He woke up to a room of white, a colour that shouldn't exist. He wondered how it hadn't been fouled yet. It must be new. It wouldn't stay white. He went to sit up, but couldn't. Restraints. He was trapped. The rage set in. Who would dare to trap him? How did they even manage it? The last thing he remembered he had been ascending the steps, and then–
His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a door opening. He froze. Have to stop movement, wait for the best moment to strike. A man in blue, black hair and a beard. He looked vaguely familiar, but no time to think about it. Need to escape. The man was saying something, he didn't care to listen. Whomever had restrained him hadn't done a good job, they hadn't sealed his access to the Words. They must be new. They wouldn't live. The man was looking at him with sadness. The man was a fool; pity would get him killed.
Pa'al. The restraints flew open. He leapt up, seized the man by the throat. He reached his hand out, calling for his familiar scythe, but no response. He hesitated. Stupid mistake. The man flashed away, most likely to seek more reinforcements. The room had been sealed around him.
It wouldn't hold.
An anxious Poseidon greeted a haggard Zeus as he rejoined the physical realm. "What's wrong? Is he alright? Has he recovered?"
He looked down at Zeus' torn clothes. His eyes narrowed. "Did you hurt him?" he rumbled, his divine trident coming to hand.
Zeus slapped Poseidon's hand off of him. "Me, hurt him? He was the one that did this to me! I don't know what the hell happened to him in the time since we last heard from him, but he's different. Much, much different."
The anger drained from Poseidon, replaced by waves of worry. "Let me talk to him."
Zeus paused. "I don't think that's a good idea, brother. He's… volatile right now."
"I don't care. Let me see him."
Zeus sighed. "I'm sorry brother, but I can't let you in right now. I fear that you won't be able to handle it, nor he. It's too much a risk right now, I can't let it happen."
Rage gripped Poseidon. "Brother, if you don't move over, I will make you. I will rip Olympus apart brick by brick if it means gaining access to the room."
"Poseidon, please. I can't let you do that. Please just listen to me, don't do anything rash."
Tension gripped the hallways as the two brothers faced off, the only sound the dull thud of the monster trapped behind the wall escaping. The rage escaped Poseidon, leaving only a sad and broken old man.
"Please," he whispered. "Just let me see him. Just once. I won't ask you again."
Zeus sighed. "Fine. But only for a couple minutes, and if things go south I'm pulling you out."
A smile lit Poseidon's sea-worn face. "A few minutes is all I need."
The walls were starting to collapse. Good. He would be able to escape soon, be free of this place. Another man flashed in. Tan, black hair. Green eyes.
Green eyes.
Memories flashing. Pain. A tree, a camp. A girl. A woman laughing, blue food. A maze. A dying girl. A sea. A throne. A battle. The Styx. The man in front of him, laughing. Anger. Abandonment. Fear. Hatred. Burning, searing hatred. He leapt at the man.
The man recoiled, obviously not expecting an attack. Fool. Water formed in his hand, transforming into a blade of bronze. His shocked belied his disbelief at the technique. What fools these captors were. The man hastily blocked with a trident. An odd weapon choice, to be sure, but an effective one. He conjured water blades behind the man, attempting to pincer him. The water was wrested from his control, falling harmlessly to the ground. He frowned. The man must specialise in water. He wouldn't win using parlour tricks.
He felt within himself, to his innate domains. He reached for the glowing hourglass, calling upon its power. He felt it radiate out from himself, covering the room. Time slowed to a crawl. The man panicked, fighting back with his own powers. It helped, but only somewhat. The man was evidently a beginner at duels of this level. He wouldn't live to gain experience. He swung the blade he had called once more, knocking the man's trident away, before bringing it level with the man's throat. One final thrust and it would be over. He went in for the killing blow.
"Perseus!" the man yelled.
Perseus. The name seemed familiar. He remembered seeing a man of that name on the Isles of the Blest, but that didn't seem right. There was another, someone whom he couldn't quite recollect. A young demigod, a son of the Greek god Poseidon. He looked remarkably similar to the man in front of him. Perhaps this man was Poseidon, calling for his loved ones in his last moments. It didn't matter to him.
A reflection on the blade caught his eye. Black hair. Green eyes. Perseus.
He was Perseus.
Seeing his last desperate call to his estranged son fail, Poseidon resigned himself to his fate. Yet the bite of the blade never came. He looked up, seeing his son standing there, mumbling to himself. He was shaking badly, as if stuck in the coldest of blizzards. He watched the light of recognition dawn in his son's eyes, and watched it bleed away as horror took its place.
"No," Perseus said. "No, gods, no. Oh gods. What have I done? Why did I do those things?"
He was shaking more now, stumbling backwards as if running from himself. He dropped the blade in his hands, a failed attempt at running from himself.
"No! No! No!" His shrieks were getting louder, interspersed by sobs that wracked his frame.
Poseidon stumbled over to him, embracing his son and trying to calm him down. He couldn't help but wonder what had happened to the boy since his disappearance over twenty years ago. A small part of him was afraid to know.
His comforting seemed to do little for Perseus, his frantic shrieking slowly fading away to be replaced by quiet sobs. Poseidon continued to stroke his son's back, doing his best to let him know he was there. His focus, however, was drawn away by the entrance of his brother.
"Is he alright?" Zeus asked.
Poseidon sighed. "He's not on a rampage anymore, which is the best we could ask for right now. Only time will tell the rest."
Zeus hesitated. Poseidon could tell what was coming next.
"He isn't Kronos, brother."
"You felt time slow just as I, brother. The coincidences are too many. You know just as well as I he wasn't the same after his duel with Kronos, and his sudden disappearance at the throne? It seems far too likely."
Poseidon's face hardened. "He is not Kronos, brother, and if you continue on this line of reasoning, I will revolt a second time against this godforsaken place, and bring everyone I can with me. We both know that such a thing won't be stopped by you stripping my divine power again, brother. You haven't been able to for millennia."
Poseidon could feel his brother's anger building. "I will not let this world be endangered because of your foolishness. Unless you can provide me evidence, hard evidence, that he is who you say he his, I will treat him as a hostile Titan, with all the burdens that bears," Zeus said.
Further debate was interrupted by the subject of the conversation recovering enough consciousness to look over at the new intruder in the room. Terror overran his features.
"No!" he screamed. "Please! Don't throw me back in there! I'm not Kronos! I didn't do anything wrong! Please, I just want to go home! I haven't done anything! Please! Please don't send me back! I can't do it!"
Zeus and Poseidon froze. Poseidon turned to look at his awkwardly-shifting brother.
"Zeus," he said. "Would you care to explain to me why he said that?"
"I-I don't know what he's talking about," he stammered.
Perseus' frantic begging proved an effective counterargument.
Like an oncoming hurricane, Poseidon's rage grew. "Zeus, give me an explanation this instant, or I swear on our mother I will drag you before the Fates and have it forced out of your screaming mouth."
"You have no right to–" Zeus and Poseidon were tossed to the side like so many piles of brick. They looked over at the source of the tidal wave of force, only to feel a horrific murderous intent wash over them. Stricken, they watched as the crumpled figure on the floor slowly stood, a sheen of golden light awash behind him. From his forehead blood flowed as razor-sharp thorns curled away from his scalp, rising into the sky in an ever interlocking crown. His eyes were hollow, seeming to be looking at everything in the room, yet nothing at the same time. A raspy voice echoed from his throat.
"So he managed to get out," the man in the shape of Perseus said. His eyes locked to Zeus. "Notwithstanding your best efforts, Zeus.
"Does his father know about what you did? How you tossed this boy into Tartarus with nary a second thought? He came upon the greatest gift of his life, inheriting the powers of the strongest Titan, and in your fear you exiled him, covering the evidence for as long as you could. But he got out, just like you knew he would. Disposing of him, however, will not be as easy as you would like. Not while I'm around."
"Brother," Poseidon said. "Is this true?"
"Of course not!" Zeus said indignantly. "This is preposterous! We don't even know who this man is, or how he got in Perseus' body, and you blindly trust his words?"
The man laughed. "Who am I? Why, I'm Perseus Jackson of course! Well, in a way anyways. Tartarus is not meant for mortal eyes, and when he fell in, and beyond, he had to fight for his very life. It was all he could do to retain his life, and to do it he had to sacrifice everything he believed in. It finally broke him, but ironically enough also saved him. He cast aside everything he had done, convincing himself someone else had done it. And thus, that beast," he said the last word with disdain. "you met earlier and I were born. I exist only to protect him, and I will do it no matter the cost. I hold none of the attachments he does. If anything, even his father, threatens him, I will eliminate it. This boy needs healing, and I will get it for him."
"Well if healing is what he needs, Camp Half-Blood is just a flash away. It'd do him good to be back home." Poseidon said.
"No!" the man barked, killing intent sweeping the room. After a moment to recollect himself, he continued. "Not there. He isn't ready, it will shatter him. Not Camp Jupiter, either. That place is even worse for him right now. He needs to be reintroduced slowly, away from anyone who knew him personally."
"And where exactly do you propose to do that?" Zeus demanded.
The man grinned. " I have an idea as to where he could go, though I don't think anyone will like it."
Several hours later, an angry shout rang out from the halls of Olympus.
"No! Absolutely not!" Artemis growled. "I'm not accepting a man into the Hunt."
"Artemis, please," Poseidon begged. "Consider it a favour to me. He has nowhere else he can go."
"I don't see how that's my problem."
"Think about everything he's done for you. He went on a quest to save you, held up the sky for you. The least you could do is give him a place to stay while he recovers enough to rejoin the wider world."
"Absolutely no–"
"And so, starting in a week, we will have a male joining the Hunt temporarily." Artemis addressed her Hunters.
Cries of protest echoed through the hunt, stopped nearly instantaneously by a raise of Artemis' hand. "There isn't much we can do about it. Besides, I owe him a favour."
A curious Huntress piped up. "Who exactly is it who is staying with us, My Lady?"
"A famous man, the hero who saved Olympus. All of you know him, some of you have met him."
One of the older Huntresses went wide-eyed. "You don't mean…"
Artemis nodded. "The man who will be staying with us is one Perseus Jackson."