Son Of Darkness

Chapter-8

When the group finally emerged from the maze in the Necromanteion, Percy stopped short in his tracks.

Everybody turned and looked at him in confusion. He had stopped, mid-step. He stood facing the sun with his eyes closed.

One more tear slipped down his cheek, but this time it was accompanied by a smile, a genuine one, one that he hadn't made in a long time.

"Percy? Are you okay?", Annabeth asked gently.

He opened his eyes and seemed to realise for the first time that everybody was waiting for him.

"Sorry. I haven't seen the sun in a long time".

His words silenced the quiet conversation that had begun between the crew since they had left the cavern.

Percy closed his eyes again, taking a deep breath of fresh air.

He never thought that he would get to smell the scent of sea salt off the water again. The scent of blood down in Tartarus was completely overpowering, and it was all that Percy ever thought that he would smell again.

Once he was ready, the group continued on, hiking back down the hill and climbing aboard the Argo II.

Leo retreated away from the main group to begin guiding the ship back to New York, letting the others say their hellos.

The girls and Frank all had tears in their eyes as they each gave him a hug.

Frank's hug made his wounds scream in protest, but he ignored them and squeezed back just as fiercely. He had missed his friends immensely, and never thought that he'd be able to see them again.

Last in line was Annabeth, his wise girl.

They looked each other in the eye for a few moments before rushing together. Percy brought her mouth to his and nothing else mattered.

He didn't care about the hoots and hollers that his friends made, or the disgusted sound that Leo made over the intercom after seeing what they had done over the cameras.

All he cared about was that he had his wise girl back, and he was never going to let anything get in between them ever again. Because when Moros had shown him Annabeth's destiny, that singular moment when he had seen Annabeth murdered right in front of his eyes. Even though it wasn't real, and even though he held her in his arms now, that still was, and always will be the worst moment of his entire life.

When they finally separated, they left their foreheads touching, and their chests heaved in rhythm with one another.

"All right. Break it up you two!", Jason said, stepping in between them and throwing Percy a grin.

"Yeah, come on, Percy. We have to go get you cleaned up in the infirmary", Piper said, grabbing his arm and trying to pull him away.

"No, no. I'm fine. I don't need to go to the infirmary".

They all looked at him incredulously.

"Dude, you just got out of Tartarus. Of course you need to go to the infirmary", Jason said.

But Percy didn't listen, and gently pried his arm from Piper's grasp.