I don't own the Potter and Jackson universes.

Percy didn't know what he should be feeling. The dementors had shown up and it had not taken them long to lay waste to the wards. They had first zeroed on him and he was fine with that. The memories of his past sour experiences had been brought forth but Percy had a long time back made peace with them. He had accepted those memories, he had moved on. True that he had not let go of Annabeth, but she was part of who he was. There was no Perseus Jackson without Annabeth Chase so dementors could not use the memories associated with her to their advantage. The only thing they achieved by going for those memories was make Percy stronger.

Percy had first used Riptide for the job. The first few dementors to challenge him were laying on the ground in pieces. Dementors not of Greek origin and mostly of zygon connection did not turn into dust which made little difference to Percy. When they the dementors found that Percy was not a feasible target they had gone for Fleur. The veela had cast the patronus charm which succeeded for a while and kept the dementors away from her but eventually failed due to the sheer strain of keeping the charm up. Percy seeing this and seeing no other way had finally unleashed Peristrefo. The wheel of destruction with powers from different gods in it decimated the ranks of the offending creatures. Percy had not bothered to count the number of his attackers but a rough estimate would place their numbers in a few dozens. The celebration was short lived as Percy had felt a screeching pain in his shoulder.

Something sharp had pierced his shoulder, 'poisoned spike!'

Percy had not wasted a second and had turned around swinging riptide only to find another spike narrowly miss his neck.

"Ah! I missed."

Percy looked towards the direction from which the voice had come and found someone he had wanted never to meet. Stood near the cliff in all his glory was Dr. Thron the Manticore. The poison not enough to kill but certainly weakening was now in Percy's system. The only relief was that the second spike had missed his neck thanks to him having moved otherwise the results! Percy didn't want to think of them.

"I don't know any word in any language which can explain how unhappy I'm to see you again." informed Percy.

Before the manticore could answer Fleur who was a few feet away from Percy decided to act and shot a stunner spell at the monster. Much, much faster than Percy could comprehend Dr. Thron leapt from his position, seized Fleur by her neck and hoisted her up.

"NO!" yelled a panicked Percy and thunder boomed in the distance.

Fleur was too shocked to even make a sound. Soon Dr. Thron was holding Fleur with one arm around her waist keeping her above the ground facing Percy and the second arm was holding her arms together behind her back. The manticore's scorpion tail was now almost touching the veela's neck ready to stab at moment's notice.

The poison was taking its toll on Percy, he could barely stand his vision was blurring. This was not the time to panic. 'No' Percy told himself. This was the right time to get angry. This was the time for the fury of Perseus to show itself.

"You look ridiculous in those glasses." Commented Dr. Thron.

Percy did not answer, though he did always feel ridicules wearing them.

"You are a hard man to find." continued Dr. Thron, "but I did not give up. I searched and searched and finally I found you. I found you hiding, hiding amongst zygons." The manticore let out a mocking laugh, "greatest hero of all, hiding amongst zygons. By the way how is the missus?"

"O, yes, you needn't answer that," said Dr. Thron, "after all she is dead."

"Let the girl go Thron," said Percy trying to project a calm image, "let the girl go."

Fleur was struggling but couldn't really free herself and Percy saw that without him noticing Thron had managed to duct-tape her mouth essentially stopping her from speaking and screaming.

'How in the Hades did he do that!?'

"Let the girl go Thron," parroted the manticore mockingly. "Becoming a god has clearly dulled your sense of words Perseus."

Percy was surprised by this after all he was not a god but only a demigod.

"Who told you I was a god?"

Thron looked unimpressed and annoyed, "o, please don't pretend, it's all over the news." Informed Thron, "it's in the newspapers it's on TV, switch on the radio and tune in you hear it." He complained, "I was half a mind to cancel my subscription."

Percy was truly alarmed by this. Being amongst zygons he had not really been able to keep in touch with his friends or even with news from Olympus. When Thron said about different media he was not just talking about mortal media but also about media related to Olympus. Tue that he was hailed as a god by the Atlantieans but he was sure that the surface dwellers did not see him as such. Also there was not just the manticore and he in this conversation there was a gagged Fleur Delacour as well. When she could not speak she could hear just fine.

Percy couldn't really see properly, the poison was dulling his senses, mainly his eye sight. 'Get him talking, you'll find an opening.' Riptide was still in Percy's right hand and Peristrefo spinning at high speeds floating just a few feet away from him was ready for his command. With Fleur as a hostage in Thron's hands Percy needed to be careful.

"Why didn't you?" asked Percy.

"What!?" asked a confused manticore.

"Why didn't you cancel your subscription?"

"I was looking for you," said Thron, "I wanted to kill you! I still do by the way. I couldn't catch on to your scent in the new world so I was hoping that the media would give me inkling as to where you were."

"Did it give you the answer?" questioned Percy.

"It was a total waste really." Said Thron.

"That's terrible man! You should so ask for a refund"

"But then I heard about the sudden demises of a pair of Cyclopes," continued Thorn, with paying little heed to Percy's words. " Went there to investigate and tada, there was your scent. It took me a while to find you and in the mean time I even made a few new acquaintances." Thron gestured towards the remains of the dementors which Percy had slaughter with his tail.

"Impressive plan really," said Percy, "sending those feeble dementors after me."

"And it failed!" complained Thron, "you would have died! I would have become famous! 'Dr. Thron the manticore who killed a god!' but no, no you have to turn around at that very second and I missed."

"Well I for one am glad that you missed otherwise how could we have had this wonderful chat?"

The sea in the distance was churning trying to provide Percy with strength and it was somewhat succeeding. There was no indication of any rain. A timely rain could have helped Percy greatly but there was none in sight. The sea's salty breeze was there and it was the only aid.

Thron sneered, his mismatched eyes gleaming with hatred. "Surrender to me new god and I'll feast on your flesh, else I'll kill this mortal."

Percy stood straighter, glaring at Thron, "you won't be harming the girl Thron."

"Why wouldn't I god?"

"The only thing keeping you alive is her," said Percy in a cold and threatening voice. He could see that it was affecting the manticore but unfortunately also it influenced Fleur. "You holding her hostage is why you still aren't dead. Harm her Thron you'll have no leverage and I'll be free to kill you."

"Ha," scoffed Thron, "let me refresh your memory Peresus." Thunder boomed in the distance at the mention of Percy's name. "The last time we met you couldn't even land a single blow on me. You had needed that whiny wine god's help to rescues you. This time there is no wine dude to help you."

It was true that he had been unsuccessful in his previous efforts against the manticore but Percy was not going to let that dither him. Last time he had faced this monster with only riptide in his hand but this time he had Peristrefo and he was much older, more experienced, more powerful.

"Remember the last time Percy Jackson," said Thron it seemed that the manticore wanted to mock Percy and provoke him into doing something very rash, "you were useless. Why, you are useless. You couldn't even save the woman you promised to marry. Now here you have another girl with your scent all over her body. What promise have you made to this girl Perseus? A happy long life with children and grand kids with you? You immortals lust after these poor mortal women, showering them with praises! Promises! Sleep with them! Play with them! And then leave them pregnant and alone, alone to fend for themselves and your child."

"I'm doing you a favor mortal" said Thron now apparently talking to Fleur, "I'll be doing you a favor when I'll be devouring you. His kind, they are all the same, all good looking, all charming. They use you, use you for moments of pleasure, entertainment and once they are bored they leave you, heartbroken, pregnant, dead!"

Fleur couldn't respond as her mouth was duct-taped. She tried to struggle only for Thron's grip to get tighter. Percy could see that Fleur' struggling was getting a bit violent. Even with a blurred vision Percy could see that Fleur was suffocating. The manticore's grip was too strong for the veela and it was obvious that she wouldn't hold for long. Percy's mind though racing couldn't really find a way to get Thron to let go of Fleur.

"Thron!" called Percy, "let the girl go and I'll surrender to you."

"A very generous offer," Said Thron not letting go of Fleur, "swear so on Styx and we have a deal."

Percy had formed a quick plan of pretending to surrender and then the moment the manticore released Fleur he would have Peristrefo kill the monster but that wasn't going to happen. The monster was smart, he apparently saw through Percy's plan. A child of Aries would say attack straight away but even if he were to be quick it is hard to say what will happen as Fleur was still in the monster's grasp and it could cause her permanent harm.

"You always have had a thing for blonde's, don't you Perseus Jackson?" said Thron to Percy, "are you not going to save her O almighty god." The manticore made a sound which strangely sounded like a giggle. "surrender, surrender, die, die."

Fleur was struggling but her struggles were becoming more and more sluggish and to Percy's horror they stopped.

"Oops," said Dr. Thron, "time's up!"

The manticore swung Fleur' limp body like a rag doll and threw it a great distance. Percy stood there frozen in shock unable to move.

"I shall now kill you." Declared Dr. thron, "I'll be recognized. They will sing songs about me defeating the Perseus.' They will sing about me 'The Manticore!' the one who killed the bane of the Titans."

Percy was still not moving and the air itself was not moving as if in anticipation of the hero's move. The sea in the distance had gone quiet. Thron shot a poisonous spike of his at Percy hit the hero right at his right leg thigh. The pain seemed to have woken up Percy at last. He gave out a howl and the sea in the distance responded in kind. The sheer anger Percy felt spoke as a mini hurricane started forming around him and the manticore which had leapt forward in hope of seizing the hero was caught in the hurricane. Percy was glowing and his power seemed to be oozing out. Manticore now caught in the hurricane was yelling out insults which fell on deaf eyes. Percy commanded the mini-hurricane and peristrefo to leap in action and he tore Dr. Thron into monster dust.

Percy was openly weeping as he dropped the hurricane and looked at a distance to find the limp body of Fleur lying on the ground near the entrance of the cottage. Seeing Fleur in her current state reminded Percy, it reminded him of the day, the day he had lost Annabeth.

Five six years ago

"Paul!" said Percy "is it ok if I borrow your car?"

Paul who had been occupying the sofa and lazily flipping through channels on the TV abandoned his efforts and looked towards Percy.

"Why do you want my car?" asked he and Percy knew that the his step-father no matter how cool a guy he was had truly gotten over the fact that last time he had lent his car it's hood had gotten a dent.

"I kinda have a date like in a few hours" Said Percy.

"Don't you have that black Pegasus, like at your beck and call?"

Percy who was standing by the side of the sofa shifted from one leg to another displaying his restlessness clearly coming from his ADHD.

"Yeah," Percy said "going on a date riding a Pegasus might be all romantic and all but it's like boiling out there. Unfortunately Blackjack doesn't come with air-conditioning."

"It is high time that you bought your own car Percy" Said Sally who had just entered the living room. "it's not like you lack money. You did find that treasure after all."

"I would have if I and Annabeth weren't been moving to San Francisco." informed Percy.

As soon as Percy said those words he saw his mother's expression flatten for a second but the brave and great woman recovered quickly and tried to mask it. Percy took a few steps forward and then pulled his mother into a hug.

"Mom," Percy said softly, "I love you."

Before he could more Sally spoke, "I know Percy. I know that you love me. I also know that new Rome is a safe place for you. And I'm happy that you get to go to college. It's just that…"

"We would miss having you here," said Paul adding for his wife and himself.

"I promise to make regular call." Said Percy releasing his mother from the hug.

"So, your date with Annabeth?" said Sally changing the subject.

"yeh, I'm meeting her at the central park." Informed Percy "and I need the car. She wants to take me somewhere but she wouldn't say, just told me to get a car."

Paul nodded his head and then retrieved his key from the drawer where he usually kept it. "Just be careful the traffic these days is horrible."

"Thanks Paul! Bye guys." said Percy as he hurried towards the door.

"Stop right there young man!" ordered Sally Jackson-Blofis. "Where are you running off to?"

Percy turned around on his heels, "Mom! I have a date to be on."

"You are going on a date wearing that!" thundered Sally. "I raised you better than, Peresus Jackson!"

Percy looked down on his simple orange camp-half-blood t-shirt and faded jeans. "What's wrong with this?"

"Everything," informed Sally.

Percy turned to Paul for guidance who surged and gave a look which said 'she is the boss'.

"Well, alright," Percy gave in, "what should I wear?"

Soon Sally saw through I that Percy was dressed in attire that she saw fit and Percy was on his way.

"Don't forget the flowers!" Percy heard his mother say before he got out of the house.

Percy made sure to buy some flowers as his mom asked and made it to the city. There was much less traffic than what Percy had usually seen at those hours which puzzled Percy.

'Maybe people didn't want to get in this heat.' Reasoned Percy.

The sky which had been somewhat clear earlier had now clouds gathering. There were reports of possible rains in the evening. It took Percy a while but he arrived at the park. Some sort of uneasiness seemed to creep into Percy's thoughts. It did not take him long to find a parking space. The uneasiness only grew for Percy. He glanced around nervously and saw that not many mortals were around. Clutching the flowers in his hands a bit tighter Percy made his way towards the meeting point where his girlfriend had asked him to be. As he continued to walk Percy noticed that some people were hurrying towards the exit and the place was soon looking deserted. Shifting the flowers to his left hand Percy took out riptide but held it capped. He quickened his pace to get to where Annabeth had asked him to be.

"DIE! Demigod! DIE!"

"I'II KILL NOBODY! Nobody will pay with his life!"

Years of battling monsters, Percy did not hesitate. He threw the flowers aside and charged in the direction the loud yells had come.

thank you all. see all next chapter