Listen to Steve Jablonsky's "Arrival to Earth" while reading this one-shot.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians and/or anything belonging to Rick Riordan.
This was it.
This was the one thing I was meant for; the thing I had been training for, as cliché as it sounds, almost my entire life.
I couldn't let the campers die. I let that thought give me strength. I would not let them take my city. This was my home; they would destroy Olympus over my dead body.
I thought of the forty brave demigods who had joined me here. Most of them weren't even over the age of 15. Gods, what was wrong with the world we lived in?! I was leading them, children, to their deaths. It felt like I was leading lambs to the slaughter, like I was a wolf in a sheepskin.
But what choice did we have? It was that or let Kronos take over the world. Still, the guilt and anger stabbed me in the gut like Clarisse's electric spear. It frazzled my nerve endings and made me sweaty.
'What the Hades am I doing?' I thought.
I wasn't a leader, not until now. Thalia was better at this, or Annabeth. They were smart and careful (though Thalia was a bit reckless at times) and gods knew they both have more experience than I do. My stupid ideas got people hurt.
'Deep breaths, Percy Jackson. You can do this. People are counting on you. You can't be self-hating and cynical at the same time. One or the other. But right now, focus.' I angrily thought to myself. I needed to get my head in the game.
Feeling the familiar weight of Riptide helped. Gods knew how many times that sword had saved my life. Though, the thought of it reaping my soul made my heart hurt; I loved this sword.
I thought back to my friends. Annabeth, my beautiful Wise Girl.
Thalia, my Pinecone Face of a cousin.
Clarisse, who had left us to die but joined us because of a daughter of Aphrodite sacrificing her life.
Calypso, the biggest 'what if' I would ever have in my life.
Tyson, my Cyclops half-brother.
Nico Di Angelo, the boy who I had wronged, the little brother of a girl who sacrificed her life to save mine and others that I had promised to protect.
And so many others. What if they died because of me? What if I failed them? What if…?
I thought of Dionysus' request to keep his son safe. I remembered his reaction to Castor's death. I felt bad for the god, losing his son had hurt. He had even resorted to asking me to keep his only other son safe.
This war had killed so many, hurt so many people. Hermes lost his son to Kronos. Nico lost Bianca to an automaton to save our lives. They both lost their mother to Zeus. Artemis lost Zoe, one of her beloved huntresses. Pollux and Dionysus lost Castor. We all lost Beckendorf to Kronos.
I would do this for them. For all the people we hurt, that we lost. I would do this for Annabeth. I would do it for my mom, and my dad. I would do it for family, for Olympus.
I faced Kronos and raised my blade.
He would not win. I wouldn't let him.
I charged, and the battle for Olympus began.