A second chance.

5. Tartarus

Nico

I stood at the entrance to Tartarus, the giant hole that Percy and Annabeth had fallen into many years ago. The ruins of the coliseum surrounded me, and I remembered the twin giants Otis and Ephialtes. They kept me imprisoned in a giant jar for days until the seven managed to save me. 

I scowled at that memory. I hated feeling weak. I already had so many people that I cared about taken away from me. First, Percy turned evil and is now King of the world. Second, he killed Hades just because the God was in his way. Third, he murdered Thalia along with the rest of the Hunters of Artemis. Last but not least, he slaughtered Hazel just to spite Frank, and Piper just to make Jason feel like shit. 

Then he enslaved all of my other friends. I guess I'm glad that Percy didn't know I was still alive, and that I was building an army to oppose him.

I looked back down at Tartarus, and felt a blast of hot air hit me in the face. I gritted my teeth. The pit practically radiated evil. But I had no choice. I had to go down there to see if Atlas had reformed, or even better, if any of the other Olympians had reformed. 

"Fuck my life." I grumbled before I jumped into the pit. Wind whistled past me as I plummeted into Tartarus. It got extremely dark the longer I fell, and I wrapped my arms around myself, my cloak billowing behind me. 

"Percy and Annabeth didn't exaggerate about how long it took for them to reach the bottom of the pit. I took the time to reflect upon my life.

Flashback

I walked out of the front doors of the brightly lit hospital, my stomach still aching painfully. I was lucky to be alive. Alex had driven his blade right into my stomach, and it came out through the other side of my body.

I made my way over to a bench in the middle of a dark public park and I sat down, groaning at the movement of my aching muscles. I leaned back against the bench, casting my gaze to the sky. 

"What do I do? Percy had most likely taken over Olympus by now. And once he finds out I'm alive, he will kill me." I muttered as I put my head in my hands. I was thinking about where my life went horribly wrong when I felt the presence of someone beside me. 

I whirled just in time to see a girl step out from behind a tree, her gaze locked on me. The girl had stringy brown hair that was matted with blood. Her face was streaked with grime and dirt, and her clothes were in tatters. She carried a spear that sparked with electricity. 

My eyes widened in disbelief as the girl smiled wearily at me. "Hello, Nico. It's nice to see that someone else is alive apart from me." My jaw most likely dropped open with shock but I managed to say "Clarisse? What......? How are you alive?" Clarisse's expression darkened but she walked over to me and pushed me over on the bench to make room for herself.

She sat down beside me and gripped her spear tightly. "I am a coward, Di Angelo. I ran away from the battlefield because I knew that the demigods stood no chance against Percy's army. I ran away from a fight, a fight! I'm no child of Ares."

I stared at her as Clarisse put her head in her hands. "You're no coward, Clarisse. If you stayed, you would've been killed alongside the rest of the demigods. And.....And I've got an idea of how to rebel against Percy Jackson." I said with a grim smile. 

Clarisse lifted her head, her eyes narrowed. "What do you mean? How could we possibly rebel against a powerful demigod that has been blessed by the primordials alongside a vicious army of demigods and demi-titans? We've only got each other: A daughter of Ares and a son of Hades."