Percy POV
Two hours after my realization, I finally got my shit together. Sure it took about an hour of anger and another hour of crying but it eventually worked!
It was getting dark as Apollo was finishing up his run, and Artemis was beginning hers. Or was it Diana this time?
Speaking of the Archer Twins.
I quickly dig into my jean pockets and pulled out two drachmas. Summoning some mist from the ocean outside of the rundown cabin, I threw the drachma into it.
"O Iris, please show me Apollo in the Sun Chariot." I call out.
"Are you sure Perseus? He does not seem to be in the best of moods." She replies hesitantly with a silky but quiet voice.
"Yes. I need to get this done as soon as possible."
"Very well. Connecting you to Phoebus Apollo in the Sun Chariot." She says. As the image changes to show Apollo in his chariot, I notice my hands started to sweat.
Boy this was gonna be tough.
Steeling my nerves, I called out to Apollo.
"Apollo!" I yell, causing his head to jerk around before his eyes focus on mine. I see his irises darken and I quickly hold my hands up in surrender.
"I wanted to speak to you and Artemis whenever you two get the chance. I wanted to apologize for my actions and explain why I did them…" I trailed off as his glare intensified. I flinched at the pure anger displayed on the usually peaceful Apollo's face.
Silence ensued before Apollo sighed heavily.
"Just this once Perseus, I will forgive you. But I am warning you now," he leans forward and sneers at me. His eyes darkened to where I could see miniature suns exploding in them, "touch my sister again and I will end you."
I gulp but quickly nod in agreement. He cuts off the message soon after and I am left with just one more message.
"O Iris, please show me Artemis...wherever she is."
"Connecting you to Artemis, at the Hunt's location."
The image changes to Artemis leaving her tent to start her ride across the sky before stopping at the sight of the Iris message. Her eyes begin to glow with rage and my stomach feels like it is in my throat. I bow deeply to her.
"Lady Artemis. I wanted to explain and apologize to you and your little brother about my actions. I was not in my right mind and I overreacted. If you could meet me outside of the Camp's barriers I would be very grateful." I say, remaining in a deep bow.
I feel her glare without even seeing it. Suddenly, she clears her throat to get my attention. I hesitantly glance up and see that her glare remained, but was slightly less malicious.
"I suppose I can do that Perseus but know that if you pull anything like that again, I will turn you into a jackalope and have my wolves hunt you for eternity. Once you did, I will have Hades drag your soul out of the Underworld and do it again. I will be there soon, so be ready." She replies darkly.
I shiver at the threat. Eternity as a hunted fluffy animal doesn't sound so good in my book.
"That...that sounds fair." I squeak out embarrassingly. Yikes, Artemis sure knows how to scare people.
She smirks at my display of fear before wiping through the mist.
I let out an uneven breath that I didn't know I had been holding. I lay back down on the sandy bed and think about what I am going to say. When I finally figure out what I will say, it is almost time for the meeting. I walk outside and begin to step into my father's domain.
Father, please send me to the borders of Camp Half-Blood.
I heard what you did son…
I wince at his disappointed tone.
Know this Percy. I will always be on your side, but do not attempt to pull a move like that again. I can't protect you nor side with you if you do that again.
I nod my head in acknowledgement, knowing he can see it. I begin to feel my body mist travel away. To this day I still cannot describe how it feels to do it. The closest I've ever gotten is it feels like you just had your entire body painlessly implode, and everything goes sea-green for a couple seconds. Then it feels like every single inch of your body just got punched by a bunch of boxing-glove covered fists at the same time. Then you arrive wherever you are.
After that absolutely lovely feeling, I open my eyes to find myself outside of the camp barrier. I pat Peleus' head and turn around to see a truly terrifying sight.
Artemis and Apollo glaring at me. Mega Yikes. I slowly sit down by Peleus and stroke the scales on his neck to try to calm myself. His warm breath warming my body and filling me with a feeling of protection.
I watch them walk up to me, side-by-side, with their glares still intact. I bow my head to them, unable to stand up from the menacing display and the sheer power emanating from them.
"I don't think I've seen them stand this close to each other for millennia." I whisper to Peleus, wincing when I remember they have super hearing. Fortunately, I see Apollo's lips twitch at the joke before returning to his exploding sun glare and stone-face expression.
Artemis, on the other hand, grips her bow tighter, her hands turning white and the wood of her bow slightly groaning from the stress. Her eyes ablaze with silver colored flames. Her auburn hair flowing around her as the wild reacts to her emotions.
Note to self. Don't piss these two off ever again.
I move to stand up and bow but my legs won't even move from the sheer power rolling off of the two twins in suffocating waves.
"Lord Apollo. Lady Artemis." I gasp out, hoping to allay my concerns of 'hey-could-you-let-up-on-the-gas-pedal-so-I-can-live'. Luckily, I was able to somehow get my concerns across, as they smirk before lowering their level of power.
"Perseus Jackson." I flinch at Apollo's use of my full name. "I believe you have something to say?"
I swallow thickly. "I wanted to apologize and give an explanation for my actions. As you probably know, I was in Tartarus twice before time travelling…" I paused when a thought came to mind. "You did know that right?" I ask hesitantly. They nod and gesture for me to continue.
"When I was there the first time, I had jumped in for Annabeth, as she was my mortal anchor for the Styx. When I landed and saw just how hideous the land was, I knocked Annabeth out and carried her the rest of the way. The ground was constantly boiling, the air was suffocating me as it was poisonous for me. We had to drink the "water" from the Phlegethon River. Basically, we drank fire. Well I did and forced it into Annabeth. A couple Tartarus weeks later, I came across Damasen who healed my injury from a drakon. He told me I would have died if I had arrived even an hour later." I take a deep breath to continue, not wanting to be interrupted or else I wouldn't be able to finish.
"I had been hallucinating and my cells were literally boiling from the drakon poison. I had actually thought that Zoë and Thalia were with me the entire time. After Damasen, I had to take us to the House of Night, where I had to force my way through blindly, unable to open my eyes or else I would go insane instantly. Unfortunately, I was captured after I got through it by the Titan Perses. I was then forced to fight my way out of The Pit Arena." I shiver at the thought of the place, which brought a confused look from the two gods, "The Pit Arena is in the deepest, darkest, and most dangerous part of the Pit. It is, as its name suggests, an arena where monsters fight each other. It isn't like the Arena you know of… no. That is child's play compared to this pit. This pit is a Titan Vs. Titan pit. I had to fight every Titan there and survive three minutes against Tartarus before I was allowed to leave. When I wasn't fighting for my life, I was beaten, burned alive, drowned, and forced to go through horrible scenarios. One of them was watching Zoë's life leave her over and over. With Thalia saying it was all my fault she's dead. Then I was forced to watch Atlas rape Zoë while Ares absolutely demolished Thalia in all her holes. She was split into two pieces when he was done with her." I was crying at this point, remembering Thalia's was, broken body. "That went on for a couple day before I finally had enough and fought my way through the entire Arena, annihilated Atlas and Perses with four Spears in their heads, chopped up their bodies, and tossed them into the Pit of Chaos. Basically, they are is erased. Not faded. Erased completely. No afterlife. No reincarnation. Nothing."
I sigh before pushing through the last bit of my explanation.
"The second time I was there, before Kronos found me, I was tortured by Gaia for a good three Earth years. Which is fifteen Tartarus years. Five years into my torture, I broke." I fall to my knees, my breath shaky, and my heart clenching. "Zoë was pulled out of the sky and brought to Tartarus. I don't know how they did it but she ended up in front of me. Then she was gangraped by every Titan and Giant known...right...in...front of me. Her screams of pain still haunt my sleep. I was helpless and my eyes were forced open by Gaia. Watching her be violated ruthlessly for the last decade of my time there. Everyday would be three more titans or three more giants. The giants split her body in two...literally...then they sewed her body back together, resurrected her, then continued using her battered body. Finally, Kronos found me and sent me back here."
I looked up at the two gods with what I could only think looked to be a broken expression. Then I felt exhaustion hit me and I passed out.
Apollo POV
"Dí Immortales. I knew it wasn't a good time there...but this...this is…" I trailed off, unable to comprehend how absolutely horrific Percy's life was.
Artemis buried her face into my chest and bawled for her old Lieutenant and best friend. I wrapped my arms tightly around her and held her close.
"I-i-it isn't fair Apollo. It isn't fair. H-he d-did so much for everyone a-and instead of being rewarded, he was pu-punished." She sniffled out, voice cracking throughout it. She looks into my eyes and my heart breaks at her vulnerable, fragile expression. I pull her head into my chest and rub circles on her back.
"I know Sis… I know. We need to tell someone about this. Not the entire council but a couple people. Both of our uncles and Hestia must know about this." I say softly. Looking down at Percy's peaceful face, I snap my fingers and send him to my palace.
"Let's go tell Poseidon and Hades about this little sis." I tell her, earning me a light slap on the chest.
"I'm older than you." She whispers out. I grin slightly before flashing us both to my palace. I Iris message Poseidon and Hades and ask them to come to the infirmary.
After laying Percy down on one of the cots that I moved into a separate room for privacy, hooking him up to an IV, and injecting some anesthesia into him, there was knock at the door. I opened the door and Poseidon, Hades, and Artemis step inside. Poseidon freezes at the door when he sees his son laying in bed, needles and tubes poking out of his arms, before swiftly turning towards me.
"What happened to him nephew?" Poseidon growls at me.
"He passed out from mental and emotional exhaustion. It...it isn't good uncle. Words can't describe just how bad it is. I don't think I can even repeat what happened to him without breaking down into tears." I whisper, turning away from him to check Percy's vitals. "You can look through my memories of the past three hours and see for yourself."
Poseidon comes over to me and places two fingers on my forehead. When he removes them his face is deathly pale and it looked like his body had aged another ten years.
"Dear Chaos...My son…" he whispers so softly I barely heard him. His hand reached out and held Percy's hand gently.
Hades comes over to me and looks through the memories. What I saw when he removes his fingers scared me shitless. I have never seen my uncle so mad...and right now, I'm sure every soul not in Elysium right now was burning. California was probably having a magnitude ten earthquake, and the west coast is probably set on fire.
"I vow that every Titan and Giant I see will face the wrath of the Underworld in full. They shall be subjected to the worst punishments in possible. For the rest of their immortal life and afterlife, they will see their siblings, wives, and children raped in front of them before being raped themselves. I will break their bodies. Then break their minds." Hades yells, shadows flaring around him. He disappears, presumably to the Underworld, leaving the three of us shocked speechless.
"I wish I could take pity on those titans and giants...but after what they did to my son….I hope my brother finds every single one of them." Poseidon finally says, before turning back to Percy. He slowly picks him up and turns to me.
"I will take him to Atlantis, thank you nephew for informing me of this." He says, disappearing into sea mist, leaving me and Artemis alone.
"Let's go do our work Sis, we can see Perseus when he wakes up." I tell her, before tilting her head up to look into my eyes, "For now on, no one is allowed to look through his memories...ever. Understand?" I say sternly, with a frown on my beautiful face.
She nods sadly before flashing to her hunt. I stare at the floor where she was before sighing and flashing away to train for the upcoming war.