Percy

I rose higher and higher, and I could see my dead body on the ground. Huge hole in the chest, eyes closed, and the tear that I allowed to slip out had dried into a dusty path on my cheek.

I had to admit, I felt kind of at peace. Calm. Tranquil. I was dead. My life was over. I wonder how they were going to burn my shroud. Like the way after I had returned from the Labyrinth? I'm not sure. The only thing left is…

Thanatos materialized in front of me and held out his hand to follow him. His face was one of sorrow and curiosity as if I was some lab rat that they had put some super chemical in and they wanted to see what he would do.

He put his hood up and flew down towards the ground. I followed him. He sank through the ground and ripples went through as if he dove into a pool. I followed him and sincerely hoped I didn't hit my head onto the ground. But I went through easily.

We spiraled down and down into darkness. Thanatos started to fly faster, and my wraith-like self had to speed up to catch up with him. Suddenly, I fell down into a large king-sized chair.

I looked around. Thanatos was at the ceiling of the place, and he nodded his head in farewell. Then he flew up, probably to collect some more souls. It was a huge dark room, only lit by several candles around the whole room. There was an overarching table that was in front of me, and three individuals sat in huge chairs around the table. It was hard to tell if they were male or female because they each had golden masks and black robes. They spoke in hushed whispers as if they didn't realize I was sitting right there. I was still in the same attire as what I had on when I died.

I cleared my throat. "Hello? Dead hero here?"

The individuals looked at me. Their masks were like the masks in horror movies that are frozen in an emotion, and theirs were all frozen in creepy smiles. They spoke in a whisper, but loud enough that I could hear them.

"Perseus Jackson. It is time for your judgment. We must hurry up because of time." They got out golden papers that they shuffled through and looked through. I sat uncomfortably as they stared at me, then back to their paperwork. Then the middle one spoke up. A big screen TV right above them turned on and showed my adventures throughout the years as if a cameraman was following me all my life.

"Let us begin. Perseus 'Percy' Jackson. 18 years of this life. Classified as Greek hero. So automatically achieves Elysium. All agree?"

The three heads nodded. The middle one got a quill and started tallying as the other two heads spoke. The right one commenced, "Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon and Sally Jackson. Let's see, he brought his mom happiness as a child."

The left one interjected, "He did get kicked out of schools for bad behavior."

The right one argued, "Blame that on the common ADHD of demigods. Let's continue. At 8 years old, met Grover Underwood, satyr protector, Lord of The Wild. Was his only friend, was nice and friendly towards him. Then, 12 years old, got blamed for stealing the Master Bolt from Zeus. Goes on quest with Grover Underwood and Annabeth Chase, demigod daughter of Athena. Gets the bolt back, returns it to Zeus."

The middle one was tallying quickly.

"Then, 13 years old, makes friends with Cyclops son of Poseidon, Tyson. Also his only friend. Is friendly and courteous towards him. Sticks up for him against demigod son of Bellona, Matthew Sloan. Goes on quest to retrieve Golden Fleece that Jason acquired a while back. Gets it, defeats evil Cyclops Polyphemus doing it. Strengthens friendship with Tyson, Grover, and Annabeth Chase. Confronts demigod son of Hermes, Luke Castellan in the process. Sends it with demigod daughter of Ares, Clarisse La Rue to protect her reputation. Accepts Tyson as a brother. Revives demigod daughter of Zeus, Thalia Grace, so any accomplishments and good acts Thalia has done will go to the credit of Perseus 'Percy' Jackson."

The middle one tallied at super speed for all the things Thalia has done good in her life.

The right one continued. "14 years old. After reviving Thalia, goes on quest with her and Grover Underwood to rescue Annabeth Chase and the Goddess of the Hunt, Artemis. Succeeds in both quests. Bears the burden of the sky. Creates plan with Artemis to put the weight of the sky back on the Titan Atlas. Honors Hunter Zoe Nightshade as a hero with the rest of the group."

The middle one was tallying like crazy. The left one started now. "14 years old, goes into the Labyrinth to complete quest and protect Camp Half-Blood from demigod son of Hermes' attack on it through Kronos. Strengthens relationship with Annabeth. She kisses him in the Labyrinth-"

I blushed like crazy. I sighed and put my head in my hands. This was going to be a long judgment.

"-and the hero defeats whole army of telekhines. Erupts volcano of Mount St. Helens, destroys town in doing it, stirs Typhon in sleep. Arrives on Calypso's island, gives her company, makes her feel good. She falls in love with him, but he leaves in sense of duty to the world as a hero. Inspires Hundred-Handed One, Briares to fight on the side of the gods. Meets Daedalus, and cleans out stables of flesh-eating horses. One of Hercules' tasks of becoming immortal. 15 years old by the end of this adventure."

The middle one must've added like a thousand marks for that. The left one continued. "15 years old. Bathes in River Styx, becomes invulnerable like Luke Castellan and Greek hero Achilles. Gets betrayed by demigod son of Hades, Nico Di Angelo, and trusts him afterwards. Defeats Hades in self-defense. Mortal girl, now host of the Oracle, Rachel Elizabeth Dare, establishes slight relationship with the hero. Leads army of demigods against Titan Lord Kronos. Defeats Kronos' army. Demigod son of Hephaestus Charles Beckendorf works together with the hero to explode Luke Castellan's ship. Defeats Kronos. Turns down immortality due to humility and desire to be in a romantic relationship with Annabeth Chase. 16 years old by the time adventure is over."

I blushed again. If this was the quickened version- I don't even know.

The right one continued. "16 years old. Loses memory. Trained by Lupa, passes her training. Reaches Roman camp. Befriends Frank and Hazel in the Roman Camp Jupiter. Restores Legion honor. Gets back the eagle of the Roman Camp. Makes deadly wager with Phineas, restores memories. Defeats Giant risen to oppose Poseidon. Visits Amazon Camp, makes peace with assistance of demigod daughter of Pluto and Marie Levesque, Hazel Levesque. Saves Ella the Harpy from Phineas. Carries Juno to camp and loses River Styx. Reunites demigod daughter of Bellona, Reyna and Queen of Amazons, Queen Hylla."

The left one started. "16 years old, unites Greek and Roman Camp. Leads the Seven demigods of the Prophecy of the seven along with demigod son of Zeus, Jason Grace. Then, he-"

Suddenly, a little eagle flew down and whispered in the middle one's ear. The middle nodded and looked down at me. "Our time has run out listing your accomplishments, Perseus 'Percy' Jackson. Your total has reached up to 900 billion and 1, making you officially dubbed as the greatest hero of Greek and Roman history. Due to accomplishments, and moral aptitude. We hereby give you Isles of the Blest."

I was overjoyed. I was proud of myself. I knew that I could wait for Annabeth. She would definitely make Isles of the Blest, and we could be together. The whole Camp crew would be there, since we were all heroes of the greatest extent. But I sensed danger. Just as the old Jackson luck promised.

Just as the middle one was lowering the mallet to make it official, the whole back of the room exploded. Outside, there was mostly darkness. Everything was gray or black. Skeletons were walking around, but there was one non-skeleton. And it was my good friend Perseus. His green shirt was totally ripped to shreds and his trenchcoat was the only thing still intact along with his sweatpants. He had no shoes, and he had a wild look in his eye as if he fought demons and got chased by ghosts all the way here.

The judges spoke in the whisper again, "So the Fates were correct." And they disappeared in thin air.

I almost forgot he was dead, and since he didn't have a soul, he didn't get judged. I scowled. Even in death, I can't escape my dark side. I forced a dry smile. "Clone! You see I'm getting Isles of the Blest here. Why are you always interrupting things! Seriously, you, Antaeus, Tyson, Triton, Polyphemus, Pegasus, and Arion all need to see a counselor. As sons of Poseidon and my brothers."

Perseus scowled, and attacked me. I picked up the chair, and his sword went through the chair. I wonder if since we're in the Underworld, we're going to be in an everlasting battle between good and evil. I threw away the chair, with his sword in it. I kicked him in the chest. He seemed real enough, as if we were out in the regular world. Except we were dead.

He fell to the dusty ground, and I leapt outside to Asphodel. Confused souls were walking around in dead silence. Skeletons were moaning, and screams of people and monsters being punished in Punishment and in Tartarus were audible.

He gritted his teeth. "You thought you could escape me, even in death. But there's no way you can escape. I will always be with you. I am you. And there's no water around here in the Underworld. So looks like we're stuck here. Forever."

I got out Riptide, which strangely was still in my pocket. I put my hood up because it seemed to go with the dark, ominous, depressing mood out in Asphodel. Riptide's celestial bronze glowed in the dark. I had just gotten cheated out of a fair death trial. But what had the judges said? So the Fates were correct. Correct about what?

But I didn't have time to think about it as Perseus attacked me with his sword turned blood red once more. And we fought. We were regular swordsmen of equal strength. It was an equal battle. Seconds turned into minutes, which turned into hours, which turned into days, which turned into a week eventually.

We delivered our fair share of blows, injuries, harm, and upper hands in the week-long battle. But none of us could die, so the battle kept raging on, full of pain. Our bodies didn't even get tired because we didn't have any bodies. One time in like the middle of the week, we got so tired of fighting (not physically, just mentally tired of the thought of fighting our twin) and we just sat down under a tree for a good 3 hours. Then we got back to fighting.

But now, I had just knocked Perseus into a depressing tree in the depressing Asphodel. I just remembered that Hades couldn't help either of us since he was still trapped under the ocean.

Perseus got up from the tree. He wiped his mouth and attacked again. I parried, and swiped at his knee. He yelled, and kicked me in the knee. I doubled over, and he gave me an uppercut that sent me flying like 10 feet and landing hard on the ground.

Then, when he was about to kick me, he went rigid and went limp like he was a robot that had gotten shut down. I looked up, and there was my old friends Grover, Annabeth, and Nico. Were they dead? Of course not, their bodies still had color to them, whereas Perseus, Nico, and I all had faded gray and black clothing and bodies.

Annabeth had her hands over her mouth and tears in her eyes, as if it hurt to see me dead and fighting Perseus. Annabeth tried to hug and kiss me, but she passed right through me, since I was a ghost in the Underworld compared to living beings. She looked like her heart was broken. Grover looked at me with a solemn, sad look. He got out a box of tissues and him and Annabeth went through them one by one.

Nico grinned. "Remember my plan from a few years to beat Kronos?"

I stood up and looked at him warily. I was ready in case Perseus decided to say 'Sike!' and attack me. "Yeah, why?" Annabeth and Grover looked at each other, and I heard Grover say like an echo, "I can't hear him. Can you?"

Annabeth shook her head dejectedly. "No, he's moving his lips, talking to Nico, but not to us. Percy! Percy, talk to us. Nico, tell us what he's saying."

Nico's eyes sparkled with a crazy, insane glow. Like father, like son. He totally ignored Annabeth. "Well, I have a plan that requires much less pain, and much more benefit for you. Except for the invulnerable part."

I looked at him. I had just gotten cheated out of Isles of the Blest by my evil twin, and have been fighting him in an endless Yin-And-Yang battle for 7 days. I wasn't in the best mood.

He grinned at me as if he did this every day. "Well? I can't keep Perseus like this for much longer, he's stronger than all the ghosts I've done this to."

I sighed. "I'm listening."