Running. Running like Hades himself was after him. Which, in a way, he was. He cursed as he came to a halt at a dead end. The monsters had finally caught up to him. The Chimera and its mother, Echidna. No, not the anteater; the monster, the wife of Typhon.
"It would be a shame to end you now. But, a direct order from Poseidon is not something you want to dismiss. He promised me wealth, freedom and everything you can imagine. You can see how much he hates you; especially after what you did to his favorite son: Theseus." she sneered. The Chimera hissed. He backed away as the monster continued speaking.
"Not even your precious girlfriend wanted you. She's all over Theseus now. They moved on." Percy's eyes glowed with power, with rage.
She didn't notice and continued, "I can't imagine what the other gods see in you. Heck, I can't understand why Athena's spawn even dated you. Well, here's a fact: you have nothing left now. Your mother and stepfather are dead, at the hands of a few empousai. Final order from Gaea."
The winds picked up and you could hear the sea tearing apart. Storm clouds gathered overhead and without warning, rain began to fall. The water and the air became one as they went underneath him and lifted him into the air. A hurricane was going full-power. Echidna looked worried. Maybe she had overdone it. Not even a second had passed, and a wave of hardened water went through her, a second one going through her son.
The storm dissipated and as soon as Percy came to, he disappeared.
Olympus was in a state of distress. Their hero, their savior had gone missing. Not surprising, after everything the demigods did to him. Not to mention Poseidon.
The council of the gods was normal. Or, to put it more correctly, as normal as it could possibly be. Zeus was threatening Artemis and Apollo, who, for the moment, had stopped bickering and took in their surroundings. Athena yelled at Poseidon for sending Echidna after Percy while Ares looked at all of this with glee. Finally, Hestia couldn't take it anymore and a flame shot a hundred feet into the air. All the gods fell silent.
She broke the silence. "What's wrong with you? Instead of trying to figure out where Percy is, you're all standing her bickering with each other. One of our own decided to send a powerful monster and her son, who are unbeatable together, to kill a son of his." At this, she sent a glare towards Poseidon, who had the decency to flinch. "And instead of trying to find him, you're all-"
She was interrupted as a small amount of mist came together to form Percy. He walked over to Zeus and knelt. His posture was not that of a man who had just beat Gaea but that of a miserable man, a broken one. Zeus seemed to understand what Percy was asking for; a wish.
"Perseus. You have done a lot of good to us and as such you can have a wish, which I'm sure is what you want."
"Thank you, Lord Zeus." He spoke in a tone with no feeling, no enthusiasm, nothing. "I have come with a wish. I wish to die."
A deafening silence overtook Olympus. Several gods stood with their mouths agape. It was definitely a sight to behold. A lone thought ran through the gods' minds; why?
Hermes voiced everyone's thought.
"I have nothing left to live for. My father tried to kill me, with a monster loyal to Olympus. He basically classed me as disloyal to Olympus. My girlfriend gave up on me; she broke up with me and walked off with the new hero of Olympus arm in arm. My friends, instead of believing me, believed my brother, who had no target other than breaking me. Well, he succeeded."
"Yes, well. Please wait outside the throne room while we discuss your- uh, request."
Percy walked off and arguments broke out between the gods. Apollo expressed his opinion of not killing him while Artemis sneered that he was just another male. However much she sneered at him, she couldn't dismiss the growing respect for him. When 12, he undertook a quest to save her father's master bolt, which was in the hands of her step-brother and a demigod of Hermes. A year later, he traveled to the sea of monsters, where he stole the Golden Fleece from Polyphemus and returned to Camp victorious. In his third year, he followed her ex-lieutenant to her death, to save her and Athena's spawn. Then, he went deep into the Labyrinth, only to fight Antaeus -his half-brother- and to find out that Daedalus had already given Ariadne's string to the Titans. The creator of the Labyrinth followed the quest group to Camp and helped save it. Last but certainly not least was his extravagant defeat of the Titan Lord, all happening in the Throne Room. He gave Pandora's pythos to Hestia.
And now he wanted to die. She was against it, but couldn't exactly show it. Whenever she showed favor towards a man, her father killed him. And, well, it wouldn't do good to kill the hero of Olympus. Poseidon had already showed that he cared little for his first son but he could easily wage war against them. And the worst thing was, she knew she would fight for Perseus.
Zeus was in conflict. On one hand, he wanted nothing more than to smite the little shit ever since he set eyes on him. However, if more wars were to break out, doing so would result in them probably going down for a trip to Tartarus or even worse fading.
He was broken out of his thoughts by a flame of fire- again. To be honest his sister scared him to no ends. She looked as if she was about to burst with rage.
"We are OLYMPIANS! We should be discussing things in a CIVILIZED manner, not shouting at each other! Now, for a vote. All who think Perseus' request should be granted, raise your hands."
Dionysus, Hera, Ares and Poseidon raised their hands. Four out of the twelve Olympians.
Zeus spoke up, "Very well then. Perseus' request will not be granted. Hermes, fetch him."
Hermes stood from his throne and walked to the throne room doors. He opened them and called Perseus in. The boy knelt in front of Zeus.
"We have decided not to grant your wish, Perseus. You are extremely valuable to us and we cannot begin to imagine what would happen, were you to die." Perseus looked displeased. Zeus continued, "As such, we have decided that you are not to stay in Camp Half-Blood, following the recent events. I'm sure Artemis will be happy to let you stay with her and the Hunters-"
He was interrupted as his daughter stood up from her throne. "Father! I will not house anyone else but my hunters with me and certainly not a male. However, I can see that returning to Camp Half-Blood will only result in our's and Perseus' unhappiness and as such I will allow him to stay with us."
Zeus looked pleased. "Very well, then. Perseus, you will be stay with Artemis and her hunters for the time being. Council DISMISSED!" he bellowed and disappeared in a flash of lightning. The rest of the gods disappeared as well, with the exception of Artemis and Hestia.
She walked up to him and whispered in his ear a single phrase. She left in a flame of fire.
And then there were two. Hestia's words echoed in his ear, "Don't give up!"