Darkness Within

CHAPTER IV

CHAPTER IV

A/N

Hello guys, I hope everyone who is reading are enjoying so far.

Please leave a comment so I know what you guys are thinking.

Honestly, for me, Percabeth is one of the most well written main character relationships that I have seen it. But as well their relationship were made, I think Pernico have far more chemistry together them Percabeth or Solangelo.

So, this chapter were quite difficult for me to write and SPOIL ALERT, is the break up, and to made it seen 'natural' and keep more canonically accurate with the character's personalities as possible, was very hard.

Enjoy.

PERCY

August 17th

After the breakfast, Percy went to the beach, he was too nervous to go to his activities, so he decided just to skip them all. He entered the shore and swam a little, then decide to submerge, he went to the bottom and laid down on the soft sand, let his mind spaced out, looking at everything and nothing at the same time. Kelps wiggling, fish rushing all around a small shark came closer, butted its head in Percy's feet playfully and swan away, Percy smile at it.

Then he started to focus in what he should do. He was dreading his talk with his girlfriend, and if he wanted to save his relationship with her, he had to make it right.

Since the war ended, end they had time to relax, Annabeth closed herself, she was jumpy, her eyes became glassy. She began have frequent nightmares, Malcolm came to Percy and voice his concerns. Percy was at loss; he didn't know what to do. He remembered going to Chiron, to see what he had to say, if he could help. So it happened, she already had looked for help. Which had hurt Percy, she wasn't telling anything anymore. Chiron, told Percy, the fall into Tartarus was her mainly issue. Demigods in general were less susceptible to have mortal illness, and with all their training it was rare the cases of anxiety or PTSD, but falling, into Tartarus was an extreme case, and he was expecting that from her. I asked why me or Nico wasn't that affected, he simply said 'because you are different'. At that time, I didn't understand which angered me, but now I realize what he meant. When we were down there, I could mostly see the truth of the place, how the soil was like shards of glass in some places, and a gross thick skin-like, in others, how the whole place rose and felled like it was breathing, and with each exhale, poisonous fumes would come out of the skin, the ground. Like how the monsters, popped out of those disgusting pustules, rising from the entrains off the deity, how the rivers flowed, pumping like veins, how disgusted he felt when the swan in the Cocytus, and how it resonated with his sea nature, which almost made him gave up, the cry of lamentation from the souls within, made him want to join them forever.

And how when he felt his life draining away, after he got hit by the curse of Phineas, how as he was dying his eyes were open even more to see the truth of Tartarus, the true he was already struggling to process, he realized that was how Nico saw Tartarus too.

Even after Damasen cured me from the curse, my eyes did not close to the reality of Tartarus, all the mist which was trying to conceal it from me was gone. But, for 17 days we roamed through the Pit, I had to get used to, put it past me so I could focus on survive. I had time to process, and when I left, I didn't let it weigh on me, I was free, it was all that mattered, he though.

It wasn't like he hadn't had any nightmares. In the next few nights, he was back in the pit, again and again. But he needed to focus, and soon, the nightmares were gone. After the war ended, only two more times he revisited the place, and the next day he barely remembered anything. Now, his nights were still restless, with his usual demigod's dreams making not much sense, but Tartarus was long gone.