Chapter Text
The air in the cavern felt thick and dense like wildfire smoke, choking Jason with each inhale. His chest ached with the effort it took to keep himself upright after everything that had happened in the past few hours, ached with the strength it took to pull in a long breath and release it without coughing. Something felt wrong about where they were, and the longer they were there and the longer it took all of them to clamber back up onto the Argo II from Arachne’s home, the stronger the feeling of unease got. Jason’s feet slid slightly against the floor as he moved to take a step towards the ladder hanging down from the deck and he froze in place, looking around to see if anyone else had noticed or could feel the sudden force tugging at him, pulling him backwards like a magnet.
Jason spun around to face the direction it was trying to pull him, right at the crack that went deep through the floor and down, down until everything within it disappeared into complete and utter darkness. Gravity seemed stronger here suddenly, pulling at his very soul, and Jason tried to swallow the lump in his throat to no avail. Something inside of Tartarus was making its pull strong enough to resemble a black hole, the rocks on the ground shuddering slightly beneath its force, like they would get thrown into the pit if anything moved even an inch.
Jason looked around, trying to find something to make it better, something to stop whatever was attracting everything towards the chasm that led down into the deepest part of the Underworld. The force reminded him of the first time he'd ventured into Hades's realm, of the shoes from Luke all those years ago, pulling Annabeth closer and closer to the other cliff leading down into the pit, with him and Grover clinging desperately to her arms to keep her from falling. Kronos’s voice seemed to echo from below again, calling towards him, beckoning him forward again, urging him to turn his back on what he was doing. Some part of Jason was screaming back that Kronos was gone, he couldn’t be speaking to him again, he couldn’t be strong enough to even form a thought, let alone pull Jason down into the pit, but somehow he couldn’t ignore the voice he could swear was taunting him. In fact, it only seemed to grow louder the more he pushed back against it. Come closer, child of Zeus, closer…
“Annabeth!”
Percy’s voice cut through the whispers of Tartarus and Jason flinched; somehow he’d ended up closer to the edge again, like he had walked towards it without realizing. He spun to face Percy, trying to push down the terror clawing at his throat, but the sight that his eyes were met with only worsened the fear. Annabeth had crashed to the floor just feet from the edge, holding onto Percy’s wrists with such a death grip that Jason could see his skin stretching with its force. A thick piece of web was twined around her left ankle, pulling with even more force than whatever was pulling Jason forwards, and he watched as Percy stumbled under it, grimacing as he gripped Annabeth's arms back just as tightly. Nico ran up to his side from where he’d been by the ladder and grabbed onto the part of Percy’s arm that Annabeth was holding, keeping her hands firmly in place as he strained to pull her back as well.
“Cut the web, somebody cut it!”
Jason suddenly found his legs able to move again and he started towards the three of them, his sword out within seconds, driven completely by instinct. Annabeth slid back another inch, crying out as the web grew tenser, like a coil ready to snap if released. Terror gripped every part of Jason’s body, terror like he’d never known, and without thinking he slammed his sword down on the web with every ounce of strength he had within himself. It frayed under the blade but didn’t break, holding fast and continuing to pull Annabeth closer to the cliff. He swung the sword down again, fearing for a second it would suddenly pull harder and he’d hurt Annabeth instead, but his blade only met webbing again. This time it split completely and the bit still attached to Annabeth’s ankle fell limp.
Annabeth let out a sob and scrambled away, Percy and Nico both falling back with the sudden loss of the tension holding them up. Relief coursed through Jason as Annabeth continued to push herself further from the edge with Nico’s help, safe again, no longer in immediate danger of being pulled over by Arachne seeking last minute revenge. He let his stance relax somewhat and tried to step away from the edge himself, the pull from before returning the longer he stood there, only to have his arm yanked back by his sword that was suddenly flung backwards even though it was clutched in his hand, the bit of web he'd cut stuck to the side of it. Jason stumbled back, feet scrambling against the uneven floor, the whispers returning full force, beckoning him to give in, to let them take him, and the broken fragments of rock seemed to grow more slick as he tried to regain his balance. His heels hit free air and frantically he called for the air around him to catch him before he fell, to wrap around him like a shield to push him back from the edge.
His knees hit the ground hard, hands scrambling in the dirt and rocks as his sword hit the ground beside him. His feet were still over the edge, dangling over the abyss and he tried to get away, tried to crawl at least a few inches further forward. Something kept him frozen in place, however, and Jason looked up in fear, meeting Percy’s eyes that were staring back at him in horror, the only one of them still within reach. “Perc—”
The force pulled at him again and this time when he tried to call on the winds, they didn’t respond. He slid back further, fast, until his knees were on the crumbling edge that gave out beneath them. His fingers dug painfully into the shattered rocks covering the ground and he squeezed his eyes shut as he slid back another inch, the pull stronger, the whispers turning to screams. Join us, son of Zues, join us like everything else your father discards.
A sob escaped Jason and he kicked his legs that were already over the edge, trying to find some sort of foot hold, anything to help him get back up. Hands latched onto his wrist, tugging at him, trying to pull him away, trying to pull him up, and Jason gripped the arms of the person back. He sobbed again when that didn’t work and he saw the frantic look in Percy’s eyes as he too slid forward with Jason, who wasn’t falling simply because of the grip Percy had on him. Tears blurred Jason’s vision, never before had fear like this enveloped him. Not when he’d faced down Kronos, not when he’d found out what had truly changed for Luke after his quest, not when he’d gone to the Underworld for the first time, not when he'd faced down gods. For the first time he felt completely helpless as his attempts to summon winds to hold him up failed, as electricity crackled in the air but did nothing to lessen the force that kept pulling, pulling him down, down, down.
“Jason,” Percy said just as he slid over the edge completely, his voice cracking slightly, and Jason tried to blink the tears out of his eyes to see him better. He was kneeled on the edge, leaned half over with the effort to keep Jason from falling even though it was obvious that there was no escaping his fate now. Jason was going to fall into the darkness below and if Percy didn’t let him go, so would he. His fingers loosened their grip on Percy’s wrists and Percy shook his head frantically. “Don’t you dare.”
“Let me go.”
“No!” Percy’s grip only seemed to tighten on his hand, nails digging painfully into his skin as he pulled back against the gravity pulling Jason in the opposite direction. He slid forward again and the fear suffocating Jason spiked when Percy’s knees reached the edge. If he didn’t let Jason go, he’d fall too, he’d slip over the edge too and Jason wasn’t worth that, least of all from Percy. They hardly even knew each other, having only met weeks prior, with nothing but dreams prior to it all. The team needed at least one of them, Percy couldn’t… not for Jason. “You can’t, you hear me? Push yourself up, c’mon. I’ve seen you fly before, please.”
“Jackson—”
“No, there’s plenty of air in here,” Percy grimaced as he slid again, having to lean back to not lose his balance. “C’mon.”
“I’m too low. It doesn’t… the force is too strong, I can’t. You have to let me go, I’ll meet you on the other side, close the doors.”
“What, are you crazy?” Percy grunted, grip tightening even more on Jason’s arm as he slipped through his fingers just a bit. “No.”
“Percy—” Any words Jason would’ve said afterwards died with a scream when the force seemed to become too much and Percy tumbled over the edge too. The feeling of free fall enveloped him in a way that Jason couldn’t remember having ever really felt before, air rushing by him without him being able to grab hold of them and wrap them around himself. Suddenly he slammed sideways into rock, the force of which felt like it ripped his shoulder from its socket. He grunted and looked up to see Percy holding them both up by one hand, gripping a small ledge that looked like it would crumble at any second. His face was skewed up in pain and concentration and again Jason tried with everything he had to make the air around him listen to him, but all that happened was a sizzle in the air as electricity coursed around them. Why was that all he could summon here? Why wouldn’t the air listen to him? Why wouldn’t the wind bend under his hands?
“Percy—” Jason’s voice broke on his words and Percy glanced down at him, his grip tightening again on Jason’s wrist. “What—”
“Jason! Percy!” Nico’s voice called from above them and even though sudden exhaustion from trying to call so desperately on the air around him was making his eyelids heavy, he looked up to see him hanging over the edge trying to reach them. It was obvious he wouldn’t be able to reach them no matter how hard he tried, but that didn’t seem to stop him. Annabeth appeared at his side and seemed to choke on her own breath when she saw them.
“Jason, oh gods…”
“Percy—” Jason started but didn’t finish because Percy looked back down at him with a glare like he already knew what his next words would be.
“No, you are not going down there alone, son of Zeus or not.” Percy shook his head and looked back up at Annabeth and Nico, both of whom seemed to be trying to come up with something to get around this, to save them. It was pointless though, they were too low, the pull of Tartarus too strong now. They were going to fall. “We’ll close the doors from this end, meet you on the other side, okay? Get everyone else there, we’ll make it.”
“Percy,” Nico said, looking like he was trying not to scream at the top of his lungs.
“You guys can get them there. We’ll survive, I swear. Promise me you will meet us on the other side. Promise me you’ll get the rest of them there. Please, Nico, Annabeth.”
“I promise,” Annabeth said with what seemed to be a sob and Jason knew she was seeing him disappear again, taken away for what must’ve been the dozenth time in their lives. Gods, this wasn’t fair. Why was it always them? What had they done to deserve this?
Nico nodded too, just as the small ledge Percy was holding began to crumble in earnest. “I… I promise.”
“I’m sorry, Annabeth,” Jason managed to say before the ledge broke off and the feeling of free fall enveloped him again, wind blowing his hair into his eyes, the only anchor he had in the grip Percy had on his arm. Terror gripped him again and it felt like he couldn’t breathe, which wouldn’t have surprised him with how fast it felt like they were falling. Percy pulled him closer until he wrapped his arms around Jason instead of just holding his arm, gripping him in a hug of sorts. The contact seemed to shock Jason’ system into working again and he drew in a shuddering breath, wrapping his arms around Percy in turn. The exhaustion that had slowly begun to sink in hit fully and before he could even try to say something, his vision blurred until everything faded away.