Disclaimer- Rick Riordan owns all the characters, and the exert below. SPOILERS

At the end of Mark of Athena:

(Annabeth POV)

Annabeth's leg felt like it was pulling free of her boy. Pain washed everything in red. The force of the Underworld tugged at her like dark gravity. She didn't have the strength to fight. She knew she was too far down to be saved.

"Percy, let me go," she croaked. "You can't pull me up."

His face was white with effort. She could see in his eyes that he knew it was hopeless.
"Never," he said. He looked up at Nico, fifteen feet above. "The other side, Nico! We'll see you there. Understand?"

Nico's eyes widened. "But-"

"Lead them there!" Percy shouted. "Promise me!"

"I- I will."

Below them, the voiced laughed in the darkness. Sacrifices. Beautiful sacrifices to wake the goddess.

Percy tightened his grip on Annabeth's wrist. His face was gaunt, scraped and bloody, his hair dusted with cobwebs, but when he locked eyes with her, she thought he had never looked more handsome.

"We're staying together," he promised. "you're not getting away from me. Never again."

Only then did she understand what would happen. A one-way trip. A very hard fall.

"As long as we're together," she said.

She heard Nico and Hazel still screaming for help. She saw the sunlight far, far above- maybe the last sunlight she would ever see.

Then Percy let go of his tiny ledge, and together, holding hands, he and Annabeth fell into endless darkness.

I

Percy

Pain. Intense pain. Percy's vision was completely red and his whole body felt as if someone dipped him in molten lava. He was vaguely aware that he wasn't dead. At least, he hoped he wasn't.

After a few moments, his vision started clearing and his absolute torture subsided to intense pain. He looked around, taking in his surroundings. Annabeth lay about 10 feet away from him, groaning in pain, but conscious and alive.

Tartarus didn't look as bad as he expected. The ground was solid rock, and the sky was a reddish- blue color. Thankfully, he didn't see any monsters around.

Percy tried to push himself into a sitting position, but his arms wouldn't support him.

"Annabeth," he croaked. "You all right?"

"We just fell into Tartarus. I feel like I just got murdered. We have no help, no supplies, no hope of surviving. Of course I'm all right." Annabeth muttered back.

Leave it to Annabeth to be completely optimistic.

Percy tried to sit up again, and this time managed, with a lot of pain and cursing. He thought about what happened. They found Athena Parthenos. Nico and the others were all right. Rome wasn't a nuclear wasteland. Hopefully, the Argo II was heading back to Camp Half-Blood to deliver the news. He thought about his home, how life was just a year ago, happy and relaxed, sure that the worst had passed.

Suddenly, a growl came from behind Percy. He shot onto his feet, Riptide already morphing into sword form. He turned around and tensed. Before he could register what the monster was, it leaped at him.

Percy slashed blindly, but too late. A heavy mass of black slammed into him and he flew backwards, landing hard on the ground. Percy could now make the creature out. It was a hellhound, its eyes dark and cruel. The hellhound pounced again, but this time Percy was ready. With a groan, he thrust his sword, and the dog disintegrated into yellow powder.

They had to get out of here before more monsters zeroed them in. "Annabeth, we have to get out of here," he whispered to her.

"I know." Percy helped her get up.

"Come on. Let's go find those doors."

A/N

So, my first fan fiction. (my REAL first one I sort of just stopped) Review, criticize, eat donuts.

Short chapter, I know. But I just suck at writing long ones. I will try to make future chapters at least 1.5k words (This one is ~750 words) long. Plz give me some tips to help write better besides longer chapters.

There won't be a lot of Percy/Annabeth chapters because I want to focus on the Argo II. Maybe one here and there, but basically they're just traveling through Tartarus, following the Mark.

Anyways, hope you enjoyed. I don't write a lot, so my grammar and spelling may be a bit off, and my writing techniques isn't all that good. R&R.