Chapter One: The Armies Of Tartarus

Percy

**DISCLAIMER** I DO NOT OWN THE CHARACTERS OF THE PJO UNIVERSE OR NAME, ALL RIGHTS FOR THE RESPECTIVE CHARACTERS AND UNIVERSE BELONGS TO RICK RIORDAN. I ONLY OWN MY ORIGINAL CHARACTERS**

The air around him crackled and hummed with power, as black clouds swirled overhead, sparking with blood red lighting. The plains of Tartarus were thoroughly uninviting to say the least. Teeming with monsters; Giants, Drakons, Hellhounds, entire hordes of cyclops and Telkhine's. All marching towards one single point, which just so happened to be about fifty feet or so behind Percy.

A red hazy mist hung about the area, giving the battlefield an ominous look as it swirled about. The featureless plain and the mist blended until everything from the small piles of boulders to the monsters themselves seemed to fade in and out of existence, lost in the haze. Were it not for the screams and roars as the army surged towards the doors, he might have thought himself alone in the middle of this misty field. However the tidal wave of noise they produced began echoing back off the mountains which towered high into the sky, all around the open plain.

The air was stiflingly hot, and humid. Searing his throat as he gulped it down into his lungs, reminding him once more that this place wasn't just full of monsters trying to actively kill him. The air wanted him dead too.

'Great', he thought miserably.

The fighting had been going on for nearly ten minutes already, and Percy was pretty sure his hair was sore, if that was even possible. There was just no end to them, for every one monster he cut down, four more took their place. The air itself was heavy with the smell of blood and brimstone as the golden dust began to pile up across the ground.

His hands were numb, fingers barely able to grip the handle of Riptide, just swinging the sword with any kind of deadly force was exhausting. Regardless his knuckles were white as he gripped the hilt like a lifeline. The pressure in the air alone was so intense he could scarcely breathe, but gritting his teeth he assumed what he hoped was a somewhat recognizable fighting stance, and steeled himself.

He had fought many foes before; Titans, Giants, even the Chimera for Hades sake.

However the challenge he now faced seemed insurmountable, he glanced around at the horde of monsters that swarmed through the mist in and around the doors, shuddering slightly. He felt like a caged animal, pressed in on all sides.

Years of battle instincts kicked in as his senses screamed danger. Throwing himself backwards in an instant, twisting his torso as he went. He landed with a roll, standing up quickly he spun around putting Riptide through a quick flurry of blows, decapitating a Dracanae that had decided to take advantage of his apparent lapse of concentration. Percy moved like a whirlwind through the mist, ignoring the screaming pain in his ribs and back as he spun and dove through the melee.

His instincts, honed by years of fighting combined with his swordplay meant that most everything in his path was slashed or stabbed to pieces before it could lay so much as a finger on him.

But, regardless of his skill with the blade he was outnumbered beyond reason, he was getting tired, and slowly the small injuries began to pile up as he continued to fight like a demon. Dashing from monster to monster, sprays of blood and clouds of gold dust popping up about him.

Parry, Roll, Strike , Parry Strike, Repeat.

His body moved on auto pilot as he pushed himself harder than he ever had before, nothing but her safety mattered. It was that single thought that occupied his mind, drove him to fight faster and harder than he ever had before.

"Annabeth"

Another Dracane exploded into dust as he rolled through the cloud, planting riptide into the ground and using it to launch himself forwards, underneath the swinging fist of a cyclops, both his feet leading the way. For about two seconds, he felt like he was defying gravity, then he slammed feet first into an Empousa who had stepped out in front of him, aiming to slash him apart with her claws. The impact blasted her off her feet as Percy tumbled off to the side, rolling onto his stomach and lunging forwards to avoid the cyclops's feet as he tried to make a Percy pancake.

That lunge put him within range of the Empousa again, A quick stab from riptide put the sword halfway into her chest as she stared at him incredulously.

"I say that landing was a nine and a half out of ten, right?" Percy said with a small smile as the monsters eyes were practically bulging out of its skull, its hands lifted as if to grab him and then with a *poof* she dissolved into a cloud of gold dust.

A roar shook him from his thoughts as the cyclops stepped down two or three feet to the left of Percy who had rolled onto his back to avoid the cyclops snapping his spine like a twig. Percy looked up to see the monster glaring down at him as it smirked before lifting its other foot to step on him.

Percy cocked his arm back and threw riptide, smiling slightly at the choking sound the cyclops made as Riptide slammed hilt deep into its throat. Both the cyclops's hands shot up to its neck as it lost its balance, tumbling over backwards before bursting apart into a pile of dust.

Standing up quickly he dashed to the golden dust pile and grabbed his sword, taking a deep breath as nothing charged him immediately.

Glancing about it was clear that things were certainly not going their way, Annabeth was backed up against the doors of death, her face pale and drawn with pain as she clutched at her leg with one hand which sported a nasty gash running from her hip to her knee, and held her Drakon bone sword with the other.

She was slowly hacking away at the chains, which had proved to be slightly more difficult to cut than they had first expected, but then again when did the fates ever let them off easily.

The Drakon bone sword and Riptide had both failed to leave much more than a scratch on the chains. He wouldn't admit it to anyone, certainly not Annabeth but at that moment the hopelessness of his situation had begun to set in. They were so close, they had suffered so much and now; here at the end of their long journey, they were going to be stopped by a pair of chains. Worst of all, their friends were no doubt waiting for them on the other side, fighting a battle against Gaea's minions just the same as they were.

He gritted his teeth as an almost animal-like snarl erupted from his throat, he rushed forwards, leaping into the air to plant both his feet into the back of a cyclops, while simultaneously stabbing riptide through its back and out the front of its chest near the shoulder.

Holding on for dear life he rode the cyclops to the ground knocking it onto its face, arms flailing, as it crushed several Telkhine's under its bulk.

A quick series of slashes decapitated the monsters beneath his feet, but before he had a chance to savor his victory he was forced to leap backwards to avoid being crushed by a large Warhammer wielding Laistrygonian giant.

The creature grinned, showing its many missing teeth before it roared and hefted the hammer again to charge.

The thing swung the hammer like a baseball bat, aiming to shatter every bone in his body with one swing. Which would have worked, if Percy had not spent the last several months hunting down and killing creatures who were bigger and stronger than him.

With precision born of practice, Percy rolled backwards under the attack and planted his feet, launching himself back at the giant while it was stumbling off balance due to its missed swing.

Dashing inside the reach of the Warhammer, he slashed Riptide along the monster's belly, tearing it open with ease as its intestines began to spill out. The giant screamed in pain and threw itself at Percy, perhaps aiming to crush him under its massive weight. One hand reaching out to crush him, the other holding its stomach together.

Percy grinned slightly as he stepped to the side with a quick spin, swinging Riptide upwards with everything he had as a roar escaped his lips.

In the blink of an eye he had brought the weapon in line with the giant's back leg and like a knife through butter Riptide seemed to slide through the bone and muscle above its knee, sending the giant crashing to the ground mid stride as he cut its leg off.

Ignoring his calves as they protested he dashed back towards the giant as it fell, its hammer laying forgotten on the ground as it tried to land somewhat gracefully on its hands.

With a burst of speed, he jumped as high as he could, bringing him within striking range of the giant's arm. Clasping Riptide with both hands he brought it down in front of him, severing the giant's arm at the shoulder.

He stumbled as he landed, ending with a short tumble across the ground. Groaning, he quickly jumped back to his feet as the giant behind him screamed out loudly smashing face first into the ground, twitching before it slowly dissolved into a pile of golden dust.

Percy stared about the battle, trying to come up with a plan, something to give them an edge, or at least a chance.

A loud boom shook him from his stupor as a voice laden with malice shook the ground itself, causing Percy to glance to the cataclysmic battle going on a hundred or so feet away. Explosions of pressure blasting clear the mist for twenty feet or so around the combatants every few seconds.

"You were a failure then, and you are a failure now Damesan. HOW DARE YOU DEFY ME!" roared Tartarus, as he swung his obsidian claymore at the giant, Accentuating every word with a strike from his sword.

This was followed by the sound of rending metal on metal as the battle resumed once more. Bob and Damesan had valiantly taken on Tartarus, the battle was titanic and any creature that got too close was either cut down by the Giant and Titan, or their supposed lord.

However both Damesan and Bob sported serious looking injuries and it was clear that they couldn't keep the primordial of the pit occupied for much longer let alone do any real damage to him.

"The boy and the girl will die here in my realm, and suffer eternal damnation for the trouble they have caused your Mother and I."

"Well father, that would require you to deal with me first. So allow me to show you how violent I can truly be. You wanted nothing but that from me since the day I was born. SO COME, ALLOW ME TO SHOW YOU NOW" roared Damesan

Damesan and the Maenoian drake charged forwards a flurry of spear thrusts and a blast of poison leading the way as they crashed into Tartarus pushing him farther away from the doors. Bob meanwhile was a whirlwind of death with his Broom, or was it a spear?

Doesn't matter, Percy thought, shaking his head.

Percy wanted to help them, he hated the thought that Bob and Damesan were risking their lives for him, after all what did they owe him he thought miserably.

But he didn't have much time to mope however, as Instincts honed by years of battle kicked in and every nerve in his body screamed danger. A large club seemed to materialize mid swing from his right, aiming to crush his head to a pulp with a single blow.

Like a bullet Percy dove sideways towards the attacker and got a good look at the Cyclops swinging the club. Rolling to a stop between the monster's legs Percy spun, slashing Riptide across the back of its ankles, drawing a scream of rage and bringing it crashing down to the ground.

Taking the chance he pounced onto its back on hand grabbing its lanky greasy hair and the other plunged Riptide into the base of its neck, cutting its cries short with a low gurgle as a fountain of blood poured out of its mouth and it dissolved into a pile of golden dust.

Another roar distracted him as a large hellhound simply ran over several monsters as it made its way out of the thick of battle. Its jaws trailing saliva, eyes like burning orbs locked onto him as it turned and charged at him. The ground actually shook under its weight, the thing might have been even bigger than Miss O'Leary.

Groaning internally he spat golden dust from his mouth and watched the hellhound charge towards him. He figured the best bet would be to avoid directly fighting with it, placing all his weight on his back foot as he stood his ground, giving it his best wolf stare as it charged him.

At the last second he spun to the side, dropping to one knee and swinging riptide horizontally with both hands, there was a brief moment of resistance then the sword was wrenched out of his hands as the creature's back leg, liberated of its body, slammed into him. He was thrown a good ten feet backwards crashing into the ground and rolling to a stop against a small pile of rocks.

The hellhound had moved about as far as it could on three legs which wasn't very far, about thirty feet or so, before it had smashed into the ground howling in pain and thrashing about for a few seconds before it slowly began to dissolve.

Percy rolled over, his breath coming in short gasps as he felt a pain in his chest, his sword was nowhere to be seen and his vision was filled with black spots. Stumbling to his feet, shaking his head like a dog, he tried to get the ringing out of his ears.

That was only made harder when something solid collided with his back and launched him forwards back towards the doors and Annabeth.

"PERCY!" Annabeth's voice screamed out from somewhere ahead of him

He slammed into two Telkhine's and knocked them over like bowling pins, hitting the ground a mess of clawed limbs and snapping teeth. Within seconds he was struggling on his back to keep the telkhine from ripping his face off with its teeth and claws.

He punched the first one in the throat as it tried to climb on top of him, causing the creature to choke and hiss for a second before he slammed his fist right between the things eyes a few times,leaving it in a bit of a daze. The second Telkhine lunged at his throat as he threw the stunned one off of him, fangs bared and only quick thinking saved Percy as he threw his arm out in front of him. A scream ripped itself from his throat as the Telkhine sank its razor sharp teeth into his arm.

"GET OFF OF ME!" Percy roared, slamming his free fist into every inch of the Telkhine he could reach, until he finally felt the familiar weight of a certain pen in his pocket. Reaching for it as fast as he could, which was difficult in all honesty, it felt like the Telkhine was gnawing on the bone at this point, as waves of pain washed over him.

However the Telkhine's weight on top of him made it difficult to get the pen out of his pocket and for a second worry and panic began to set in as the creature started to overpower him, before it suddenly exploded in a cloud of golden dust, filling his mouth and nose.

"Percy, oh my gods! Are you okay!?" a familiar voice called out.

"Yea" Percy groaned as he rolled over spitting out blood and monster dust, which he was completely covered in. He pulled out riptide and stood up, his left arm now hanging limply at his side, he could feel the gore from several weeks of constant battles coating his face and chest. With a quick thrust he plunged riptide into the chest of the remaining telkhine as it was recovering from some severe head trauma.

He looked at Annabeth, smeared with dirt and grime, her hair sticking out at crazy angles, covered in blood and monster dust. Her clothes were ripped to shreds and dozens of small gashes and cuts covered her arms and legs.

He assumed he didn't look much better, glancing down to take a quick look at himself.

His shirt was thoroughly soaked and more resembled a ragged sleeveless crop top than a t-shirt. And his jeans had quickly become a ratty pair of shorts ending just above his knees.

He didn't want to talk about the state of his shoes, or his feet, just wincing at the thought.

"Not the time to get lost in your own world seaweed brain!" Annabeth called out as she stepped up to cut down a small hellhound that had dashed forwards towards him. Her sword hit it in the bottom jaw and she stepped past the creature turning as she did so, the Drakon sword ripping down along its chest almost chopping it in two before it exploded into dust mid leap.

Her eyes shone with concern as she looked at Percy, "You okay there Seaweed Brain?" she asked softly. Before her eyes hardened again, preparing herself for battle as more monsters closed in on them.

"I feel just peachy, How are the chains coming along?" Percy grunted, coughing out yet more golden dust.

"Could be better" She grunted out as she chops a Telkhine in half before blocking a wickedly curved sword swung at her head by a Dracane. Their swords leapt back and forth in a brief dance before Annabeth parried a strike and ran it through the chest. "Nothing I have seems to be doing anything to the chains. I can't make a scratch and we cant keep this up forever" she says glancing worriedly at percy.

"JACKSON!" a familiar voice roared as golden light flooded the area around the doors.

"Great, lord lightbulb decided to join the party" Percy groaned recognizing the voice.

He and Annabeth turned and looked at the Titan of the east. Striding through the horde of monsters, his eyes locked with Percy.

Hyperion stalked forwards, grinning as he spun a golden sword about with casual ease. "Glad to see a simple kick didn't kill you demigod" he spat the word with distaste. "I plan to inflict much more pain on you before i finally end your pathetic life"

"Ahhhh, glad to see you without your leaves lord maple breath" Percy chirped. Smirking slightly at the memory of their last encounter.

Hyperion's eyes narrowed to slits as he glared at Percy "You will die slowly for that Jackson" and with that he dashed forwards, swinging his sword which had begun to glow with a bright light. His body flaring in anger as waves of heat roared off the titan.

"No water or satyrs to help you this time son of Poseidon!" Roared the titan as he slashed downwards at Percy.

Percy tensed to leap sideways, when something collided with Hyperion at the speed of a bullet train.

Something wearing a janitor's uniform.

"BOB!" Annabeth cried out as the two titans began to battle, spear clashed against sword as they fought. Exchanging blows of titanic proportions it seemed as if they were evenly matched. Several serious looking wounds were quickly present on both titans, However a sudden burst of light caught Bob off guard as he closed his eyes for an instant. That was all it took.

Suddenly Hyperion's sword sprouted from Bob's back, tearing through his chest. the titan screamed out once, before slowly stumbling backwards, sliding off the sword and collapsing to the ground. Writhing in pain, as ichor slowly pooled on the ground around him.

"You always were weak Iapetus, to betray your own brothers, and for what!? The Demigod who stole your life from you!" Hyperion roared in rage standing above his brother, his sword leveled at his face as his eyes never once left Bob.

"Percy…. is … my friend…" Gasped bob ichor bubbling at the edges of his mouth.

Hyperion roared in anger and went to lift his sword.

However that cry of rage quickly turned to one of pain and Annabeth gasped loudly, staring at the titan, watching as his sword slowly fell to the ground.

Percy stood in front of Hyperion, between him and bob. Riptide held aloft glistening with ichor, meanwhile Hyperion's sword now lay on the ground in front of him as he clutched at his severed wrist.

Looking at it in horror before he turned to Percy, which was a mistake as Percy looked to be fury incarnate. A strange sea green light pulsing gently off his body, Illuminating the darkness of the pit, as the thunder above seemed to crackle more intensely. However, the worst of it were his eyes, which promised death as they flashed an emerald green. He dashed forwards quickly, slashing at the titans stomach as he forced Hyperion to backpedal away from Bob.

Without even stopping Percy began to hack away at Hyperion, Riptide weaving a deadly dance as he used only one arm, his footwork was masterful as he hounded Hyperion from within his own reach. Never once letting the titan take advantage of his larger size.

"He wasn't weak, '' Percy snarled as he ducked under Hyperion's outstretched hand diving past him and slashing deeply into his side as he moved past. "But you, that's a different story Hyperion. You've already lost once to me, and now you went and made the worst mistake you could."

Hyperion attempted to ignite his body once more, to ward off Percy. However Percy didn't give him a chance to recover from the barrage of attacks as he threw riptide at Hyperion's head and a scream echoed out as it slammed into his eye. "You hurt a dear friend of mine" growled Percy

"I WILL RIP YOU LIMB FROM LIMB JACKSON!" Roared Hyperion as he stumbled half blind swinging for Percy as his body flared up and the ground around him began to smoke.

Not missing a beat, Percy reached out, feeling the familiar tug in his gut as he raised his working arm. He felt the water resist him for a second before, grunting with the effort he screamed out and the ground around him erupted. For the briefest of moments a strange song filled Percy's head, several female voices singing in harmony but it was gone almost as fast as it appeared.

Geysers of water from one the five rivers exploded around them, slamming into Hyperion whose scream of rage turned to one of agony as the water crashed into his chest. He dropped to one knee clawing at his skin with his remaining hand as his face was frozen in a mask of pain.

If Percy had to wager a guess it was the Acheron, simply based on Hyperion's reaction. But he didn't waste much time on that.

His eyes glowed green in the darkness of the pit as he looked at Hyperion, he went to take a step forwards stumbling slightly as a wave of exhaustion hit him, he felt himself pitch to one side for a second before he regained control of his exhausted limbs.

Percy heard footsteps and a scream of rage from his left as Annabeth ran past him swinging her sword. "YOU KILLED HIM!" she screamed. Closing the distance to Hyperion surprising quickly and launching into an attack.

Her face contorted in a snarl as tears ran down her face she slashed at any part of Hyperion she could reach. Ichor flew everywhere as Annabeth continued her furious onslaught.

Percy turned to look at Bob, only to choke back a sob as he watched his friend slowly start to dissolve into a cloud of golden dust. Biting back the tears he drew a ragged breath and turned back to the matter at hand.

Rushing forwards in a near blind rage as he threw a haymaker with his good arm at Hyperion's side waiting for Riptide to return to his pocket. It wasn't a conscious attack, he just wanted to inflict as much pain to the titan as possible.

However as he ran forwards he felt a pressure building in his chest, almost like a dull roar. Every muscle in his body felt energized for a split second before the impact as he felt a rush of energy surge out of his fist as it made contact with Hyperion's gut.

He was rewarded with a bone cracking crunch as he felt the familiar tug in his gut that came with using his powers, Followed immediately by a wave of exhaustion that forced him to one knee.

The effect on Hyperion was slightly more profound; he was launched off his feet and landed on his back, immediately coughing ichor out of his mouth and nose as he struggled to breath. His body, a broken wreck leaking ichor from dozens of wounds. The Titan shook weakly as his fires sputtered and died around him.

"T-That's new.. '' muttered Percy as he looked at the absolute wreckage that was Hyperion's breastplate after Percy had channeled the powers of the Earth-shaker into a punch. It had caved in completely and was oozing ichor from several jagged tears in the metal, Hyperion himself had rolled over and was coughing up ichor as he struggled to move, weakly trying to drag himself out of the small crater he had made on impact.

Feeling the familiar weight of riptide in his pocket, Percy struggled to stand, feeling his body trembling with exhaustion as he walked slowly towards Hyperion.

"It's not the water Hyperion…. I will beat you every time because I have something to fight for" Percy said quietly as he stepped forwards and looked down at Hyperion. "This is for Bob" he snarled as he hefted riptide and cleanly cut Hyperion's head off his body, watching with grim satisfaction as Hyperion began to dissolve into gold dust.

A wave of sadness crashed over him once more as he looked back to see Bob now fully dissolving into dust as well, but he did his best to stuff those emotions away. He couldn't afford to be distracted right now, he would have time to grieve when Annabeth was safe.

Suddenly he was engulfed, a pair of arms wrapped around his chest and his instincts almost kicked in until he recognized the lemony scent to her hair and her voice. She was shaking him roughly by the shoulders as he snapped out of his exhausted daze.

"Percy… what.. What was that!?" Annabeth practically screamed as she dragged Percy back towards the doors. "Percy I don't… what… what do we do!?" she asked in a panic as she glanced at Percy, worry clearly etched on her face.

Everything felt so surreal, Percy wasn't even sure he was hurting any more. The edges of his vision were blurry and everything sounded so far away.

"Percy, you need to focus" she was shaking him roughly by the shoulders.

Gods, he was tired, if he could just close his eyes for a second….

"Percy!" his head was rocked to the side as his cheek was stinging as he was snapped back from his stupor by a slap from Annabeth.

Annabeth was staring at him, tears shining in her eyes as she looked him over, he heard her gasp as she spotted the extent of the injuries to his arm. Looking down he saw the bone was clearly visible and the wound was already puffy and infected looking.

"Oh gods your arm…" he heard something ripping before she began to wrap something around his arm.

He sucked in, and gasped suddenly as he felt her hand press against the bandage and his arm may as well have been lit on fire for how much pain that caused.

"... I'm sorry.. I'm sorry i know this hurts… but we need to stop the bleeding" he could hear the edge in her voice, the slight wild look in her eyes. She was spiraling.

Percy grunted in agreement, his mind raced with any plan he could come up with to break the chains, something to give them an edge. At this point he would be willing to get down on his knees and beg Zeus for help if he thought it would matter. But, knowing his luck, and how the fates loved him so he knew there would be no help from any of the gods.

At that moment a scream of pain ripped through the field, louder than any other sound. Followed immediately by a blast of white light that blinded Percy and Annabeth. The sheer force of the explosion knocked most of the monsters in the immediate area over like bowling pins. Like a whip, Percy's attention snapped to the lone figures of Damesan and Tartarus fighting on the battlefield. With growing horror he watched as Damesan slouched over, barely able to stand; the Maenoian drake lay dead, its head severed cleanly from its body. Damesan's spear lay shattered on the ground at his feet, both ends smoking slightly.

It looked like the battle between Tartarus and Damesan had finally come to an end.

Author's Note: I'd like to thank anyone for reading my first PJO fanfiction, I'd appreciate any comments or ideas. I have a fair portion of this written and planned out already and I will be doing my absolute best to post once a week every friday. No idea if I will be writing any Lemons in this story as that's not something I have a lot of experience writing. But if it's requested I'd give it a try, not sure what the romantic pairings will be so I'm open to letting people voice their thoughts on it. I will be doing my best to stay honest to the characters and Rick Riordans universe/writing style, however these are obviously my interpretations of the characters so I hope you can all bear with a slightly darker more adult themed version of our favorite hero.