Percy

When I had first faced Medusa all those years ago, I was scared, inexperienced, and not to mention only twelve.

Now though, I was so much more.

I dodge her claws easily one second and blocked the next, before finishing with a gash to her forearm. She backed up, and looked at her wound which was not closing.

"So," she hissed, "You have become powerful boy, more powerful than I had expected."

She was steadily backing up to give herself more room, which should have been my first warning.

"I doubt I'll be able to get any blood from you," she admitted with a hint of regret, "But I can still have my vengeance!"

With that she tore of the shawl she had on, making the fight incredibly dangerous.

I could probably had fended her off with my eyes closed like I did all that time ago against the cyclops, hellhounds, and dracanae. But here in the deepest part of Tartarus, I doubted I pull the same results as before.

So I did the next best thing, Riptide once again flew from my hand right as the shawl was removed. It forced Medusa to duck, and I ran for the essence on the altar.

I couldn't help but get a sense of Déjà vu at that. If there had been any fire I swear it would have been the same fight as the one I had in the temple. Just goes to show how stupid some monsters are I guess. Give the enemy a chance to become more dangerous is really smart if you get my drift.

I reached the altar, and once again I grabbed the orb that rested on it. The power contained within it flowed through me, right until Medusa smashed me away into a wall next to the entrance of the cave.

"So you know what the crystal was hmm?" Medusa said contemplatively, "I've been staring at it for years with no idea what it could do."

Well, that answered the question as to why she let me touch it.

"Yet you come here, and unlock its secrets in less than a second, which leads me to believe there have been others."

Maybe not as dumb as I had originally thought unfortunately. I felt her grab my shoulder.

"I will be generous Perseus. I will turn you to stone, and absorb the power of the crystal from it, and I will finally have the strength to rising from this hell hole, and throw Athena and all her children in!" She cackled maniacally, but stopped as I started to laugh as well, closing my eyes at the mirth I felt.

"What is this madness that has taken you?" she asked now holding me at arm's length.

Understandable as my laugh was that unnerving. It seemed to cause a large boom every time I laughed. I quickly stopped so Typhon wouldn't hear.

Then my eye snapped open and met hers. I got the immense satisfaction at seeing her shocked expression as she tried to back away from me.

"Impossible!" she shrieked. Trying to look anywhere but my eyes she began to stand. I shifted my position to directly in front of her, because I still couldn't flash anywhere annoyingly enough. Riptide appeared in my hand as I stood before Medusa while she was still on her knees and still staring at my eyes. I held Riptide to her throat, and merely grinned.

"Impossible," she said slightly quieter, still unable to look anywhere but my eyes.

I could see myself in her eyes, they were beautiful I realized, but all the more the dangerous because of that. I forced myself to look at my reflection in her eyes. I had known that she no longer had any power over me, but I was still shocked to see my appearance.

My eyes looked like miniature green suns, glowing brightly, but not truly burning. I could also see a light green haze escaping them, seemingly being directed away from the vertical center of my face. It gave my eyes an even more otherworldly look when combined with the original glow of them.

My eyes, combined with the void properties of my clothes, and the power crackling across Riptide made me look incredibly powerful and dangerous. I found myself humbled when I realized it was an accurate statement of the power I now wielded.

I somehow knew I was at the same level as the big three, and I could easily take on any of the other Olympians without breaking a sweat. I should explain that while I could easily beat any of the Olympians in a duel of swords now, fighting power against power was another matter entirely. It tends to take more out of you trying to blast you opponent into a puddle of water than to swing a blade with all your strength.

I forced myself to return to the here and now, with Medusa still staring at me with a blade at her throat. She began to say something, but I was tired.

I was tired of Tartarus, and I was tired of monsters.

Before she complete her first word I swung my sword so fast it didn't even blur, removing Medusa's head from her shoulders once again. Her body began to dissolve, while her head rolled towards me.

I bent over and picked it up still staring into its now blank eyes, deciding what I was going to do with this powerful spoil of war.

I finally made up my mind and once again focused my power, this time on the head. The head began to glow and shift until it had changed into a simple stone mask.

I held the mask up and concentrated slightly. The eye holes, while empty so they could be seen through, glowed brightly.

I knew that any who stood before the mask while it was active would be turned to stone if they looked at it. Pleased with my work, and concerned about the mask falling into the wrong hands, I enchanted it to work like Riptide. It would be in a place nobody could reach expect myself, and only when I summoned it to me.

"That should prevent a few problems," I thought to myself.

Then deciding not to put it off any longer, I closed my eyes and focused my powers once again.

I first masked my scent so monsters would not being able to find me. I didn't want to get into a fight every day if I could help it. I then proceeded to hide my soul from immortal sight. I had work to needed to be done without interference from my extended family. I missed my friends and family terribly, but I knew that I must make this journey without them.

I also had a feeling that a lot of time had passed while I was down here, and many changes had happened. I knew time passed by differently in different realms and I figured that was an even more extreme case in Tartarus.

Finally I willed myself out of the pit that was Tartarus. I could feel my body tingling as it converted to pure energy and I shot out of the pit and into the Underworld.

"Home sweet Home" I thought to myself.

Now that I was out of Tartarus, I knew I had to somehow get myself out of the underworld without being noticed.

Before I could take a single step though, I felt a chill at my back. I turned but I saw nothing.

"But that doesn't mean that there isn't anything there," I muttered as my eyes took their immortal form. The same form that Medusa had seen moments before her demise.

I now could see what I felt before. Several reapers from Tartarus seemed to have hitched a ride with me and looked eager to "thank me" for my services.

They all wore black cloaks which covered their skeleton bodies. I was annoyed to see they all wielded my least favorite weapon, the scythe.

"What I pity," I said out loud as they paused, "You escape from Tartarus only to be sent right back."

They clacked their teeth together and attacked as one.

In Tartarus, the reapers had been a dangerous foe in groups of any size. Outside of the pit though, they were very much reduced, especially without the element of surprise.

I once again began to perform the art form I had long perfected, the art of combat.

After dealing with a Titan on the other end of a scythe and without the benefit of Tartarus's power, these reapers were sorely outmatched.

I slashed the first two to dust, dodged attacks made by the next three, and parried the blow of the last one. After parrying I responded with an attack of my own by cutting the last one to attack in two vertically. The three that were left tried to circle around, until I shifted behind the leftmost one and stabbed it in the back. The other two weren't even phased by what I had done and tried to flank me.

I decided I deserved some personal satisfaction since I had expected to be done with monsters for at least a day. I raised Riptide which was held in my left hand, and naturally pointed it at the leftmost reaper.

My right hand glowed with power, something I really shouldn't be doing thanks to the energy signature it gave off. It could easily ruin my plan to return to the world silently if the gods noticed and decided to follow it.

My care level was low at the moment though, so I released the power I held and watched it dissolve the right most reaper into bubbles. I chuckled a bit and focused my attention on the left one.

I was not surprised when it attacked right as I looked at it, it was probably moving when I blasted its buddy. It couldn't do much though as Riptide was still at the ready to block anything that came my way. I deflected the overhead swing it used on me, and with a quick slice of Riptide I was alone again.

I was surprised that when the last one dissolved, that its cloak had been left behind. I had killed many of them while I was in Tartarus, but none of them had ever dropped anything.

I immediately put it on, and the blackness grew deeper until it matched the void look of my clothes. I also felt something was different now and I reached out my senses. I then realized that I was completely invisible at the moment, just like the reapers.

The difference though was that I could control when I turned invisible or not. Not to mention with my power fueling it, it could almost match the level achieved by Uncle Hades Helm of Darkness.

"Well," I said to no one in particular, "This just got a whole lot easier."

No longer worried about being seen I set out to explore the Underworld. I figured it would be an excellent place to gather information since I had probably spent quite a long time in Tartarus. I had gone so long without seeing the sun, I figured I could live without it for a little longer.

My scouting efforts were fruitful but painful.

I found out that I had been stuck in that accursed pit for over one hundred and fifty year.

Most of my friends were still alive though. I was proud to find out that they had been offered immortality.

I was saddened to hear about the death of my mother, but she had a daughter a few years after I disappeared and had been happy about it.

I too was happy when I found out that my not-so-new half-sister was still around and still young. She had impressed Athena so much that she had been made her lieutenant.

Then I found out that a new camp, Camp Olympus had been created ten years after my fall, and it catered to both Greek and Roman demigods.

The camp always had anywhere between nine hundred to one thousand campers at a time. Everyone felt like family there, so there were few problems with living among so many people.

I learned that my old friends were not only immortal, but the leaders of the camp.

Many great heroes had grown up under their instruction, though the most shocking to me was when I found out that they all strived to be like me.

Apparently some nameless author had managed to find out everything that had happened during my adventure. The detail had been so accurate, that everyone suspected Annabeth had done it to honor my memory. The only thing that killed that rumor was the fact that she had not been on my third quest, which was as detailed as the rest. I was a little embarrassed, but also touched that the campers thought so highly of me.

I then learned about the wonders of New Olympus, the city that replaced Rome.

Apparently Annabeth had designed it from the ground up with her husband right by her side. I was sad at the thought that Annabeth did not wind up being with me. I knew that no matter what though, we would still be friends, and I was happy she found someone who makes her happy.

I also found out that I had a new half-sister, Poseidon and Amphitrite had made up over all the children that Poseidon had sired on the side, and was fine with all the ones he sired now, because he had given her a beautiful daughter.

A goddess whose beauty rivaled that of Aphrodite, and with a bubbly personality which matched her domains, the sea breeze and shallow waters. Apparently Triton was pleased to, as he took great pleasure in sending those who got to close to her without his father's permission packing.

The only exception, and end to this behavior came from when Triton went up against Nico. Apparently my sister Saphi had been crushing on him for quite a while, to nervous to tell him directly. Triton had found her hiding behind a pillar watching Nico while he sat in one of the gardens of Olympus, and decided to prevent anything from happening.

He had ignored her yells to stop, but they had managed to give Nico an excellent heads up. After a long fight that absolutely destroyed the gardens and drew the ire of Dementer. Nico had his sword at Triton's throat among the ruins of battle, which apparently consisted of reeling shadows, charred bones, and saltwater everywhere.

Nico had eventually managed to get the details of why Triton had attacked him. After a few awkward face to face encounters with Saphi he had finally asked her out. One thing eventually lead to another and so on until they had both wound up married and extremely happy.

I also got the privilege of hearing about the other pairings the happened to my friends.

Piper and Jason I was not surprised to learn tied the knot. What did surprise me was they had three immortal children already. I snickered to myself when I heard that, as I was trying to imagine the traits the kids would pick up from their parents.

Frank and Hazel had also gotten married which was not a huge shocker to me. They currently had no children, as they don't want to have to worry about their safety.

The one marriage that did surprise me was Leo to Reyna.

I had never expected those two to ever get together, but I suppose opposites do attract. They had one immortal child who was quite often mistaken for a Hermes child. He inherited most of the skills of his father and mother, but somehow was blessed, or cursed, with a great desire to prank.

I learned all this, plus quite a bit more in the underworld.

Who knew ghosts could be so chatty with one another?

I decided that the time had come, I was ready to see the world again.