𝐂œ𝐮𝐫𝐬 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐬é𝐬 [Percy Jackson]

122

Entering the mortal world was maybe worse than entering Tartarus.

At least Tartus had a river that cushioned their fall (granted the river was literal lamentation and misery, but hey! they survived). What did the mortal world even have? How could Hadrian even be sure his body hadn't been turned into goop?

The only person he knew that had come back up from Tartarus was Nico di Angelo- the son of Hades. And he'd been kidnapped by giants. So how was he to know for sure his body wouldn't disintegrate on collision with the air of the over world?

Maybe they'd been down in Tartarus for too long. Maybe they'd grown to become the very monsters they killed. Maybe they'd absorbed too many curses. Maybe their lungs had grown accustomed to the sulphurous air and the nightmare fuel spread everywhere. Could they even drink normal water anymore? Could they even eat mortal food?

The more friends Hadrian outlived, the more he started to think he may have been the problem.

Ding!

The elevator doors opened. Vaguely, Hadrian was aware that someone must have pressed the up button. He smiled as he thought of his friends from the Argo II. Then he lost consciousness.

He dreamed he was getting choked, he was getting drowned in fog. It bathed over him and took control of his vocal chords, making him say things in a voice he didn't recognize. Another giant perhaps.

The giant took control of him and Hadrian wondered if that's what it felt like to be aware of the eidolons in your body. It was killing him. Ripping his very life source from his body, like snatching his heart away. Simply reaching into his chest, retrieving it and squeezing it until he let out his last breath.

Hadrian had no idea what his friends had to battle, what they had to go through, just so they could rescue him. He almost wished Percy had let him go into Tartarus alone. He didn't deserve this. None of it. It made it feel guilty from the inside and out, like a shiver rolling across him telling him he was unworthy of love.

Then he thought about Percy. Percy and his stupid face. Percy and his stupid hero complex and his heart of pure fucking gold more precious than anything Hazel could ever conjure. Percy- the guy he loved. Oh gods he was fucked and not even in the fun way. How could his own father be so cruel to him?

Hadrian thought about Percy pressing lips to his and he cracked his eyelids open.

It was dark.

Hadrian was glad. It helped his eyes readjust. The color pallet of Tartarus was vastly different from the underground cavern they were in.

For one thing, there was no red around. After days in Tartarus, he'd grown accustomed to the reddish hue that made it look like a nuclear bomb had just gone off. Instead, the chamber they were in was blueish almost- cold and dark and...

Wait was that Hazel?

The moment he realized he was at least a bit awake, he regretted it immediately. Pain travelled through his very bones, like his blood vessels were full of fire from the Phlegethon. He half expected himself to pass out again.

But he tried to stay awake. For his sake, for Percy's sake and for Hazel's.

Next to him, Percy mumbled something that sounded like, "Bob-bob-bob?"

Leo and Hazel were definitely there. As was a woman Hadrian had never seen before. He was too exhausted to make out her features, but he knew purely from the aura she had, that she was 100% a goddess.

Noted.

Hadrian wanted to pass out again.

Leo and Hazel talked, but Hadrian couldn't hear them over the ringing sound in his ear. Everything was fuzzy and he genuinely believed for a second that he would die. He really hadn't imagined his death like this- sprawled in an underground chamber.