Disclaimer: I do NOT own Percy Jackson, nor Heroes of Olympus, Rick Riordan does

Percy's POV:

I looked down and saw the terrified face of Ephialtes and I growled. I swung Lunar's Light through his neck, severing his head from his body, then I pushed past him and used his torso as a platform to launch downwards towards Otis.

"GET YOUR HANDS OFF OF ME!" I heard Artemis scream and I placed my arms at my side and went rigid

I rocketed down until I saw the two flailing forms. One was dressed in silver while the other was not. I willed Lunar's light away before I pulled my bow off and notched an arrow.

"GET AWAY FROM HER!" I snarled as I willed energy to flow into my arrow before releasing it

It flew straight into Otis' neck as Artemis' hunting knife was jammed into his eye causing him to burst into a fine gold dust. I quickly shouldered my bow and tucked my arms in and fell toward Artemis who had started flailing again.

"Hold still!" I said as I tackled her waist just as the ground came into view and the long tunnel opened up into a large cavern

I wrapped my arms around her waist and twisted so I was below her just as we crashed into the hard ground.

"Percy, are you okay?" Artemis said as she scrambled to get off of me and I looked at her and nodded

"Yeah, a bit sore but I'll be good" I said as another object crashed into the ground

I stood up and saw that Ephialtes had landed nearby, still headless but very much alive. Artemis saw this and notched an arrow and quickly shot it into his forehead causing his head and body to burst into dust.

"Well, Welcome to Tartarus..." I said and Artemis looked around and her eyes widened

"We need to get out of here fast... Tartarus, he can sense other immortals..." She said worriedly

I sighed and pulled Riptide out of my pocket and summoned my shield.

"Come on, let's go" I said as I mentally recalled the landscape of Shadow's Place "I have an idea on where we need to go" I finished as I started walking with Artemis following

In moments, I felt Artemis right next to me as we walked over the jagged terrain.

"How do you know where to go?" Artemis asked quietly and I smiled at her

"A friend told me his theory about the location of things in Tartarus" I said

'We need to head to the Phlegethon and drink the water there' Iota said weakly and I frowned mentally but nodded

'Alright' I said as I shifted course slightly "Hey Arty, were going to the Phlegethon river"

"Why?" She asked and I smiled at her

"Iota said we needed to go. He hasn't steered me wrong yet so I trust him" I said and she rolled her eyes but smiled as we traveled over the jagged terrain

We walked for around an hour when we reached a cliff and I heard a thump as Artemis collapsed. I kneeled next to her and propped her up.

"Artemis, are you okay?" I asked worriedly but she only groaned and I saw her skin turn paler than normal "Damn it" I said to myself as I scrambled to pick her up and gently put her on my shoulder as I climbed over the edge of the cliff and started dropping down

'I... I'm sure glad we have the... Achilles curse' Instinct said tiredly and I sent a concerned thought to him 'I'm fine man, d-don't worry about me' he said and I nodded as my hand slipped and I slid down the cliff face before grabbing onto a ledge and bit my lip in pain as my shoulder felt like it was dislocated

I dropped the rest of the way to the ground and gently laid Artemis at the edge of the river as I forced my arm back into place. I clenched my jaw shut as pain raced through my torso and my eyes watered but afterwards I just panted heavily.

"Why does it hurt so much?" I questioned myself as I kneeled next to the flaming river and scooped up a handful of the water that felt cold to the touch

I placed my hands over Artemis' mouth and slowly let the liquid fire go down her throat. Once the water was all gone, she coughed and spluttered as her eyes fluttered.

"P-Percy, where are we? What did you make me drink?" She asked and I sighed in relief

She looked around and froze before her eyes started watering and I pulled her into a hug.

"We really are stuck in Tartarus" She cried into my chest as I held her

"No, we aren't, the doors of death are still open, and we can get out if we play our cards right" I said as she nodded but didn't remove her head

"Percy, c-can you carry me? C-can you protect me while where in here? Just like all those other times?" She said in a small voice as I smiled and made her look at me

"Of course, I will carry you through anything" I said as I kissed her on the lips and she returned the kiss

I then reached down and picked her up bridal style before walking down next to the river.

"Not quite the walk on the beach I was expecting" She said quietly as she kept her head rested on my chest and relaxed

"Well, I couldn't get reservations for a whole beach" I said and I felt her smile slightly

Silence enveloped us as I walked but I knew she had something on her mind. We stopped a few more times for her to drink from the Phlegethon. It was during one of these breaks that she looked at me and I saw a look in her eyes that told me to choose my next words carefully.

"Percy, what are your thoughts on kids?" She said and I felt myself freeze in shock at the sudden question

"Why do you ask?" I ask and she looks at me

"I... I was thinking w-what it would be like to have k-kids" She said as a large blush rose on her cheeks

'Well...' Iota said weakly

'That was sudden' Instinct said and I nodded mentally as I walked over to her and put an arm around her shoulder

"Well, who do you want the father to be?" I whispered into her ear and her blush darkened as she hid her face in my chest and mumbled something "What was that?" again she muttered something I couldn't quite hear "A little louder Arty"

"You! I want you to be the father" She said before hiding her face again as I was in shock.

'Well, this was unexpected' Iota said and I nodded mentally

'Well, say something! Don't leave her hanging' Instinct said and I looked at Artemis

"I would be happy Arty" I said and she wrapped her arms around me and I returned the hug "Let's get out of here first" She nodded as I picked her up again and kept walking

After a few hours of walking, we moved away from the river of fire and into a swamp. We walked passed a large drakon skull when a loud roar echoed through the woods and a large drakon slithered into view.

"Hey, look, a drakon!" I called out when suddenly a large shadow flew over us and slammed into the drakon "Hey look, a drakon corpse!" I say as the drakon was suddenly impaled by a tree and the being looked at us and frowned

"Who are you and why are you here?" He asked and I waved

"I am Percy Jackson, this is Artemis. We are here because we thought it would be nice for our first date to be in Tartarus!" I said sarcastically and the being rolled his eyes

"I am Damason son of Gaea and Tartarus" Damason said and I nodded

"A pleasure to meet you, if you wouldn't mind, can you point us in the right direction to the doors of death?" I asked and he looked at me and rolled his eyes

"Focus, follow the pull to the destination and beware of Tartarus, he is always watching" Damason said and I nodded

"Thank you" I said as he nodded and tossed over a drakon bone sword that I caught easily

"For your girlfriend, she must have lost her daggers so I gift that sword so you can escape, and if by chance you do find Tartarus, tell him to fuck himself for me please" Damason said and I nodded as I handed the sword to Artemis and she sheathed it in a drakon leather sheathe and thanked Damason

We started walking away and we met some resistance in the form of a group of empousa. But we quickly disposed of them before moving on towards the pull and quickly found ourselves in a large chamber where we found a large hoard of monsters.

"How are we going to get past?" Artemis asked and I took her hand and cloaked us despite how tired it made me

'Iota, Instinct, are you two alright? You've been quiet for the past few hours' I asked mentally

'Yeah, we're fine' Iota said quietly and I frowned but started moving forward through the hoard of monsters

We weaved our way around the beasts being careful not to bump into any of them as we progressed to the doors of death. We were just about to make it when a hellhound leapt into us and knocked us down causing me to lose focus for a second. The cloaking fell and every head turned toward us as we stood up slowly.

"Artemis... Grab your blade and start swinging!" I said as I uncapped Riptide and stabbed the hellhound before whipping around and cutting the head off of an empousa

Artemis grabbed her drakon bone sword and started deflecting attacks before countering and killing monsters.

We fought for what seemed like hours, but was really only around ten minutes when we finally made it to the doors of death.

"Artemis go! I'll hold them off!" I yelled as I batted a celestial bronze cannon ball away into a group of monsters

"No! I won't lose you! Not again!" She yelled as a Hellhound leapt out of a shadow and grabbed her leg and started to drag her off

"NO!" I growled as I jumped forward and stabbed the hound in the skull before picking Artemis up and moonlight stepping back to the doors before kicking open the doors and placing her on the other side before stepped back into Tartarus

"Percy, please don't go!" She begged but I shook my head as I closed the doors and put my right hand on the pair of doors

"I'm sorry Artemis, but I sacrifice this power of invulnerability to seal these doors forever, I condemn myself to the depths of tartarus in hopes that my charge may walk on Olympus yet again. I sacrifice this power to forever protect her" I chant and I feel my iron like skin turn back to normal as the seam between the two doors vanished and I was thrown to the side

I look up and see a face of swirling darkness and I stare at it fearlessly.

"The great warrior falls, how pathetic" the being said as he produced a dagger and shoved it into my shoulder "Welcome to eternal torment"

A/N: I know it sucks, but I needed to get back into things.

~Major Nich