabeth's smell. Her mind thinking of every moment her and her friends have spent together, so that if she did die, the last thing she would see would be her friends laughing.
Wind whistled in her ears. The air grew hotter and damper, as if they were plummeting into the throat of a massive dragon. Celena dreaded the end of the fall.
Annabeth wrapped her arms around Celena and sobbed. Celena's heart twisted at their current situation. She'd never expected her life to be easy. But Celena was a mortal. She wasn't special. She was simply thrust into the other side of the curtain, and everyone simply expected her to play her part. To be the savior in the room full of cowards. To be the hero that can't always win. To be the character to stand by the side while they watched demigods left and right fall at young ages. That was the way it had been since ancient times. The Greeks invented tragedy. They knew the greatest heroes didn't get happy endings.
It was only after they fell that Celena realized Gaea knew this was going to happen. After all, she did promise to punish Celena accordingly and that dream she had was that she was sinking into the earth. Celena cursed herself. Not the gods. Not her uncle. Not her mother. Herself. Because if Celena had interpreted her dream correctly, then her and Annabeth wouldn't be in this predicament.
That thought immediately made Celena feel guilty. If Celena had interpreted her dream, then wouldn't someone else fall into the pit? How could she live with herself then? How could she watch them fall, knowing that it was her fate for her to take?
Annabeth pressed her lips to Celena's ear. "I love you."
Annabeth deserved better. Maybe Celena should've let Percy come with them. They were both powerless other than the minuscule fact that Celena was a human glowstick. What was she going to do? Shine light beams and call it a fucking day? Or maybe, Celena should've fallen alone. It was her punishment. Not Annabeth's.
Neither of them had the power to fly—not like Jason, who could control the wind, or Frank, who could turn into a winged animal. If they reached the bottom at terminal velocity.. .well, she knew enough science to know it would be terminal.
