Percy Jackson & the Fleeing Titan

by Ikeyzo

A year since Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon declined the offer of becoming a god. But with the new year, he must face new, more difficult challenges. Challenges that boil down to the very fate of the universe, and all within it - including the gods.

I wrote this a little while back, and it got good reviews, but was barely viewed. I'm reposting this as I have decided to work on a sequel… This isn't amazing, but it's a fairly good story (I think) and I have ideas of where to go with this.

Chapter 1: Naiads are stupid flirts

Firstly, this is my first fanfic, so don't flame, please. Second, CC is entirely welcome.

Third and final, The Heroes Of Olympusnever has, or will happen in this story. The characters are at the camp but that is it.

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN PERCY JACKSON, OR ANYTHING TO DO WITH IT.

Red flames shot from the pit, exploding outward with a POP! The wood ignited quickly, burning through the kindling. I glanced at Annabeth over the dancing flames. She scowled slightly, and then looked back down into the fire. Tossing a couple more blocks of wood into the pit, I stepped back, and looked around the pavilion.

'Oh, come on Annabeth. You've said a thousand times before Naiads are flirts. I didn't try to kiss HER, she tried to kiss ME!' I sighed slightly, looking over Annabeth. She simply shot a dirty look at me, and went back to lighting the camp fire. The dusty haze across the valley made the sunset a pinky-orange. The beautiful weather wasn't just by chance. The Golden Fleece on top of Half-Blood Hill protected the camps borders from monsters. And bad weather, so it seemed.

After a few minutes of angry silence, I sighed slightly, and turned away. 'I'll tell Chiron that the pavilion's ready for dinner.' Usually, the Harpies would have sorted out the pavilion for dinner, but the old hags had attacked a camper before curfew recently, and were being kept away from tasks for a while - just until Chiron and Mr D. could get them back under control. I didn't see why the camp used the stupid chickens anyway. I mean, they cleaned up pretty well, true, but the campers still had to get their cabins clean for inspections, which were also run by campers. By the end of the summer, the only time the Harpies actually cleaned the cabins, they were already pretty neat. Anyway, I turned off from Annabeth, to get the conch horn blown.

Ten minutes later, the entire camp was in the pavilion, dining at their parents table. I sat alone, as per usual, being the only son of Poseidon in the camp. At the end of last year, my father had joked about there being more of us. Thank the gods; it really was just a joke. However, over the last year, the camps size had more than doubled. The gods had been claiming tonnes of children, as they had promised to me, and were really giving the satyrs some hard work.

The campers all began to slide off from their seats, carrying quarter or so of their platefuls. They lined up by the camp fire, tossing the remains into the flames. When it was my turn, I closed my eyes, and tipped. 'For Poseidon' I murmured, sharply adding 'And Aphrodite, a little help with Annabeth wouldn't go amiss.'

I trudged backward, sitting beside the fire.

Soon, roughly two hundred kids were sat around the pit, roasting marshmallows. Annabeth sat by my side, but she hadn't really spoken to me that much. I wasn't used to it, I mean; we'd been perfect up until last week, when I decided to take a swim in the Canoe Lake. A naiad had chosen the perfect time to be a flirt – just when Annabeth showed up. Anyway, at my other side, my friend Nico sat, grinning around the camp. The older Apollo kids stood up, brandishing lyres, and with a few good-natured groans, the camp began their nightly sing-song.

Later, as the camp began to disperse off to their cabins, Piper – the new Aphrodite counsellor approached me, grinning. 'You and Annabeth didn't talk much tonight.' She noted. I simply grunted in response. 'You know, a little present wouldn't go amiss for her…' Piper smiled lightly, and strolled off. Great – now the Aphrodite kids are going to gossip, and tell the entire camp about how the two heroes of last year are having relationship problems. Annabeth was going to kill me.

That night, I had a dream. I had just been getting used to having slightly more normal, non end-of-the-world type dreams, when this one cropped up and ruined everything. I was stood in the middle of a park. The only thing near me was a maple tree. On the front of the maple tree, was a marking. Right in the middle of the trunk, a face-like shape poked out from it, barely visible. Around the tree, there was one of those orange fences, and one of those road-works type signs. Beside the tree, a large van was parked, and a couple of men were rummaging through the back. Stood beside the tree, was an old man. There was nothing really notable about him – grey, bushy hair, stubby, wearing a navy turtleneck, and a pair of camo-style trousers. He was holding a clipboard in his hand, and I could just make out what was on it. Across the top, printed in bold, was the header "Mystery Tree" and just underneath, the plans to cut down the tree that had randomly appeared in the picnic area of central park. The disturbing thing was I knew where this three had come from. No one had expected this. I mean, out of all the trees in central park, why the hell would this one get noticed as suddenly just being there? And why would anyone care? All I knew was that forever reason, the tree that had entombed the Titan lord – Hyperion, was due to getting the chop. A workman stepped from the van, a generator in hand. He plunked it down beside the tree, and looked over the man with the clipboard.

'We'll start work tomorrow, boss. This tree is pretty thick. It could take a while to cut down. Seems a bit of a shame though, I mean, why cut down a perfectly healthy tree?' The man with the clipboard shook his head curtly. 'Doesn't fit.' He said curtly. The voice sent a shiver down my spine. I had heard it in a dream once before. It was the man who in a dream last year, had been left alone to watch Atlas while his brother, Hyperion, went out to battle us. I'd learnt about him since then. The man with the clipboard scratched his head. I got a quick glimpse of something stumpy and white – kind of like if Grover had his horns clipped off. I knew they weren't goat horns though… He was the man with the Ram horns. A man who was a Titan, disguised under the veil of The Mist. I'd forgotten about him completely last year – he hadn't even shown for the battle. The gods had told me that he had fled. Krois – The Titan Lord of the South…

Chapter 2: Being invulnerable is dangerous

I sat at my table, hardly touching my food. I hadn't told anyone about my dream yet, and I didn't want to tell anyone. I hoped it was just that – a dream. Part of me knew that my not telling anyone was stupid. But who knows? Maybe Morpheus – The god of dreams – would have seen, and would warm The Olympians… Fat chance - there's a million proper dreamers around the world, and Half Bloods don't have proper dreams. It's normally a glance of something happening now, in the past, or the future. I'm not sure how much sight Morpheus would have over that… I'm not sure if he was even watching me – it was unlikely.

Grover plonked down onto the bench beside me. He wasn't one of the demigods, so I guess it was fine for him to sit wherever he liked.

'You look troubled, Percy…' He said in his newly grown-up voice. Grover had changed a lot over the last year, but he was still really the same satyr I had met back in the sixth grade. 'We still have the empathy link… I'm pretty sure I know roughly what's wrong.' I shook my head, looking down toward my meal. 'You expect me to believe you're just saving all your food for your dad?' He grinned. 'I don't really wanna talk about it.' I muttered. 'Okay then, how about the other thing you asked at the campfire yesterday?' He smiled at me, reaching into his T-Shirts pocket. As he did so, I remembered exactly what I had said. Brilliant… even Grover knew I was having problems with Annabeth.

Grover pulled a small, bronze figurine of an owl. The head occasionally turned, or the wing lifted over it, placing its head underneath. As I stared at it, it let out a faint HOOT!

'I got the Hephaestus kids to make it for you yesterday. Don't worry, I didn't tell them why you needed it.' He added sharply. He dropped it to the table in front of me. The little figure had amazing craftsmanship. The bronze had every little detail of the feathers on it. The way the owl moved was perfectly smooth and flowing. 'Don't worry about it malfunctioning and attacking people,' Grover grinned 'they said there was so little movement, it would be impossible.' Wow. So, even though Aphrodite had promised to make my love-life difficult, she still had answered my prayer. She'd not only send one of her demigod children to tell me what to do, but she'd sent someone with the PERFECT gift. I grinned at Grover 'It's perfect, dude. Thanks.' He nodded lightly, and then slid from the table, rejoining the head one.

After we had all made our offerings to the gods, and sang our camp fire songs, we began to file back to the cabins. I strolled at Annabeth's side, waiting for us to be more alone. Finally, when we were about half way to the cabins, nearly everyone else was ahead of us. I turned toward Annabeth, and put my hand on her shoulder. She stopped, and glanced at me. I slid the owl from my pocket, and held it out to her. She looked over it slowly, smiling slightly at it.

'Annabeth, I'm sorry for the lake. I don't really know how to make it up to you, but I think this present will be a good start.' Annabeth looked up at me, staring into my eyes. Finally, she giggled, and said 'You're so cute, seaweed brain.' With that, she gave me peck on the lips, and wandered off to her cabin. I stood there dumbly for a few seconds, before moving off back to my summer home.

Once I arrived at the heavy stone doors, I knew something was different. The cabin glowed its sea-green aura brighter than ever. The door was open a crack, which was strange, me being the only one who is allowed inside. When I stepped inside, I was nearly knocked off my feet. The smell was overpowering, the sea salt smell washing over me as soon as I stepped inside. The corals were perkier than ever, and the bunks had made themselves. I knew why instantly, because sat on my bed, a man in Bermuda shorts, and a Hawaiian shirt was fiddling with a fishing pole.

'Dad.' I grinned. He looked up at me, his face serious as ever. The only difference in him since the last time I saw him was the twinkle in his eyes. It didn't seem as bright. I mean, it shouldn't have surprised me, as last time I had seen him, we had just defeated a horde of monsters, and two titans, but something about him seemed more wary. 'Hello, Perseus.' He smiled shortly, patting the bed beside him. I sat beside him on my bunk, looking up at his face. 'Hey dad' I murmured. 'What brings you to camp?' 'You know, my son. I know of your dreams.' I grimaced, realising the reality of the situation. 'Earlier today, that tree was cut down, and thanks to a particularly treacherous Titan, Hyperion was released.' He looked down over his fishing pole slowly. 'But, we, the mortals, defeated Hyperion once before already. Surely with the gods, and us, we can defeat him and his weaker brother…' I murmured this, sure that it would not be so simple. 'I see it in your eyes. You have already guessed what they will do… In fact, it was mentioned in your first dream of the two…' I knew what my father was speaking of instantly. While the titans had been talking on the mountain, the titan's most skilled warrior had called out from where he held the sky… "One of you come and take my place!" he had screamed… I highly doubted that the stronger one was going to sacrifice himself to free his brother… Krois would be taken out of the equation, leaving the two best Titan Warriors to gather forces. Last year, we hadn't even killed Kronos. We had simply destroyed his host. The worst thing was, there was only one other mortal form in the universe that could bare him without someone taking a bath in the Styx. Me…

Chapter 3: My second cousin, thrice removed?

Poseidon looked me over, a sad expression on his face. I looked at him for reassurance, but he had none to give. He knew just as well as I did, that seeing as I had been Kronos' number one enemy, and had been the one who had "killed" him… sort of, I would be a target to destroy. My form would just be well… a bonus. I had no idea how he had entered Luke's body, and neither did the gods. If I were lucky, he would need my permission. If not, then I could have a few problems.

I would drop into a coma for a little while

I would lose massive chunks of my body until I got a bunch of supporters

I wouldn't really be alive anymore… Sort of.

I would destroy the world

I would destroy everyone I cared about… Including my father.

Hey, the gods could probably protect me… If they weren't all annoyed by my so called MASSIVE requests last year… They said that making me a god would be easier than acknowledging their kids and giving the minor gods a little credit. I don't see how.

My father sighed slightly, glancing upward, even though there was a ceiling above him. 'I must be off, my son. Keep safe.' He looked me over slowly, his mouths corners creasing up the smallest bit. With that, he began to shimmer. I closed my eyes, and he burst into his true form, before disappearing off to his underwater palace... or maybe Olympus. I don't have a clue.

The harpies were off, so the curfew wasn't being kept. All around the camp, little groups of teens were sneaking around, being a general nuisance. I strolled down toward the beach. After a few minutes, I was sat at the edge of my fathers' kingdom. Waves splashed at my feet, giving me a power rush every time they slapped me. I lay back onto the sand, closing my eyes.

I was on the edge of dreams, about to tip – which would probably have been stupid in the middle of the beach – when I felt a faint power surge around me. I felt the presence of a god. I looked up sharply, instantly awake – beside me, sat Amphitrite – my step mother. I looked over her awkwardly, being a result of one of my fathers' affairs; I wasn't exactly her favourite person.

'Your father is worried about you, child…' She said this without looking at me, and surprisingly, she spoke softly to me. 'I have never seen him so depressed. That's saying a lot, as last year, we thought our son had been killed by Oceanus.' She finally turned her head toward me, her eyes glittering a little. 'Mortal, do not expect me to love you. You are the result of my husband having an affair with me. In fact, I should really hate you. However, I know how confused you must be at this second, and how worried. But I need you to keep yourself safe. If anything happened, it would destroy your father.' She looked a little disgusted at the thought, but still said it sincerely. 'You are his highest achieving son so far… You almost were a god, yet you turned that down to stay with the girl you loved… As well of a mixture of hate and pity, I must admit… I feel a strange sense of pride over you also. You may not be my genetic son, but you are still related to me in a way…' I just stared at her, gaping mouth. I'd just found out two very shocking things. Firstly, my father was more worried about me than he had been his heir. Secondly, his wife, who should hate me, was… proud? She smiled curtly, and then leapt off into the water, her form shifting into that of a massive, elegant clown fish. And when I say massive, I mean just that - a clown fish the size of a great white. It was almost comical to watch the massive fish swim off from the shore, and disappear across the horizon, into my fathers – and her – kingdom.

My next visitor on the beach was someone I expected a whole lot more, and was actually glad to see… Annabeth. I just smiled at her, leaning back against the sand. As soon as she was next to me, she plopped down, crossing her legs. 'You know… You still haven't made up to me fully, seaweed brain… You need to do something else cool.' She said it jokingly, but I decided to take it serious. With a grin, I turned my head to face the sea. Kicking my feet into the water, I channelled my powers into the water. A clump of water rose from the surface, attached by a thin line of water. I allowed water to flow off of the globe shape, and moulded it into a heart. It hung there in the air for a few seconds, water cascading from the top, only to implode into the shape at the bottom, keeping the shape perfectly. Annabeth just stared at it in amazement, completely transfixed. I smiled at this slightly, and then mentally called out two small fish. They were the smallest I could find, and I had no idea what breed they were, but the plan worked. I directed them into the stream of water from the heart, and they were sucked up into the centre of the heart, and stopped directly in the middle together, face to face. I rotated the heart a couple of times, growing pretty tired. Hell, if I was probably going to be consumed by a Titan Lord some time soon, I may as well go on a high note with Annabeth. Finally, I let the heart explode outward, the two fish dropping lightly into the water, and swimming away. The water sprayed out in all directions, a few drops splashing over Annabeth and I. She turned her head slowly toward me, still dumbstruck. Then, she leapt in and kissed me.

Later that night, I lay in my cabin, thinking about my fate. Hell, I doubted Kronos could get to me without any kind of ritual, or permission. I mean, if he could, I would be consumed by him right now. On that good thought, I dropped down into deep sleep.

I was stood on the peak of a mountain. From somewhere in the middle of a pile of rubble, a massive funnel cloud swirled, reaching out and up to the heavens. Two men stood in front of it, blocking my view of the giant in the centre. I heard a faint murmuring, and the air shimmered slightly around the base of the funnel. The air around the shorter man in front of the funnel shimmered too. Suddenly, the clouds funnel twisted, snapping off from the form it normally lay under. It shifted over to the shorter man, the weaker titan – Krois. With this, a loud, booming laugh echoed over the pained scream of the poor titan.

I woke up, the birds singing outside the cabin. 'Too calm' I murmured under my breath, wiping sweat from my face. I slid from my bet, my feet dropping like lead to the stone ground below. After getting dressed in full Greek armour, I wandered outside, toward the pavilion with happy laughs and shouting echoing from it. I reached it in minutes, heading straight for the head table. A couple of people murmured as I passed, apparently, I looked like I had just seen a ghost - which I would have preferred. Chiron looked up from his meal, catching the troubled look in my eye. He coughed, and stood to address the camp.

'Half bloods' He boomed across the pavilion, silence falling instantly. 'Assume your daily duties; prepare for tonight's capture the flag. Breakfast has been cut short.' He looked into my eyes, a worried shadow passing over his own. 'Percy, I know what you have seen. Morpheus visited me first thing this morning…' And with that, he turned on his massive stallions legs, beckoning me to follow him to the big house…

FOOTNOTE:

Atlas actually is like, Percy's second cousin, thrice removed. xD

I think that your great-grandparents-sisters-son is that…

Chapter 4: Prophecy Ring

Annabeth wrapped her arms around me, hugging me with a Tyson-like grip, face nuzzled into my chest. She was worried about . Chiron murmured to the rainbow-cloud in front of him, and I sat there, my mind on fire. I was reflecting on the words Chiron had just said, and looking around at the others in the room. Me, Annabeth, Clarisse, Nico, Thalia (who had been called to the camp on short notice – she was annoyed.), Chris and Pollux. Stood in the corner of the room, with a scowl on his face was Mr D., camp director. He had only taken that expression once his son, Pollux, had joined the group.

'Now, I'm not one for the whole camp spirit crap.' Dionysus began, 'But seeing as my son is part of this, I'm going to stick my nose in for once.' He grinned toothily at us. 'The Oracle of Delphi made a prophecy last year. "Seven half-bloods shall answer the call. To storm or fire, the world must fall. An oath to keep with a final breath and foes bear arms to the Doors of Death."' He quoted Rachael. 'Now, firstly, I have been allowed by Zeus to at least tell that this is the little group the wretched thing speaks of. Now, I would like to ask - which of you little scumbags have made an oath that would be important enough to include it in the Great Prophecy.' His scowl deepened, basically, he was blaming one of us for his son having to partake in a quest.

I didn't really see what good a wine kid could do in a battle, but I kept my mouth shut. I may be invulnerable to harm, but that probably wouldn't stop Dionysus from turning me into a grape, or something.

Still, I didn't blame him for being worried about his son. Mr D. did actually have a soft spot for him. In fact, in the battle last year, he had made me swear… I stopped mid thought-train, and coughed.

'I might have made it…' His eyes snapped to me, looking preeety annoyed.

'Well then, Perseus Jackson, do tell me what you swore?' I have to admit, his face was hilarious when I said 'I swore to a god last year, that I would keep his son safe. And I guess that applies here.' Dionysus blinked stupidly several times, looked to the floor, and coughed. 'Well, as for a different line,' his voice suddenly calm and collected, '"To storm or fire, the world must fall." Does anyone have a clue what that means..?' I tuned out the random answers, though some were pretty hilarious, and focused on the line to do with me. "An oath to keep with a final breath" just brilliant – sounded like your average you're-going-to-die type thing, though the prophecies did have a habit of having double meanings. Hey, I was a half-blood who had made it past 16, and saved the world several times. I mean, if I died, I'd be going to Elysium, right? I could always get reincarnated… Wonder if, because I'd been SO good, the gods would let me keep my memory..? Fat chance. I realised how much of a joke I was making out of this. I guess after you defeat an entire army of monsters and kill a Titan (OK, OK, I sort of didn't do that.), with about a hundred people, you find yourself laughing at death.

Anyway, a long, boring meeting later, we were dismissed to our cabins. Too bad the curfew was back. After having the head-harpy lose her head to Dionysus (I mean actually lose her head. She's still alive and everything, they just need to find it for her.), they were back under control. I strolled off to my cabin, only stopping at the door of Athens to give Annabeth a good-night snog. Okay, things seemed to be going well between us recently, but I didn't expect it to last. I mean, the goddess of love, Aphrodite, had promised to make my love life difficult. This was just a little smooth patch. Plenty more bumps to go.

I stepped into my cabin, having the feeling someone had been visiting during the meeting. I half hoped for my dad, but the smell of the cabin was completely different to usual. It smelt of expensive perfume, rose or mountain laurel. I'd smelt that a fair few times before, and well, it was intoxicating. Though, it made me groan a little. I stepped inside to a cabin reeking or roses. My sheets had a circle of rose petals in the centre of the bed, and in the centre of that, lay a little box, a note attached to the side.I stepped toward the box, looking at the note first. The note had an intoxicating aura, the writing curly and fancy. Written on the pink paper was "Dear Percy. It's now or never. Best of luck, Aphrodite" Now, if I couldn't see the shape or size of the box, I wouldn't have known what was inside, but it was really too obvious. Sighing, I dropped down onto the bed. I leant back against the pillow, planning on what I would say, and how the hell I would tell our parents – two gods who hated the crap out of each other. I opened the box slowly, pulling out the small, golden ring. I had to admit. Aphrodite had good taste. The ring was hideously gaudy, yet still absolutely perfect. The ring itself was golden, speckled with silver. The gem – or gems – was an owl shaped emerald, encased in a diamond. On the inside of the ring, the Greek words "Η αιώνια αγάπη" My eternal love. Honestly, I found the ring mushy, but I knew that Annabeth would love it. It seemed that I had to ask Annabeth to marry me. Whatever reason, I don't know, but I had a feeling that Aphrodite was doing this because it would be seriously important. I had no idea why I felt that or why it would be important to me, other than the fact that well, I was going to ask the girl I loved to marry me, but something here was wrong…

Chapter 5: Battle Proposal

Annabeth stared at me, slack jawed, entirely dumbfounded. The entire camp held their breath, silently willing a yes. Dionysus had a look of amusement on his face, as if confirming the belief of an ulterior motive from Aphrodite. Chiron looked over the two of us, eyes twinkling. I knelt to the ground, perfectly still, open ring box in hand.

I couldn't believe what I had just done. I had asked Annabeth to marry me, in front of the entire camp, at dinner. The time when the Greek gods would be watching, awaiting their offerings, and answering our prayers. I'm so stupid.

'Percy…' Annabeth murmured, momentarily making me panic. She was going to say no! Right in front of the camp! I got ready to jump up, and shout before getting Morpheus to put them all to sleep and convince them they were having a weird, collective dream, but Annabeth finally managed to come around - 'Of course, seaweed brain.' I leapt to my feet, the camp whooping around us. After an extremely long and mushy kiss, I realised that we must be the first couple in the camp to be getting married in a long time. Not for many reasons, honestly, mainly, I guess, that the few demigods that made it past marrying age didn't often have that much luck with keeping a relationship down for more than a month without one of them getting killed, or Aphrodite getting annoyed and killing the romance when they said something wrong to her at the winter solstice.

Anyway, the Aphrodite cabin collectively rushed us from their table, screaming about wedding plans, and glaring at the ring I had been given by their mother. Grover was one of the last to approach us, and when he was halfway through congratulating us, he froze, tongue caught as he stared at the rock. 'Percy, you realise that's some of the crystal from Pan's cave…' He murmured eyes wide. I hadn't, actually, but I didn't see the big deal. 'So..?' I glared at him for focusing more on the ring than what was actually happening. Then, he simply said 'the satyr's are gonna be crawling to get a nibble on that.' I raised an eyebrow to him at first, and then Annabeth rolled her eyes, and said 'they all think that some of pans powers were in the crystals Grover told them about. And naturally, satyrs want to eat it.' A couple of minutes of light hearted poking fun at Grover later, Chiron finally had managed to battle his way through the masses of congratulators. He stepped right up toward me, and simply said 'A daughter of Athena, and a son of Poseidon. Who ever would have thought it?' Before slapping me on the back, and grinning to Annabeth. 'Take care of that ring, Annabeth. It's a gift from the god of love herself.' And with that, he galloped off, grinning at what he'd just implied to her. Any shred of doubt Annabeth had had about the marriage was wiped away instantly. If Aphrodite interferes directly with your romance in a good way, it's a veeery good sign for the two of you.

Later that evening, Annabeth and I were sat on the beach, watching the ocean. Then finally, exactly what I had been expecting came. Except, it was two things I had expected, just not together. Poseidon and Athena materialised in a flash of light together, bickering. I had expected they wouldn't be happy with it, but as soon as they seemed to realise they were here, they stopped the argument, and turned to face the two of us.

'Neither of us honestly approves, children.' Athena declared, though her expression kind of said otherwise. 'However, seeing as the goddess of love herself wanted this, we will allow it.' My father said, his eyes glittering slightly. I didn't think either of them really disapproved of Annabeth and me, just the fact they would have to be friendly to each other for a human's lifetime. 'The thing that really makes this special, however, is that it will be the first Olympian wedding in well… Longer than I care to believe.' My father continued, the corners of his mouth twitching slightly. 'The other gods actually smile upon this union, it seems that they expect this to stop mine and your fathers bickering' Athena announced to me, a faintly amused smile playing on her lips. My father turned to me, smiling slightly. 'Perseus, believe me, though this union will bring problems, you will see the true reason it has been allowed by the two of us in good time.' Athena shot him a dirty look, like he had said too much, and slammed a rock-hard elbow into his ribs. Though, of course, nothing happened. The two resumed their bickering, and Annabeth and I turned away, waiting for them to resume their true forms, and disappear. After the two auras of the gods faded, we looked back to the frothing shore.

'This is too surreal.' Annabeth murmured, looking over the sea. I grinned at her slightly, darting out for a peck. Annabeth giggled, shoving me playfully, and a few seconds later, we were wrestling in the dunes.

Half an hour of messing about later, a conch horn sounded, calling us all to ready up for capture the flag in half an hour. I sighed, and sat up, sliding to my feet. Clarisse is going to make some taunts in capture the flag today…' I grinned at Annabeth. I flicked my hand out to her, pulling her from the sand. Slowly, we strolled back to the camp, where our teams were readying up. I didn't honestly see the point, I mean, not to brag or anything, but whatever team I was on – always Athena – we couldn't lose. I hadn't played capture the flag since becoming invulnerable last year – stuff kept coming up, but still, it seemed pointless… until we arrived in the dining pavilion. Stood on either side of the pavilion were two teams - one, the good old campers of Camp Half-blood, the other The Hunters of Artemis. Camp Half-blood had never beaten them in a game of capture the flag before. I guess it was time to break that record.

Later, my entire team were wiped out other than me, Clarisse and Annabeth. Annabeth hung back at the flag, invisible cap on, to save it from anyone who snuck up. Or at least, I thought she was… hard to keep tabs on an invisible girl. Clarisse was tied up with a hunter, whereas I was tied up with the rest of their team. I was outnumbered about ten to one. The Hunters had increased in size almost as well as the camp. There was more than I could be bothered to count now, but not all of them were as skilled as the ones we were used to fighting. I deflected an arrow off my sword, parried a weapon to my left, and kicked out to a girl on my right. Of course, her head smashed against a tree, and she was out for the count. Soon, I was down to one girl, the biggest threat, though she wasn't much of one - Thalia. I grinned at her, spinning my sword on my hand. She knew she had lost, and I was just messing about now, but she carried on anyway. I didn't even have to think about her attacks. I just parried them off mindlessly. She shook her head, and tried her last resort. Closing her eyes, she summoned her fathers' powers around her. A small, weak bolt of lightening smashed into my head, scorching my hair. But that was it. I was about to move in for the win, when Thalia was pulled back, letting out a startled yelp. She was pulled down, like someone had her in a headlock, and she struggled against the invisible figure. Annabeth pulled her cap off, and grinned at me.

'Don't try to show off, seaweed brain.' She grinned at me. At that second, Clarisse sprinted at our flag with the hunters' one. A tradition of us getting our buts handed to us every time they came was finally broken. Finally, once the conch horn was blown, Annabeth released Thalia out of the headlock. The two started gossiping about stuff that had gone on throughout their year. I was just about to leave, when Thalia gasped. Great… Annabeth's flashing her ring again. But I turned around, and humoured them. As we edged back toward the pavilion for the celebrations, Annabeth filled Thalia in on everything that had been planned already. Trust me. That could have lasted forever, but when we reached the pavilion, an excited roar exploded through the camp. The celebrations began.

Chapter 6: Not over 'till the redhead prophecises

Summer was drawing to an end. Nothing had seemed to happen with the Titans in ages, no dreams, nothing. I'd almost forgotten about their threat. Annabeth and I were doing brilliantly. In fact, our wedding planners were doing so well, it seemed we would be married by the end of the summer. Somewhat unwillingly, I had moved out of my mothers' home, and into Camp Half-blood. Thanks to Hera's meddling, Annabeth fell out with her family over the marriage. Hera, the goddess of the family, had a grudge against Annabeth. However, she justified this with Athena with "It'll help with the marriage." -odd to think that Aphrodite hadn't been the only one behind their little plan, which, by the way, still had not shown why it had come to fruition.

I couldn't help but wonder what the difference would be, being married in camp Half-Blood. I mean, there wasn't really that much that could change, was there?

Anyway, Annabeth and I were sat on the beach, in the sand dunes – like we normally were in the evenings. 'Two weeks, seaweed brain…' Annabeth murmured, her eyes glittering in the pinky sunset. Annabeth hadn't brushed her hair properly today. She'd spent most of the time finalising the designs for Olympus. Last year, she'd been given the chance to redesign Olympus after the battle. She had done it amazingly fast. Anyway, she had pulled her Yankees cap over her messy hair, and I couldn't help but stare at her. Her grey eyes glinted in the sun, a couple of locks of her blonde hair falling over them. She caught me staring at her, and faked a look of annoyance.

'What're you looking at?' She grinned, putting on an Ares-y voice. I just grinned, and pulled her toward me. I pressed my lips to hers lightly, moving my hand up toward her head slowly, as not to be noticed. I grabbed the flat part of her Yankees cap, yanked it off, and tossed it into the water. She let out a squeal, putting her hands over her tangle of hair. 'You know I haven't brushed my hair today!' She scowled at me. 'I don't care. You look perfect no matter what.' I smiled at her, not trying to sound corny – just came out that way. 'Real smooth, seaweed brain.' She giggled, and pushed me back to the sand. I sniggered slightly, and rolled onto her, pushing her back to the ground. I rolled on top of her, pressing my lips to hers. Our lips moved in sync, the kiss growing more passionate.

'Hem hem.' A girl cleared her throat behind us, grinning slightly, having caught us off guard. Rachael tucked her red hair behind her ears, adjusting her hair band. 'I'll be off to my stupid ladies school for the year, I guess.' She scowled slightly, looking at the floor. 'Just thought I'd come and say bye, y'know…' I nodded, smiling up to her. Annabeth sat up, pushing me to sit beside her. 'See ya, Rachael. I guess we'll be seeing you soon enough, anyway.' She glanced at me, 'Well, assuming this one doesn't get himself killed.' I rolled my eyes at her, grinning slightly. 'Mmh, will we be seeing you on the Winter Solstice, or not until next summer?' I enquired, just about ruining everything.

Suddenly, Rachael doubled over, like she'd just been punched in the gut. Her eyes glowed serpent green, and when she finally spoke, her voice was sounded like three of her talking at once. Just like the last time I heard her tell a prophecy.

'Breaking laws of the old times,

Four heroes will punish the crimes,

Soon the Titans begin the fight,

To the Olympian thrones, two win the right,

A terrible choice, one must be made,

The final fight won with a twice lost blade.'

I knew that the "two" was well, two, because Rachael had been in a lady-school. Basically, she'd learnt to pronounce things perfectly - made for perfect prophecies. I could tell who the 'two' were - Atlas and Hyperion. Though, the prophecy must have a double meaning, I mean, why would they want to join Olympus..? I shook my head on that, deciding not to think about it for as long as I could.

With that, she stood straight, her eyes fading back to normal. She smiled, completely clueless to what she had just said, nodded, and strolled off down the beach.

'That didn't sound good.' Annabeth noted. 'Neither did the question that caused it…' I murmured. With that, out happy little evening was ruined - time to visit Chiron.

Chiron figured out the first line instantly, I mean, the second line gave that one away… It was against ancient laws to have more than three people on a quest… Though, if that were all, I don't see why it was mentioned. There was going to be consequences for that, but seeing as the prophecy stated four, whoever was going, there had to be four. The weirdest thing about it, though, was when someone got a prophecy, they knew the quest beforehand. This was like 20 questions. Eventually, we came to the conclusion that it was to do with the Titans I had seen in my dream, and the quest would be to find a way to destroy them. That would of course, link to the final line of the prophecy. As for the "Soon the Titans begin the fight" Obviously, there was a double meaning in that. That was way too simple. As for the other lines, we had no clue.

After hours of debating with Chiron, we stepped out into the dining pavilion. The conch horn was blown, dinner brought together. Annabeth was allowed to sit with me.

At the end of dinner, just before the camp songs, Chiron announced the quest.

He stood at his end of the table, and called out to the masses of campers. 'Alas, the summer is drawing to an end, but as a show of how the camp goes on during the year, four members of this camp will be leaving on a scouting quest.' No one really listened to this, I mean, who gives a damn about a recon mission? Until he called out who would be leading the quest. 'This quest is nothing to be worried about, I assure you. Leading this quest, we shall send out our very own, Perseus Jackson, without whom, half of you would not be here.' A mixture of excited and worried mutterings swept across the pavilion, everyone knew that if they needed to send out someone who was invulnerable, obviously, it wasn't as small as Chiron was making it out to be. 'Please join me in wishing Percy the best of luck on this quest.' With that, marshmallows were handed out, the lyres and ukuleles handed out to Apollo campers. After a long evening of singing and partying, we were dismissed off from the fire, to our cabins.

As we walked toward the Athena cabin, Annabeth turned to me, and stopped curtly. 'Percy… what if it takes us more than two weeks..?' She looked into my eyes, and I knew what she meant. 'We'll come back, no matter what. Trust me, Annabeth this probably won't be as bad as we think it will be.' She smiled, somewhat comforted. But she still looked worried. 'Anyway, do you really think that Hera and Aphrodite are gonna let us miss the date they set?' I grinned at her, and she really did look more relieved. We continued walking toward her cabin, my arm over her shoulder. When we came to the door, I paused, smiling at her. 'What, seaweed brain?' 'I've just realised, that I'm not going to have to leave you for a year…' I smiled at her, and leant in slowly. I pressed my lips to hers, and we went back to that perfect in-sync feeling I'd had on the beach. Annabeth pressed herself up against me, forcing the kiss to become more passionate. Not that I cared. Suddenly, Annabeth pulled away a little, just breaking the kiss. 'If you don't get eaten by the harpies on your way to the cabin, there's more tomorrow… Curfew's past.' With that, she disappeared into her cabin, leaving me hyperventilating on the doorstep. I must have been chased by a harpy, or something, because by the time I stumbled into my cabin, I was only just waking up, and I was breathing heavier, like I'd just been running.

I was left to a night of calm sleep, for once, the only dreams I remember were flashes of the best day of my life, which would be coming in two weeks. Though, it's bad luck to see the brides dress before the wedding…

Chapter 7: Misery girl

The next day, the rest of the campers who only came for the summer and winter holidays left. I was partly sad that I wouldn't be joining them, going back to my mum's little apartment, and then to school. But the other half of me was ecstatic. I mean, I'd be with Annabeth all the time, I'd be able to see people like me every day, and well, this was an entirely new experience.

I strolled toward the Hades cabin, realising how close I was to having to go out on a quest again. I was going to ask Nico, Annabeth and Grover to come with me of course. I would have asked Tyson, but I was only allowed four people, including me. This however, was more than most could take anyway…

On arriving at Nicos' door, I knew that he would say yes. He had been expecting me, and he was at his bed, bags packed, and geared up in battle armour. Nico had betrayed me last year, but then made up for it by saving me from his fathers' prison, and beating the Tartarus out of the Titan army. I grinned at him.

'What made you so sure I was going to ask you to come?' I murmured. 'I wasn't sure - just hoped… anyway, if you didn't I'd probably have snuck off and followed anyway. We both know you couldn't survive a day without me there.' He grinned. I nodded once. 'Kay… We'll be heading out tonight. Make sure you're entirely ready, and say your goodbyes.' With this, I smiled, and strolled off to find Grover…

That night, we headed for New York, Argus driving us down in one of the camp vans. He drove us straight to my mums'. I have no idea how he knew the way, but I didn't really bother to ask. We were normally just dropped at a bus station in the centre of the city. Anyway, when we arrived, we went inside, and after a long talk with Mum and Paul later, we left with the keys to Paul's Prius, which had been fixed since last summer, and my driver's licence, which I had gotten in the middle of the year. I'd learnt pretty fast, and was pretty good. We set out across the country, heading for San Francisco. We would hardly stop during the drive, Nico and Grover in the back, piles of food between the two, Annabeth and I in the front, taking in turns to drive.

To begin with, the drive was fun, and Annabeth and I were happy kissing, and messing about. However, once tiredness began to kick in, we disputed what to do in the nights. Annabeth wanted to keep driving, taking in turns through the night, where as I wanted to stop off in service stations during the night. In the end, we stopped off a couple of times, but Annabeth mainly won, and from then on, the drive was pretty boring. While I was driving, I was generally the one who drove most of the night, so I ended up having a crap time. The good thing is, it only took us three days, with our occasional stops. Once we got out of Salt Lake, we stopped off at a little diner at the side of the road. The place was small, and nothing was really attractive about it. I really doubt anyone would have stopped here, there was a cheaper, better place quarter of a mile down, but for whatever reason, we did. As soon as I stepped from the car, I knew something was wrong. The door was hanging off its hinges, even though the chimney had steam coming from it – guessing there was a broken thermostat. Inside, I could see movement, but I couldn't quite see what. It was something behind the counter, hopefully just someone stacking dishes or something. We stepped toward the door uneasily, my hand clasped around my pen, Riptide. After pushing our way past the door, I knew something was really wrong. The thing moving behind the counter was blue. At first, I had thought it was just a T-Shirt or something, but it was an old, withered hand. Grover rushed to pull the old woman up, but was instantly incapacitated, looking entirely forlorn; he plonked down onto the ground. The old woman stood with this, revealing herself entirely. She was in black clothes, dust showered over her shoulders. She had blood smeared onto her cheeks, and was crying. Even though it was boiling, her teeth were chattering.

Annabeth gasped. 'Achlys… She was said to be the first creature in creation, maybe even before Chaos… There's really not much about her, she only appeared in VERY old myths, and in a picture on Heracles shield… Some say she's an ancient goddess of misery, some say a monster, some eternal night... She's probably not a fan of the gods, Percy…' With this, she stepped back, drawing her knife. I stepped forward, fighting back the feeling to just collapse and cry. I uncapped Riptide, the blade exploding out to its full length. I held my blade out, unsure of why she had not moved. As soon as the blade was an inch from the old woman's face, she screamed, her fingernails shooting outward, and slashing toward my blade, terrifying me. I mean, these nails were at least three feet long, and they batted my sword away without even a scratch. I leapt back, pushing Grover away from her. She stepped toward me, teeth chattering, tears streaming, and emitting a growl from her throat. That's when I had an idea. I focused on her tears, channelling my powers into them. I seemed to have full control over them, much like the sea – they were salt water. I began to build them up on her face, closing my eyes. With this, I channelled them down into her mouth, forcing them to fill it with speed. She began gagging and clutching at her throat. Slashing my blade down while she was distracted, Achlys exploded outward in a fine blue ash. As she faded, a scream exploded outward around the shack, popping all of our eardrums, and shattering all the glass around the room. All we were left with was a head on the floor and a dull ringing in our ears…

Chapter 8: Dead on arrival

The next day, after sleeping in the car, we finally made it to San Francisco. We drove through the city, and onto Highway 101, toward the mountain soon looming before us.

Just seeing it gave me a shudder down my spine, and I saw three hands clasp around their blades instinctively. At the top of the mountain, a storm raged, tearing at the edges of the sky. I sped up, probably a little too much, toward the mountain, where I was sure the members of Kronos' army had fled. We drove up as far as we could go, right underneath the storm.

As soon as we stepped out of the car, I knew something was wrong. Instantly, I uncapped Riptide, spinning it off to my front. I looked around myself slowly, scowling into the night. A cold breeze blew through the bushes around us, making rustling noises everywhere I looked. There was a low growl which echoed around us everywhere, and though it was quiet, seemed to come from all around us. Suddenly, out of the bushes leapt a Telkhine. It flew through the air, straight at me, but I simply flicked my wrist, and it rolled to the ground, body disintegrating, head rolling off of the side of the cliff.

'Well. That was too ea-' I was cut short by another growl, and suddenly all around us, Telkhines leapt down from rocks, out of bushes, everywhere. I would have no problems with them, but my friends weren't invulnerable. We had already all been separated by the wave of monsters, and I could hear a pained shout from Grover. I felt a sharp pain in my leg as soon as I heard the noise. I guess being invulnerable didn't stop the empathy link from hurting me. I slashed all around me, cutting through heads, necks, anything. All around me, monsters collapsed into heaps of ashes. As soon as I could, I leapt through the air to help Grover. I pushed a Telkhine off of him, kicking it over the edge of the cliff. Then, I set to work on the monsters surrounding the two of us. Luckily, Nico had managed to get to Annabeth, and they were battering Telkhines away from them, stood back to back. Grover had been bitten on the leg, and was bleeding pretty bad, so I tossed him my jacket. He tied it around his leg, stopping the blood flow from his leg, and went to help the others. Several Telkhine came dangerously close to my Achilles spot, the small of my back, but I managed to kick them away. I slashed my way through the Telkhines, having no real trouble. I tuned out the world around me, and allowed my invulnerable half to take control. I battered the Telkhines, leaving heads, claws, and ash littering the ground. Once I knew there were no more around, I strolled down toward the other three. Nico was pretty beaten up, having had claws scrape his face, and a couple of bites all over the place, but nothing was that serious. However, Annabeth had a massive gash across her stomach, and was bitten pretty badly in several places. I cursed, and stepped down toward her, calling Grover over. We did the best we could to stop the bleeding, then I carried Annabeth back to the car, gave her a little Ambrosia, and locked her in, leaving her to sleep, despite her half-hearted protests. With that, we began to climb toward the summit.

After climbing through a bank of cloud, it was instantly visible we were on Mount Orthys. A funnel of clouds flew down from the sky, straight to a small, man sized point a few hundred metres away from us. On that spot, there was a roar of a storm, and pained screams. In front of us stood a massive onyx fort, half of it crumbled into the ground. The crumbled half was smoking, as if a bomb had just been dropped there. The other half looked grand, and in perfect condition, the black towers blocking out the sky, and any glimmers of sunlight that may sneak through the clouds. The air was cold, and thin, making it difficult to breathe. In front of the fort, stood two men, bickering in the centre of a MASSIVE group of monsters. I mean, it wasn't the biggest I had ever seen, but it was the biggest I probably would ever have to fight with only two people to help me, one who had a dodgy leg. This was more than just those who had fled the battle. More had joined the leagues of an army that had already lost, and a lot of those we defeated last year had already regenerated. The ground was all torn up around the place, the remaining half of the fort looking pretty beaten up. Behind the fort, a massive cloud funnel whirled, and I realised the insanity of us being here. There were two titans and half an army in front of me, and I had two people to back me up…

Chapter 9: I fly

I motioned to Grover and Nico to climb back down. They made it to the edge before I was halfway, and climbed to the bottom quickly. I, however, wasn't so lucky. Suddenly, I tripped over a rock, falling flat onto my back. I knocked the stone rolling off across the area, clattering around. The two Titans eyes snapped off from each other, and straight onto me, glowing like spotlights. In unison, hundreds of pairs of monster eyes swivelled to face me at the same time.

'Uh… Hi..?' I slid to my feet and dusted myself off. There was a collective growl from the entire group, and I instantly snapped my hand down to riptide. The sight of the celestial bronze made the monsters – even in their massive numbers – think twice. They stumbled back, moaning in fear. Only two stayed where they were, unhinged by the blade. Hyperion and Atlas began to stride through the ranks of the monsters, drawing their blades in unison. I closed my eyes, focused on the area around me, and let myself lose control. The two titans advanced, and began the fight.

I parried blindly, slashing each of their swords away from me with almost every swing. Other slashes bounced off me harmlessly, simply cutting back into the two titans. I got a couple of nicks on them, but they simply blinked it off, and continued hacking, the two brilliant warriors just shimmying off my best strikes. I backed up to the edge of the cliff, knocking the two blades back to them. Then I closed my eyes, kicked off with one foot, and flipped over the two, slashing downward as I span through the air. Atlas let out an angry, pained roar, and slashed up toward me. I had managed to cut one of his eyes free from the head, and it flew off from him, and rolled off the cliff.

The monsters were still holding back, not daring interfere with their master's fight, though a few of them looked impatient, and were shuffling around uncomfortably.

I dodged off Atlas' blade, cutting down to Hyperion's back. I cut through his glinting armour, and opened up a gash on the Titans skin. I savoured that moment, because almost instantly, it just closed up again, leaving an ugly, pink mark. Obviously, it was causing him some pain, because as he span to face me, roaring with anger and hatred, he winced, his hand involuntarily flying to his back. At that second, Atlas swung at me, dashing any chance of me getting a good hit on Hyperion's chest. The blade hit me square in the chest, and though it glanced off harmlessly, it sent me flying through the air, sprawling down against the rocky floor, close to the monsters. They all hissed in anticipation, one of them leaping from the crowd. It looked like the others were going to follow, but a blade shot through the air, straight between the beasts eyes, causing it to fall down in a shower of ash. The blade had come from Atlas, and he bellowed at the monsters unintelligibly. I grabbed his blade off of the floor, and leapt up, twirling my own and his in front of me. The weaponless giant just grinned and beckoned, before planting a foot against the ground. I sprinted at him, full pace, blades out in front of me. As soon as the blade was within his reach, I knew it was a mistake. Atlas' left hand shot out, and grabbed his blade, spinning it off from my grip with a single movement. He slashed down toward my head, smashing it off me hard. Again, it failed to wound me, but I fell against the floor with the sheer force. Growling, Atlas stepped in toward me.

'Where is your Achilles spot, child? I wish to end these pitiful games.' I kicked up hard toward him, slamming my foot off his chest. He blinked, unharmed by it, and slightly confused as to why the Hades I had just done that. Using the second long distraction, I span my blade up, thrusting it into his stomach. It ripped through the armour, slashing down through the skin with a sickening THWACK. His hands shot to the blade, and he screamed in pain, stumbling back, my blade pulling free. He wasn't going to die because of it – he was immortal, but that had to REALLY sting. Hyperion watched his nephew, shaking his head.

'You have lost your touch, stuck under that storm all this time.' He grunted, before leaping at me. He kicked down toward my head, sending my flying across the rock. Then, he leapt after me, twirling his sword downward. He slammed it at my chest, not breaking the skin, but causing a fair amount of pain. I gasped, winded, and slashed my blade at his, cutting down toward his hand. Using a move that I had been taught when I was twelve, I disarmed him, pulling his blade out of his hand. As it fell toward the floor, I snatched it up, slashing toward him with both blades. I cut upward, slicing up toward his armpits. I cut upward, through the armour, the skin, sinew and bone. His arms fell beside him, both severed. He roared in pain, and kicked out toward me, slamming his foot into my chest. I was sent flying backward, the hardest I had ever been kicked, sailing through the air. I flew over all of the monsters head, a couple jumping at me as I flew by. I simply kicked the few who came near me away, but continued my flight through the air. I cleared the fort, and dropped down near where Krois stood, screaming in agony under the funnel of clouds. I rolled across the floor, bouncing off the rocks hard. Atlas appeared from the side of the building, running toward me with immense speed, one hand on his stomach. I began to leap to my feet, but he caught me in midair, and I was sent flying backward once more, but this time, over the edge of the cliff…

Chapter 10: Line fulfilled

I began to free fall, seeing Nico and Grover shouting below me. Grover was shouting at me, waving his arms, and bleating. He was so panicked, it was almost funny. If I hit the floor, having fallen from hundreds of feet up, would that kill me? I mean, it would probably break my back, which would count as my Achilles spot, right? I guess I was about to find out. I closed my eyes, and waited. Suddenly, much sooner than I thought it would have come, I slammed into something. I felt a slight pain up my spine, but nothing else. Maybe I was dead. Reluctantly, I opened my eyes, to see a giant leathery wing slap me in the face.

'Oh, sit back, Honey' snarled a familiar voice. Nico had control over the Furies. He must have thought pretty fast. Alecto set me down beside the two, and I told them what had happened. 'You cut off Hyperion's' arms, and stabbed Atlas in the stomach? Dude, you're gonna die.' Grover grinned. 'You realise, we're still what, under a hundred feet below them all right now…' Nico murmured, drawing his sword. He was right. I uncapped Riptide, and jogged over toward the car, the other two following me. I considered driving us away, but if something jumped on the car while we were driving, we'd be screwed. Instead, I nudged Annabeth awake, smiling half heartedly.

'Still alive then seaweed brain?' She murmured, returning the smile with more enthusiasm. 'C'mon, Annabeth, there's hundreds of monsters, and two seriously annoyed Titans about to attack us.' I murmured. With that, she sat up, instantly alert. She took out her knife into her hand, pecked me on the lips, and leapt out of the car. I got out slower, looking around the area as I did so. Alecto had gone, probably had a few people to kill or something. I looked for the best vantage points, quickly picking out a couple of decent spots. After positioning Grover behind a rock, Nico on the centre of a mound – high ground is always good in a fight – and Annabeth and I back to back, I waited listening out for the smallest sign of an incoming attack.

Just as I was about to tell everyone to get in the car, I heard the first roar, and a Telkhine leapt straight down off the peak, flying toward Nico. With a simple flick of his sword, his blade ran straight through the stomach, the monster crumbling to ash over him. After that, came a horde of monsters, an insane variety attacking us. I took on the more challenging ones, like the Minotaur, who had managed to reform in a year this time. I had no real problems, Annabeth covered my back up pretty well, and the two of us kept the monsters at bay. Nico and Grover weren't having such luck. Grover was now clobbering a Telkhine with his reed pipes, while about eight more encroached on him. Nico had summoned a bunch of undead ghouls, and was resting on a rock while they shot the hell out of the monsters that came near him. One of the ghouls lost its head. It was almost funny to see it run around like a chicken, before dropping off the side of the cliff. Just as I thought we were about to win, two unfortunately familiar faces popped up. Guess they were looking for another beating. Hyperion had reattached his arms, and Atlas no longer had a hole in his stomach. If anything, they looked better than they had when I had fought them what, ten minutes ago. Atlas was about to take a swing at the rock Grover was cowering behind, when I let out a sharp whistle.

'HEY! UGLY! Over here!' I yelled out, hoping to get both of them on me. It worked; the two both turned, and began to charge. I was more ready this time, and I span Riptide out in front of me, like I was going to slash at them. As soon as the two were about half a foot from me, I simply flipped over them, letting them run into each other, and fall to the floor, cursing in Greek.

'No smarter than that idiot Minotaur of yours!' I taunted, actually getting a kick out of the fight. I landed to the right of them, behind Hyperion, and slashed at his head, cutting into it like butter. The Titan roared in pain and anger, and reached toward me. As he did, I kicked at his head, and set him sprawling across the floor. I leapt over him as he clutched the gaping hole in his head, and bore down on Atlas, ready for something more difficult... this all seemed to easy compared to last year. Even with my invulnerability, Hyperion had been a challenge the first time I had faced him. I shrugged it off, and went to face Atlas. This time, he fought properly, really challenging me. I parried the blade off of me countless times, but never got to actually swing at him. We kept each other stood in one spot for a while, grazing our swords down one another's. Suddenly, I he kicked out at me, slamming his foot straight into my chest. I flew backward, into a wall of rock. I was about to leap off of the spot I had landed in, before I realised something. I had landed right below stream that poured off in a mini waterfall from a crack in the rock. I grinned, and stood, spinning my blade in front of me. Slowly, I kicked one of my shoes off, allowing my sock to get drenched. I did this with the other foot as Atlas ran at me. As soon as he was close enough, I leapt into the air, and onto the giants back, slashing down toward his head hard. I cut through the helmet, the water giving me revitalised strength. As he reached up to push me off, I channelled my magic into the water, and caused the spring to spray out into his face. He spluttered and cursed, giving me a chance to strike him in the back. I saw Annabeth, Grover and Nico running to the car, having finished off most of the monsters as they had been watching the three of us fight. Nico beckoned me desperately, like he was trying to warn me of something, but it was already too late. Hyperion ran at me, and slammed his fist into the back of my head, sending me flying into the rock. Luckily, he had basically just punched a brick wall, and I heard the bones in his hand all shatter collectively. I looked over the two Titans, realising that they were letting me get most of my hits, I mean, their basically two gods. How was I doing so well against two of them? With that thought, I flipped backward, and rolled down the slope toward our car. As I got near, Annabeth flung the door open, and turned the key in the ignition. As soon as I was in the seat, I slammed my foot onto the accelerator, driving at full speed straight off from the mountain. I didn't register the fact that the two Titans made no effort to follow….

Chapter 11: An eventful wedding

That night, we stopped off at a small Italian restaurant. We all ordered pasta dishes, and sat back, discussing what had happened today.

'I swear to Zeus, they did not put up a real fight.' I murmured, looking into my pasta. 'Maybe you've just gotten better…' Annabeth murmured, trying to reassure me. But in her eyes, I could see something, like she knew there was something entirely wrong with this. 'You did well fighting off those monsters, Annabeth. I mean, you had just been unconscious for about an hour, and well, had been beaten the hell out of' I grinned, deciding to change the subject. 'Oh, about that, Percy - I think I've figured out another line of the prophecy!' Annabeth grinned. 'Go on…' 'Well, "Four heroes will punish the crimes" Monsters are mainly people who committed crimes against the gods, and got cursed that kind of thing, right?' I nodded, realising what she was saying. 'That's brilliant, Annabeth! Problem is that it just proves the point I was making about the Titans. They obviously weren't really fighting, because the next line is "Soon the Titans begin the fight."' Annabeth nodded in agreement. At that moment, our waitress plonked our dinner on the table. After a discussion about what we would do next and a full, three course meal, courtesy of our quest money, we decided we would return to camp.

We took it easy getting back this time. We stopped off at hotels for the night, went sightseeing a little, and had meals instead of eating out unhealthy stuff we had bought for the car journey. By the time we got back, we had been gone for a week and two days. We had four till the wedding. The next few days were a flurry of meetings to discuss our recon quest, wedding planning, training, the wedding practice meal, and of course, the stag night – which consisted of six guys sneaking out of camp, down to the nearest village, getting the oldest to buy a load of cans of beer, and just going completely insane in the monster-infested woods for a night. I don't suggest it. Finally, the day of the wedding came. We were due to have the wedding in the night, instead of the camp fire. The days leading up to it had been insane, and I really couldn't believe I was about to get married at seventeen. I really did wish that the gods wouldn't interfere in every aspect of our lives, but in a way, I was excited. Morning training came and went; Annabeth went to get her and the bridesmaids looking pretty. With Clarisse as one of the bridesmaids, that would be an impossible task. Grover, of course, was best man, and Chiron would be giving Annabeth away, as her father had decided not to come. It was going to be a pretty normal wedding, which surprised me. I had been expecting all kinds of weird traditions, like 'oh, you have to shoot down the birds you release at the end of the ceremony' or something along those lines. Only difference was the guests list. The entire list was consisting of people at Camp Half-blood, and you guessed it – gods. It was horrible to think that all of the gods were going to be attending our wedding, but the thing is, Gods had to pay more attention to their mortal families, due to a promise I made them make last year. That also included weddings. When it finally came to the actual ceremony, the sky was beautiful, ranging from pink to orange. The dining pavilion had had little lights placed around the pillars, kind of like Christmas tree lights. Down the middle of the tables, a long, red carpet had been placed, leading all the way out, to the small shed that had been built for the bride to be in, until she came out in the wedding. I stood next to Grover nervously, the tables littered with gods and demigods. Stood at the very front was Hera, who would be marrying us. When the time finally came for the ceremony to begin, all the Apollo kids started to play Here comes the brideon their lyres and violins. The door of the shed opened, and Chiron stepped out, in his full horse form, wearing a black tux on his upper body, his coat glistening on his lower body. Behind him stepped out Annabeth, looking more beautiful that I had ever seen. I mean, she could give Calypso a run for her money, and that is saying a Tartarus of a lot. She had her hair down, and was in a long, pearly white wedding dress. Her ear rings glistened in the light of the setting sun, and she looked the happiest I've seen her in a while. She walked down the aisle with Chiron slowly, and time seemed to slow down, even without Kronos attending. All that I could focus on was Annabeth, and how good she looked. Probably to do with Aphrodite, who was watching the two of us, and grinning. When Annabeth got to the alter, I put an arm around her, and turned to face Hera.

'We are gathered here today, to join Perseus Jackson and Annabeth Chase in eternal, holy matrimony. Who gives this woman to this man in marriage?' Chiron stepped forward, nodding his head slightly. 'If anyone has any reason why these two should not be married, speak now, or forever hold your peace.' She paused very briefly, but trust me, when you're getting married, that second lasts an hour. Hera continued with the speech, stopping only to allow us to say "I do." And read out our vows. Mine were pretty lame, Annabeth's were beautiful. Finally, we were given our rings, and Hera announced 'I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride.'

I leant in, wrapping my arms around Annabeth. We pressed our lips against each others, and let ourselves just get into sync, moving our lips perfectly together. After a series of cheers and "aws," I stepped back, smiling blissfully at Annabeth. I would have been happy if that moment had lasted the rest of our lives, but unfortunately, it didn't. Just as people stepped off from the tables, and began to have the wedding dances, using the same music system they do on Olympus – where you hear whatever you want – a half-blood sprinted into the pavilion, gasping for breath.

'Pollux! What is it?' Dionysus murmured, looking around exasperatedly. 'We were just about to begin the reception – you know I dislike having parties disrupted…' 'Dad… Monsters attacking hill… Peleus not holding off…' He gasped, speaking too fast for him to catch his breath. Dionysus' face flushed. 'A couple of monsters are no threat to this camp with so many gods around, boy.' 'Dad… Titans… Loads of them...' Everyone stopped, frozen in their tracks. 'How many are there, boy?' Dionysus murmured. 'Eleven. Plus like hundreds of monsters.' Pollux said, finally having caught his breath. The numbers just made everyone more wary, the gods all beginning to group together, the demigods running off to arm themselves – or hide. The camp suddenly was alive with shouting.

I stood beside my father, looking up toward the hill. There, stood a horde of monsters, and a little further back, eleven shapes, all roughly human, though some giant.

'Who's up there, dad..?' I murmured, sliding my hand onto my lethal pen. 'There are Hyperion, Coeus, Eos, Atlas, Prometheus, Epimetheus, Menoetius, Aigaios, Perses, Pallas, Astraeus, and all of those monsters. Hyperion and Atlas seem to have not bothered with the ones who can not fight as well… I suppose they plan to free them if they win…' He murmured, looking down at me, his eyes full of worry. 'But, you've beaten them before, father… You can do it again easily!' I reassured myself. My father didn't look as sure. The gods weren't as strong as they once more, and the Titans were all pretty fresh from Tartarus. I knew why the two Titans hadn't really tried their best. They simply didn't need to. They were going to take me out with the rest of the camp. The tallest of the Titans pointed toward the tree, and a monster stepped out of the crowd. The monster was quite small, and human shaped. The gods around me shook their heads, watching intently. The shape of Peleus, the dragon guarding the fleece which protected the camp, stiffened. A roar echoed around the camp. Then, the monster strolled forward carelessly, toward the tree, and reached for the fleece. Peleus did nothing to stop the monster. The monster seemed to wrap something around its head, then strolled back to the group, fleece in hand. I knew who the monster was – Medusa had com back. The tallest Titan took the fleece, raised a hand to it, and it burst into flames, disappearing in seconds. Instantly, the camp felt colder. The plants all instantly drooped, and from the woods, the Satyrs all let out a mournful moan. The demigods tightened their grip around their weapons. Poseidon lifted his trident. Zeus pulled out a bolt. Then Hades broke loose.

Chapter 12: I beat up a Titan

The big house was in flames. Monsters ran around me, leaping onto any Demigod they could find. Gods were locked in battle with Titans. The survivors were in a group, sprinting away, into the woods, Grover and Annabeth definitely among them, thank the gods. Nico stood by my side, flames reflecting in his eyes. To the right, the hunters stood, battling off monsters the best they could. It wasn't enough. A giant swung his club at the pavilion, smashing through the support pillar easily. In half a second, the front end of the pavilion hand entirely collapsed, crushing several monsters with it. Zeus hurled another bolt, and the air lit up, a flash of brilliant yellow blinding to most. I blinked it away, and a few seconds later, saw the giant who had destroyed the pavilion now a smoking mess on the ground. I swung my blade up, looking over toward my father. He was locked in battle with Hyperion, clashing trident with sword. I closed my eyes and focused, beginning to sprint toward the two. Slowly, I raised my blade, and kicked off from the ground, spinning upward into the air. My fathers' trident slipped. It flew off to the right of him, Hyperion's face lighting up like a six year olds at Christmas. He raised his blade, ready to strike. I leapt down onto him, slashing down into his helmet. I cut through the metal like paper, roaring as I did so. With a ripping sound, I slashed down through the skin, the bone, the marrow. With a roar, Hyperion collapsed to the ground, head split in half. My father rested on the ground, gashes all across his body. I leapt to the side, snatching up his weapon, and with a hateful curse, thrust it into Hyperion's back, cutting through to the other side, and deep into the ground, pinning him down, leaving him struggling and screaming curses. His head began to knit back together, but it was no use. Atlas sprinted toward my father, who snapped a Telkhines neck with his bare hands. Atlas caught him in the stomach, and the two barrelled across the floor, tumbling down the side of the cliff, and splashing down into the ocean below. I looked around hopelessly; several of the gods had left already, retreating back to Olympus. Zeus was battered, and for every blow he gave on a Titan, he took another. The big house had almost burnt entirely to the ground now, a stench of burning flesh filling the air – probably from the mummy and trophies that had been in the attic. Six Titans remained fighting only three gods. Of course, Dionysus had made sure his son got to safety, and fled the scene as soon as he could, hoping the camp would be destroyed, and end his punishment early. Hades, Athena and Zeus stood in a small circle, Nico behind Hades. The three were defending themselves the best they could, but six Titans would overpower them easily. The worst thing was that the other Titans hadn't been mortally wounded. They were simply missing limbs, and would be healed within a week. Perhaps the first to fall would be Atlas, to my father. Eos was stood by Hyperion, prising my fathers' weapon from the ground. As soon as Hyperion was free, he tossed it aside like a twig, bending the metal as it slammed into a rock. He took Hyperion, and left the scene, leaving four Titans, and three gods. The gods exchanged looks, nodded their heads, and murmured a collective word. Suddenly, the three, and Nico, were just a light, shooting upward into the sky. No one, other than my father, knew I was still here, and my father was stuck underwater, battling Atlas, and by now, likely Oceanus, without a weapon. The four Titans set to work on destroying the cabins, none of them bothering with me. The monsters ran rampant, but any who came within reach of me got a sword in the face. I wandered toward my fathers' weapon, picking it up from the rock. If it had been normal circumstances, I would never be allowed to touch this. The thought gave me a smile, happy for a fraction of a second, then I realised about the survivors. They will have gotten away by now, and I am sure all of the twenty five had survived, Clarisse, Annabeth, Grover, Pollux and most of my good friends among them. Nico had been taken by the gods – or possibly dissolved at the sight of their true forms. And then there was me, the last demigod in Camp Half-blood, watching the monsters tear my home down… I shook my head, my immortal half taking control. I strode toward the cliff, tossing the trident down into the water. Then I willed it to my father, the currents taking hold of it. It shot off from view, and disappeared into the sea. The waves crashed against the rocks harder instantly, roaring as if in appreciation. Normally, doing something like that when I wasn't in the water would have left me drained… but not now. I channelled my energy over the water more, sending a spout shooting off from the sea. I directed it over the big house, salvaging the small remains of the building, and crushing any monsters around it with thousands of Newton's of force. I span my blade down into my hand, and sprinted after the Titans, toward the cabins. Three cabins were already gone, simply foundations, the occasional brick, and smoke cloud - Apollo, Ares and Athena. The four Titans took up another one each… Hera, Zeus, Hades and my own cabin. I let out a roar of anguish, and tossed Riptide at the nearest Titan. It slammed into his head hard, cutting through the helmet. It ripped into the skin, through the bone, brain, and out the other side. I focused on the blade, and it's magic made it disappear from the wound, and reappear in pen form, straight into my pocket…. Kind of like a boomerang. I the Titan whirled to face me, features ruined, roaring in anger. Prometheus. I grinned at him, waving my hand a tiny bit. He barked at his fellow Titans, and they all span off to face me. I hadn't planned on that.

'Perseus Jackson. Human, I gave your race your knowledge. I made you evolve, helped you along the way. If it were not for me, you would be an APE!' He spat the last word, mouth frothing. 'And yet, you attack ME!' He roared. 'Your gods have betrayed you, Perseus! They left you alone, in your precious camp! Look around you! Do you think you can stop us, boy?' He took a menacing step forward. In a flash, I uncapped Riptide, and held the blade out in front of me, emitting a bronze glow throughout the growing darkness. 'I doubt that I can STOP you.' I began, holding a smug look on my face. 'But I know I can royally piss you off.' With that, I tossed my blade once more, slamming it into his chest. The force of it sent him flying backward, into the wall behind him. My cabin collapsed on top of the titan, burying him under six feet of rubble. My pen appeared back in my pocket.

'Good boy,' I cooed, just to annoy the other three Titans, and then I jogged off, to find the other survivors, letting the Titans retrieve the fallen one.

So, the camp had been over run, the gods had retreated, and Western Civilisation was probably about to come to an end. At least I can make a dramatic exit.

Chapter 13: Gift revoked

I didn't find Annabeth that night. I didn't even make it to the village three miles down. Half a mile out of the camp, Hermes appeared in front of me and without a word, bundled me up, and took me to Mount Olympus. Once we were there, he dropped me to the ground, and led me into the throne room. There, sat all of the gods, bar my father, and a couple of demigods. Nico looked over at me disbelievingly. The other demigods were Pollux, Thalia, Connor and Travis. All of them looked at me with a look of disbelief in their eyes. This unnerved me, and I stepped forward, no clue what to do.

'Perseus Jackson… Before you, the gods had never given a gift to a hero… And you chose the gift wisely… However, that gift, can no longer work. Camp Half-blood is gone, and revealing our children would only put them in more danger. The lesser gods have earned our respect anyway, in their bravery in that fight… They showed more of it than some of the main gods… He looked over at Dionysus angrily, who didn't seem to notice.

'Anyway, as the promise has been broken, involuntarily, may I add, we once more offer you the first gift. You will not reply now, we will give you the option to reply when we feel you have had a chance to fully think it through.' He concluded. I would have argued that I would never want it, but he simply waved a dismissive hand, and told me to go find somewhere to stay here. Anywhere would let me in.

Eventually, I settled for a six star hotel style building, with a pool. The receptionist offered me breakfast in bed. When I got into the hallway, I noticed the wall-sized aquariums. The water was deep blue; with fish I had never seen swimming around in them. I wandered over to the nearest door, and saw a small, green trident on a plaque on the door. I realised what the building was. It must have been some kind of holiday home on mount Olympus for my father. I smiled slightly, and wandered the hall. Eventually, I chose the largest, grandest room I could find, and dropped down into the bed. As soon as my head touched the pillow, I was asleep.

I dreamt of myself as a god, a scythe in my hand, eight feet tall, slashing at a Titan. I let out a booming laugh, and the Titan fell down, screaming in pain. I didn't see the Titans face, but the fact I had just made a Titan collapse in pain was fun alone. The scene shifted. I was a teenager still. I was playing Basketball with Hermes, scoring with every shot. I was laughing, in the best shape of my life. It all seemed perfect. Then, the scene shifted once more. I was a teen still. Sat in front of me, was Annabeth. She was eighty. She had white hair, wrinkly skin. The reason I didn't want to become a god. I would be immortal. I would be the same, and Annabeth would die…

I woke in a cold sweat, breathing heavily. Beside me, lay a plate of the most delicious food I had ever seen. The smell alone was like heaven. I guess it would be, seeing as I was in the land of the gods. A quick meal later, I slid from the bed. In front of me was a fresh change of clothes. I changed into them quickly. They were my favourite T-Shirt, converse and jeans. I wandered outside, looking around at the place that could become my new home. It was paradise. But I knew why. Annabeth had designed this place. The entire city had been destroyed last year, by Kronos. Now, white towers, steeples, domes, rose above the last, the city like a mountain. At the heart was the very tallest building, where the gods resided. I knew that if the Titans were not stopped, the city would be destroyed. Western civilisation abolished. Annabeth would die. If I chose immortality, my invulnerability mixed with the powers of the gods would be well, incredible. I could destroy the Titan threat, be a hero, and Annabeth would survive. But I wouldn't be able to love her in the same way. I would be a teenager, frozen at the perfect age of seventeen. She would get older, I would have to watch her die, and I would just keep on going. Never fading, never changing. If I would become the god of something lesser, I would maybe be able to fade. But the earth will always have heroes. I sighed slightly, and strolled toward the throne building. Inside, the gods were talking about the threat of the Titans. Zeus was arguing that we continue the fight, Athena against it. Poseidon was still missing, which was odd for a god. Athena was using this to her advantage, saying we're missing one of our most powerful gods, and need to find him first. Of course, I volunteered to find my father. I didn't tell them he was fighting two Titans, otherwise they would never let me go as a mortal. After a brief, I was sent down, and driven to the nearest river, where I propelled myself out into open sea. After focusing for a short while, I was directed toward my father in the currents. I flew through the sea at an incredible pace, toward my dads' kingdom. As soon as I arrived there, I knew something was wrong. The temples were collapsed. The palace cracked in two, flaming with Greek fire. The sea was calm, no fish swimming in and out of the area. In the middle of the courtyard, stood four men – Atlas, Oceanus, Poseidon and Triton – all fighting. Atlas charged Triton, slamming into his chest. They smashed into the palace wall, bringing an entire wall down onto the two of them. Atlas pushed his way back out of the rubble, which collapsed down further, crushing Triton more. Poseidon roared in anger, his hair grey, looking older than ever. He swung his trident at Oceanus, who swayed off of it easily. Atlas charged at Poseidon, sword in front of him. I pushed myself down with an immense speed, propelled by the sea currents. I span my blade down toward Atlas, cutting straight down into his head. I slashed through the bone, cutting down further still, propelled by the tide. The pressure slammed me down onto him, but seeing as I was invulnerable, I took no harm, crushing him down into the sand. The blade cut through him easily, slicing him in two. I span my blade around him, moving it with ferocious speed. I cut off his extremities, leaving him completely useless. It wouldn't last forever, but it'd give me time to save my father. I span in the water, blade at the ready, just in time to see my fathers' trident impale him, Oceanus having pulled it from him. The two were being propelled through the water, my father jammed onto the prongs, the G-Force pushing him onto it. Helplessly, I watched my father fly off through the water…

Chapter 14: Seeing red

I pushed myself after them, trying to catch up with the two, but they were going too fast. They disappeared off into the murky water too fast, and soon, there was no chance of catching them. I pushed myself to the surface, where I floated toward the bank. I climbed out of the water, and back into New York, to the surprise of a couple of bystanders, I was completely dry. I didn't care about them. I began to walk toward the Empire State building.

I have no idea how long later, I arrived in Olympus, and strolled into the throne room, looking distraught. Surprisingly, Zeus was the first to console me.

'You did well with Atlas… There was no more you could do, boy… We should not have sent a mortal to do a gods job. One of us shall find him soon enough…' He said none too convincingly. I stared at my uncle, shaking my head. 'I want to accept the gift…' I murmured. All of the gods turned to one another, muttering under their breaths. Zeus simply slammed his fist onto the side of his throne, the noise echoing around the room, and silencing all the other gods. 'Boy, you must think this through carefully. It is not reversible…' I simply nodded. 'I will find my father, and I will destroy the Titan threat.' Zeus' eyes lit up, and he let out a laugh. 'That is the spirit of the god of heroes, boy! We did vote last year, but seeing as we have a new party, it is only fair we vote once more' Zeus announced, sliding to his feet. 'All in favour of making Perseus Jackson the god of heroes' every single hand raised, even Ares, with a scowl from Aphrodite. I looked around, amazed at the vote. Zeus nodded slightly, looking me over. 'It may be a bad idea, I mean, we have never had an invulnerable man turned into a god, and if you decided to turn against us -'

'We get it, father.' Athena scowled. 'Okay, okay. Perseus Jackson, you shall be made a god. Mortals in the room, leave… with that, the Demigods, who I hadn't even noticed before, got up and shuffled outside. All of the gods stood, and raised their hands. Each of them closed their eyes, and a strange energy pulsated around the room. Lights began to flash, sparks shooting from the forms of the gods. I thought it best to close my eyes, before I became the god of blind people. Energy flowed into me as soon as my eyes closed, pouring into my very being. I felt like I was coming apart at the seams, and yet, they were tightening around me. Power flowed into my every bone, impossible, pulsating energy. I felt an immense pain shoot through me, rocketing through my entire form. Suddenly, my body was torn apart, ripped into thousands of shreds, yet I felt my presence still in the room, growing more and more powerful. The experience was terrifying, the tiniest thing, and I could just be gone, soul and all. Finally, the pieces of my body began to form around me, piecing myself back together, reforming into a more muscular, powerful me. I hear things in the next room, the smallest breath from the demigods. I could smell ambrosia from the stalls, halfway through the city. Even though my eyes were closed, my eyelids seemed translucent, and I could see every single little detail in the things around me, a whole new spectrum of colours. Suddenly, a burst of red shot across my vision, ricocheting through my very being, and settling down in the very pit of me, my core. The small of my back ached, like I had been kicked straight there, and I felt something inside it dissolve, fading away. I felt the mortal half of me slip away, and be replaced entirely, with a being of awe, and power. Finally, the gods opened their eyes, and collapsed back into their thrones. I noticed that a new throne had appeared, in keeping with the Omega shape of the thrones. The throne was made of solid gold, and gem encrusted. A small treasure chest lay underneath it, and on the top, was a spike, with the head of a beast impaled onto it. I instantly wondered toward it, and sat down, feeling a surge of power through me on contact.

'It is done…' Zeus said exhaustedly. I felt more tired than I had ever felt, and yet, more revitalised than ever. I looked around, worried about Annabeth. Finally, Aphrodite spoke, and revealed the fruit of her plans. 'Of course… There is the matter of his wife.' Hera grinned slightly, and Zeus closed his eyes, letting out a faint huff. Athena leant in expectantly, all of the eyes in the room fixed on Zeus. 'She shall not be made a goddess…' a collective sigh ran through the room. 'However!' suddenly, Zeus was the heart of the world again. 'She shall be made immortal, tied to Western Civilisation in the same way as us. She shall have no extra powers, but she will be like a monster, with no punishment in it. If she is killed, she shall reform within a year.' With that, he fell asleep, thunder like snores echoing around the room. Suddenly, most of the prophecy made sense to me…

'Breaking the laws of the old times,'

Four joined the quest, instead of just three.

'Four heroes will punish the crimes,'

Annabeth, Nico, Grover and I destroyed a horde of monsters.

'Soon the Titans will begin the fight,'

The two Titans raised an army, and began the war, destroying camp half-blood…

'To the Olympian thrones, two will win the right,'

Thought to be The Titans, in fact, turns out to be Annabeth and me, sort of.

'A terrible choice one thinks must be made,'

I thought I would have to choose between my father and Annabeth. I guess I didn't. I smiled slightly, looking gratefully between Aphrodite and Hera. Of course, they just grinned back.

'I should go… I need to tell Annabeth the news, and well, I have a promise to keep.' I stood and dusting myself off, I strolled toward the door. Zeus coughed slightly, raising an eyebrow at me. 'Oh… Teleport..? How..?' I felt slightly stupid, but I guess no new god could… Zeus simply chuckled 'Imagine the place you want to be, or the person you want to find, and just, will being there.' I did as he asked, imagining Annabeth. I allowed myself to break my false form, erupting upward into the sky. Half a second later, I was stood in front of Annabeth, in full Greek battle armour, rip tide at my side. She gasped, dropping her piece of toast into her lap.

Chapter 15: Hopeless

Annabeth stared at me, completely speechless. I was the first to talk.

'Annabeth, I only did it because my father has gone missing, and the gods stood no chance of beating the Titans. If I hadn't done this, we all would have died!'

She shook her head at me, sighing. 'Percy, I know the reason you didn't want to do it before, and I know that I've changed in some way. Don't tell me you agreed to something on my behalf.' I bit my lip. 'I thought you'd want it…' Annabeth glowered 'Percy, what have you done?' I looked up, sighing. 'I've made you immortal.' Her ace softened. She didn't seem to mind the first half. 'But, in the way monsters are.' Before she could protest, I added 'It was the only way of making sure you wouldn't die! You'll be nothing like any of them, Zeus said so himself!' She glowered, sliding to her feet, letting her breakfast drop to the floor, the plate shattering over everything. 'Perseus Jackson! How the hell could you think I'd want this? To be able to feel the pain of dying, then come back, and probably die again?' Her face flushed, 'Zeus was wrong, you complete idiot. Most of the monsters were fine the first couple of times. But being able to die unlimited amounts of times would make the most level headed person insane.' She ranted. I just stood there dumbly. I hadn't thought about her being able to feel the pain of dying. I had just wanted to get around the problem of being immortal alone. I hadn't stopped to think about what she would have wanted. 'I… I'm sorry.' I stammered, completely shook. She pointed toward the door 'Out!' She ordered, sounding more like an army general than my wife. I shuffled out of the door, feeling monumentally stupid.

Okay, so the first half of my plan hadn't worked properly, but I'd be able to get Annabeth round. Now, all I had to do was save my father. I focused on everything about him I knew, and willed myself to him. I exploded into a ball of light, and disappeared, reforming deep in the ocean. Two forms sped past me. And then they were gone. I cursed under my breath. This really wasn't how I'd planned it. I looked around the water, annoyed. Atlas had apparently reformed, because another form sped past me, this one slightly slower than the two. I guess he wouldn't catch up with them, but I could catch him. I needed to take everything out on someone. I willed the currents to push me along, and to my surprise, they did. So, even though I was now a god of heroes, I got to keep my inherited powers. Pretty cool. I shot through the water like a bullet, gaining on Atlas. Within seconds, I slammed into him, but he was like a brick wall. I wrapped my arm around his neck, and with my free arm, drew Riptide. The giant roared in anger, trying to shake me off. But with my new found added strength, even he was no match for me. I kicked into his back, slamming my foot into him hard. His spine cracked, shooting out of the front. The bone jutted out at an odd angle, and it was pretty sickening to see. The water around the two of us turned gold. I then grappled his head, pushing all my force into it. I twisted it to the left, and then to the right, snapping the neck in two. With an angry roar, the Titan grabbed at me, tossing me through the water. I barrelled through a school of fish, coming to a halt when I hit a boulder. I propelled myself out at him, much like Oceanus had done to my father. My blade slashed into his chest, ripping through the entire way. The two of us flew through the water, at an immense speed, Atlas screaming in pain the whole way.

I'm not sure how long we drifted through the water; I wasn't good at keeping times since I became a god. It could have been half a day. It could have been a hundred years. Eventually, I got bored of this and sliced upward, cutting the man in two. He tried to pull himself back together, but I sliced his arms off both halves. A few hacks later, he was in pieces again. I gathered him up as best I could, and imagined the edge of Tartarus, willing myself there. Sure enough, when I opened my eyes, I was on the edge of the pit. I tossed the pieces in one by one. Each time one disappeared into the pit, there was a delighted hiss. A whisper in the back of my mind.

'A god, I see now, little Perseus. No matter. I shall reform without you; I sense another host is near…' The voice was too familiar. I really hoped I'd misplaced the evil tone. I called out to the Titan, but there was no reply. I cursed under my breath, dropped the pieces of Atlas into Tartarus, and returned to the ocean, just in time to see my father barrel past, Oceanus behind, holding the trident through his chest still. I shot off after them, my speed growing incredibly. If I was still human, the energy required for this would have killed me instantly. But I wasn't anymore. I was Perseus, the god of heroes, demigod of water, and entirely invulnerable. Nothing could ever harm me, no nothing could ever be even a threat to me. I was the most powerful thing in the universe. I was wrong.

Chapter 16: You're not untouchable

I levelled with the two after a while, yes, I had been going faster, but only by a fraction, so it took hours to catch up. Finally, when I was level, I drew my sword. Oceanus glared at me, agitated. He flicked his hand toward me, and I felt the full power of the sea titan. I flew through the water, a forty tonne bulldozer ball slamming into my chest. The sea crushed inward around me, shattering my bones inward. I flew through the water at an immense speed, stopping only when I slammed into a cliff. The impact would have done some serious damage, except all my bones were already shattered. I slid to the floor, and the world went black…

I woke some time later, I had no idea what time it was, hell, I didn't know what the date was. I ached all over, feeling like crap. I allowed my being to shatter, exploding into a ball of light. I willed myself to Olympus, landing in a heap on the throne room floor. Gasps came from around me, curses emanating around me. My vision swam, seeing double. Figured surrounded me, someone lifted me from the floor. Apollo grinned down at me.

'Not as easy as you thought, huh, kid?' He sniggered slightly.

Soon, I lay in a bed, ambrosia poured down my throat. I ingested just about ambrosia to wipe out every half blood on the face of the earth before I could stand again. Finally, once I could stand, I told the gods of what had happened. When I told of Atlas' demise, even Ares looked impressed, but my glory was lost when I said about my crushing against Oceanus.

'You should not have faced the titan alone, on his own turf.' Zeus stated, leaning back in his throne. 'You are a powerful god, Perseus, but your ego may well be the end of you.' That sounded funny, coming from the king of the gods himself, though I didn't say anything. After a meeting on what the Hades we would do next, Ares, Zeus, Hades and I left to a small room, where we planned our next battle. I tried not to think about how I was going to win Annabeth over. I didn't manage it.

Titans stood in front of us, in greater numbers than I had ever seen before. Behind me, stood only eight other gods, all beaten up from battle. I couldn't make out the faces of our enemies, so I couldn't tell who was there. The Titan at the front raised his weapon, and let out a roar. Titans and gods rushed forward. Weapons clashed together. Lightening exploded across the sky. The world exploded into flames.

I woke in a cold sweat. Apparently, being a god didn't free me from the dreams. I slid from bed, feeling heavier than ever. I still had a limp, and moved across my room slowly. I wandered out onto my balcony, into the cold night air, my clothes changing themselves into my favourite T-Shirt and jeans. I stood out under the night sky, the stars glittering overhead. The place was perfect, the night air warm. The buildings perfectly polished marble reflected the moon, giving an eerie, but warm glow to the metropolis. At the base of the buildings, a lake glittered, the surface interrupted by late night swimmers, and the occasional Naiad. A noise behind me made me spin, hand shooting for my pen. It was Aphrodite. She giggled at me as I raised my pen.

'Ooh, Perseus Jackson kills a goddess with a fountain pen. I can see the headlines now.' I scowled slightly. 'Why the Hades are you here? You've hardly helped me so far, I mean the whole immortal thing blew up in my face, didn't it.'

She grinned at me, shaking her head. 'Your story is far from over, Jackson. You may be immortal now, but you are far from untouchable. You are weak in many ways, boy, and before I let you off the hook with Annabeth, you're gonna have to prove yourself.' With that, she evaporated into the air, bursting into her true form. All I can say was it was the most beautiful, incredible thing I had ever seen. I knew that no mortal would ever be able to see anything like that. I wouldn't have been able to until a few days ago. The idea gave me a momentary happy moment. Then, I remembered everything that was going on. With my new eyes, I could see further than I would have believed possible. I could actually look down, past all the clouds, at Mount Orthys, nearly three thousand miles away. It seemed impossible that I would actually see that far, there would be too many things blocking my view. But come to think of it, I could see whatever I wanted to. The funnel of clouds was still roaring over a Titan, who was still not used to the pain, and now a whimpering mess on the floor. Near him stood a group of Titans, all of whom were murmuring in hushed voices. The ground shook with every syllable, creating an earthquake-like effect. The ground had split open, a massive ravine between the group. Spirits shot from it, monsters leaping out of the pit, each more horrible than the last. Eventually, the pit gargled out a leg… and then an arm. The hole spewed out human looking body parts, seemingly from several sets. Some were more finely chopped than the others. It was all too obvious who they were. Within days, the Titan family would be back fully, and having just been reborn, they would be at the height of their powers.

Chapter 17: Little comfort

Back in bed, I couldn't fall asleep. I was terrified of what I would see if I did. Instead, I decided to figure out what I could do next. Eventually, I closed my eyes, and let my form dissolve, willing myself just far enough from the Titans as not to be sensed. I was stood on the very edge of Mount Orthys; in fact, it was the exact spot I had fallen off weeks ago. I focused on the shadows in front of me, between me and the fort.

There were twenty of them, given that over half were on the floor. Something was different about one of the figures, however. A massive line jutted from his back… it was my father! Part of me wanted to rush to his aid, but there were nineteen Titans there. I wasn't sure who was who, but I really, really didn't want to find out. I kept my hand on my weapon, but otherwise, albeit reluctantly, stayed still.

'Poseidon… The first of the Olympians to fall to us… you should be honoured, my nephew. You know, if you had changed allegiances, you and I could have ruled the ocean together, half each… you, the southern hemisphere, I the northern. But of course, you would never do such a thing.' From what he had said, I was pretty sure it was Oceanus who had spoken. He kicked my father in the chest, and with a pained grunt, Poseidon slid across the rock, tearing his chest open as he sprawled across it. I gritted my teeth, and my hands locked around Riptide. Then, he looked straight at me, even though he shouldn't have been able to sense me. His eyes told me to keep away - to leave now. I couldn't leave him, but I managed the first. I watched in horror, as Oceanus swung a blade toward my fathers' neck. With a thwack, and a spurt of gold, his head came free, rolling into the pit. I couldn't watch any more. I ripped the lid off of my pen, and hurled it straight at Oceanus' figure. It slammed square into his chest, and he flew backward, the blade ripping through him, and into the wall. I gave a silent thanks to Apollo for the perfect shot, and exploded into my true form, disappearing off into the throne room of Olympus.

On arrival, I collapsed to the floor, unable to even get up. The person who I had done this for… given up any chance of a semi-normal life, was gone. If we managed to beat the Titans, we would be able to rescue him. But there was too many of them. I had seen nineteen Titans on Orthys, excluding Krois, but I was sure they were going to find more. The worst part was there were no lesser Titans - none with decreased powers. Each and every one of them could match a main god. And there were more than us. We were hopelessly outnumbered, and outmatched. I was ready to give up, when I heard an all too familiar voice.

'Percy..?' Annabeth said shakily, her footsteps skittering across the marble. 'Percy, are you okay?' She rolled me over, her face creased with worry. 'Just… Just look at the thrones, Annabeth.' I croaked. Sure enough, my fathers' throne was tattered and torn. The back was hanging off the form, collapsed. The thrones were tied to the god who they were for… Just like my father was tied to his kingdom. The worse state his kingdom, the older he looked. The worse state his throne, the more battered he was and vice versa. The chair didn't seem to belong in Olympus at all. It looked like it should be in a skip at an abandoned dock. In the back of the room, I saw Bessie. He looked depressed, and was wallowing at the bottom of his aquarium. I looked at Annabeth's worried expression.

'He's in Tartarus, Annabeth.' I groaned, sliding to my feet. Annabeth wrapped her arms around me, unable to reply. Poseidon had been considered the second most powerful Olympian. In fact, he could have given Zeus a run for his money. If he had been defeated, what chance did the rest of us have? Annabeth pulled back from the hug a little.

'Everything's going to be fine Percy.' Annabeth murmured. She kissed me lightly, and then turned away. 'We need to tell the other gods what's happened.'

Later, an emergency council was called, all the gods bickering and shouting. Zeus seemed in mood to shut them up. In fact, he was one of the main argument starters. The argument was about whether we go out and fight or not. I didn't see how we really had a choice. Eventually, I worked up the courage to shut them all the hell up.

'QUIET!' I roared, glaring around the room. The gods stopped, and stared at me, dumbfounded. 'We have no other options. We pull together EVERYTHING we have, and we put up a fight. My father is in Tartarus. I'm planning on getting him free after all of this crap is over. Gods states reflect on not only their thrones, but their kingdoms, correct?' I didn't wait for an answer – it was more of a rhetorical question. 'The whole of western civilisation is your kingdom. That means, if you don't come down, the Titans can just destroy a few countries, and you'll be looking so old you'll all be shoved into retirement homes, and called delusional for believing you're gods.' I stopped, and stared at them all. They were completely speechless for a while, and the silence was actually quite nice. I leant back in my chair, and awaited a reply. Finally, Zeus came to his wits. 'Firstly, you are a new god. Do not dare speak to the rest of the council in that way before you have a few thousand years of experience to go by' He growled. 'Secondly, as much as I hate to say it, the boy is right. We must put up the best fight we can. Draw together your best weapons, my family. We shall meet the Titans in war.' With that, he stood and strode from the room. The gods departed slowly, most in groups, discussing battle plans. Hermes grinned at me slightly as he passed.

'You know, you could give Zeus a run for his money on leadership skills. Don't tell him I said that, or we'll each get a lightning bolt in the eye. Trust me. It hurts.' He slapped me on the back, and left the room, polishing his knife as he left.

Eventually, only Annabeth and I were left in the room. She smiled at me, and came over for a hug. 'You know,' she murmured in my ear 'Hermes is right. You make a brilliant god.' She smiled at me, and pulled me into a kiss. The kiss lasted long enough that I actually started to worry that the Titans would have already defeated the Olympians. Though again, gods aren't too great with time.

Chapter 18: Old friend

That night, Annabeth and I watched a film in my room. She fell asleep part way through, so I turned it off and carried her over to the bed. I put her down onto it lightly, wrapped the cover around her, and walked out onto the balcony. I had been thinking about what I was about to do for a while. I just wanted to tell her about what was happening around the world… nothing else. I closed my eyes, and visualised the island of Ogygia. I imagined the perfect hills, the lake in the middle, every little detail now fresh in my mind. I burst into my true form, exploding into a massive ball of light. Then, I was squeezing through a tunnel, shooting through it like a bullet from the barrel of a gun. I felt myself being crushed as I went there, yet, not being harmed at all. Then I slammed into the rocks on the edge of the beach, slamming into it like a meteorite. I ripped a massive hole into the rock, embedding myself deep into it. I slid back out, and uncurled from the ball I had apparently rolled into. I looked up the side of the cliff, and saw the person I had come for. Calypso smiled down at me.

Later, while eating a large meal that her invisible servants had prepared for her, I had filled her in on just about everything. When I told her about my marriage to Annabeth, I actually saw a flicker of sadness pass across her eyes, and I couldn't help but feel a twinge of guilt. I'd left Calypso alone on this island years back in my search for the Golden Fleece.

'I might be able to get you out of this… prison.' I said, trying to sound more certain than I was. 'I mean, I am a god now, and a pretty powerful one at that.' She shook her head sadly. 'You would be able to do nothing. If you even tried, Zeus would expel you from Olympus.' I sighed slightly, looking down. 'How long has it been since I was here? I mean, time works differently in my realm to yours, right?'

She looked into her food, depressed. 'I can't say exactly, but it feels like, well, about a hundred years on this end.' I recoiled slightly to that. I mean seriously, how could a couple of years turned into a century? I felt sorry for Calypso. She had been condemned to this jail of a paradise just because she was a daughter of a Titan. I mean, Aphrodite was Ouranous' daughter, and she was allowed out. She was closer to being a Titan than Calypso. I sighed slightly, and leant back in the chair.

'You should go…' Calypso murmured. 'I'll be back as soon as I can, I promise.' I smiled half heartedly. I would keep to that promise, if I survived the fight coming. 'Take care, hero.' With that she, kissed me, turned away, and ran from the room. I just stood there for a minute, shook my head, and allowed myself to return to Olympus. When I got back, it was daytime. Olympus looked much different to usual. The buildings had some kind of metallic cover over them. In the market place, there was a stand, covered in weapons, all of which were magical. A portcullis had been dropped down over the gate, and the entire city was bustling with centaurs, satyrs and various other creatures in battle armour. Suddenly, out of the crowds rushed a massive form, stomping clumsily across the cobbled paths.

'Percy!' Tyson shouted happily. 'You're not dead again!' He beamed at me, pulling me into one of his bone-crusher hugs. After a short while of catching up, he showed me the weapons stand. Nothing really caught my fancy, but Riptide hadn't reappeared in my pocket this time. The blade belonged to the ocean, and because I'd thrown it at a god of the ocean, I guess I wouldn't be getting it back any time soon. In the end, I settled for a little trident, which looked a fair amount like my fathers. If I were going to go into battle and die, I might as well honour my father in doing it. Most people wouldn't have been able to switch between weapons as easily as me – Hades; most gods wouldn't be able to. In fact, the only other god who had the same masterful control over weapons as me was Ares. I seemed to have got my powers from my bath in the Styx, which now felt like a lifetime ago. As soon as I picked up the trident, I knew how to use it effectively. After a talk with Tyson and Briares, I went to stand with the other gods.

'We will not throw everything away in this battle.' Zeus began as soon as all of us ha arrived. 'If things look bad, we shall withdraw, regroup, and try again another day, with new tactics. Just like in the first Titan war, it will not be easy. You cannot expect it to be one single battle, and that being the end. However, if we manage to take out as many Titans as possible now, and keep them imprisoned somewhere temporary, where the others will not be able to get to them, we will stand a better chance next time. All of the gods shall be split into three groups. The groups will each have a leader. The three leaders shall be Ares, Perseus and I… any questions?' I was actually kind of flattered that he had picked me as one of the leaders. It showed that I actually had some worth to the Olympians. In our groups, I probably ended up with the worst, however. True, I got Hades, but I also got Aphrodite, Demeter, Persephone, Hestia, Nemesis and Janus. Zeus got the rest of the Major gods, and the most powerful minor gods. Ares got all minor gods, but the stronger, more useful ones, like Morpheus, Eris, Hectate and Melione. With that, the entire Olympian army grouped together, and with the combined power of the gods, were teleported to where the Titans stood, ready for battle…

Chapter 19: We fail

There were now 20 Titans in total. In front of where our army materialised, they stood, and army of monsters to match. Eros, Erebus, Pontus, Coeus, Hyperion, Iapetus, Ptometheus, Epimetheus, Pleione, Aether, Hemera, Mnemosyne, Atlas, Nyx, Phoebe, Tethys, Oceanus, Aigaios, Perses, Astraeus all stood in place, glaring directly at us. Ares waved his hand at Eris, and with Apollo's aid, she tossed the apple of discord straight into the centre of the group of monsters and Titans. A golden explosion erupted from the centre, a shockwave smashing through the ranks, tossing the entire army aside, splitting them into shambled groups. The monsters were disorientated by it, and began to run wild, attacking anything they could find. Soon, the battle was in full scale, Gods all locked in battle with Titans. We were outnumbered, so most of the more powerful gods were taking on more than one Titan at once. Briares was stood at the back of the army, Artemis' hunters around him. Every two seconds, they fired a volley of arrows and boulders into the enemy crowds, like clockwork. A boulder smashed down dangerously close to me, flattening a Telkhine in its tracks. I glanced to my left, where Hades was battling Phoebe and Nyx both at once, actually doing pretty well. Zeus was taking on Hyperion, Eros and Aether. Ares, seeing as my father was missing, was taking on Oceanus. Suddenly, two familiar faces popped up in front of me. I instantly whirled my trident out, spinning it to my front.

'The boy thinks he can take us, Prometheus.' Atlas cackled. Prometheus shook his head slightly. 'For all the things I gave mankind, this boy chose cockiness. With that, the two launched themselves at me, slamming into me together with a combined force. Atlas fought like the Minotaur, straight lines and brute force. He really wasn't that much of a threat to me. He probably was the strongest Titans, but he had to be the dumbest. Prometheus on the other hand, was crafty and quick. He fought a lot like me, and that was a problem. I slashed at Atlas' head with the trident, while slamming the other end of it into Prometheus' gut. Atlas rolled across the floor, avoiding it. Prometheus, who had been in mid-leap wasn't so lucky. He was propelled through the air, straight into Briares, who caught him, a hundred hands ripping at him at once. I turned my attention to Atlas.

'Time for us to really fight boy,' Atlas grinned. He drew his blade, which stood at roughly six feet in length. He twirled it around his hand like a twig, then sprinted full speed at me.

I had no time to dodge, so I span my trident out in front of me, clashing it with Atlas' blade. I locked it around his blade, twisting it to the left. Normally, that would have wrenched it out of someone's grip, but this was the brute force of the Titans I was fighting. It was not really any problem for him at all. I kept my trident locked to his blade, holding them both in place as best I could. Because of his weapons length, neither of us could reach to kick each other over, meaning we would be pretty much stuck until someone else interfered. Finally, someone did. Tyson barrelled into Atlas, slamming him to the ground. His fists blurred, pummelling the giant in the face. Of course, Tyson was only a Cyclops, and would probably be killed if I didn't do something quick. I was slow to react, but I began to run toward the two... too late. With a flick of his leg, Atlas kicked Tyson off so far, that he actually became a dot in the sky. I wasn't sure if Cyclopes could survive a fall from that height, but he would land so far away, I would have to just live in hope. I began to charge Atlas, roaring in frustration, when I heard a shout from across the battle field. Even over all the roars and snarls of the monsters, it was easily audible.

'OLYMPIANS RETREAT!' Zeus roared, exploding into a ball of light. Soon, every single one of our army had teleported out of the battlefield. I decided to follow suit before I was torn to shreds. I had no idea why we had left the battlefield until we returned. Then, all I could do was gape, slack jawed.

The gods had huddled around a massive, muscular body. The form stirred slightly, and groaned. Ares had a massive cut down his chest, reaching straight downward. He had been split in two up to his neck. Ichor had formed in a massive, endless puddle, now reaching the door of the throne room. The only god that really didn't look too bothered was Hephaestus, who actually had a slight smirk on his face. Not that I could blame him, Ares and Aphrodite had been having an affair for whoever knows how long.

'We at least got some of the Titans down… Right?' Apollo said, his voice only half hopeful. Zeus shook his head. 'The largest injury was Prometheus who, thanks to Perseus and Briares, is missing an arm and a leg. Other than that, cuts are the worst damage inflicted.' A collective sigh swept the room, and as news spread across the mountain and army, hope dimmed, and spirits grew low.

Later, most of the gods were patching up any wounds they had with ambrosia. I was sat outside in the marketplace, looking over my trident sadly. I really didn't like the weapon that much, but the swords hardly ever felt right. Suddenly, I heard a cough behind me. Hephaestus stood there, grinning as he looked between me and the trident.

'Boy, it is time you got closer to fulfilling that prophecy, yes?' He beckoned for me to follow. 'I have a good chunk of it ready for you.' With that, we wondered his new Olympus workshop…

Chapter 20: Returns

Once we arrived in Hephaestus' office, a new figure appeared. Hestia. She held in her hands a small pot, filled with bubbling, bronze-and-silver speckled liquid. It glowed white hot, and had a horrible, eerie light in the dim room. Hephaestus clapped his hands together happily.

'Perseus, I know that you recently lost your sword, Riptide. Well, it so happens that I can make you a copy of the blade… and more.' He grinned at me slightly. 'See that?' He pointed to the pot in Hestia's hands. 'That, my boy, was recovered from the hearth last year. A now twice lost blade.' I gasped as I realised what it was… a blade that had been lost twice, and would end the war…. a blade that had ended a war similar to the war raging now - Backbiter.

'You don't seriously expect me to use that, do you?' I asked, disgusted. That blade had nearly killed my friends and I. It had killed innocent people, and worst of all, it belonged to the leader of the Titans, Kronos. 'Ah, but Perseus, you must fulfil the prophecy to its every word. If the blade were not important, it would not have mentioned it.' I knew he was right. I shook my head slightly before replying. 'Fine. If you can make it like Riptide, then I'll use it. But you have to make it so it can turn into a pen too.' His grin grew even wider. 'A challenge is a good thing for me, Perseus. I shall make the blade to your request, and before your next standing with the Titans. With that, he took the pot from Hestia, and disappeared off into his forges. Hestia teleported away to somewhere, leaving me in the middle of an unfamiliar building, knowing that the prophecy was drawing to an end, and that the final battle would be nearing. But whose final battle would it be?

When I returned to the throne room, an unbelievable sight met my eyes. Fifty or so half bloods stood in the centre of the massive room. I could have named each and every one of them. They were the survivors from Camp Half-Blood, other than the few I had seen in Olympus before. The thing that struck me was that Clarisse was not there. I had been sure I had seen her leave with them. Perhaps I was mistaken, or maybe she was just somewhere else at the moment. That night, a banquet was held in celebration of our families' safe return. They of course, were all briefed on the battle, and made sure they were fit to fight. We needed every person we could get. I sat between Annabeth and Grover, laughing like old times, like we were just sat around a table in the dining pavilion in Camp Half-blood. Grover was amazed at what we'd been through, and even more amazed to hear of our immortality.

'Congratulations!' He bleated. 'You're a god, Percy! That's gotta be just about the coolest thing someone can become!' He slapped me high-five, and we continued our conversations about meaningless crap. It felt good to feel like everything normal again, just for a little while. The Demigods and the Artemis' Hunters played a game of capture the flag across the entire metropolis in memory of the camp, and all those who had died there. Seeing as I wasn't allowed to play, being a god and all, the Artemis' Hunters won. But no one really minded. We were all happy to be back together. Connor and Travis came up to me after the game, demanding to know what being a god was like. I spared them the depressing parts, and played myself out as best I could. After messing about for hours, eventually, the campers decided to go to bed. I let them all lodge in my fathers building, which was more than big enough to fit them all in.

That night, Annabeth and I were sat watching another film on the sofa. 'Percy… I know you went and saw Calypso.' She murmured out of the blue, halfway into the film. I turned to her and raised an eyebrow. 'Does that really matter? I only went to see if she was okay. I mean, she has to live alone, on a massive island.' Annabeth shook her head quickly, dropping the matter. I wasn't sure if she would like the fact that I had promised to return after the war, but I would have to jump that hurdle when it came. 'Percy, there's something you really need to know.' Annabeth murmured a few minutes later. 'Clarisse left the group as soon as we got into New York. She went into the underworld to try her hand with the river Styx. No one has heard from her since.' Surprisingly, I felt worried about Clarisse. She was stupid to have tried that, but if something had gone wrong, even if I didn't really get along with her, we'd helped each other out a lot. Neither of us would probably be alive right now if it weren't for the other. Annabeth tapped me on the head. 'Anyone in there, sea weed brain? Aren't you going to go on about how stupid that was of her? I mean, if she survived that, she's a potential host for Kronos.' I hadn't thought of that, and I stared at Annabeth. She bit her lip, realising I hadn't even considered it. 'I'm sure she hasn't, Percy. She's probably survived it, but just doesn't see any point in finding us if she's invulnerable.' Annabeth sounded more like she was reassuring herself, but I let the subject drop. I pulled her into a hug, and kissed her for reassurance. By the time the film ended, Annabeth was snoring lightly, head rested on my shoulder. I sighed, turned off the TV, and let dreams take hold.

Chapter 21: Seems like this could be the end

NOTE: Sorry I haven't updated recently. I've just been buried in stuff, and unable to write a new chapter. Expect quicker updates than this from now on.. e, looking aroun e prophecy.'was. n. he top swinging open.

A storm raged outside, the lightening slashing the sky into shreds. Fire rained down on the field, grass scorched and black. Flashes of blinding light exploded outward constantly, causing incredible patterns in the sky, as if they were fireworks. Sparks flew from metal clashing against metal. Gods fought Titans all around me, most of them badly wounded. I saw several decapitated bodies on the ground. Despite all going on, one small thing caught my attention. In the top left corner of the field, a small flame flickered. Sat beside it, was a small, girly form. The flames had a small spit over them, and a ring of stones around. Hestia looked up at me, and smiled. My swords blade exploded into flames. A roar exploded around, seeming to rip apart time and space itself. The floor exploded upward, chunks of earth flying over our heads. Then, stepping from the dust, three figures emerged. One was feminine, petite. One was grand and muscular, even more so than Zeus himself. The last walked in front of the two. He had a curved sword in his hand… no, not a sword… a sickle.

I woke up, face drenched in sweat, lying on the floor. Annabeth had slumped across the chair, and I had somehow rolled off. I just lay on the floor, remembering the scene I had just seen. The gods were losing the fight. And out of the earth, Kronos, Gaia and Ouranos.

Dawn broke; I was still on the floor. Annabeth groaned, waking from her sleep. She stared at me on the floor for a second, and giggled. I felt something jab me in the side, and pretended just to be waking. I groaned, and slid to my feet.

'You fell off, seaweed brain.' She grinned at me. I tried to seem happy, I really did, but I couldn't really fool her all too well. She seemed to know something was wrong, but didn't ask what.

Later that day, I was sat on the edge of a lake with Annabeth. We gazed up at the city, leaning onto one another.

'You did pretty well designing this place, you know.' I grinned, glancing to her. 'Thanks. I did put a lot of effort in.' she smiled up at the tall, glistening buildings. Sighing, I lay back onto the grass, pulling Annabeth with me. She giggled, and kissed me lightly.

'You know, Percy.' She began. 'You're really not good at hiding your emotions. What's been bothering you today?' I sighed, squinting at the floor. 'I had a dream last night-' Annabeth interrupted me 'Okay, so the war's not looking so good?' I nodded, looking up at her. She hugged me tight and kissed me on the nose. 'You'll win Percy. I know it.' With that, she rolled back and lay on the grass, staring up at the sky.

Later, I was sat in the throne room, talking with Grover. Hephaestus limped into the room, a long, mahogany-and-gold box in his hand. Images of battles were engraved onto the top, and the box was bordered on each edge with a gold ribbon. The box gave off an evil aura, however, had a faint glow of the sea. I stared at it, feeling sick. I knew exactly what lay inside. He stopped just short of me, and with a flick of the wrist, undid the clips of the box, the top swinging open. Inside was a horribly beautiful blade, a sleek, black pen cap lying beside it. The metal was two toned, the underside tempered steel, the upper side celestial bronze. Other than this, the blade looked exactly the same as my old sword, Riptides. It was the correct length, shaped in the same way. As I pulled it from its velvet bed, and into my hands, I knew it had even the exact same weight. I pulled the pen cap out, and touched it to the tip of the blade. The shape twisted, shooting down into its pen form. The metal hardened over with plastic, leaving it as just a sleek, black pen. Across the side, in golden writing was a curly Αναζήτηση, which translated to Anaklusmos – Riptides Greek name. The pen looked much sleeker than its old form, and I slid it to my top, clipping it on the inside.

'Thanks.' I smiled at Hephaestus, nodding in appreciation. 'It's all I could do, my friend. I trust it is all to your liking?' 'Despite the fact the blade once belonged to Kronos, yes. It's perfect.' He grinned at me, and nodded once. 'If you need anything at all else, don't hesitate to ask.' With that, he turned away, and wandered out of the room. Grover stared at me dumbly. 'Is that..?' I nodded gravely. 'Oh' was all he could say. Grover didn't exactly like the blade any more than me. 'Percy… I guess you've realised this means the prophecy is nearly over. I mean, "The final battle won with the twice lost blade."' I nodded once more. 'Well, this is good, isn't it? I mean, this means you're going to win.' 'Possibly…' I sighed. 'In my dream, Kronos was holding a sickle, which is what the blades original form was. That means that by right, either one of them could be the blade in the prophecy.' Grover bit his lip. With that, I slid from my throne, and strode outside, looking around at the once peaceful city, preparing for an attack…

Chapter 22: Gate crashers

Lightening slashed across the sky. The city stood in the distance, buildings glowing with a faint red aura. The gods stood in a line, either side of me. Behind us, every single creature we could muster. It was quite an army. In front of us was a lift. It was jutting out of the floor, in a case of rock. Behind the lift, the floor dropped away, showing New York City below. The buildings were in smoke, destruction raging through the area. I had no ideas what the mortals could see happening - probably a terrorist attack or something. Monsters tore through the streets, leaping on people. The wave of destruction neared the building, led by a bunch of the most Human figures there. I wanted to go down and help with the city, but it would be much safer up here. We had an advantage – they shouldn't be able to all come up at once. Twenty two Titans and thousands of monsters advanced. The army muttered nervously. The gods tightened their grips on their weapons. Annabeth stood beside me, her blade in her hand, shaking nervously. I put an arm around her, hugging her, partly to console, partly for support myself. In my other hand, I held the blade that could end this all…

I was wrong about them not all being able to come up at once. As soon as they hit the building, the lift exploded, leaving a massive gaping hole beneath it, staring straight down into the building. All of the floors had been ripped through, and below, stood the army. I have no idea how so many creatures could fit in the lobby of the Empire State Building, but they could. Suddenly, they began to float into the air, some more steadily than others. I quickly saw that they were all stood on platforms. Then, after seconds, I saw it wasn't platforms. It was a horde of dragons. They ferried the monsters and Titans up, and within seconds, the armies exploded into battle. Annabeth was ripped from my side as a hellhound leapt at her. A couple of seconds later, I saw the beast explode into ashes. She gave me a thumbs-up sign, and then leapt into the fight. I span my blade around me, slashing through any monster that was stupid enough to near a god. The other gods did the same, the Titans advancing on us. Lucky for me, Atlas, Hyperion, Iapetus, Prometheus, Epimetheus, all had grouped together, and were advancing on you guessed it – Perseus Jackson. I raised my sword in front of me, muttered a prayer for my father, and charged through the horde of monsters.

I was stood, spinning my blade in all directions, parrying various slashes off of me. I had been nicked in several places, but hadn't been hurt at all, really. Unfortunately, I could say the same for each of my assailants. Prometheus' face was battered in from his previous encounter with Briares, but that was as far as it went. I didn't hit one Titan at all. I stood, hopelessly outnumbered, thinking I would be the first to fall, and my blade taken, used for the Titans good. But then all of a sudden, a form leapt through the air, and tossed something down directly in front of me. The ground exploded from under my feet, but this did me no harm. Instead, it propelled me and my assailants through the air. I flew directly upwards, whereas they were tossed aside like rag dolls, where the most powerful of our army swarmed them. Zeus landed down beside me, grinning.

'I'm not letting one of my favourite family members die. Don't tell any of the others, but besides me, Hades and Poseidon, you have to be one of the most powerful – thanks to that little curse you took on while you were still human.' With that, he leapt into the air, and began hurling bolts again. I closed my eyes and focused, channelling my fathers' powers through me. I slammed all of my force into the ground, slashing my blade through the earth. The ground shook, exploding into cracks in several places. Monsters screeched as they plummeted through the ground, and to a quick death. The wind around me grew, speeding up dramatically. A funnel formed around my body, the air humid and moist. A tornado ripped out at the creatures near to me, pulling in tonnes of monsters in seconds. Unfortunately for them, I tossed my sword in. Roughly forty monsters exploded into ashes around me, and the storm died. Riptide span down toward me, the hilt dropping into my hand like a boomerang. The stunt left me drained of my 'ocean and earth shaker' powers. However, I was left with my true godly powers. I looked around me at the Demigods and various other creatures fighting for their lives. I roared a word even I didn't understand, and an explosion of power shattered through me. The wave slammed into the heroes among the monsters, and their faces brightened, eyes focusing more. Their weapons moved faster, with more precision. Perseus, god of heroes strikes. The monsters began to be cut down instead of the gods' followers. Titans were battered with rocks and spears from the Cyclopes who had joined us, and my old friend Briares. The battle seemed to be in our favour. But of course, it all went wrong.

Suddenly, the Titan Nyx leapt into the air. If she wasn't one of my enemies, I would have admired her Calypso-like beauty. I hate to say it, but she was better looking than Aphrodite. She slammed her hands out into the air at her sides, and the air instantly darkened. Suddenly, there was no light at all, but instead, the inky black of midnight. Only small rings of light could be seen. A few patches on Hyperion's armour. There was a faint glow from my sword. Apollo and a few Titans also gave off some light. This was a problem, because most monsters could see perfectly in the dark. Most humans, or demigods, or centaurs, Naiads, all of our army basically, couldn't. I could see Apollo trying his hardest to bring back light, but Nyx was too powerful. Suddenly, there was a range of whooshes. A stream of lightning bolts shot through the air, flowing constantly from a single point. Each one exploded out into a sheet of light, giving a strobe effect to the air around us. Many of the gods had been overcome by monsters and Titans, but the few who were free instantly barraged Nyx. This included me. The goddess let out an angry scream, and a wave of pure energy slammed into us, sending us barrelling through the air, and away from her. As we flew backward, I tossed my blade at the goddess. Apollo and Artemis both turned toward it. They focused on the weapon, and suddenly, it shot through the air with such speed and precision that Nyx couldn't even register it before it was at her neck. The tip pierced her, the blade spinning through the air. It sliced her head from her body, and with a thump, her head, the blade, and the body all dropped down to the floor. Light erupted into the sky, revealing a rather shocking sight. I hadn't my blade any more. If a Titan got to it before me, it could all be over. The monsters and Titans had won in many places, tonnes of our army lying dead, and several gods either decapitated, quartered, or left useless, much how I had trapped Hyperion with my fathers trident when Camp Half-blood had fallen. Dragons released fireballs from their mouths, the flames exploding onto the ground, leaving the grass withered and scorched. The field which the battle raged in didn't look like Olympus at all now. In fact, I remembered every single detail of this, and knew what was about to happen next.

It all happened just as I had dreamt. A storm raged, the lightening slashing the sky into shreds. Fire rained down on the field, grass scorched and black. Flashes of blinding light exploded outward constantly, causing incredible patterns in the sky, as if they were fireworks. Sparks flew from metal clashing against metal. Gods fought Titans all around me, most of them badly wounded. I saw several decapitated bodies on the ground. Despite all going on, one small thing caught my attention. In the top left corner of the field, a small flame flickered. Sat beside it, was a small, girly form. The flames had a small spit over them, and a ring of stones around. Hestia looked up at me, and smiled. My swords blade exploded into flames. A roar exploded around, seeming to rip apart time and space itself. The floor exploded upward, chunks of earth flying over our heads. Then, stepping from the dust, three figures emerged. One was feminine, petite. One was grand and muscular, even more so than Zeus himself. The last walked in front of the two. He had a curved sword in his hand… no, not a sword… a sickle.

I leapt through the air, hurtling toward my flaming blade. Prometheus, how had just been attempting to take it from the ground, leapt back as it exploded, screaming as Greek fire ripped through his flesh. I grabbed onto the hilt of my blade, twirling it up from beside the headless body of Nyx, before spinning to face the three newcomers. Zeus and Hades hurtled down to my side, the lightening stopping entirely for the first time in the battle. Gaia smiled crookedly, Uranus roared with twisted laughter. Kronos just stood there, watching the two gods and me, grinning evilly.

'My my, the little gods think they can match us, my love.' Gaia cooed, her eyes glinting with the battle. My blade was still roaring with green flames, though taking no damage at all. 'They are led by a new one, my love. It is no surprise.' I glanced at Zeus and Hades, realising that Uranus was right. The two gods stood slightly behind, flanking my either side. I was in charge. I took a small amount of pleasure in this, but couldn't really focus much on it considering the situation. 'My children…' Gaia began, despite the fact that we were actually her grand children and great grandchild. 'You have fought long and hard. However, your age is over for now. I assure you it is not forever, however, you must surrender yourselves for the new golden age. You know you have no chance with so many senior gods and Titans here.' I growled under my breath, along with my two fellow gods, hands tightening around weapons. Uranus grinned horribly at me. 'My love, are you sure I must take the leader god? I would love to tear the new one limb from limb.' 'The boy is mine.' Kronos snapped, with more force than I had ever heard in his voice. Uranus smiled at his son. Uranus looked his son over 'as you wish.' With that, he spun a massive war hammer from his back, and leapt onto Zeus. The two barrelled away from us, crushing several monsters in their paths. Gaia turned to Hades, who was stood on my right. With a snarl, the earth erupted underneath the two of them, and they were sent flying into the air, three misshapen figures joining their master in the fight. The furies had shown their faces in the battle for Olympus. Finally, I looked to Kronos, who grinned over his sickle. I had to admit, that he looked pretty cool in his true form. He looked like a pro wrestler, his muscles bulging from under his T-Shirt. His sleeves were ripped off at the shoulders, and tattoos rippled across his arms. He looked more bulky than Ares, but didn't look like a freak show. He looked more like the kind of guy who really should be a celebrity, with his chiselled jaw, and black, messy hair. He raised a single hand, holding up three fingers. With every second, he dropped one. As soon as the countdown was at zero, the two of us leapt at each other, spinning through the air. We collided with each other, and with a loud crash, our blades locked in battle…

Chapter 23: Bang

As the two blades hit, a massive light exploded outward from them, blasting the two of us away from one another. All around us, monsters, gods, demigods, and everything else were blown backward, a massive circle opening up around the two of us. The ground was scorched and black, earth exploded upward all around us. In my hand was a hilt, with a runny, bubbling, molten mess dripping from the top. I glanced at Kronos' sickle. It looked no better than mine.

'What the..?' The two of us murmured in unison, dropping the boiling hot hilts to the grass. I looked around sharply, realising that neither of us could fulfil the prophecy without a twice lost blade. Kronos didn't seem to know, and he leapt to his feet, sprinting toward the nearest monster with a weapon. He reached the Minotaur first, and with an angry shout, ripped the massive battleaxe from his grip, tossing it through the air, spinning toward me. The axe flew through the air perfectly, flipping over several times, and before I could move, it slammed square into my chest. I flew through the air, colliding with the wall of creatures behind me. They were sent sprawling across the ground, several dropping off the edge of Mount Olympus and falling to their deaths. The weapon had cut through my armour, and into my chest. Golden Ichor flowed from the wound, and I dropped back into the grass. How could I have lost? The prophecy couldn't have been wrong… Could it? With that thought, everything faded to white…

Searing pain roared through me. Complete blackness hung down on my shoulders like I was holding up the earth. Screams and the sounds of ripping surrounded me. I couldn't feel my full being. There was only pain, and the eternal blackness surrounding me. Suddenly, a faint, blue light flared up somewhere in the distance. A shape flew through the air, carrying the light with it. It was blue itself, made of metal. There was a pole at the bottom, which had been bent and misshapen. At the top of the pole, were three, spike-tipped prongs. My fathers' trident cut through the nothingness swiftly, flying straight toward me. It suddenly veered off, downward slightly. I saw it cut into something, and felt a searing pain once more. I looked carefully at the thing it had slashed into. It was a torso, with Greek battle armour encasing it. Embedded in the centre of the chest, was a massive, heavy battleaxe. As soon as the trident slammed into the torso, the weapon was pushed out of the form, shooting off far into the distance.

Suddenly, a voice that sounded like explosions with every syllable burst from the darkness. 'Perseus Jackson… The world is falling, and my family are to blame. You have fought well so far, but have been tossed into the abyss. The Titans retreated from Olympus for now. The gods are fatally wounded, and Zeus has fallen, as you and your father have. However, things will not proceed until you are freed. My sister, Gaia has aided the Titans too often, and the gods have had no aid from the ancient gods as of yet. I will aid settling this score now. Perseus Jackson, I shall send you back to Earth, and I will aid you in your battle.' The entire abyss twisted around me, the darkness lightening from my shoulders. My form twisted, and exploded, piecing itself back together in seconds. I appeared in a small field, the grass overgrown, trampled in several places. A warm breeze whispered through the grass, the only noise the rustling of the grass. About fifty metres away, stood a shadowy, wispy form. The figure gave off the same kind of power as Gaia, but stood as tall and muscular as Uranus. I wandered over toward the god, looking over him uncertainly. In his left hand, he held a tall, glowing trident. The figure looked over me slowly, and without a word, handed me the weapon. As soon as it came into contact with me, it glowed brighter, a surge of energy washing over me. The figure waved a hand over me, and a burst of purple light exploded out over me. It seeped into my being, and I felt rejuvenated, and more powerful.

'May luck be with you young god. I must return to my true form.' Before he left, I noticed swirling figures on his being. It kind of looked like Hades' robes, but instead of souls, there was monsters, and figures I couldn't even name. Then, he exploded into a mass of purple light, and shadow, shooting down into the ground. A surge of energy seemed to drain from the entire earth, and I felt Tartarus reappear in the underworld…

Chapter 24: An old friend

I stood in the field for a while, taking in my surroundings. At the end of the field, was a hill. On top of the hill, lay a dead tree, once a pine. I wandered through the field, and up the hill. Just where the hill began to dip, I spotted something stony. It looked like the tip of a wing. As I climbed higher, I saw more of the figure. Stood behind the tree, just on the part where the hill began to dip down stood a massive, stone dragon. Peleus… I strolled over to him, and patted his nose. To my surprise, on contact, I could swear he twitched slightly. I looked over the dragon slowly. A fine dust seemed to be rolling off of his body. A chunk of rock dropped from his snout, revealing something green. The head twisted slightly, chunks of rock falling off of it rapidly. More patches of green were revealed, and soon, the whole dragon was visible. He spat out a chunk of stone, and looked around, dazed.

'Peleus…' I said stunned. He gave out a loud grunt, and dropped down to sit. He looked over where the camp once was, letting out a mournful roar. I nodded slightly, patting his neck. All of the plants had withered and died, the buildings that had survived looked bleak and dead. Rubble littered the entire camp, the pavilion having collapsed entirely now. I wandered down the hill, Peleus following me. At the end, in the distance, I could see what remained of the big house, charred and blackened. The cabins were just visible, only two still standing. The training area had been destroyed, canoes on the lake broken, and floating idly. At the front of the woods, many trees had collapsed, or burned down. The climbing wall had been destroyed, the top half in rubble on the floor. I sighed slightly, looking around once more.

'Peleus, boy… I think you should wait in the woods. Keep out of the fights.' I murmured, patting his nose. He groaned slightly, but nodded in understanding. With that, he stomped off into the woods, disappearing from sight fast. I looked around the camp once more, readying myself to teleport to Olympus, when I glanced up at the hill. A figure had climbed up to the top, only her hair visible. She had bright red hair. She gave off a strange aura. Rachael. She looked over the camp, a look of disbelief I could see even from here. I yelled out to her, and jogged toward her, waving my arms. I managed to catch her attention, and she ran toward me, a look of horror on her face.

'What the hell happened?' She called, running straight into me. She fell back to the floor, and I had to help her up. 'Titans…' She looked shocked, staring at me. 'Your prophecy came true… Though you probably don't know about it, do you?' She shook her head. 'It's not safe for you to be here, Rachael… You should keep away from New York too, being honest.' She nodded, understanding. Her eyes searched the camp, full of disbelief. 'Can I come to Olympus?' She murmured. I nodded once, putting my hand out to her. She grabbed it uncertainly, and I focused on Olympus. A second later, we were in the midst of shouting and roaring, followed by a massive bang, which sounded like a nuke. Behind us, a building collapsed, crushing all in its path. It had been my fathers' house, the one where all of the half-bloods had stayed. The city now looked horrible, the once white marble now grey, the walls flaking and cracked. Rachael looked around it disbelievingly – there was no way this could have been Olympus in her eyes. She'd seen it before, when the Titans first attacked, and even then, it hadn't been this bad. I ran over toward the main building, pulling Rachael with me. We made it inside within a minute, and stopped in the centre of the room. Rachael stared at me, as if she had just seen a ghost. I didn't realise what she was surprised about for a minute. 'Oh. I'm a god now… It's a long story.' Her jaw dropped, and she just stood stupidly in the centre of the room. Only two gods were in the room – Aphrodite and Apollo. It was strange, because around this time of day, generally, the gods would have been shouting and arguing. Even less normal because it was in the middle of a war, and they should all have been planning.

'Where are the others?' I enquired, looking over the two slowly. They didn't seem shocked to see me; instead, they just stared at me grimly. Apollo waved hand around the room. I hadn't been paying much attention before, but now I noticed that most of the thrones now looked like my fathers. They were all falling apart, looking pitiful. They shouldn't ever look that bad, unless… I looked hopelessly at Apollo. He just nodded. Only five thrones were in decent condition -mine, Hades', Apollo's, Aphrodite's and Hephaestus'. I was starting to really doubt we would have any chance in this fight at all…

Chapter 25: A new hope

Later, I had realised just how many people we had lost in the battle, and well, just how long I had actually been gone. It was a month since the battle I lost in, and everything had changed. Below us, New York was in crisis. They thought that Terrorists had been bombing constantly, and with more force than ever. Really, it was a tonne of monsters, and the Titans blowing the place up in an attempt to draw out the remaining gods. It had been working up until recently. Hades wouldn't go down because his land was the underworld. New York wasn't tied to him at all. Aphrodite wasn't actually of the family; she was technically a Titan, and wasn't hurt by the destruction of New York. If she could do enough, however, she would be down there. Hephaestus had lost one of his legs, which had been taken by Kronos. He was working on a mechanical one, but was doubtful about how much he could actually do once he got it. Apollo wasn't going to throw himself away until we had a better force. So basically, we'd just have to sit up here until the Titans forced their ways up and inside. A few of the minor gods had escaped, but wouldn't help us. At least they weren't on the Titans side this time. The worst part, however, was that Annabeth had been killed. I know she'd be back soon enough, but the thing is, it was horrible not being with her, and I had no idea if she were in Tartarus right now, or what. The name made me think. I had no idea what he had done to me – I didn't feel any different. I still had the trident, however. I was planning on using it in my next battle. I'd figured I wasn't going to find a 'twice lost blade' any time soon, so what the hell?

I sat on the edge of the lake, looking around Olympus. The city was dying. Apparently, I wasn't tied to New York, because I was a new god. I felt no harm from what was going on down there. But I was worried about my mother and Paul. I hadn't seen them in so long, and the Titans might have targeted them. They didn't even know that I was a god. I wanted to go down there, but I knew that the second I did, every single Titan would pour down onto me. If we were lucky, they didn't know I was back, and wouldn't expect me, so they'd let some of the Titans stay behind when they finally made it to Mount Olympus. I sighed slightly, staring into the water. Suddenly, a girl was sat beside me, looking into the water too. She looked about my age. She had long brown hair, and blue eyes. Her skin was tinted a faint blue, and she gave off a glow of the water.

'I wonder if the Titans will at least leave the lakes here…' She mused, staring into her home. 'The Titans won't get a chance to destroy them. Not while I'm here.' She shook her head slightly. 'You know you can't do this on your own. You're going to need a miracle to win.' I nodded, looking down into the water. 'I can tell you one thing, though' she added quickly. 'Your dad has faith in you. He said Montauk, and you'd know what that meant' I leapt to my feet, scaring the poor girl near to death. 'Thanks. You might just have helped save Olympus and western civilisation.' I grinned at her. With that, I sprinted off from the lake, going to find Rachael.

Minutes later, I ran into the throne room, where she was sat by the fire. 'Rachael!' I called out. She turned to face me, jumping at the sudden shout. 'What? You nearly gave me a heart attack!' She scowled at me. 'Tell the gods that if I don't return, to stay up here… no matter what.' She started to protest, but I motioned for her to turn around. She did so involuntarily, and I exploded into a burst of light.

I was stood outside my holiday cabin, where we used to come every summer. I heard talking from inside. I walked straight to the door, rapping on the door. A few seconds later, it swung open, and something jumped on me.

'PERCY!' My mother exclaimed, giving me probably the most forceful hug in the history of man. 'Where the hell have you been?' She scowled at me. 'I've been worried sick about you!' I sighed slightly, and motioned for her to go inside. I followed her in, to meet the best sight in days. Sat in the front room, were Paul and Annabeth.

As soon as I saw Annabeth, I felt a mixture of pure happiness, and guilt. In fact, if I weren't a god, and invincible, I probably would have died from the look Paul was giving me. 'So, Percy… when were you planning on telling us you got married?'

Chapter 26: Go to Tartarus

After a long apology, we eventually settled down to mum's pasta. 'Percy… is it really not going well?' Paul asked his face full of worry. 'It was… But Tartarus gave me some kind of blessing, and then I've got a message from dad, so I've decided I'm going to have some luck, finally.' They looked at me doubtfully, but didn't challenge what I'd just said.

The next morning, I packed Annabeth's clothes with her. It was weird really. She'd appeared with a full suitcase and everything. I guess it was Tartarus' doing. The two of us had been getting on better than ever, despite all that was going on. After a long, tearful to some, goodbye, we headed out, no idea where we were headed. Paul had loaned us his car, to save on having to know our destination. I drove us into the city, asking Annabeth about her time in Tartarus. Apparently, it hadn't been that bad, which was odd, seeing as it was meant to be the worst place in the universe. Eventually, we hit the main city, the Empire Estate building looming out in front of us. The once busy streets were near deserted, highways littered with abandoned cars. A man stood in the middle of the road, dressed in tatty clothes. He held up a sign, saying "The end is near!" I tried to steer around him, but he stepped with my car. There was something wrong with this man. His face was oddly familiar, and he had eyes that were so deep, and dark, that they seemed like they had been enduring the worst imaginable pain up until recently. I cut the ignition, pushing the door open.

'Stay in the car. Or drive off, I don't care Annabeth. Just keep safe.' She began to complain, but I closed the door on her, stepping down toward the man. My fathers' trident materialised in my hand, and the man let out a slightly scared snarl. He pulled a massive blade off from his back, holding it with two hands. As soon as he held it in front of him, he let the illusion drop, showing his true form. It was Krois. Apparently, someone had taken his place. But I had a horrible feeling it was one of the gods, threatened with whatever to be put there. Before I could ask, he answered my questions.

'Hephaestus.' He grunted. I raised an eyebrow incredulously. 'We told the gullible twat we'd leave Aphrodite alone if he did it.' I growled under my breath, taking a step toward the Titan. This was obviously a trap, they wouldn't just leave one Titan to take me on, but Hephaestus had helped me out many times. I wasn't about to stand here and let him be insulted. Krois cackled slightly as I stepped toward him.

'Perseus, you would have made a brilliant Titan.' He waved his hand lightly. Figures dropped down around me, all radiating with evil energy - The Titans. Fortunately for me, I had been anticipating this. I twirled the trident downward, slamming it into the ground. As soon as it ripped through the concrete, the earth seemed to explode outward, the entire floor shaking with an extreme force. Several buildings crumbled around me, the remaining mortals on the streets screaming in terror, sprinting to their homes, where all of the others had hidden themselves to keep from the 'Terrorists.' The Titans were thrown around me, flying through the air into buildings, the entire structures collapsing onto them. My cars engine roared to life, the car flying toward Krois. Before the Titan could react, the car slammed into him, and flew forward, hitting a wall. The Titan's legs were crushed between the two, and he roared in pain. I leapt down toward him as he did, swiping my trident at his neck. With a terrible thud, his head dropped to the floor. Suddenly, my hand began to glow, a purple sheen covering it. It was the same glow that had appeared when Tartarus had blessed me. The Titan exploded outward into his true form, exploding into a purple light, and somehow seeming evil in its own vision. It seemed to attempt to rise into the air, but a force gripped it tightly. The light shimmered slightly, and then was slammed down into the ground, ripped off to Tartarus where the man belonged. I couldn't help it. I laughed; hard enough that the buildings near me that had been severely damaged from the quake actually tumbled down, on top of the already collapsed ones. I heard a couple of muffled shouts of pain. Suddenly, a massive figure barrelled into me. I flew through the air, someone gripping onto me tightly. Then, WHAM, the two of us slammed into a wall. The rock exploded outward, covering the two of us. Atlas and I leapt up at once, growling. I closed my eyes, and for the first time, began to alter my appearance. I forced myself upward, shooting up and outward in size. I wasn't as bulky as the Titan giant, but it was a help. I soon stood level with him, my muscles bulging out of the shirt that had apparently grown with me. The two of us leapt into one another, rolling across the floor. We flew through the air, rolling and kicking as we did so. The Trident was ripped from me, and tossed at a near building. It jammed into the fourth floor wall, and Atlas punched me in the face. I roared in pain, and pushed him from me, kicking into his chest as I did so. The Titan was propelled through the air, and splashed into the river behind the two of us. I flipped backward, after Atlas. Of course, as soon as I landed in the water, I felt a surge of energy. The Titan tried to jump from it, but I grabbed onto his legs. The other Titans had begun to free themselves from the rubble, and were working their ways from that, to aid their brother. I whistled sharply, the water shimmering around us. Two massive water spirits appeared beside the two of us, who were now rolling across the water bed, punching and kicking as fast as we could. The river spirits understood straight away. Instantly, the pressure built around us, not harming me, but beginning to crush the giant. He let out a roar of pain, and fell back from me, fighting against the pressure. I took my chance, and leapt down on top of him. I grabbed either side of his head, and snapped it to the left. The sound, like his roar, was audible due to my bubble of protection. The Titan lord stiffened, falling limply to the floor, unable to move. I reached for a rock on the bed of the river. With a swipe of my wrist, I slashed the Titan's head from his torso. The same thing happened to him, as it had to Krois. I began to enjoy my victory, but then remembered the other titans. About twenty of them were just about to attack me. I had no time for a laugh. As the Titans exploded down into the water, I allowed my form to disintegrate, exploding into a ball of light, soaring toward Olympus. Looked like the final battle was about to begin…

Chapter 27: Wave after wave

The last three gods stood in the field where the previous battle had been lost. A surprisingly large number of creatures stood behind them. The elevator had been rebuilt, but no longer had any splendour. It was just a normal, metal elevator. I could hear the floors dinging off. The creatures behind me tightened their grip around the weapons in their hands. Grover, thanks to Hades, was still alive, and was tuning his reed pipes. The lift was just five floors from us, when suddenly, the air beside me shimmered. Tartarus stood beside me, my fathers Trident in his left hand, a massive, two handed sword in the other, seeming to shimmer with the faces of dead monsters, and the occasional god. He handed the Trident to me, his expression seeming like it were of great importance. It took me a few minutes to work it out. The Trident had been lost once with my father, when he was killed. And I guess it counted that earlier, I had lost it, it being embedded in a building. The prongs were bladed. The trident counted as a twice lost blade.

Three more Titans were down. We had lost all of sixteen creatures. The Titans had very few monsters left, and well, things were looking bad for them. I had the Prophecy on my side now, and it had begun raining the second they arrived. Rain came from the sea, and acted like it to me. With every droplet, I felt another surge of power. Thunder rolled across the sky, but without Zeus, no lightning flashed. It seemed a wrong thing to see, the entire world wrong. But it didn't matter. I had been keeping hold of my weapon with no problems so far.

The Titans came in waves. The weakest of them had come first, and even Aphrodite had taken two of them down. Now, all that remained were ten Titans, and two of the older gods - Eros, Erebus, Pontus, Coeus, Hyperion, Iapetus, Prometheus, Epimetheus, Pleione, Kronos, Uranus and Gaia. Kronos, Gaia and Uranus had kept from sight pretty well, the final wave to be coming, obviously. We would have rushed them, but the waves hid in the elevator, and it had been encased in rock, opening only for the Titans. Tartarus cut through Eros' head, and the Titan dropped to the floor, bubbling into nothingness. Erebus got an arrow in the eye from Apollo, and Aphrodite swung a dagger at his neck, severing his head. With a flick of the wrist from Tartarus, the body exploded, dragged down to the abyss. Pleione, Pontus, Coeus, and Iapetus all went down to me without a bead of sweat. Though, that might be because gods never sweat. Prometheus and Epimetheus leapt onto Tartarus, darting around him. He was dragged back into the horde of monsters by him. He would defeat them, no doubt, but would be tied up. Hyperion slashed at Aphrodite, and cut into her chest. She fell to the floor, coughing blood. I began to rush over to help her, but Hyperion held his arm up, a blinding light exploding into my eyes. I fell down to the floor, dazed. By the time my sight came back, Apollo was dragging Aphrodite to safety, and Hades was locked in battle with Hyperion. I leapt to his aid, slashing at Hyperion's back. Nothing seemed to work – the Titan was doing much better than any of the others. I sighed slightly, and closed my eyes over, rolling back from him. A pain rushed through me as I exploded upward, growing with an incredible speed. My trident grew with me, and soon, I towered over even the tallest giant in the battle. With a roar, I tossed the trident down onto Hyperion. He rolled from it, allowing himself to shoot upward. He grew almost as fast as me, running toward me as he did. He was just about to reach me, when Hades tossed his blade straight into Hyperion's back. The sword sliced straight through his chest, the tip poking out the other side. The Titan fell down to the ground, coughing up blood. I smirked at him as he lay on the floor and raised my trident. THWACK, Hyperion exploded down into Tartarus. The monsters let out howls, beginning to run back toward the lift. The Olympian army all cheered, raising their weapons into the air. But it wasn't over. The rock case around the lift exploded outward. I noticed Tartarus standing beside me, shaking his head and stroking his blade. The rock slammed into the army, killing over half of them in a second. A dust rose from the ground, shrouding the lift quickly. Then, three figures began to advance, slowly coming into the light. Tartarus roared with anger and charged at his sister, sending her flying back through the air. The two tumbled off Olympus, and with a massive explosion, began their battle on the ground. Hades gritted his teeth, and went for Uranus, twirling his blade, and roaring with hatred at his grandfather. I would have taken Uranus if circumstances had been different, being the fittest of the gods at the moment, but Kronos advanced, an impossible weapon in his hand. Kronos held his sickle, silver and gold, glinting in the sun…

Chapter 28: Ouch and ouch again

Kronos held up a hand lightly, pointing toward Hades. Something told me he was not going to continue this fight until we saw the result. Hades and Uranus stood in battle, blades slamming into one another. Uranus' blade had at least three feet on Hades', and Hades thought this was a disadvantage. I sighed slightly, calling out to my uncle.

GET IN CLOSE!' I roared, motioning frantically with my arms. He did as I said, and with a terrible clang, the two blades slammed into one another, then exploded from their hands, flying from the two. Uranus reached for his grandson, gripping him around the neck. He began to slam him against the ground violently. Kronos grinned at this slightly, turning off to face me. He counted down from three on his fingers, and bowed. I bowed back, spinning my trident in front of me. Apparently, this would have to be an honourable fight. No dirty fighting. I didn't care. It was the fate of the earth; I didn't want to cheat to get it. Kronos straightened and sprinted at me, roaring as he twirled his blade at me. I drew my trident up in front of me without thinking. The two weapons clashed, blue and red sparks exploding from our weapons. Kronos flexed his muscles, beginning to push my trident downwards. It was anyone's fight now. Kronos' weapon still had only been lost twice apparently, and he had just as much claim to the prophecy as me. It was a fight down to pure skill and strength. I smirked slightly as he pushed my weapon down. He looked slightly confused, as I grinned. Then, I used a trick I had used many a time before. I slid the trident down his blade, toward the hilt. With a flick of the wrist, I tangled two prongs around the blade, twisting with all my might. Kronos twisted his body with it, spinning on the floor. I flicked my foot out as he did this, sweeping it under his legs. He toppled down onto the floor, blade spinning up high into the air. I stepped toward him, ignoring the thumps as my uncle slammed into the ground. He would be able to put up with the pain. I was about to end this once and for all. I raised my trident over Kronos' head, slamming my foot to his chest. I did this with a little more force than intended, and cracked one of his ribs. He roared with pain and behind me, the thumps stopped. A ring echoed through the air, and then a whoosh. Something ripped into my back, poking through the other side. A silver and gold blades tip glistened in the rain. I fell down forward, and with a terrible crack, Kronos' skull exploded, the brain popping as he exploded into a ball of light. The light writhed in the air for a while, the light fading fast from it. Soon, instead of a golden light, it was plain purple. It flew down from the mountain, flying down off to the abyss. I collapsed onto the floor, coughing blood. My hand slid to my back, feeling around slightly. A sickle stuck from my back, jammed straight through my body. Hades had gotten back to his feet, shouting at his grandfather, who was roaring with laughter. It looked like it wasn't my fight after all…

Suddenly, a massive surge of power exploded over the field. The grass greened, flowers shooting off from the earth. A roar of anger echoed off around me, followed by several hateful shouts. Somewhere far away, I felt a connection between a god and the sky snap, exploding into nothingness. The sky itself weighed down a small amount more, but holding on the tip of a mountain point. Running footsteps banged down toward me. The trident was ripped from my hand. One last angry, hateful shout and all that could be heard was a blood curdling scream. The scream of the final Titan in the fight… I was rolled over onto my back, the sickle ripped out from me. Ichor flowed from the wound, but salt water dripped onto it. The wound stopped flowing blood, and a liquid splashing over it. I heard the hum of Apollo as he pushed a man from me to begin his work on patching me up. But that wasn't what struck me. It was face itself… a face which belonged to Poseidon… my father.

Chapter 29: Too Happy

I woke in a golden room, gasping as my hand shot to where the sickle had been. It was entirely closed up, the wound not even sore. Happy shouts echoed around me, the smell of a feast filling my nostrils. Three people rushed to me as I sat up, six arms encasing me quickly.

'Percy!' Annabeth, Poseidon and Grover cried at once, well, Grover more a bleat. Just off from my make shift bed, tables ran down the room, all the gods, and survivors of the battle sat at them. I saw many from Camp Half-blood, including Nico beaming at me from the tables. Gods looked down as a commotion exploded out around me, demigods and even gods rushing to congratulate me. The major gods stayed at the table, along with Hestia, though they all stared down at me, twinkles in Zeus, Hades and Poseidon's eyes. Dionysus sat at the end of the table, scowling slightly where he sat. The rest of the major gods looked at him, all but Zeus smirking slightly. Once the mob had cleared from me, two figures wondered toward me, one massive, but otherwise human, the other a human torso and a horse's body. Tyson ran at me, sweeping me into a bone crushing hug.

'You're not dead!' He yelled. It was fast becoming his favourite thing to say to me. I returned the hug, but looked at Chiron, completely shocked. 'Chiron… you're alive?' He nodded slightly, smirking. 'I'm alive so long as there is the chance of teaching. You, my young friend, have granted me that.' I raised an eyebrow at him. 'Oh, you have not yet heard? Because of Dionysus' cowardice in this battle, him having fled as soon as the camp was attacked, he has been ordered to step down from the council, and running the camp. However, they have decided on someone to replace him.' I gasped slightly, pushing myself to my feet. Ill or not, I was going to show proper respect. Pushing Apollo aside as he tried to stop me from moving in my state, I strode over to Zeus. I knelt to my knee, and bowed my head.

'It is an honour to be placed into the council.' Zeus grunted slightly, nodding his head. 'Honestly, boy, the council are not deserving of you. If there were a higher honour we could give you, we would. You have saved us too many times in the very few years you have been alive. As much as I hate to admit it, you could match any one of us Olympian's power. Much has aided you in getting this far, but no battles shall be coming soon. You will be proving yourself in other ways. However Perseus, it is I who should be bowing to you. You have fought off the Titans near alone. True, you were mortally wounded, but the main threat had been destroyed. My brothers, Aphrodite and Tartarus would have wiped Uranus off the face of the universe with not a single problem.' He scowled into his food, hating to have to show so much gratitude to one person. As he looked up to me, he raised to his feet. With a mixture of pride, happiness and what looked like… fear… he clapped me on the back. With that gesture, the entire hall cheered, and the feast resumed.

Later, I arrived back at the camp's grounds. Cyclopes were already working on reconstructing the destroyed buildings. It was already looking like it would be grander than ever. The camp's cover was no longer strawberries. In fact, we had decided we wouldn't need a cover at all. With the way the camp was rebuilt, with a direct connection to Olympus, and a god who cared about the campers, we had no problems. The great prophecy would not be fulfilled for many years to come, said Apollo. I was given my own building in the camp, where the demigods could come with offerings to the gods instead of just burning it. The gods paid more attention to the camp than ever, and everything seemed like it would be a happy ending after all. And although this chapter of my life had seemed to have a happy ending, more was to come. More that would be even more devastating, even more hard hitting than the past few years of my life…

Chapter 30: Epilouge

'Though the day was won and good,

Still stands the man in the darkened hood.

Fires will burn and thunder rage,

Woken once more, a beast from its cage.

A prophecy, so grand and sweet,

One more battle, winnable with only a cheat.'

2012 Prophecy, Rachael Elizabeth Dare