Percy felt the Winchesters' eyes on him as he walked away, but he ignored it. It's not like he wasn't appreciative of the brothers, it was more along the lines of, he needed to gather his thoughts before he could talk to them. He needed time to process the explosion.

When Dean was bringing their stuff to their rooms, Percy had asked Sam where the kitchen was. Once they had reached it, Percy used the water from the sink to heal both him and Sam. And for some reason, Percy decided to bring up that the Winchester brothers were the first people that he ever healed with water. He didn't know why, but he just had to stop thinking for a moment about the explosion until he could be alone. And that may sound like a rude thing to do, considering Sam was in the explosion as well, but Percy wanted to tell his friends first to see if they knew anything.

He wanted to tell them first, so that he could apologize to their person.

Percy got to his room after taking a few wrong turns, even though Dean had given him directions. He had only been half listening. Was it a right and three doors on the left? Or a left and two doors on the right?

He reached his room, glad that neither of the brothers had seen him wander aimlessly around like an idiot.

He went over the bed where his backpack was laying innocently on and opened the front small pocket first in search of his drachmas.

So, he remembers to bring drachmas but not more pairs of clothes? Man, he needed to rethink this whole independent man thing more.

He brought two of the drachmas and headed to the bathroom.

Gods, this place is huge, Percy thought as he looked into different rooms in search of the bathroom. Why couldn't he pay attention when he was given instructions?

He finally found the bathroom a few minutes earlier than he found the guest room and switched on the lights, then closed the door behind him.

He then faced the sink and summoned the water, reaching into his pocket and taking out Riptide. He hoped that he could create a mist using artificial lighting. He's never actually tried it before, unless you count the time where he asked Iris herself to make a call.

Thankfully, the Fates were on his side today (which he found irritating when he's trying to save the world, but that's no big deal.), and a mist formed, albeit it seemed a bit fuzzy.

Percy shifted his pen and one drachma to his other hand and tossed the other coin into the mist. "Oh Iris, goddess of the rainbow," he slightly hesitated as to who he should call then made up his mind. "Show me Jason Grace at Camp Half-Blood."

Percy bit his lip as he proceeded to fiddled with his pen. He knew he should've contacted Annabeth first, but he didn't need all the attention right then.

And besides, Percy calmed himself. If I have my days right, Annabeth should be teaching Greek to the newcomers right about now. And Jason should just be chilling with Piper or something. But he was still nervous about seeing Jason for the first time in two weeks and a half.

And maybe, just maybe, Jason could help him figure out his dreams.

Percy knew that the first thing he had to tell his cousin was sorry. Then discuss the new big upcoming "bad guy". And apologize again.

Percy tentatively thought back to his most recent Nightmares That Scare Percy the Most.

He had thought that he was back in Pitch Black's lair when he saw the cave, but once he got a clear grip of his dream, he realized that he was in a maze. Which was even worse. Percy shuddered at the thought of being back in the labyrinth, his whole body shaking with dread, because he knew it collapsed.

So why was it still active?

There was a loud pop coming deeper from the maze. Percy didn't really want to go down the creepy tunnel, but his body seemed to have other ideas. His body lurched forward until he came to a room.

Well, at least it looked somewhat like a room.

He stopped moving and that time to glance around the room. The walls were rocks, obviously, so nothing new about that; but there was a cage in the middle of the room. Percy realized that he wasn't out of the cage.

He was in it.

And the pop was coming from behind him.

"Hey bunk buddy."

Percy tensed his shoulders. And now there was somebody in the cage with him too. Lucky him.

Percy turned around and was not expecting at what he saw. Standing in front of him was a man in his thirties with blond hair and blue eyes that held anger.

For a split second, Percy thought that it was Luke with him, but it wasn't.

The man had looked normal enough, but for Percy, that's typically a lie.

"I'm sorry," Percy had said to the man. "But who are you?"

The man pretended to look disappointed. "Oh, Percy," he said, slowly shaking his head in pity. "Percy, Percy, Percy. I can't believe you don't remember me."

Percy was confused. What was this guy talking about?

"Don't you remember all the fun we've had in the past couple of weeks?" The man continued, stepping closer to Percy and winked. "Just you and me. Together."

Percy took a step back from the man, a feeling of dread overcoming him. His heart was pounding so hard in his chest, Percy thought that it burst through it.

Percy shook his head. He didn't remember this man. All he remembered from his dreams were pain and blood and tears. He never saw this man before.

Percy was startled when his back hit the bars of the cage. He blindly reached for one of the bars and grasped it tightly, hoping that he would wake up soon, that this nightmare would end.

The man stepped closer to him and bent down to whisper in his ear. "My name is Lucifer."

When Lucifer leaned back, Percy studied him, still clinging to the bars. "You're the Devil?" He couldn't help but ask. He glanced at him up and down. "No offense, but you seem-"

"Devilishly handsome?" Lucifer had suggested, his look smug.

"I was going to say normal," Percy replied, ignoring the terrible pun.

Lucifer frowned. "Well, I see that someone can't take a joke," he complained. "'Course, you remind me of my other bunk buddy. He couldn't take a joke either. You may know him. Does Sam Winchester ring a bell?"

Percy's eyes had widened. He didn't know that. He knew that Sam and Dean had gone through hard years, but Sam being trapped in a cage with Lucifer? He didn't know how Sam could've done it.

"Yeah, little Sammy didn't appreciate my puns," Lucifer continued. "Of course, he was being tortured at the time, but still. You think a guy could laugh at my jokes?"

Man, this guy loves the sound of his voice, Percy had thought. He felt sympathy for the younger brother having to go through something like that, for gods knew how long.

Suddenly, there was this searing pain in Percy's shoulder. He gasped and looked down to see a huge cut that ran down to his elbow. Thank the gods, it wasn't that deep, but it did hurt like Hades. And there was also the fact that he was losing a lot of blood very quickly.

"Michael, that wasn't very nice." Percy dimly heard Lucifer chided to someone. "I'm trying to welcome our new guest."

"Wait a minute," Percy had spoken, trying to clear his fuzzy mind from the blood loss. "I'm only dreaming, so why are you greeting me?"

"Our last plaything was taken from us," a voice that had to belong to Michael, replied. "But fortunately for my brother and I, there was someone who had heard our cries. And he gladly gave us another toy."

"Apparently, this someone was quite pissed because a certain demigod and his rotten friends had destroyed his wife," Lucifer had explained, a malevolent grin plastered on his face. "And when he heard our frustration, he came to help us out. He told us that he could replace the toy that we had lost. And I gotta say, that's the best sale I could ever imagine."

Percy knew, with a pit forming in his stomach, who this mysterious person was.

Tartarus.

Percy had hoped that he wouldn't have to see or hear the name ever again, but, as always, somehow Tartarus was able to become part of Percy's life once more.

He somehow gotten a hold on Percy's mind to send him to Michael and Lucifer' Cage. Just his luck.

Suddenly, a loud crack sent Percy tumbling down to the ground. Pain was the only thing that Percy was aware of. He couldn't form coherent thoughts, just curled up into a ball to try to hide from the hits that were raining down on him.

He didn't know how long he stayed in that position, but when Percy realized that someone was trying to get his attention, get him to wake up, Percy was thankful.

Just before he woke up, he heard Lucifer whisper in his ear again. "Until next time, bunk buddy." And that's when Percy's eyes shot open.

Percy took a deep, shaky breath, trying to calm down his racing heart. It was almost as if it was trying to beat right out of his chest.

This is bad, Percy thought to himself. This is very, very bad.

He tried to keep his focus on the blurry Iris Message, but his mind was drawing him back to the nightmare. He considered about not sleeping, but then he realized that if he didn't sleep then he would be of no use to the Winchester brothers.

So, for now, he's just going to have to deal with Michael and Lucifer. Hopefully, the brothers won't try to persuade him to tell them his nightmares...

Percy brought his attention back to the IM, which for some odd reason, is still blurry. He scrunched his eyebrows together. This has never happened before.

"What the Hades?" Percy muttered, not liking it at all. He repeated his request and still, the fuzzy image appeared.

Percy ran a hand through his hair, contemplating on whether or not he should call out to Jason. Finally, concern for his cousin won and Percy inhaled a deep breath.

"Jason?" Percy asked, loud enough for Jason to hear. "Hey, you awake?"

At first, there was no answer. But then-

"Percy?" Jason's voice sounded like he was going through a tunnel, like the IM could cut out at any minute. "Is that you?"

Percy huffed out a breath, a smile forming on his lips. "Hey, Grace. Still see you're sleeping in late." He paused. "You know, if I could see you, that is."

That got Jason's attention. At least, Percy thought it did. He couldn't tell because of the stupid blurry image the mist created. If he could see Jason right now, his cousin might've mocked glare at him or flipped him off. Or both.

"Yeah," Jason muttered. "Well, let's see you try to sleep and find out your dreaming about your friend who's dreaming about getting hurt every night."

Percy's eyes widened. He was suddenly thankful that Jason couldn't see him clearly right then, otherwise he would've been looking at a very colorless Percy.

"Yeah, I know how you feel," Percy quietly said. He shook his head to clear his mind from travelling to the bad thoughts. "How are the others?" Percy decided to change the subject. "How's Annabeth?"

He heard Jason blow out a slow breath. "Uh, they're fine. Well, as fine as you'd expect them to be. They're worried sick about you, you know. Annabeth is going out of her mind trying to find out where you are." His cousin paused. "You know she's going to kill you once you're back, right?"

Percy could hear the smile in his friend's voice, as his heart gave out a pang of guilt. He never meant to hurt his girl like that.

Percy huffed out a laugh. "Yeah, I know she is." Up until this point, Percy didn't realize how much he missed his Wise Girl until he started talking to Jason. In fact, Percy missed all of his friends.

"Why did you leave, Perce?" Jason softly asked, as if he read Percy's thoughts. "We could've explained it to you."

Percy sighed, his smile faded. "I don't know, to tell you the truth. I guess that if I went alone, then no one else could get hurt."

Jason didn't speak for a minute. "Percy. You know that we're all in this together, right? You didn't have to fly solo for this one."

Percy's heart stuttered for a second. He knew that Jason was only trying to help, but Percy wasn't consciously trying to do things by himself.

"I wasn't trying to, Jason," Percy quietly defended himself. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair again, a nervous habit he couldn't break. "Why did you bring me back in the first place? More importantly, why did you lie about bringing me back?" As he was talking, Percy's voice had raised higher.

Why did his friends bring him back? Were they guilty about not being able to save him? Or was it something else altogether?

Even without seeing Jason's expression, Percy could tell that his cousin was blaming himself. Percy didn't his friend to feel guilty about his choices. He didn't want any one of his friends to feel like they should blame themselves. It wasn't their fault that he had died.

Jason sighed in regret. "Percy, I-"

Just then, the image of Jason was clearer. Percy could finally see Jason now. But something was wrong with the picture.

Standing behind his cousin, a dark shape formed into a figure. Percy's eyes widened in fear.

Tartarus.

Before Percy could warn his friend, the IM went black. It didn't end, it just went black.

And that chilled Percy to the bone.

"No!" Percy yelled, slamming his hands onto the countertop. He couldn't tell what the Hades was happening, but he did know that it wasn't good. "Jason!"

Percy didn't want to close the Iris Message, but he needed to find out what was happening to his cousin.

He swiped his hand across the mist, making it disappear before creating a new one and tossing the coin in.

He quickly chanted the words and prayed to all the gods that Jason was okay.

Percy was aware of footsteps rushing to the bathroom, but his focus was on the mist before him.

Throughout their journey, the Seven had become very close to each other. Which made everyone over-protective of one another. Especially after Percy and Annabeth's trip down to Tartarus, the other members had let them have their space, but they were close enough if either one of the traumatized demigods needed someone.

The Seven had been through a lot together, and now Percy was about to fail his friend.

"Jason?" Percy cautiously spoke. When no answer came, Percy tried again, a little louder this time.

"Jason!"

Still no one answered.

Percy growled in frustration. "I swear to all the gods, Jason Grace, that if you don't answer me in the next point five seconds, I will kill you. And that's a promise."

"And you think I'm bad," Percy heard Dean's voice mutter through the closed door to make sure no one interrupted Percy. Percy wasn't sure when the brothers had gotten there or how long they've been there, but at that moment, Percy didn't care.

Percy was about to call out again, when suddenly Jason's voice replied back.

"Percy?"

Jason's face popped up from the ground.

Percy sighed in relief. "Thank the gods, Jason. I thought something bad happened."

His friend frowned at him. "What do you mean, Perce? Where are you anyway? Are you okay?"

Now it was Percy's turn to frown. "You were attacked," he explained. "I thought T-Tartarus was behind you and-and..."

Jason's head turned to look behind him. "There's no one here, Percy." He turned back around, concern written on his face. "Are you sure you're okay?"

Percy looked at the door, now opened thanks to Dean, to see the brothers' confused expression as well.

He turned back to his cousin, "We were talking earlier and the image was blurry," Percy said, trying to keep his voice calm. "Then there was this dark shape behind you that formed into...into him. And then the Iris Message went black."

Jason opened and closed his mouth, unable to say anything. "Percy," he softly calmed. "I never got an IM from you."

"B-but I saw you!" Percy insisted. "I swear, Jason. I was standing here talking to you!"

Jason gave him a sympathetic look. "Percy-"

"No," Percy interrupted. "No, Jason. I was talking to you. I'm not crazy!"

"And no one's saying that you are," Jason comforted.

Percy brought his hands up to hide his face. This is it, he thought sadly. I am officially going crazy.

"Percy," Jason called softly to him. Percy gripped his hair tightly. "Percy, look at me."

Percy obediently raised his head to meet his cousin's eyes, tears forming in his eyes, but he refused to let them fall.

"You are not crazy," Jason told him slowly so Percy could hear every word. "Nor will you ever go crazy. It was just Tartarus playing tricks on you. Okay?"

Percy slowly nodded his head in reply as his friend studied him from the IM. He didn't say anything as Percy gathered his thoughts.

After a few minutes, Jason quietly spoke up. "Will it be alright if I told the others that you're okay?"

Percy gave him a small smile. "Do you even have to ask?"

Jason playfully grinned at him. "We're all trying to find you and after two and a half weeks, you just randomly call to check up and you won't even tell me, your own cousin, where you are. Yeah, I kinda need to, Mr. I-Gotta-Keep-This-A-Secret."

Percy huffed out a breath, his smile growing a bit bigger, not a lot, but a little bit. "I promise I'll be home soon. Tell Annabeth-"

"That you love her and miss her, yeah, yeah, yeah." Jason grinned. "Should I give her a kiss as well?"

"Only if you want to be punched in the face by both of our girlfriends," Percy smirked at Jason's expression. "See you soon, Grace."

"Oh, I can't wait to see what Annabeth will do to you when you get back," Jason teased, as Percy swiped his hand through the mist, dissolving it.

Once Jason disappeared, so did Percy's smile. He sighed and turned away from the sink, shuffling slowly back to his room, ignoring the brothers who were trying to subtly hold a quiet conversation.

He made it about halfway to his room when he heard Sam call out to him. "Hey, Percy. Everything okay with your friend?"

Percy semi turned his upper body towards the brothers and shrugged half-heartedly. "I guess."

"You know," Sam began. "If you ever need somebody to talk to, Dean or I will listen."

Percy saw Dean look at his brother in surprise, before Sam elbowed him in the stomach.

"Yeah," Dean grunted, glaring at his little brother. "Come either to me or Sammy for...moral support."

Percy's lips twitched. "Thanks, guys." And he meant it. But for right now, he just wanted to sleep, as much as he didn't want to.

He turned and went to his room.

Once he reached his bed, Percy changed into his sleepwear and crawled under the covers and turned off his lamp.

He shifted onto his back and stared at the ceiling, his thoughts going all over the place.

He sighed and closed his eyes.