If Percy Hadn't Caught Annabeth

Part 1: Gone

   Something yanked Annabeth backward and dragged her toward the pit. Percy lunged and missed; Annabeth's hand slipped through his fingertips.

    "Help her!" Hazel yelled.

    Annabeth glimpsed Nico hobbling in their direction, Hazel trying to disentangle her cavalry sword from the rope ladder and Percy sprinting in her direction, his face etched with desperation and white with fear. Their other friends were still focused on the statue, and Hazel's cry was lost in the general shouting and the rumbling of the cavern.

Annabeth sobbed as she hit the edge of the pit. For just a moment, she locked eyes with Percy. Then her legs went over the side and she disappeared from sight.

    "Annabeth!" screamed Percy. He reached the edge just in time to see her blonde princess curls disappear into the dark.

Percy screamed again, a cry so inhuman and raw that it echoed across the cavern and finally caught the attention of his friends. He was poised and ready to jump in after her when he felt a pair of hands clasp around his waist.

    "LET GO, NICO!"  Percy shouted as he tried to shove him off, but Nico had Percy locked in a death grip.

    "Percy, if you go you'll both die in there," he said, his words shaking while Percy thrashed.

    "I DON'T CARE!" Percy howled as Hazel finally arrived to help her brother hold him down. Her cheeks were wet with tears.

    "IT'S ANNABETH, NICO, IT'S ANNABETH," he sobbed, trying to pry the two of them off of him. His entire body was shaking as he tried to free himself, his hands useless as he tried to escape.

    "She's gone," Hazel said, her voice trembling as much as his hands. "Percy, she's gone. You can't save her."

    Percy turned to Hazel, his eyes wild. Nearby, the gasoline tank of one of the cars in the chasm exploded and burst into flames.

    "You have to let me go," he begged.

    "You won't survive in there!" yelled Nico. "You'll die!"

    "LET ME!" he shouted, his voice ringing throughout the cavern. Frank glided down as an eagle, landing next to Hazel.

"It's going to collapse, we have to get him out of here," Hazel said to him. The chasm groaned again as if to prove her point.

"Leave me!" Percy screamed as he continued to fight them. Riptide still hadn't appeared in his pocket, which was lucky because he would have used it.

Jason finally flew down. It took both him and Frank to pick up a flailing, desperate Percy as he continued to yell Annabeth's name; flying him back to the ship was like trying to control the ocean during a storm. Meanwhile, Nico and Hazel made a run for the Argo II.

"I TOLD YOU TO LEAVE ME," Percy screamed at them all, his voice already going hoarse.

A voice from the chasm laughed.

A sacrifice. A beautiful sacrifice to awaken the goddess.

Percy went wild again, the gasoline tank on another car exploding into a fiery blaze.

"ANNABETH, ANNABETH!"

The three of them fell onto the quarterdeck just as the Argo II took off. Everyone was on deck when the cavern collapsed. The entire place imploded, taking the rest of the parking lot with it. The pit to Tartarus had been buried under several tons of debris. Annabeth was gone.

Percy sat in silence on the wooden planks with his knees drawn up against his chest. His eyes were blank, his shoulders slumped and shaking as the Argo II began to rumble. Pipes burst, toilets exploded, and showerheads shattered. Down below in the city a fountain went off like a bomb, flooding the streets with a never ending stream. Water exploded out of restaurants and houses, making its way into the streets where it raged like the ocean itself.

Piper sat with Percy, speaking softly to him as the others, dazed with grief, loaded the Athena Parthenos into the hold.

"Percy." Piper charm spoke with a shaking voice. "Everything will be alright."

    The storm of water below deck and in the city showed no signs of stopping.

    Coach Hedge was too miserable to help. He paced the other side of the deck with tears in his eyes, pulling at his goatee and slapping the side of his head muttering, "I should have saved her! I should have blown up more stuff!"

    Finally, Leo told him to go belowdecks and secure anything he could for departure.

The five demigods gathered around and gazed at the column of dust still rising from the implosion. Piper continued to charmspeak to Percy, with no effect.

Leo spoke first.

"It's my fault," he said miserably.

The others stared at him. Only Hazel seemed to understand.

"No," she insisted. "No this is Gaea's fault. It has nothing to do with you."

"Gaea."

The water throughout the city seemed to roar as everyone turned to look at Percy. Piper offered him a hand but he refused it. He stood on shaking legs, his usually calm green eyes ablaze and murderous.  Without realizing they had done it, everyone had taken a step back. When he spoke his words were sharp and sure.

"I swear on the River Styx that I will destroy Gaea." The sky rumbled as he glared at the other six demigods, daring them to contradict him. "I will tear her apart limb by limb for what she did to-"

He swallowed. "For what she did to-"

A sob choked back his words and he collapsed.

As the son of Poseidon fell to the ground, the water on the boat and across the city grew silent.