PERCY

Percy woke to whiteness. His entire vision was filled with it; white upon white upon white. He wondered if he was dead. It would make sense. He could be on his spiritual way to Elysium. Percy sighed contentedly, thanking the gods that he was free of the torture of Gaea.

"Hah, hear that mother? The pansy thinks he's free!"

Percy's stomach twisted into knots. Polybotes. Was he dead too?

"It is rather fitting, Poly-baby. Now I see why you wanted white."

Gaea. Percy shivered and cried out in mental anguish at the sound of her voice. He started shivering. This was not Elysium. He wasn't even dead. Percy's senses returned and he felt the heavy drag of chains on his wrists and ankles and the sensation of someone carrying him. He squirmed, wondering what happened to his sight. A booming laugh sounded from a few feet above Percy's head.

"Jackson's awake!" Polybotes crowed. The giant must have been carrying the son of Poseidon. Light and gentle footsteps were walking beside the sea gods bane.

"Good morning, Perseus. How are you?" Gaea asked conversationally. Percy whimpered and found himself curling into Polybotes's arms. As he shifted, he felt tingling all over his body. His skin scraped and caught sometimes on the giants arms, making slight grating noises. Percy's head swam with realisation.

His scars. The burns. The cuts and clusters of countless initials engraved on his skin. And his neck… the constant burning and throbbing from his throat where Gaea had once again claimed him as her property. Each time he swallowed, bile rose in his throat as the letters rode on his Adam's apple. They curved uncomfortably and looked like they were always bleeding mud. Beside him, Gaea tutted.

"Percy, I asked you a question." Her voice had hardened, and Percy knew that if he didn't respond she would hurt him. But how do you even respond to a question like that after what he'd been through? Somehow, Oh, Gaea, I'm absolutely fine and can't wait for today's plan, didn't strike Percy as a good or truthful thing to say. He felt like the personification of torture. The demigod kept his mouth shut. Both ways were a trap, answering or ignoring. Whatever he said or didn't say would come and stab him in the back eventually.

Polybotes jiggled the silent half-blood.

"Mother asked you how you were feeling, godling scum. Answer her!"

"Mmm-hurting," Percy managed. It was the truth, and if Polybotes kept jiggling him Percy knew he would throw up or his wounds would reopen.

"Good!" Gaea replied cheerfully. Her giant son giggled, which vibrated in his belly and jerked Percy up and down. The demigod felt himself go green.

"Because I was hoping you'd be too physically tired to change today's plans. We have something very special set up." She continued. Percy felt his stomach drop. Mental torture. Just what he wanted. Especially because he still couldn't see.

Polybotes suddenly stopped walking and Percy heard Gaea's footsteps fall silent as well. He assumed they'd arrived.

"Put him in the centre of the room, Polybotes. I have to turn the thing on," Gaea ordered. Percy didn't like the sound of any of that.

Dutifully, the anti-Poseidon set the sea gods son down on a cold stone floor and started tying in the chains welded to Percy's manacles to something behind the demigod. Percy's arms were forced behind him as Polybotes finished clipping the last links into place. Percy whipped his head around desperately, wishing he could see what was happening to him and where he was.

Loud footsteps tromped away from him and Percy was left alone for a few minutes before he heard Gaea's subtle footfalls halt in front of him.

"This footage was sent through yesterday. Usually, I don't deal with modern mortal technology, but I thought you might be interested in this film."

Which, to Percy, translated that he wasn't going to like it one bit.

Suddenly hands were on his forehead and the sound of ripping fabric came from behind his head. The whiteness fell away in Gaea's hand as she undid the blindfold around the demigod's eyes. As he met her gaze, Gaea smiled at the broken look in Percy's eyes. Her smiled widened when tears welled in them. Just the sight of her terrified him. Percy Jackson was completely hers.

"You wouldn't know about the pathetic quest embarked on by your friends to save you from me," she said, delighting in Percy's panicked look. "I didn't either until some of my children captured them."

Percy's lip quavered as he was hit by what she meant.

"P-Please G-Gaea. They don't m-mean it. Just- just let them go. I p-promise to do an-anything you want," he stuttered, warm tears slipping down his face as his chest tightened in grief. Gaea patted his cheek affectionately, making him wince.

"Aww, you're too sweet, Percy. But I'm afraid they've already been dealt with. Polybotes!" She called to her son, who was standing behind a glass wall to Percy's left. "Roll the tape."

Polybotes grinned at Percy and he hit something inside the booth. The lights in the room dimmed dramatically as the wall directly in front of the demigod fizzled, before showing a HD video of a camp of monsters all crowded around a platform. On the platform stood seven familiar figures.

Percy screamed in anguish as the film's view panned in and did a close-up on each person's face. Everyone was bleeding and dirty with scratches and deep wounds peppered all over their bodies. Hazel and Frank were standing next to each other, blood slipping down their faces and cutting tracks in the dirt on their cheeks. They were trying to hold the others hand, but Percy noticed that each of his friend's hands were tied behind their backs.

The elf-boy from the throne room, Leo, was leaning on Nico. He had a massive knot on his forehead and Percy knew he was unconscious. The son of Hades looked pale and scared, but he let the son of Hephaestus rest on him and glared around the army of monsters with a look that told Percy his friend wanted to go down fighting.

Piper and Jason were standing together. Each one was bleeding profusely, but Percy thought that neither of them noticed as they kissed like there was no tomorrow. Which, for them, there wasn't.

Finally, the shot stopped on Annabeth. Percy cried out at the steely look of hate, defeat and loneliness creasing his girlfriend's features. Her blond hair was singed and she had a cut on her cheek, but her grey eyes were stormy and filled with rage. They were also hiding a broken desperation and Percy knew she was freaking out over him. Suddenly, her image flickered and instead of Annabeth's eyes the irises were cold and bright red. Percy fell backwards onto his hands as the image changed back to Annabeth's normal eyes. He was breathing heavily as the vision quickly jerked backwards to show that the massive, hulking form of Alcyoneus had joined his friends on the stage. He held a microphone and the cheering hordes of monsters silenced as he boomed into it.

"Welcome, friends!" he started. Percy felt tears gather at his chin and drip off. "We're here to kill some demigods!"