Prologue:

It's been a few months since the fall of Gaea. Percy's been spending his time around camp, hanging out with his girlfriend, and trying to forget some of the not-so-stellar parts of their recent journey. As it turns out, there's one part of the quest he can't forget. Tartarus. Little does he know, Tartarus may have left a bigger impact than a memory. One that may cost him his life.

author note:

okay so this is the first fanfic thing ive ever written. it's from percy's pov and he's basically struggling with the aftereffects (and most likely ptsd) of tartarus, and some other stuff that I won't spoil for you.

edit 1: As for romance this story will mostly stick to what's cannon in the books, besides for little things im throwing in here and there. Nevertheless, enjoy!

Falling Down - Chapter 1

I Dream About Dead People

Percy woke with a violent shudder, his voice catching in his throat as he attempted to scream. He wildly threw off the bedsheets, scrambling for a weapon to face his oncoming attacker. Percy drew Riptide from his pocket, sweat dripping down his face. It was only after a minute of standing with his blade pointed at nothing that Percy realized he was alone in Cabin Three at Camp Half Blood. Slowly, he sank back down onto his bunk.

Yeah, it was common for demigods to have more than a healthy amount of wild dreams, it was really no big deal. But Percy hadn't been having his regular run-of-the-mill demigod-nightmare-helping since his tryst through Tartarus. Now his nightmares consisted of horrifying reruns of enemies he'd encountered down there, terrifying images of Annabeth dying as he's unable to move. Drowning in pools of his own blood. Drowning in pools of his friends blood. Things he'd hoped he'd never see again. Things he'd never seen yet his mind created out of his worst fears.

Yeah. Fun stuff. Percy knew Annabeth was suffering the same kind of nightmares in her own cabin, but they never talked about it. Their unspoken philosophy was to do their best to forget, and life would get better.

Recently, though, with the war with Gaea being over there was nothing to distract him from fun dream torture. He'd woken up screaming every night this week. Percy dropped his face into his hands. He knew he should talk to someone about it. Maybe like, get it off his mind or something by just telling someone, then maybe it'd go away. Unfortunately for Percy, he wasn't the kind of guy who went around dumping his problems onto others. Actually, he had an annoying habit of taking on his friends' problems instead. So basically, Percy wasn't good at opening up like that to people; it just wasn't something he did.

He got up and made his way to the bathroom. Apparently while the seven had been out on the Argo II, the campers had installed bathrooms in all the cabins. Percy was definitely not complaining.

He turned on the sink and let the water flow over his hands for a minute before splashing his face with it. Honestly, just dunking his face into the saltwater spring in the other room would probably have the same effect, but Percy was too distracted to feel uncivilized. He was glad Tyson wasn't at camp right now, the big guy would be worried out of his mind. Percy looked into the mirror, leaning closer to get a good look at his eyes, which were red. It looked kind of Christmas-y, his sea green eyes contrasting with the sickly puffy redness of the whites of his eyes.

Percy splashed his face one more time for good measure, turning off the water and heading back into his room. A few days ago he'd considered asking Mr. D if he had some kind of godly sleeping pills and if Percy could have some. He didn't, of course, unsure of what the god of wine would say back to him.

Deciding that sleep would be useless at this point (more like he was tired but just didn't want any nightmares,) Percy concluded that taking a trip to Jason's cabin at two in the morning was a great idea.

He snuck quietly across the lawn. The Harpies would be out, and Percy wasn't too keen on becoming lunch for ugly bird women who reminded him of every mean lunch lady he'd ever met. Reaching the Zeus Cabin, he looked around behind him to make sure nobody was following. The door opened with a click, and Percy let himself inside.

The interior of the Zeus cabin was similar to the Poseidon Cabin, just minus the soothing salt water pool and with the addition of a Hippie Zeus statue that made Percy wonder how Jason slept at night. Speaking of Jason, Percy noted that he was sound asleep in his bunk, turned on his side facing the wall. The blonde superman had been traveling pretty diligently between both camps recently, so it was no wonder he was passed out like a log. Percy wasn't supposed to go to New Rome to begin college for another two months, so he had been staying at Camp Half Blood to help out.

Percy was about to go sit on Jason until he woke up when he noticed a sudden movement in the corner of the room.

"Hey Percy."

Percy practically tripped over his feet and just barely avoided falling over backwards onto Jason.

"Nico! You scared me!" Percy whispered frantically, "What are you doing here?"

"Ssshhhh! Don't be so loud! And I was just about to ask you the same thing." Nico whispered, much quieter than Percy's whispering.

"Uhhh, just coming to see my bro Jason. Isn't a guy allowed to come see his bro unannounced at two in the morning sometimes?"

"Well, uh-"

"So what about you? What are you doing here?" Percy said, cutting him off.

"Im just- hey, stop that!" Nico scowled as Percy began waggling his eyebrows, "It's not like that!"

"Dude, are you like, watching him sleep or something? That's adorable. And kind of creepy." Percy faked a gasp, "Maybe we should wake him up to tell him what you've been up to." He started reaching towards the snoozing guy on the bed.

"No!"

"Chill, chill, I wasn't actually going to, man. I'm not that mean." Percy laughed, "But really….what are you doing in here?"

"Look….forget it. I've gotta go anyway and it's not important." Nico scoffed, walking across the room to the door. Percy watched him silently, remembering the vague but horrendous things Nico had occasionally mentioned about his descent alone into Tartarus.

"Was it the nightmares?" Percy asked softly.

Nico stopped just as his hand hit the doorknob. He let loose a little sigh and turned to face Percy, the moonlight coming in from the windows made it just bright enough to make out the dark circles under his eyes, his tired physique.

"Yeah." He whispered, glancing at Jason and scrunching his eyebrows.

"Yeah, me too." Percy sighed, moving over to the bunk on the other side of the room and sat down, "I was gonna wake Jason to ask if he wanted to break into the Big House to play some video games. You know, to take my mind off stuff."

Percy heard Nico stifle a laugh and looked up at him, "What?"

"You wanted to break into the Big House at 2:30 AM to play video games? Did you think Chiron was just gonna let you do that?" Nico leaned against the wall with his hand over his mouth, "Forget Chiron, Mr. D would feed you to the harpies."

"Hey! At least my ideas are better than staring at blonde superman suck his thumb all night."

"That is so not what was happening."

"Oh, why? Could it be? Is Jason not-"

"Don't you dare."

"Your-"

"PERCY."

"Type?"

"JACKSON."

Percy made an incredulous expression, crossing his arms and trying not to laugh. Gods, Nico was so easy to rile up it was almost like a sport. Nico threw up his hands in frustration, muttering stuff in Italian under his breath. Initially, when Nico told Percy he wasn't his type, Percy had badgered Annabeth about it for days asking how could he not be his type. Why wasn't he his type? Was he Annabeth's type? He eventually shut up when Annabeth reminded him they were dating.

Anyway, he was pretty much over it, especially considering he was never interested in Nico like that in the first place. Their relationship since then had gone back to normal, as normal as a friendship between two of the world's most powerful demigods can be. Add Jason into that mix and you had either a perfect recipe for some serious fun, or a one way ticket to Tartarus. Scratch that. A one way ticket to the Underworld. Percy didn't want to think about Tartarus. And speaking of Jason, he was starting to shift under his covers.

Nico sighed and rubbed his temples, "I should get going, Hazel wants me in New Rome by morning."

"Alright dude, Iris message me if you need anything." Percy rubbed the back of his neck, "Or like, if you want to talk about, you know, the nightm-"

"Yeah. I will." Nico said, cutting Percy off. Percy knew that 'I will' really meant 'I will definitely not', but it was okay with him. He knew Nico would come out of the shadows when he was ready; and open up to his friends about his nightmares when he was comfortable. No need to rush. Percy guessed he and Nico were kind of similar in that way, but he knew that Nico had probably been through a hell of a lot worse: not just down in Tartarus but also in the time he spent slowly dying in that jar.

As the door clicked behind Nico, Percy was left alone with a snoozing blonde superman. Percy put his elbows on his knees, watching the soft rise and fall of Jason's breathing. Maybe Nico had actually come in here to watch Jason sleep. It was calming, if you could put it out of your mind that it was slightly creepy. And on the plus side, Jason was the only one of his close friends who wouldn't think twice if he woke up with Percy staring at him from the other bed. Percy scooted back against the pillows and played with the hem of his shirt as he listened to Jason's rhythmic breathing and fought off drowsiness.

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He was standing in a dull barren field, the air was thick and noxious - just breathing it in was making him light headed. Percy glanced around nervously, the red haze of fog hanging around him making it hard to see anything. He coughed into his sleeve, recoiling when he smelled the metallic scent of blood on his clothing. Percy stumbled backwards, breathing heavy. He glanced at his other hand, and realized slowly that he was holding Riptide. A really, really bloody Riptide. Percy gagged, dropping it in disgust. His gaze was torn away as he heard a muffled cry.

Percy's horrified gaze landed on Leo, who was on his knees with a sword - Riptide - in his chest. His eyes wide and glazed, he stared up at Percy in terror. Percy began to shake and stared at his hands. Why was Riptide in Leo's chest? Had Percy done that? Why was Leo even here? Wasn't he already dead? Percy's shaking gaze landed back on the curly haired boy in front of him.

"It's your fault." Leo said in a raspy voice.

"Leo - I'm sorry, I-I didn't - what's happening? Wh-what happened?" Percy gasped, falling to his knees in front of the mechanic.

"It's your fault I'm dead. If you had fought Gaea with us this wouldn't have happened. This is all your fault."

Leo's blood suddenly started flowing faster, his brown eyes locked into Percy's like an inferno.

"I trusted you."

Leo's form burst into a thick wave of blood and ash, filling up the field as Percy stumbled and splashed to his feet.

"We all trusted you."

Leo's disembodied voice rose to a scream as Percy's head went under and blood filled his lungs.

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"Percy? Percy!"

Percy's eyes flew open and he gasped for breath, feeling himself shuddering violently, "Jason," He croaked out.

Jason was leaning over him on the little cot, his eyebrows scrunched together in worry, "Hey," He said, putting a hand on Percy's forehead, "You look terrible, are you alright?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine."

Jason gave him a skeptical look, "Sure you're fine, that's why I woke up to you screaming and tossing like the bedsheets were eating you for breakfast." He sighed, running a hand over the back of his neck, "Look, Percy… Piper told me about the nightmares. She heard from Annabeth."

Percy stayed silent, biting his bottom lip slightly. He pushed himself up, brushing off Jason's hand. "I'm fine. It was nothing, trust me dude." He stood up, stretching his arms in fake calmness. Percy willed himself to stop shaking. He hadn't meant to fall asleep in here; that was a big mistake.

"Percy…"

"Jason, it's fine. It was just a dumb nightmare." Percy smiled, pretending to rub sleep out of his eyes.

"Then why were you in here?" Jason said, crossing his arms and leaning against the side of the bed, "You must have come in here really early this morning and I want to know why."

"I was bored! I was gonna ask if you wanted to play some video games but I fell asleep waiting for you to wake up."

Jason just looked at him. Percy looked back, raising his eyebrows in defiance.

"Percy, I'm worried about you. Annabeth told Piper the nightmares have been getting bad lately and she wakes up in a cold sweat almost every night. I'd be willing to bet that the same thing is happening to you. I'm not stupid, Percy, just let me help you." Jason said softly, taking a step towards the son of Poseidon.

Percy ran a hand over his face, turning to face Jason. "Look, I'm not good at this stuff-"

"I don't care. It doesn't matter if our days on the Argo II are over, we're still a team and we still need to look out for each other."

Percy stared at Jason for a few seconds, and then sighed and quietly murmured, "It was about Leo."

He saw Jason physically freeze. Over the past few months it was almost taboo to talk about Jason's deceased best friend while he was around. Same with Piper. Out of everyone, they probably took his death the worst. Jason had locked himself in the Zeus Cabin for days, while Piper went into the woods to Bunker Nine and spent a week there by herself. They had been Leo's best friends, and everyone knew not to talk about him anywhere near either of them.

"What happened?" Jason asked quietly, sinking himself down onto the bed, eyebrows creased and eyes focused.

"He was…He…I- I saw him dying, like, in front of me and…" Percy decided to leave the part about Riptide being lodged into the mechanic's ribcage, "He talked about how it was…my fault..that he was dead. He said he trusted me and- Jason please, don't make me say this stuff."

Jason looked like he was on the edge of his seat. "No, no no. It's okay, keep going."

Percy bit his lip again. He didn't want to upset Jason, didn't want to talk about the dream and make it seem like it was all about himself, and also didn't want to talk about it for the sole reason that he didn't want to. Percy Jackson didn't have problems. On the occasion that Percy Jackson did have problems, he handled them himself.

"Look, he basically told me it was my fault Gaea killed him and that I let everyone down for letting him die."

"But…Percy, you weren't even there when he died." Jason's voice caught a little at the word 'died', "There was nothing you could have done."

Percy sighed as Jason patted the spot next to him, gesturing that he wanted him to sit next to him. Percy obliged, flopping down next to him.

"There was though. I could have been there. I SHOULD have been there. It could have been me instead of him; there was absolutely no reason for Leo to die. If I had been up there, fighting with Gaea with you guys I could have-"

"Percy."

Percy was vaguely aware of his voice rising in hysteria with each passing second, "I could have saved him, Jason, he thinks it's my fault and he hates me because I didn't save him - it drowned me. It drowned me, and it wasn't water. But it was like, blood. Really thick, hot blood and it kept pouring out of him," Jason put a firm hand on Percy's shoulder and Percy jerked away, "His voice didn't even have a body it was just there in my ears and the blood from where I stabbed him was everywhere. I don't remember stabbing him - it was just there, in his stomach. Riptide, I mean, but I didn't put it there! I never wanted any of this to happen. Now Leo's in Tartarus and I stabbed him with Riptide and-"

Jason pulled Percy to him, pushing Poseidon's son's face to his shoulder.

"Listen to me, none of what you saw is real. Leo's death wasn't your fault, and he's not in Tartarus either. It was just a dream."

Percy's face went even further into Jason's shoulder, if even possible. His voice lowered back down to it's normal tone, his rising panic snuffed out at the physical contact Jason made with him. "It happens every night. Every night it's something new. I don't know how to deal with it, man. I just want it to stop."

Jason slowly rubbed circles into Percy's back. Percy knew this was super embarrassing. Here he was, being held by a buff blonde glasses dude whining about stupid nightmares. He felt like he'd regressed by about twelve years. Percy really needed to pull it together. Lifting his face from Jason's shoulder, he sat back and took a deep breath.

"I know, dude. And I'm gonna help you through this, alright? If you'll let me anyway." Jason said, scrunching his eyebrows together.

"I know, I know. And I know you're right about it just being a dream… it just… felt so real."

Jason pulled Percy towards him, but this time into a hug instead of a face-shoulder embrace. "Hey, you're gonna be alright. Both you and Annabeth. I'll never know what you went through down there, but if you need anybody to talk to, I'm your guy. That goes for Nico too."

Percy hugged him back, honestly so grateful for Jason being there.

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The next morning, Percy woke up in his own cabin and found himself seemingly free of nightmares. He stretched his arms out, feeling rested for the first time in what seemed like ages. Maybe talking to Jason really had done some good; even with the image of Leo on his knees still etched into his brain.

Getting dressed quickly, he made his way out of Cabin Three and outside into the dusty sunshine of morning. The camp was slowly awakening, only a few campers already out and about. Looking out across the field, Percy could see movement around the Athena Cabin, and decided he should check on Annabeth.

After Tartarus, Percy's Ultra-Super-Protective senses had been activated when it came to Annabeth. He almost lost her way too many times for comfort. They were practically soulmates for life, best friends since they were twelve, lovers since they were sixteen.

As he neared the cabin, he could hear the distinct sound of the shuffling of papers and chatting of campers from inside the walls. The door opened as he got closer, revealing a familiar head of cascading blonde princess curls.

"Hey, Wise Girl." Percy smiled as she turned around and grinned back.

"Seaweed Brain, you're up early." She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Yeah," He rubbed the back of his neck bashfully, "I guess so."

Annabeth grinned at him again before lacing her fingers through his. He gently tugged her behind the cabin, her face showing the telltale signs of confusion as he sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"Listen…So I was talking to Jason last night, and he heard from Piper that you told her your nightmares are getting worse." Percy said in a lowered voice, making sure that nobody could hear them, even though they were alone behind the Athena Cabin.

Annabeth took a deep breath, running her thumb over Percy's knuckles, "I mean, I guess it's been getting worse, but it's really not a big deal, Percy, it's nothing I can't handle."

Percy leaned in and kissed her chastely, pulling back and putting his hands on either side of her face, "Alright, but still, tell me if it gets any worse."

Annabeth gave him a little smile, reaching up and running her hand through his hair, "Same goes for you, Seaweed Brain."

Percy smiled back at her and fought the urge to cross his fingers behind his back, "Definitely."

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The day continued peacefully, nothing out of the ordinary happening throughout the day. Percy and Annabeth usually went through their days like this - only leaving each other's side when they needed to. They were both too paranoid, but never let it show in front of the campers. To anyone except their close friends, they were the picture perfect calm and collected couple. Percy was okay with that.

After the day was over and after Percy had kissed Annabeth goodnight, he found himself staring at his reflection again back in Cabin Three. His eyes were no longer red, upon inspection, but he was still thinking about what Annabeth had said.

When they had gone to the dining pavilion for lunch, Annabeth had brought up Tartarus one last time. She told him she had done some research and nosed around in records of demigods who had been to Tartarus and back. The list was obviously very limited, the most recent besides Percy, Annabeth, and Nico was sometime around 100 AD.

Anyway, the most disturbing thing that Annabeth discovered was records that said things about the after-effects of surviving through Tartarus. Apparently, survivors had begun to show signs of a strange kind of sickness a few months after their return. Unfortunately, there was no other information besides that.

It was slightly worrying, but with any luck, whatever sickness it was wouldn't affect him or Annabeth. There were plenty of demigods thousands of years before them who had been down there for way longer.

He realized suddenly with a start that he didn't actually know how long Nico had been in Tartarus. The question never really crossed his mind before now. What if Nico was sick or something? Could Hades kids get sick? He wasn't sure, but he had to find out. As soon as possible, which meant tomorrow. Percy slowly walked back into the main room, sinking down onto his mattress. There was a chance that Nico hadn't just been in Jason's room to listen to his breathing. He could have been coming to Jason to get help or something. Percy scratched his head. Nico would long be in New Rome by now. Tomorrow he could Iris Message him and see if he was okay. Yeah. Percy shuffled himself under the covers, praying to the Gods that he'd have no nightmares tonight.

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Percy's prayers were answered. Well, kind of. His dream started out with a girl looking out from an island. The island was vaguely familiar to Percy, like he'd been there before, a really long time ago. The girl waved up at the sky as the scene changed, this time to Leo sitting on the beach, grinning at someone out of Percy's line of sight. Leo jumped to his feet suddenly, gesturing to the hidden person to follow him before he looked straight at Percy and gave him a thumbs up.

Leo moved in slow motion and in a voice that sounded like it was underwater, he said, "I'll be home soon."

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Percy jolted awake, sitting up and breathing fast, staring down at his hands. That was one of the most peaceful yet eerie dreams he's had to date. Was this dream about Leo also some sort of illusion made up by his mind? Or was it a sign? That Leo was actually still alive or something. Percy swung his legs out of bed, noticing with a glance out the window that it was even earlier than the day before. Damn. He wasn't even a morning person. Maybe he really was sick.

The worst part was, he wasn't even tired. Shrugging and changing into a simple CHB tee and shorts, he made his way barefoot out of his cabin. As he shut the door behind him and breathed in the cool morning air, he started walking towards the lake.

If there was anywhere that could calm his thoughts and fears about small Latino ADHD demigods, it was the lake. The water would sooth his mind and maybe even help him figure his dreams out.

First off, on the very probable suspicion that the dream was just his imagination playing tricks on him, that was just plain cruel. On the other hand, if it was an actual demigod-power-influenced dream, then the chances of Leo actually being alive and trying to return to Camp Half-Blood were very real.

Percy realized with a frown that he'd had not one but two consecutive dreams about the mechanic in the past few days. They'd never really been close, especially because initially Leo hadn't made a very good impression on Percy at all. They'd only really talked a few times, and while they were on good terms, they weren't exactly BFFS. Well, when he was alive at least. Unless his dreams were real and Leo was alive. Unless his dreams were messing with him. Unless…. Percy really needed to stop thinking, he was making his brain hurt.

He reached the edge of the lake, taking one of the ropes from a canoe and untying it. He climbed in, tucking the rope underneath one of the seats. Percy settled himself on the center seat, feeling the broad, well-sanded wood beneath his fingertips. He closed his deep sea green eyes, willing the water around the canoe to take it out into the lake. With a pull in his gut, the small boat dipped into the water, rocking lazily as Percy hoisted the oars into motion.

Yeah, he could probably more easily just move the canoe through the water by will, but he wasn't really feeling it right now. He wanted to feel the oars on his hands, a pressure like an anchor keeping him grounded.

Percy sailed far out onto the water, letting the canoe slow to an easy lulled wade. He breathed in the deep smell of water and algae. Percy rubbed one of his thumbs in circles on one of the oars. There was nothing he wished for more than to just have everything go back to normal. If there was one thing Percy missed most, it was probably the ability to relax. It had been a few months since his descent already, and though he was doing better than he had when he emerged, it still wasn't the same. Nevertheless, Percy wasn't one to mope. In private, maybe, but never in public. He'd never let one bad thing that happened ruin him, no matter how bad it was. He had to stay unbreakable, indomitable, for his friends.

Percy let his gaze wander over the surface of the lake. Sleepy multicolored fish came up tentatively to the side of the small boat, mouthing the wood before swimming away. Bits and pieces of long freshwater seaweed could vaguely be seen below the water's surface, waving slowly as if saying hello to the son of Poseidon. The sun was still dipped halfway under the strawberry fields. A peaceful morning. Percy turned his head as he heard the yawning of naiads, who noticed him and gave him their cute flirty little half-waves as they giggled sleepily amongst themselves. Percy gave them a small smile and wave before stretching out his arms in the morning sun.

The calm of the water and atmosphere really did calm his nerves. He was feeling more at ease than he had in months. Percy was grateful for that.

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Percy realized he'd dozed off about three seconds after waking up. He glanced around blearily, noticing it was only slightly lighter and warmer than when he had nodded off, which meant he was only napping for about a half an hour or less. Grabbing the oars, he decided it was time to return to shore and sat up.

The pain hit him before his mind could even register. Percy doubled over unwillingly, the canoe rocking with his movement. It was unlike anything he'd ever felt before, a pain starting in his gut and slowly, excruciatingly, spreading both upwards and downwards. He let go of the oars frantically and gripped the side of the boat as his other arm circled his middle. What was going on? Both his mind and body screamed as he entered a form of panic. He needed to get to shore, get to Annabeth, Chiron, someone, anyone. It didn't matter as long as it was before his insides exploded or something. Desperately, Percy tried moving the canoe by will, nothing happening except more pain and the lake erupting into waves. He couldn't control his power. Great. Maybe the water would help? Yeah. His brain was getting increasingly more hazy with searing pain. Son of Posiedon. Water. Son of Posiedon plus water equals good.

"Please, please, pleasepleasepleaseplease," Percy gritted out of his teeth as he jerkily shoved his hand off the side of the boat and into the water. He was gonna need to get his whole body in somehow. He tried to stand up, his vision swimming as he tasted a warm metallic substance in his mouth. Great. This whole experience was wonderful. Percy coughed suddenly, his chest contracting painfully. His hands flew to his mouth as he leaned over himself and his shaking legs tried to support him. The coughs wracked him like he was being hit over and over, he felt like a big sickly punching bag. When he could finally breathe, he pulled his hands off his mouth to find them coated in blood. Hooooly Shit. This was bad. Like on a scale of Piper-Forgot-To-Turn-Off-Her-Charmspeak bad to Jason-Fell-Asleep-MidFlight-Again bad, this was somewhere around the second option. Except worse. At least Percy thought it was worse.

His dizzy vision could make out a few naiads pointing in concern at him but suddenly there was no sound. Just him and the feeling of being torn to shreds. Rest in peace, Perseus Jackson, died at the age of 17, from stomach pains, he thought blearily.

Wait. The water began to thrash beneath the boat as Percy's eyes widened and he felt a shiver down his spine. Was this the sickness Annabeth mentioned? Percy coughed again, blood pouring from his mouth. He needed to get into the water. ASAP. Now. He stood up as best he could, finding the edge of the canoe with difficulty. Glancing up, he found the source of the waves that rocked the tiny boat.

A bronze dragon, thrashing around the water, the world still silent to Percy's ears. He stumbled as the boat rocked more as he blinked rapidly. He was starting to feel increasingly nauseous. What was he about to do just now? Why was he out on the lake? What was happening? Percy sputtered more blood out of his mouth. He didn't know where he was. The world felt like it was turning upside down. Percy felt his arm jerk to the side, someone was in front of him. He looked through lidded eyes at a familiar face. Leo? What was he doing here? Wasn't he dead? Percy blinked slowly as the brown eyed boy began to silently shout at him. Percy felt like he was watching a film, not even feeling himself begin to sway or the pressure of Leo's hands on his shoulders. The pain in his belly was white hot, so blistering he wasn't sure anymore if it was hot or cold. He must be dreaming, or something. Leo continued to shake him and scream in slow motion, his eyes wild with panic. Percy couldn't understand why. Was this Leo an illusion? Wasn't Leo in Tartarus? Yeah…in Tartarus. Because Percy ran him through with a sword. He really should apologize for that.

Percy's vision went from double to triple, and the last thing he saw was Leo desperately trying to get him to respond when the world turned inside out and he began to fall in slow motion. Tartarus. He was falling into Tartarus, the thought echoed without sound through his skull. Falling down, down, down. Again.

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Alright thanks for reading! Leave reviews and let me know what you think (should I continue it or nah, basically)