Thalia had learned how to control her emotions to an impressive extent during her tenure as the Lieutenant of the Hunt. This was taught to her by Lady Artemis, because a leader should always be able to look calm and collected, even if they are as panicked as their comrades.

That control was being tested to its very limit at the moment. Ghost, who was walking beside Thalia on their way to find Lady Artemis, would not shut up. Every few seconds a comment slipped out of his mouth, which was either completely unrelated to the topic, or was an insult to Thalia.

For example; "I know I'm pretty bad with kids, but are ya sure you're much better?"

"Actually, ignore what I said about Twilight. I just remembered that those fuckers sparkle, and I don't know if that'll traumatise the brat more."

"Damn, how far is your camp? Wait, no, I'm pretty sure you're just walking slow, considering your stubby-ass legs."

"Since you're an emo, do you cut yourself? Or do you just listen to sad music and watch the rain?"

Looking back on it, Thalia realised that they were mostly insults. Regardless, she had gotten sick of it the first time, and the following twenty or so comments were just rubbing salt into the wound.

"Will you shut up!?" Thalia finally shouted, face turning red with rage. Ghost stopped walking for a moment, then continued on like nothing happened. Meanwhile, Ashley, who was currently in Thalia's arms, began screaming her head off once more. All of the Lieutenant's efforts to reduce the crying to mere sniffling were undone in that one moment, much to her ever-increasing aggravation.

"Ya know, you probably shouldn't be shouting like that. I heard kids don't really like loud noises."

Thalia growled wordlessly, then stalked forward once more. She had a goddess to find.


"So, you are telling me that this fool simply handed you this child, and expected you to make her stop crying?"

"S'about the gist of it," Ghost answered for Thalia, hands behind his head in a very casual manner. Thalia found herself stuck between wondering how the man could so easily ignored Lady Artemis' growing rage, and wishing she could do the same as well.

"Very well, pass her here. You have other matters to attend to, Thalia," Artemis said, stretching her arms out. Thalia nearly threw Ashley at her half-sister, then power-walked away from the tiny demon. Masked demigod and goddess watched the daughter of Zeus storm off, before turning to face each other.

"So, Ghost…"

"Yeah?"

"Care to explain this?"

"Not particularly."

The cold stare she sent his way made the man shiver as if her were standing in an arctic blizzard, but he refused to relent. He simply averted his eyes- if he could not see, he could not believe. The chills running down his spine seemed to feel differently, but he ignored those to the best of his abilities.

"Ghost!" Artemis hissed, taking a few steps around him so she could once more be in his face. The man, obstinate as he was, turned as well, ensuring that his back was kept between him and his inevitable doom at all times.

"Yes, hello, Artemis. It's a lovely morning, isn't it?" he responded nonchalantly, resisting the urge to run and dive into the nearest patch of shadows.

Deciding to take advantage of the opportunity presented to her, Artemis lashed out with a leg, kicking Ghost in the back of his knee. The joint folded in half, and the masked man crumbled like a card tower, ending up laying on his back with his legs underneath him. It looked quite uncomfortable.

"Sweet mother of f-!" Ghost shouted, before the back of his head hit a rock on the ground, forcing a wordless grunt out in place of the swear. The man sunk into his own shadow, only to pop out of Artemis' a moment later, upright.

"The hell is wrong with ya!?" he shouted, looking ready to pounce.

"Me!?" Artemis yelled back, eyes narrowing to slits. "I'm not the one running around and dumping children in people's arms!"

"She was crying, and I can't really deal with that! What did you want me to do, ignore her!?"

"No, but don't try to solve it in such a roundabout way!"

"What part of this was roundabout!?"

"Oh, maybe the part where you just handed her over to Thalia, then me, without any type of explanation!"

Ghost puffed up, ready to retort, before he suddenly deflated. "Wait, I did do that, didn't I?"

Artemis stared at him as if he was stupid, which he couldn't really fault her for.

"Well, I explained it to Thalia, at least," he said weakly, suddenly sheepish.

Artemis continued to stare, causing Ghost's embarrassment to skyrocket. He scratched at the top of his head, messing up his raven locks.

"Alright, so this morning, I put her in front of the TV, and My Little Pony comes on, and she starts screaming, then I start screaming, and… It turns out she's scared of rainbows?"


"That little bitch…" Percy muttered, collapsing horizontally on his couch. He shrieked when he landed wrong and nearly rolled off the seat, but barely managed to save himself by grabbing the table for dear life. For a moment, he hung above the chasm between chair and table, before he finally got it together and pushed himself back up.

Percy looked around, as if checking for spectators, then sighed. "Damn, even when she's not here, she's got me acting like a dumbass."

"I dunno, I think it's pretty funny."

With a jump, Percy shot into a sitting position, then glanced over the back of the couch. There, lying on the floor, was his inverted doppelganger. Percy was still wearing the mask, so his disturbingly pale face was visible.

"What are you doing here?" Percy asked, voice full of venom. He flopped back down onto the chair. Horse stood up and leaned against the couch, staring down at his king.

"Where else am I gonna be? Out pervin' on the Hunters?" Horse asked, his high-pitched voice grating on the demigod's ears.

"No- and if you try that, I'll get Nyx to rip you out of my head, even if it kills me."

The albino just grinned menacingly. "Don't worry, I won't. I do wanna live- even if it's just so I can kill more things. Anyways, what's got ya so mopey, King? Salty that lil' Arty got mad at ya?"

"I'm not salty," Percy growled, "Just a bit irritated. And it wasn't even my fault! How was I supposed to know that Ashley would call me 'Daddy' out of nowhere!?

"Ooh, kinky."

"Not like that, you nasty bastard."

Horse cackled, then sobered up in moments. "So, I'm still a lil' iffy on this whole thing. Alright, the brat calls ya dad, which is weird, 'cause she's actually hella old, but still manageable, I guess. That necklace from the hags did something to her, so I'll just chalk it up to her actually actin' like a child. Question is, why did Arty go nuclear?"

"I have no friggin' clue, which is what pisses me off the most. Normally, if Artemis is mad at me, it's because I did something. And what the hell's up with those follow-up questions? Like, how old is Ashley, and what's the time dilation of Tartarus? That makes no fucking sense, they aren't connected in the slightest!"

Horse opened his mouth to speak, then closed it, before opening it once more. Percy stared at him, waiting for the demon to get on with it.

"Ya said the brat's six, right?"

"Um, yeah?"

"And the time dilation of Tartarus is about… One month here per year down there, right?"

"...Yeah? You were there, you should already know this."

"Just humor me, King. Anyways, we were down there for a little more than six Gaea-months… I think I see the problem."

"What!?" Percy cried, shocked that this insane, psychopathic monster had figured it out before him. The demigod thought the demon's thoughts were filled with nothing but blood and entrails, but apparently, he was wrong. "Wait, so what happened!?"

"Hmm… Not tellin'!" Horse shouted, then fell onto the floor laughing.

"You little fucking-!" Percy growled, hopping off and over the couch to attack the demon. He grabbed Horse by the throat, and had an arm drawn back, ready to crack the demented clone's skull.

"Ahem… Am I interrupting something?"

Percy leapt to his feet, followed an instant later by Horse. His energy was primed, ready to go wherever it was needed, but the buildup dissipated in an instant when he saw who the visitor was.

"What are you doing here, Dad?"


"So…"

"So…"

Silence followed for a long while. Horse, who was sitting on the couch beside Percy, finally got irritated and threw down the Dualshock controller in his hands.

"Will you fuckers stop bein' so goddamned awkward and just talk already!?"

Poseidon, resting in the armchair perpendicular to the couch, bristled.

"Well, since you are so insistent; son, what is that thing?"

"That thing can hear you, ya crusty old bastard," Horse muttered loudly, not concerned in the slightest when Poseidon began to glow with barely-restrained rage.

"Ugh, dad, just ignore him. He's a demon that's trapped in my head," Percy said, dragging a hand down his face.

Poseidon stopped his lightshow, but only to gawk at Percy. He had heard a lot of crazy things, but that probably took the cake.

"In your-!? Perseus, how did this happen!?" the Sea God shouted, leaning forward.

"Oh, you know, a bit of this and a bit of that," Percy said, shrugging his shoulders casually.

"No, you are not getting out of it that easily. I came here for an explanation, and I will get one, or…"

"Or?"

"Or… I will take this tent back."

"No!" Percy cried, jumping up, "You can't do that!"

"I can, and I will, if you do not answer my questions properly." Poseidon leaned back, arms crossed and looking smug as all hell.

Percy glared at him, sea-green pupils swirling into blood-red, with small rotating black commas, before he exhaled a sigh and they reverted.

Poseidon blinked. "What was that?"

"Percy blinked back. "What was what?"

"The- the thing, with your eyes. Why were they red just now?"

Percy's eyebrows furrowed with confusion, before he seemed to understand what his father was talking about. "Oh, right. That's one of those things you're gonna hear about, later. I should probably start at the beginning, though."

"Yes, that would be nice," Poseidon said faintly, wondering if he should prepare himself. Or if he could.

"Alright, so the Fates just up and kidnapped me one day, when I was going to talk to Annabeth- speaking of which, I've completely forgotten about her. I should probably go check on that…"

Poseidon's eyes glazed over at how casually his son dismissed the wellbeing of who the Sea God thought was the love of his young life. He snapped back to attention when Percy continued, not sounding very concerned at all. Horse continued playing his video game (it was Doom, which was rather ironic; a demon, killing tons of demons).

"Right, so it was the craziest thing. Luke was there, apparently I was dead, and…"


"... And that's the story of how my life got flipped turned upside down. It took a lot longer than a minute, though."

Poseidon lets out a little choked noise, strangled by the amount of madness that now rests on his shoulder. For a second, he wondered how Percy was able to breathe at all after what had happened to him, but he brushed it off. That boy had always been too strong for his own good. It came from his blood, both on his father's and mother's side.

"Damn, I feel a lot better now that I've got all that off my chest," Percy said idly. "I guess therapy does work- who would've thought?"

Poseidon choked once more, causing Percy to look at him oddly.

"You alright, Dad?"

"No! How can I be alright after hearing all that!? How are you!?"

His son's mouth turned into a small, confused frown. "What are you talking about?"

Poseidon gaped. "How- how are you not insane!? Men throughout the years have broken from far less, and yet, here you are-!" The god began gesturing wildly at the boy, indicating his current state of being, which was decidedly not stark-raving mad.

"Oh, it probably helps that Horse here is the manifestation of all my psychological issues, so he keeps them separate from me," Percy said casually, hooking thumb at his off-color clone, who still playing Doom hours later. Was it really that entertaining? He'd have to try it out sometime…

"That is another thing- you have a demon in your head! Does that not worry you!?"

"No, not really. I kinda… Asserted dominance by beating his ass. Man, that sounds weird. But, yeah, he won't try anything, and I've got a decent amount of control over him, so there's nothing to be worried about."

Poseidon pinched the bridge of his nose. "Alright, fine. Fine! Then what about the eyes? You said they are… Not yours? You didn't explain that part very well." The Sea God said, disturbed by the very notion.

"Oh, I didn't? Well, remember that Sasuke kid who tried to kill me in Japan?"

"The one with the hairstyle of a duck's ass, as you said?" Poseidon tried not to let out a childish giggle.

"Yup, that's the one. Anyways, so we fought, and I won, and I was about to kill him, but then he did this weird thing with black fire on my eyes, and it wouldn't stop, so I just… Took 'em out."

"You… You took out your eyes?" Poseidon asked, eyebrows raising into his hairline. He seemed slightly nauseous at the idea.

"Yeah, I didn't want the fire spreading to, like, my hair or anything, so I just got rid of them. I think the amount of energy he needed to do that was too much, and he died from exhaustion. Anyways, I was pretty pissed. This was before I got Horse stuck in my head, so I couldn't regenerate my eyes, and I didn't really know what to do after that. Then, the Fates got in my head- which is really disturbing by the way, do not recommend- and told me to take Sasuke's eyes. Considering the fact that I was blind, I kinda couldn't, so they did it for me, and that's how I got his… What'd he call it? His… Sharingan? Sounds dumb, but it's pretty damn useful. Plus, it looks badass, so there's that."

Poseidon nodded mutely. There wasn't really anything to say to an explanation like that. He slumped back in the armchair, heaving a sigh that showed all three-thousand-plus years of his age, his hair momentarily turning gray, before he managed to control himself. His sea-green eyes weren't flowing as they normally do; instead, they remained stuck on a dark tone, hardly wavering.

"All this has happened to you, my son, and… Is there anything about you that hasn't changed? Your mind, your body, your emotions… Even your feelings for Annabeth. Aphrodite once said that your love shone the brightest of any she had seen since Helen and Paris, and yet…"

"Well, after all the shit I've done, that's a given. As for things that've stayed the same… Well, I'm pretty sure I still like blue soda? I haven't actually tested that, yet, since I haven't gone to any cities or stores, but who doesn't like soda? Only weirdos, that's who."

The Sea God stared at his son, exasperation clear on his face. "Percy, I don't think that's quite how it works."

"It is if I say so," Percy replied, blowing a raspberry at the god, who merely raised an eyebrow. The two looked at each other, before breaking off into light chuckling. Percy grew serious after a moment.

"Seriously though, despite all the shit I've gone through, I'm still your son. Nothing is ever going to change that." Poseidon's face lit up, and warmth blossomed in his golden blood.

"I'm glad that you feel that way, and that you trusted me enough to share all this with me. I'm not sure if I'll end up regretting it, though- you know what they say, ignorance is bliss," Poseidon said teasingly.

"Oh, you definitely will, because now you've gotta keep my secret with me!" Percy replied, grinning deviously.

Poseidon rolled his eyes, which had returned to their bright, shifting colors. "I would have done so anyways- I don't make it a habit to reveal things which had been told to me in confidence."

Percy's smile became genuine, though he remained silent. The two basked in the comfortable quiet, interrupted only by the increasingly-frantic clicking of the Dualshock controller in Horse's hands.

"SON OF A BITCH!"

The laughter that spilled from the son and the Sea God was less forced than it had been in a while.