Disclaimer: Don't own PJO.

"Aren't we supposed to be dead by now?" Percy grumbled, stepping over jagged stalagmites and ducking under stalactites that hopefully wouldn't slice his head off.

"Probably."

"Then why aren't we?" Percy almost tripped over a rock. He raised Riptide, and the gold light it gave off helped illuminate his way.

"I don't know Percy, okay?" Annabeth snapped. "All I know is that we fell into that deep pit leading to Tartarus, but somehow, we aren't in Tartarus."

"Where are we now?" Percy blurted out.

Annabeth shook her head in the dim light. He was just full of questions now, wasn't he? "Somewhere in the Underworld."

"Somewhere?"

"Yes, Percy, somewhere," she looked back and gave him another one of those looks, "I don't have a map of the Underworld handy, nor do I have built-in GPS in my brain. Somewhere." Annabeth started walking a bit faster, and Percy hastily followed her.

It was quiet for a few more moments, until Percy said, "We should've died upon impact." Annabeth froze. She hoped that he wouldn't have figured that out so soon.

"Yeah, we should've." Their voices had dropped down to eerie whispers.

"What if we are dead, but we just don't know it?" Percy said quietly. He grabbed Annabeth's hand and squeezed it.

"Let's hope not." She laced her fingers with his and gave a tight squeeze back.

...

"We still have a war to win, Percy, hurry up." Now they were climbing a wall. Thank the gods that the camp actually had a climbing wall. Chiron probably knew that this would happen one day; one, or in this case two, of his campers would end up climbing walls in Hell.

"I would, but your foot's kind of on my head."

"Oops." Annabeth placed her foot on a rock, a real one this time, to the right. "At least it's not your face." She gave him a small smile as if to say that she was sorry.

Percy swore that the room became a little brighter.

...

Percy shivered. "I'm cold."

Annabeth gave him a dirty look. "The fires of Hell should be able to keep you warm."

"Someone woke up on the wrong side of Hades this morning," he grumbled and dodged an incoming knife that seemingly came out of nowhere.

...

"Wow, is that—"

"The River Lethe," Annabeth finished for him, "even one drop can start to make people forget who they are."

"Didn't Bob come here?" Percy questioned.

She chuckled. "Iapetus, yes."

Percy stared at the pure, black water and tugged on Annabeth's hand. "Let's go a different way," and added, almost mumbling so she couldn't hear him, "I don't ever want to forget you."

Annabeth was really glad that her blush couldn't show through the dark. She followed him, nonetheless; a shame they didn't notice a blonde-haired boy take his first dip.

...

"Holy Hera," Percy gave a quick side glance at Annabeth as if to say sorry for even uttering her name."Where are we?"

Annabeth pursed her lips. "Dead end, apparently."

"My feet are killing me."

"Just be glad that we've barely been attacked by any mon—" The rock wall slowly turned into doors. Twin black doors. They were here.

The Doors of Death.

...

Annabeth spoke too soon, because a deep rumbling was heard, causing her to lose her footing on her bad ankle. Percy caught her.

"You ready?" Annabeth said, bracing her dagger in front of her.

"Uh," Percy uncapped his pen, "I don't think I have much of a choice."

"Plan A?" Her eyes flickered from him to what was in front of them. She was waiting for his answer and trying to figure out what could've made that rumbling noise. At the same time. Smart girl.

"How about Plan B?" Percy suggested. "We haven't done that one in a—"

"I don't have my cap. We're doing Plan A, Seaweed Brain." Annabeth stepped away from his embrace and got into a fighting stance. Percy did the same.

"All or nothing, Wise Girl." He shot his famous lopsided smile at her, and she couldn't help but smile back. Something must've ran through Percy's mind, because he lowered his sword a bit. "How do we even close the Doors of Death?"

Annabeth took a deep breath. "We'll figure that out after all the monsters."

Percy looked shocked. This wasn't usual Annabeth behavior. "What do you mean after—" The doors burst open, and the couple was ready for the battle of a lifetime.

AN: This was pretty fast paced. I was trying to write a different post-MoA fic, but this kind of happened. Hope you guys liked it.

House of Hades and One-Whole-Year-of-Waiting.

~Taffeh