Alyss's first thought as she plummeted into Tartarus: really?

The three of them - herself, Horace, and Cassandra - had searched for Will for weeks. They'd fought countless monsters, slaughtered even the most dangerous ones, from Temujai to empousai to undead. When they had finally found Ferris's stronghold, they'd been overwhelmed and imprisoned themselves. They'd been drugged to suppress their powers.

Then, after long days of near-starvation, confinement, and further abuse, they'd finally had a chance to escape. And they'd been so close: every Tem'uj in the room dust, Ferris cornered. If it hadn't been for Will...

In the oppressive, complete darkness of the abyss, Alyss couldn't make out any of her companions. But she'd managed to grab hold of Will as they'd fallen, and she squeezed his hand now. He didn't reciprocate.

As much as Alyss wanted to put the blame on Will for getting them in this mess, she couldn't find it in herself to do so. Will had endured far more than any of them during their imprisonment, and from what Ferris had said, he'd endured even more in past years. He'd just gotten his powers back after having them forcibly suppressed for months. Add that to everything else that had happened today, and, well...

No matter how upset she was, she couldn't hold it against him. Especially when she knew he was probably already doing a great job of beating himself up over it.

The four demigods fell, and fell, and fell. Alyss wondered if it would ever stop. Most literature she'd read said there was an actual place down there, but she still wondered. What if this was it? What if they would simply fall throughout eternity? Tartarus had been made to hold the worst enemies of the gods, after all. How better to hold them than with a formless abyss?

Movement beside her. A small, smooth hand clasped onto her forearm. Cassandra. Horace would be right next to her, then; Alyss had seen them grab each other as she'd gone for Will. That was a small relief, knowing that at least the four of them were together. Falling into Tartarus was awful enough. Alyss couldn't imagine falling alone.

An indeterminable time passed. It could have been minutes or hours or days later, but finally the air around them began to lighten. As Alyss looked around she could see first her friends' outlines, then they gradually filled in. Soon she could make out their faces.

She sought eye contact with Will first. His hand felt normal now. Before, even getting within a few yards of him felt like being next to a nuclear reactor. She had felt the power rolling off him in waves, and it had hurt. When she'd first grabbed him, his hand had burned and she'd had to steel herself from drawing back. Now, though, it was fine. Whatever had triggered his breakdown had gone quiet.

Alyss tried not to wonder if that would happen again. If he were really just a ticking time-bomb. It wasn't fair to him, she knew. And it wasn't fair to her, because he was her friend.

She sought eye contact but he stubbornly avoided it, looking away not just from her but from all of them. His shoulders were hunched, as much as they could be considering they were still falling at a rate that Alyss bet scientists would call terminal. She pursed her lips and squeezed his hand again, then several more times insistently when he still wouldn't look at her.

Finally his eyes met hers. His face was drawn and guilty.

"Are you okay?" she asked him.

He went to shake his head, then shrugged. "I'm alright." He dipped his head towards her. "You?"

She shrugged back. Right then the shaft they were in opened. Tartarus came into view. With it came an inferno of heat.

Tartarus was enormous. Just from one glance it seemed larger than Manhattan. It was probably larger, for she couldn't see its entirety from her view. What she could see wasn't good.

Low-hanging clouds like boiled blood sat suspended in the air below them. A horrible stench of sulfur clawed its way into her nose. Jagged, black rocks formed the landscape, occasional outcroppings sticking up like hungry teeth. Several lines snaked their way below: one red, one white, one black, one gray. Far in front of her, Alyss saw the glimmer of what might've been a fifth river.

The significance of that didn't get the chance to take root. Now that they could see the ground, Alyss realized with horror that it was getting closer very, very quickly.

"What are we going to do?" Horace yelled over the wind. He was the only one who didn't look afraid. Instead he looked determined, his mouth set.

Everyone looked at Alyss. It was times like these she really hated being a daughter of Athena.

She yelled at Cassandra, "Magic?"

Cassandra was shaking her head before Alyss had finished. "Mist is illusion, not reality! Mom knows how to teleport through it, but..."

Alyss understood what she meant instantly. Cassandra had never attempted to teleport. But if they had no other choice... Alyss had just opened her mouth to suggest it when Will spoke up.

"I can cushion our fall."

Horace gave him a disbelieving look. "Can you control your powers well enough for that?"

Will winced. Alyss and Cassandra exchanged exasperated looks. Now was not the time!

"Just do it, Will!" Alyss yelled. They were seconds from impact.

"Grab onto me! I need both hands free."

The three of them grabbed onto his legs, shoulders, and torso. Will held out his hands.

A second before they would've hit the ground, Will gave a scream. A blast of energy hit the jagged rocks. The force of it threw them back so strongly, their descent slowed to a standstill. The four of them hovered for an instant several feet off the ground. Then they landed.

The four of them let out various grunts, groans, and curses as they hit. They lay there on the ground for a minute or so, then one by one began to pick themselves off it.

Alyss stood, biting back several choice phrases as she examined herself. They'd fallen onto one of the smoother outcroppings of black rock that made up Tartarus, but that didn't mean much. She'd gotten several fairly deep cuts just from the landing. Her ribs and head ached, and unlike usual, they weren't healing. Her previous injuries seemed to have reopened.

Still, she forced her complaints back and turned to Will. "That was good thinking, Will! That could've been a lot worse if not for you."

Will gave her a smile that was barely a twitch of the lips. "Just came to me, I guess. Equal and opposite reaction, and all that." He paused, surveying their surroundings. "So...we're, uh. Really here, aren't we."

No one said anything. All of them were still processing that fact. It was one thing to be in the Underworld. That was Hades's realm, owned and ruled by an Olympian. Even if Hades wasn't the friendliest to living demigods, he was still a god. Down here in Tartarus, no rules applied. This was the realm of Titans, Gigantes, and Protogenoi. This was as close to Hell as mortals could get.

Alyss had a sudden, chilling thought: if demigods died here, where did they go?

Something told her it wasn't Elysium.

"I'm...I know this isn't enough," Will said quietly, bringing her out of her thoughts. He was looking at her, Cassandra, and Horace. "I know saying this isn't enough, but I'm so sorry. If I could do anything to change this, I would. I'm so..."

Alyss went to speak. Cassandra beat her to it. "Look, I'm not going to say this situation's ideal. I'm not even going to say it wasn't your fault. All of us fucked up in some way. I mean, by the gods, Horace and I are the ones who fell on top of you! Your whole...panic thing didn't help, but honestly? I could've - should've - helped, or at least tried to. I was scared, so I held back. If this is your fault, it's my fault, too."

Will stared at her like he wasn't sure whether to be relieved or upset.

Cassandra flushed, looking a little embarrassed. "Anyway, my point is, we're here now and there's nothing we can do to change that, so there's no point in what-ifs. We're in this together."

"I agree," Horace said, but Alyss could tell he wasn't happy about it.

"Agreed," she said firmly.

Will released a breath, looking like he wanted to argue but had decided against it. "Alright, so does anyone have a map?"

Alyss huffed a laugh. "I seriously doubt we're going to find one."

"Whatever we're gonna do, we need to figure it out," Horace said. "We're exposed here, and we're not in good shape for a fight."

He was right. Not only had they just gone through that whole 'long journey, several weeks of imprisonment, long exhausting fight' thing, they'd also fallen into what could unironically be termed as a lawless hell-space. Even now Alyss could see rashes forming on her arms from the blistering, hostile air. She was sweating more than she'd ever sweated before.

Will loosed a breath and looked around. Alyss copied him. Various outcroppings of rock made up the terrain. There didn't seem to be any normal dirt or sediment in Tartarus, just rocks, and in the distance those rivers Alyss had noticed earlier.

Will's eyes fixed onto the rivers. He turned to Alyss. "Alyss, those rivers over there...they're from above, aren't they?"

She tilted her head. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, they're from the Underworld, right?" Will's eyes had lit up. "Because if so, we know where we need to go. If they come from above, they'll be flowing down towards whatever the heart of this place is. And I'm willing to bet..."

"That that's where the exit is," Alyss finished, sharing his excitement. "The Doors of Death, right."

"That's all well and good," Horace interjected, "But you do realize the Doors aren't exactly going to be unguarded. And like I said, we aren't strong enough to fight a bunch of monsters, especially here. This is their home. Do we even know if monsters can be killed here?"

Everyone went quiet. Then Cassandra muttered, "Not helping, Horace."

"Sorry," he said a little sheepishly, "but it had to be said."

Will sighed. "Horace is right, but we don't have much choice. This place is," he looked down at his blistering arm for emphasis, "this place is eating us alive. We need to get out of here and the Doors are the best way we know of. Maybe the only way."

"There are other ways," Alyss said. "There's an entryway to the Underworld, if I remember correctly. And I think...I think one that leads directly outside, to the mortal world." She grimaced. "But from what I remember, they're hidden away and probably guarded just as well as the Doors. The Doors are our best bet, and the most likely to be at the center of Tartarus. They're the monsters' main exit, after all."

She received murmured assent from the others, but no one made a move to start walking. Cassandra pulled Horace aside for something that looked personal. Alyss looked to Will.

He was scanning the dim, hazy horizon of Tartarus with a grim expression that looked out of place on a sixteen-year-old's face. The tightness of his lips matched perfectly with the despair that Alyss was doing her best to keep from taking root inside herself. She knew he was thinking the same thing she was. Save for Ferris, no mortal had made it out alive from Tartarus. Ferris was only alive by virtue of his fealty to Gaia and Morgarath, the lord of Tartarus.

Would they be faced with the same fate?

Will's eyes met hers and he straightened, the heaviness falling off of him. After glancing to see that Horace and Cassandra were still preoccupied, he sidled closer to her. Alyss swallowed as he got within a foot of her, his eyes focused intently on her.

"Are you alright?" he asked quietly. He paused and huffed a laugh, shaking his head. "I mean, of course you aren't, none of us are. I meant- are you still injured? What Ferris did to you..."

More guilt. Alyss set the hand of her uninjured arm on his shoulder. "I don't blame you for what he did to me, Will."

He tilted his head back, raising his eyes to the blood-red sky above. "I know. I just wish I had been able to protect you better."

Alyss's pride reared up at that. "I'm capable of protecting myself."

She paused, then. She'd grown up in an environment that had reminded her, over and over again, that women were weak. She'd spent years of her life training and honing her mind and body to prove them wrong, so hearing Will's concern rankled. Yet she knew Will was genuinely concerned. She also knew that he didn't think of her as weak.

Will had begun to draw back. She tightened her grip around his shoulder. "Could you...could you heal me?"

He accepted her offering with a smile that made their bleak surroundings seem brighter. He held out his hands above her injured arm. His smile quirked mischievously. "You ask as though I wasn't already going to."

Will started to heal her. As was like him but unlike any other child of Apollo, Will didn't sing or hum while healing.

Oddly, something about this healing felt different than when he'd healed her in Ferris's throne room. She guessed it was probably Tartarus's effects on them.

"And if I'd refused?" she queried. "You're hardly going to tackle me and hold me down."

Will's grin widened a bit. "I'm not?"

He finished healing her. Alyss shoved at him playfully; he didn't even budge, which Alyss was insulted by. Sure, her shove had been weaker than she'd been expecting, but he could've at least humored her.

"You rascal," she said in a tone that could, under the right circumstances, be construed as fond.

Apparently Will was under the right circumstances, because he laughed. Alyss wondered at it for a moment. Had Tartarus ever heard a laugh? Had anyone else in Tartarus ever laughed like that, a simple, mischievous laugh of fun? She doubted it.

Will sobered quickly. "How's that feel now?"

She examined her arm. Both her major injuries - the cut in her arm and the slash in her side, both courtesy of Ferris - as well as the minor cuts and bruises she'd gotten from the battle had started hurting more once they'd fallen into Tartarus. Now, though, her arm had completely stopped hurting. A long, pink scar was all that remained.

"Good as new," she told him. "It's amazing you can heal so well and so quickly. You don't even seem tired by it."

Honestly, he seemed less tired than she was. She wasn't sure how. Will just shrugged. "Practice, I guess."

He looked over at their two companions. They'd gotten quite close to each other. Will shot Alyss a glance, then cleared his throat loudly. Cassandra and Horace jumped apart, swinging their gazes around to Will and Alyss guiltily. Alyss suppressed a snicker.

"Are we ready to move out?" Will asked.

The three of them nodded. All trace of humor had left their expressions. From here on out, they all knew it would be nothing short of hell. Yet they were determined to see it through to the end.

"Then let's go," Will said.

With Will at their head, the four demigods began their trek through Tartarus.

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A/N: Happy new decade, everyone! Remember: this decade is, at least in part, what YOU make of it. No matter what life throws at you, you're the only one who can decide how to take it.

Thank you for continuing to read this story, and may God bless you ❤️