𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐋𝐃 𝐌𝐔𝐒𝐓 𝐅𝐀𝐋𝐋

𝐀𝐍𝐍𝐀𝐁𝐄𝐓𝐇 𝐜𝐡𝟑𝟓|Jump

Paris- the chainsmokers

Annabeth

July 1st, Percy and I fell into Tartarus. November 1st, we jumped back in.

_________

Goodbyes are hard. I don't like them, never have. They involve sadness, crying, hugs, feelings of longing. These things aren't my forte, I prefer books or monster murder. Yes, those are much, much better.

Leo passed me the backpack. It was full of ambrosia, food, clothes, tools, weapons, and useful random stuff like tape. And of course, the parachute attached. He smiled sadly and coughed before saying 'it's windy' when his eyes watered. I laughed and took the bag before slinging it across my back.

Piper was crying - Grover too. Nico just looked like he was ready to brutally murder an army, and I appreciated that. It was a stormy day, plethoras of clouds littered our surroundings, with lightening and hail breaking loose. I wondered if it was Jason, not Zeus.

I cleared my throat. "I'll see you all on the other side. No matter what happens, I will not stop until those chains are broken and I hope that none of you shall rest until Gaia is gone. Um, so yeah. See ya." My voice cracked on multiple occasions, and if that had been any other time someone would have teased me about it.

Nico nodded and stepped towards me, placing his cold hand on my shoulder. I turned to look at Percy and my strong expression melted like shattered glass. He was staring at Leo, indicating something. "Ugh, screw this!" Hazel exclaimed before running at Percy. She enveloped him in a massive hug and he staggered like a puppy before returning it.

I frowned. "Hazel, are you okay?" I asked. Everyone froze. Why? I was so confused. I HATE being confused. What didn't help was Percy yelling 'Now!' Immediately, Leo's arm came out from behind his back and he chucked Percy an identical backpack. He slung it on and leapt at Nico and I, and the second his finger brushed the son of Hades shoulder, the world faded to black. The last thing I saw was the silhouettes of seven heroes.

________

When I blinked, we were standing in front of a pit.
The Pit entrance. My vision and surroundings were a hazy dark red, the atmosphere of the underworld was choking and suffocating. In front of me there was a pitch black hole that pulled at me, grasping to pull me in. I whipped around to see Percy staring at the hole too.

I knew exactly what he was doing.

"What do you think you're doing?" I snapped. I really didn't want to say goodbye to Percy, but that was better than this. How much had he done for me? I couldn't let him do this again. I would do this alone.

"Coming with you," he grinned, cocking his head.
"No you're not!"
"I am. There's not much you can do to stop me. You can't forcibly stop me from jumping, Wise Girl."
"But this isn't fair! I can do this on my own!"
"When we were sixteen, why did you take that knife for me?"
I blinked.
"Because... It felt right. I knew you were in trouble and I had to save you."
"And?"
"And because I loved - love - you."
"Exactly," Percy smiled.

"Why am I always third wheeling?" Nico muttered, shoving his hands into his pockets.

I grabbed a knife from my belt and pointed it at Percy threateningly. "Please. Please just let me go. Only one of us is getting out of there."
"We don't know that."
"We do!"
"Don't."
"Do."
"Don't-"

Nico cleared his throat. "Can we fast-forward from this bit please? It's getting old."

I sighed, sword arm shaking. Percy calmly grabbed my wrist and put it to the side, before prising the knife out of my hand carefully and putting it into its sheath.

I wanted him to come. I really, really did. I wanted his arms around me, his comfort. I wanted him by my side forever, even in the depths of hell. I wanted him with me. Sure, some of his decisions would likely get us killed, but he's a Seaweed Brain. My Seaweed Brain.

But that wasn't fair. How much had he given up for me? How much had he sacrificed for me? Selfishness and guilt was suffocating me. The image of him lying there, broken, after he killed the arai haunted me at night. Your fault. He fell for you.

"What did I say before we fell, last time?" he said, pulling me out of my thoughts.

I knew what he was talking about. Those words played in my head all the time. In my dreams, in my nightmares, in my daydreams and in day. I looked up shakily. I looked deep into those sea green eyes. They were bright and unique, even in tbe underworld; they had specks of lots of different colours in them, but largely consisted of green swirls like untameable hurricanes.

"You're never getting away from me-."
"Never again," he finished softly.

At the same time, we stepped forwards, wrapping each other in a tight hug. I buried my face into his chest, making his shirt wet from tears. If Kronos had come and frozen time right then, I would have thanked and forgiven him. It felt like the only thing in the world was the two of us.

When we broke away, I turned to Nico.

"Please stay safe."
"You too. I don't think I could deal with it if one of you decided to kick your overdue buckets," he smiled sadly.
"Thank you for everything, Nico," Percy said.
"You too. I- I will make sure that the crew get to Greece. Safe."

And then Percy and I backed away from the pit and grabbed each other's hands like a lifeline. We exchanged a look before running to the abyss.

I could hear my heart beating like a relentless drum, accelerating like the pace of our run-up. Our steps were in perfect sync with each other, our hands not loosening our grip for a split second.

My foot reached the ledge and I swung my other arm around Percy, as we both leapt into the darkness. We clung to each other in the dark, his warmth the only thing I knew. Apart from this:
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
This time would be the last time going down there. And this time was the time we didn't fall into Tartarus.
••••••••••••••••••
We jumped.

𐬼𐬿𖢻❤︎︎✵𐬿𐬼𐬼𐬿𖢻❤︎︎✵𐬿𐬼𐬼𐬿𖢻❤︎︎✵𐬿𐬼

𝐄𝐍𝐃 𝐎𝐅 𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐓 𝐎𝐍𝐄

𐬼𐬿𖢻❤︎︎✵𐬿𐬼𐬼𐬿𖢻❤︎︎✵𐬿𐬼𐬼𐬿𖢻❤︎︎✵𐬿𐬼

𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃 𝐎𝐍 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐄

𐬼𐬿𖢻❤︎︎✵𐬿𐬼𐬼𐬿𖢻❤︎︎✵𐬿𐬼𐬼𐬿𖢻❤︎︎✵𐬿𐬼