Chapter 20: I (accidentally) try to kill a friend

POV: Percy

Light greeted us when we stepped outside.

"You know, I would take venturing through the Underworld over taking a plane any day," I said.

"Yes, it's a lot faster," Annabeth agreed.

"And has less of a risk of one dying, ironically," I added.

Annabeth didn't answer, and my amusement was short-lived too. Looking around brought back memories, and none of them were good. For all the time that had passed, it still felt as if it had been yesterday that we had fought and died here. A myriad of emotions almost overwhelmed me.

Next to me, Annabeth pulled a grimace. "Let's just walk."

Our hike to the Empire State Building was done in silence. Each of us was lost in our own memories. It was strange, how a few streets could hold so many bad memories, so much death for us. I had always loved Manhattan, so now was probably the first time ever that I wasn't glad to be back. Our destination didn't help in making it the least bit better.

When I looked up again after walking for a while in silence, the Empire State Building was already visible over the buildings, everything looking utterly normal. Cars were driving down the street, a bunch of kids stood frozen in different poses all painted metallic – copper, bronze, silver, gold – while tourists hustled past or stopped and stared. A typical day.

There was no destruction, no bodies of the fallen, no children of Hermes standing frozen in the doorway after they had used their bodies as shields. Taking a deep breath, I pushed all the memories away and tried focusing on the present again.

"So, are you really sure it's alright for us if we ask for that?" I asked, turning to Annabeth.

Annabeth just rolled her eyes at me "We talked about that already."

We had, but that didn't change the fact that I was still unsure about it. I mean, I had been the one to propose it in the first place, but I couldn't help feeling guilty about asking for this. Yet, I would feel guilty if I hadn't asked for it as well. There were other things we could ask for we could use that we had a higher chance of getting granted, stuff that would be incredibly useful to have. It made me feel selfish for wanting to waste our reward for something with less of a chance to even work.

Annabeth, seeing how uncertain I still looked, stopped.

"Percy, it's ok, I understand. I'm not angry at you for this," she said giving me an encouraging peck on the cheek. "I know the reason why you want to do this, and it doesn't make you selfish for asking. You are trying to help somebody. I might not have reacted in the best way about what happened back then, and I'm sorry for that. So, stop worrying about it please."

She gave me a searching look and so I took a deep breath and nodded.

"And really, it isn't that bad of an idea, actually," Annabeth said while she started walking again. "It is not only the right thing to do, but it will also be helpful as well. It might gain us approval from others who last time fought agai-"

I didn't get whatever else Annabeth had wanted to say because suddenly a hand grabbed me and pulled me into the shadow of a construction site.

Reacting on instinct, I twisted my body and instantly had freed myself again. Riptide appeared in its sword form in my hand, and I spun around slashing with my sword at whatever it was that had attacked me.

Before I could hit though, there was a flash and I found myself on the ground after being violently thrown against a wall. My sword was gone, instead, a pen was bouncing off an invisible wall, disappearing from my sight.

Curses and insults meant for Hera for annoying us again died on my lips when I looked up again. I was looking into a scowling face alright, but it wasn't Hera's.

"Why is it that our first meeting always ends up with you trying to kill me?" the girl asked, and I couldn't help but cringe. "Or is that the way you greet other people too?"

Standing before me, completely painted in gold, stood no other than…

"Rachel Elizabeth Dare," Annabeth said coolly, lowering the dagger, but not relaxing from the attack stance she had taken.

"Annabeth Chase," Rachel shot back in the same voice.

Right, there was that. For some strange reason, the two of them had never liked each other. I wouldn't even be surprised if there had been lightning generated between the glare the two of them gave each other.

Standing up again I tried thinking hard how I could defuse the tense atmosphere when it hit me what Rachel had said just now.

"Wait, you remember me?" I asked dumbfounded.

It worked in distracting them from each other, which would have been a good thing hadn't Rachel turned to glare at me instead now.

"You don't easily forget people who tried to kill you with a sword, you know."

I didn't know what to answer on that, because sure, that might be true normally if there weren't for the tiny fact of that not having happened yet in this timeline. Which could only mean that she remembered as well.

"But- huh?" I asked eloquently. Shaking my head trying to snap out of it I tried again. "How come you remember that? And how did you deflect my sword like that?"

Next to me Annabeth sharply inhaled, her eyes widening, staring at Rachel in surprise.

"You're still the Oracle," she whispered, "that's how. But the old one was still there as well? How does that even work?"

Her guess was confirmed when Rachel's scowl deepened even more.

"Not particularly smoothly, I can tell you. Since it started the past few weeks ago, it was the absolute worst," she growled. "If you had been dillydallying a bit more, I'm sure my parents would have ended up admitting me into an asylum, giving that I had no idea what was going on and acted like a lunatic till a few days ago."

A few days ago? Could she mean be the moment Hades agreed to our demands? And it likely started the same moment Annabeth and I had been reunited. Frankly, I should be more surprised for her to remember, but it fit right into weird stuff happening to me.

"Do you have any idea how insane you look if you suddenly start convulsing at the breakfast table and start sprouting what most would think to be random nonsense, and then not even have any recollection of what it was you just said," she went on ranting in my face as if all of that was somehow my fault.

She was also pressing a blue plastic hairbrush against my chest which looked innocent enough but was making me grow nervous, given that I remembered what she had done with that one in the last timeline.

"They were so close in calling either a psychiatrist or an exorcist," she added, her words crashing against me like waves, her other hand was gesturing in tandem her words, "or most likely both. I spent the last two days – ever since I finally understood what was going on again – waiting for you to finally show up here. You certainly took your time."

Rachel was breathing harshly by now. Annabeth who was standing at the side had sheathed her dagger again and was leaning against the wall, listening as if that had nothing to do with her.

"Better?" she finally asked smirking, but only after it was clear that Rachel seemed finished.

Taking a deep breath Rachel turned to her.

"Yes, thank you. Anyway," she said and the two of them started talking as if none of that had just happened and the two of them hadn't been close to attacking each other either.

I stood there completely lost and confused, watching the two of them act as if they had always been close friends. They were changing through different subjects faster than I could comprehend with my befuddled mind. Did I just miss some kind of world-changing incident? Hadn't they been hating each other even a few minutes ago?

"Girls are harder to understand than the Oracle of Delphi," I grumbled under my breath still sidelined from their conversation.

Which even I have to admit was kind of an inappropriate thing to say in front of said unhappy Oracle and must have come out louder than I meant it to, considering the two pairs of dirty looks that turned to me directly after.

Deciding to play it safe I tried making myself scarce, less I made a closer acquaintance with a dagger and hairbrush. There was also the fact that I wasn't sure I wanted to hear what they said.

I realized it had to be the wrong decision when a few minutes later they looked at me again, this time expectantly as if waiting for an answer.

"Sorry?" I offered weakly, having no idea what they had talked about just now and feeling completely out of my depth.

They shared a twin smirk in return, and I got the feeling I just missed a joke at my expense.

"I said that I better leave now and lay low for a bit, as my parents for once actually decided to keep an eye on me," Rachel said her smirk widening. "But speaking of apologies, there is small favor you could do for me. Something I think you owe me anyway, and this time you have no flimsy excuse not to. And to make sure let's invite your savior from last time and his girlfriend as well. But let's meet up and talk about that when my parents have calmed down again. See you!"

And with that and in typical Rachel fashion, she disappeared into the crowd.

For a moment I looked the way she disappeared to unsure what to do. Then I decided to treat it like all other strange mythological things: Ignore the strangeness and look at the bright side of things.

In this case, it meant I would never have to meet the mummy again to get a prophecy. Yep, bright side indeed.

"So," I started, glancing at Annabeth. "What exactly changed suddenly to make the two of you stop trying to kill each other?"

"Boys," Annabeth just said unhelpfully, rolling her eyes at me instead. Then she started pulling me in direction of the Empire State Building. "Let's go, Seaweed Brain."

A little bit of threatening the security guard – something that seemed to become a habit of us - with the master bolt again and an elevator ride with annoying music – next time I should bring Clarisse to punch it out again – later, we found ourselves back on the edge of Mount Olympus.

Even more than Manhattan, Olympus stood in stark contrast to how it had looked the last time I saw it. And I tried really hard at not thinking about how I had ripped it apart in the end.

Instead, I tried comparing it to what I remembered of having happened the last time I passed through here to return the master bolt. This time I saw something I had missed in my younger days. While everything looked like a festival, the minor gods to be in a festive mood, there was an edge to all of it, a barely noticeable tension in the air.

It made me realize that they in fact clearly were actually worried about the impending civil war. And even if they didn't openly show it, Annabeth and I were the center of attention of every single one here. They knew about our quest, and now every one of them was waiting with bated breath for the results.

Following the path to our destination, giving a guarded glance upward while passing under Hera's statue, I distractedly wondered how many of the gods we had seen just now had already been approached by Kronos. Were already some on his side? Or had he waited to try to gain supporters until after he had been found out?

When we finally reached the throne room, the doors stood open, inviting us inside. Annabeth and I shared a short look, an understanding passing between us. Bracing ourselves, we entered the throne room holding hands.

PJ&AC

Upon entering, twelve pairs of eyes locked on us, but it was one particular goddess whose expression sent a cold shiver down my spine, and my face blanch. My knees almost gave out under me. For the first time, I was afraid of facing an immortal. I just didn't know what that meant, how to handle that, for not a single time had she ever looked at me that way before.

Athena was smiling at me.

Athena. Smiling.

That woman had hated my guts ever since I first met her. So, what was wrong now? She must have at least seen what happened in the water park, right? The last time I saw her, Annabeth and I had only been friends and she still gave me her 'You-touch-my-daughter-and-I-kill-you look'. In Hera's cursed name, Annabeth and I were together, I was holding Annabeth's hand right now even, yet she was still smiling.

It gave me the creeps.

Why was she smiling? Was she imagining the way she would torture me slowly to death? Was she so angry she simply had lost her mind and was now giving me a genuine smile instead of turning me into a greasy spot on the floor?

Or was she just waiting until after I returned the bolt to prevent a war or something? Maybe this was meant to be mental torture? But that made no sense, as I wouldn't have found it strange, hadn't I met her in the past timeline already, so was that to make me lower my guard or maybe –

"What's wrong?" Annabeth whispered next to me and squeezed my hand gently, preventing a full-blown panic attack with it. "Is it about Hera?"

I shook my head slightly, doing my best in ignoring the kind look – the one I was sure was speaking of my untimely demise - Athena gave me and concentrated on the rest of the throne room and what Annabeth had talked about.

Annabeth wasn't talking about Hera glaring at us because Hera didn't look at us at all. No, she was talking about that there should be twelve Olympians, as well as Lady Hestia who was smiling at us from the hearth, making it thirteen in total. Yet not counting us, there were only twelve people present.

Hera was not glaring at us simply because for that she would have needed to be present. Instead, an empty throne stood where she should have been sitting.

I didn't have any time thinking deeper about it – that had already been lost freaking out about Athena – because we stood in front of the immortal it would be most proper to greet first.

So, giving a deep respectful bow we greeted in unison, "Lady Hestia."

I had to give my best to suppress a smirk when immediately the air in the throne room crackled. Ignoring the Lord of the Sky's temper we let go of each other and split up.

I approached my father's throne alone and knelt at his feet. "Father."

Annabeth was mirroring my behavior on the other side of the room. "Mother."

Unlike last time when I had been too afraid to do something wrong and had kept my head down, now, I looked straight up at my father's face. He looked surprised at me, but unlike Zeus, he didn't seem to mind having been greeted after his sister. In fact, there was a twinkle in his telling me he took it with humor. Or maybe he was just silently laughing at his brother next to him, who was fuming at having been ignored.

To my left, Zeus leaned forward and began speaking and my skin prickled unpleasantly with every word he said, "Should you not address the master of this house first, demigods?"

I kept my eyes on my father and waited. Seeing his lips twitch as if suppressing a smirk, I knew that my second guess had to be right.

"Peace, brother," a female voice said from behind me, and warmth washed over my body, stopping the irritation on my skin. "I am sure the children are merely nervous over this meeting and meant no offense."

Well, I most certainly did mean offense, but I knew better than say that out loud.

"And the children defer to their parents. This is only right," the warm voice of my father agreed.

"You still claim him then?" Zeus asked, menacingly. "You claim this child whom you sired against our sacred oath?"

"Him, as well as his sister," Poseidon answered. "Now I would hear him speak."

Murmurs filled the room. By the way the smell of ozone strengthened, I was sure that Zeus still had something to say, but somebody else spoke up first.

"You, are hardly one to talk, father," Athena said calmly, "given that your youngest daughter seems to still be with the rest of their group. And I agree with Poseidon, I too would like to hear what my daughter has to say."

Well, not that there had been much doubt left, but this made it certain that she really was my sister. Yet it still left open how the girl's relationship to Athena was, and I suppressed glancing in her direction.

"Not before all members of the council are here," Zeus grumbled. "Where is she, Poseidon?"

This time Poseidon did not suppress the smirk. "Facing her punishment of course, dear brother."

"This is not your decision to make," Zeus growled.

Poseidon raised a brow. "No? I am sure everyone here would agree that she should be punished for the danger she almost put us in. I believe I have every right to do this unless of course, you think I am too lenient? I am of course open for suggestions if anyone wishes to add something."

"There still must be a full council," Zeus insisted.

"We could always ask Hades to stand in for her," Poseidon replied, his smile widening. "After what I heard, he has reason to be part of this discussion."

Zeus growled again and the air cracked.

"I am sure Lady Hestia would agree to take her place for today. Nobody should have a problem with that, right?" Athena interrupted again, and I could practically hear her rolling her eyes in amusement. It was what Annabeth would have done.

Realizing that none of the others would support him Zeus grumbled some more. "I shall listen," he decided. "Then I shall make up my mind whether or not to cast this boy down from Olympus."

I barely suppressed rolling my eyes. Funny, how there was no mention of doing the same to the daughter of Athena that was in the room as well.

"Perseus," Poseidon said, looking intensely at me and I met his gaze unwavering.

The last time he had still been unsure about me, yet had told me that no matter what I was his son. I wasn't sure which of our changes of the timeline were responsible for it when I could see approval on his face. From everything I knew about him, I could harbor a guess that the reason for this change was us freeing a certain green-and-grey-eyed girl. And maybe she was the reason for the change in a certain goddess' behavior as well.

"Address Lord Zeus, children," he finally told us. "Tell him your story."

So, with the help of Annabeth, we told them everything. Well, everything we were willing to share with them anyway, which meant a heavily edited version. The difficulty was to make sure to mislead them without lying, as it would be bad if Zeus sensed it. While we talked, I took out the metal cylinder, which began sparking in Zeus' presence, and laid it at his feet.

We even told them about what happened with Nike but did not reveal that we knew what that was about, only that somebody else had influenced that change, and we tried to gloss over what had happened with the Roman demigods.

The only loose end was Ares, as he was aware that we knew more than we let on. He didn't speak up though, which wasn't surprising, given that it would only put him into more trouble than he was already. Because the other gods were everything but happy over his role in the events.

"-a spy working for the mastermind behind it all. A spy who called him the Crooked One," Annabeth finished our explanation.

Now was the moment of truth. We had offered a lot more information than last time, Kronos' had been forced to interfere more, reveal more of himself, but did it change anything?

I expected chaos to break out, the gods shouting over each other in Ancient Greek, maybe even weapons getting drawn, so the silence that followed actually surprised me. There was an intense discussion in Ancient Greek alright, but only four people took part in it and they certainly weren't shouting at each other.

Looking around me I realized why. I expected this great reveal to come as a surprise that it clearly didn't seem to be. They either had already guessed beforehand or came to the same conclusion as we told our story. The only reason they kept quiet seemed to be because they were content to let the three participants talk it out with Zeus.

The people taking part in the discussion certainly were the ones with the best insight into the situation. Discussing with Zeus was of course my father, but also Athena and Artemis. Ares participating wouldn't have been surprising either, but he was pouting at his seat in silence.

It was difficult following their conversation, but I got the gist of it. Words like father, danger, and the Great Stirring fell. For a moment I had hope that they would actually listen to us.

It was short-lived of course when Zeus proclaimed the topic over, more interested in purifying his master bolt. When he rose to leave, giving us a flowery speech about how big of an accomplishment this was and how much of a service we did from him, I took that as my cue to interrupt.

"We accept your gifts that show the gratitude, befitting of the Lord of the Sky," I said, even bowing my head in front of him, "for returning to you what many consider the most powerful weapon in existence."

It was enough to interrupt him in his speech. Cutting off the part where he told me how generous he was in letting me live. It might be impertinent to just assume he was meaning to reward us, but I didn't care. I wouldn't let him get away with not giving us anything at all this time.

We had planned for Annabeth to add something next, but somebody else spoke up first. "Yes, I am certain that father will generously reward you for your action, hero," Athena said giving Zeus a piercing look, clearly still unhappy about how they had been brushed off by him just now. "It would be the wise thing to do, after all."

Next to me, my father spoke up as well, his smirk returning. "There is certainly nobody, not even the King God who could deny the huge favor you have done to us three brothers. I myself plan to show you my gratitude and I am sure that even Hades will repay your actions generously."

"He already has," Annabeth answered. "He allowed us to choose ourselves, and we got far more than we expected to receive."

Glancing up I could see the annoyance and anger that crossed Zeus' face before he schooled it and sat down again. It would look rather bad for him if after that he were to give us nothing at all.

Zeus cleared his throat. "Of course," he said sounding as if that had been his idea in the first place. "Speak."

I shared a short glance with Annabeth. Well, here goes nothing.

"Lord Hades allowed us to ask for multiple things, so that I may repay everyone who helped us in completing our quest?"

Zeus looked as if it was everything but alright but clearly didn't want to be seen as less generous than Hades, so he motioned me to go on.

I had gone over what to say multiple times with Annabeth. She had even offered to take on parts of it, but I had refused, telling her it would be better if I as quest leader did it. In truth, I simply didn't want to risk endangering her. If somebody was getting blown up over it, it better be me.

"Before I begin, we believe there to be somebody else who should not be forgotten to be rewarded as well. For Lord Dionysus' great… support in our training," I said, trying not to sound sarcastic. "As somebody who has experienced having something important taken from you, I hope you may rethink his punishment again."

Said god looked up from reading some kind of wine brochure, staring at me in surprise.

"Very well," Zeus answered after a moment of consideration. "While I will not shorten the time of his punishment, I will lift the restrictions on his powers."

"YES!" Dionysus shouted behind me, already a goblet of wine in his hands. "Finally!"

Watching him savior the taste, I wasn't quite sure if that was endearing or if I should feel disgusted instead. I would have preferred if Zeus would have decided to do it the other way around, but then again, I rather have a less whiny Dionysus as director than somebody like Tantalus. Who knows what brilliant ideas Zeus would get?

"Oh, don't mind me," Dionysus said after he finally opened his eyes again and found us staring at him. "Just go on with your boring discussions."

I shook my head trying to get my thoughts in order.

"Right. As you know, on this quest we not only found the master bolt and the Helm of Darkness, but we also found multiple demigods," I said. "We not only freed my sister and Lord Hades' children from their imprisonment but also your daughter, Carine Grace."

Instantly the tension in the room rose again.

"Her elder sister, Thalia Grace, sacrificed herself to allow Annabeth to reach camp. Without Annabeth's help, I would have never been able to complete this quest. So, in turn, it was thanks to Thalia that this quest was completed. Thalia's spirit still lives on, so we would like to ask of you to show mercy and heal her physical body and give her a second chance."

The only thing we knew of that could heal Thalia was the golden fleece. But the gods were far more powerful than it. The only thing hindering them to use their power were rules, but those could be bypassed if Zeus decided to allow it. True, we could wait until we had liberated the fleece again, and we still planned to do that, but who knew what changes in the timeline we had caused. And if Thalia actually did remember as well, having her help sooner would be invaluable to us.

"Granted."

So far so good.

"Our next request stands in connection to my previous point. The satyr Groover Underwood, our Keeper who supported us on this quest, the one that brought me to camp, was also the one to find Thalia. His dream is to become a Seeker to find Lord Pan, but the Council of Cloven Elders denied him this, even though he was able to bring multiple demigods to Camp. After this quest, they cannot deny him any longer, but I do not trust them to not do something unreasonable after," I voiced my suspicion. It was quite reasonable, given the fact that they had done just that in the past.

"So, you wish for me to forbid them from interfering?" Zeus asked, but clearly not really caring about it at all. "Very well, I will allow it. Now, is there anything else?"

I could tell by his frosty tone that he was getting frustrated by now and his gratitude was already running out. Luckily there was only the one thing left that I personally wanted him to grant. It was something we were unsure if he would grant us, so I had put it to ask last. The request was questionable at best and so he surely wouldn't be willing to give us anything else after that.

"In your wisdom," I said cringing inwardly at how insincere that sounded, "you punished Lord Dionysus in a way that would benefit others."

I was pretty sure that any leeway I had made with Dionysus was undone with those words, and I wouldn't even be able to begrudge it to him. But the request I had was so far left field, I had to create a reason why I would ask for this. Without having to tell them about our time travel and the real reason that is.

"For her part in the war, you banished Calypso to the island of Ogygia. Yet she possesses powerful magical and healing abilities Camp Half-blood could gain much from," I said, trying to ignore the dubious look Zeus was giving me. "I know I ask much, but would it be possible to change the magic of Ogygia in such a way, that its boundaries would overlap with those of Camp Half-blood, and allow her within our boundaries in exchange for her helping Camp?"

My request was answered with silence.

Zeus didn't look particularly keen on granting that request. I was sure it would take something like saving Olympus to make demands like: claim your children, don't cram all children in the Hermes cabin, don't punish people that have done nothing wrong. You know, stuff that every decent person would do without having to be asked.

"Percival does have a point here. Teaching magic isn't really one of the old horse's proficiencies."

Surprisingly the one to support me was actually Mr. D. And he was doing that while still sipping on a goblet of wine, reading a brochure without even looking up from it.

"And by the rate those brats try to maim each other and themselves, having another healer wouldn't hurt either. It would likely prevent him from having to wake me up in the middle of the night at least."

Yeah, that sounded more like the Mr. D I knew.

I looked back at Zeus trying to gauge how he would decide. Frankly, none of these rewards had been anything major. We could have healed Thalia with the fleece. Grover wouldn't care about the opinion of the Council of Cloven Elders, now that he remembered. Dionysus would have survived even without getting his restrictions lifted. And Calypso wouldn't be freed either, only her prison changed slightly. Hopefully, Zeus wouldn't care enough about the last point and just grant it. If he did grant it, our chances would actually have been quite good to have asked for something big instead.

But far more important than how big the favor was that we were granted, was the message it would send. Grover would have an easier time getting support from the nature spirits, now that the council could no longer exile him. Multiple rewards looked more generous than a single one, and hopefully, it would help in not only telling demigods, peaceful titans, and minor gods that we were on their side but that the Olympians could be reasoned with and were able to show gratitude.

Which was kind of ironic, as we had been needed to blackmail Zeus into showing said gratitude in the first place, but it would hopefully help in making Kronos' side seem less righteous. To complete this picture, Zeus would need to grant this first thought.

"I will allow for Ogygia to have a connection with Camp-Halfblood," he finally relented, clearly itching to leave. "This does not mean her punishment is lifted though, and she will not be able to leave the boundaries. Dionysus, as you were in support of this, she will fall under your responsibilities. This meeting is over."

Thunder shook the palace and with a blinding flash of lightning, Zeus was gone.

AN: As always, thanks for your reviews.

The plan last chapter was actually to let it end the moment Percy was grabbed by Rachel but decided to be nice and not end it on a cliffhanger considering I knew this chapter was going to be released later than usual. If you prefer I try letting chapters end on a cliffhanger if the situation allows it next time though.

I planned for their visit to Olympus to be finished in a single chapter, but it ended up getting too long, so I decided to split it up at this point. Next Friday will be Annabeth and Percy finally getting the chance to talk with their parents, as well as a few other Olympians.