Lovely

Percy Jackson

I decided to update again because . . . Why not? (No, I was totally not bored) Also, I apologize for giving you guys such a cringey chapter.

Nine days. He remembered when Annabeth told him that it would take about nine days to reach Tartarus after their first quest. But it felt like so much more.

Percy tried to breathe, but he couldn't. That meant that he was close. He focused on his breathing, slowly inhaling and exhaling.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Percy made it to Tartarus. In a river.

You might think that he was lucky, being the son of Poseidon and all. Falling into a river—or any body of water in this case—would make him more energized, right? But this river? This river was torture. He kept hearing voices in his mind, telling him to give up.

It's no use. You'll just end up like the rest of us. Life is pointless, anyway.

You'll never make it through Tartarus. It's easier to just drown. Let yourself drown. You know you wanna.

The only thing that's stopping you is your feelings. Who cares about feelings? Stop feeling things.

It felt like charmspeak (even though Percy's never been charmspoken) but Percy listened to them. Life honestly was pointless, and he knew that even without the voices. But he never said anything about it. He was about to let go when he heard a new voice.

Perseus! Go, I cannot hold them for long. You must go on your journey. Do not die. That would be bad.

Percy blinked, swam to the surface and jumped out of the lake. He breathed in the poisonous air and stood up. He glanced back at the river. "Thanks," Percy whispered with a small smile.

He ran off, on his way to close the Doors of Death before being stopped by a monster. A huge spider woman. Arachne.

Apparently, she thought that hiding behind a truck would make her invisible. She was wrong. Very wrong.

Percy slowly pulled out Riptide, his mighty pen that was actually a sword. Before he could uncap it, the Spider Mother came out of her hiding spot and charged.

She came running towards Percy, fast with her spider legs. It was honestly horrifying, but Percy's seen scarier. He quickly took the cap off of his ballpoint pen and it turned into a Celestial Bronze sword.

He dodged an attack and lifted up his sword. He sliced one of Arachne's legs off, and instead of blood spilling out, it was dust.

Arachne wailed in pain, but kept fighting. Percy threw his sword, and before the spider could dodge, it hit her stomach. She exploded into dust, Riptide falling to the floor with a clang.

Percy picked it up and when the cap touched the point of his sword, it turned back into a pen. He put it in his pocket and kept walking.

Every breath he took was like being stabbed in the lungs. Every breath he took was poisonous. But that's how it worked. Down in Tartarus, there was no real air. And there was no way you could survive.

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Percy was met by monsters about every five minutes but he took care of them. It wasn't easy, as he was getting weaker every hour.

When he heard voices, he ducked behind a rock.

"—at? They think they can help him?"

"Y-yes, mistress. But—"