Disclaimer: I do not own PJO nor the story's pic.
AN: Hey guys, first time poster but long time reader of PJO fanfics.
I understand that reviews aren't always meant to be nice, however I would appreciate if no one posted any flames. I'm completely open to constructive criticism though; in fact, I would love it.
I'm not the best writer, but I'm using this story to hopefully practice while also trying to develop a story that I think can be interesting. I'm a fan of the OP and Revenge PJ stories, so this is my take on those topics. I hope that my writing is original, but you may notice some similarities to those of other stories that have somewhat inspired me to write this one.
Anyways, hope you enjoy this story, this chapter is more like a prologue. I will try to keep everything in Third Person POV.
It was finally over.
The savior of Olympus, and essentially the world, laid there with his palms and knees firmly planted to the ground, his haggard breathing strongly present. Riptide sat loosely in his grip as he gazed out at the destruction of the camp, his home since he was 12.
After all the years of quests and fighting for the survival of the Gods. After defeating countless Titans and blood-thirsty Giants. After defeating the Earth herself, he could finally relax.
The battle itself had been gruesome, many demigods, Greek and Roman alike, had been slain on the battlefield. In all, only about 25 demigods from each pantheon had survived, totaling around 50 campers. Those who did survive felt deep remorse for their fallen comrades, yet they couldn't help but be relieved that the fighting had finally stopped. Together, they decided they were going to live for those who had sacrificed their lives to save humanity. No one thought this as much as Percy.
He continued to lay there on the hill, feeling the molten achiness of every muscle, and the wave of exhaustion that took over his body. His ADHD hotwired mind was travelling at speeds impossible to imagine, reliving his fight that took place moments before.
During the battle, he had taken on Gaea by himself. It was an intense fight, one that would be spoken of for the rest of the Gods' existence. With his sword Riptide in hand, he had clashed with Mother Earth and met her heavy strikes with his own. After minutes of dodging and trying to counter attack, Percy's strikes had become slower, weaker and he had a hard time dodging and deflecting the attacks of Gaia. He begun to run out of stamina, something the primordial Goddess was not showing any symptoms of. In his state of exhaustion, Gaea had taken the brief moment to knock his sword out of his hand, before she had raised up her sword to deliver the final blow.
At that moment Percy had felt defeated, angry with himself that he wasn't able to protect his friends and family. He wondered if all the sacrifices made by his late friends had gone to waste.
But the familiar feeling that erupted in his gut told him to keep his hope, engulfing his body and mind with newfound vigor. The look of defeat in his eyes changed to one of determination, as he felt the power of the sea flow within him. The winds began to pick up, and the clouds started to darken to a menacing grey. Water from the camp lake lurched up into the sky, and began to whirl around the Son of Poseidon. Using almost all of his remaining strength, Percy Jackson had created a hurricane that completely engulfed Long Island, so large, that it rivaled ones made by his own father.
Gaia's eyes had widened in surprise and fury, as the water whipped around her, nicking at her skin and quickly eroding her down. The water began to melt her earthlike body, turning it into mud as it slowly drooped down to the ground. With his last ounce of strength, Percy gripped Riptide tightly with both hands, which had returned to his pocket, and propelled himself forward with the water, straight at Gaia. With his sword stretched out, he punctured her weakened body and impaled her heart.
The once evil eyes morphed into surprise and pain and with a last, blood-curling screech, Gaia exploded into golden dust. Mother Earth's essence had blown away in the hurricane winds, scattering the particles. Gaia would never be seen again.
-Line Break-
Up on Mount Olympus, the Olympians, along with Hestia and Hades, sat in the Throne Room, having just witnessed the events of the battle. All of them were in deep thought, some showing signs of disbelief, others jealousy and fury, at the display of power shown by the Son of Poseidon.
"He is too powerful." The King of the Gods muttered at first, barely audible enough for anyone else in the room to hear him. "HE IS MUCH TOO POWERFUL! WE MUST DESTROY HIM BEFORE HE CAN GROW STRONGER!" Zeus exploded.
That got everyone's attention, especially the 8-year-old looking girl who sat in the middle of the room next to the blooming hearth.
"What!?" Hestia yelled out incredulously. "Did you not just see that he saved the world once again from utter chaos? This is the second time he has stopped an impossible evil; how could you say that we must kill him?"
"How could you say we mustn't kill him?" Zeus countered poorly. "He is obviously a threat to Olympus. Not only does he have power over the seas that rival Poseidon himself, but he is a stronger warrior than Ares and almost as quick as Artemis. He has the power to take out everyone on this council except possibly the Big 3." He reasoned.
Some on the Council began to wiggle uncomfortably in their seats at the convincing logic of Zeus. If Percy could face off against a primordial and win, what's stopping him from forcefully taking out the gods? Poseidon was deep in thought and both Ares and Artemis looked furious from the comparison to a demigod.
Hestia, who always tried her best to remain calm in all situations, could no longer stand the nonsense sprouting from her brother's mouth. She quickly grew to the size of the Olympians and had shifted from her 8-year-old form to look more like a woman in her late 20s.
"Do you not hear the absurdity in your words brother? We are speaking of Percy Jackson, the most loyal individual ever known! It is impossible for him to ever go against us, and you know this." She said staring angrily into the eyes of her brother. She shifted her gaze slightly to turn to her other sibling. "And you, why are you not defending your own child?"
Poseidon continued to sit there in his throne, looking like he was deep in thought. Finally, he turned his gaze up to look into the orange eyes of Hestia. "Well, I have to agree with Zeus on this." He said simply.
Hestia couldn't even make a sound as she just stood there, with wide eyes and a slightly agape mouth. She couldn't believe what she was hearing.
"What did you say?" She said quietly, hoping she had misheard Poseidon's words.
Poseidon just let out an annoyed sigh. "I said that I'm agreeing with Zeus. Percy is becoming extremely proficient in his water manipulation, too proficient in fact. While as unfortunate as it is, I have to make a decision. Either keep one son alive and possibly lose everything to him as he only becomes stronger, or end one mortal life and save Olympus and Atlantis." He stated as if it was simple.
Hestia was left shocked once again. "ONE MORTAL LIFE?! This is the Hero of Olympus, the two-time savior of the world! How can you feel so indifferent?!" She began looking around the rest of the throne room, looking for support. "Artemis?" She asked. "He took the burden of the sky for you, does that not mean anything to you?"
"He is also the one responsible for the death of my best friend, Zoe. Not to mention he is a male, I don't care if he dies." She said coolly.
Hestia began to act more frantic, looking for someone to defend Percy. "Hermes? You've always been close to Percy, he's like a second son. You've seen the goodness in his heart."
Hermes just glared at the Goddess of the Hearth. "If it wasn't for him, Luke would have never been dubbed a traitor and he could still be alive." He spat.
"Apollo?!" Hestia tried desperately.
"ENOUGH!" Zeus thundered. "Hephaestus, detain her." He commanded.
Hephaestus, who was just fiddling with a piece of metal. Shrugged and grabbed something out of his pocket and tossed it over to the Goddess. It was a small box that gleamed with its celestial bronze surface before it exploded like a grenade, the light engulfing Hestia. When the light faded away, she was trapped inside a celestial bronze cage.
Zeus just snapped his fingers and the cage along with Hestia vanished from sight. "Alright, those in favor of sending Perseus to Tartarus, raise your hand. All 12 hands of the Olympians, along with Hades, were raised in the air.
"Very well, summon the demigods to Olympus, it's time for celebration." Zeus grinned smugly.
-Line Break-
Cheers erupted from within Camp Half-blood. The few demigods from both camps were laughing and crying with one another, overjoyed that they had made it through the war. The unnoticed weight that rested on everyone's shoulders seemed to be lifted as they knew that the world was safe again.
The cheers though were soon interrupted when a booming thunder from the sky came, signaling that Zeus had call for a meeting in the throne room of Olympus. Percy knew what was happening next, it was time for the award ceremony. Through the powers of the Gods, all the warriors from the war were summoned to the throne room. Twelve, stunning Olympian thrones, all perfectly matching each Olympian and their domains, lined the walls of the room, forming a U-shape around the tired warriors.
Zeus stood from his throne, not before sneaking a glare towards Percy that seemed to go unnoticed by everyone except for him. He then began his loud speech.
"Warriors of Olympus!" He boomed. "Today is a day that will forever be immortalized in history! The day where we accomplished the impossible, stopping Gaea and her children from taking control of the world and plunging it into chaos!"
Everyone in the throne room cheered at the words said by the King of the Gods.
"You all have fought well, and it is time to begin awarding gifts to those who are deserving", again sending a glare towards a confused Percy.
"Jason Grace, step forward!"
Zeus began the ceremony, of course, by recognizing his son first. The arrogance of the King of the Gods annoyed Percy a bit, but he knew that Jason deserved to be recognized.
"Jason, my proudest son, without you and your efforts, this war would have been lost. For your heroic actions, I proudly offer you the gift of Godhood!".
Everyone gasped and Jason's jaw dropped to the floor.
"Y-you are offering me the chance to become a God?" he stuttered.
Zeus just chuckled at his son. "Of course, does anyone here think that my son isn't deserving of such a gift?" emphasizing the "my" and glaring at everyone in the audience, daring anyone to speak up. It remained silent before Jason turned towards his friends and Percy, who all gave him nods of encouragement.
"Father, I, Jason Grace, Son of Jupiter, accept your gracious offer to become a God."
Zeus widely grinned, and he and the rest of the Olympians began the ancient ritual of turning a mortal into a God. After they had finished, Jason glowed a bright gold, signaling that he was now immortal. Jason stepped back towards his friends, and Zeus moved onto the next demi-god. Surprisingly, Zeus and the rest of the Olympian Council offered Godhood to the remaining five demi-gods of the quest, as well as to Nico and Reyna. They all happily accepted their offers, until all that was left was Percy.
"Perseus Jackson." Zeus said the name with disgust, "Step forward!" he thundered venomously.
Everyone was shocked. Why was Zeus treating the twice over hero of Olympus with such malice?
Percy stepped forward cautiously before kneeling before the King of Olympus, lowering his head as not to show disrespect.
"Perseus, we, the Olympians, shall be giving you the best gift, we could ever give to someone of your caliber." He spoke the sentence with such malice that left Percy and the rest of the warriors of Olympus utterly confused.
"For you, we offer immortality…"
Percy was relieved when Zeus gave him a normal offer, scared to think what the King might do when he seemed to be so angry with him. That was until Zeus continued his sentence.
"We offer you immortality so that you may rot in Tartarus for eternity!"
The Throne Room went silent. What had he just say? Did he say that the Olympians were going to send the Hero of Olympus of not just the Titan War, but the Giant War too, to the deepest depths of Hell?
Percy didn't know how to react. He was stunned. What had he done to anger the Zeus? Percy looked around at the other Olympians in their thrones, hoping to see that he had misheard Zeus.
All he saw were looks of hatred, jealousy, or indifference.
He turned to his father, Poseidon, only to be met with the look of indifference seen on some of the other Olympians. What was happening? Why were the Olympians giving him looks as if he was some sort of monster? He called out to his father.
"Dad, what's wrong? Did I do something to make you angry?"
The response he received knocked the wind out of his lungs. "You are no son of mine! We have evidence that proves you are a traitor and threat to Olympus!" Of course, Poseidon was lying. Not wanting everyone to know that the Olympians were scared of Percy's powers, they had devised a plan to make it seem like he was helping Gaea the whole time.
Everyone gasped, having trouble processing the current situation. They didn't know what to believe. Why would the Hero of Olympus betray them?
Percy just stood there in shock.
"I would never betray my home!" he yelled out almost pleadingly. "Everyone that I love, why would I betray them!"
Hermes spoke up, a look of fury in his eyes. "Stop with your useless lies traitor. Being the vile monster you are, you caused the deaths of hundreds of innocent people, including my son Luke, a real hero, when he could have been saved in the Titan War." While he was lying because he and the Olympians needed to get rid of him, Hermes still held resentment towards the demigod for the death of his favorite son, Luke Castellan.
The mention of Luke caused many of the warriors to begin believing the Olympian's lies. While they had hated Luke before, they had learned of his sacrifice and treated him as a hero. The thought that Percy had killed that hero made them wary and angry at the son of Poseidon.
"Perseus Jackson, any last words before you never see the sun and stars again? Zeus sneered as he continued his speech.
Percy couldn't believe it, this was actually happening. He was about to be sent to Tartarus forever, for no apparent reason. He did the last thing he could think of.
"I promise on the River Styx, I never attempted anything to betray Olympus." He said with sincerity.
Thundered boomed in the distance, and the warriors of the throne room waited for the River to claim the lying demigod. But when nothing happened, the warriors and his 8 best friends realized that he wasn't lying. Guilt flooded their conscious'. They couldn't believe that for a minute they thought that their leader and, more importantly, friend would betray them.
Zeus' face went red with anger at Percy's action. He had to quickly get rid of the demigod before anything else went unfavorably for him. Before anyone could speak up after Percy's statement, Zeus yelled
"Perseus Jackson, I hereby denounce your title of Hero of Olympus and banish you to Tartarus for eternity!"
No one had any time to react, especially Percy. He was blasted with an intense force coming from each of the twelve Gods. He could feel as his mortal blood began to boil and turn into the golden ichor of the immortals. If felt like he was burning from the inside out, as the Olympians made no attempt to make the transition painless for Percy.
The floor beneath him quickly cracked and opened, and before he had anytime to say anything, he began falling to the deepest depths of Hell. The last thing he saw was the smug, smiling faces of the Olympians as they casted him down into Tartarus.
-Line Break-
Percy continued to fall into Tartarus for what seemed like forever. The humid and hot tunnel was uncomfortable as the environment made his clothes cling to his sweat covered body.
As Percy fell, a swarm of emotions passed through him. At first, he was despondent. He couldn't believe that he was thrown out by his family, particularly his father. The way that the Olympians looked at him made him shake and cry out in anguish.
Where had he gone wrong? Whatever he did in life was for the benefit of his family and friends. He loved them too much not to do so.
But after what Percy could assume to be hours, and continuing to think back to the moment in the throne room, he felt his despair change. He felt disgruntled, angry, and soon after, felt pure hatred towards all the Olympians. They had lied straight to his face, but worst, to all his friends.
He wondered if they all hated him now, believing the words of the Olympians. He couldn't blame them though. Even if they wanted to believe Percy, they could never go against the word of the Olympian Council. That would just be a death sentence.
The more Percy thought, the stronger his feeling of hatred grew for the twelve Gods. Not only had they eternally ruined his life, but also took away the companionship of his friends and family. He looked up in the tunnel, from where he fell from, and screamed angrily at the top of his lungs,
"I swear on the Styx Olympians! That one day I will return, and when I do, I will make sure that you no longer rule the world your cruel and unfair ways!"
Even when falling into Tartarus, the sound of thunder could be heard, sealing the promise he had made.
Percy was confused though when he heard the boom come from under him instead of some far away distance. It was then he saw a dim light glowing beneath him when suddenly, the once narrow tunnel he fell through opened into a vast, red space that seemed to stretch out forever.
Percy looked down again and saw the ground quickly approaching. He knew that when he hit the ground he was going to disintegrate on impact, or if he didn't, was going to be in for an insane amount of pain.
His eyes widened in surprise when he saw that not too far away from him, laid the river in which he swore to just moments before. It's dark green, almost black waters churning wildly against the banks of the river. Percy being the "act first, think later" kind of guy, quickly had the idiotic idea of using the water to slow down his descent. He knew that it wasn't wise to bathe in the Styx again, knowing that Lady Styx wouldn't allow him to live for entering her river once again, but he felt that at this point he had no choice.
Feeling the tug in his gut, Percy summoned the waters of the Styx to surround his body as he was descending rapidly, only fifty feet from the ground. He screamed as the water touched his skin, burning him with an unimaginable amount of pain, worse than when he was turned immortal.
Even with all his pain, he was able to completely wrap himself with the water and landed hard onto the red, rocky floor of Tartarus. The water cushioned his fall, if you could say that, before it traveled back to its source. The agony that Percy felt from his hard landing was excruciating. While he didn't have any broken bones thanks to his make-shift water cocoon, it certainly felt like he needed a flask or two of nectar.
He couldn't move his body and the pain slowly made it so that he was having trouble keeping his eyes open. As he began to fall unconscious, he barely saw a slithering body approaching him, with green tinted skin and striking emerald, green eyes. Right before darkness overtook him, he saw hundreds of venomous serpents slithering atop the person's head, looking at him in hunger.