Disclaimer - I don't own PJO and I never will

*THIS HAS BEEN EDITED*

Percy POV

Gaea walked up to me with a malicious grin on her face. As she was walking, she began to speak. "Hmm let's see, should I do physical or emotional torture first? Ah, choices, choices." Continuing towards the spot where I was bound, she threw a "What do you think" into the shadows behind her. A second voice answered her. "I think emotional first would be nice," the voice said. It took a moment to really sink in. I knew that voice. I had put my life in that person's hands. No. This can't possibly be real – there's just no way. Gaea's grin slowly got bigger as she took in my obvious distress. "Why don't you come out now, An-"

"Annabeth," I whispered, my voice hoarse, as she stepped out from behind Gaea.

"Hello again Percy. You look like you're holding up well." And then she laughed. That laugh that I love so much, from the person that I love even more.

It was her. Oh gods no, this couldn't be happening. "W-what are you doing here Annabeth," I managed to croak out. I was afraid that I already knew the answer, but I still had to know – even if it did feel like a spike was slowly being driven into my heart. "Well," Gaea said stepping in to answer, "Meet my personal spy – the one and only, Annabeth Chase."

That confirmed most of my suspicions (sadly), but there was one more thing I needed to know. "Why," I asked. That question hung in the air like an impending storm until finally Gaea began to speak. "You see, Percy," she said, beginning to walk in a slow circle around me, "Annabeth here came to me a little while back. She said she couldn't deal with the gods anymore – she was just so tired of nothing getting done. So I offered to help. It's as simple as that, really."

"What could you possibly offer her that we couldn't," I shouted at her. "She has everything she needs! She doesn't need-"

"See that's just the thing, Percy," Annabeth said, cutting me off. "You don't know what I need. Stupid Seaweed Brain," – I flinched when she said that – "Gaea offered the one thing you never could. She promised me power. She said I would rule the world by her side once we had defeated those pesky Gods and that I could redesign the world exactly as I saw fit." Her smile quickly turned sour as she looked at me. "But of course you had to interfere." And of course that's what led her here – her fatal flaw, hubris. She thought that she could do everything better than anyone else.

And just like that, it was as if a switch had been flipped.

"So now because of that, you are going to pay," she screamed at me, her eyes burning with anger and hate. With that parting message, she disappeared into thin air. Meanwhile, Gaea was busy conjuring up an Iris Message – don't ask me why the hell Iris would ever comply with her request, but she did. It focused in on the kitchen in my house, where Paul – my stepdad – and my mom were sitting at a table talking and laughing. A sick feeling started to appear in my stomach as I began to comprehend the possibilities of why I was being forced to watch this. And I do mean forced – more chains had sprouted from the walls to hold my head in place, and for some reason I was not able to close my eyes.

The doorbell rang in my house, and you could clearly hear it through the IM. Upon hearing it, my mom kissed Paul on the cheek and got up to open the door. ON the other side, she found a smiling Annabeth. Without giving it much thought, she let her in and Annabeth immediately went into the kitchen. My mom followed, probably asking if she would like something to eat or drink, not seeing anything wrong with the situation. After all, Annabeth comes to visit all the time. I wanted to scream at her to run or hide – just do something – to get away from Annabeth, but I knew there was nothing I could do. I felt absolutely powerless as I watched the events unfold in front of my eyes. When they were all in the kitchen, Annabeth made her move. She quickly reached across the table, grabbed Paul, and slit his throat with her hidden blade before he even had time to cry out. My mom stood there in shock, not completely registering what had just happened. Annabeth took this as her opportunity and gave the same treatment to my mother. By this time, I was full on sobbing – harsh, gut-wrenching cries of pure anguish. My mom and Paul were gone, and I hadn't been able to do anything but sit and watch. My entire family had just been wiped out in front of me, all because of something I had done. "They were innocent," I screamed at Gaea. "They had nothing to do with this! How could you?" My cries feel upon deaf ears though, as all she did was stand in front of me and laugh.

Moments later, Annabeth flashed in with a satisfied smirk on her face, and blood dripping from the sleeves that housed her hidden blades. The weapons that had so quickly – so easily – finished off my parents. "Mission complete, my Lady," she stated smugly, looking over at me in triumph. I used to love that look, but now I wanted nothing more than to kill the person who it belonged to. "Very well done Annabeth. That was very good entertainment," she said. I was completely enraged, but no matter what I did I couldn't snap out of my chains. Having done all that they had come there to do, they turned and left, leaving me in my futile struggles to escape and go after them. "I'll kill you, ya hear me," I shouted after them. "You'll pay for this! Everything you've done – you'll pay for it all!" Finally, after an hour or so of struggling and shouting myself hoarse, I stopped, shoulders slumped in defeat.

I'm not quite sure how much time passed before they came back for more. It's hard to tell in Tartarus – especially when you're chained beneath the surface, like I am. But eventually, I heard their footsteps sounding throughout the halls, headed my way. As they came closer, I realized that they were flanked by guards. When they entered the cell, the guards spread out – one to each side of me – while Gaea and Annabeth stayed directly in front of me.

"Don't think we forgot about the other part of your treatment," Gaea said, coming up to me and landing a solid blow to my stomach. Quickly, while my head was lowered in pain, Annabeth brought her knee up and connected with my jaw, snapping my head back and sending blurry spots dancing across my vision. They continued brutally beating me until I could barely see straight anymore, before finally stepping back and admiring their handiwork.

"And now," Gaea said while licking her lips, "I believe it's time for the real show to start."

With that, she plunged her sword straight through my chest. The pain was almost unbearable, but I refused to cry out. For mom, I thought. And Paul. Annabeth then took her dagger and made a large incision right above my heart. And Dad. She lifted a large vial of a smoking substance and poured it into my chest. And Jessie.I almost cried out, but stopped myself just in time. But they could see it was working – whatever it was – and I could feel the substance eating away at me from the inside.

Surprisingly though, I hadn't died yet. As if Gaea had read my mind, she said, "Oh and by the way, you can't die inside my prison." Lucky me, I thought sarcastically. This will be a real blast. Then she brought out a whip covered in the same substance, and my mind went blank. She started lashing me with it, over and over and over again, until I felt myself slipping into unconsciousness. The last thing I heard before completely succumbing to Morpheus' realm – or whoever the hell controlled dreams down here in Tartarus – was Gaea saying, " Ah, Python venom really does do the trick."

-Time Skip 5 Years-

I had lost count of the amount of time I had spent in Tartarus with Gaea and Annabeth. The days were all the same, full of torture and taunts. You'd think that after a while I'd stop feeling the pain, having gone through torture every day. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. Instead, each day felt like the first time all over again. My torturers never seemed to run out of ideas too. Which is great, really – wouldn't want to get bored or anything. As I thought this, I began to hear footsteps heading down the corridor towards me. I mentally braced myself for more torture as the clang of my cell door being pushed open resounded throughout the prison. I immediately became wary, knowing that my torturers were back.

When no taunts or whips were thrown at me, I slowly raised my head and my eyes widened in shock as I saw a man who I had never seen here before. He was at least 6'5" and he looked to be about thirty years old. His hair was a shiny silver, and his entire face looked as though it had been chiseled out of stone. But what caught me were his eyes. They were a pitch black – even the part that's normally white.

And here's the cool part – you could see every single galaxy in them.

And when I say that, I mean all of the ones I could recognize.

And when I say that, I mean you could see the Milky Way in them.

Still, you get my point – the guy had some cool eyes.

I knew right away that this was not someone you wanted as an enemy. He walked over to me, as silent as the rock from which he had been carved. Was he really carved out of rock though, I asked myself. I mean, he sure looks like it. But if he was, then how would he- "Would you kindly shut up? I can hear your thoughts from here."

By the time I looked up, he had stopped right in front of me. And I'm not gonna lie, when he spoke I was extremely surprised. But it wasn't the fact that he could read my mind – cause really, I live in a world where all people do is read each other's minds. No, what surprised me was that instead of the hard, gravelly voice I was expecting, his voice was as soft as velvet and flowed as smoothly as a river, but it still demanded respect. "Hello Perseus Jackson, we meet at last," he said with a small smile.

"Who are you and why are you here," I asked in a rather cold tone, completely ignoring his attempt at a greeting. I know – how rude of me – but the only people who ever knew my real name were my best friends and my worst enemies. He simply laughed, and I felt all of my worries and fears melt away. Which, by the way, is so not fair. Being able to control the emotions of other people by laughing? Give me a break. Ignoring my thought process – which I'm sure he was listening in on – he spread his arms and said, "I am Chaos, creator of the universe, and as for why I'm here – well I have a request for you."

I just stood there, mouth open in shock, barely even registering the second part of his answer. Finally, I got myself back together and asked, "What is this request, Lord Chaos?" He sighed and said, "Okay first of all, just call me Chaos, none of that my Lord bullshit." After I nodded quickly in response, he continued. "Secondly, how would you like to be my personal assassin?"

Geez ever heard of easing a guy into it?

Well if that's the way he was going to play it, then I'd get straight to the point as well. "Does this mean I get to leave," I asked, my voice barely above a whisper. He nodded and a small smile crept onto my face, the first one in many years. "Then I accept, Chaos," I said. He looked up at me and a huge grin stretched across his face. "Perfect," he said, and then in a flash of black I finally left my home of the last 5 years.

A/N - Let me know what you guys thought about this by leaving a review. They really help motivate me to continue writing. Thanks!

-runwild14