Ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous. There's no way anyone actually believes this… Right?

These thoughts and many like them ran through the head of the Hero of Olympus' mind. He looked around at the fourteen gods of the Olympian Council. His mouth moved, yet no sound emerged.

"I shall ask you again, demigod," sneered the Lord of the Skies, his eyes oddly vacant. "What say you to these accusations?"

Percy's mind refused to function properly; there was no way that they actually considered him, the Savior of Olympus, a traitor. He had, literally, died for Olympus. His heart had stopped beating for thirty-seven seconds. Just to stop Gaea from rising.

Thirty-seven seconds. Whispered the voice in his head, Gaea's voice, hidden from the Olympians, he should know, he had asked several to get it out. Thirty-seven seconds of death for them, and they believe that you faked it. That you deceived them. Tell them, tell them that they don't deserve your loyalty, that they all deserve to perish for the wrongs they've committed, for the lives they've cost for their survival, for her life.

"No." He whispered, as much to the voice as to Zeus.

"Speak up hero." Zeus snarled, though his eyes retained their far-off glaze, refusing to back up the words coming from his mouth.

"No, Lord Zeus, I am not a traitor. Why would I ever want to be? Why would I turn my back on Anna-" here his voice caught, refusing to remind him of her absence, of the lack of her constant presence behind him, encouraging him. He forced out her name, though his voice tried to strangle it in his throat. "On Annabeth's sacrifice? On my friends? I have never betrayed anyone, never given any of you reason to doubt me. I have always stood by my family, by Olym-"

"ENOUGH OF YOUR LIES!" Zeus shouted, his hand unconsciously reaching for his master bolt, though not actually picking it up, as it was still recharging from the battle with Gaea less than three days ago. He breathed heavily, obviously tired despite the three days of rest everyone involved with the Second Gigantomachy had had. "Due to sufficient evidence, I move that this council finds you guilty of treason. All in favor?"

What council? Whispered Gaea, as persistent as always. The council that follows him blindly? Questioning his choices only when they can benefit from it?

Shut up.

The council just looked at Zeus in shock, confused as to why he had suddenly turned on their hero. Even Athena was confused as to why Zeus was behaving this way, though she had theories ranging from his wounded pride at being saved by a demigod to mind control from the remnants of Gaea's consciousness. Unfortunately, none of her theories were quite matching up with what was happening, though the mind control one was pretty close. Zeus, ignoring the lack of any support, raised his arm into the air and said, "By the order of the Olympian Council, I hereby sentence this traitor to an eternity in Tartarus!"

At his command, a pit opened up in front of him, which seemed to lead straight to the core of the Earth.

"Bring the condemned forward." When none of the gods moved to grab Percy, Zeus glared at them all, some amount of emotion finally showing in his eyes. Finally his gaze fell on Apollo. "Apollo, I order you to throw the traitor into the Pit!"

Apollo let out a strangled chuckle, his eyes showing fear even as his voice tried to lighten the mood. "Hey, Big Z, how'd you manage to make a pit into the Earth when we're in a floating city above the Empire State Building, huh? I mean, what's up with that?"

Zeus was obviously displeased at the lack of obedience and began to stand up to threaten Apollo. Immediately, Apollo stood up, trying to pacify his angry father. "No, dad, no need to get up, I got this."

As he approached the stunned Perseus, almost all of the Olympians, except Dionysus, Ares, Aphrodite, and Demeter, snatched up their respective symbols of power, which were also still recovering from the battle much like Zeus' bolt, and began to approach Percy as well, though they seemed intent on stopping Apollo more than throwing Percy in the Pit. Zeus yelled at them to stop, seemingly growing more unhinged at his order being defied, but Apollo, actually thinking for once, motioned for him to stop. "It's cool, dad, we're just going to decide who gets to throw the traitor into the Pit."

The gods all met in front of Percy at the same time, several began raising their weapons to threaten Apollo, but he motioned for them all to meet in a huddle.

"I have an idea." He proclaimed proudly, though in a hushed voice to keep Zeus from hearing.

"This better be good." Poseidon growled, refusing to believe his son to be a traitor.

"I agree, we can all agree Perseus is innocent," Athena said, the confusion on her face obvious. "But how can we stop Zeus from carrying out his sentence? He obviously isn't listening to reason, or else he would have seen that the evidence of Percy's innocence far outweighs the evidence of-"

"I know," Apollo interrupted, "which is why I'll take Percy, approach the Pit to get Zeus' guard down, and then flash him out of here at the last second."

"But what if you can't? Zeus might have the enchantment up that stops people from flashing in and out of the throne room." Artemis countered. "We need another plan in case he does."

"Have you seen the way he's acting?" Hades pointed out. "I doubt he's been thinking clearly enough to bother setting up the shield."

"Yes, but if he did-"

"Then I'll think of something else." Apollo said, clearly growing tired of the argument. "Besides, I think dad is getting pretty impatient with-"

"Are you all done yet?" Zeus shouted; his impatience clear. "One of you just throw him into the Pit and be done with it!"

"Sure thing dad!" Apollo called over his shoulder. The assembled gods returned to their thrones and sat, though their muscles were tense in case anything went wrong.

Percy didn't react when Apollo approached, too busy arguing with Gaea in his head. He jumped when a hand fell onto his shoulder, then looked up in fear at Apollo, who merely winked as he slipped something into Percy's hand. He started to look down, but was stopped by the subtle shaking of Apollo's head, so he let his arm fall to his side, keeping the small metal object hidden in his clenched fist.

Apollo whispered to Percy as he ushered him towards the Pit, "On three I'm going to flash you out of here, okay?" Percy nodded.

"One"

"Apollo, stop talking with the prisoner!" Zeus yelled, angry at his apparent lack of decorum.

"Two"

"I said stop, Apollo, or so help me-"

"THREE!" Apollo shouted, grabbing Percy's shoulder and standing there awkwardly. "Well." he muttered, half to himself, half to Percy. "Looks like the shield was up after all."

"WHAT TREACHERY IS THIS!?" Zeus roared, charging around the pit towards Apollo and Percy. Unfortunately for him, the seven Olympians on Percy's side were prepared for this and leapt from their thrones, their symbols of power at the ready.

Artemis, annoyance clear in her voice, called to Apollo, "Now don't you wish we had a back-up plan?"

"Got it covered, sis!" Apollo called back, sounding quite pleased with himself.

"Well, what is-" Artemis was cut off again by the sudden appearance of the sun chariot, which would have been unusual in and of itself had it not appeared by smashing down the twin doors at the front of the throne room. The car spun itself and stopped, its front pointed towards the entrance and its trunk only a foot or two from Percy, who was, unfortunately, not as heat resistant as Apollo and immediately began to sweat buckets.

"Go, go!" Apollo said, ushering Percy towards the driver's seat of the car.

"But I can't drive this!" Percy said, Gaea's voice completely forgotten in the heat of the moment.

"You have the keys and you have a license, you're good to go!"

"I don't have the- oh." Percy looked down at the object in his hand, placed there by Apollo. He quickly dove towards the driver's seat but was stopped by a hand on his shoulder. His eyes traced the hand up the arm to its owner's face. "Lord Zeus?" Percy glanced back to the other Olympians, who were currently holding down Zeus. "But you're-"

"Over there? I know, Perseus." The new Zeus replied, his eyes dark with an emotion Percy couldn't quite name, though it was more akin to annoyance than anger. "And why I'm over there when I'm clearly over here will soon be straightened out."

"Unhand me!" The first Zeus shouted, his eyes still dead, though now they were at least moving. "I am your king!"

"Actually, that would be me." Thirteen Olympians and one imposter nearly suffered whiplash from turning to look at the new Zeus so quickly. "And I would appreciate it if you'd stop using my face, voice, and other traits."

The imposter sneered at Zeus. "We shall see that boy in Tartarus, no matter the cost."

"You're not really in much of a position to do much." Hades drily pointed out, finishing wrapping the imposter in stygian iron chains.

"You're a little… tied up." Apollo said, grinning at the assembled gods, only to get whacked upside the head from an annoyed Artemis and a slightly more amused Hestia.

"Yes, I might be incapacitated." The imposter said, drawing astonished looks when he melted into shadows, his voice lingering in the air. "But my brothers… not so much."

WHAM! Percy was sent flying forward, skidding to a halt mere inches from the mouth of the Pit, a small but noticeable amount of blood leaking from his head. The gods whirled to the sun chariot and the entrance of the throne room, only to be met with twenty shadows, all charging towards the Olympians and one standing directly where Percy was mere seconds before. Several of the spirits dove into Zeus' body, which went rigid and shook for a few moments before becoming strangely still. The rest of the shadows began to engage the Olympians in battle, though they were clearly outmatched.

"Perseus Jackson." The voice issuing forth from Zeus' mouth was clearly not his own, his body walking forward almost like a bad robot: sharp and jerky. "By the order of the Olympian Council, I hereby sentence you to an eternity in Tartarus!" Standing over Perseus, Zeus' arm grabbed Percy by the collar of his shirt, and held him over the Pit. Zeus' eyes flickered between the vacant look the imposter had and a look of defiance. His right arm began to loosen, almost dropping Percy into the Pit, but his left arm lunged forward and held Percy by his collar instead. "Let go." Zeus' mouth said, though his eyes said no. Percy, still groggy from his head injury earlier, struggled feebly to gain a hold on Zeus' arm, but to no avail. Zeus' hold on his shirt began to slacken, and Zeus' eyes grew wide with horror as the realization that he couldn't stop his own arm dawned on him. Zeus mouth twisted into a smirk and said three final words. "Goodbye, Perseus Jackson."

The last image Percy would see before a week of darkness and falling was Zeus' arm outstretched over the Pit and shadows streaming from his mouth.