Chapter Text
Chapter 1
Percy's POV - 1st person
I was back in Tartarus. I was choking Akhlys, the goddess of misery, with her own poison as Annabeth begged me to stop. But this time I didn't stop, and I had just killed a goddess.
I woke in a cold sweat. This wasn't the first time I'd had a nightmare like this, but this time, seeing myself kill the goddess and the look on Annabeth's face terrified me. This was the first nightmare since her death. I wasn't sure how long it had been since her death. I hadn't even kept track of time. All I could think about was ending my life. Everyone was either dead, ignoring me, or hating me.
It was all my fault.
Nico hated me after Hazel's death. I thought maybe if I went on that quest, she wouldn't have died like Bianca. I was wrong, she died underground, suffocating, while I didn't even do anything. If I had done something, then she wouldn't be dead, and I wouldn't have seen the rest of our friends cry. Now they were all dead. Annabeth, Frank, Hazel, Jason, Piper, and Leo were all dead now, and there was something I could have done, but I didn't. Jason died on that one quest I didn't go to. If I had gone, maybe I would have been dead instead of him. Frank was burned to death. Hazel and Leo were buried alive in the ground, suffocating to death. Annabeth was stabbed with a poisoned dagger (I'm not going to blame Ethan for stabbing her the first time during the Battle of Manhattan). Piper drowned while being pulled by a monster.
I got up and went to get breakfast. I didn't eat it; instead, I called Mrs. O'Leary and gave it to her. I headed back into my cabin to pack up. I was going to go home for a while. I didn't want to deal with the memories in camp.
"Percy," a voice spoke.
"Nico?" I didn't realize how tired I sounded, but it was reasonable. I had woken up at 2:38 am and didn't go back to sleep after the nightmare. I also went to sleep late since I had trouble falling asleep.
"What are you doing?" Nico's voice sounded angry. He had always sounded like that towards me after Hazel's death.
"I'm going home for a while."
"Did you tell Chiron?"
"I did."
Nico walked away. He didn't seem to care that I was leaving camp, but that didn't matter. Obviously, he didn't care. He had other things to do than to care about me leaving the camp for a while, and he was still mad at me after Hazel's death. He wouldn't forgive me as he did after Bianca's death, but what if he didn't actually forgive me, and he only did it for Bianca? He might have still hated me after Bianca's death and then forgave me since he talked to Bianca, but this time, he couldn't talk to Hazel like he did years ago with Bianca. He was still able to talk to Jason, but not the rest of the seven. According to him, Hades didn't want him to talk with his friends who were already dead, just in case they might choose rebirth, and Hades allowed Nico to talk to Jason since Jason didn't want to choose rebirth.
I decided that before I leave to go home. I decided to go out of the camp for just a while. As I went outside, my head started to hurt. It felt like my brain was being fried in a microwave and then stabbed a couple of times. My brain blacked out, and I couldn't think properly anymore. When I was able to think properly again, it felt like I was holding something heavy, like I was holding the sky, but then I realized I was holding the sky, and in front of me was Zoë Nightshade taking her last breath.
Where am I?