Chapter 1
Order looked at his world, and frowned. He had worked so hard on it, but it just wasn't coming together the way he wanted it to. First the children he created had warred amongst each other until they all faded, but he had given them nearly total control over their domains, that meant without them there was no one to take proper care of them. That led to the second problem. They were unraveling, slowly ceasing to exist as they were tied to his children's life force.
Now, this upstart Mortal had dared defile his soul, to rip apart the gift he and his sister had agreed to give all their creations into tiny pieces. With the gift he had made for this world specially. One that impressed his sister so much that she took the idea and switched it around for her world.
This was not OK.
Normally, he could fix these things, but he was about to fall into hibernation as dictated by his life cycle, while his sister woke up to manage her realm and just generally check on it. She was older, so her world was, accordingly, older as well. They were rarely awake at the same time, but someone always was.
The point was, he didn't have enough energy to fix it all. He was so very tired. Fifty thousand years between hibernations did that to you. Even now, he felt the pull of sleep. But if he went now, his world would be destroyed by the time he woke up and he would have to start all over.
He thought again of his sister. Chaos. She ran her world well. Perhaps because she was that little bit..sterner with her children then he had been. She did her best to make sure her descendents didn't kill each other off.
Hmmm. Maybe she would know what to do.
Yes, he would visit his older sister and ask for assistance, or at the very least advice. Once his world was able to function without the majority of his attention…
He would sleep.
Order stepped through a glowing Portal. He idly wondered why all portals had to glow.
"Because if they didn't, they would only be doorways, and those are boring." Said a female voice.
"Did I say that out loud, or did you read my mind?" Order asked Chaos.
"You said it out loud. I'm not awake enough to read the mind of a being our caliber. And if you're talking to yourself, you should get out more. Socialise. One day you might start answering yourself, and that is not a good thing." Chaos said amusedly as she hugged her younger brother.
"Now, what is it? You should be sleeping soon, if not already." Chaos looked a little concerned.
Order shook his head. "I can't go to sleep, sister. If I do my world will unravel and I'll have to start all over. I worked hard on this one, I don't want to see it go to waste."
Chaos frowned. "Unravel? Are your children not doing their jobs?"
Order sighed. "No, they fought amongst themselves until they faded. And I can't take back over because they tied their domains to their life forces and now they're withering. I have to do something before I sleep. That's not the only problem. It might be a smaller one, but some Mortal dared to split their soul into pieces to try and defy Thanatos."
"Well, that is not OK." Chaos' gaze unfocused as she thought. "You clearly can't make more children in this state, not this close to sleep, and I can't spare any of my children…." She trailed off.
"That's it. We can offer the position to a few Demigods. Two to start, I think. With them coming from my world and going to yours, with your request, it won't be classified as me interfering or you stealing under the Laws. Together we should be able to scrape enough extra energy to make them at least Titan's. If not we can ask my great-grandchildren for a boost. They may make a bit of their own energy, but without worship they mostly pull from me subconsciously, otherwise they would fade."
Order looked pleased with this plan. "Thank you sister! If they can look after my realm while I sleep, I should have enough energy when I wake up to make new children, thereby releasing them from their duties and they can return to their home world."
"Sounds like a plan." Chaos grinned. "I have just the two in mind. We can add more if needed. If not, even just two will lessen the strain on you, brother, from keeping everything together."
Percy smiled as he awoke. The sun was shining brightly through the open window, the scent of the sea coming in on the breeze. Looking at the space next to him was his amazing wife of nearly two years. His Wise Girl.
The years since the Giant war have been good for the demigods and Gods. The relationships were closer than ever. It was not unusual to see a god or goddess hanging around camp spending time with their kids.
Percy had taken fast track courses in marine biology to be a marine and equine vet. However, he only worked on that part time when he wasn't on quests or training himself and campers. He had begun different martial arts after the Battle of the Labyrinth, and eventually progressed enough to begin teaching others. He learned quickly due to his demigod heritage and constant almost daily real life practice supplementing his daily hours in a dojo. He wanted to push himself to be the best he could be. He was born for combat. He loved learning the different styles and forms, and if they included weapons, even better.
He was a black belt in Kendo (His personal favourite because it taught eastern style swordsmanship), Muay tai, Judo, Ninjutsu, and Krav Maga (His second favourite because it incorporated many styles of fighting, including dirty street fighting.) But while he had at least basic proficiency in many others, he was not even close to learning them all as he wanted, and he was even further away from mastering them. It seemed like every other month he heard about a new style and added it to his mental list. The latest was Capoeira.
Annabeth had, of course, gone for a degree in architecture and minored in engineering, and surprisingly, teaching. She had begun teaching those demigods who were year rounders but wanted a diploma. When Percy told her what he was doing she immediately learned everything she could with him. Given that the Camps never really focused on unarmed combat. However, she decided that Percy could teach her what he learned and dedicated herself to Stealth, Gymnastics and Languages. They taught each other and both camps what they learned. Lessening deaths and making campers more confident about surviving.
He had proposed to Annabeth at eighteen, with the full blessings of both sets of parents. They married a month later with Percy's little sister as the flower girl.
There was just one thing that bothered them, and even that was only a little, and only at first. Tartarus. They had changed in the Pit. Not drastically, not enough for people to even suspect something was wrong. Because in reality there wasn't anything wrong. They had just gotten a little darker, a little more jaded. They stopped seeing the world in Black and White and delved into shades of gray. They stopped killing themselves over guilt of the demigods they had killed in the wars. Because it was war. It was kill or be killed and they refused to feel guilty for wanting ,for choosing, to live. Even when attacked by Mortals, because muggers were dangerous to, if they were attacked with deadly intent they responded in kind. The reason this no longer bothered them is because others in the camp felt the same way, and they didn't go through Tarturus. Eventually they decided that it might not even be Tartarus, but just a side effect of their lives and growing up.
They knew for certain that the rest of the Seven, Thalia, Nico, Will, and the Stolls felt this way given the private conversations they had on this subject.
Annabeth stirred in his arms, waking with a smile directed at the first thing she saw, which was him.
"Good morning, Seaweed brain." She murmured.
"Morning Wise Girl. Want to go on a run on the beach before breakfast?" He asked.
"Sure, lets go, I'm starving. We can eat after breakfast."
"And I'm sure you'll be hungrier after 5 miles." Percy grinned.
"Seems like a safe bet." Annabeth agreed with a smirk, before getting out of bed and dragging Percy with her.
As they were about to start their run, an owl swooped down to Annabeth clutching a scroll.
Mr. and Mrs. Jackson
You have been formally requested to be present on Olympus at noon today. Given your history and skill sets we believe you would be perfect for a quest that needs undertaking. This is not by any means mandatory, you are free to refuse. If you do, we will move onto our next choice in Hero's with no hard feelings.
Olympian Council
The formal summons were a new idea they were trying out. This way they weren't flash summoning people at random. But they;d never used an owl before. Athena wouldn't have it. She must be rather irked right about now.
Annabeth handed the summons to me to read as it was in modern Greek, a language easy for us to pick up as we already spoke an ancient form of it.
"I say we go, least we can hear what the quest is, that way." Percy gave Annabeth his opinion.
"Alright, we should eat breakfast now, then, so we can get there in time." Annabeth agreed.
That was another thing, all our training had me thinking more strategically, analytically, and being more observant. Annabeth had learned to work around her Hubris and take advice and suggestions from others.
Going to the Pavillion we decided to sit with Nico, who was visiting for the week, to talk and tell him about the summons we had received. Nico laughed about the owl, and when Will finally came in he joined in laughing once the joke was shared. Nico had grown out of his angst, so while he was still darker and somewhat broody he wasn't angry all the time anymore. He even smiled and laughed.
After informing Chiron, as a courtesy, really he knew how capable we were and he only wished us well. Argus drove us into the city. Walking to the empire state building, we had to take care of a pack of Hellhounds and a squad of Dracaenae. Even so we arrived on time. Of course, we also had to threaten the security guard into giving us the key, which was always enjoyable, and suffered through Apollo's terrible elevator music.
Apparently, he does this on purpose so people will take the stairs, which is healthier. Such a sneak. But sometimes effective.
We exited the elevator and stopped for a moment to admire Annabeth's hard work. Walking through the city, minor gods and nature spirits all acknowledged us with respect. We gave them equal respect and continued on our way.
Since the doors of the palace were closed, we used the smaller doors set into the larger one, almost unnoticeable in the gold inlay, to enter the throne room.
In the throne room, filled with massive thrones, was the council, waiting patiently while they talked amongst themselves. On walking further into the room they noticed us and a few smiled in greeting. Poseiden and Athena shrunk to human size to give us a hug, well Poseidon hugged the both of them while Athena merely nodded to Percy. She may have given her blessings for the wedding, but they weren't close.
Once Poseidon and Athena returned to their thrones. Zeus called the meeting started.
"What is the quest, Lord Zeus?" Annabeth asked. Percy usually tried to let Annabeth speak during formal summons. Apparently he still couldn't act with the proper decorum demanded unless it was life or death, though he was improving. Still given the unknown nature of the quest it was best to let Annabeth talk.
Zeus shifted slightly. He sighed at the expectant looks everyone was throwing him. "I don't know." He admitted to everyone's confusion. "I'm not the one who made the request." Based on the surprised looks of the others it wasn't anyone else on the council either.
"That would be because we are the ones who made the request." A said a female voice.
Every council member looked over and instantly bowed to the two new people in the room.
Annabeth and I quickly copied their actions. After all, if even Zeus was bowing without hesitation, they had to be very important and very powerful. The woman's features seemed to shift and change randomly, The males features also changed, but slower, more precise, as if every change was thought through carefully.
"Lady Chaos," said Athena. "Lord Order. You honor us with your presence."
"Thank you, it is always pleasant to visit family. Unfortunately, as you are aware, this is not a social call. Or at least, not all of it."
Order sighed, turning to Annabeth and Percy. "It was my sister and I who summoned everyone here. Before we start, please let us assure you once more that this is not something you have to do, you can say no."
Annabeth straightened her shoulders. "What is the quest you would have of us, Lord Order?" She asked formally once more.
Lady Chaos spoke this time. "This quest is somewhat… unusual, in that it is a long term quest."
"Long term? How so?" Percy couldn't help asking. He had rarely heard of long term quests. The last one he heard of was Jason's idea of building all the Gods and Goddesses shrines, but he had finished that a few months ago.
Order stepped forward. "Maybe a bit of backstory would help you understand. See, this world is my sister's world. She built it from nothing. I also built a world, though it has its differences from this one. The major problem and main part of this quest is that the children I had, my version of Primordial, Titans, Gods and the like all fought until only Thanatos, Primordial of the dead was left. Even the fates faded in the last millenia, and the population is slowly descending into, well, chaos."
"My descendents had tied their domains to their life forces, so when they faded their domains began unraveling. I have been keeping them all together as well as I could, but creating my children and other descendents does, in fact, take energy."
"Because it took all of this energy, I am entering my hibernation cycle. From which my sister is in the process of waking up. When I sleep, I won't be able to continue maintaining my world. Once that happens, it will begin collapsing. Mortals would call it the apocalypse."
"So what are you asking us for?" Annabeth looked genuinely confused. The council was listening silently, as they had not called the summons nor were issuing the quest, they had little right to interfere until they knew what was being asked of their children. Once the quest had been stated, then discussion would open up. This was part of the new rules that had been hashed out when they started spending more time with their children.
"Because of my low energy I cannot create new children. And my sister has stated that she cannot ask any of the gods because they have their own domains to look after." Order hesitated slightly.
"We mean to ask if you, Annabeth Chase-Jackson, and you Perseus Jackson, would enter Order's realm and take over the domains, perhaps even begin fixing them." Chaos said simply.
"Wait," Percy said. "How would we do that? The only beings with that ability would be... are you asking what I think you're asking?"
"Should you agree, between myself, my brother and if necessary, this council, we should be able to turn you into Titans, create your symbols of power, and transport you to the original Mt. Olympus in Order's realm.
Annabeth opened her mouth to speak.
"Before you say anything, know that maintaining the realm is only part of the quest even if it is the major part. This is also only temporary. Once my brother wakes from his slumber he will have the energy to create new children, thereby releasing you from your abilities and responsibilities as Titans, and allowing your return home.
"So once you wake up and make new kids, we can come home and everything will go back to how it is now? We wouldn't be Titans anymore?" Percy checked.
"That is the idea, however if it happens that we need to send more over to assist in keeping things together… I do not know if we can send you back at this time. Hibernations are rather long. I'm waking from one that spanned fifty thousand years. The more we must send over the more difficult bending time will be, and the longer your period of absence would seem."
"That sounds concerning." Annabeth said. "But what's the other part of the quest? You said there was another part."
"Yes this was one is also bad, but not quite as literally earth shattering. A Mortal in my world has torn his soul into chunks to avoid death. The resulting insanity has lead him to begin a genocide that I would rather stop."
Hades made a strangled sound. He sounded angry.
"What mortal and what are his end goals?" Annabeth questioned.
"If you accept, we shall send you with that knowledge and sufficient knowledge to survive there in the beginning. We would also send you a few years before it begins so you have time to acclimate to the world. Unfortunately, you cannot stop his rising as a boy is prophesied to defeat him. Since we expect you would be living amongst Mortals and keeping your divinity a secret, we would create an in so that those fighting the one who tore his soul apart would contact you."
"What in?" Percy asked.
"Do you accept?" Order asked.
Annabeth and Percy looked at each other. "I say we go, when it's time we can come back and continue our lives." Annabeth said with a nod.
"Excellent, your in will be that your Mortal records say that young Perseus is his grandson." Chaos said.
"Soul tearers grandkid? You're giving me another evil grandpa?" Percy asked incredulously.
"Yes, let's get started." Chaos said.
The Council exploded.