Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians! *sulks*

Author's Note: First of all, this is NOT a fanfic where Percy Jackson becomes a god so there will be no strange pairings except for one more AU pairing which is predetermined along with Percabeth. In other words, please don't ask me to include some other goddess or something as it won't happen here. So no, Annabeth won't go cheating on Percy and break his heart, lol. Moving on, for those of you who like spoilers this fanfic contains BOTH Percabeth AND Perlia. How? R&R to find out! And thanks in advance for any comments and feedback you might have in store for me.

Chapter 1: The Price of Freedom

The putrid stench of death still hung in the air even as the last lone stragglers went down in a pile of monster dust. But just because they were easily disposed of didn't mean it was any easier on the demigods or Hunters for that matter who had shown up during the now-famous Seven's quest to close the Doors of Death.

It had been a bloody battle and by far the hardest any Greek or Roman had fought. It was so titanic and gruelling that the demigods even had to call for help, forcing Hermes to reluctantly call the Amazons and the Centaurs. The Huntresses joined in at the last minute, and a great apocalyptic battle ensued that would forever be remembered as the worst one fought in history.

Although nearly all of the monsters and the majority of the Titans who served Gaea, the Mother of the Earth, were slain dozens of demigods of both Greek and Roman origin died and many were wounded and traumatized, some to the point of insanity. While all of this was going on, the famous Son of Poseidon/Neptune, Percy Jackson, was battling Gaea in single combat.

She had opened the Doors of Death and was using the Underworld as her lair. Thankfully, the Fates had deemed it fit to return him his armoured skin from the River Styx just before the battle or else all would fall to ruin, and the Titans would win. So Percy was fighting Gaea in the heart of the earth itself: Tartarus. How Gaea had made that her home and why, Percy had no idea. But the Son of the Sea would not be dissuaded.

He fought bravely and furiously through fire and the fury of the dead as they were enslaved by Gaea to obstruct Percy as much as possible. The fight was so long and hard that if it were not for his iron-like skin, Percy would have passed out for exhaustion. In fact, the battle wore on for so long that a full day and night passed and still Gaea was winning. Outside, things were bad enough but the demigods were slowly winning the battle.

However, Percy had closed the Doors of Death and barricaded them with a wall of water from a river that flowed near the ruins of Ancient Greece, preventing any denizens of the Underworld from leaving. Again this would have killed him had the Fates not granted him some extra power to do what they could not and save the world. But that power was Percy's doom and was slowly but surely driving him to insanity, intoxicating him with its addiction and corruption.

Suddenly, Percy heard a voice float up from the depths of the underworld.

Remember your roots, It said.

Percy then realized that there must be some kind of water in the Underworld and he recalled the River Styx that flowed a ways away. Mustering up all of the strength within him he ran back to the River Styx leading Gaea and taunting her much to the goddess's hatred and fury. She called him all sorts of diabolical names but Percy didn't care.

Thanks to his iron skin, he could use the River Styx as fuel. Coupled with Gaea's blinding arrogance that she was in charge in her home beneath the earth, Percy used her over-confidence to his advantage and ensnared her in a cloak of waves. Since the water was cursed and effected those who were not bound to mortal or immortal planes, the distraction caused Gaea to become ensnared and captured.

The water of the River Styx flowed around her like a cocoon and kept her there, muffling her shrieks of pain. Being a goddess, she could not die but nor could she escape her prison. Being exhausted from the fight, Percy could not do anything about it other than collapse in exhaustion. Eventually, it took the Olympians to break him out of there only to find the Underworld in chaos and Percy unconscious.

They panicked and dragged him out hastily, leaving poor Hades to clean up the mess. At least they were saved though so the god of the dead didn't mind and moved the Earth mother's prison to a safer location at the bottom of the River Styx, still wrapper in her watery chains.

Back on the surface, the Seven demigods succeeded in defeating the major Titans while the Greeks, Roman, Hunters, and Amazons took care of the rest. Needless to say, everyone was shocked and scared when they found out that Percy Jackson was in a comma. Chaos and confusion followed as the gods didn't even bother to return to Olympus as they argued about how to heal Percy.

Due to the insane amount of power that he used, his very soul was on the verge of shattering to pieces and only his love for Annabeth, the thing that kept him mortal, was keeping him from dying or transcending to godhood.

Oddly enough, it was Athena who discovered a way to heal the Hero of Olympus. By recalling what kept him mortal, Athena realized that he already had a type of Soul Bond with Annabeth but that was only affective as long as he chose to keep it up or as long as Annabeth continued to love him which she confirmed proudly that she would always do.

In a desperate attempt to save Percy's life after all he did for them, Athena hesitantly suggested that they use the ancient and long since forbidden Chaos Magic to form a permanent Soul Bond between Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase. This would, affectively, give Percy the strength to come back to life or else Annabeth would die.

However, that Bond alone was not strong enough to save Percy and they needed another girl he loved to complete the Bond since the Bond required human physical contact to maintain its power, kind of like charging a battery to put it in mechanical terms.

Needless to say, there was a vicious argument as all the crazy fangirls squealed about how they wanted to be the second Bond Mate. But Annabeth refused them all saying that only someone Percy really knew well could pass since the Soul Bond worked on love not lust. And if they were going to do this mad, harebrained scheme to save him then they should do it properly.

There was an awkward silence that hung over everyone until it was finally broken by the person nobody at all expected: Thalia Grace. Of course, Annabeth was genuinely shocked but Thalia swore on the River Styx that she loved Percy more than family but became a Hunter because she saw that Percy was in love with Annabeth and she might have had feelings for him.

Being a good friend, she gave up her love for him making up the excuse that she didn't want to be a part of Prophecy which she also didn't. Everyone was amazed at her sacrifice and while Annabeth was slightly jealous, Thalia was a good friend and would not lie about something like that especially when the River Styx was involved. They were even more awed when Thalia told them all that she would give up Immortality for Percy.

After all, she reasoned, he had rescued her from that Tree and brought her back to life so why couldn't she return the favour? Then Annabeth had no choice but to agree and could only hope that Percy wouldn't get too angry at being manipulated into doing this, even though it was for his own good.

Everyone then formed a circle around the unconscious Son of the Sea who was laid to rest on a bed the gods conjured from magic. Annabeth and Thalia swore solemnly on the river Styx that they would always love and care for Percy and protect him no matter what.

Thunder boomed in the heavens signally their part of the Bond complete and Zeus, King of the Gods, called all of the Olympians around to form the ancient rite. All the demigods and other warriors looked away as the magic was so strong it would blind them.

Thalia and Annabeth stood on either side of the bed, pulsing with nervous excitement and concern for the boy they both loved. They each held his hand in one of theirs and each other's hand in their free one, forming a circle of sorts.

The Olympians then invoked the ancient Chaos Magic and Zeus completed the ritual by unleashing a giant bolt of lightning which stabbed Percy in the heart, sending shockwaves through the destined trio. Everyone else gasped in shock and some of the wounded fainted as they all felt the backlash of the powerful magic.

Once it was over and done, the Olympians staggered back, exhausted from using the long since buried and forbidden magic. They then made a vow to never use it again. The magic had been so powerful that no vow had been needed especially due to the Ancient Laws forbidding them from interfering.

But this was different and a special case. Afterwards, the Fates themselves descended from their ethereal plane and relieved everyone by saying they did the right thing but warning them that this might have unexpected consequences. After that, the Olympians made the new Vow to never use Chaos Magic again.

Suddenly, the eerie silence was shattered by a sleepy hoarse voice of an all-too-familiar demigod.

"Hey, guys?" Percy Jackson asked groggily. "Why do I feel like I got hit by a bus or something?"

To Be Continued...

A/N: Yeah, yeah. I know it's awful to start another story but this chapter flowed so well and the idea really gripped me and I couldn't resist. I have a couple ideas for Chapter 2, but I would really appreciate your thoughts on this matter as they really make my day. Also, what do you think of this new pairing of Percy/Annabeth/Thalia and any idea on how I can make it more dramatic and stressful? I know who the new villain will be but I need filler chapters and more drama to make it interesting.

Many thanks in advance!

- Elf Knight