𝐂œ𝐮𝐫𝐬 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐬é𝐬 [Percy Jackson]

88

They fell for an eternity.

Happy fucking birthday. Hadrian sang himself the song. What a thoughtful gift from Gaea, she truly knew how to make someone fall for her.

As he fell, Hadrian tried to push Percy away, to pull him closer. His mind wasn't working properly. The chasm they fell through was just a whole bunch of nothing. Just pitch black darkness, the wind whistling in his ears.

Down. Down. Down. 

Down they went like they'd fall out of the earth on the opposite side of the globe.

Down. Down. Down. 

Down the rabbit hole. Hadrian remembered his mom had read him the story of Alice in wonderland and all her crazy adventures.

Down. Down. Down. 

He had a lot of time to think, to yell at Percy, though it didn't seem like he could hear.

Even now, Percy still had his arms around him.

Why?

That had been Hadrian's question.

Percy could have let him go, waited for the demigods to help him up and escaped. So why had he fallen with Hadrian?

Why? Why? Why?

All he did was give Hadrian false hope. He hugged and kissed Annabeth's forehead and then fell into fucking Tartarus with Hadrian. Mixed signals. See?

The air grew hotter and damper, as if they were plummeting into the throat of a massive dragon.

Hadrian couldn't imagine that Arachne was still alive, somewhere below them in the darkness. Annabeth had described her well, Hadrian didn't want to meet her when they reached the bottom. On the bright side, assuming there was a bottom, Hadrian and Percy would probably be flattened on impact, so giant spiders were the least of their worries.

He wrapped his arms around Percy and tried not to sob. He'd never expected his life to be easy. And so far, it had been anything but easy. Most demigods died young at the hands of terrible monsters. That was the way it had been since ancient times. The Greeks invented tragedy. They knew the greatest heroes didn't get happy endings.

Still, this wasn't fair.

Hadrian had turned to the good side. Said he wouldn't help Gaea. And this is what he got in return for it?

Even the gods couldn't devise a fate so twisted.

But Gaea wasn't like other gods. The Earth Mother was older, more vicious, more bloodthirsty. Hadrian could imagine her laughing as they fell into the depths.

There was no use trying to reverse or slow their fall.

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, he knew enough science to know it would be terminal.

Hadrian was seriously considering just screaming in frustration when something about their surroundings changed.

The darkness took on a gray-red tinge. Hadrian realized he could see Percy's hair as he hugged him. The whistling in his ears turned into more of a roar. The air became intolerably hot, permeated with a smell like rotten eggs.

Suddenly, the chute they'd been falling through opened into a vast cavern. Maybe half a mile below them, Hadrian could see the bottom. For a moment he was too stunned to think properly. The entire island of Manhattan could have fit inside this cavern—and he couldn't even see its full extent. Red clouds hung in the air like vaporized blood. The landscape—at least what he could see of it—was rocky black plains, punctuated by jagged mountains and fiery chasms. To Hadrian's left, the ground dropped off in a series of cliffs, like colossal steps leading deeper into the abyss.

The stench of sulfur made it hard to concentrate, but he focused on the ground directly below them and saw a ribbon of glittering black liquid—a river.

"Percy!" he yelled in his ear. "Water!"

He gestured frantically. Percy's face was hard to read in the dim red light. He looked shell-shocked and terrified, but he nodded as if he understood.

Percy could control water—assuming that was water below them. He might be able to cushion their fall somehow. Of course Hadrian had heard horrible stories about the rivers of the Underworld. They could take away your memories, or burn your body and soul to ashes. But he decided not to think about that. This was their only chance. There was nothing else they could do. They were just that desperate.

So they did what they always did- Something stupid. And hoped they wouldn't die.

The river hurtled toward them. At the last second, Percy yelled defiantly. The water erupted in a massive geyser and swallowed them whole.