Disclaimer: Same as always. Credit given to where credit is due.

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Chapter 29

Winter and spring passed fast, and before he knew it, it was the middle of May, just before Memorial Day.

Percy found himself standing in the library of a boarding school in New York waiting for someone. He'd just returned from a trip to the Underworld. A depressing one, too. The god Hades had just told him it was impossible for him to see Annabeth as long as he lived.

He'd been on a trip trying to convince the god to refrain from helping Olympus. Surprisingly, Hades didn't attack him or try to kill him (which was essentially the same thing), especially considering Persephone was up with her mother Demeter. But the Lord of the Dead seemed bothered by something else. He said he would think about it. And somehow after that, the conversation had changed into talking about the dead ones close to Percy. Hades refused to allow Percy to see Annabeth, or his mother, but did confirm that the former had made it into Elysium. She had to be waiting for him. He knew it.

But then the horrifying thought reached him. Ever since he'd decided to join the Titans, Luke seemed less worried and more at ease. Percy knew why. It was because Percy had offered to host the soul of the Titan Kronos. It was April when he found out the true nature of hosting Kronos.

Luke was talking to Chris Rodriguez, who was ordered to go solo through the Labyrinth, about him. Luke told Chris about the Percy Jackson who was noble and heroic. Percy had saved Luke's life in a way, but it came at the cost of something worse than death.

"Why are you so relieved?" asked Chris.

Luke sighed. "Because I don't have to host the Titan lord."

"Well, I mean, yeah, it's dangerous, but wouldn't it be serving him?" Chris had grown tentative over the first four months of the year. It mainly occurred after he was assigned to the Labyrinth solo. There was hesitation in his voice, as if he wasn't totally sure about serving Kronos.

"You do understand what hosting him means, don't you?" Luke asked. "It means he'll use me like a stepping stone. That's exactly what it is like. To become his full form, he needs to feed off the power of a living host before becoming his true self in full power."

"But what's so bad about that?"

Luke swallowed. "Don't tell Percy. But… it means Kronos is going to burn his soul. Completely."

"That's horrible!" Chris exclaimed. "Why are you so happy about that?"

"I'm not!" Luke waved his hands in a declining manner. "It's just that, I've been thinking about it longer than Percy has. I think I might know a way to save Percy's soul. And I know he can do it. If he's as rebellious and unpredictable as I know him to be, he'll hold on for much longer than if I were hosting Kronos."

Percy knew that meant if Kronos was to rise to full power, he would never see Annabeth ever again. He wouldn't even exist except in the minds of those who knew him. Percy wanted to destroy the gods, but he was afraid. He was scared of what might happen. There was no way Luke would take this position back. And if he betrayed the Titans once again, he had nowhere to go. Maybe if he was killed right now… Bianca was his only option. But then he wouldn't get his revenge on Thalia and the gods.

He saw the daughter of Hades enter the library, her expression dark. She truly had gone through a change since he first saw her. She was more open now, and although she looked dark and moody, he somehow knew she had a light side to her. Percy wondered if he would ever get his light side back. Even now, he had the urge to stab the three guys beating up a defenceless girl in the dark corner of the school. It was only visible from the library in the one position where he sat.

The daughter of Hades spotted him and walked over toward him. Instead of sitting down, she passed by and muttered, "Fields at the back of the school. Nobody's there."

With a curt nod, he exited the building and went to the back. Bianca was already there, sitting on a bench. There was no one else in sight.

He sat down next to her and looked out at the school. "So, Chiron sent you here."

"Yes." Her response was quick and to the point.

"Are you wondering why I requested to meet you?"

"Yes."

"Do you want to kill me? But you can't because you don't know my weak spot?"

"Yes."

Percy looked down and chuckled. "Expected, Bianca. I don't blame you. I guess the Olympians have brainwashed you after these four months."

"Thalia's no longer a Hunter," Bianca said suddenly. "Even if you were to die, I wouldn't be the child of the prophecy. It made my dad angry. She's still older than me by a month. By definition, her new birthday is April 15th. Mine is May 24th. So that makes her a month older, but if her birthday stands, she turns fourteen this winter. I turn fourteen in around a week. Still, her body is older than me. She's actually still going to be the prophecy child because of the April release."

"Does it matter or not if you're the prophecy child?" Percy asked.

"My father would want it that way," said the girl with a scowl. "After all, without me, what power does Thalia have alone to fight you."

"I'd say she has a good chance of standing her ground," Percy said with a shrug. "Of course, I would destroy her completely in the end, but she would fight valiantly till her last breath. Not that it was worth it or anything."

"The difference is that you can kill her," Bianca pointed out. "She can't kill you."

"She'll be able to find out my weak spot eventually," he said. "Trial and error, right?"

"So you plan to toy with her?" she asked.

"Yes."

"You do realize that she can't kill you, even if you were a regular mortal," Bianca said. "When she came to, she tried to kill herself out of grief and guilt after killing her best friend. She told me they were on the run together. The fact that she was the one to kill Annabeth took its toll on her."

"I don't care," Percy sneered.

"She told me she joined the Hunters because Luke joined the Titans and because she knew Annabeth had feelings for you. Thalia told me she might have liked you in some way, but tried not to realize it too much so Annabeth could have her chance. When she ran into the Hunters, she found her escape. After being chided by the Olympian Council and by Chiron, she's made it her duty to apologize to you."

Percy closed his eyes. "Don't try and make me sympathize with her."

"Well, it doesn't matter now, considering you joined the Titans. But it's hard to imagine how civil we're being as enemies. We should be fighting, not talking. I guess I accepted this talk because I want to get to know you more, Percy Jackson. After all, Hestia said I should understand my enemy before fighting them. And the same goes for you. To defeat me, you need to know my weaknesses, because even with your invulnerability, demigods are much smarter than monsters."

Percy raised his eyebrows. "Interesting. Okay, then. I'll tell you my weakness. Currently, I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place. You ever heard that term? Well, considering I want to destroy many of the gods and Thalia, let's call that the rock. That is unachievable without help. But that help comes from that hard place. The Titans… I don't believe they deserve to rule. They're more evil than the Olympians. But I hold no grudges against them aside from the leader, Kronos, for betraying me and trying to kill me when I was twelve."

"What do you plan to do? Separate and become a third force, to destroy both the gods and the Titans. You're not the same Percy Jackson that they all described. So, I'll ask you this. Will you save camp? Or would you destroy it because Thalia is there?"

Percy looked down. "All I want to do was avenge Annabeth. I-I'm sure I loved her. And in some ways, I still do. But the destruction that comes with it… I don't know if I can handle it."

"So your weakness is that you still have a heart. A twisted, corrupted heart, but a heart nonetheless."

"Perhaps. I guess so."

Percy turned to look at Bianca and was surprised to find that she was crying. She was crying silently, so it didn't even sound like she was upset. "What about you? What's your weakness?"

"My weakness…" Bianca trailed off. She didn't even bother to wipe the tears away. "I have many. I don't know what my biggest weakness is. But… the reason I fight… the reason I live is similar to yours. You've seen my brother, Nico, before haven't you?"

"Yes."

"Well, I used to take care of him. Our parents had died, well, our mother had died, and we were thrown into the Lotus Casino. Something I found out on the quest was that I'm actually from the 1940s. I'm an Italian-American from Venice. Zeus killed my mother after Hades put up a protective wall around us. He was too late to save my mom. And I… that made me think about how I'd protected Nico."

She was slowly breaking down. "I tried to leave him out of the quest, but he was ambitious and a little kid. He was innocent. I'd protected him from the harsh realities of the world. But that day… in the land without rain, I'd devised a strategy that would sacrifice my life. I explained it to Nico so he would understand why he needed to distract the defective Talos. It was my fault that he sacrificed himself. If I had just told him to distract it, he would still be alive."

"But you would be dead."

"At least that way, I wouldn't suffer from knowing I was the cause of his death!" Bianca shouted. "He would fight in my honour, knowing I'd sacrificed myself without the judgement of others. But now… now… he's dead because of me. Isn't that same way you feel about Annabeth? The only difference is you… you just have someone to direct your anger toward."

Percy shook his head. "No, it's Thalia's fault."

"That's what you're trying to convince yourself of. You don't want to blame yourself, so you're blaming others."

"No, that's not it!" Percy insisted.

"Don't lie to yourself," Bianca pressed.

Percy raised a fist and punched Bianca right across her face. She fell off the bench and lay on her back. She looked ready to drown in her own tears. He found himself hyperventilating. No, he thought. That's not possible. But I…

Percy realized it was the same thing as with Grover's death. If he hadn't been so stupid, he could have saved Annabeth's life. He didn't have to stand there and watch in awe. He wasn't watching a fight. He was participating in one. But he allowed his impregnable skin to be protected by unprotected flesh. He allowed Annabeth to jump in front of him. And even though she knew it wouldn't kill him, she still did it anyway. It was his fault. He had been so determined to make the plan work that he didn't realize that every little single detail had to go right, just as Annabeth had suggested.

With Grover, he had distracted the satyr in his dying moments. The monsters got him, and though Camp Half-Blood received a great present from the satyr's death, it had only been because Percy watched his friend die. He could have done something. He could have acted. But he was just a useless idiot. He was a useless Seaweed Brain.

It was the same with his mother as well. He had run off into the underbrush. He had sprinted into the forest. If he hadn't, perhaps his mother wouldn't have died. Perhaps she wouldn't have been murdered. And the worst part, Percy didn't even know who killed his mother. At first, he thought it was Hades, but Hestia had said it wasn't. Had it been a Titan? Probably. But he kept telling himself to persevere and push through when everything was truly his fault.

Why was he just realizing this now? He'd come to this conclusion many times in the past nine years. But why was it so heartbreaking now?

"Why?" Percy screamed out loud. "No, I must get revenge. Destroy the monsters. Destroy the murderer. Destroy Thalia. Avenge my family!"

Bianca backed away from him cautiously. "Percy?"

He fell to his knees. "Annabeth told me I was a lot like Thalia. But she's also much different. You… you're more like me than her. Your mother was murdered by a greater power. A person really close to you has perished because of you. Our fathers care about us, but other Olympians don't trust us. You understand. Please, join me. Help me get revenge, and I'll help you in any way possible. I swear it on the River Styx."

Thunderclouds were moving in.

Bianca reached out for a moment, as if the idea intrigued her, and for a moment, Percy realized how deeply Bianca's feelings for her brother and the gods went. She was willing to betray them. But then she pulled away. "I… I can't. I'm sorry."

"Bianca?"

"How can I trust you?" she said. "Just because we've gone through the same thing? My first impression of you is that of a traitor. I can't… I can't do this. What if this is all a trick? There's no way I can know for sure because I don't know you."

"Bianca… I'm telling the truth."

"I'm sorry."

Suddenly he felt angry and raised an arm. Bianca struck forward quickly, quicker than he thought she could move. But when her fist collided with his chest, he could hear a sudden crack! The force of the punch made him stumble backward, but Bianca cried out in pain and clutched her wrist.

Percy bent down. "Bianca, are you okay?"

"Get away from me!" she cried out. "I don't want your help! No one accepts me anyway! Us children of Hades are always outcasts. You never see any glory stories of children of Hades. It's only Zeus' and Poseidon's kids. Who's to say you will too? No, we're enemies. And that is that. I don't deserve to fight alongside you. And you don't deserve to fight alongside me."

Percy's eyes flashed with anger, and he prepared to strike again, but when he studied her face, he could tell she was going through strife. He closed his eyes and said, "Fine. After the gods have been destroyed, remember this: the small of my back. But if you decide to fight, I have no choice but to kill you, Bianca. I'll spare you because you really don't want to hurt me. After all, mercy is always granted to those who deserve it."

Bianca buried her face in her hands.

"After I tear Thalia limb from limb, I'll feed her to the dogs," Percy promised. "And the gods will pay for their arrogance. That is… before the Titans can come to power. I will make this happen. I won't fail this time, Annabeth. My world will come to light."

"Your… world?" asked Bianca.

"The world I have always dreamed of," Percy said, a dark shadow passing over his face.

And as the raindrops began falling, he said, "A world without gods or Titans. A world ruled by humans."


Percy stared at Quintus coldly. Luke stood beside him, clearly fearing the new Percy Jackson.

Of course, Luke was the better negotiator and was trying to convince Quintus to give them what they needed.

"Please, Quintus," Luke begged. "We need that string."

"Luke, I already told you that the eyes of a clear-sighted mortal are the best guide—"

"No, we must have the string!" Luke insisted.

For the past week, Luke had been trying to convince Quintus to give them Ariadne's string. Percy didn't know why the son of Hermes wouldn't allow a clear-sighted mortal along with them. If the inventor of the Labyrinth said it worked best, it most likely did work best. Even though he went by the name Quintus instead of Daedalus, Percy could almost sense the soul of the inventor inside the body.

Quintus looked down. "The string is good enough to get you through the Labyrinth. But it is not as accurate as a clear-sighted mortal. You will find yourself led the wrong way many times. Traps and monsters lay ahead. If a mortal were to guide you—"

"We already agreed on the terms, Quintus," Luke said sternly. "All we want is the string. Once Kronos rises to power, you will get your freedom. When Hades is overthrown, you will rule the Underworld. You can reclaim your son Icarus. You will make things right with your nephew Perdix. You will be able to cast Minos' soul into Tartarus, where he cannot bother you again. And you will no longer have to run from death."

"And with it let you destroy the camp, kill hundreds of demigods, and then attack Olympus?" Quintus asked. "They are certainly weak, but two children of the Big Three also give them great power."

"You have already been to their camp," Luke said. "You know they cannot hold back against the might of Kronos."

Quintus grimaced. Then he finally relented, "Very well. I shall give you the string."

Luke grabbed it eagerly and stared at it with wonder. "Finally. Come on, Percy. Let's go."

Percy nodded but didn't move. Luke left the room. Only the torn inventor and the twisted son of Poseidon remained. Quintus stared at Percy curiously. Perhaps he was wondering about why he was still there. To be honest, Percy didn't know why he was still there. There was just something about Quintus and all his work that reminded him of Annabeth. Percy wondered how Annabeth would feel. Soon, Percy would become the host to Kronos' soul, and he would no longer have control over his body.

Percy knew Annabeth would be furious and would feel betrayed. Percy knew she wouldn't want him to kill Thalia. Or destroy Olympus. That's just who Annabeth was. Even if she was sometimes tempted, she stayed true and loyal to the gods in the end. The same could not be said for him. Traitor. Traitor. Traitor. Now that his end came nearer and nearer, the more he regretted. The more he wished he could turn back the clock and start anew.

What kind of villain was he? He didn't believe in the villainous qualities that made villains evil. What kind of hero was he? He was treacherous and only helped those who he liked. Was this what the ancient Greeks thought about heroes? In a way, despite betraying Medea, Jason did some amazing feats that could be considered heroic. Despite being called a hero, Achilles participated in looting and taking women as prizes, the things people wouldn't consider heroic now. Even though they were good, they were also bad. So was that the same with the gods and Titans?

Were they both good and bad? The campers believed the Titans were the evil ones. Luke and his half-blood followers believed the Olympians were the bad ones. But the truth was that both sides were bad. There was this saying or logic about arguing and debating: Winning an argument is not about being right. It is about proving your opponent wrong.

It was all Bianca's fault. If she had joined him, maybe he wouldn't be stuck in this position. Maybe he would search for something… someone that could help him gain the power to destroy both the gods and the titans. But there was no escape now. Only a couple days from now he would… he would…

"You think Camp Half-Blood has no chance against Kronos?" Percy asked.

"There is no hope."

Percy allowed a smirk to spread across his face. "I once knew a child of Athena. She was amazing in many, many ways."

Quintus looked out the window. Percy recognized the Rocky Mountains in the distance. They were high up in the foothills, at least five hundred feet, and down below a valley spread out, filled with a tumbled collection of red mesas and boulders and spires of stone.

"Colorado Springs," Quintus said. "The Garden of the Gods."

"Very fitting," Percy said with a chuckle. "Two children of the gods turned against our parents, whether by choice or by force."

Quintus nodded solemnly.

"Can I see the mark?" Percy asked.

The old inventor tugged back the collar of his shirt. At the base of his neck was the mark Percy'd dreamed of—the dark shape of a bird grafted to his skin.

"A murderer's brand," Percy said. "For your nephew, Perdix. The boy you pushed off the tower."

Quintus' face darkened. "I did not push him. I simply—"

"Made him lose his balance," Percy said harshly. "Let him die."

Quintus gazed out the windows at the purple mountains. "I regret what I did, Percy. I was angry and bitter. But I cannot take it back, and Athena never lets me forget. As Perdix died, she turned him into a small bird—a partridge. She branded the bird's shape on my neck as a reminder. No matter what body I take, the brand appears on my skin."

"Yes. Remember that child of Athena I spoke of?" Percy's expression darkened. "She never would have done such a thing. You probably would have been her hero. But after seeing what you've done, I don't think she would respect you anymore. I believe, if I knew her well enough, she would have said that you aren't a real child of Athena. Children of Athena are supposed to be wise, not just clever. Maybe, after turning your animus into a machine, you are just a machine now. She might have gone so far to have said that you should have died two thousand years ago."

Daedalus hung his head. "Perhaps so… But why would an ally of the titans say such a thing?"

Percy's jaw clenched. "I am no ally of the titans. Like I said, I made a choice. And as of this moment, I despise both sides."

"Don't tell me…"

"Yes, I have no allegiance, Daedalus. I am stuck as the host of Kronos. But if I had the choice, I would destroy them all."

Daedalus stared at the corner. "Destroy them all, huh?"

"After all, I'm no child of Athena," Percy said darkly. "But at least I know one thing. Prepare yourself for a fight. Because titans aren't very good at keeping their promises. That's payment for telling me where the entrance to Camp Half-Blood is."

Then the son of Poseidon exited the workshop, leaving the son of Athena alone to ponder his thoughts.


Gasp! Percy knows where the entrance is! I know that it is sudden, but there really isn't much to tell other than this. Anyway, read and review!

Thank you very much,
SharkAttack719