A/N: Hey guys! Did you miss me? I hope you did. Because I'm BACK! With another chapter, if that's what you want. If not, well, here's a chapter anyway. Got two other stories I'm trying to figure out at the moment, so this may happen from time to time. Sorry. Anyway, on with the story!
As the demigod's continued to panic, ALL the god's turned their head to look at Percy scathingly. In the end, he couldn't help but laugh. "Okay, okay. I'll calm them down."
He looked out on the crowd with amused eyes. Shaking his head, he brought his hand up to his face. "Ahem." It was quite loud, but it was nothing compared to the crowd. "AHEM!" They continued to panic.
Taking a deep breath, he shouted, "SHUT YOUR FUCKING MOUTHS!" The entire crowd went silent. "Thank you. Now, if you would, Olympians." Percy gestured to the Olympians, making it clear he wasn't talking anymore.
The gods themselves were silent. What could they really say? Percy had laid out the cold hard facts of how screwed they were, and his help, as he said, could only help so much. Instead, they just sat there, thinking on their current situation, and they had no ideas on how to win.
Instead, Zeus got up and, in an act of humility that shocked every single person there, he got on his hands and knees. "Please, Perseus. Whatever you want, I don't care. Just lend us your strength one more time. I beg you." He was bowing so low that his forehead was touching the floor.
The silence that followed was completely saturated with the shock of literally everyone who saw it, the crowd, the other Olympians, the other present gods, even the spying Primordials. Percy himself was standing there, frozen.
It didn't stop there, though. Hades followed suit, dropping to one knee. "If you wish to see your mother or other friends on the event of their passing, it will be so. All the riches that reside beneath the earth can be yours. You wish for something within my power, and it shall be. So I beseech you, lend us your strength." The shock got stronger.
Poseidon was next in line. He dropped to his hands and knees as well, mirroring Zeus. "My son... no, I am not worthy to call you that. Perseus, I know we do not deserve anything from you after we voluntarily placed you within the mouth of Tartarus, but I do not beg for my own well being. Nor for that of the other gods, Olympian or no. I ask for your help for the future of these children. They do not deserve to see war. They have done nothing worth dying over. Even if you wish to kill us for our actions, or watch us burn, do not let them suffer."
The rest of the Olympian's followed suit, all except Artemis, Hestia, Aphrodite, Apollo, after he saw his sister wasn't doing it, and Ares. When Athena glanced at Ares pleadingly, he scoffed. "A single war potential won't necessarily allow us to survive. No plan survives contact, Athena." Regardless of his own beliefs, the glares of the other Olympians made him kneel reluctantly, though he said nothing. Before they could start on the others, the entire crowd kneeled.
Percy just stared in shock, though he was somewhat happy his friends didn't bother kneeling. They knew when he was set on something, changing his mind was nigh impossible. "Well..." he began, shock evident in his voice. "You guys are really..." There was mounting hope that was in the air, but his next words crushed it. "Fucking pathetic. I get you think you REALLY need my help, but shouldn't me saying no force you to become self-sufficient? Seriously, I'm trying to force you to become stronger, but nooooo. You need someone to do your fucking dirty work."
Taking a deep breath to remain calm, he continued. "I don't wanna be too much of an ass, though, so I'll throw you a bone. In three days, every single able bodied person who wishes to help needs to meet up here. I'll be gone until then, but if you really want my help, follow these orders.
"Oh, and get the hell up. I don't like it when people bow to me; there's no need to place yourself below me." When everyone got up, he continued. "Now, I don't like being mean, so, as I may have come off as an ass, I apologize. But have some fucking pride! Don't bow to anyone but those who have proven to be your superior. Not just in power but in character. For all you know, you're better people that I am. Placing yourself below me so easily... you may as well give up now if that's how you want to live." The entire crowd gaped at his attitude change, unsure of how to react to the person who annihilated their king telling them not to bow.
Percy ignored them, though, and turned directly to the gods. "Go prepare every able bodied person in Camp Jupiter, except those who wish to stay and defend. I'll be back in 3 days, as I said. If you want to win that badly, I know you'll listen." With that, Percy disappeared.
But he didn't leave. His presence was concealed to the point that no one there could sense him in any way, but he was still there. He sent a mental message to Artemis, making her almost jump. As it was, she had to bite her tongue to stop herself from crying out. 'Hey, Arty! Just thought I'd give you a little something to call me if you need me.' As he spoke... well, thought, a necklace formed around her neck. A locket, actually.
She didn't dare reach and open it, so as to not draw attention to it, but she was thankful none the less. 'Thanks, Percy.' She "heard" him muttering some unintelligible things, obviously not in English, but he was done not too long after.
He laughed. 'Don't worry about it. Just hold it and think about whatever you need to tell me. Later.'
She had a question for him though. 'Wait! What are you going to do?'
He rolled his eyes, though she couldn't see it. 'I guess I can tell you, Ms. Nosy. I'm calling in a few favors with some protogenoi, so the children that you gods use as an army will have a fighting chance.' Through her surprise, she didn't hear her brother calling her name, or notice the other gods dispersing.
A small smile came over her face. 'Thank you so much.'
Percy scoffed, but to her, the voice sounded different. Doubled, even. 'You won't be saying thank you when you see how this goes.' Before she could ask, his presence was gone. Blinking, she came back to reality fast enough to catch an arrow Apollo had shot at her.
Growling as she snapped the godly arrow like a twig, she asked, "What, exactly, are you doing?"
He just held his hand up in surrender. "Sorry. You weren't paying attention, and we were done."
She blinked before getting up and walking towards her hunters, who were waiting for her orders. "My apologies, Apollo. I suggest a less... violent wake up call in the future." As she passed him, she placed the locket inside her clothes, letting it rest against her chest inside of her dress.
Those who noticed it didn't say a word at the moment, but Thalia made a note to ask her about that. "Okay hunters," she began, "you may train in any way you like for the next two days. I recommend you rest in the third. Things may get hectic when Perseus returns."
They all dispersed, going about doing things, but Thalia stayed behind. "Yes Thalia?"
Thalia looked at her mistress questioningly for a moment. "Uh, where did that locket come from, Lady Artemis?"
She pressed her lips into a thin line for a moment. "It... it was a gift."
It took a moment of silence for Thalia to realize that Artemis wasn't going to elaborate on her own. "If you don't mind me asking, who was it?"
Artemis looked at her dangerously, but apparently it wasn't very effective. "Fine. It was Percy." She saw Thalia's eyes widen before they returned to normal, a devilish grin on her face. Before Thalia even got the chance to start trying to tease her, she was steamrolled. "Don't even. It's a signal, in the event I don't know where he is and need his help. If something happens, I use it. That's all."
Aphrodite walked up to them, and began squealing, as she'd heard the whole thing. "Oh, that means he cares about you! Oh that's so cute!" Artemis growled. at her threateningly, but it was ignored completely. "Can I see it?"
Shaking her head, Artemis didn't bother to respond to the love goddess. "Oh, don't be like that, Arty."
"Don't call me that!" Artemis snapped, thoroughly annoyed now. "And, since you need to hear my voice to understand anything, I'll spell out my answer. N. O. No." Instead of angrily storming off like she normally would, she schooled her face into a mask of calm, not wanting to give Aphrodite any further satisfaction. Even if it did succeed in denying Aphrodite some satisfaction, it didn't stop her constant pestering. Thalia joined in as well, doubling the assault on her slowly crumbling patience.
"FINE!" she shouted after a solid half hour of trying to ignore them. "You can see it!" Pulling it out of her dress, it was presented to them.
Smiling in triumph, they both looked at the locket curiously. "Doesn't look like much to me," commented Aphrodite.
Thalia shrugged. "Percy never really went over the top with this stuff. It's beautiful, though." It was completely made of silver. The chain sparkled when the light hit it properly, as it was made of a multitude of small links. The locket itself was in the shape of a heart, with wings that formed the shape. You wouldn't even realize it was a heart if you just glanced at it, but the more they stared at it, the more prominent the details became. The occasional wing was black, making an interesting contrast with the rest of it. The wings at the bottom overlapped, interlocking to stay together.
It was interesting to look at, but Artemis put it away, making them groan. "Are you happy?"
Thalia nodded a bit reluctantly, but Aphrodite shook her head with a light laugh. "When it comes to you, I won't be happy until I find someone you can, no, DO love. This is the closest you've come EVER, so I'll be watching you. Tataa." She disappeared in a puff of pink smoke, making Thalia cough.
Artemis just sighed. "Well, I guess I'll have to deal with her until he leaves." Thalia nodded, rather annoyed by Aphrodite's words, as she wasn't the most fond of the love goddess either, though she didn't hate her by any stretch of the word.
Instead of dwelling on her, though, Thalia moved on. "So, what's inside?" The look she got from Artemis told her that she reeeally wasn't in the mood. "Sorry. I'll just go train now."
With Percy
Percy was taking the long route through Tartarus to get to Tartarus'/his palace. 'I really need to go to my own more often. It's just collecting dust... actually, the cleaning spell takes care of that.' Shaking his head, he wondered which of the primordials would be best to ask. "Okay, so Ouranos is a must, as Zeus is WAY too weak. Jason could beat him, unless he got lazy.
"Probably Pontus, but Thalassa doesn't like Poseidon too much." He shook his head. "Oceanus detests demigods, so I guess I'll take over there. Actually, I don't think any of the titans will help... shit." He sighed before continuing to talk to himself. "Erebus would be glad to scare the shit out of them to help. Well, at least that's the big three and their children covered. Eros is chill, so he would help out, though he might be problematic. Both him AND Aphrodite..."
He stopped in his tracks as a shiver went down his spine. "Ugh, I'm gonna regret it, but I'll do it." Sighing, he kept talking to himself. "Hemera would help, but I can take over if things get out of hand. Same for Nyx... doubt she'd even help, so I'll probably have to handle Arty and her hunters, too."
So it went as Percy went down a brimstone pathway, making his way down the path. Eventually, he made his way to the palace, but, oddly, found none of the others walking around, or doing anything, actually. "Strange..." he muttered to himself.
Shrugging, he followed the large concentration of divine energy to a room. Opening the door, he saw all of them... leaning against one another, crying their eyes out. Above the crying, he could hear some voices, familiar voices.
His eyes widened when he recognized them. Appearing in front of the void TV, no doubt made by the bawling Khaos, he stared at the TV in fear. "Oh fuck no..." On the screen was him having a heart to heart with Artemis.
His mind was going a thousand miles a minute, trying to figure out what he forgot. 'I got rid of EVERYTHING! The earth, the light, both in and out of our bodies, the fucking AIR! How the hell did they... oh. I forgot about the space between every single FUCKING THING I MADE!'
He rounded on Khaos, staring her down with glowing eyes before he remembered that she could probably annihilate him with little more than a thought. In the back of his mind, a part of him said it "would be soooooo worth it" at that moment. Another part of his mind said he "was being ridiculous and it wasn't that big of a deal". The latter part was drowned out before being drowned.
He clenched his hands and took a few deep breathes. 'Count to ten, Perce,' Purge advised. 'Count veeery slowly.' He nodded and began counting in his head. He didn't even make it to 2.
Three Days Later
Percy appeared in the amphitheatre again, looking a bit different. His hair was natural again, showing all of the grey streaks in it, and it was longer. It grew in a fashion that he was able to turn the back into a pony tail, reaching the middle of his back. It was tied by a white band, so it was easy to tell what changed up there.
A change no one could see was the different tattoos on his palms. His left still had the anchor, but it was now connected to the chain that encircled his arm, though said chain shrunk drastically as it reached his palm. On his right palm, there was a circular dragon tattoo, rather simplistic but when spoken about, but the intricate designs of the tail coiling around the body and the wings, which were rather detailed, partially covering the body and the circle that surrounded it. The circle itself had two rings, seemingly arcane inscriptions between the two.
Regardless, he walked forwards, everyone around him noticing his arrival and backing away, some scared of him after he laid the smack down on their king and others more or less following the crowd. A few just moved out of his way due to respect, though. Shaking off the looks, he made his way to Zeus.
The god in question was currently in a game of pinochle with Dionysus, Chiron, and Athena in front of the big house. Percy blinked but shrugged, resolving to lean against the big house and watch, undetected by any of them. Unfortunately, word traveled fast about his return, so eventually, a demigod, seemingly one of Zeus' children, came up to said god and informed him of Percy's arrival.
Sighing, Percy appeared behind Zeus, lamenting the effort he was about to give on behalf of the gods. "Hello, Zeusy." Everyone there jumped at his voice. "You guys really should pay better attention to your surroundings. I've been here for a little while, you know."
After the gods got their hearts out of their throats and Chiron's tail stopped impersonating a propeller, he continued. "I hope you got the Romans together, because I'm not gonna be waiting for them." Zeus nodded submissively, something that made Percy raise a brow at, but he didn't comment. "Good. Now, gather everyone together in the amphitheatre. Everyone that's fighting is coming with us, and I'd imagine that's everyone here, yes? Even the children can be medics, if you're worried about that."
Nodding, they all got the hell out of there, rushing to follow orders. Except Chiron. He stayed and looked Percy in the eye for a long while. "Perseus..." He didn't know what else to say to his one time student.
Percy, on the other hand, understood. "Sorry, Chiron. I just..." Percy sighed for a moment. In that instant he looked tired. Far too tired for his youthful appearance. "You don't understand, Chiron. My time with Cronus... I've seen things, Chiron. You don't want to know. If I fight in another war, I'll be ending it within that day. Or die trying. The wars I went through with you are nothing compared to the ones I've experienced, the savagery of war that has been dulled with modern technology and reason. Fighting monsters in war, true war, isn't something I want to last. That's the only reason I'm helping at all. I just don't wish to enter."
Chiron stared at Percy in shock, truly seeing some of his own pain in the eyes of his student. Laying a hand on the demigod's shoulders, his face looking every bit his age, he spoke. "I understand Percy. More than you know." With that, he trotted off, seeking to gather those who the gods may miss.
An hour later, everyone was gathered in the amphitheater, hoisting packs and such. Percy floated in front of the group a good 10 feet off the ground. "Demigods, I will give you ten minutes to make sure you know what you are doing. This will not be a war like any class you've experienced before. Nor like any war you've previously heard of. This will be a war initiated by monsters, perpetuated by monsters, and they will come at you like monsters, as if you were also monsters. Any humanity or real honor that you may expect to see in battle has no guarantee of being there, or being used.
"Fighting dirty will be the norm, kill or be killed will be the rules. If you wish to back out, I do not blame any of you. To my knowledge, they only want the gods themselves, so do not feel as though you are fighting for your own survival. But the moment you are opposing beings such as Kampe or the Minotaur, it will be far to late to have regrets. Think long and hard on this, and make sure, if you want to fight, you do it for the right reasons."
Lowering down, he landed in front of Ares. "Come on, Ares, we gotta go deal with the Romans as well." The god of war nodded, stepping forward, his posture as straight as a soldier. They both disappeared in a flash of light, though Percy was literally light travelling while Ares was doing his whole godly teleportation thing.
Camp Jupiter
Appearing in the Caldecott tunnel in California, they proceeded to walk towards the entrance to the camp. Percy noticed that Ares biker clothing melted into golden armor with a purple cloak flowing behind him. His shades disappeared, replaced by a helmet that covered most of his face, leaving a Y shaped area in front. His eyes were visible, but glowed red with a controlled rage in the darkness of his helmet. Said helmet had a red plume on top of it, going from the front of the helmet to the back. The armor itself was molded in the shape of chiseled abdominal muscles that Percy had little doubt he actually possessed, at least in his current form.
Turning his attention to the guards of the entrance, he was pleasantly surprised to find Hazel and Frank guarding it. 'Well, ain't that nostalgic. Memories...'
He was broken out of his train of thought by the voice of Frank. "Halt! Who goes there? Identify your- ow!"
Hazel had smacked him in the back of the head when she saw that it was Mars before bowing. "Forgive us, Lord Ar- Mars. We did not realized it was you." Frank's eyes widened comically before he bowed as well, apologizing.
Mars waved them off. "It's fine. You're my daughter-in-law and son; ain't gonna blast you. Why are you on guard duty, anyway?"
Percy interjected before they could answer. "C'mon, man," he started, making Hazel widen her eyes and Frank narrow his, both recognizing his voice. "Don't ask them that. I feel like it's obvious they wanted a bit of, ah, "alone time", if you know what I mean."
To Hazel and Frank's surprise, he laughed. "I see. Well, sorry to get between you two, but you'll be needed inside soon. You'll have all the "alone time" you want later." They were still in shock that Mars was laughing at them, but then their brains registered the meaning of the words spoken.
They turned into their own personal suns, their faces practically glowing a gold.(A/N: Forgot about the fact that gods have golden blood, to be honest. Their blush should be golden.) "Dad!" Frank cried, staring at him to avoid looking at Hazel.
Percy blinked in surprise. "I thought you two were married? I'd have thought you two would be beyond... Have you two not done it yet?" They stared at him, incredulous, but he just kept going. "Nah, it's been fifty years. You ARE still together, right?" They nodded dumbly. "Good, good. Now, come along. Only got another 8 minutes to get to the Praetors. Wonder who they are now?"
As he walked between the two of them, he stopped and turned around. "Oh, I'm back, by the way. Good to see you."
A/N: And that's a wrap. I wanna save the Camp Jupiter stuff for its own chapter, since Camp Half-blood has had so much of a spotlight on it. Also, remember that locket. It will become VERY important later on in the story. Like, really important. Won't tell you how, though. So, this chapter is short, but the wait won't be as long until the next one. Trade off.
So, let me do some explaining now. Percy REALLY doesn't wanna fight in any wars. In his training with Cronus, and I'm only saying this now because I'm not sure if I'll be saying this in the story, he was literally pulled into the flow of time, and left there to gain a true understanding of time. He can't go back in time very far, but he knows just about every major thing that happened in human history. He's seen the atrocities that people can commit up close and has used his power over emotion to understand the pain that it has caused. If it comes up, I'll do a flashback of this, but, for now, this is all you'll get. Not sure if it'll pop up or not.
Now, see if you can guess who the main villain is! We can turn this into a little game.
