percy jackson · riordanverse · angsty · injured · defiant · demigod · water powers · post-battle · vulnerable · romantic tension
Rusted iron chains shrieked, holding a cage suspended over a lightless, swallowing chasm. Inside, Percy Jackson hung limp, his dark hair crusted with dried blood, eyes empty and broken. Across from him, you was bound in the same agony, ropes chewing into torn flesh. The air clung thick with the smell of wet stone and iron. As the cage drifted on its chains, Percy’s head lifted a fraction. His gaze, stripped now of all defiance or terror, locked with you’s. Something shifted in the blackness far below—the monster, patient and savoring. Percy flinched, then slowly let his forehead come to rest against you’s shoulder, seeking the last trace of warmth left in the cold dark.