The Athena Parthenos radiated an immense warmth as it reflected the sunlight from overhead. Even the child of the Underworld had to take a moment to appreciate the treasure Annabeth unearthed. Overhead, both Greek and Roman campers flitted across the Argo II readying the ship to carry such a massive monument. It would take most of the room they had to spare and yet even Nico had to feel just a moment of hope. The spectacle of the lost treasure shone all the brighter, warring against the caliginousness below.

For once, it seemed, the gods were on their side.

And then it happened.

Not in slow motion like in moving pictures Nico had seen. There was nothing so artistic or dramatic about it- just dreadful. Piper shouted, Percy froze and Annabeth (looking ashen and pallid) stared at her swollen ankle in bewilderment. Confusion was not something often seen pinching the daughter of Wisdom's features. Gossamer was threaded through her hair, stuck to her clothes, swathed her like a blanket. But it was the grip it kept to her ankle that threw her off balance; she managed to catch herself just seconds before her nose would have met what was left of the hard floor. Those silk strands, impossibly strong, had caught around Percy as well
when he'd run to her. His leg, also tangled in the length of thread, tugged just moments later.

"Percy!" Annabeth shrieked and even as he was pulled, tangled in the web as well, he still threw his arm out reaching for her. Their hands met and her feet went over the side, floor crumbling further that much less of a barrier between herself and the consuming darkness.

Nico was frozen in time once again. The seconds passed by without meaning, just as they had in the Lotus Hotel. But this time, Nico understood what effect it was having. Life surged back into his limbs and he began moving with impossible speed. But time was equally as impossible as Percy slid over the side, too.

"I've got you!" And even as the missing hero clasped into her tightly, his green eyes turbulent as a hurricane, locked onto ghee younger boy. "Nico! Annabeth... Do something?! Please!" He pleaded.

With his heart hammering its way up into his throat, the Italian was afraid to attempt swallowing from fear of choking. No time. No time to get distracted because there was only one place that the darkness could lead and the abyss was about to swallow both campers with the others on the Argo II looking on in horror. Nico couldn't let that happen. It was a split second choice. Less than a second, even. The choice was instantaneous- an immediate reaction as his heart dominated over his mind and commanded his body to take action. He could feel the weak ground giving below him but he ran feet pounding the fragile platform.

Anything.

He would do anything to replace the turmoil in the sea prince's eyes. He couldn't live with himself if he didn't try something to help his friends. Freeing his Stygian sword from where it rest at his side, Nico disappeared in a sliver of shadow and, still moving at full speed, emerged from his shadow travel for the first time in his life without solid ground beneath his feet. It was a crazy risk- possibly one of he most stupid things the child of he Underworld had ever done- but it wasn't without fear. His stomach clenched painfully and his heart was like a hummingbird- beating a million miles a second and traveling in whatever direction it felt like.

There had been only a fraction of a second nit even to decide but to react and Nico just hoped it wasn't anything he would regret. With just a moment of weightlessness before the feeling free fall, Nico's fingers grabbed onto Annabeth's wrist. It was a combination of newly found strength in the face of danger and steely nerves that he managed to both grip and hold. With a flick of his other hand, Nico attempted to free her from the weight of Arachnae as the monster disappeared, consumed by the blackness below. It was dangerous, Nico couldn't even guarantee it would work, but closing his eyes he managed, by the mercy of his father or the fates, to swing the both of them the slightest of bits and disappear into the familiar shadows.

Their feet hit he deck of he Argo II as if they were falling out of his shadow travel. Nico took a second to catch himself, doing so with more grace than Annabeth and her diminished ankle causing her to fall to the deck.

Steely grey eyes bore into his black ones, glaring up at him. "You have to save him. I can't lose him again. Not when I just got him back," but Nico didn't hear the accusation in her tone. Really, he could use his own imagination to fill in the blanks- he'd been helping this whole time and yet he'd known exactly where Percy was for the duration he'd been missing. There would not be impunity or grace in those eyes. Nico couldn't bare to look at the girl he had just saved- not until he saved the boy still clutching to a similar fate.

He was already gone. Winded from the precision of traveling such a specific distance, Nico disappeared again, not allowing himself a moment to compose himself not matter how necessary that moment might have been.

His gut roiled with the choice he had made.

Let it be the right one. Please, let it be he right on, he prayed silently to anyone of the gods who might be merciful enough to listen and take pity.

Percy was gripping a ledge just a few inches longer than his fingers. Nico, in much the same free falling pattern, reappeared from the shadows and scrabbled to grip the ledge Percy was also clinging to. He could hear Hazel closing in, shouting for Percy not realizing that her half-brother now clung to he thing ledge right beside him. Fora. Child of death, it was impossible not to take in the life that's as next to him- Percy reeked of it in the most comforting and consuming of ways. Green/blue eyes, turbulent as the sea, met Nico's dark irises. Fear radiated from him in waves, a sort of dreaded warmth lapping at the Italian. Percy didn't need to do anything more than glance down quickly and Nico's eyes darted, following right behind.

Percy was far more tangled in the webs than Nico had realized. Freeing Annabeth hadn't done anything towards helping Percy- from his close proximity to Annabeth and walking around, the sea prince hadn't realized that he had become tangled in separate threads of the web and the tautness of the gossamer cables combined with the way Percy scrabbled to hold told Nico all that he needed to know. Arachnae was on the other end of the line and like a creature too large for fishing-reel, she was hellbent on dragging her would be capture down to depths even her capture could not survive. She was reeling the older boy in and his fingers were slipping. Even with the digits fatiguing, Percy still managed a gracious smile.

Their faces were only inches apart and yet the Ghost King felt the dismissal of fear as Percy's mind came to understand she was no longer in danger."You saved Annabeth." The relief in his voice shook Nico.

Nico could only swallow and nod. "I came back for you."

Hazel appeared over the side just as Nico raised his Stygian sword once more. Though he had grown stronger every day, he had not been in the best of conditions after his capture and his own single handed grip was beginning to fail.

"What are you doing down there?! Get your butt back up here!" She screamed at her brother. "And bring him with you! The floor is giving."

Nico couldn't help but to join Percy in laughing as they were scolded like children. Hazel must have recognized how absolutely off-kilter she sounded because even she let out a nervous titter.

Try as she may, even stretching as far as she could, Hazel could not reach either of the boys. The small ledge was just too far out of her grasp. Nico sliced at the impossibly strong threads even as Percy yelled for him to go. Nico ignored him but as he moved a voice boomed from the darkness blacking out any conscious thought.

YOU COME TOO CLOSE AGAIN, HALF BLOOD. YOUR FRIENDS SAVED YOU THEN BUT THEY WILL NOT SAVE YOU NOW. AND THE BOY... YOU WILL NOT SAVE HIM EITHER.

Dread bubbled up inside him, the evil weighing on his mind like ink spilled over a paper, Nico absorbed all of it. His mind, still fragile and in the cusp, broke and his sword slipped from his grasp, a million times heavier than before. Tartarus was reaching for him once more, pulling him back to the horror he had only just escaped. The dark gravity had him in its grip once more and this time it would not let him go.

The ground trembled, even Nico could feel it. They only had seconds.
His eyes, wide with regret, met Percy's in a silent apology. He had failed him. He could not free him from Arachnae's web.

Breathing in deep through his nose, Nico exhaled through his mouth trying to calm himself.

"Hazel! Meet us... On the other side. I'll find it this time, I know I will! Meet us there. You have to lead them!"

Percy's eyes fixed on Nico's in confusion.

"We're staying together. I'll bring you back to her."
Understanding flooded the son of the sea god and his smile broke Nico's heart all the while mending something inside of him. Nico pushed terror aside and clung to that feeling- Percy took hold of Nico's hand and they fell.

Hazel's scream faded; as the two sons of the Big Three fell into eternal night, the son if darkness admired the fading light. Percy clung to him tightly, the grip of their hands never breaking.

"Thank your for saving her," Percy whispered.

Nico was glad the lightlessness secreted the regret on his face, a lone tear rolling down his cheek. He swallowed his sorrow and lied, "It's okay."

Percy's grip tightened on Nico's. "We'll make it to the Doors together. We'll see the others again. We'll see her."

"I know."

Nico made a promise in his heart that Percy would, even if he had to be lost to Tartarus to make it so.

---

AN: That's it! I really hope you enjoyed the beginning. Let me know what you think. I'll try and update again soon. Not sure if I'll try different perspectives every chapter or just follow Nico & Percy. Probably the latter but I'm happy to hear what you all think!

Notes

AN: I do not own Percy Jackson but I just like to dabble in the mythos.