Does the sun shine in Tartarus?

9 - This Isn't Good

(A/N) sorry this took a while. I've been off the grid since New Year's, and also not in the best place mentally. I'm trying to get back into my writing rhythm though, so expect more updates from this and perhaps some new stories. I'm also working on my oneshots book, but since I need wifi to access the song lyrics it might be a bit until that's updated.

Remember - nothing I've said is certain. I'm still trying to figure a lot of things out, so please be patient.

Stay safe, and hopefully enjoy this chapter :)

Using the phrase "déjà vu" seemed like the understatement of the century to use when describing how Percy felt when he was falling.

He'd only ever done this once, and even then Annabeth was with him, and he was doing this under completely different circumstances, however all of that did not stop the seemingly endless waves of memories and flashbacks washing over him.

The fall seemed to last forever. Percy had managed to curl himself into an egg shape, bringing his knees to his chest as he kept falling. He squeezed his eyes shut, determined to block out all of the triggers that were causing his flashbacks.

Eventually, he landed in the river Cocytus.
No, bad river! He thought, pleadingly. No, no, this isn't good...

The wails of the damned filled his ears, and Percy tried to manipulate the river before he remembered that  this wasn't regular water, it was out of his control. Needless to say, that did not help quell the extreme panic he felt as he tried to swim out of the cursed river. His ears filled with screams, and among them...

"Annabeth!" He screamed. No, it couldn't be. But it sounded so much like her... "Annabeth! No!" It was all he could do not to break down and give up right there, but some part of his subconscious forced him to keep paddling to the edge of the river. It was too late to help her... the thought broke Percy's heart.

As much as he hated to admit it, Percy soon became numb to Annabeth's wails. They'd hurt him until they couldn't anymore, had shattered his heart so many times...

(A/N heart been broke so many times...)

Eventually, he pulled himself together and swam to the edge of the river Coccyx, and pulled himself up onto the hot red ground. He groaned softly, checking himself for any injuries. So far, there were none to bad.

"Well, well, well!" A high voice rang out, and Percy could have groaned. "Mr Jackson! Long time no see, hon."

"Hello, Kelli." He responded tiredly. He wasn't expecting to run into an old 'friend' so soon, but this was Tartarus. He should have known.

"Aw, you don't seem to happy to see me! Real shame, I thought we had something. Guess we should get this killing over with, hey hon?"
Percy shrugged, trying to appear nonchalant. Where the Hades is Apollo? He thought, hoping the sun god hadn't gotten himself into any trouble yet. He'd much rather that happen when Percy was around, so he didn't go get himself hurt.
"Guess I should." He muttered, drawing Riptide. The celestial bronze blade had a red tint to it, though it shimmered with power.

Greeks fight more slashy-slashy, he remembered Jason explaining to Reyna. The pain in his heart throbbed, distracting him from the fight.

He absentmindedly wondered if his fellow ex-praetor had survived the battle that so many of his friends didn't. He hadn't seen her around camp, but truth be told, he hadn't exactly gone looking. She was probably busy...

Kelli took his momentary distraction as an opportunity to lunge for him, knocking Riptide to the ground as she sank her teeth into Percy's left arm. He groaned in pain, and toppled over.