Growing Up In Tartarus: One Wrong Move

Chapter 1: I Take A Dive And Make A New Friend

Percy's POV

Annabeth, Grover, and I had all just gotten back from Hades' Palace. Annabeth and Grover were running after me as I flew through the air. Well, it was more along the lines of me being dragged quite ungracefully through the air, by my feet, while I yelled for my friends to save me.

"Percy, hold on!" Annabeth yelled to me just as Grover said, "Just stay ca-a-alm!". Meanwhile I'm screaming bloody murder; hey, I was terrified. Tartarus doesn't sound fun.

"Guys," I yelled back. "I can't stay calm! And I don't think that I could let go if I tried!" Just after I said that, I was yanked over the edge of a cliff, and was holding onto it with a look of pure terror etched upon my face. "Help! Please! I don't want to fall in!" You could hear the terror in my voice. I was trembling, and no matter how much they tried, my friends weren't helping.

"We can't. We aren't strong enough to haul you up! The pull from the shoes is too strong!" I whimpered in fear; can you blame me? I'm dangling over Tartarus for the gods' sake!

"G-get someone! Just please don't let me fall!" I screamed at them. I was panicking. My breathing sped up, and my palm got sweaty which did not help my situation at all. My finger started slipping, losing their grip. I looked up at Grover and Annabeth, a wild and pleading look in my eyes. "If- if I do fall, I love you guys. I w-want you to know that." Tears came to all of our eyes as my fingers slipped more and there was less ground beneath them. I bit my lip in an attempt to hold back another whimper.

"We love you, too, Percy." They both said at the same time. I choked out a sob that had been building in my throat. "Please don't let go. Don't leave us Perce!"

"Don't forget me. Hey, you can remember me as 'The Child Not of the Prophecy', right? I mean, since it's obvious that I c-can't survive this, that I'll d-die, I can't be the One. Guess you guys can sleep well at night, now, not having to worry if I'll make the right decision in a few ye-" Annabeth cut me off in the middle of my 'good-bye' speech.

"Percy," Annabeth said sternly, "don't talk like that. Don't you dare. We will get you out of this somehow." I shook my head sadly at her. We were Greek, we knew that the heroes, even the best, didn't get happy endings. We were the ones to invent tragedy; we knew loss, and we knew that we would eventually get over it. After all, I was just one other demigod lost, right?

"I'm sorry. I love you guys." I said, letting go of the rock that was burning my fingers. I felt gravity pull at my gut, and knew that I would probably die from the fall, and if I did, the Fates would be showing me mercy. If not, well, there's a reason that no one has ever really escaped Tartarus before.

The last sounds I heard before I dropped to my doom was Annabeth screaming my name, in a tone worthy of an Aphrodite camper, and Grover sobbing into his hands, unable to look at my falling figure. The last picture of my friends, and it was of them looking completely broken-hearted. I felt horrible, but holding on was only delaying the inevitable; couldn't they see that? I only regretted that, and one other thing.

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I never said good-bye to my mom. And we had just gotten her back.

I started sobbing into space. This feeling of loss, of regret and sadness, was what really made this that bad. The fact that I had left them as an annoying adolescent that couldn't think for myself. I had to get everyone else to help me. I was such a burden!

I couldn't tell how long I fell for: ten seconds or ten hours. It could have been either, and I wouldn't have cared. I just felt a gigantic jolt that shoved me out of my thoughts. The next thing I knew, I was in excruciating pain. I screamed out in agony.