I don't know how far down I fell.

Everything just blurred out of existence as me and Everest plummeted deeper into the chasm. He had let go of my legs and was screaming as he fell into the void. Ten seconds ago, I was almost on the verge of blacking out from Everest's vice grip on my wounded leg. Now, before I fell any deeper, I crashed onto some sort of platform.

My bag-pack saved me from breaking my entire spine, but then again the landing hurt like a hell. I was thankful that I did have my bag with me, otherwise I would've ended up paralyzed. I just lay there for a moment, thinking how the Fates could be so cruel to do this to me - deciding to put me on this quest in the first place and putting me through all the misery and pain.

I groaned as I rolled over on to my side. I coughed hard and I'll admit it hurt a bit. I looked at my leg, which was bleeding from the gash Everest's dagger left on me. I inspected it and concluded that it had passed the bone but did some damage to the muscle. I quickly opened my bag and brought out medical wrappings and bandages. I wrapped my leg tight with the wrappings, being careful not to damage my leg even further. 

I looked up and I saw the way I came in. It was way high up - at least two hundred and fifty feet up from my position. Knowing the state that I was currently in, I knew straight away that climbing to the top was impossible - I would cause my leg a lot of strain and that wouldn't help it recover.

"Help me!" a voice shouted from below the edge of the platform where I landed. I looked over and I see Everest barely holding on to a small budge in the ice. His feet were dangling over the chasm and he looked frightened and drained from our fight. 

I looked at the chasm...and I felt a familiar pull of the wind as I was almost pulled into the never ending hole leading all the way to Tartarus. I almost backed away from the pulsating aura of pure murder and evil, but I stole my nerves - I had one last thing to do and that involved getting rid of a certain mountain spirit.

I looked down at Everest and grabbed Riptide, which lay at my side where it landed after the fall. I muttered something along the lines of, "For all the people you killed - for Aaron Bailey." I raised my sword, making sure the blade pointed at the ice on which Everest was holding on to.

Everest knew what I was doing. His eyes widened in horror. "No! Don't! Please, I'm beg-!"

I stabbed Riptide into the ground and the platform split in half. As I crawled backwards, I watched as the chunk of ice that Everest was holding on to broke with a defining CRUNCH and fell towards the god forsaken hole to Tartarus. Everest screamed, as he fell backwards, being dragged along with the large serac of ice as it raced towards the never ending bottom. As I watched, his whole face just melted and his whole body evaporated and turned to steam. 

Everest was defeated, and I knew he was gonna end up in Tartarus. It was a harsh fate, but spirits like him deserve to roast and rot in places like Tartarus. My only thought was, "Good riddence."

Then my other thought was, "What do I do now?"

I crawled over to the walls of the chasm and hammered a screw into it, with one end tightly wrapped by the rope I carried with me just in case. I clipped myself in and tested the rope, pulling it. It didn't come out of the ice - I was secured in place.

I gathered the rope into a pile and just sat there on the platform, pressing my back against the wall. I couldn't believe what I had done - I had sacrificed my life to get rid of Everest and it landed me right next to a gapping hole that I knew led to Tartarus. If there was one thing I told myself, it was that I would never go anywhere near that place again. Now look where I am - back again.

"Stupid," I muttered to myself. I started hitting the wall, thinking what an idiot I was. "You stupid asshole," I said, louder than before.

I looked at the ceiling of the crivace - I saw sunlight coming through, but I was way too low to get up there. my leg was in a bad condition - even though it was wrapped up with bandages, I was risking getting blood poisoning from exposure to the cold. I just sat there, wondering if Zeus was pleased that I was in this mess for going higher than what he told me. 

The thought made me angry all of a sudden.

"You worthless, ignorant, portentious BASTARD!" I roared up to the sky. "You useless excuse for a god! You happy now? I know I went higher but your reason is just plain SHIT!"

I was just raving my brains out. I was swearing so many times that I just lost it. I started pounding the walls with my clenched up fist's. As a demigod, you know that it's important to keep your cool, even in situations like this, but knowing that I wasn't probably going to get out to live another day just made me break down.

"You stupid idiot! You stupid freaking useless ---------!" I won't even say the word. Just know that it's too strong for you to even see.

I finally stopped punching the walls and I just broke down in tears, sobbing and yelling in despair. I couldn't handle it - I was done. 

I wouldn't make it home...

I was staring into the dark shadows of the chasm when the radio made static noises.

I just sat there, waiting for the end to come. It started getting cold again and I was so scared. There was something about this place that made it have that sense of dread, like there was something lurking in the shadows, waiting to pounce at you. As I glared into nothingness, I felt so alone. The feeling of being alone was just too much.

My thoughts constantly drifted to all my friends and family. Jason and Nico, my best friends who acted like my brothers. Piper, who I constantly thought of as my little sister. Frank and Hazel, who were my good friends to this day. And...of course...I mainly thought of Annabeth - her face lighting up when I was near her; her eyes dancing with a wild light as her thoughts were going hundreds of miles an hour; her blonde hair swaying in the wind and catching the sunlight...it really pained me to think that I might never see her again.

I was thinking about all of this when I heard my radio buzz in.

"Percy!" It was Jason! I felt elated as I heard his voice. "Percy come in! Do you copy?"

I tried reaching my radio but I could barely move my left arm. Apparently, Jason took it as a sign that I wasn't listening.

"Percy, come on pal, talk to me, please," he said desperately. 

I reached my radio finally. I just clicked it's reply button and just spoke, my voice rasping.

"Copy," I croaked.

"Oh, thank the gods," he sighed. "You're still alive."

"Barely," I wheezed back. I layed down on my side, finally feeling comfortable and feeling happy that someone was talking to me.

Suddenly, a female voice talked through the radio. "Percy, it's Clarisse. I need to know your current status - have you sustained any injuries?"

"My back isn't broken, but it hurts - I think I may have broken a vertabra. I think I broke my left arm again as I landed in the chasm and I lost a lot of blood from the wound on my leg. I think I might have blood poisoning, but I can't be sure."

"Have you checked?" the daughter of Ares asked, sounding worried for the first time in all the years I've known her.

"No," I replied. "I haven't checked - I can barely move. Even trying to answer the radio was an effort."

"Percy," Franks voice called through the radio. "Listen to me - if you tell us where you are at the moment, we can send people up to get you - we can't get a read on your location. What's the temperature?"

I looked at my watch, which read the coldness activity. My heart felt like someone had put lead in it. "Twenty degree's below zero."

"WHAT?" the son of Mar's screeched. The other's must've felt the same distress as he did because I heard a lot of people shouting in shock and horror in the background noise of the radio. "Why the hell haven't you tried getting out of there? Climb out!"

"I can't," I whimpered. I looked up at the ceiling entrance of the way I came in. "I'm a couple hundred feet below where I came in. My leg won't take the pressure Frank - Everest's dagger slashed right through the muscles that keep my leg stable. I would cause further damage to it."

"Mars Almighty," Frank groaned.

Reyna talked through the radio next. "Percy, you need to get yourself warm - if you stay in one place, you'll freeze to death. Your whole body will shut down from the shock of the cold. And you'll be another body on Everest."

I wheezed and panted, trying to breathe. I felt very claustrophobic as my whole surroundings suddenly turned hostile. Knowing that I was near the pit to Tartarus, it probably did. I was about to speak but I just broke down crying. I felt tears go down my face, the warmth of them comforting.

"I don't want to die," I cried, sounding like a kid again. I was hyperventilating. "I don't want to die in here. I can't move; my hands are freezing; my face is freezing-"

"I know Percy," Reyna said, her voice calm but she was clearly trying to keep it together for my sake. "I know. Just - just stay calm and try and warm yourself up. We'll come up with a plan to get you out."

"Annabeth," I whimpered. "Annabeth - please don't tell her." I was begging - I didn't want Annabeth to think that I was scared. What would she think of me when she heard me like this? She would think that I had given up.

A moment's silence and then Reyna said, "Just stay calm Percy. Everything will be fine."