Sweet Sixteen

We are now officially back to the present, and will be dealing with all the psychological trauma that comes with watching the psychological trauma of a preteen boy running black-ops in a civil warzone…or lack thereof.

The Greeks weren't really meant to see all that, even in canon, as the only thing that was supposed to be seen was Shin'en's talk with Luke, but even that didn't get seen. It'll be covered here though.

Anyway, on to the fun!

Disclaimer: I don't own PJO or Naruto

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August 18, 2009

Olympian throne room

The whole room was numb. Too numb for even the rudest and snarkiest of people to poke fun at Annabeth for that other version of her wearing diapers. Honestly though, who wouldn't be numb after watching that in third person.

It was one thing to read it, like you did, it was another thing to see it.

Now, in a K or K+ story, it would've been easy to say that all the Greeks had these happy lives with their mortal families, their mortal stepsiblings, they had puppies and got to go on fun vacations….Yeah, that was true in many circumstances, but this was an MA story, and such a project requires appreciation for a greater scope.

No, there was not a demigod alive in any pantheon that went through anything even remotely similar to what Shin'en did, but there were still dozens that had their sob stories. Abusive parents, life on the streets, some witnessed death, some dispensed death to save themselves, some were even raped by various parties.

Proof of that was in the otherwise "wayward" demigods, the massive sect of half-bloods that rose up against Olympus in the name of revenge against their deadbeat parents.

The reason for the inclusion of this insight was to make it clear that there were some hard hitting motherfuckers out there, and even those kids couldn't work up any kind of will to say a word about anything.

However, the person that was most shaken was obviously Sally, for obvious reasons.

Her circumstance needed no explanation.

Annabeth was holding the mother of her girlfriend's hand, providing what comfort she could in the wake of these things. She herself was shaken up, not only at just seeing another version of herself so similar yet so different, but to see herself jump off a fucking bridge. Not just that, but to see her as good as friends as she was with Shin'en…

Annabeth would not lie: the little brother of her girlfriend terrified her. It was a daily fear of hers that she would do something wrong, and he would uncaringly gut her. She wanted to be nowhere near him at all times, a hundred miles if she could ever help it. During that whole Titan's Curse thing, Annabeth honestly could've used one of her other self's diapers she was so scared of Shin'en's presence.

And then to see herself not just friends with that murdering, barbaric monster, but to be so close to him as to walk around without pants on, ask him to attend her baptism—still trying to wrap her head around that one—and not slap him across the face for disrobing her lower half to attend to her menstrual cycle.

Now that Annabeth's brain was starting to boot back up, she realized that no less than three hundred people and some gods had seen her bloody genitals.

Now she felt really dirty.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The sun was just barely starting to make its climb out of the Eastern horizon. It was still cool out, and the waves could be heard swashing about below.

Persephone went around the oak tree and sat down next to her little brother. He didn't say anything to her, and she didn't say anything to him; she just grabbed his hand in hers and held it. After so long, he leaned over and put his head onto her shoulder.

Persephone looped her arms under his and pulled him into her lap.

It was a testament to how fucked he was in the head right now that he didn't make a sound or movement of protest. He just let it happen. Once in place, he rested his head in the crook of Persephone's neck, his eyes glassy and unfocused.

Persephone was hurting, hurting for him. He was strong, powerful, wise, dignified, noble, regal, refined, cool, controlled, and a bunch of other things, but right now, at this moment, he was vulnerable.

He had been stripped bare, he had been flayed apart, his wounds had been uncovered, his defenses and been ripped down, and his secrets exposed.

Effectively, his image had been destroyed. It wasn't an ego thing, or a reputation thing, but a real thing. That image he had, of the cold, unstoppable, super powerful badass, all done in the effort of protecting her by deterring any hostile forces, was now totally ruined by what everyone had just seen.

Now, he seemed to all just an emotionally unstable little boy with abandonment issues.

However, there was a small part to Persephone that was…happy. Happy about this situation. It was a very small part, about the size of a sand grain, and it was her id, the part that desired what her super-ego said she couldn't have, and what Persephone wanted, down there deep in her own personal darkness, was her little brother.

Not necessarily an evil thought by any means, but it was the possessive nature of the desire that sprung forth the error.

She wanted him to be totally dependent on her; she wanted him to come to her with every problem that he had, every question that popped into his mind, she wanted to help him with every little thing he had to do. Persephone wanted to mother her little brother, guide him and direct him—control him. In simpler terms: Persephone wanted her brother all to herself and not share him with anyone.

Kind of like a prized doll.

Persephone wasn't consciously aware of these thoughts, as they were subconscious desires buried deep, deep within her psyche, but she knew that there was a tiny part of her that was enjoying holding him and having all to herself in his time of need.

Persephone suddenly felt a foreign wetness reach her collarbone, and she looked down to see something that broke her heart: her brother crying.

By no means were the tears just pouring down his face, nor were his shoulders shaking as he was racked with sobs, and there wasn't any snot dripping from his nose and his lips weren't trembling or anything to suggest that he was truly crying, but there were still tears steadily falling from his eyes one drop every few seconds.

For him, with all the emotional strength he had cultivated, this might as well have been a complete meltdown.

Persephone pulled him even tighter in the face of these tears, and he wrapped his free arm tightly around her shoulder, and for the first time in her life, she truly felt like his big sister.

Eventually, he stilled and she knew he had fallen asleep. Almost as if her body had been going on nothing but the wait for that moment, now that it was here, Persephone suddenly felt completely exhausted. Not even bothering to fight it for any reason, she adjusted her brother in her lap and rested her head on top of his.

For the only the second time in their sixteen years of life, the twins fell asleep in each other's embrace.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Back on Olympus, while the twins had their moment, Erebus and Susano'o were off to the side, just being there. Then the God of Darkness noticed someone standing on the other side of him.

"Father."

"Son," Chaos said.

"You look like Hunter."

"Yes, quite interesting that the form I've been taking all throughout my time in this universe is an exact match to the one revealed in DI's birthday surprise YouTube thingy. Almost like there's a connection there."

"Why are you here, Father?"

"My goodness, my all-knowing secondborn son isn't actually all-knowing. Have you not been praying to our Lord and Savior for guidance?"

"Father."

"Oh, alright….Do the thing."

"…which thing?"

"The thing."

"That thing?"

"No, the other that thing."

"Oh."

And so Erebus did the other that thing, and people in throne room started to get weird looks on their faces because they were feeling stuff right now, but they couldn't remember why they were feeling it. The present thirteen gods, Luke, Sally, and Annabeth were privy to a little voice in their heads telling them that they got the extreme pleasure of remembering everything they just witnessed, while everyone else only got to remember the fact that they had just taken a trip through Shin'en's head with what they saw being so horrifying that their brains buried the memories to spare them the trauma.

Besides, they weren't meant to have seen any of that anyway.

Then Chaos grinned manically and waved his hand, putting the gods and demigods to sleep, bringing Zeus back to his throne and giving him his repaired Bolt back, setting the stage for the festivities of the very near-future.

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When Zeus came to, he noticed several things: he was back in his throne, his Bolt was fixed, the rest of his family were in their respective thrones, sans Ares and Aphrodite, Hades was here, Hestia was at the hearth looking very happy, and occupying his throne room were two distinct sections of the kinds of chairs you typically see at social gatherings.

One side, the smaller side, was occupied clearly by the residents of Camp Half-Blood, given the bright orange shirts, and the Hunters of Artemis. The other side, the much larger side, was occupied by demigods wearing armor and street clothes, clearly of an allegiance not to Olympus, which could only mean one thing…

Zeus also noticed the tension in his house, which served the strengthen the opinion of his theory on who these other half-bloods were.

"Good morning," a voice said, and Zeus looked down to see none other than his infamous nephew sitting in a more regal chair than the other half-bloods, his twin sister at his left, and the traitor leader at his right.

The king of the gods gripped his bolt tighter, but a strong hand clamped down on his wrist, and he looked at Poseidon, ready to fight, but that wind was torn free from his sails when he saw the absolute seriousness on the sea god's face.

Zeus exhaled and looked down his nose at the defiant demigod that he wanted in his bed, moaning his name in submission. "What is going on, Shin'en Yūrei?"

The demigod was lounging in his chair with a cigarette in the corner of his mouth, one leg crossed over the other, his right arm pulled through the sleeve of his cloak to rest in the crook of the buttons. A small part of Zeus was proud that his kin was able to look so majestic and regal, despite only being half god.

"We are discussing terms of surrender," Shin'en answered.

Zeus' eyes traveled to Luke, who remained sitting straight, with his eyes forward. The sky king felt that something was not quite what it seemed, and so he did not jump to conclusions. Instead, he asked, "What are the traitor's terms, then?"

"Oh, not their surrender. They have already decided to join with Camp Half-Blood and get to know their siblings better. We are discussing your terms of surrender."

Zeus read the room, and he could see the pain and discomfort present in his family. Immediately, he wanted to get angry and start shouting, remind this puny half-blood who was in charge with a display of power, but he restrained himself. He did not remain king of this mountain for four thousand years by solely throwing around muscle. His position required cunning and patience, and so he would exercise both until the opportune moment presented itself.

"My terms? The war was won in our favor, was it not? Kronos has been defeated, Typhon is back in Tartarus along with the other Titans, and their army has scattered."

"Yes, my sister did an excellent job in positioning the demigod forces about Manhattan and holding the city until I arrive and mopped up what was left. However, when you say our favor, I assume you mean the favor of you and yours, as well as the demigods?"

"Obviously."

"That is where you are wrong. The war was not won in our favor, by your definition, but in our favor, defined as the children of the Olympians fighting against their own siblings in order to protect their failures of parents."

Ah, so that was what this was about: the classic annoying argument about gods and their mortal offspring. Zeus resisted the urge to massage his temples in the face of the tedium this would bring.

To keep good face, Zeus played along with the situation. In a serious voice that made it seem like he cared about the proceeds, he asked, "What are your terms then, nephew?"

Shin'en chuckled. It was a deep, slow sound that reverberated throughout the whole of throne room. It was magnified by the lack of any other noise in the throne besides the soft crackling of Hestia fire.

"You don't take me seriously, Uncle. Tell me, do you know what day it is?"

Zeus raised a brow, wondering the significance of such an inane question. "August 18, 2009."

"Yes, do you know what that means for my sister and I?"

And then it began to dawn on the sky king what kind of precarious situation he was actually in. "Your birthday," Zeus said grimly.

Shin'en smiled predatorily. "Exactly. Today is the day of prophecy, in which a half-blood child of the eldest gods has reached sixteen against all odds, and will sometime in the next fifteen hours make a choice that shall end his days, either preserving Olympus, or razing it."

Shin'en's eyes gleamed just a little manically. "So I hope you all got me and Seph lots of great presents, or I might just yank this floating rock out of the sky."

There were some snorts and other sounds of humor from the demigods at the joke, but Zeus swallowed heavily, uncharacteristically feeling like a mouse being dangled by the tail over the jaws of a hungry cat.

There had been many interpretations by Athena and other gods over the centuries as to what the lines of the Great Prophecy could mean, such as the "eldest gods" actually referring to the Primordials, and how the line "end his days" referred specifically to a male half-blood, and that just because the half-blood reaches sixteen, that doesn't mean that their sixteenth birthday will be the day, merely the deciding factor in who the titular half-blood is.

Right now, however, it was clear to Zeus that the Child of Prophecy was none other than Shin'en, the most powerful demigod to ever live, more powerful than Heracles, his namesake, Odysseus, Jason, Dionysus, and all others.

And so, that threat to pull of Olympus from the sky was a very real one, and considering the things Shin'en had already accomplished, Zeus wasn't sure if he and the others could stop the child.

"Now, as I was saying: terms of surrender."

Zeus swallowed. "Go on."

Shin'en took the cigarette from his mouth and put it out on his neck. Then he rose with supernatural grace, putting his arm through his sleeve, rebuttoning his cloak. The atmosphere in the room shifted, and Zeus could tell that playtime was over.

Now it was business.

"Firstly," Shin'en started, "all of you are in very big trouble."

Zeus resisted the urge to blast the demigod before him for talking down to the gods in such a way.

"In the past few centuries, you've become lazy and complacent, content with letting the humans run amok about the planet with no regard for their penchant to fuck each other over for personal gain. Beyond the socio-political sphere, you've also done an excellent collective job in winning the awards for bad parents. I say bad and not worst because I am kind enough to not fault you entirely for your failures, it's not like any of you beat or raped your children…"

Shin'en looked behind him, his eyes rolling over the demigods gathered.

"…with your own hands anyway. There's also the egregious issue regarding the treatment and courtesy shown to those considered to be 'minor' gods, namely the supreme lack of respect and care to the burdens they've had to undertake in the face of the Olympians' collective laziness." Shin'en's eyes glowed an eerie red.

"You will all now be held responsible and accountable for your actions."

Zeus' temper finally flared out of his control. "You dare speak down to the gods of Olympus!?"

An emerald warrior over four times as big as the fifteen foot tall sky king sprang to life around Shin'en, and Zeus' anger fizzled out instantly when that massive, ethereal hand closed around his head and yanked him from his seat of power. The youngest son of Kronos was forced to stare into that empty void in the helmet's visor, forced to listen to the distant howls within, howls like the damned on an eerie Fall night with the wind moving through the trees.

Then, whatever this thing was threw Zeus back into his throne and continued to stare at him for so many seconds, before deconstructing from armor, to muscle, to bones, and then phasing out entirely. With all the eyes on him, Zeus cleared his throat and readjusted the tie of the suit he was wearing.

"What we have here," Shin'en said, "is…failure…to communicate…"

Zeus fidgeted.

"I am not your friend…I am not your servant…I am not even your ally…I, by the power invested in me through mountains of bullshit, am your judge, your jury, and your executioner. What I say goes, regardless if that's ordering you to clean my sister's ass with your tongue after she poops-"

"Eww, never."

Shin'en ignored Persephone's comment. "Or giving you all a list of instructions to be carried out for the sake of your continued survival. Is that clear, Zeus?"

"…clear."

Athena then said her first words in forever. "What…instructions…?"

Shin'en's flicked over to her and then back to her father.

"All of you will be apologizing to each and every one of your sired, mothered, and otherwise created children for your absences and lack of attention. You will also be taking a very active roll in world affairs—Poseidon, you've let the oceans become cluttered with trash and other pollutants. Athena, you've let wisdom fly the coup. Dionysus, alcoholism is running rampant. And Zeus," Shin'en's eyes became half-lidded with disappointment, "god of law and justice…you have the most to answer for. I could keep doing the way with the rest of you, but it's my sister's birthday and I want to celebrate. So-"

Shin'en clapped his hands.

"-you'll all be making it up to your children for your failures, you'll be active in the world to get it back on a good path, the term 'minor god' no longer applies for there is no such thing as a minor god in the first place, as all the gods are effectively born from the Primordials, Titans, or the Olympians themselves. All of you will also be reconciling with such gods who've you so angered. Further, all of the children that you have in the world not present in this throne room—you will be giving the head councilors of Camp Half-Blood a detailed list of these children so that they will be brought to camp and trained to defend themselves. Those that joined forces with the enemy against Olympus will be granted amnesty, and cabins will be built at Camp Half-Blood in honor of as many gods as the grounds will allow. Any questions?"

"What of the Ancient Laws?" Hermes asked. "You told us to be more active in the world to get it being a better place, but the Laws prevent us from directly interfering with mortal affairs."

"And you wanted us to apologize to our children for our failures," Demeter said, "but the Ancient Laws also prevent us from interacting with them in the first place."

"Ah, the Ancient Laws," Shin'en said amusedly. "Never before has there been a bigger excuse to shirk responsibility in favor of revelry. Tell me: has anyone here ever actually studied the Ancient Laws?"

Immediately, everyone looked to Athena, who fidgeted. "Well…not…not exactly…"

"Oh, so how do all the gods somehow know that they can't talk to their kids if none of them have ever actually looked over the Laws? An even better question: if no one's studied the Laws, even say what they are claimed to say? An even better question than that: do the Ancient Laws even exist?"

A deep hush fell over the throne room as the implications of Shin'en's questions went reverberating through everyone's brains.

On a side note, there isn't an actual wiki page for anything called the Ancient Laws, but instead five bullet points in the Greek Gods page under the section "Divine Law," so, effectively, there is no such thing as the Ancient Laws.

Zeus swallowed, his godly heart pounding a little bit faster at what he was hearing. He himself could not accurately recall who had taught him the Ancient Laws, or exactly what all the Laws were, but if what Shin'en was saying was true, and there weren't actually any laws restricting the gods from spending time with their children, then…

"I suppose you will be wanting an oath on the Styx to ensure our compliance?" the sky king asked with a slight bit of sarcasm.

"Nope," Shin'en said, and Zeus was floored. "Originally, I was going to have you all swear upon the name of Chaos to uphold the terms of surrender I just laid out, but then I had a better idea: what better way of controlling a parent is there, than controlling their children? No, there will be no oaths made, on the Styx or on Chaos. Instead, you will all be bound by the expectations placed upon you by your children, and you will be left asking yourself: what kind of parent am I really? Will I shirk the responsibility I have to my kids and be a complete, lazy dick, or will I rise to the occasion and become a better person for not just my children, but the whole of the world?"

Shin'en's smirk was almost cruel. "Just food for thought. Now, it's my sister's birthday, and I would like to celebrate in private with my family, which means I expect a grand party this evening at Camp Half-Blood. Tata."

And with that, the Dragon Ghost of the Abyss vapored himself, his sister, Paul, Sally, and Annabeth all the way from Olympus to the apartment, as the whole of the Eastern Seaboard had been repaired by the divine power of Erebus upon request of Shin'en, leaving the Olympians and their offspring along in throne room together.

It didn't take long for the gods to start flashing themselves and their kids to their respective palaces on the mountain and begin the most emotional day in Olympian history.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sally blinked a few times, not used to being deconstructed into gas, transported across several miles, and then reconstructed into a solid form. She realized she was in her penthouse suite near the top of the high rise she lived in with the generous amount of insurance money she gleaned from Gabe's corpse, and maintained with the money she made from little short stories she put up on Amazon.

Not only that, but her daughter was there, her probable future daughter-in-law was also there, Paul was knocked out on the couch, and, the far most important person in the room: her son, Percy.

He was awake, he was alive, and he was looking right at her.

And Sally was afraid, for she was no idiot. She knew that her son had never met her in person, and she knew that his first real impressions of her had been the monster she had become in those two other places, and she knew damn well how powerful first impressions were. So, tying all of that together, Sally feared that her son thought of her what she did of her counterparts, and he would never get past that, forever putting them at odds.

Sally could also tell that Persephone and Annabeth were thinking along the same lines she was, because they were both staring uncertainly between them.

And then her baby boy opened her arms and said impatiently, "Are you going to hug me or not?"

Sally threw herself into her son's arms, being just slightly shorter than his and his sister's 5'10, and for the literal first time in sixteen years she was able to hold him.

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"Pizza!" Persephone exclaimed.

Shin'en frowned at his sister. "Steakhouse."

"Pizza's easier, and it's better for you than steak."

Persephone was not a vegetarian; she was just dumb.

"Wrong, very, very wrong. I want steak."

"I want pizza, and since I'm older than you, I get to pick what we eat for our birthday, and I want pizza, so, we're getting a pizza."

"You had what you wanted for your birthday last year," Shin'en said, intentionally putting a petulant whine to his voice for the sake of his amusement, "it's my year to pick."

Before Persephone could retaliate against that card, her brother pulled another card out of the deck. "Mom~! Sephy's being mean and won't let me pick lunch even though it's my birthday too and she got to pick last year~!"

"Persephone," Sally said gently, trying not to laugh, "your brother is right, you got to pick lunch last year. It's his year this time."

The girl's jaw nearly fell from her face, and she quickly turned a glower at her brother for his use of the Mom card, only for it to be countered by a victorious, smug smirk.

"You little brat," Persephone hissed lowly. "Haven't even been here for ten minutes and you already stole Mom."

Shin'en's smirk got bigger, and then he started whining again. "Mom~! Sephy's being mean to me~!"

"Children," Sally chided, her heart swelling at this, "be nice with each other."

It was just minutes ago, after she had dried her eyes, that she launched immediately into the question of what her little ones wanted for lunch, which prompted the above argument. Sally didn't care about asking how her boy had been or what he had been doing, because she had just seen all that, and she knew that he had not been well and what he'd been doing was universally considered to be very bad. So, she wanted this day with Percy to be as happy and phenomenal as she could make it.

The icing on the cake was that, even though she knew it was just an act on his part, an act his sister was falling for, the bickering between them was a little show for her sake to create the illusion that they had never actually been apart, and Sally didn't care if it made her a bad person or not, because she was thoroughly enjoying getting to play the mediating mother between her arguing children.

"But Mom~!"

"But nothing, young lady, unless you want sixteen birthday spankings on your butt."

"I'll take sixteen spanking if he gets sixteen spankings too," Persephone stated matter-of-factly.

"Nope, he'll get sixteen really big birthday kisses."

"What!? Why does he get kisses and I get spankings?"

"Because you need spankings," Percy said with pointed eyes and a smirk.

"No, you need spankings."

"No, Annabeth needs spankings."

The twins turned to look at the blonde, who paled…then she flinched when Sally cracked the flyswatter against her palm, the woman giving a crooked grin. Annabeth clenched her butt really tight and put her hands on her cheeks in the face of the threats she was receiving.

Paul stepped in, smiling at the infectious happiness in the air. "There will be no spankings today. Come on, to the garage. I know a place that sells pizza and steak."

"Yay!" Persephone cheered.

She grabbed her brother's hand and yanked him out the door, Paul following.

That left Annabeth and Sally alone by themselves, and the mother of two could tell something was wrong with the blonde, and she knew what it was.

"I can love him and be this way with him because he's my son."

Annabeth poured it all out, knowing there was no way around this. Besides, she wanted to get it off her chest. "I get that, but you saw all the things I saw, and that's not even all of it, either, just the stuff his soul got scattered into. There's a lot we didn't see, and what we did see was horrible. You can't just ignore that!"

Sally nodded, not offended in the slightest. "No, I can't ignore the things my son did. Killing babies, burning down homes, aiding and enabling corruption, torturing people. I can't ignore that…he's a hurting little boy that's carrying around a mountain of pain with him. I can't ignore that for all the things he did to others, those things were done to him in return. I can't ignore that when he found happiness with the twins, when he found happiness with you and Asteria, it was all ripped away from him."

"…that wasn't me…" Annabeth said very quietly.

Sally shrugged. "I also can't ignore that my own daughter killed a man once because I told her to. I can't ignore all the fights she got in when she was little, and the fact that the state of New York gave a court order to put her in counseling that I had to pay for. I can't ignore that when people do bad things, they get punished for it."

Sally's eyes narrowed and temporarily lost their sparkle. "My son and my daughter have both done terrible things, Annabeth, and they've both paid for it in full. If you're going to continue dating my daughter, you're going to have to look past their sins, because I won't tolerate you having a bad attitude around my family because they've done things you don't like. Am I clear, young lady?"

And Annabeth stopped.

This wasn't a funny moment, this wasn't comical, or lighthearted, or Sally just being a good mom. This was serious, this was a deciding moment in her life. If she couldn't look past Shin'en's actions and see him as Sally's son and Persephone's little brother, if she couldn't look past all the bad things he did and keep seeing him as a monster, then she needed to walk out that door and not ever worry about dating Persephone ever again, because, based on the principal's of cognitive dissonance, in which someone knowingly and willingly does something against what their conscious says is wrong, she would subject herself to endless self-inflicted pain as she fought against her values and her wants.

And so, Annabeth made a life-altering decision.

"Let's go. It's my girlfriend and her brother's birthday, and I haven't gotten him a present yet."

Sally beamed. Then she asked, "What'd you get my daughter?"

Annabeth flushed bright red.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Shin'en was rather impressed with his mother's behavior throughout the day. He expected her to be somewhat deranged, constantly babying him since she didn't get a chance to do so naturally, and constantly on her toes with trying to go over the top in pleasing him and keeping him happy.

Not so.

Sally behaved as if he had never left her life and had raised him alongside his sister.

She handled all the twins' banter and teasing with practiced ease and perfect gentleness. She never raised her voice or got frustrated with their antics, and knew exactly what to say in every situation to diffuse the false tension. She was even able to throw in when the twins started messing with Annabeth, making the blonde feel very small under the three-pronged assault.

Paul didn't say much, only offering a witty comment every now and then. He was the fifth wheel and he knew it, but he was not about to intrude on the long-lasting moment between his wife, stepdaughter, her girlfriend, and his stepson…technically speaking.

Paul knew better than to consider someone like Percy, or Shin'en, to be a child. There was too much wisdom and experience in the young man's eyes for him to be talked down to by anyone, especially adults. So, to consider himself over this person was a folly that Paul would take part in.

Anyway, the day progressed with nothing but merriment, and evening rolled around, bringing forth a grand celebration at Camp Half-Blood hosted by Zeus and attended by the Olympians, Hades, Hestia, a slew of minor gods, an army of nature spirits, Amphitrite, Triton, the one hundred-ish campers and their two hundred-ish siblings, now campers themselves.

Percy and Persephone were showered in more gifts than any one person should ever have, and spent more time shaking hands and meeting people than it takes for a session of Congress to vote on a bill.

There was also the doling out of awards and honors via Zeus. After all, the Battle of Manhattan began when Persephone and Charles Beckendorf destroyed the Princess Andromeda, and then the daughter of Poseidon held the city for three days until her brother and Kronos arrived and did battle, taking it all the way up to Olympus before the Titan was finally defeated and the war over.

Tyson the Cyclops became general and was granted a massive club for his actions during the Battle of Atlantis.

Grover Underwood was given the title of Cloven Elder and was tasked with keeping the Wild safe…with the help of the gods, of course, as per the terms laid out by Percy.

The minor gods and their wayward children were granted general amnesty and were publicly apologized to by Zeus and the other gods for their disrespect, and had the title "minor" stripped and replaced with "respected."

With the devastation brought forth by the battle between Shin'en and Kronos, and the recognizing of so many gods, there needed to be rebuilding. Annabeth was appointed chief architect of the project.

Then Shin'en and Persephone were offered the opportunity to become gods, to which they both casually declined in favor of tasking all the gods with upholding the many responsibilities they had as gods, and most importantly, as parents.

Then came the milling time, in which Shin'en was sought out by some, and he sought out others.

Luke found him first and took him somewhere private.

"Not that I'm ungrateful, but that was not how it was supposed to go," the son of Hermes said.

"I know," Shin'en said, "but that was me two years ago, and this is me now. Things changed."

Luke's mouth set into a thin line. He wasn't happy with this, not entirely, but he knew that shouting and threatening the person before him was a one-way ticket to pain. And Shin'en could tell, so he said:

"Don't think they're out of the fire yet, Luke. I've given them the opportunity to better themselves and the world. If they fail, I'll return and correct my mistake."

Luke's brow furrowed. "Return?"

Shin'en left the son of Hermes and found Athena. The wisdom goddess joined him in a private setting.

"What did you think of Hunter?"

Athena looked out over the bay, her hands formally clasped behind her back. Shin'en had his right arm resting in the middle of his cloak.

"I think he had potential to become a wise man. He was too headstrong and opinionated. He believed himself a hundred percent right even in the face of mere speculation."

"Do you not think that he exists in this world as well?"

"The possibility had crossed my mind, yes. I think I'll go and find him, and see if I can't nudge him in the right direction. I'll also do what I can to make sure he and his friends don't die in a car crash."

"Thank you."

"You did not want to speak with me just to talk about Hunter."

Shin'en turned to look at Athena, and she looked back at him, grey against ruby red. "If you do anything to hurt either Persephone or Annabeth, I'll give you an end worse than what Ares and Aphrodite experienced."

Athena just nodded.

Shin'en departed from her, and she went back to her children.

Not a full five seconds later, Shin'en was speaking privately with Hera.

"I know you know what comes next, nephew."

"I do, and I've put measures in place that I expect will make things easier."

"Such as?"

"Mist. With my eyes, I can…program…people, how I choose, should they be weak enough compared to me. I've been with the Romans, and you know I've been here."

"Do you know of my idea?"

"The exchange of camp leaders to instill trust and loyalty in each other in the hopes of a grand alliance between the camps against Mother Earth? You could say I know a thing or two."

"Your thoughts?"

"Wipe Jason's and Persephone's memory, but do not leave Annabeth and Reyna in the dark. It will be easier if they are in the know. It'll also create less drama, stress, and tension."

Hera blinked, surprised. "You will not be participating?"

Shin'en fixed the queen with a cold stare. "If anything happens to my sister, I hold you responsible."

He left, leaving Hera very confused.

Annabeth found him next, and they both stood at a column in private.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I've been calling you a monster for a long time, and it wasn't fair."

"Bullshit," Shin'en said flatly. "I've killed babies and tortured children, and used a rat to perform an abortion-"

Annabeth was horrified.

"-well, it was Gatou, but more or less the same difference. The point is, yes, I am a monster, and not just because I kill people."

"Okay, kinda ruined the moment I had going there."

"Sorry."

Annabeth experienced an awkward silence as Shin'en continued to stare at her, expectant for more conversation. She took a breath and focused back in.

"Shin'en, I-"

"You have my permission to call me by my birth name."

Annabeth swallowed, very aware of how important that was to him. "Percy…I'll…," here, she grinned a little, because she couldn't think of anything meaningful to say and so came up with something on the spot, "…I'll do my best to stay away from wearing any pull-ups."

The light of the bonfire caught in Percy's eye just right, making Annabeth think she saw a little bit of water gather there, but the light quickly flickered about and didn't catch the same way again so she wasn't sure.

Not knowing what else to do, Annabeth stepped forward and lightly rapped her lips against Percy's cheek, slipping her hand into his in his cloak sleeve to give it a quick squeeze.

"Thank you, Percy, for all that you did."

Her chest now clear, Annabeth walked away to go join the celebration, but was stopped three steps later by the calling of her name. She turned her head around. "Hm?"

Shin'en stared at her. "Do not ever hurt my sister. You will not die through the next experience."

Annabeth swallowed, nodded, and walked away.

And then Shin'en was with the last person on his list of those he cared to speak to. He and his sister stood at the end of the dock heading to the sound. He was leaning on the rail, while his sister was standing straight, happy and bubbling with energy, a goblet of Welch's sparkling water in her hand.

"It's going to be a great year," she said excitedly. "We're gonna go to high school with Annabeth, and you can be on the football team and me and Annabeth will be cheerleaders and the two of us will play volleyball and you can be the line judge and we're gonna got to so many parties and make a bunch of friends and-"

Shin'en continued to stare silently over the dark waters in the distance, and his unchanged mood was what made his sister stop in her fantasy. Her smile faded, replaced with worry.

"Percy, you are…you are going to stay, right…?"

He reached into his cloak and produced a large pocket watch with an engraving like a raven around its edge. He handed it to Persephone, and she stared at it uncertainly. Then, the watch's face blinked open to reveal the large purple eye. Instead of freaking out and dropping the Uzumaki weapon, she instead looked at her brother.

"The battle didn't go like Zeus said. You came in immediately and blew up the bridges, and you fought all the monsters and Titans by yourself, and you fought…Other Me…and this is her Power Rangers Thingy."

"The Uzumaki Karas Armor," Shin'en said. "It'll give you the power you'll need to get out of any situation."

Persephone looked down at it, the eye looking back at her, and she looked at her brother. "Why are you giving me this?"

"You're going to need it for when I'm not around."

"When you're not around—Percy!" The hurt in her voice caused Shin'en's heart to ache. "You promised you'd spend a year here with me after we were done with the Titans!"

"I did," he agreed, remembering the last time he left his sister back during the Winter Solstice, "and I will. Just not yet."

Persephone stamped her foot, and the water around the dock started to bubble as her anger brought it to a boil. "Then when, huh? When I'm old and got gray hair and stuck in a bed? What's so important that you're going to ditch me and Mom and Annabeth and Dad?"

"Naruko's answer."

"Naruko's answer?" Persephone said loudly, confused. "What does she have to do with anything? What answer? What did you ask her that's so important you're leaving me?"

She was on the verge of tears, and Shin'en was too.

He couldn't explain it to his sister in ways that she would understand, so he didn't bother. He turned around and wrapped his sister in the tightest hug he could give her without crushing her skeleton, and she dropped her goblet and the Karas Armor to hug him back with just as much strength.

"I love you," Percy whispered. "I love you so much it hurts."

"Then why…?"

"Because I made a promise a long time ago to people I loved just a little less than I love you, and I don't want to go through my idea on how to deliver on that promise, which is why I need Naruko's answer. Once I have that, I'm done with that world. I'll spend the rest of my life here, with you and Mom and Annabeth and Dad."

Persephone's tears fell down her face and went trailing down Shin'en's cloak. She inhaled sharply through her nose, sucking up the snot that threatened to fall. "P-Promise?"

"I promise."

"Pinky promise?" The twins shook pinkies. "Cross your heart and hope to die?"

Percy crossed her heart.

"Okay," Persephone smiled through her tears. "I love you, Percy."

"I love you too."

Just like last time, she must've fallen asleep, because the next thing she knew she was on the dock by herself, the Karas Armor in her hand, and Percy was gone.

Persephone stood up from her laying position, and clasped her hands in a prayer to the one god who died for her two thousand years ago.

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And that ends the last chapter of this story. The next chapter will the epilogue, and it will also be the prologue to the final installment of the Backup Plan trilogy.

I hope more people Fav and Follow that one than they did this one.

Anyway, as always, Fav, Follow, and Review!

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Shin'en unceremoniously walked in on a private meeting between Pain, Konan, and Madara. All three looked at him very angrily at his uncaring intrusion, and Pain was honestly contemplating using his Almighty Push to put the boy back in his place, but then he saw Shin'en's eyes, as did the other two in the dimly lit room.

Before, they took the design of three red triangles overlapping to form a nine-pointed star. Now, the design was that of six triangles overlapping to make an eighteen-pointed star. The design was very compact to fit over the size of his pupil and iris.

Quoth the Abyss, "We need to talk."