Gone and away. A Percy Jackson Fanfiction.

Part 1: Kidnapped by the Devil

PERCY'S P.O.V

I gritted my teeth as the whip was brought down once again upon my back, the sound of ripping flesh filled my ears. I would not give him the satisfaction, I refused to give him what he wanted. He sighed his feathered breath descended upon my neck. And again the whip cracked. 

Warm liquid streamed down my back and hit the floor rhythmically. The pain had weakened me, I was hardly able to hold my self up, and my breathing became irregular, labored. My head swam from bloodless, but I held on. I had to, or else she would be next. The soft, strangled sound of my breath filled the air, but I didn't move. I couldn't move.

Fiery tongues of fire licked at my wounds, as the bitterly cold wind nipped painfully at my arms and legs. My skin a resulting battleground trapped in a stalemate. I bit down my lip, no, I urged, no one must hear us. It would only result in suffering.

My thoughts turned to Annabeth who was trapped in the next room, sometimes when the silence settled for long enough I could hear her scream, shattering my heart and soul simultaneously. I wanted to protect her...I needed to protect her. My head sunk ever farther into my hollow chest. Fruitlessly the battle continued, for ever so long, neither side giving in. 

A deep sigh of relief escaped my lips as his footsteps faded, the door opened streaming in blinding lights, and I fell. My arms were too weak to catch me, so I lay on the cold cement floor, the chains pooling at my sides. The edges of my vision dimmed as I fought to be awake. And when I could fight no longer they closed and I drifted into another nighmeare.

I awoke the next morning, blinding light filling the room. A figure stood in the doorway, I lay frozen awaiting the next steps before the agony began. Then the figure moved. My eyes managed to adjust and I found myself staring into the broken, shattered, stormy eyes of my beloved, Annabeth.

"Percy, stand, we must leave." Annabeth's voice rings in my ears as she crouched, I could almost believe she is there. I reach out, expecting for her image to fade. However, as my hand neared her face I felt the feverish heat of life and as my fingertips brushed her cheek I was met with solid matter. Her face, though scared, was as soft as silk and as warm as a blanket. I sit up with her help, and I spoke. After years and years, I spoke.

"Annabeth." My voice was rough and gravely. "Why, how?"

"I promise to explain later, but for now we must escape before the monsters return, before Tarterous returns." Her voice quivers at HIS name. My heart leats for joy, then sunk as realization hit.

"Its a trap."

"No, a chance."

With no other words to be said, she helped me stand and we hobbled our the door. Leaning on each other as we stepped through the threshhold emerging into darkness, lit by the dark purple fires of Nights palace. 

Years ago we would have gone mad walking wide-eyed through the palace of Night, but we had already seen what the palace had to offer and it no longer phased us. We walk threw the halls and emerge into the poisoned air of Tartarus. Monsters run by, pushing past one another, fighting each other, to get to something, somewhere far beyond our sight. Annabeth led me away, we ended up by the River of Fire otherwise known as the Phlegethon river. This time we didn't drink, instead, we hobbled beside the river for miles until we came to a cave. I was unsure how either of us made it this far. Annabeth lent me against a rock wall, inside the cave. 

A cool breeze blew from deep within, it cooled my feverish skin and I felt relief. Annabeth knelt in the middle of the cave floor. She lifted her hands to the sky and cried out in Greek, "Oh great gods of Olympus, I beg of you, any of you harboring the power, to send down an exist, a portal, an escape." Her voice was powerful, forceful. Then she cried out again. "Oh great god Aries, Mom, someone, please help us." Slowly her faith wavered. She began to speak quieter, she begged every god she knew the name of, she begged and still, nothing came.

I pushed my self off the wall with my remaining strength and knelt beside Annabeth, I raise my arms as high as they went and started to chant, we chanted together in harmony. This time our prayers were heard by an unknown power, a swirling black portal appeared in front of us, pulling us in. We submitted to the force holding each other as darkness consumed us.

A dot of light appeared above us getting bigger and bigger till it had chased away the darkness. We squeezed our eyes shut, the white light burning our eyes. When we opened them we were flying through the air, shadows surrounding us. We landed on our sides on the cement ground. We had been spit out in an alleyway, no one in sight. Annabeth managed to somehow sit up as I lay beside her gasping for air. A kindhearted soul entered the alley. Freezing as her eyes landed on us. I saw Annabeth look up with pleading eyes and her mouth moved. I didn't hear what she said, nor what the woman replied because darkness consumed me, I closed my eyes and floated away.

I awoke to the sound of beeping, when my vision cleared I found myself looking at monitors all spitting out graphs and numbers. I was in a hospital, or a medical bay or something. I could feel the sharp pain of an IV. Two on my left elbow, one on the backside of my right hand, and one jammed in my shoulder. I could feel bandages wrapped around nearly every part of my body. My legs, feet, arms, and chest. Even around my neck. 

I moved my head to the side, ignoring the pain it caused looking for Annabeth. She was nowhere to be seen, I was alone in a room, a window to my left, and a door to my right. A TV mounted on the south wall and books piled on either side of the bed. I turned my head to look out the window. Clouds gathered in the sky, I could feel the rain that was about to pour down from the heavens. The smell of wet pavement drafted through the open window.

Just as the clouds began to dump down upon the town below my door opened. "I want you to stand there and observe, what do you see?" A calm male voice said.

"Severe trauma to the extremities, 3 casts. Rib, left leg, and left wrist." A girl spoke.

"Low glucose, significant blood loss, and clinically dehydrated." A gruff man's voice spoke. I kept my head turned and my eyes on the window. "Left for dead by a mugger perhaps."

"He's awake." The final voice said. It was soft and comforting.

"Is that so? Their footsteps grew closer. A hand rested on my own and I turned. It was the doctor. He wore a long white lab coat while the others all wore blue scrubs, there were 4 medical students in total, all caring notebooks, and pens. "If you look at his chart he had a fever of 105.6 when he arrived. He was on antibiotics and now..." A girl with blond hair and blue glasses rose her hand. The doctor nodded.

"In that bag is Serotonin to help with Anxiety." It was the girl who had been cut off earlier.

"Correct!" The doctor looked down and smiled. "Good morning, I am Dr. Houllbook. This is my class. I was beginning to fear you may not awake."

"W-where?" Was all I could muster. My eyes fluttered softly, but I forced myself to stay awake. 

"You are in St. Valentine's Hospital. You were found in a small New England town known as Vloxmeare." I sighed unhappily that was not what I wanted, I wanted him to tell me where Annabeth was if she was alive.

"Where?" I attempted to be firmer this time, but it took all my energy to say that one word.

"She is fine, she is just down the hall." I leaned back and relaxed. I turned my head and watched the window. The doctor attempted to ask a few more questions, but I didn't answer, I couldn't. They poked me a bit, checked my vitals, changed the IV bags and left. Then I lay there until I passed out. The sun was just setting, the colors painted across the sky in greens, deep oranges, yellows, and daggers of blue that sliced through them all. That was all I remembered.