Tortured: Percy Jackson's story (Betrayal)

Spikes

Percy p.o.v:

I stood there with a maiden goddess in my arms, to say the least I was terrified. But from the outside I wasn't, I had just fought death itself.

Artemis took a step back and regained her composure. She looked me in my eyes, she tried to read my emotions. She wasn't able to, even I wasn't able to read my own emotions.

"Come on, let's keep moving." She said, sounding more like herself.

"Sure, ladies first." I said as I pointed to a random direction.

We had no idea where we were at the moment, or at least I had no idea. Because Artemis started walking and I had to jog to catch up to her.

"Where were you when I was being attacked by those things?" Artemis asked angrily.

"I don't know, I think it was Thanatos' doing. I was probably in the way." I answered.

"How did you do it? How did you survive that?" She asked as she looked back at the crater.

"For all those years that I have been down here, I have been training. By Titans, by monsters, just about anyone or anything who knew something about fighting or power. Kronos was one of my teachers." I answered with no emotions in my voice.

"What? Why would they train you?" Artemis asked as she stopped in her tracks.

"They were expecting me to break, to join their side, but I didn't. Although, I was so close to giving up. If I had been there any longer I would've given in and received Kronos blessing." I might not have been telling the real truth, but it was close enough.

"So, to answer your question. I think it's from the power that I received from Hyperion and all the training." I finished.

"Why didn't you resist the training?" She asked curiously.

"Well, I did. But it was either training or getting tortured. So...." I said as I started walking again.

"You're saying Kronos has risen?" She just kept the questions coming.

"No, he possessed monsters and he would show up now and then. The monsters would eventually explode from keeping the power inside." I said. "I'm afraid that if he rises this time there will be no stopping him, he won't posses a demigod. He will wait until he can rise in his true form."

"Oh... but you haven't answered my question yet, where were you?" She asked again.

"I don't know, everything around me was black. I couldn't see a thing. There was no sound, nothing." I answered.

"Do you think that we can make it out of here?" I asked.

"Well, I hope so." Artemis answered and started walking again.

After about half an hour of walking in silence, Artemis suddenly stopped and turned to face me.

"Don't tell anything about what happened between us back there!" She said and to make her point clearer she poked me in my chest, hard.

My face remained unmoving, the scenery around was dark. As if it was night, but that was impossible, for there is no sun or moon in Tartarus.

After she saw that I wasn't scared Artemis squinted her eyes and started walking again. She kept her pace high, but I could keep up easily.

I looked around me, we were still surrounded by some kind of sand, only this time the sand was black. Artemis was walking in front of me, if it hadn't been for my improved eye sight in the dark I would've walked into her.

"I can't see a thing!" She said, she seemed to be arguing with herself.

"I'll walk in front, I can see clearly." I suggested.

"Fine." Artemis said as she turned away her face. She seemed angry for some reason.

We continued to walk for at least another hour, when suddenly spikes appeared in the ground. They didn't move, so I figured that they had been there before we arrived.

There were at least a thousand of the spikes, all looking really sharp. The spikes were at most 3 inches.

"Artemis, stop walking." I said calmly.

"What now?" An irritated Artemis said.

"There are a lot of spikes in the ground in front of us," I said as I looked around me. "Scratch that, we are surrounded." As I looked around me I saw that the spikes were now everywhere.

"Auwww!" Artemis cried, she tried to step on one of the spikes, but it had cut her foot.

"You are not going to like this, but I'll have to carry you." I said, my face still unmoving.

"What makes you think that you can do it?" She asked, she probably took it as if I had declared myself stronger than her.

"Well, I am standing on the spikes. So...." I said as I pointed at my feet.

The spikes hurt, a lot. But we had to get out of there. I waited for Artemis permission which would never come. So I spoke.

"May I carry you?" I asked softly.

"Do not speak of this! If you value your life!" She fumed.

So, I picked her up bridal style and started walking. My feet had never hurt this much, but I kept walking. Seeing as there was nowhere to rest.

"Does it hurt? Don't lie, please." Artemis asked softly.

"Just a little." I said.

"Try to sleep, you are tired. Don't be ashamed, I won't tell." I continued.

"I'll try, thanks for carrying me. Never thought I would say that to a man." Artemis said with a small smile on her face.

After ten minutes Artemis fell asleep, she had buried her face in my chest. She slept silently. I looked at her and smiled, oh the irony. A man-hating goddess sleeping in a man's arms as he carried her.

I tried to look as far as possible, but wherever my eyesight reached I could only see spikes. Even though I was blessed with Achilles' curse, the pain was unbearable. But I kept walking for what felt like hours.

I hadn't slept for days, maybe weeks, I couldn't even remember the last time I've had a decent amount of sleep. I looked in front of me hoping to see an end to the spikes, but to no avail.

So, I kept walking. My arms were sore, my legs were burning from all the walking. Artemis was still asleep, which was great, at least things weren't awkward with here asleep.

I tried to focus on my powers, I looked in my mind. Looking for every little piece of information that I had gained from my time here in Tartarus, I came up with something. Kronos had thought me this, but I didn't know if it would work. Maybe I wasn't powerful enough. But I had to try, I had to get myself to levitate.