The Stories of Our Heroes

The Mark of Athena - ALTERNATE ENDING

This is an alternate ending to The Mark of Athena,  so in other words, if Percy and Annabeth hadn't fallen to Tartarus. I am not by any means saying that I don't agree with the real ending written, because even though it breaks my heart, I know that the fall was crucial to the plot. This is just an idea I had and I thought it would be fun to write. Also: THE ITALIC PRINT AT THE BEGINNING IS ENTIRELY RICK'S WORK AND WORDING, I'm just putting it in so the story doesn't start at an odd time. My additions are in regular print.

Annabeth had seen some strange things before, but she'd never seen it rain cars. 

As the roof of the cavern collapsed, sunlight blinded her. She got the briefest glimpse of the Argo ll hovering above. It must have used its ballistae to blast a hole straight through the ground. 

Chunks of asphalt as big as garage doors tumbled down, along with six or seven Italian cars. One would have crushed the Athena Parthenos, but the statue's glowing aura acted like a force field, and the car bounced off. Unfortunately, it fell straight toward Annabeth.

She jumped to one side, twisting her bad foot. A wave of agony almost made her pass out, but she flipped on her back in time to see a bright red Fiat 500 slam into Arachne's silk trap, punching through the cavern floor and disappearing with Chinese Spidercuffs.

As Arachne fell, she screamed like a freight train on a collision course; but her wailing rapidly faded. All around Annabeth, more chunks of debris slammed through the floor, riddling it with holes.

The Athena Parthenos remained undamaged, though the marble under its pedestal was a starburst of fractures. Annabeth was covered in cobwebs. She trailed strands of leftover spider silk from her arms and legs like the strings of a marionette, but somehow, amazingly, none of the debris had hit her. She wanted to believe that the statue had protected her, though she suspected it might've been just luck.

The army of spiders had disappeared. Either they had fled back into the darkness, or they'd fallen into the chasm. As daylight flooded the cavern, Arachne's tapestries along the walls crumbled to dust, which Annabeth could hardly bear to watch - especially the tapestry depicting her and Percy.

But none of that mattered when she heard Percy's voice from above: "Annabeth!"

"Here!" she sobbed.

All the terror seemed to leave her in one massive yelp. As the Argo ll descended, she saw Percy leaning over the rail. His smile was better than any tapestry she'd ever seen.

The room kept shaking, but Annabeth managed to stand. The floor at her feet seemed stable for the moment. Her back-pack was missing, along with Daedalus' laptop. Her bronze knife, which she'd had since she was seven, was also gone - probably fallen into the pit. But Annabeth didn't care. She was alive.

She edged closer to the gaping hole made by the Fiat 500. Jagged rock walls plunged into the darkness as far as Annabeth could see. A few small ledges jutted out here and there, but Annabeth saw nothing on them - just strands of spider silk dripping over the sides of the sides like Christmas tinsel.

Annabeth wondered if Arachne had told the truth about the chasm. Had the spider fallen all the way to Tartarus?  Arachne had made some beautiful things. She'd already suffered for eons. Now her last tapestries had crumbled. After all that, falling to Tartarus seemed like too harsh an end.

Annabeth was dimly aware of the Argo ll hovering over to a stop about forty feet from the floor. It lowered a rope ladder, but Annabeth stood in a daze, staring into the darkness. Then suddenly Percy was next to her, lacing his fingers in hers.