My heart was pounding wildly as I snuck through the enemy base, desperate to find the memories that they stole from me. "These are my memories that you have. You don't deserve to keep them," I whispered as I searched desperately for anything that could get our memories back. The big, red button that was labeled "Do Not Press" looked unusually promising so I started moving towards it almost subconsciously. It felt like back when I saw the sign for "The Evening Star", so there was a part of me that was trying to pull away from it. I moved towards it anyways, like a reluctant puppet on invisible strings. My entire body was trembling as I tried to pull my hand away from the button, but it was useless. The button had been pushed and I was immediately flooded with memories and screaming in pain. "Foolish child!" the figure mocked, appearing over me as I shook in pain on the floor. "Did you really think I would stay true to my deal? You must have been insane not to make me swear on the River Styx!"
I knew it all now, even though I no longer wanted to. I knew who I was, the deal I made, and what the cloaked figure that was following me around wanted. I had been an unwilling puppet for him in exchange for false freedom. I was mentally kicking myself for being so naive and trusting. The things that I had just presumed were bad luck and horrible choices made far too much sense now. An invisible hand guiding my mind towards "The Evening Star". A silent whisper telling me to trust the suspiciously knowledgeable owner. A cunning, unseen shadow pushing me away from the uncomfortably familiar girl in the corner and towards my bag. Despite the pain, I looked up to finally see the face of the person that had been tormenting me for so long. It only cackled at my feeble attempt to look brave and took off the clock to reveal a robot with glowing red eyes. "Foolish child. You truly thought that I would not find a way back? You have made it too easy, child," the robot sneered, "You idiotic child."
"Who are you? What do you want?" I demanded even as I lay helpless on the ground. Old habits die hard. He froze the makeshift army Percy had gathered outside with a snap of his metallic fingers.
"Nice try child, but you think you can arrange a sneak attack on the Titan of Time himself?" he sneered. Kronos. It was Kronos' consciousness inside of this robotic body. This makes things much more difficult. "No sane person would even think of fighting me with all the worshippers I have gained!" Bold of you to assume that the literal god of madness was not crazy enough to pick a fight he could not win. I used every drop of the power I had to dig through the robot's mind and display its memories for everybody to see. I could only hope that they included a way to defeat him because I was probably not even meant to be able to do this when I was still a god. Zeus' hundred wives I've gained a conscience. That's never good.
Percy's POV
In my time as a demigod, I had seen many weird things. However, the robot under Kronos' control suddenly steaming and moving around rapidly with no apparent sense of direction while Parker literally glowed bright purple, and flashes of seemingly random memories surrounding our frozen in-time bodies was definitely close to the top of the list. I watched as the same robot in front of us switched Zeus' "normal" lightning bolts with magically powered ones with the ability to make gods powerless. I saw him freeze time to make deals with multiple different confused-looking former gods. I, unfortunately, did not find out that there was a self-destruct button on the robot, but life was not a fairy tale, so I didn't even expect one.
Parker, you idiot! Why did you press that button? That kind of obvious stuff never helps anybody! If you weren't somehow making the robot go haywire, I would break this time stop just to punch you in the face! Beginners. We stared as the memories played out and Parker continued to glow like a purple sun, unsure what to do. Parker suddenly pulled himself off of the ground and lunged at the robot with the uncontrolled fury of a wild animal. The purple light around him was blinding as it flooded the room with its merciless brilliance. "Parker!" I heard somebody yell frantically. It took me a few minutes to realize that it was me that was screaming. That socially awkward son of Zeus had grown on me like one of his beloved plants.
Just as quickly as it had appeared, the purple light vanished, taking Parker, the former gods, and the Kronos robot along with it. It didn't take me long to realize that I was going to miss the little idiot. He was a weird kid, even for a demigod, but he was a loyal friend. I prayed to any god listening that he was alive and well, or at very least would be able to go to Elysium. It was the least that I could do for him, considering how I probably frightened the living daylights out of him when we met only a few months ago. Mr. D was right about one thing. Demigods come and go far too fast. I was the only one left in the room now, as all the guards had run away the moment they saw their boss literally steaming from his ears and all the gods had disappeared in that purple light. Three demigods had left to save the world and only one returned, but we were used to that kind of pain.
Thank you for your patience, the last few weeks have been packed with writer's blocks and tests! I hope you enjoy it!