Approximately one year later…

August 15th. This was the day that everything went to hell. This was the day that the fighting broke out.

Things had been relatively peaceful, almost too peaceful, for the past year. Kronos had tried to bait out a few more attacks, but after some scouting, which revealed that they were all traps, the campers decided to ignore them. Nothing much happened, but a lot had been improved, refined, or decided.

An early decision was for Chiron to be out of the fighting area. If anyone had to survive this, it had to be him. If everyone else died protecting Olympus, he would have to be there to build the campers back up in both number and spirit. Where would he be?

Well, when this year's batch of new campers arrived, they were given an admittedly unfair choice. Percy wasn't going to lie to them. He told them that they were about to go to literal war, and that many of the faces they saw at camp during the summer, would be gone by the end of August. He said that they could either train and fight (they would make sure they played defense the whole time) or they could train, but not fight, and be basically guaranteed to live on. Of the forty-ish new campers, only five decided to fight and it turned out that they were all either children of Ares or Athena anyway, so it was basically a given.

Back to Chiron, he would be taking those that wouldn't fight to his brethren. While wild, Chiron claimed, they would aid one of their own, especially against monsters.

Thus it was left entirely to the campers (and Hunters) to decide how things would play out. The gods were largely separate. This day, August 15th, a massive force awakened, due to a combination of events, most caused by Percy it turned out. Typhon, father of all monsters, emerged, forcing the gods to deal with it. The struggle, as explained by Zoë, would take several days and all of the gods' combined strength, especially with their dwindled numbers, with Apollo out of commission, Zoë in Manhattan, Hades…being a prick, and Poseidon busy both being a prick and dealing with ancient ocean spirits and deities, like Oceanus. Zoë said he was lucky Pontus doesn't give a shit, or they'd all be screwed. Well…she didn't say it that crassly.

The home base for the campers was, surprise, surprise, near the Empire State Building, but not actually at the monument. See, the gods did this really neat-o thing where they let the campers bypass the whole elevator thing, which, if things got that close, would be a hindrance to them, and just made temporary stairs, which led all the way up to Olympus. Now, being gods, they could make it so it could take twenty steps, or it could take a thousand steps, so it didn't really aid Kronos, or at least his army, because they could make it so his forces could never truly reach Olympus. Though, even the gods admitted that they likely couldn't keep someone as powerful as Kronos out without full attention being placed on keeping him out, which it wouldn't because, you know, Typhon was a thing.

Conveniently, Percy's apartment lay within the 'home base', which was actually a rather large area, spanning a couple blocks, so it worked out that way too.

Okay, okay, to address the elephant in the room; how is it that they were able to do all of this and not at least get some weird looks from the residents of the city. Well, Morpheus, god of dreams, wanted to fulfill a part of the Great Prophecy; And see the world in endless sleep. Over a week before the fighting started, the entire city of New York was put to sleep, and the campers took that week to both scout out where enemy camps were, and remove the people that were in the way of where the fighting was most likely to take place. While Celestial Bronze weapons couldn't harm them, even while asleep, campers could still easily trip over them, and monsters could definitely hurt them if they wanted, so…all in all, it was necessary. Now, whether Morpheus did this out of the goodness of his heart or not, well, that was left up for grabs.

"Percy," Beckendorf shook him out of his thoughts. "Hey, you can't be zoning out on me today of all days."

"Right, sorry," Percy said. "Just thinking through the plan."

One might call it a reckless decision, but the campers were making the first offensive; they needed to destroy the Princess Andromeda. Everything about this strike, of two demigods against an army, was meticulously calculated by the Athena cabin; they'd spent weeks planning it, and had contingency plans for the contingency plans.

Still…when they were going over it just that morning, it seemed so far off. Now, as they rode on Agro toward the harbor…

Percy had tried to keep the mood light, but it was absolutely impossible, given the gravity of what was about to happen. Let's not sugar-coat this here; this was a suicide mission, at least for Beckendorf.

All children of Hephaestus had a special property about them; they could release fire. Legend says that in ancient times, Hephaestus children had a natural immunity to flames, but modern children didn't, thus they usually go their whole lives not even knowing about it. Beckendorf, though, found out in a freak accident, when he got too frustrated working on one of his projects; it was why he never seemed down or frustrated at camp, to keep the fire under control.

Beckendorf's idea was to use that power and make himself a living bomb, exploding right where it would hurt, and sink the ship that way. For months, everyone except Silena tried to talk him out of it, and the only reason she didn't was because she didn't know his plan, at his behest. Unfortunately, his mind had been made up. Something had happened to where he wanted sweet revenge against Kronos/Luke, and he wouldn't tell a soul why, not even Silena.

So then, that brought them to that day. "I can see the ship," Percy said solemnly, as if saying "here's your coffin."

"I see it," Beckendorf peered ahead. "Not much patrol from the skies. Should have a clean landing."

Percy nodded. He was dying to turn Agro around and just forget about it, but…not only would it likely spell doom for the campers if this yacht didn't sink today, but Beckendorf would never forgive him. Instead, Percy worked up the courage to ask a dying man's last request. "Hey…when I get back, what do you want me to say to Silena? To everyone?"

"…Never really thought about 'everyone'," the son of Hephaestus admitted. "But, if you could," he reached into his back pocket and pulled out a letter. "Can you give this to Silena? I, uh…wrote it last night, as a kind of…goodbye," he looked bashful.

"Idiot," Percy thought, fighting back the urge to punch him.

"I know, kind of cowardly not to say it in person, but…I think this is for the best…trust me…"

"…I just don't understand why you're so intent on doing this…" they drew closer to the ship. "What happened to make you want this? You owe me that."

Beckendorf, with a look of complete content on his face, stared into the horizon; it was the last time he'd get to see it. "Because…I found out that Silena had been…a traitor, a spy, since the very beginning…"

Time seemed to stand still. "…your campers aren't as loyal as you think they are…" Luke's pompous words rang in Percy's head. "I have eyes and ears everywhere at Camp Half-Blood…"

"It's showtime," Beckendorf said. In a daze, Percy obeyed, jumping off of Agro and landing in the water, before propelling himself up onto the deck, attracting the attention of the monsters on guard detail.

Immediately, about sixty monsters surrounded Percy, but he willed the water around them to come to his aid, forming a protective ring. Any monsters who tried to get close were skewered by water spikes. "What's wrong?!" Percy yelled at them, even as his words felt hollow. "Come and get some!"

"In due time, little hero," Kronos said as he came out from within the ship. Percy gasped when he saw the Titan. He looked almost exactly like Luke, but had a couple distinctions. His skin gave off an almost otherworldly glow, but it wasn't like an aura. It was as if the skin itself was shining. Second, and more disturbingly, Luke's normally sky blue eyes were this unnatural golden color. Kronos' influence was clear; Luke was no longer in control.

Out of the corner of his eye, Percy saw Beckendorf swoop behind the ship while no one was looking.

"Let Luke go, Kronos!" the son of Poseidon demanded. "He doesn't deserve this!"

"He doesn't?" the Titan Lord chuckled. "Was it not him who first began resenting the gods?"

"Because you tricked him!"

"No, foolish boy. It was because daddy-dearest never answered any of his prayers, even in his most desperate times. Oh, you should've heard the boy's tale; it really was quite heart wrenching; all of those empty promises..."

"Tch, so what? You took pity? Don't make me laugh."

"But enough about me, Cruel Spider, let's talk about you."

"Don't call me that!" Percy growled. "That's not who I am anymore!"

"It doesn't matter anyway. In just a few days' time, you'll be nothing more than a memory."

"Why wait?!" Percy shot his water forward, blasting away the monsters in his way, and leapt up to Kronos, who handily side-stepped the strike, and flicked Percy away, literally. Percy tumbled across the deck and slipped off entirely. He crashed into the water, feeling it fuel his own powers, and he rose out and up to meet the Titan. Percy threw everything he could muster in that short period of time, and the force of the waves he shot rocked the ship as it hit Kronos, though the Titan just held up a hand and let it pass by him.

"Really, is this necessary?" Kronos asked as he yawned.

"What? You don't want to fight me?" Percy questioned.

"Really, this isn't so much a fight as it is a disappointment. And as I said; in due time."

"Tch, fine, mark the date; August 18th. That's the day you go back to Tartarus!"

"Though I still have to question why you're here, little hero. I know you are a fool, yet I didn't think you were stupid enough to try and attack us all on your own. What's your big plan? It's something that Annabeth girl came up with, no doubt. You always were an obedient little puppy."

Percy smirked. This was something that he knew he had on this asshole. "Actually, it was someone else; someone who you know nothing about."

Kronos seemed equally confident. "Please, do tell."

"He's…" Percy hesitated, remembering the plan, and knowing that Beckendorf only asked for a couple minutes. In fact, he could feel the power that the man was radiating. "He's…a hero."

Kronos, at that point, noticed the same power that Percy felt, especially when Percy shot himself away from the Princess Andromeda as fast as he could. "Jump off! Get out of here! Now!" Kronos' voice shifted from his own to Luke's erratically, as if the son of Hermes were fighting to get control to warn his fellow demigod and ally.

Percy submerged himself to avoid the brunt of the explosion. Beckendorf let out this massive burst like a supernova, completely vaporizing most of the monsters on board that didn't have some special requirement for their death like the drakons. The ship, despite its magical barrier, was also destroyed, and Kronos was sent flying into the city.

Percy's head breached the surface of the water in time to see the aftereffect, with a massive puff of black smoke. He took a deep breath and exhaled. He felt bad. It wasn't that he didn't feel anything about Beckendorf's sacrifice; he did.

Percy just didn't feel enough of anything, not even to shed a tear. Perhaps those months of preparation and mental steeling had paid off, but he didn't expect it to feel so…empty. Not to mention, that damn bombshell the son of Hephaestus dropped right before…

Without being called, Agro hovered above the water, waiting for Percy to get on. "I'm…sorry for your loss, my master…" he said.

"Yeah…me too…"

"I shall spread his name to all in the land. You have my word."

Percy forced a smile, and patted the Pegasus' neck. "Thanks, Agro. Let's get back. I need to have a very important conversation."

xxxXXXxxx

Percy landed at the Greek encampment, to uproarious cheers upon the news that the mission was successful. Annabeth was the first to meet him. She had a somber look in her eyes. "…Well?"

"…Exactly as planned," Percy relayed, slipping off of Agro to let him scout around.

The daughter of Athena put a hand on Percy's shoulder in reassurance. "He's in Elysium," she claimed. "Now it's our job to make sure it wasn't in vain."

"Right. So…what's our plan now? We're not just gonna wait, I'm sure."

Annabeth crossed her arms. "Nothing you could help with, I'm afraid. We need to do some reconnaissance; we can't effectively plan around our enemy if we don't know where they are."

"Especially when they know what we had planned before," Percy muttered bitterly.

"What?" Annabeth didn't quite hear that.

"Nothing. Where's Silena, I need to-"

"Percy!"

"Huh, speak of the devil," Riptide said. The daughter of Aphrodite bounded up to the pair excitedly.

"I heard everything went great!" she exclaimed, trying to sound as cheery as possible. "But…where's Charlie?"

Percy took a deep breath. He tried so hard to wrap his head around the idea that it was Silena who'd been the traitor, but with her smile and her can-do attitude, it just didn't seem possible. No wonder he never suspected her.

"Silena, we need to talk," Percy said, his voice dangerously low in silent rage.

"O-oh, alright…privately?"

"If possible," Percy confirmed. Silena started toward a semi-secluded area. Annabeth stopped the son of Poseidon from following right away.

"Hey…show some tact, if you can," she suggested before pecking his cheek. She then returned to where the rest of the Athena cabin was huddled.

Percy met Silena, who by now was looking a bit nervous. "So, where's Charlie? I haven't seen him."

Percy didn't answer at first. He wasn't sure whether he should chew her out for her treachery, or break the bad news. This was just a bad situation all around. "We just can't afford to have those thoughts clouding our judgement," Percy recalled Annabeth's words, but even still…all of those years of friendship…

Percy reached into his back pocket and pulled out Beckendorf's letter, which was sealed with a forge symbol.

"From Charlie?" Silena's eyes lit up, and she reached for the letter. Percy pulled it away from her grasp. "W-what's wrong? Why are you-?"

"I deserve to know," Percy interrupted her.

"Know what?"

The son of Poseidon's eyes were cold, yet the aura he was letting off was white hot with fury. He was ready to burst if she made one wrong move. "I deserve to know…if you ever cared about us…about Beckendorf…"

Silena tried to act natural. "What are you-"

"He knew. Beck knew that you were a spy for Kronos since the beginning," he claimed. In a flash, Silena normal disposition disappeared, she was left with her instinctual fight-or-flight mentality. She stepped back, and made as much distance between herself and Percy. "Don't try and run."

"…P-Percy, I don't-"

"Don't play stupid!" he hissed, trying to keep himself from exploding. Silena reared back from the words. Almost as if her façade was shattered by Percy's brief outburst, tears began pouring down Silena's cheeks. Percy took a deep breath. He threw the letter to the ground at Silena's feet. "…You're not leaving this encampment anymore. You'll have a guard on you. You won't be fighting," he listed them off. Each restriction felt like a punch to the gut to the daughter of Aphrodite, who dropped to her knees, picking up the letter with an empty feeling in her heart. He turned around, ready to enact those restrictions on her.

"I…did care…" she muttered, just loud enough for him to hear. "I just…couldn't tell you…"

Percy shot her an over-the-shoulder glare which made her freeze. "Then you should've stopped."

"Shut up!" Silena cried, letting all of her pent-up emotions run loose. "You don't know the stress and agony I've felt! This was my home! Do you know how it felt to see it slowly crumble away every night? I do; it was what Kronos showed me! Do you know what it feels like to have the person closest to you dangled in front of your face like a puppet, used as leverage so you'll do what they want?"

Percy didn't find any sympathy for her words. "…Imagine being that puppet, and finding out what you've been this whole time," Percy shot back, making Silena shut her mouth. "You should've at least told Beck, so he didn't have to feel so betrayed…in the end…"

With that, Percy left Silena, who was staining the closed letter with her tears.

xxxXXXxxx

Percy was slammed against the wall, held up by his shirt. "What the hell are you accusing Silena of?!" Clarisse growled, being understandably upset. "You think that just because you're the hero of the prophecy that you can say stupid shit and not have repercussions?!"

"I heard it from Beckendorf, before he died," Percy said, trying to remain calm. That news seemed to make the daughter of Ares relent, at least a bit.

"So what? He could've been wrong!"

"He died because she betrayed us," was what he was going to say, but he didn't want to add salt to the wound any more than he had to. "You and I both know that he's not. Looking back, it makes sense. She'd always go off by herself, right? She must've been relaying to Luke what we've been planning."

Clarisse crossed her arms. "…Well…everyone deserves a second chance," she claimed. Michael Yew put a hand on her shoulder.

"Try and look past your friendship, Claire," he said, pissing her off with the nickname. "This is straight-up treason. For all we know, she might've single-handedly doomed us all."

Clarisse shrugged off Yew's aid. "Piss off, short-stuff," she growled.

"Short?!" Yew laid into Clarisse, who hit back hard, and the two got into a minor scuffle.

"Enough!" Zoë broke them up. "Now, we need to begin preparing for who is doing recon."

"I vote a few kids from the Hermes cabin," Yew said. "They're light on their feet, and can get around quickly."

"Connor, Travis, thoughts?"

The two, having promised not to mess with camp during the battles, nodded. They seemed surprisingly serious. "We've got some guys," Connor said…or maybe it was Travis? Whatever. "I'll go let them know," one of them left.

"My Hunters will also go, at least a few," Zoë announced. "If things do not proceed as planned, you will need some covering fire."

"Good idea," Annabeth said. "I'll go too, see if I can identify any structural weak points in where they're stationed. I doubt they're taking very good care of it," everyone nodded. "If it's settled, then all we need to do is wait for the Pegasus riders to report in, so we have a rough idea of their loca-"

"Guys! Guys!"

"Speak of the devil," Annabeth turned to the young boy, who looked no older than fifteen. He seemed distressed, more so than most people. "You know where they are?"

The boy drew in a breath, but nodded. "W-we have a p-problem…"

"Don't we always?" Percy questioned. Clarisse elbowed him in the stomach.

"There's a big…thing, or…a lot of big things heading our way!"

"What do you mean 'big things'? You mean monsters?"

"W-we don't know; they were underwater, coming up the lower bay," he pointed toward the south. "We saw it passing the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. Another hour and they'll all be past the Brooklyn Bridge too! The main enemy camp is on the Brooklyn side of the Williamsburg Bridge," he informed them.

Annabeth crossed her arms, getting into that adorable trance thing where she can't stop thinking. "They're probably trying to meet up there, then," she concluded. "We can't let that happen. If we can cut them off from their water forces, we'll be able to cripple them to an extent."

"Then what's the plan?" Percy questioned.

"Well, you're our best water guy. You think you can handle it?" she asked the question so casually.

"Oh sure, I'll just fight an army of water monsters on my own. That'll work out."

"No, stupid, I meant can you lead the charge?"

"Of course," he gave her a thumbs-up.

"I'll go with you," Bianca piped up.

"No," Percy said immediately.

"But-"

"Someone needs to stay here in case of attack; you're the strongest demigod we've got," Percy assured her.

"Other than you," Riptide mentioned.

"I wasn't gonna say that," Percy thought defensively.

Percy expected her to be sad or disappointed, but of course, this was Bianca. "Whatever you say, chief! I guess 'flying solo' without a Big Three kid does suit you well!"

"I will aid you," Zoë assured. "My chariot can get us there quickly."

"I'm taking some Apollo and Ares campers too. I'll try and beach as many monsters as I can; that'll be where you guys come in."

"So long as I get to stain my spear with monster blood, anything is good with me," Clarisse agreed.

With that, the group dispersed to prepare; both parties would leave within five minutes. Percy and Annabeth stayed behind with each other. "…I'll be fine," Annabeth assured him, knowing that he'd worry.

"…So will I," Percy returned. "…Actually, I can't promise that."

"No, you can't," she kissed him. "But that's okay, for the next few days."

With that, the two parted ways. Thalia was left in charge of the Hunters that were accompanying Annabeth and the Hermes kids to do recon, while Percy, Zoë, some Apollo campers and some Ares campers, including Clarisse, would go face whatever aquatic terrors lurked in the upper bay.

Percy was about to meet them for that mission, when a figure caught his eye. "You aren't supposed to be here, Ethan," he said. "I thought-"

"I've gotten out of worse cages than your basement, Percy," the son of Nemesis returned nonchalantly. "I saw what happened; watched the whole thing."

"You mean here, or…?"

"I mean on that damned yacht," he said. "And I'm, uh…sorry for your loss," it sounded like Ethan was tyring to give off something other than snark and comebacks, and it sounded weird. Percy was tempted to give him a scathing response, but at that moment, he wasn't feeling particularly combative.

"Yeah…me too…" was all he said.

Ethan clapped his hands rather loudly. "Well, a deal's a deal," he claimed. "My sword is yours to use as you see fit."

"…What are you talking-"

"He said he'd join the Greeks again if you destroyed the Princess Andromeda," Riptide recalled. Percy was always impressed at its recall ability, both in movie quotes and less important things like this.

"Oh…um…" Percy was still understandably confused and wasn't sure what to say. He wasn't even sure if he could trust Ethan at all, given his history.

"I understand if you're having trust issues," Ethan said, as if reading Percy's mind. "Which is why I'm electing to stay here and let you sit on the idea. Just know that I will die for your cause, as I would've for Kronos' before."

"You, uh…you sound like you've given this a lot of thought…" Percy said, even knowing that it didn't exactly apply to this situation; it was just all he could think to say. His brain was already in 'kill monsters' mode.

"Not really," Ethan said. "There's either honor in your words, or there isn't. I refuse to let my own be tainted."

"Your honor or your words?" Riptide asked.

"I think he means both."

"But that's too confusing…"

"Well, Ethan, I can't say I'm not glad to have you fighting on the side of good," Percy said, shaking his hand. Ethan frowned when he said it, though. "W-what?"

"Nothing," he said. "But let me make it clear that I'm not helping because your side is 'good' and Kronos' is 'bad'," the two stared at each other for a moment before Ethan turned around. "I'll be eagerly awaiting your return."

And then he left Percy just as confused as ever, leaving him with only a single solid thought in his mind; he had a job to do, and he was going to go do it.

Author's Note:

Hey all! So, fun times are ahead. Why? Because I hace the next five days off in a row, and I only have like three chapters left to write, so I'm going to make a big push to try and get this out. I've been keeping you guys waiting for far too long anyway.

A couple things to note, however:

This adaptation may seem both too similar and very different from the canon Last Olympian. The order of events will be odd and it will be mostly battles and not like other types of encounters, but, hey, it's a war. Also, some events that happened in the book will occur here, but many will occur that aren't in the book.

I'm expecting the chapters to close out at...maybe 62 or 63? I haven't quite decided how to split up the final things. I just know that they're going to be super long and it's going to be a pain to sit down and write them, especially because I'm sick and have been steadily growing worse over the past three days.

Other than that, uh...hurray for daily uploads again? Don't forget to review!