Author's Note: To start, I don't own Percy Jackson, that's Rick Riordan you're thinking about. This is the first Percy Jackson fanfiction I've ever written, but I've had the idea for this story swimming around my head for a very long time, so I hope you enjoy it. And don't forget to read and review either because that helps my heart (and the story) go on. Did I just quote Celine Dion? Yes, yes I did. Okay, on with the story.

Chapter 1: The Beginning
(because every story has to start somewhere)

Hello, my name is Percy Jackson, and up until my sixteenth birthday, I was just like any other demigod – just trying to make it past puberty. I thought that living long enough to fulfill a Great Prophecy was going to be the biggest surprise, event, whatever-you-want-to-call-it of my sixteenth birthday. I was wrong…

"The Council agrees," Zeus said. "Percy Jackson, you will have one gift from the gods."

I hesitated. "Any gift?"

Zeus nodded grimly. "I know what you will ask. The greatest gift of all. Yes, if you want it, it shall be yours. The gods have not bestowed this gift on a mortal hero in many centuries, but, Perseus Jackson – if you wish it – you shall be made a god. Immortal. Undying. You shall serve as your father's lieutenant for all time."

I stared at him, stunned. "Um…a god?"

Zeus rolled his eyes. "A dimwitted god, apparently. But yes. With the consensus of the entire Council, I can make you immortal. Then I will have to put up with you forever."

"Hmm," Ares mused. "That means I can smash him to a pulp as often as I want, and he'll just keep coming back for more. I like this idea."

"I approve as well," Athena said, though she was looking at Annabeth.

I glanced back. Annabeth was trying not to meet my eyes. Her face was pale. I flashed back to two years ago, when I thought she was going to take the pledge to Artemis and become a Hunter. I'd been on the edge of a panic attack, thinking I'd lose her. Now, she looked pretty much the same way.

I thought about the Three Fates, and the way I'd seen my life flash by. I could avoid all that. No aging, no death, no body in the grave. I could be a teenager forever, in top condition, powerful, and immortal, serving my father. I could have power and eternal life.

Who could refuse that?

Then I looked at Annabeth again. I thought about my friends from camp: Charles Beckendorf, Michael Yew, Silena Beauregard, and so many more who were now dead. I thought about Ethan Nakamura and Luke.

And I knew what to do.

"No-"

Everything stopped.

I looked around the room, surprised to find everyone frozen in place.

"What in Hades-"

"Percy Jackson, do you kiss your mother with that mouth?" a distinct masculine voice behind me mused.

"Apollo," I said, doing a quick 180 degree turn to face him. "Why did you freeze everyone? How did you freeze everyone?"

"I got help," Apollo said simply, as if that simple statement would answer all of my questions. "Here's the thing Perce, you have to become a god".

I looked at him, stunned for a second before I bounced back.

"Apollo, no offense, but I don't want to be a god. In fact, I was just about to say that when you went all Frozone on this place," I told the sun god, waving my hand around for emphasis.

"I know you were going to deny becoming a god. That's why I had to stop you before that happened".

"But why would you stop me?" I asked, confused.

"Percy," Apollo said, suddenly becoming more serious than I'd ever seen him. "You know first-hand about the pain and destruction that Great Prophecies bring, correct?"

I nodded my head. I knew better than anyone.

"If you deny becoming a god, you will trigger a series of events that will lead to another Great Prophecy".

"But wait, how do you expect to prevent a Great Prophecy?" I asked. I'd tried preventing fate before, and I knew for a fact that it would only end badly.

"I'm not trying to prevent the Great Prophecy," Apollo said slowly, as if talking to a small child. "I'm trying to delay it".

"Delay it?" I asked, skeptically.

"Think about it Percy. Do you remember back when my baby sister Thalia joined Artemis's Hunters?"

"And it directly affected the Great Prophecy to being about me," I recalled.

"Exactly," Apollo said. "Look Percy, I understand that you have your own reasons for wanting to stay mortal," he told me, but he wasn't looking at me, he was looking at something behind me.

When I turned around, I was surprised to see that it was Annabeth he was looking at with a sad, almost pitying expression on his face. Eventually, he looked away from her and looked back to me.

"We all have things we want to fight for Percy. I've caught a glimpse of the path you're trying to go down, and she will suffer".

I didn't bother to ask what "she" Apollo was talking about. We both knew.

"Percy, I know this is hard, but it's for the best. Unnecessary pain and loss will be prevented if we can get just a little more time to prepare for this prophecy. This is the better alternative, trust me".

I turned to look at my friends, my family, and everyone I had come to cherish in this hellhole I'd called life for the past sixteen years of my life. I knew what I had to do.

"Apollo, I know what I need to do. Unfreeze them," I said grimly, and Apollo nodded, snapping his fingers.

*Snap*

"No?" Zeus's voice boomed.

It was funny. Just a second ago, the king of the gods had stood there before me, helpless and frozen in place with his mouth hanging wide enough for flies to go in and out of, and then there he went, back to his normal towering self. It was almost as if the moment between Apollo and I had never happened, but it had. I knew it had because I could see it on the grim expression on Apollo's usually cheery face.

"I mean yes," I said to Zeus, shifting my gaze from Apollo's.

"Yes?" Zeus asked.

I took a deep breath.

"Yes, I want to be a god," I told the Lord of the Sky even though "want" wasn't really the word I should have used. "Have to do this for the greater good of mankind" would have been more on point of what I was feeling at that moment.

I heard a female's breathing hitch behind me, and even though I knew that what I was doing was for her sake, I still couldn't help the guilty feeling that washed over me as I forced myself not to turn around and look at her because I knew that if I did, all of my resolve would crumble. Instead, I looked straight up at the king of the gods, the lord of the skies, my uncle, Zeus.

"Then so be it," announced Lord Zeus as he looked around the room at all of the rest of the Olympians before he turned his gaze back towards mine, looking me dead in the eye. His electric blue eyes were the last thing I saw before everything went black, and Annabeth's quiet sob was the last thing I heard and felt before I hear and felt nothing at all.

Another Author's Note: Okay, so that was the end of the first chapter. I'm sorry that a lot of it was actual reference back to The Last Olympian, but I needed to set the scene. Anyway, read and review.