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."

I cracked my knuckles, meeting Clarisse's eyes with my own. "Easy. We build an army of our own." 

Flashback end

I snapped out of that flashback as I felt the atmosphere around me change drastically. I glanced down to see a river below me that was rapidly growing larger. I remembered what Percy and Annabeth told me about the river they fell into on their way down into Tartarus. 

The Cocytus. 

"Oh fuck, oh fuck, I didn't plan this out, oh FUCK!" I yelled as the river drew nearer. I closed my eyes and wrapped myself in my cloak as I made contact with the river. 

The coldness of the river shocked my body and numbness spread through my muscles as I sunk deeper and deeper into the river. Voices started to whisper into my ears, telling me to give up and to desert my friends. 

I started to succumb to their demands when a new voice entered my mind, a voice full of warmth and happiness. 

"Hey Nico! Don't give up, I'll always be your big cousin. Haha, even though you're technically older than me." Percy said. I imagined his lopsided grin and those sparkling green eyes. "Don't listen to them, they're a bunch of shits that have no other purpose but to kill you!" 

I reached a hand out to him before Percy winked and faded away. That cleared my head and my eyes shot open. I sputtered and inhaled a mouthful of water before I kicked frantically, forcing my way to the surface. My head broke through the water and I gasped for breath, swimming over to the side of the cocytus. 

I dragged myself out of the river and was about to lie down when something sharp pricked my palm. I looked down and saw that I was kneeling on shards of glass. "You have got to be kidding me!" I snarled as I dragged myself to my feet, my sore muscles screaming in protest. 

I staggered away from the shards of glass before the terrain changed underneath my feet. The glass disappeared, replaced with hard packed soil. I glanced up and saw that the sky was blood-red, and I couldn't see anything that indicated that I had fallen into a giant pit. 

"Okay, time to find Atlas and the other Gods to see if they had reformed, and then I'll get the hell out of here." I muttered as I walked to the edge of a cliff. The longer I walked, the harder it was for me to breathe. The air was killing me. 

I was wheezing when I reached the edge of the cliff. I glanced down to see a fiery river snaking through the ground, sending sparks of flames shooting into the air. The heat of the river washed over me, making my shredded clothes stick to my skinny frame. 

I knew I had to drink from the Phlegethon in order to survive the poisonous air here in Tartarus. But then my mind suddenly flashed back to what I had seen in the cocytus. Why did I imagine Percy's face, and why did I hear his voice, encouraging me to survive and to escape the river? 

I mentally reminded myself that Percy Jackson is now evil and is ruling the world with an iron fist. He wouldn't hesitate to kill me or to make me a slave once he realizes that I still live.

But then I can't help but remember the memories Percy and I had years ago. I remember meeting him for the first time at Westover Hall. I looked up to him, practically thought he was God descending from the heavens. And when he turned down Godhood and used his wish to make my dad and Hestia more recognized.

I find it ironic that after all the good things Percy had done for Hades and I, he ended up killing my father anyways. 

I'm not going to lie, I still blame Annabeth and Jason, but more Annabeth, for betraying my cousin. They were the ones who broke his loyalty, destroyed his fatal flaw. That was what had drove Percy to the edge of insanity, to the point where he needed to have Olympus and bring the Gods down to their knees. 

I brought myself out of my troubled thoughts before bending over, coughing violently. I needed to get down to the Phlegethon. 

I looked at the cliff edge before spotting little handholds that I could use to make my way down. I sighed before taking off my dirty cloak and throwing it down first so that it wouldn't get in my way when I climbed down.

I turned around so that my back was facing the river before I lowered myself down carefully, grabbing a handhold and digging my fingers into the stone. I kept on moving down one step at a time before I reached the bottom. My feet touched the ground and I released my grip on the final handhold. I held my hands out and saw that they were bloody and blistered. 

"I hate this place." I grumbled before grabbing my cloak and running over to the edge of the Phlegethon. I knelt down and paused, looking at the fiery river. I was having second thoughts about shoving my hands into fire.

"Well, I have no choice....SO YOLO!" I yelled before plunging my hands straight into the river. Strangely, my hands didn't burn as much as I thought it would. I cupped some fire into my hands before quickly bringing it up to my mouth. I closed my eyes just as I drank the fire water.

It burned. IT FUCKING BURNS. My insides literally felt like it was on fire, which it probably is. I resisted the urge to throw up, but I held it in. Once the burning feeling subsided, I realized that I could breathe properly once more. 

"Oh, thank Hades." I said as I pulled on my cloak once more. I looked up and saw the Phlegethon making it's way upstream before it disappeared into the shadows of Tartarus. 

"Here goes nothing." I sighed before I started to follow the river.

Word count: 1704

Okay lol it's like 2AM here goodnight or good morning wherever you all live ;)