He woke up from his nap, he sat up so fast that he startled a few campers passing by, and probably blew up every single toilet bowl in the bathroom. "Ah, shit. Will and Nico..."

He rubbed his temples, then he realized, time hasn't moved. It was still the same summer afternoon, he still woke up from the same place, everything else would be normal. It was as if the past loops were nothing but a dream, but Percy was well aware that he wasn't dreaming. It was a nightmare, he was in an endless nightmare where all of his friends would die in some horrible, gruesome way.

First, it was Grover. Then it was Will and Nico, who will be next? Who will I fail next? Who will die in my hands next? How many loops have I been in? How long have I been doing this?

"Hey waterboy!" Percy felt someone pat his back, he looked up and saw brown eyes, they were glowing with firey mischief. "Leo," he saw who else was with the hispanic boy, "Jason, Piper, what are you guys doing here?"
"Well," Piper started, "Leo thought it would be a good idea to grab a bite before we head into the forest-"

"W-wait, what are you going to do in the forest?" Percy inquired, he knows that Kronos was just waiting for them, waiting for another chance to torment Percy's sanity, "Nico said that he felt some kind of disturbance with death in the forest, he said he'd check it out but we volunteered to go ahead and check for him," Piper continued, "well, Jason did."

"What? I wanna be an awesome cousin." Piper rolled her eyes on her boyfriend's statement. "We better go, time's a-wasting." Leo suggested.
"Wait." Percy said.

What the Hades am I going to do? I'm not sure if I could defeat that monster and vanquish Kronos simultaneously...if I tell these three what I know, they're going to think that I'm insane...Dammit, what am I going to do?

"I wanna come too," Percy said, giving his friends a pained smile. Jason raised an eyebrow, "But I thought you had archery this afternoon, shouldn't you be shooting arrows right now?"

"Archery's boring. Besides, I wanna do something else this afternoon."

"...Well, we don't see why not. C'mon, the sooner we get to the forest the better." Jason said and walked away, the two demigods following him. Percy was walking behind them, his hand gripping his pen.

I will not fail you this time. I will get us outta here.
•

The forest seemed to be mocking Percy as they entered it. He stayed alert, his eyes scanning the trees and the shadows of the forest. The silence was broken by their footsteps, they didn't hear birds or the occasional roars of the monsters surrounding the camp.

Percy walked behind the three demigods, his eyes darting to random places, knowing that the monster could attack at any moment. Then he felt the ground vibrating, he uncapped his pen and got into a defensive stance, his blood rushing to his head. Piper raised an eyebrow, "Percy? What are-"

The low, beastly growl of the monster cut off Piper, who turned towards the direction of the monster. "JUMP TO THE SIDES!" Percy screamed, the other three followed his command. They barely escaped the monster as it pounced on where they were standing moments ago, if they were a second slower, they would've been killed. "Kill it, give it everything you've got!" the son of Poseidon ordered, Jason and Piper nodded and went to work. Leo set his hands aflame, "Percy, what is this thing?"

"...I don't know what it is exactly, but I think it wants to hurt us. And probably maul our faces. And rip us to shreds-"

" Alright, I get the message." the son of Hephaestus threw balls of fire at the creature. Percy lept into action, he slashed Riptide against the monster's flesh, trying to find the monster's weak spot. But with every swing of his sword, the sense of dread grew inside him.

One wrong move...

His voice echoed in his head, he wasn't sure why it told him that, but Percy was sure something was going to go very wrong in a few seconds. Jason struck the monster with bolts of lightning and wind spirits seemed to help him as well, Piper was using her charmspeak to slow down the creature, stabbing the monster in random places, whilst Leo rode the monster while hitting it with a metal pipe (Percy had no idea how the son of Hephaestus managed to straddle the monster). It seemed like they were winning. Then something went wrong.

The monster caught Jason's leg, the son of Jupiter screamed in pain as the monster tore away his leg. Jason fell like a comet, the winds spirits dissipated and the thunder clouds disappeared. "JASON!" Piper ran towards the fallen demigod, she caressed the blonde boy's face, tears streaming down her face.

Leo watched from the monster's head, he was suddenly fueled with rage. He repeatedly smashed the pipe on the monster's head, desperately trying to wound the monster. Percy ran towards the monster, he was about to stab it's side when it decided to notice the demigod riding it. Leo froze in terror as the creature grabbed him, the last thing he saw were his friends' horrified expressions before he was crushed to death.

Percy couldn't describe how Leo died, blood splattered everywhere, dousing everything near the creature. The ground was splattered with red, Piper, Jason and Percy stared in horror at the monster. The creature dropped Leo's crushed, mangled body, a sickening splat was heard as Leo's corpse hit the ground.

Jason saw his best friend die before his eyes and he didn't do anything to save him. He felt angry, at himself and at the monster. Using his gladius as a crutch, Jason rose, screaming in pain and anger. Blood dripped from his severed leg, Piper wrapped her arms around him to help him stand. The girl was sobbing, everything was happening too fast. "STOP!" Piper choked out, but the power in her voice made everything stop. No one moved, Percy was frozen in place, Piper's voice was too powerful, but it did not stop the monstrous creature. In a blur of black and red, Piper and Jason were devoured by the monster, the blade-like teeth were the last things they ever saw as they met death.

"NO!!!" Percy screamed in agony, he was glued in place as he listened to his friends dying screams. It took all of his will just to move a finger, then he finally unfroze himself. He crashed on the ground, he began to beat the earth with his hands, screaming out all of his sadness and rage.

"How amusing." Kronos's cold voice sent chills down Percy's spine. "You are right, Jackson. This is no dream, it is a nightmare." he stroked the creature's hide, the demigod glared at the titan. Percy stood up, tears still fell from his eyes, he didn't bother to wipe it away.

"Ya wanna dance, old guy?" Percy spat, drawing his sword. Kronos smirked, "I would love to, but time has run out. See you in the next loop, Jackson."