Six Months Later

Nico found himself walking on the shores of Long Island Sound for what felt like the umpteenth time that week, relishing in the feeling of the waves rushing back and forth over his feet. Despite the fact that he had gradually learned to love the ocean instead of fearing it, he refused to venture in past his waist, because the feeling of being submerged in water without Percy felt unnatural to him.

Sure, in the very brief time that the two had been dating the closest they had gotten to visiting the beach was spending time on some of the glaciers around Alaska, but Nico still believed he was significantly safer from the water as long as his boyfriend was around. And seeing that he would never get that luxury again, of feeling safe near the water, he wasn't willing to risk being in Poseidon's territory for longer than necessary.

The sun shone brightly overhead, its rays burning Nico's pale skin and causing for his shaggy hair to cling to the back of his neck. He knew he would've been more comfortable either in the water or inside his cabin, but he enjoyed the burning sensation of the sun singing his skin as it reminded him that he could still feel physically even if he couldn't emotionally.

Well, it wasn't so much that he couldn't feel emotions, but after learning about Percy's fate six months ago, he chose to distance himself from his emotions, deciding that they were more trouble than they were worth. What good did it do him to feel happy for a few fleeting moments when all that was left was a growing pit of emptiness and self-loathing?

After Percy's death, Nico had stopped caring about anything and everything, almost instantly reverting back into the person he had been when Bianca had died when he was ten. He refused to leave his cabin for weeks, ignoring his friends' pleas to talk to him and for him to eat, which resulted in him losing fifteen pounds and not wanting to talk to anyone anymore.

Eventually Jason broke a window and entered the Hades cabin with plates of food piled sky high, and he slowly forced Nico to eat it all, refusing to watch his cousin waste away into nothing more than skin hanging limply off a skeleton.

Nico bemoaned the fact that Jason wouldn't leave him alone. He wished that the son of Jupiter wasn't so darn stubborn, that he would've given up like the others, but no, the older boy had to have feelings and was concerned about his well-being. If Nico was being honest with himself, he wanted to waste away, because at least it would mean he'd be reunited with Percy in Elysium.

He continued walking down the beach, his fingers reaching up to touch the blue shell that was still hanging around his necklace for some inexplicable reason. Multiple times he debated smashing the shell under the heel of his boot or throwing it as far into the sea as he could manage, wanting to throw the shell back at Poseidon's face, making him remember that he had broken his promise. Nico wanted Poseidon to realize that he could've done so much more to protect Percy, and in fact, he wanted to remind him that his actions at the hospital all those months ago was the catalyst that started this mess in the first place.

His actions would've been justified, but seeing as the shell was one of the things that had connected Percy and him at one point in time, he kept it, despite the fact that on certain days the shell was more of a dead weight than a memento.

Nico ran a hand through his unkempt hair, pausing to turn at the ocean as he did, glaring at the waves as they crashed against the sand. Usually the water made him feel better, but today, it was overwhelming, especially since the sixth month anniversary of his death was coming up.

Was this how Annabeth felt when Percy was missing? he wondered, slowly backing away from the water. At least she had some semblance of hope that she'd be reunited with Percy, but Nico would never have the chance.

He remembered taking the train from D.C. back to New York after the attack at the Potomac, and during the ride, Hazel had sent an Iris message saying that someone had kidnapped Percy. Nico remembered watching Hazel sob uncontrollably afterwards, blaming herself for not being there the night he was taken. But as if that wasn't enough, Hazel informed him that Percy had been disowned by Poseidon and that the night he had been stabbed in that gods-forsaken prison had left Soul Switch magic imbued within him. And by the time he had been kidnapped, he was already on the verge of insanity.

Bianca had set out the night before, determined to find Hecate and bargain for a cure, but rumor had it that the goddess of magic had turned against the Olympians, again. It didn't help matters that Kronos had disappeared around the same time, meaning that there was no way of knowing if the magic had worn off or not.

Nico's life would never be easy, would it?

Then came the day that Nico felt his soul, if you could even call that at this point, enter the Underworld. Nico had tried to summon his soul to talk, but when he appeared, he was so transparent that the slightest gust of wind severed the connection almost instantly. He was heartbroken once more. He knew he shouldn't have uttered those three words, the three words that ware a death sentence to everyone he said them to.

Sighing, he turned away from the beach and began heading back to the cabin area. He was just about to pass the volleyball courts on the edge of the beach when a tanned hand caught him in the shoulder. Nico scowled, clamped his hand around the person's wrist, and judo flipped them over his shoulder before planting a foot on their chest, preventing them from getting up. His expression softened mildly when he realized who he was pinning down.

"Sorry about that, Will."

The son of Apollo gave him a warm smile in reply. "I knew you were strong before, but immortality suits you well."

Nico gave him a half-hearted smile, but couldn't keep the grimace off his face. Every time he talked to Will, he couldn't help but feel an air of awkwardness between the two of them. Yeah, you wouldn't be too keen on your ex-boyfriend dating his first crush because you had died on a suicide quest your father gave you.

"I was pretty surprised when Zeus offered it to everyone," Nico replied, helping Will up from his fallen position.

"I was even more surprised when he brought me and Annabeth back."

At the winter solstice, six months ago, Nico had finally found out what that conversation Poseidon had with Percy at the bottom of the Sound a few weeks prior to his kidnapping. The conversation they had had the day Nico went to visit Sally. Speaking of which, he would need to talk with her sometime soon.

Anyways, Poseidon had somehow managed to convince the entire council to grant the seven (minus Percy), Reyna, Nico, and Will (Nico thought that was his father's suggestion) partial immortality for the time being, and when Percy was found, they'd all become gods – their parent's lieutenants. But when the gods caught drift of Percy's death, they surprisingly upheld their promise, asking their children if they wanted to become gods. No one accepted the gift, instead saying they would want to join Percy in Elysium someday instead of living forever.

"Nico?" Will asked, waving a hand in front of his face.

"Hmm?" Nico blinked twice before realizing that Will had been trying to get his attention, while he had been deep in his own thoughts.

"Did you even hear me?"

"No," he admitted, fingering the shell around his neck subconsciously. It had become a habit of his, one that he felt bittersweet about.

"You're thinking about him again, aren't you?" Will clapped him on the back twice, before he mouthed something to his teammates, leading Nico away to a secluded place not too far off from the beach.

"Yeah." Nico bit the inside of his lip, the awkwardness he usually felt coming in like an impending storm. "But at least I know he's in a better place. That's more than I could've wished for."

Will grimaced, pursing his lips into a fine line as he looked over Nico with his doctoral eyes. It was like he was searching for something Nico was hiding, something he wasn't telling anyone about. But Nico had nothing to hide, so the look made him want to squirm.

Will opened his mouth, paused, and then spoke. "Just…be careful what you wish for, okay?" Will looked him over once more, before running back to the volleyball courts, leaving Nico by himself with a confused look on his face.

"Okay, I guess," Nico mumbled to himself, shrugging off Will's comment. He glanced back at the beach one more time, relishing in the cool breeze the sea brought on this unbearably hot day before finally heading back to his cabin, content with locking himself away from the rest of the world.

Percy gritted his teeth as Kronos's scythe opened a gash on his upper thigh while Triton continued to relentlessly attack him with the broadsword in his hand, not afraid to hit him with the hilt, then using that momentum to cut him once more. Percy parried a blow to the back of his knee with Riptide, continuing his fluid motion and knocking Triton's left foot out from underneath him, causing the sea prince to lose his balance.

Triton cursed in a language that sounded suspiciously like a dolphin, yet Percy could completely understand him. Had Poseidon heard his eldest son, he'd probably wash his mouth out with a bar of soap.

Poseidon.

His name alone was enough to send Percy into a wave of unbridled anger as he suddenly turned into a demon, slashing and hacking at both Kronos and Triton, forcing them on the defensive unless they wanted some very painful wounds inflicted on them. Percy roared, water bursting from the pipes as he shot various water spears and ice daggers as his combatants, aiming for joints that provided vital range of motion: the shoulders, elbows, hips, and knees. He couldn't help but grin when he heard a grunt of pain escape one of their lips, meaning he had landed a blow.

He jumped over Triton's sword – a hit that would've sent him sprawling – before pivoting on his left foot, landing a roundhouse kick to his brother's face just below the eye, where his cheekbone was. The bone broke with a sickening CRUNCH as Triton collapsed to the training room floor, ichor flowing from his cheek and the other wounds he had received during the fight. With Triton out of the equation, all that left for Percy was Kronos.

Percy was bouncing on the balls of his feet, light as a feather, and ready to jump like a coiled spring the second that Kronos would make his move. He observed his Titan mentor, hoping to see anything that he might use as an advantage.

Kronos still looked like Luke, even though he was stronger now than when he was first revived, but Percy had grown accustomed to seeing his old, not friend per say, but cabin mate with molten gold eyes instead of baby blue ones. He had a split lip from when Percy knocked his scythe out of the way in a movement that sent the curved tip against his lips. An ugly bruise was forming on his shin, a few gashes here and there lay scattered on his chest and arms, but the deepest wound he had was by his elbow, where Percy had ducked from defending against Triton, letting his former mentor open the wound while he rolled away, hoping to catch even the slightest reprieve against his relentless trainers.

He barely had a moment to catch his breath before Kronos was diving at him again, nearly severing his arm off. Percy immediately thrust Riptide forward and smiled slightly when he heard a disgruntled sound escape Kronos' lips. After training with the Titan of time for the past few months, he learned some of his patterns, one of which being that he tended to put too much power in his swings, leaving him vulnerable while he brought his arm back to his side.

Percy went on the offensive, going in closer since he had the shorter weapon, and began attacking Kronos' chest relentlessly. Even though both opponents were tiring each other out, Percy knew exactly how he was going to end this battle.

Without a second thought, he waited for Kronos to charge and immediately transformed himself into a puddle, causing for the Titan's momentum to send him flying towards the ground. Percy reformed moments later, and by the time Kronos realized what had happened, Percy had already drew blood.

The previous agreement was to fight until someone yielded, though, so Percy didn't raise his guard yet, cursing at the fact that as he went to place Riptide against Kronos' throat, the Titan kicked his feet out from underneath him. His ears were ringing from the impact as he rolled to the side, the scythe missing him by mere millimeters.

"You've got to be faster," Kronos berated Percy, twirling his scythe in his hand before slamming the butt of the handle into the ground. A few months ago the resulting shockwave would've toppled Percy, but he had learned to anticipate this attack and used the dirt floor to his advantage, using it as a way to anchor his feet.

"Says the Titan of time," Percy muttered out, dislodging his feet from the dirt before charging at Kronos.

The two combatants were still fighting valiantly, completely unaware of the stirring Triton, who was slowly regaining consciousness. Percy had to stifle a devious smile when Kronos overreached on one of his parries, which gave him the opportunity to trip the Titan. He took advantage of Kronos' confusion and swung Riptide down, the tip of the sword entering the Titan's abdomen at last.

Kronos roared out in pain, much to Percy's elation. He continued taking advantage of his wounded opponent, and before Kronos could think about fighting back, Riptide was pointed at the base of his throat.

"Do you yield?" Percy asked Kronos, his grip on the sword being unyielding despite the fact that his chest was heaving up and down from the exertion.

"I would," Kronos began, "if I knew that you had beaten us all."

Percy scrunched his eyebrows together in confusion, but that only lasted for a moment as he heard the sounds of Triton struggling to his feet. He scowled at the sight, because he had thought that the buffoon had been taken care of earlier. Instead of turning his back on Kronos to fight the imbecile that was his ex-trainer, Percy stabbed Kronos higher up on his chest to make sure that he couldn't attack Percy right away.

And seeing that Triton was still regaining his bearings, all Percy had to do was slam Riptide's hilt to the back of Triton's head, and the former sea prince collapsed to the floor again. To make sure that he was fully out of it this time, Percy brought his boot-clad foot down against Triton's jaw, smirking at the sounds that his bones made as they shattered.

"He's pathetic," Percy spat, kicking Triton in the side for good measure before returning back to Kronos, still brandishing Riptide in his hand. "Now, I ask you again, do you yield?"

Much to Percy's surprise, Kronos gave him a beaming smile before bowing his head in defeat. "I yield."

Percy nodded in acknowledgment, capping Riptide as he did and putting the pen back in his pocket. He then proceeded to help Kronos up, fishing out a square of ambrosia from his jacket as he did so.

"You know better, Perseus," Kronos chided him, glaring disdainfully at the small golden square.

Percy simply sighed as he pocketed the ambrosia once more. "Are you sure about this? We both know what happened the last time I tried."

"That's exactly the reason you should be practicing. You'll be on the battlefield soon enough. And who knows when we'll need this ability of yours?"

Percy rolled his eyes at the overdramatic titan but consented to practicing anyways, knowing that if his disobedience somehow got back to Pontus, he'd suffer dearly. See, there were certain rules that ran this place, and despite the fact they no longer applied to him, they were still ingrained in the recess of his brain.

He remembered when he was a lowly foot soldier in the army, disposable for the simplest of missions. Many of those that got sent out with him never made it back alive, but seeing that he had survived all his missions and passed training with flying colors, he moved up the ranks quickly. But so long as he remained lower than the rank of officer, he lived under the strict enforcement of Pontus' rules:

1. Never question Pontus

2. Listen to your superiors and don't speak unless spoken to

3. Never look the generals of Pontus in the eyes and treat them with the utmost respect

4. Obey the curfew

5. Do not under any circumstance become a traitor

The consequences for breaking one of the first four rules ranged from having a whipping using Nyx's whip – which was made of pure Night and coated with a venom only she and Chaos have ever heard of – to spending a minimum of a week in Thalassa's personal torture chamber. Gods help you if you somehow ended in the torture chamber of the queen, because not only were you subject to her whim, Pontus would also use you as his personal plaything.

Percy had only seen one person leave Thalassa's torture chamber with their sanity, but the horrors were so scarring that by the same time the following week, they had stabbed themselves in the heart.

While he had never been sent to the torture chamber, he received twenty lashes to his back, because he had accidently looked at Selene in the eyes. The scars were still on Percy's back, but over time, they had faded to a much lighter shade of pink than the angry red flesh they had been when he had first gotten them.

As for the punishment regarding the fifth rule, well, plain and simple, it was death. The condemned traitor would have a very public and very gruesome execution, and seeing that Pontus was one who enjoyed creativity, he somehow managed to make their deaths relate to what they had done.

Percy remembered that a boy – a son of Apollo, if he remembered it correctly – had sent Olympus intel by sending Morse code messages, using his gift to bend light as the method of doing so. When Pontus learned of this, the boy's execution had been by burning him with a highly focused beam of light, but instead of merely burning him at the stake, every message he had sent to Olympus was used against him. So in a series of dots and dashes, Percy watched as the boy's skin charred and blistered over until smoke was coming off his body.

Fortunately for those watching, the boy had died by the end of the first message, so at least the tormenting screams ceased. But Pontus went through with his promise, and every single message was burnt onto the boy's skin. By the end of it, all that was left was a pile of ashes in the middle of the room, smoke still billowing off of it.

"This is what happens to those who turn their back on us!" Pontus had declared, sweeping the ashes away with the heel of his shoe as he did so. "Think twice before turning to those good for nothing Olympians!" Then he would vanish from the room, and his generals would quickly follow suit.

The feeling after executions always left Percy sick to his stomach, almost like he was going to throw up, but he quickly learned to mask the feeling. Nowadays there were new traitors popping up in their midst so frequently that Pontus had to increase their execution schedule from once a week to biweekly.

"Perseus, are you going to do this or not?" Kronos snapped, bringing Percy back to reality.

"Yes," he answered immediately. "I was just preparing myself."

"Well, hurry it up."

"As you wish."

Percy brought over the barrel of water that was used for cleaning off weapons after training and dunked Kronos' hand inside of it. Now, he knew that the water would heal him because he was a son of Pontus, but it would do nothing for Kronos.

"Prove your birthright," Kronos spat, seeing that Percy still hadn't done anything.

"I don't like your tone," Percy fought back, narrowing his eyes.

"If you don't do this right now, I will inform your father. I don't think he'll be too pleased about this, especially if you are to be promoted to lead general."

"Enough of this, Kronos," Percy said through gritted teeth, calling for the water in the barrel to heal the Titan's wounds. He felt the familiar tug in his gut, letting him know that something was happening with the water.

He watched intently as Kronos' skin gradually knitted itself together, something he had only ever seen happen to himself. Percy knew it was too early to celebrate yet, because there was still the matter of closing up the two stab wounds that he had created on Kronos' abdomen and chest.

Slowly the shallower wound on the Titan's abdomen knitted itself shut, but when Percy felt the water touch the chest wound, he hissed in pain. Not only was there resistance from the water to be so close to the heart and lungs, there was no more water in the barrel either, meaning that he had to use water in the air or from himself.

"I-I can't heal the last wound," Percy told Kronos, his arms gradually becoming shakier as he kept trying to force the water to heal him. "There's not enough water left."

"Then use the air," Kronos said, as if this were the easiest thing in the world.

Percy quickly wiped the sweat out of his eyes as he continued to fight the water. It was as if someone had tied his intestines into a knot and was slowly tightening it while someone else was pushing him in the opposite direction of the way the water was supposed to go.

Had this been a fight back on the surface, Percy would have no issue summoning the water in the air to do his bidding, but this was the training room of the generals, gods, Titans, and protogenoi, so of course there was going to be as little help from the environment as possible. For example, the floor wasn't a hundred percent dirt – it was a mixture of sand and gravel and a whole bunch of things so you couldn't solely depend on the earth. There was limited light, no air currents, very limited water, and for other powers, Pontus had installed a dampener.

"You must be able to work under the most dire of circumstances, youngling," Pontus had told him, a hand resting on Percy's shoulder as the two of them gazed down on the bustling arena. During that time, the generals had been training, and it took all of Percy's strength to not flinch at the speed and agility of some of the generals, especially the Titans Selene, Helios, Perses, and Kronos. "And that means training with the dampeners, even if it causes you pain."

"I understand, Father," Percy had replied, bowing his head slightly as a sign of respect. Father or no, Pontus wouldn't hesitate to throw him into his stepmother's torture chamber if he pushed the wrong buttons.

Remembering his father's words, Percy felt an intense burning feeling in his gut as he pulled water from the air, and before it had a chance to rebel against him, he pressed his hand against the Titan's wound, forcing the skin to knit back together whether the water agreed or not. He grit his teeth, ignoring the fact that it felt like his body was about to ignite at any moment and watched as ichor stopped flowing between his fingertips.

Percy removed his hand, checking to make sure that the wound on Kronos' chest had fully healed. Once he was certain that the Titan was no longer bleeding, he immediately took a seat at the foot of the barrel, his chest heaving up and down heavily as he tried to regain his strength.

"Where's your backpack?" he heard Kronos mutter before the Titan took off towards the locker room.

If it wasn't for the fact that this occurred on a daily basis, Percy might've been concerned that he would pass out and be stuck in the arena until someone found him, but he knew Kronos went searching for his backpack for the water bottles that were always there. He had brought two of the six bottles from his backpack down today, but had he known how strenuous today's training would be, he would've brought all six.

Now as to why Percy had taken a liking to bringing water bottles everywhere all of a sudden, well, he wasn't too keen on the idea either until one of his barrack mates had told him, "If water strengthens you, then why don't you carry a water bottle with you at all times?" It made sense, first of all, and second of all, Percy felt stupid for not coming up with that idea in the first place.

Ever since then, it was a miracle if you could catch Percy without some sort of water bottle on his person or nearby. Pontus got so annoyed with him at one point that he had enchanted one of Percy's bottles to transform into a charm that, like Riptide, would always return to his pocket if he misplaced it.

Kronos was already walking back in his direction before Percy could think of his charm anymore, positive that if he kept thinking about it, he would resort to drinking his own sweat (which he knew was gross and actually very unhelpful, but hey, he was desperate).

Percy gratefully accepted the water bottles, taking slow, measured sips at first before downing the entire bottle like he was in some drinking contest. Before he knew it, he finished two other bottles, water still dribbling from his lips from how quickly he drank.

"That," Kronos said, sounding slightly disgusted and awed, "was one of the grossest things I've ever witnessed, and I'm immortal, mind you. Had you been by my side during our reign, you would've been the talk of every party. All Titans respected anyone who could down a glass of nectar in under ten seconds."

"Sorry to disappoint," Percy said sarcastically, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand before standing up. "Not my choice to be born in this day and age."

"Touché. Now, what are we going to do with that disgraced mentor of yours?"

Percy shrugged as he walked over to where Triton lay, nudging the fallen god with the toe of his boot to see if he would stir. Unsurprisingly, Triton didn't even flinch. "We do what we've been doing this whole time," Percy responded, moving to grab the god by the ankles. "We bring him up to Selene."

"She won't be happy to see him again," Kronos said, grabbing Triton's wrists. On the count of three they hoisted him up and began heading towards the infirmary, which for some reason was four floors above the arena. "I've already lost track of how many times we've had to drag his sorry ass to the infirmary this week."

"This is the sixteenth time, if I'm not mistaken. Well, from training anyways. Chaos knows how many times he's gone without either one of us knowing."

"At least he's not as bad as Perses," commented Kronos, the two briefly pausing to adjust their grips before they started moving again.

Percy scoffed. "Oh, if anything, Perses is much worse than this idiot. That guy doesn't know when to keep his head out of other people's business. He's asking to be impaled."

"I agree with you, Perseus. It's a wonder Pontus hasn't thrown him to the Void yet."

Percy shot the Titan a look of confusion, which nearly sent the two tumbling when Kronos looked behind him and Percy continued walking. Seeing the look on Kronos' face, the one that was asking Percy to explain, he said, "That's a little harsh, don't you think? Yes, he's an idiot with an over-inflated ego and has a fuse the size of a grain of rice, but surely no one deserves that."

"Why do you defend him? He's hated you from the moment you joined the army, more so now that you're in your new position."

He attempted a shrug, but that was difficult seeing that his arms were currently being used to lug around an unconscious god around a palace at the bottom of the ocean. At least Percy had help so he wasn't dragging Triton around by himself. Thankfully Pontus was up to date with modern day technology, so they'd be able to take an elevator the four floors up instead of taking Triton up the stairs. In that case, Percy and Kronos would've probably each grabbed an arm and simply pulled, uncaring of the new bruises they'd be adding.

"I-I don't know," Percy finally answered truthfully, scowling down at Triton as the god jerked up in his sleep, his kick nearly knocking the wind out of Percy. He was tempted to leave Triton in the elevator just for the fun of it, but he knew that Pontus wouldn't be amused if he did. "It just seems…" he struggled for the right word, before saying, "wrong to leave someone like that. To have your atoms ripped to shreds, without even a semblance of hope that you'd get to come back. What do you think?"

"He's a bastard. He deserves what's coming to him."

Once again, Percy shrugged off the dark tone in Kronos's voice. He didn't see what was so scary about the guy, unless you count being frozen in time or him wielding his scythe (which he still called Backbiter) terrifying. Eh…maybe to others, but not to him anymore.

The moment the two stepped out of the elevator, Percy heard the familiar sound of a wailing siren echoing down the corridors. Guards leapt from their hiding places, charging towards the stairs and other sets of elevators, prepared to flood the briefing room that was eight floors above the one they were currently on.

For the most part, the guards parted around the duo like they were rocks in a rushing river, but two of the guards must've been looking elsewhere, because they ran right into them, causing for Percy and Kronos to unceremoniously drop Triton. The god groaned in pain as Percy swore under his breath.

Kronos on the other hand grabbed the two guards by their armor and slammed them both against the wall, shattering a mirror that had been hanging there in the process. Glass shards littered the floor beneath their feet from the broken mirror, but Percy was more interested in how badly the two guards were shaking in Kronos' grasp.

"How could you be so blind?" Kronos roared in their faces, causing the guard on the left to flinch violently. Percy wouldn't be surprised if the poor guy needed a change of underwear after this encounter. "You're supposed to be alert, not blundering into your generals!"

"W-We're sorry!" the guard on the right whimpered, her voice shaky yet contrite at the same time.

"Did you just talk back to a general?" Percy asked in disbelief, shocked that someone would work up the guts to do such a thing, and to Kronos, no less. Despite the fact that he was now a general, Percy knew what the fear of being inferior was like, terrified that if you made the wrong move you'd end up in a situation much like the one he was currently witnessing.

"I think she did," Kronos answered, his lips contorting into a fierce scowl. "Perseus, you are to deal with these two idiots. And I want her," – Kronos shook the guard again for good measure, causing for a strangled gasp to escape her lips – "to be in our arena at eight for her punishment. I think fifteen lashes shall do nicely, it'll teach her some respect."

Kronos then dropped the two guards, uncaring if they cut themselves with the broken glass as he proceeded to drag Triton away by himself, muttering curses in Ancient Greek that made Percy want to wash the Titan's mouth out with soap. Percy then turned his attention back to the two guards, watching apathetically as the two seemed on the verge of tears as they hugged each other tightly.

"Get up," he ordered gruffly, holding out a hand for either one of them to take. Once they were both on their feet, he told them to take off their helmets, so he wouldn't send someone innocent to deal with Nyx's whip instead of this girl. "Who are you two?"

These guards were a girl and a boy, and neither looked as if they were older than fourteen. The boy wasn't very tall, but what he lacked in height was made up in muscle. Now, he wasn't like an Ares kid either, but Percy knew he must've been strong if his weapon of choice was a battle axe.

The girl was the boy's exact opposite: tall and lithe. She had a sword at her waist, but Percy had learned everything about concealed weapons and recognized the dog tags around her neck as a concealed bow. Percy also noted the girl's eyes, watching as they changed colors. He was mesmerized by the fact that the color shift wasn't gradual but very extreme, shifting from something as common as brown eyes to all of a sudden being purple like Hecate's eyes.

"I-I'm Olly," the boy stammered out, his eyes glued to the floor, not daring to make eye contact with Percy. "Son of Iris."

"And you?" Percy asked, turning to face the girl.

To his surprise, she spat in his face. "I hope you rot in Tartarus, Jackson!"

At this outburst, Percy simply raised his eyebrows while wiping the spit off his cheek. This wouldn't have been the first time he's been told to go to Tartarus and it certainly wouldn't be the last. Better yet, he always had the comeback that he'd already been there and survived, leaving the person that much angrier at him.

"Don't make this harder on yourself," Olly pleaded with the girl, shaking her arm violently. "I can't deal with that again."

"Quiet!" Percy snapped, watching as Olly shrunk in on himself again. "Olly, you may go to the briefing. Next time, watch where you're going, because that general may not be as merciful as me."

Olly nodded so quickly Percy thought the kid was going to get whiplash. The next thing he knew, Olly was practically running down the corridor towards the elevators, leaving his companion behind to fend for herself.

Coward, Percy thought to himself. Those were the people on the battlefield you couldn't count on, the ones that left the moment they were safe or that'd sacrifice the safety of others to save themselves.

He turned his attention back to the disrespectful girl, not surprised to find her glaring at him defiantly, staring right into his eyes, unafraid of the consequences. Now, this was the kind of warrior both Pontus and Percy were proud of, the ones with fire gleaming in their eyes. Had she been respectful, Percy would've definitely considered moving her into a more prestigious role in the army than being a mere guard, but she was insubordinate, which must be punished.

"I see that your friend has more sense than you. He knows his place," Percy said sternly, crossing his arms over his chest. He watched as the girl picked out some glass shards from her uncovered skin, unflinchingly taking the same position as him.

"Olly's a coward," she spat venomously, stomping her foot down, breaking some of the glass into even smaller shards. "But his heart's in the right place. As for my place in this damn army, I know very well where I belong, and it's not being a stupid guard, afraid of you generals! So what if you're Titans, gods, and protogenoi? Demigods have kicked your asses once. What makes you think they won't succeed again?"

Percy laughed darkly, shaking his head, amused at this girl's ignorance. "You're so naïve, girl; I'm a demigod. And those assess that have been kicked, well, that was my father who trained me to do that."

"Oh, you've been a warrior since birth, have you? I know the truth, Perseus, and it'd do you well to step down from your oh so mighty throne."

"Enough!" Percy roared, grinning as the girl flinched back, her eyes finally showing some fear shining through. "Bad enough Kronos had already condemned you to the arena tonight. Don't push me to increase the number of lashes. And through this entire conversation, I have yet to receive the answer to my original question. Who are you?"

The girl smirked, which sent a wave of anger flooding through Percy's veins. He'd get to release that anger later, because Pontus had clearly called a mission, and he was ready to be on the front lines.

"I'm Erica, daughter of Ariana."

Erica sighed in relief the moment the doors to her barrack closed. She slid to the floor, ignoring the burning ache in her back and the blood soaking through her clothes. Then came the familiar sound of the bugle playing "Taps" over the speakers. That was the song that signaled curfew, and "Reveille" was the song that woke them up in the mornings.

As the song played, she held the dog tags around her neck tightly, murmuring the words of the poem silently to herself. While many of her comrades didn't care about the song other than letting them know to get in their beds, it meant the world to her, because this was the last song played at her father's funeral before they lowered the casket into the ground.

He had died while he was Syria, but before he died from the two shots to the stomach, he somehow managed to save the rest of his squad. That's what Thomas, her father's best friend, had told her anyways. He also mentioned that her father had been glowing, but seeing that he had been knocked unconscious by a gas bomb, he told Erica that he was probably hallucinating.

She would've thought so too, if it wasn't for the fact that she was well aware of her mother's affection for her father and her kindness. She knew that Ariana would allow her father to live a few moments more if it was for the greater good. On the flip side, Erica knew her mother wouldn't have saved her father, because gods weren't supposed to interfere with death.

And despite the fact that Erica should've hated Ariana, giving her a valid reason to being in Pontus' army, she had accepted the fact that the Fates cut her father's string and moved on with her life. Ariana even sent a satyr to lead the then ten year old to Camp Half-Blood, and she's spent the last five years training to be a warrior.

Erica knew Percy, well, knew of him before everything went to Tartarus. She saw him a few times around camp after the Titan and Giant wars, but seeing that she was lumped together with the Iris kids and was too shy to talk to him, she never introduced herself. But she saw what Percy used to be like before these monsters kidnapped him and corrupted his mind.

A gruff voice shouting, "Shut up, maggots! Go to sleep!" broke Erica out of her thoughts. Once the humming of electricity ceased, she knew that the warden was officially out of it. Thank the gods that this warden was such a heavy sleeper, because it made it that much easier to communicate with her barrack mates.

Olly was the first one out of his bunk, reaching underneath his bed and grabbing a stool before motioning for Erica to take her shirt off. It had become accepted amongst the barrack that Olly was to be the one in charge of bandaging everyone's back after a whipping, and in the rare event that he's hurt, the daughter of Asclepius, Joy, was to bandage Olly's back.

"You need to learn to control your tongue," Olly scolded her. "This is going to hurt."

Erica bit into a pillow to keep from screaming out as Olly disinfected the long, angry marks that would forever scar her back. She was aware that she should learn to control her temper, but it simply outraged her that something as nominal as a title would make her less of a person than anyone else.

She was so caught up in her fuming that she didn't realize Olly was done bandaging her back until he said, "Finished."

"Thanks," Erica replied, looking down at the white cloth that now covered her torso. "So, whose turn is it to report back?"

"Yours," Olly replied as he quickly stashed the roll of bandages and disinfectant under his mattress. "And be quick about it. I'm afraid that Pontus is catching drift of how many of us there are."

Erica whirled around quickly, violently shushing Olly and watching as some of the people in the barracks glared daggers at the young boy. He whimpered in fear and shoved his face into a pillow to avoid all the glares.

"There might be cameras or microphones in here, Oliver!" Joy reminded him before returning back to polishing her dagger. "One word too many, and we're all dead."

"I get it," Olly said quietly, pulling his covers over his face in an attempt to hide.

"Alright, I think he understands," Erica said, her voice daring for someone else to make the son of Iris feel bad again. "It's my turn, okay? Everyone get some shut eye. Gods knows when we'll be forced to wake up tomorrow."

Soon Erica was the only one left awake, the sound of people breathing and snoring finally being loud enough to mask her voice. Luckily for her, every demigod in this barrack was a spy for the Olympians, so even if one of them heard her talking, they wouldn't rat her out. She reached for the watch around her wrist, checked to make sure that the warden was still fast asleep, and flipped open the face, revealing a little device that worked like a two-way radio.

"Chiron, are you there?" she whispered quietly. "I've got news regarding Percy Jackson."