The Last Spartan

by Don Socrates

When a new threat rises who do they turn to? When there's no time left the only option is to go back and start from the beginning to fight the rising tide. Re-write of 'A Trip Through Time' the whole ending should be different, as will the style of writing and overall quality. Enjoy, please review. M themes will be covered later. AU-ish. 10k chapters.

Chapter 1 – The Plan

A tall lean man looked around the room he'd come to find himself stuck in. This place? No, surely not. It didn't make sense that she would send him here, there was nothing of interest here.

Thalia was usually pretty good with her intel, but as the minutes passed by, he was sure that he wasn't in the right place. With a heavy sigh he perched on the arm of a large comfy looking wing-back chair and started to mindlessly play with his revolver.

Most people that knew him had always thought that it was strange that he'd left his home after a certain age and found a liking for guns. For years he'd been trained as a teenager to be proficient with all manner of arms, but seldom was there room for the likes of guns in the wars he fought. It was modelled like a typical old school revolver; six shot with an extended barrel, complete with a reinforced firing hammer forged in the fires of a hesitant God. A weapon of this calibre would not have been created had it been for anyone else, but this man in question was at the very least a good man, a defender of the people was a title quite befitting for one such as him.

He recounted his steps to figure out where exactly they had gone wrong, what was he doing here? Mission: to continue their hunt to find the monster that had abducted a very special girl, a huntress as he knew them to be. A girl that was capable of defending herself against all manner of creatures, which was why he had been called in to help, because whatever had taken the girl had to be powerful.

The journey? He'd been all over this part of the country trying to catch up to a trail rapidly growing cold, but they were finally onto something that Thalia had believed to be a real hot lead, but here he was, sat in a musky hotel room staring nonchalantly at his gun.

The end result? Boredom.

Until he felt an unnatural shift in the air. He could physically FEEL the inhabitants that were on the same floor as him, but somewhere further down the long ugly wallpapered walls, someone was running their hand across it rhytmically, and slowly bit by bit he could hear soft fingertips change into sharp talons as the slow movement of flesh turned into the sound of razors splintering the wood of the walls as the creature continued to move towards his room.

He moved silently, clinging to the shadows as if cloaked by Nyx herself. He opened the door just a crack to see who or what the slow moving footsteps belonged to, and lo and behold it was definitely not a human, or at least it wasn't a human any-more.

It was a young woman with long blonde hair and pale skin which seemed to split at her forearms to reveal snakelike skin that revealed slender talons upon her finger tips. The thing that identified her the easiest was the fact that one of her legs was shining through the rips and tears of her jeans. The texture underneath seemed to gleam every so often when the light caught it. A metal leg, which meant that it was none other than an Empousa, which wasn't too difficult to deal with if there was just one, yet they rarely stalked a location alone, they were all too aware that their strength multiplied in numbers.

Thalia's voice sparked into existence in his earpiece from one of the other room's two floors above him. They had no escape plan, which they were starting to need more and more as time went on. With each passing moment he could feel a multitude of other people on this floor all change in the same was as the Empousa in the hallway. Great, so the hotel seemed to be a trap set for unknowing humans to walk into to become dinner for the creatures running the show.

"You still there?" Thalia asked through the tiny ear piece. He had of course gotten lost in thought once again. Silently closing the door once the monster had passed without conflict he went over to his window. The lights were all off but he could see their surroundings as clear as day.

"Yeah?" He responded, hoping that Thalia would repeat whatever it was that she had asked him. He casually pushed some of his long raven hair to the back of his head and scanned the strip of buildings outside. The night sky was a deep black with the moon beaming down with a healthy silver glow. Artemis and her hunters must have been fresh on the trail for the moon to have been glaring down so vibrantly.

Down in the streets below him he could almost smell the fresh scent of the foods being cooked so heartily. The hotel was on a strip that flowed with nightlife, clubs and restaurants, right over to buildings of a more adult nature. He shivered at the thought of a monster stripper, acting their case in order to earn dinner.

"You aren't listening to me are you?" He heard Thalia ask him calmly, but he also heard the forced breath from her side. He contemplated making up a lie, but he'd never get away with it. Thalia knew him too well. His older cousin let out a sigh at the silence.

"Nope. Ask again." He told her casually. He tore himself away from the window as he awaited to hear whatever it was that Thalia had wanted to either ask or say.

She was talking about their situation, it seemed that she too had realized that there were far more monsters in this hotel than either of them had initially thought. "I said that there's more monsters with each passing moment, this whole hotel is basically an abattoir." She told him in disgust.

"Yeah, that's actually a pretty good way to put it. So shall we put a pin in this particularly bloody balloon today? Or are you not feeling up to the challenge of fighting for your life in a hotel from Hades?" He asked with a grin, knowing full well that Thalia would never back down from the challenge, especially one from Perseus Jackson of all people. The legendary saviour of Olympus.

Thalia scoffed, "Of course I am, I can kill more monsters than you can. Don't think that you're better than me just because you've killed a Titan." She told him incredulously.

"A couple of Titans actually. Hey, Thalia, how many Titans have you defeated?" He asked her in the most neutral tone he could muster. He stood there with a huge grin plastered across his face as he listened to the silence he received.

"Fuck off." Thalia finally told him before the earpiece shut out back to silence.

So he was going to have to fight his way out, that was the preferred method of ex-filtration in his opinion, that way he didn't have to worry about looking over his shoulder because he KNEW that everyone and everything was trying to kill him.

His past experiences working in conjunction with the Hunters of Artemis had given him an edge with his already impressive reflexes while he'd been working to recover the lost huntress. After the multiple battles for Olympus he'd come to the realization that after years of fighting he'd seen too much in his time at Camp Half-Blood to go back, much to the disappointment of Annabeth who had opted to become an immortal councillor. That had put a splinter in their relationship.

A splinter the size of a tree.

Percy had of course refused Godhood once again but instead had come to a compromise and received the gift of immortality towards the currents of time, and moreover decided to become the only male to ever become a regular of Artemis' Hunt.

Percy Jackson was by no means a member of the Hunt, nor did he particularly want to be, but he found that now that he'd saved Olympus multiple times, he was running out of uses for himself in a world like theirs, but with the Hunt? His sole purpose was to aid and assist in the destruction of impressively powerful monsters, and occasionally special missions like the one they were on.

He did often find himself questioning whether he'd been born in the right time. Ancient Greece seemed like a nice place this time of year, or so he thought to himself.

"How many bullets have you got? And did you remember to bring Riptide?" Thalia asked him patiently. A number of times he'd been empty pocketed when he needed Anaklusmos the most. The pen was magically enchanted to return to his pocket at all times, but more than once he'd managed to lose it and be caught out unarmed. He subconsciously brushed his hand against the right back pocket of his tailor made suit trousers. The three piece suit was a gift from Aphrodite herself, and no woman was able to take their eyes of him when he wore it save for Artemis. The trousers were a smooth grey that clung to his well-muscled legs.

The trousers were only complimented further by the smooth-point black Italian shoes that had a certain shine to them like perfectly polished boots. He was particularly fond of his vest however as it revealed his prominent muscular arms that bulged underneath the tight white shirt that he constantly rolled the sleeves up on. Since the events of Kronos' attack on Olympus, he'd decided on a number of tattoos so that if he was ever killed in action, it would be easier to identify his body. The tattoos could be seen clearly from underneath the shirt, which only added to his image. The entire suit was topped off with a sea green and black tie that wasn't too thin, and yet didn't take up all of the space underneath. In short; it was the perfect suit. He never wore the jacket, it slowed him down too much or made him too hot whenever he had to actually run.

"Yes I have Anaklusmos." He replied instantly. He was calm, but he hated it when anyone called his sword Riptide. It had a long history that started out with Zoe Nightshade, and he knew that it deserved the proper respect of its true name, which admittedly was a reverse translation of 'Riptide' but the sword wasn't English or American, it was Greek, so the name would remain Greek.

"Good, I have a feeling these tight confined hallways are going to restrict your use with that hand cannon." Thalia responded after a moment. She knew too well that Percy would use his gun right down to the last bullet if he had to, before switching to a more space appropriate weapon. He'd grown so very attached to his revolver that he'd preferred it over his prized sword when it came to combat.

"How many bullets do you have left? It might be wise to save some for later." She quickly told him. There was a buzz of interference following her words, it made it sound like she was already on the move. He wondered exactly how he'd play things, the moment that he let his revolver shoot off, all of the monsters on this floor were bound to be on him in a heartbeat.

"That might be a good idea. I have eight speed barrels left and about thirteen loose rounds that I've clipped up. It's not a fast reload, but it'll do." He told her. He heard an audible sigh of relief, she was expecting him to have been much more trigger happy on their ride up to the hotel. She knew he only ever brought a certain amount of ammunition with him, despite how long or dangerous the trip could potentially be.

"OK, I count thirty eight arrows left. I've got my hunting knives but if we can avoid an all-out fight that might be good. I can't use any of my powers inside the hotel." Thalia told him. She sucked her lip at that last part. Only bad part about being a daughter of Zeus; indoors sucked for storms.

"Hmm. I suppose I could use my power but we'd probably have to make sure it's a last resort as it might end up with this building turning to rubble, and I'm pretty sure there's at least a few humans milling around." Percy chuckled slightly. He knew Thalia too well, she no doubt had a scowl on her face at his calmness for the situation they were in. The trace for the huntress had gone cold and they were now stuck in this hotel.

"I'd say that we could ask Blackjack but frankly I'm unsure whether he'd come to Dubai even for a million doughnuts." Percy dead-panned. He wasn't really going to call Blackjack, because he knew that Blackjack would definitely come, it was more that; once Blackjack arrived, he had to worry about Thalia's ironic fear of heights.

"It's fine. Try and get to my room and I'll Iris Artemis to ask for her progress, maybe they've already found the girl and we can ask Nico to get us out of here or something." Thalia sounded unconvinced, she knew as well as Percy did that they were going to have to fight to escape this wretched hotel. Percy grunted and did a quick check. Back pocket, Anaklusmos was present. He checked his gun out, it truly was the most beautiful weapon he'd ever seen.

"The Judge." Percy whispered to himself. "You beauty." He cracked a wide smile. Not even the thickest of Titan armour could withstand a shot from his incredible weapon. A custom made Hephaestus revolver. The body of the gun was obsidian black with silver waves designed on the entire length of the barrel and grip. There was a pure black muzzle break on the end of the gun designed to cause even more damage. The barrel casing was a sea green so dark that it was almost black itself. In short, if you were a monster and you saw this, it would be the last thing you did see. The gun from tip to tip was the length of Percy's forearm and perfectly balanced for weight. The kickback in the hands of a human would probably break their arms, but in Percy's grip was no more than that of a regular revolver, but with rounds the size of his thumb, the gun could really kill.

The rounds themselves were a mixture of celestial bronze and Olympian gold, the two of which created an even stronger alloy that was tinted black for consistency, and those were just Percy's regular rounds. Hephaestus made him some very special bullets but very few at a time. The same size as the others, these completely silver cased bullets were tipped with the same celestial bronze and Olympian gold alloy as the others, but the inside held Greek fire capsules and a nitro-glycerine cartridge that pushed the bullet into even higher speeds. The nitro rounds were meant for Titans and Gods, and could crush into a target at Mach-5. He'd never used one before but was eager to try, be wary Titans.

Percy considered thinking up some incredible 'mission impossible' escape plan but after a heavy sigh he collected his key card and walked out of his room. He casually strolled down the hallways which, despite the hotel being run by monsters, had incredible taste to it, the carpet was a lush red with a matching wall-paper that had a low gold swirling pattern following the length. Percy noticed the same woman as before turn a corner.

He could have sworn that he could hear her sniff at the air ever so slightly. All of his suspicions had only been confirmed when there was an excited glint enter the her eyes. Percy changed course at the first intersection and went to the stairwell where he clung to the shadows instantly. He was one of the stealthiest in his line of work, only Artemis was ever able to catch him out, but what with her being a literal Goddess of the Hunt, he was happy taking the silver trophy.

The Empousa came rambling into the stairwell in hopes that Percy was still in range and hadn't fled. After a moment of visible confusion on the Empousa's face, she cursed in Greek before strolling back into the hallway she came from. It took a lot of control for Percy to stop himself from laughing at her.

Once he was on the correct floor he internally groaned. Right outside Thalia's door were three Empousa, all eagerly awaiting the one crouching down to pick the lock on the door. Percy only just managed to duck into another hallway to avoid being seen. He picked up the volume on his ear pieces, making the microphone highly sensitive.

"Thalia, three Empousa outside your door. One of them is trying to pick the lock. Electrocute the handle, I'll deal with the other two." Percy told her almost silently. He got a quick confirmation and spun the barrel in his gun. When he heard the first one scream before turning into dust, he rounded the corner with a huge grin on his face and plastered the other two women into a similar shower of dry golden specks.

Thalia opened the door with a disproving face. That gun was only going to attract more monsters. She quickly pulled him inside where there was an Iris call happening at that moment.

Percy walked over to the ongoing Iris call and silently nodded his head. "Jackson." Artemis said disapprovingly, obviously having heard the gunshots.

"My lady. Apologies but our time here has come to an end so we need to make haste." Percy told the Goddess of the hunt with an ever so slight bow to his strut before turning heel and facing Thalia once again. "Are you ready to go?" He asked with a neutral smile on show. He had only respect for Artemis, and possibly quite an admiration that he hid very well, but he knew that he had a tiny amount of leeway with winding her up.

"Just about. We'll see you shortly Lady Artemis." Thalia bowed before wiping through the Iris message and turning back to her bigger cousin.

"There are more coming in from the Eastern stairwell. I've managed to locate the water mains for this floor. Close the door, I'll flood them out. We can make our escape out of the widow of the room across the hall, it faces the pool at the front entrance, either that or we fight them head on for thirteen floors straight down." Percy's plan wasn't flawless, and it included Thalia jumping out of a thirteenth floor window, but it did have them surviving with relative ease.

She hesitated while his plan sunk in for a moment, "Do it.", she nodded, mentally steeling herself for what was to come. Percy gave a quick nod in respone and walked over to the comfy armchair in the middle of Thalia's room. A few months ago she would have questioned it, but now she knew for the better exactly what he was doing.

Using his powers to this extent was strenuous and it would take a lot of out him, but he could do it a lot easier if he was comfortable. He pushed his fingers gently into his temples. A moment later Thalia could hear the pipes burst open but then a huge surged rocked the entire hotel from the ground floor upwards. She could feel the water around her ankles within a few seconds. He'd ruptured the pipes flowing throughout the entire building. She couldn't help but wonder exactly how many of the rooms were soon to be flooded, it was quite the increase in power since the last time he'd tried anything like that.

Percy opened his eyes, the once solid but calm green was now glowing vibrantly as the power he'd used ebbed and flowed out of his body. He had a grin on his face and nodded to the window. Thalia looked out at the carnage he had caused. "Looks like we won't have to wait for that ground floor pool any-more. We can escape from this one." He chuckled.

Once the water had risen to chest height, Percy opened the door and literal tons of water rushed in. It would have engulfed them completely had Percy not been the strongest son of Poseidon for a great many centuries.

The water rushed straight past them and out through the open window. Percy took Thalia's hand and they gently glided through the enormous stream until they touched down thirteen floors below their starting point. Thalia had never been so relieved in her entire life. They hadn't exactly been going slow, but it was a lot calmer than if they'd relieved on her powers of the wind. They quickly left the hotel grounds without any more monster occurrences, and disappeared into the strip of clubs and fast food shops.

Percy hadn't found out why they were in Dubai until they had arrived and though he had suspicions that it was to follow up the hunt for the missing girl he already knew that he hated the palce from the moment he'd teleported in. He was immortal and picked up quite a few tricks of his own, but he couldn't teleport anywhere unless he was in the sea, otherwise his powers were limited to turning into a small breeze of sea spray, and he couldn't go as far in that.

"Where are we going now? Artemis must be near, but even she cannot hide herself and her Hunters for long in a city like this. No plants in sight, let alone a forest. I can imagine that only the beach would suffice." Percy looked hopeful. Even Dubai slept for a few hours in the small of night. A few hours was all that would be needed for Artemis and the Hunters.

Thalia sighed, knowing that this was exactly what he'd wanted to hear, "Yes we're going to the beach, now hurry, Artemis doesn't want to be kept waiting. They've found Karina which means that we must get going." Thalia sounded off to Percy.

"They found her already? Why the Hades did I need to come here if they found her without my help?" He asked sceptically. His entire presence was pointless and in the end he'd only managed to kill a boring couple of Empousa, plus whatever causalities were caused by rupturing the entire plumbing system of the hotel.

"They found the monsters not long after we arrived at the Hotel, by the sounds of what Lady Artemis told me, the monsters were on their way to us because of a massive beacon of power, sound familiar?" She asked him with a raised brow as she looked over her shoulder at him.

"Hey, don't blame me! I'm pretty sure that I'm the ONLY person able to hide their power, which means I never had anyone teach me how to do it, it's really hard to hide it completely." He told her defensively, "Not all of us get a natural handicap in the form of the silver Goddesses' blessing." He continued before laughing slightly.

"Blessings aside, it sounds like you didn't even try to hide your power, the Empousa outside my door had already gone insane by the ramblings they were spouting. Only much stronger monsters will be able to stand your presence." Thalia reasoned. She went silent after that but kept glancing back at Percy with an uncomfortable expression.

"There's something else." Percy deadpanned. They kept their pace high, as soon as they were out of sight of the mortals, Percy led Thalia to the edge of the seas, they could move so much faster from there on out.

"Yes. Artemis has received word from Olympus. It's dire and the only Demi-God the council has requested was you. Artemis will take you with her once we have all returned to New York." Thalia told him, now avoiding making eye contact altogether.

Camp Half-Blood, and the Hunters as well, always seemed to gain an air of tension whenever Olympus asked for Percy specifically, because that meant that undoubtedly something huge was going down.

Since becoming an immortal hunter of monsters, he'd become so much stronger. He was free of the council but if the threat was great enough, everyone knew that Percy would always fight for them, his loyalty knew no bounds. It had become a crux for him in the past but he'd overcome it by becoming a man living for himself, choosing loyalty as a brilliant leading trait rather than having it as a flaw leading him into danger.

He was stronger than anyone realized, especially mentally. His willpower was unending, and a true testament to the physical strength housed in his body.

"Shit." Percy said casually as ever. The moment they had both stepped onto the surface of the water, they shot forwards at insane speeds, skirting along the sea front watching out for the silver hint that Artemis always left behind. After five minutes of searching Percy was getting restless and slowed to a halt. He conjured some mist and threw a drachma into. After requesting his vision he was put through to the silver Goddess.

"Lady Artemis, where have you set up camp?" He got straight to the point. Artemis looked up for a second of confusion as to where the voice had come from. "This far down the line and I'll still never get used to that." She muttered quietly before looking through the Iris. She always found herself pleasantly surprised when she was speaking to Perseus Jackson.

Any man that had gone through as many trials and tribulations as he had would have been broken apart and filtered down to a torn soul, but Perseus Jackson was more than just a man, he was a being so full of the hopes of other people that they were still to meet a threat that could tear him down. He no longer just held the fire of hope for all of the Demigods out there, he was starting to become a beacon to those that would call themselves his peers out of the Gods.

"Perseus, we are on the southern shoreline, where are you?" She asked him incredulously, watching with mild entertainment as his features crumpled for a moment as the realization hit that he had either got the wrong location, or they had gone in the wrong direction after leaving the hotel.

Percy did a double take, "The southern shoreline?" He asked out loud but he was swearing internally. He thought they were on the western shoreline, luckily for him they were getting closer and closer to the pinnacle of the southwestern point of the coast, which gave him an idea.

"That's what I said." Artemis confirmed. Percy thought about it for a moment, it should definitely work, especially for someone like Artemis, she'd be able to spot a wave in the darkness of night with ease, hopefully.

"Lady Artemis, tell me when, IF, you see the wave going sideways instead of inland." Percy said as he concentrated for a moment and sent a thirty foot wave careering across the shoreline until it finally reached the southern shore. After another moment Artemis told him that she could see it. He instantly knew where they had to go in order to regroup, unfortunately it would be quite the run if they decided to hoof it along the beach.

"Come, we can move a lot faster underwater." Percy took Thalia by the hand despite her cries that the water was Poseidon's domain. Thalia knew for a fact that Poseidon would never harm her, he was fully aware of how close they were and after Kronos' attempt on Olympus, he even personally appraised her for her war efforts, but she still didn't like it.

A few minutes into their forced swim a giant watery faced appeared out of nowhere in front of them, gliding along the currents in front of them as Percy effortlessly swam forwards, bringing Thalia along with him in stride.

"Perseus." Poseidon's voice boomed underwater. Thalia gulped, that was it, she'd gone too far now. Poseidon was about to kill her and Percy for this unforgivable act! Or at least, that was how her overactions were running around inside her brain.

"Good to see you, sorry I missed our last check-in, there was some trouble involving a Titan in Boston that didn't know he was a Titan." Percy waved slightly, acknowledging the fact that Poseidon was at least there in a watery visage.

"Yes, so I heard. It was unfortunate but by the sounds of it he has been taken to a special area of Tartarus to undergo some, what did Hades call it? Memory jogging or something awful like that. Once he fully understands and knows who and what he is, we will be doing some extensive investigation as to whether or not he can live peacefully with us." Poseidon explained. Percy wasn't sure quite what the extent of living peacefully involved but he doubted a Titan of all people would be willing to do it after being subjected to 'memory jogging' in Tartarus.

"You're needed on Olympus. Artemis has already been informed. What the council are going to ask of you is greater than anything someone should have to face. I want you to know right now that you don't have to accept it, you are free to walk out of the throne room at any time. Now go, Lady Artemis is waiting for you." Poseidon disappeared without waiting for Percy to say any form of goodbye. Thalia looked at Percy's face expectantly. He only had a frown that didn't stay around for long as they had resurfaced, still as dry as the moment they left the beach. Percy willed a stream of water to constantly follow his feet so that the sand stayed off of his beloved shoes. Such a woman, Thalia thought before grinning about it.

"Lady Artemis." Percy kneeled, again, in the water that stopped the sand from getting on his prized trousers. Artemis was tolerant of Percy because truth be told he was completely different from the males that her hunters had come to hate. He was kind and caring, respectful and loyal. He was also a complete badass with almost any form of weaponry…

Except a bow, he sucked with a bow, but he more than made up his lack of archery skills with an alternate form of marksmanship, and Artemis couldn't deny that if he'd accepted godhood, it would have made sense for him to have become some kind of God of firearms, if nothing else just to take something away from Ares.

"We must leave now. Thalia you are in charge. Percy let's go." Artemis issued her orders and everyone reacted straight away, Percy simply nodded and held out his hand casually. Artemis shook her head and grabbed him by the shoulder. There was no way she'd teleport herself into the throne room holding a man's hand in full view of the other eleven Olympians, she knew when Percy was playing tricks, even in a serious situation he always found time to pick at her in good natured jest. No chance Jackson, not today.

They were on Olympus within the blink of an eye and Percy was delighted to see that he was easily the most fashionable man in the grand throne room. He walked confidently through the vast space until he was dead centre in the room. He'd been through this enough to know generally how it went. He would be addressed by Zeus and after all of the formalities were done with he would finally be told exactly what was going on.

Apollo flashed him an approving grin towards Percy's attire to which the young immortal nodded in acknowledgement. He knew he was well dressed but this was just his work suit, this was the one that occasionally would get a sword or a couple of arrows go through it. He kept meaning to wear his nicer suits on occasion when going to Olympus but always forgot last minute.

As he glanced around to take note of what Gods were in attendance, he saw Ares grin with a huge curve of mischief in his face, but Percy knew that was only because of the brand new Hephaestus made armament he carried on his hip. The God of War couldn't help but be impressed by the kilo of celestial death that Percy carrier with him.

"Perseus Jackson." Zeus' voice boomed out to the throne room. Percy frowned, he hated being called Perseus. He was tempted to tell Zeus to get with the times, but wasn't certain that his revolver matched up to that master bolt, which he knew could deliver a nasty punch. He was strong but ultimately he wasn't sure if he could survive a blast from an angry King of Olympus, not just yet at least.

"Lord Zeus. You have summoned me?" He projected himself so well, the confidence in his voice was higher than anything else, even Aphrodite was impressed, Aphrodite being the goddess who could charm-speak almost anything or anyone she wanted.

"I have. Tell me lad, what do you know of the Primordial Gods?" Zeus' question threw Percy right off, he truly did not know how to answer that question.

"I, ugh... What?" He asked again, just to make sure he hadn't misheard.

"The primordial Gods my son." Poseidon confirmed the question.

"You mean like Gaia, Ouranos, that one for night, Nyx. Those Gods?" Percy responded calmly. He knew a little about them, but not enough to understand the relevance of them in conjunction to him being summoned to Olympus. Maybe he'd angered one of them at some point?

"The very same. Olympus is on the brink of war again Perseus, this threat is so much larger than Kronos. The Primordial Gaia is on the rise. Mother earth is stirring and with the help of Tartarus, she is rising to take Olympus down." Zeus' words fell heavily to Percy's ears, the weight of understanding was heavy but not something that Percy would falter under.

Zeus grumbled slightly before continuing with his explanation, "We simply cannot hold off against the two of them. Primordials are almost limitless in power. But they also all tend to slumber for eons save for very small parts of their conscious. Gaia and Tartarus are rising with plans to build an army, they are led by a Demigod son of Tartarus."

Hades twitched slightly at the mention of this but otherwise remained silent while Zeus continued to speak, "We've never seen a Demigod from a Primordial before so we don't know exactly how powerful he is but it would be lethal to assume anything other than that he is extremely dangerous." Zeus told him. That was a lot to take in. Percy wasn't sure how he could help Olympus but he knew that whatever Zeus asked of him he was damn well going to try, this was too big for him of all people to sit out.

"We have been contacted by another Primordial. Chronos, who claims to be present on behalf of one known only as Chaos. Chronos is not to be confused by the Titan you killed, this Primordial is the sheer fabric of time itself and as such has remained the most constant variable in the moving world. With this being the case he is quite possibly the strongest representation of his true self and has actually appeared to us." That was quite interesting to hear, not that Zeus was being particularly clear about it.

"Chaos cannot directly interfere for it is weak in it's slumber, but has foreseen a great battle. Between many Demigods and the army Gaia assembles. Chronos while powerful and able to manifest himself even whilst in deep slumber is tied to neutrality, as he is an essential force of reality. Which means that he can help us but cannot fight. We believe that only you can successfully pull off what we have planned. Do you wish to hear more?" Zeus reclined in his throne ever so slightly. The grin on Percy's face told him all he needed, he was up for anything.

"Let's hear it." He shifted his posture slightly, but that was the only thing that reminded the Gods that he wasn't a machine, that his patience had its limits and he would eventually fidget in such a meeting.

Zeus waved slightly and Athena spoke up, of course she was the one with the plan, "When the central civilisation moved west we went through a phase in Rome. It changed us, we Gods took on different aspects. Those Gods are still around today, we are they, and they are us. Zeus demonstrated by changing into Jupiter and back. The colour scheme alone was obnoxiously gold, but that hair of his was just ridiculous. How he was not sponsored by Head 'N' Shoulders for such locks was beyond Percy, however, it was best not to make such comments out loud or he'd probably be murdered.

"Right, I get it, so you're obviously about to turn around and say that there is an entire Demigod camp full of Roman children, right? I'm not wrong am I?" Percy asked, his expression ever unchanging. Athena was momentarily taken by surprise with his show of intelligence in the matter. She quickly found her words once she metaphorically picked her jaw up off the floor.

"That is correct. There is an old, almost lost prophecy that goes back to things that we thought were over for good, but now? We're starting to believe that it was never meant to have been finished back then, but rather in a time not far from now. We believe you are directly entwined within it. A certain line references old foes baring arms at death's door. The Greeks and Romans have never gotten along with each other and if that is in fact what the line refers to then we could break this prophecy by uniting the two factions." Athena explained, looking thrilled by having such a mental challenge after what had to have been quite a few years of not really having that much mental stimulation.

"Right, but my lady, if I may?" Percy gestured with his hand. Athena looked puzzled but nodded to him slowly before the young immortal walked forwards towards her ever so slightly.

"Prophecies are… Well, I highly expect that you of all people can see through utter bullshit, and prophecies? I'm sorry Apollo but prophecies are never, EVER, that clear. To believe that a line from this one that you guys have found would be so simple as to refer to two factions of Demigods would be idiotic." He told them. They all looked slightly deflated with how quickly he had shot them down. He turned around the throne room slowly, looking at them all. They had all held such hope that they could stop this rising threat so easily.

"I can see it in your face." He said, looking up at Athena once again, "You know as well as I do that this isn't what the prophecy is referring to, you're just as hopeful as them and that has caused you to be misguided in your wisdom, if only for a fraction of a second. Think about this from a fresh perspective, or understand that at this current moment in time, you do not know what the prophecy refers to." Percy told her in the most respectful way that someone could turn around and say to a God 'Sorry, you're wrong.'

"But right now, it is the only thing we have, which is better than to move forwards with absolutely nothing in mind." Athena told him after a few seconds of silence.

"Hera has a plan. A rather controversial plan, but one none the less. You are going to be sent to the Roman camp, and a Roman is to have his mind wiped and sent to Camp Half-Blood. The two of you will bridge the gap and bring about the greatest truce we have ever seen." Athena explained. The room went silent while Percy stood there staring at her, processing this in his mind. It could in theory work but the scale was far too big for just a singular Demigod swap.

"And are you planning on wiping my memory as well?" He asked after a minute of silence. Contemplating this plan of theirs, he had nothing to lose by going to a Roman Camp, but what of the boy to be taken from them? He'd have to pretty much be their strongest Demigod for this to have a chance of working.

"No, that would be unfair to you after everything you've done for us. We figured that if you are to succeed there is one major thing you need to do. You need to lessen the conflict between the two groups." Hera joined in with the briefing. Percy looked up at the Goddess who hated him the most.

"How can I do that? The groups are unaware of each other, it surely can't be down to me and one other to complete this task on our own?" He asked, a tiny bit of anger seeping into his words, they were asking a lot of him, and he was unsure of whether he could even succeed with it or not, not that it was changing his answer at all.

He was definitely going to at least try, but the odds of success?

"You need to lessen their conflict in the past. Chronos will send you back through time, and into Greece as it once was, back when it was our home. He will go with you and explain to our past selves what is going on. The Primordials that have decided to aid us are willing to give you full immortality, a level far beyond what you perceive as immortality. You will train from the moment you arrive and secretly aid our society through time, preferably from the shadows however I don't see that being the case with you. Once you complete your task, if everything has gone right we will see you again very soon from this point and you will be ready to go to camp Jupiter to stop the greatest war the Olympus has ever seen." Zeus finished. Percy's jaw must have hit the floor because he was truly lost for words. This was NOT what he was expecting at all. Bridge the gap? Yeah, that might just be possible after thousands of years of training.

After what seemed like an eternity, he spoke out.

"Let me get this straight. You want to send me to Ancient Greece and from the start you want me to train and prevent the Greeks and Romans from getting into a conflict that will prevent the truce from being possible. But you don't want me to prevent the actual conflicts, they are obviously too greater part of our history to cut out completely." Percy took a breath, calculating everything that was going on at this moment.

"I am to ride out the civilizations as they come and go and continue with the God's right up until this point in time where you will recall me. Have I got that correct?" Percy turned and looked from god to god. No one disputed his words. "OK then, just so that we're clear on that. How far back do you want to send me?" He asked again.

"You need to be in Greece from the beginning. Chronos can only make one trip, any mistakes and we've blown it out of the water. We cannot risk messing up our one chance." Poseidon told his son. There was a sad glint in his eyes at what was happing.

"That's five thousand years of solid training. I'll become the most powerful Demigod in history, although I suppose it's been a little while since I was really a Demigod." Percy stated casually, still mulling their plan over in his mind.

"There's no doubt about that. You'll be with us from the beginning Perseus. There's no one better suited to this quest back through time than you." Artemis told him from his throne.

"Yeah, besides, dude you're already the strongest anyway, I don't see any change." Apollo grinned like a child.

"OK, I'll take this quest. But I do have one request to aid me in my journey." Percy told them. The council looked relieved beyond words at his acceptance of this quest. They were sentencing him to five thousand years of training for yet another great war. Time wasn't on their side, but it would be on his.

"Of course, anything." Zeus told him instantly.

Percy thought about the best way to ask for this before the courage came out. "Respectfully Zeus, it isn't your place to decide on this one. I have to ask Hephaestus for the final word. I will need a new set of armour to carry me through the ages. And while I always carry Anaklusmos with me with pride, some events in our history would be catastrophic if that sword fell into the wrong hands again." Percy explained, hoping that he didn't offend anyone. Artemis nodded knowingly.

"I already had created such a suit for you Perseus, we Gods ask much but we aren't as unforgivably expectant as some may think." Hephaestus let out a hearty chuckle as he clicked his fingers, Percy's suit was replaced by an ancient Greek battle armour. It was an amazing white that had a sea green trim along the edges. Percy had to hand it to the God, he really knew how to create some amazing armour.

The pen in his hand extended into Anaklusmos for one final time before it too had glowed and changed. The blade was long and sharp with a silver glint on one side, he knew this was a different metal, but not of Stygian Iron. The rest of the blade itself was completely black and oozed power. He felt a lot stronger just holding the blade.

"That sword is extremely powerful and I expect that only you will ever wield it. It's extremely loyal which is fitting for a person such as you. Cherish it Percy Jackson, it will be your closest friend." Percy put the sword in the scabbard that came with it and smiled gratefully.

"As the central civilisation advances, so will that armour, it will change to reflect the time period, the same goes with the sword. I'd have made a shield but it is not your style is it?" Hephaestus asked, knowing Percy already. Percy shook his head. He wasn't big on defence. A sword and his gun were more than enough for him, though that reminded him. He already knew where his holster was, on the side of his hip.

"What about this? Would this be cheating? I've only got a few rounds left for it anyway. It would become dead weight before long." Percy said, looking at his gun lovingly. Hephaestus grumbled something when Zeus gave him a knowing look.

"The lad may take the firearm, but be warned, it may cause more bother than it prevents. Hephaestus, fix his limited munitions problem but do not turn it into a ticking time bomb." Zeus told him. Hephaestus looked up with glee before he shrunk and took the gun from Percy before vanishing.

Literally three seconds later he returned with a broad smile on his face. "The barrel will restore its lost bullets on its return to the chamber. Push that little green button until it turns red and you'll have one of those nasty little nitrous rounds. Have fun with that. Don't use it too much though, you'll get rusty on your other skills." Hephaestus announced after returning to his throne.

"Somehow after five thousand years of training, I doubt I will. I might even be able to shoot an arrow in the right direction for more than six paces." Percy told them which earned a few laughs from the Olympians.

"Let's face it Percy, you really won't, even with five thousand years of archery practice, which is why, after your decision to undertake this gruelling quest without so much as a moment's hesitation, I've decided to give you my blessing." Apollo told him. The council looked on with a wave of mumbles and general murmurs of agreement.

Hephaestus spoke up once again after seeing his brother give Percy his blessing, "Agreed. The armour was a formality that I was happy to oblige with but a blessing would be my faith in you above all else. There was a lot of fire in battles back in the day and being a son of Poseidon that won't be easy for you lad. Take my blessing, and never fear the fire again. You'll also probably be able to tinker with your weapons and armour better than almost anyone else." Hephaestus told him after Percy glowed a brief red. He couldn't believe it, blessed by two Gods in five minutes.

The day was definitely proving to have it's ups and downs.

"Well, seeing as they're doing it, I can hardly let you go without my own. It was my plan and if you're to respond to the rigorous training then you'll need my blessing." Athena's eyes found his own and he was unable to fathom any words. Percy glowed bright grey before it dulled again.

"Thank you, all of you." He said at last.

"Hang on, I can't have my smelly husband beat me especially when he got rid of your sexy suit." Aphrodite said out loud and blessed him. The women of the room began to curse Aphrodite's antics before they saw what it was doing to Percy. His battle armour briefly dissolved revealing his immaculate chest. His looks were only made that much more perfect. The suit returned briefly.

"With my blessing you'll have the power to call upon any clothing you desire, you'll also be able to use your powers to don your armour instantly." Aphrodite told him. That seemed to have appeased Hephaestus' annoyed looks. He really liked how that one worked, that would come in handy. He nodded his gratitude to the Gods, he was just about to turn and say that he was ready to go when his father spoke up.

"I can't have you blessed by four Gods and not to mention the owl woman there and not bless you myself my son." Poseidon beamed, he'd just made his son more powerful than most of the Gods. Zeus grumbled something about an unfair advantage to Poseidon whereas Hades beamed with mischief, he was loving every moment of this.

"I too refuse to be outdone by my family. Perseus, it is unheard of that I would bless a child of Poseidon, but if anyone deserves such a thing, it has only ever been you, does anyone disagree to the blessings that have been bestowed upon Perseus today?" Zeus bellowed. It looked like Ares was about to say something but he quickly zipped his mouth shut.

"Good. With my blessing you'll have a partial control of the winds, not a huge amount but it will be enough to influence most battles that you come across. You'll also be extremely hard to kill with lightning based energy attacks. Very difficult to kill." Zeus winked at him. A smile visible underneath that beard of his. Percy opened his mouth to say something when Hades too had spoken up.

"Boy you are responsible for the return of my throne, I'd say you deserve a blessing after just that act. With my blessing you'll receive a very similar invulnerability that you did from the river Styx, except no vital spot and no other bad things that Nymph gave you last time." Hades chuckled evilly.

"Can you do that brother?" Both Zeus and Poseidon asked at the same time with incredible synchronisation.

"Who knows? It'll be fun to see her try and stop me though." Hades laughed once again as he felt himself being summoned from the Underworld, no doubt Styx herself.

"Brothers, she is calling me. If that is everything, good luck on your journey Percy Jackson. I will no doubt see you in the next couple of days in my time, but for you, I wish you best of luck for the next five thousand years." Hades said before he melted into a black pool of smoke and fell through the floor.

"Well, I refuse to be outdone by my brother. Perseus Jackson is the ONLY male that I will acknowledge as a man and not a boy. He has proven himself time and again that he is above and beyond the rest and multiple times put his life on the line to save my hunters. And with your archery skills, it will take both mine and my brothers blessing for you to be any good." Artemis smirked. The Olympians found Percy's reaction funny when he glowed a bright silver like the moon light outside.

"Right!" Percy made sure that he was the next one to speak, "This is incredibly overwhelming and I'm grateful for all of you, but this is getting ridiculous and I'm eager to take my trip into the past. The next five thousand years are not going to be easy for me." Percy started, silencing the council from their blessing rampage.

"Not quite done yet punk." Ares got up and shrunk to human size. He was still huge but eye level with Percy. Percy didn't know what he was expecting from the God, but a blessing wasn't it. "You stepped toe to toe with me on a beach when you could hardly even hold a sword. Since then I've come to respect your abilities even if you are still a punk. Here." Ares bellowed with a grin as he struck Percy across the face. Percy glowed bright red as he stood, withstanding the might of Ares. The God grinned even further before returning to his throne. The punch had hurt, and he expected it might have even done an incurable amount of damage if not for Hade's blessing of invulnerability.

"Thank you Lord Ares." Percy said with a nod, the only time he'd ever acknowledged Ares as a Lord of the council.

"Whatever punk, be glad your other blessings worked the way they were meant to, I didn't pull that punch." Ares responded, looking away from him. The Gods were silent, all grinning.

Then two flashes behind Percy alerted him to his senses and he almost reached for his blade. There stood a beautiful woman, easily on par with Aphrodite herself.

She had creamy white skin and shoulder length straight obsidian black hair that looked like it was flowing against the currents of the air. She had a dress that shifted like the stars themselves, with planets all around them. She had a dress of creation itself, Percy linked the pieces and with his now somewhat advanced cognitive abilities, he realized that this woman had to have been a Primordial, and since he already knew that Chronos was male, this must have been the manifestation of Chaos, a glorious visage.

The man, Chronos,m wore an immaculate suit that matched his slightly tan skin perfectly. He had a single watch on his left wrist and a pocket watch in his suit's front facing pouch where the pocket square should have been. Apart from that they both looked as casual as ever. Chronos took off his sunglasses and looked around the room at the Olympians.

"We ready to rock?" Chronos asked with a smirk. Percy was at first taken back by the simplicity of it all but got over that pretty quickly. "Thank you all. I'll see you in five thousand years." Percy told the council. Poseidon's eyes were brimming with pride. Chronos nodded and suddenly they simply were no longer there. Percy felt the need to force his eyes shut and when he reopened them, they were on Olympus outside the throne room, the outside view no longer spanning the width of Manhattan but the side of a huge mountain, they really were on THE mount Olympus.

The Olympus that he once knew was no more, instead there was a grand hall made from mighty pillars of carved stone. The floor looked like it was etched from pure marble slabs. The beauty of the temple sat in it's simplicity for that all it was, the temple of the Gods that sat atop Mount Olympus. Little could compare to the breathtaking views surrounding the terrain that was to become his home for at least the next few thousand years.

He was going to have to be careful in whom he made enemies with here because he knew only what he'd been taught about the history of Ancient Greece, but now, as opposed to Demigod history books and mortal mythology, he was going to have to live through everything that happened. He had a vague idea of where he was going to go. There was a lot more to Greece's mainland that he could see.

"Pre-Minoan Age kid, we're sitting somewhere between three thousand and two-seven thousand years before all that son of God stuff kicked off. If I was a betting man-God-Lord of Time, I'd say we're approx two-nine-forty BCE." Chronos announced with a heavy sigh. Going this far back with a passenger no less was taxing to the God who was in deep slumber.

After all was said and done they both walked into the grand open throne room of the temple like they owned the place, the council was already in a session and arguing about something. They all stopped and stared at the newcomers as they walked right into the centre. Both of them were rolling in waves of power. It was clear to them that these were no ordinary mortals that had tried to pilgrimage to the home of the Gods, not that anyone had managed it before.

"Olympians. I am Chronos, Primordial of Time. And this," He pointed to Percy, "Is Percy Jackson." He grinned as the council began its uproar of arguing.