-Ogden, Utah-
Finding somewhere to buy clothes near where Argo II landed was so much harder than Annabeth thought it would be. After walking for ten minutes they gave up and Hazel called for Arion to pick them up. Fitting the three of them on the back of the horse was also harder than they thought and Annabeth was sure she was going to fall to her death the entire ride. Luckily, they found a mall in someplace called Ogden.
The three of them didn't talk much until they started walking aimlessly around stores. "So," Hazel started, "The only person you remembered, the guy you love, murdered demigods and got sent to Tartarus?" Her voice was casual as she tried her best not to be judging, even if it was near impossible not to.
Annabeth sighed, "Yeah. That's him. He wasn't always like that, Percy used to be the best guy I knew. He took the sky for me," her hand went to her hair where there used to be the gray streak that matched his.
"I don't like him," Frank flinched when Hazel elbowed him. "What? I don't! He's hiding too much stuff."
Hazel couldn't exactly disagree, "Do you know what he meant when he said he killed them to save everybody?"
"I wish," Annabeth blew out a sigh, "I want to wring his neck for keeping everything a secret. Stupid, seaweed brain, ignorant bastard." The more she thought about it, the angrier she got. "Why can't he tell me?" She threw her hands up angrily, "I just want to help him!"
Frank and Hazel exchanged a glance while watching their friend carefully, unsure what to tell her. "He can't keep it secret forever," Hazel tried.
The daughter of Minerva wanted to stab something, "He told me he loved me. He shouldn't be keeping it a secret at all!"
"Maybe he swore on the river Styx?" Frank thought suddenly, "if he did that he wouldn't be able to tell anyone."
Annabeth was silent for a minute, throwing random shirts and shorts into a basket without really looking at them. She hadn't thought of that possibility. I'm such an idiot, she thought to herself. How could she not think about the Styx? That was the most plausible explanation and yet she hadn't even considered it.
"If he did, then he probably told you all he could," Hazel attempted to cheer up her friend. She didn't like Percy that much, the guy killed people, that's hard to look past. But she knew Annabeth wouldn't love anyone who was truly bad, right? In the back of her head she knew that he might've been in a situation much like hers in Alaska. Could she really judge him after everything she did before dying?
"Yeah," Annabeth mumbled, still lost in thought, wondering exactly why Percy came back and what his part was in the Prophecy of Seven.
-On the banks of the Great Salt Lake in Utah-
The woman didn't look up as the two demigods approached her. As they got closer they could recognize the broken fortune cookies discarded all around her feet. She broke another one opened, scowled, and threw it over her shoulder mumbling, "Riches will not suddenly become available."
"Aunt Rosa?" Leo asked as he squinted up at the lady. She certainly looked like his aunt, the same hair, eyes and scowl. Yet his Aunt Rosa would never be caught dead wearing that outfit.
"Who?" Percy whispered, confused about what Leo was talking about. He didn't see Aunt Rosa.
Leo shook his head, "She can't be here; she's in Houston still." The son of Hephaestus was trying his best to convince himself that the woman in front of him was not the family member that threw him away, hated him, and left him all alone in the foster care system. He hated her.
The woman looked up with a sparkle in her eye, "Is that how you see me Leo Valdez? I bet you hate her a lot."
The two demigods paused, "Who are you?" Leo asked. Percy was staring at her with a strange look in his eyes that, in all truth, scared Leo. He looked calm yet still capable of ripping her head off with his bare hands. It was wrong.
She smiled, "You know who I am, son of Poseidon." The goddess went back to cracking open another fortune cookie, "Why are these always so happy?" She snarled.
"They're fortune cookies, they're supposed to be," tried Leo while staring at the lady with no idea who she was.
Looking up, the goddess smiled, "Fortune is neither nice nor mean. It is fair."
"You're Ethan's mom, Nemesis," Percy looked surprised as he remembered the one-eyed boy who had been thrown off Olympus. "I wasn't able to keep my promise," his words died off as a faraway look took over his face.
Nemesis smiled, "Such a good memory. My son gave up his eye to make a difference, yet he is still waiting to see the result."
Percy nodded, "I will keep my promise. They will be remembered, I'll make sure of it."
"Will you now? Percy Jackson, murderer of demigods, tortured prisoner of Tartarus, betrayed by so many, will you really keep the balance?" Her voice was a purr as Percy stepped closer to her without even noticing. Leo watched uneasily from the side, unsure what to say or do.
"When people look at me, they see the person they hate the most. Leo Valdez sees the aunt who abandoned him when he most needed her. Who is it that you see Percy Jackson? With so many possibilities, who is it that claims the most hate in your heart?" There was nothing in the world beyond her words. The three of them stood there in silence, all eyes trained on the demigod in question. Nobody knew what he would say, as Nemesis said, there were so many possibilities.
Percy wasn't sure he wanted to answer, hating a person was just as powerful as loving a person, and the person he saw already controlled too much of his life. "I see Luke when he was possessed by Kronos," he met the ageless, gold eyes that he had seen in his nightmare for months before seeing every single day for four years. It would've been funny to see the son of Hermes in all the leather, but Percy couldn't see past his eyes. He would never forget those eyes. The Titan King who ruined so much of his life, he was the one that Percy hated more than anyone else.
Hera, Athena, Gabe, the Fates, Zeus…himself- none of them compared to the pain and fury that he felt when thinking about Kronos. They had all ruined his life, caused him to be nearly destroyed mentally and physically, but they weren't the ones to actually do it to him. Kronos was the one who dragged the knives through his skin, to impale spears into his side, to drown him, to crush bones, to carve out organs, to put him in a Sicilian bull, it was Kronos who did all the dirty work.
"I hate a lot of people but Kronos was the worst. Hate doesn't even describe what I feel for him. But that doesn't mean I won't keep the balance," Percy's voice was devoid of emotions as he easily won the staring contest him and Nemesis were having. "Keeping the balance doesn't always mean doing the 'good' thing, right?"
She burst out laughing, "You are different than I was expecting, perhaps you should've been my son instead of barnacle brain's," Nemesis spoke finally, smiling, she continued, "You are also correct Percy Jackson. Remember: sometimes death is the only way to keep the balance- my son, Ethan, understood that. Total destruction and total peace cannot happen. Your choice is more than a mere opportunity, it will decided the new balance. Choose carefully Son of Poseidon."
"I understand," Percy spoke with a confidence that made the goddess start laughing again. She liked the kid.
Turning to Leo, Nemesis' look became softer, "Hera has been abandoned by the gods, blamed for the war between the two camps. You will not find help from her."
Percy gave a small smile, "Serves her right." His mind was still far away, avoiding the memories that Nemesis brought up while looking like Kronos. Those eyes- they burned his soul and made him feel all the pain again. He couldn't fall to Kronos, not now after his escape. He was stronger than that.
Nemesis spared an amused look at him, not completely ignorant of the internal battle Percy was facing, before returning her gaze to Leo, "I'll help you guys out instead of Hera. I'm not as lenient as her though, I won't reward success just because I like you. True success requires sacrifice."
"Didn't you side with the Titans before?" Percy asked suspiciously, finally dragged away from his memories. He chose to ignore what she said about sacrifice. If success came from sacrifice he would be king of the gods by now.
She nodded, "I did, I'm the goddess of balance, and it's my job to tear down the proud and powerful. During the Second Titan War, that was the Olympians; now it's Gaea and her giants. Anyways, son of Hephaestus, in the near future there will be a problem you cannot solve," Nemesis tossed a fortune cookie towards Leo who barely caught it, "When you need the answer just open that."
"How will I know when I need to open it?" Leo asked while handling the cookie like Greek fire before tucking it in his tool belt.
The goddess shrugged, "You'll know. Be prepared: everything comes with a cost and using that fortune cooking will cost you dearly." She turned back to Percy, "You need to save the son of Hades before the first of July, he and all of Rome will die if you don't."
"What? Why? Where is Nico?" Percy asked frantically. Before the whole Tartarus ordeal, Nico had been sort of like an unreliable younger brother. The idiot tricked him to be prisoner in the Underworld, but the kid always found a way to redeem himself.
Rolling her eyes, Nemesis headed towards her motorcycle, "Too many questions, you'll figure everything out." She got on the bike and revved the engine, "Avenging an old wrong while on your quest will help wonders. It might even bring some balance to this war!" With those final words she disappeared in a cloud of black smoke.
Leo and Percy stood there, staring at the spot where the goddess of Revenge had stood and had no idea what to do with the information she gave them. "Any idea what the old wrong is?" Leo asked finally.
"No clue. Any idea why Rome and Nico will die in six days?" Percy questioned right back.
Shrugging, Leo sighed. Nemesis seemed to think she was helping but he wasn't sure if the goddess did anything more than confuse them. When they took off walking in search of the celestial bronze again, Leo remembered something that Nemesis had told Percy. "Hey Perce?" the other demigod nodded to show he was listening, "What's the opportunity she said you have?"
Twenty-three steps later and Percy still hadn't answered his question which led the demigod to think that he never would when suddenly the son of Poseidon spoke: "I don't know." Three words and Leo knew Percy had just lied to him.
Percy hung in the room that he woke up in, chains biting at his wrists and dried blood trailed down his arms. Unconscious, he didn't hear the door open and even if he was awake he wouldn't have looked. He didn't want to see the childish glee on the dust face of the titan king.
Water splashed on his body, jolting Percy awake and healing some of his wounds. His head jerked up to find a man and woman staring at him. The man looked bizarre, his head was completely bald except for a tuft of red hair on his forehead. He wore red sweatpants and a white shirt with a picture of black scales. He was standing on tiptoes while little white wings flapped from his ankle bones. A blinding white smile lit up his face as he stared at the bloody demigod.
"Yo, what's up?" He stepped forward to get a good look at youngest son of Poseidon, "You know, I've always wanted to meet you, had to wait for the right opportunity though- OUCH!"
The woman smacked the back of his head, "Stop it with the bad puns, Caerus!" She was a beautiful lady with long chestnut hair hanging in a braid over her shoulder, and a baby boy on her hip.
"Damn it woman, aren't you supposed to be peaceful?" the man, Caerus, snapped at her with a glare while rubbing his head.
She ignored him, "Percy Jackson?" the soothing sound of her voice calmed the demigod who wasn't too happy about two strangers interrupting his sleep.
"The one and only," was his hoarse reply as he eyed the pair with his one good eye. Recently he had lost his right eye to a drakon in a fight to the death. Percy wondered sometimes if being completely blind would make his punishment better or worse.
Caerus smiled down at the young man, "Glad to see you haven't gone crazy."
Percy raised an eyebrow only to flinch, "Haven't you heard? I'm a murderer. What do you want from me?"
The woman frowned, "We know about the choice you face in the future." Her eyes trailed up and down his body, taking in all his wounds and forced herself not to show her horror. "Didn't you get the curse of Achilles?"
A barked laugh that held no humor made her jump, "Yeah. I'm still cursed, Kronos had to get creative to get around that little problem." He studied the two gods in front of him for a moment before repeating his question, "What do you want from me?"
"Oh nothing much," Caerus walked around the room casually, "Just a little promise from you."
"A promise?" Percy thought they had to be insane if they thought he was in any state to promise them anything other than his impending death at the hands of his torturer.
The woman nodded, "This is our only chance-"
"Opportunity," Caerus interrupted.
"Opportunity," the woman glared at the man again as she shifted the baby to her other hip, "to bring peace to the council of gods."
Percy stared at them, "You guys really are insane," he mused, "The gods will never stop fighting."
"Doesn't matter," the woman shrugged, "Whether they survive this new war or die, there will be peace."
"Really, Eirene? You're going with the whole 'rest in peace' thing again aren't you?" Caerus gave the woman a disapproving look.
She rolled her eyes, "You're too young to talk. I've dealt with their petty arguments for centuries and I'm done with them. Anyways it doesn't matter, it's up to Percy."
"What the Hades are you talking about?" Percy was completely lost. Caerus and Eirene? He had never heard those names before. Maybe Annabeth would know?
Caerus blew the tuft of hair out of his face, "You have a choice that will decide the fate of the world coming up, right?" Percy didn't disagree, "That choice is the only opportunity to change our family. The Olympians have never gotten along and are now on the brink of a civil war. You can change that- only you."
The demigod almost snorted but remembered it would probably hurt, "Why should I help them? They put me here."
Eirene smiled, "Because you want revenge on them but you know that this isn't entirely their fault. You have a chance to change them so in the future this will never happen again. You can make the Greek world peaceful for the first time ever."
Percy didn't want to admit it, but he knew they were right. There was still a good part of him that wanted to kill each god and goddess that voted him down here. Yet, Eirene was right, the Fates set this all up. Everything that's happened to him has been a part of their plan to make him unbiased. The Fates were the ones who deserved his revenge. "IF I let the gods win, and that's a big 'if', I promise to find some way to bring peace to the council," he finally relented.
It wasn't much of a promise, but Caerus acted like Percy had just sworn on Styx that he would save the world for the gods. "You're the best Percy! Hey, are you blind in that eye?" he pointed to the bloody, swollen right side of the demigod's face.
Percy nodded and the god stepped up and flicked him right on the swollen eyelid that covered the sliced eye. Percy screamed in pain and wanted to cover his eye up and go into fetal position but he couldn't. He was hanging from a ceiling with some fucking god flicking his wounds. He wanted to scream at the god but Caerus just smiled. "A little gift from me to you," he said happily. Seriously, this guy seemed to always be happy.
"A gift?" Percy gasped out.
Caerus nodded, "I'm the god of opportunity," he pointed at the demigod's right eye, "And I just made it so you aren't blind in that eye. Actually, I took the opportunity to make it better- OUCH!"
"Stop it with the opportunities!" The goddess yelled again, the baby in her arms stirred and snuggled closer to the woman and wrapping his little hands around her braid.
Rolling his eyes, Caerus continued, "Anyways, I gave you the gift so you can see opportunities. Well, everyone can see opportunities but they usually miss them or ignore them or wait too long to make a decision," Eirene shot him a glare that brought him from his rambling, "But with this gift you can see them at the moment when you should take it. It's not much but it will make your life way easier, trust me."
Percy nodded along because he felt that was expected on him. In reality, he didn't quite understand what the god was going on about or how he would ever 'see' opportunities or whatever but oh well. He really didn't care much at this point. He turned to the woman, "Who are you?"
She gave a caring, motherly smile that reminded Percy of his mother, "I'm the goddess of Peace and this," she looked down at the baby, "is Ploutos, the god of plenty."
Nodding, Percy couldn't help but wonder why he couldn't get some more war-like gods to help him out. It would've been pretty handy to have some new powers in the new war. Sighing, Percy knew he shouldn't complain. The fact that any god would take the time to talk to him, let alone give him a gift, was more attention than most demigods ever got in all of history.
"Thanks," he finally said, feeling like he had to say something.
"No problem dude," Caerus linked his arm with Eirene, "Good luck in the future! Remember our promise."
"Good luck," Eirene called before the three gods flashed away.
Peace, Percy thought. He liked that Eirene didn't care which side he picked, to hear a goddess not try to use him for her own gain shocked him. Caerus wanted to use him, but he was straight forward about it. For reasons unknown, Percy kind of liked the two of them.
Musing over the possibilities in the future, Percy started to form a plan. It was at this moment that he decided the outcome of the war.
A/N: okay here it is, here's what happened in Tartarus. Does it make sense?
Thank you so much for all the reviews! I was really tempted to do the fates but Kronos torturing him I think would hold the most hate in his life. Pain is hard to forget. The guest who reviewed saying it that Percy should see himself, that was so smart. I tried to write it but I just couldn't figure out how to get that to work with the idea I have of his personality later on. BUT that did solidify an idea I have for later where we see some internal fighting of dark percy and old percy. if that makes sense...
Well let me know what you think!