What If?

4. Momma's Boy

Despite common belief, falling into Tartarus wasn't scary. Or terrifying. Or even remotely horrifying in any way, shape or form. It was just boring.

It drove Percy nuts. He preferred to have a quick death than this awful suspense that was plaguing him. He looked down again and cursed. That was the twentieth time (he counted) he had looked down, only to reveal nothing. 

The air was still slightly cold, he still couldn't see anything, and for all he knew, he was still in the tunnel. 

Percy started doing flips to pass the time. It wasn't working. He sighed. Gods, if only this stupid tunnel would end. He suddenly wished that he had kept the bag. Maybe if he had kept the bag, he would've had more supplies. All he had on him was his trusty sword. No money (not like it was useful, but still), no first-aid kit, and no food. 

He was off to a great start. 

But he knew that he had to get rid of the bag. He didn't know why but he knew that the bag was important to the quest. A quest he was no longer on. So that meant that the prophecy wasn't talking about him. It was talking about Annabeth or Grover. They were meant to retrieve the master bolt without him. 

But he was so sure that the prophecy was talking about him. Especially with the line, You shall fail to save what matters most in the end... 

Percy froze (er, well, he stopped flipping at least). He had forgotten about his mom. His mom who had sacrificed everything for him, who cared for him, who gave herself to give him a chance. He had forgotten about her. 

So he did fail to save what mattered most to him. The prophecy had predicted it but Percy still felt bad. 

He had thrown his chance to save his mom away for a couple of strangers. 

Grover was his best bud and he sorta knew Annabeth but they weren't family. They were friends. His mom should've been his first priority. He had failed her. 

Great. Now his mom was forever stuck with Hades, never given a chance to live her life. Maybe Hades would give her back once he figured out that Percy didn't do anything. Percy prayed that his mom was alright. Maybe she could get rid of Smelly Gabe and live her life. 

Percy shook his head. If he didn't get out of this free-fall soon, he was going to die of either a) an existential crisis or b) boredom. 

After a few more 'why-do-I-exist' type of thoughts, the tunnel got lighter. Percy could see a bright end at the end. The air got warmer. Soon, the light had a reddish tinge to it, like blood. 

Percy suddenly felt nauseous. Nope, he was kidding himself when he said he wanted a quick death. He suddenly wished for the safety of his own tunnel. He realized that he could see the ground. It was black and glittering. He also realized that he was falling head-first towards a red river. Percy paled. 

Even if he had survived the fall from the arch, that was only six hundred and thirty feet. Percy had been falling for hours (or more realistically, five minutes). He spread his arms out in an attempt to slow down his fall. He flipped himself onto his back (he didn't want to face plant at gods-knows-what speed). With that, he had a great view of Tartarus. 

The ceiling was basically blood. The sky was blood-red, red clouds hung lazily overhead. It was warm, almost like he was surrounded by soup. The place was huge. Percy guessed that all of New York could've fit down here without a problem. The air smelled horrible, like his step-father mixed with rotten eggs. No, it was worse than his step-father. Percy pinched his nose. Was that sulfur? 

Percy realized that he hadn't looked down in a while. He looked over his shoulder only to be met with a bunch of heat. 

Splash!