A/N: This is my first fanfic. I've read many PJO stories here on and wanted to write my own PJO fic. I couldn't wait for the House of Hades to come out so I decided to write my own ending to the Heroes of Olympus series. I've already written a couple of chapters and will edit and update them soon. I will probably update this story once or twice a week or even earlier if I'm free. This chapter is in Percy's POV. I will change POVs as needed. There is no particular order. If you have a question or suggestion, you can PM me or review. I would be more likely to respond to a PM but a review will also be greatly appreciated. No flames please!

Enjoy the story! :)

PERCY POV

I don't remember how long we have been in Tartarus.

The best I could figure was 2 weeks. But it felt like a lifetime.

The good news, we were still alive. The bad news, we were surrounded by monsters. It seemed hopeless, Annabeth's foot was still broken and I was more than exhausted. I was ready to drop dead. But somehow, I kept standing, riptide in one hand and the other hand clasping Annabeth's so that we were not separated.

We did not seem to tire at the same rate as we did in the outside world, but we had already been tired from the ordeal in Rome when we fell into Tartarus. Strangely, the fall hadn't hurt at all and at first, Tartarus had seemed almost peaceful – a barren wasteland with nothing in sight for as far as we could see. Then, the monsters began to come. In the beginning, there had been just one or two at a time but after a few days they started coming in larger groups.

Whenever we were not fighting, I was either running with Annabeth on my back or we were sleeping or rather trying to sleep. We barely slept in the last two weeks and I was at my breaking limit. We had been trying to get some sleep when we were swarmed by monsters of all types – hellhounds, dracaena, telkhines, laestrygonians, a few hydras and even a drakon.

I managed to push them back enough for them to make a circle around us. Annabeth and I stood back to back pushing back or killing any monster that came close. I don't know where monsters killed in Tartarus go to and I don't intend to find out. We held them off for a few minutes but we couldn't hope to continue this standoff.

Just as I was about to lose all hope, everything went dark, and I mean completely dark. I couldn't even see my own body even though I knew my eyes were open and I could feel Annabeth's hand in mine. I tried to slash riptide in front of me since the monsters might still be there but there was nothing. After what felt like many hours but was in fact a few seconds, the darkness lifted and there was no monster in sight.

Just as I was about to ask Annabeth if she was okay, a man spoke up to my left, "Perseus Jackson." I spun around to face the man and so did Annabeth. But what stood before me looked nothing like a man. He had the shape of a man but nothing else. He was completely black! And I mean pitch black. I couldn't make out any feature of his body except the whites of his half-closed eyes. But that wasn't the scary part. He seemed to radiate so much energy and power that I felt like I was melting.

Beside me Annabeth gasped. When he spoke, I could barely make out his lips moving, "I have heard a lot about you." Somehow, I found my voice, "Who are you?" "You should know your mythology by now, son of Poseidon, your friend seems to know who I am." I glanced at Annabeth, she was gaping at the man and didn't seem to be able to speak. That was new. I looked at the man again and went through the list of Titans and gods I knew of but none of them fit the description. That made no sense because only a Titan or a God could radiate this type of power.

I raised my sword and asked again, "Who are you?" "Why I am darkness itself, I am Erebus." Comprehension dawned on me, I was looking at the primordial deity Erebus, the true God of Darkness. "But, y-you faded, di-didn't you?", I spluttered out. Annabeth finally found her voice, "No, he just disappeared. Nobody has seen him since forever." She was still staring at him as if she couldn't believe her own eyes. Erebus looked amused but it was difficult to make out his face, let alone his expression.

"Yes, I decided many millennia ago to go into hiding, the world held no interest for me anymore. And what better place to hide than Tartarus itself. Tartarus even let me build my own domain here. I have been sleeping since then without any distractions. Even now I am not fully awake. All this business with the Doors of Death opening and Gaea beginning to stir has disturbed my sleep and I am impatient to go back to it. So, to speed things up, I am going to help you get to the Doors of Death."

I looked at him warily; I had yet to meet an immortal who would help us for free. "What would you want in return?" He seemed genuinely surprised with my question, "What could I possibly want from you? All I want to do is go back to my sleep and that can only happen when all this madness ends. Now come along and I will tell you how I am going to help you." With that he started walking.

I looked at Annabeth, she nodded. I started to follow him but, as I took my first step, I stumbled and fell. "Percy!" Annabeth yelled and knelt down next to me, wincing at her broken foot. I had forgotten how tired I was, I could barely stand. Erebus looked back surprised, "Oh yes! Forgive me." He pointed at us and two balls of pure darkness came towards us. One passed through my chest and the other through Annabeth's. For a moment nothing happened, but then I felt power course through my body, healing all my cuts and bruises and filling me with energy. After a couple of seconds, I felt as good as new. I looked at Annabeth and saw her jumping up and down testing her foot. Her foot was completely healed along with all her other injuries. I looked at Erebus but he already started walking again. I quickly got up and we sprinted after him.

When we caught up to him, he said, "I will take you to the Doors myself since that will be the quickest way." He snapped his fingers and a completely black portal-like thing opened up in front of us. We stepped into it and the next moment we were standing in a rocky corridor. I couldn't see any door in sight and looked at Erebus questioningly. He sighed, "I cannot transport you directly to the Doors since I do not want Gaea to know of my involvement. I do not wish to fight. I simply want to go back to sleep. Now, the doors are a little ways down to the right. As I understand, the doors need to be closed from both sides, so when you have cleared out all of Gaea's minions, I will come and close the doors from the inside while you do so from the outside. But, before all that, I want you to swear on the river Styx that you will never reveal it to anyone that I helped you or that you even met me. I do not want people to start looking for me."

This time Annabeth spoke up, "Why do you wish to continue sleeping? You could help us defeat Gaea once and for all. You are probably as strong as she is and she's not even fully awake." Erebus turned to her, "I do not wish to be involved in Gaea's affairs and I don't have any particular love for the world either. I am helping you simply because I wish to go back to sleep and also because young Perseus here interests me. He is one of the very few interesting people I have ever known and watching his life has been the most entertaining time of my very long life." Now i was confused, "Hang on, how were you watching me if you were asleep?"

He seemed amused again, "My young demigod, I am a primordial, as you people call us. Even in sleep I am aware of what goes on in the world to a certain extent." Annabeth looked disappointed that Erebus wouldn't help with Gaea but didn't push it.

Erebus simply said, "Now off you go," and disappeared. We looked at each other and then together we advanced down the corridor with our weapons drawn.

So, how was it? I'm not going to demand reviews for updates. I know how frustrating that is. I'll update within the week no matter what. but still, any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.