A/N: The battle is upon us. The conversation between Percy and Zoë below was initially intended for a darker version of this story with Zoë being a few years older (and no Hunters) I decided against that course of action, but liked the conversation so it was adjusted slightly to better fit this story.
Mt. Othrys, Time Unknown
"Father, I see what happens to you. The Jackson boy destroys your life with help from the Son of Hades and Daughter of Zeus. They take your identity from you and then use you to defeat their enemies."
The Piercer looked at his son. The whelp had never possessed a speck of respect for anyone. Just as equally he had never tried to help anyone that was not himself, without some sort of payment. Iapetus held his spear in his hand. He lazily spun the spear in his hand.
"What do you want, Prometheus? You do nothing without a payment." His son smiled wryly.
"I want a place in your new world. And we need a world without Kronos. His is the Lord of Time, do you really think he will accept a new order?" Iapetus looked at his son. He is the Titan of forethought, though he is also that of crafty counsel. What is his angle now?
"Speak clearly, boy. Do not bandy words and speak half-truths."
"Father, they turn you against your true nature, convince you that you are something different than what you are. This coming war with Olympus will not be successful. Together we can plan a world that is ruled by the Titans. We will prepare a deal with Chronus himself. There is just one thing we must do first."
"What is that?"
"We need Mnemosyne to lock away your mind as it is now. This will prevent the lies fed you by the demigods from affecting your new form. If she locks away your mind, no matter what they do to you, it will be safe and once we turn back time you can reclaim it."
"Turn back time?"
"Chronus will help us. He has always hated your brother for stealing his glory as the keeper of time. He would welcome a world where Kronos does not rule, but yet Titans dominate the world."
"Bring me Mnemosyne, we must prepare for our new past." Prometheus smiled at his father. It was a smile that Iapetus did not trust, but the opportunity to obtain the power being presented was too much to resist. It is good if we lock away his mind now, thought Prometheus, He will not remember the soft being he became, nor will he remember that I failed to convince the demigods to surrender.
Thermopylae, The Hot Gates, Greek Camp
Thalia looked at the only other person in the room. He was both her cousin and her father. Thalia knew that anymore she relied on him for the latter far more often than she did for the former. His fingers were laced at the first knuckle and his elbows on his knees. She was contemplating the words he had just said. Thalia Grace had spent large portions of her life believing her brother to be dead. She had gotten him back for barely more than a year before he was killed. After years of him being absent, he was again near her, but this Jason she was not sure she wanted to meet.
"Is it the only way?" His haggard and bearded face looked at her and he nodded heavily. She looked at him sadly. "Then it is what it is."
Barely fifteen yards away Zoë was burying herself in the arms of her mother. Annabeth patted her back and smoothed her hair. Annabeth did not know what to do. She had been kidnapped, she had been questioned, she had been certain of death, but she had never experienced what her daughter had. She only needed to look at her face and wounds marring her body to determine the suffering she had gone through. She insisted that she had not been touched in that way, but that it was only the mental efforts of Jason Grace fighting for control that saved her. Her sisters stood outside, both as a protective cordon and if they were needed in any way.
Both Annabeth and Zoë spun their faces to the tent flap as it was flung open. Through the gap entered Percy. Zoë gave a soft cry and flung herself to him. Annabeth watched as the hardened king softened into a loving father. He was whispering softly in her ear as his arm nearly swallowed the young woman. Annabeth had decided in her mind that she was indeed a woman now, no one deserved to be thought of as a girl after what she had been through. She watched as Zoë whispered into Percy's ear and he forced her away and held her at arm's reach.
"Why in Hades would I be ashamed of you?" Zoë looked at the ground.
"I was captured, he was going to force me to do things and he would have learned and used it against you. I would rather you know now. I did not wait until marriage." No matter what reaction she expected, there was no chance that she expected Percy to throw his head back and begin to laugh.
"And you think Annabeth and I did?" Annabeth shook her head and felt her skin burning as Percy pulled Zoë into a tight embrace. "Little one, I will never be ashamed of you. You saved me when no one else could. You are more than I deserve, I will never not be proud of you. The woman you have become is beyond any of my dreams. I was terrified I would fail you when I was attempting to raise you. I could teach you how to fight, how to be loyal, but I did not know more. You are an amazing woman, Zoë and we love you so much, dear one." He gave Annabeth a beckoning hand and Zoë felt her mother embrace her from behind.
Thermopylae, The Hot Gates, Roman Camp
"Gentlemen, you have your orders. Rome expects we execute our duties. Form your legions, we are marching." Seven legates, many of them recent field promotions, quickly left the tent of their commander. From a darkened shadow stepped a blond-haired demigod.
"He's fighting your control," Luke Castellan said to the eidolon currently controlling Jason Grace.
"His sense of decency broke through when he was doing the harm instead of just ordering it. The Greeks will have no one powerful enough to stop him and his legions."
"Do not doubt him." Snapped Castellan. "You may be an old power eidolon, but the Poseidon's son is unlike any enemy you have faced."
The eidolon simply glared at Luke. Around them were the sounds of a mobilizing army. Soon the same sounds would be ringing through the Greek camp. How did I get here? Thought Luke. Helping Kronos rise, it was my destiny. Now I'm here, why? Because I'm tired of destiny ruling my future. Today I make my own.
Thermopylae, The Hot Gates
A mile separated the two armies. As in every battle Percy had fought, Clarisse la Rue held the position at the far left of the entire Greek line. She had never broken in battle and Percy had faith she never would. Her left shoulder was just a foot away from the steep terrain that limited the Greek left and the Roman right flanks. His daughters and wife stood next to him. Five friends who were once Roman commanders sat on horses behind him and the Amazon queen led the remaining eighty of her warriors next to him.
The formations facing the Greeks were methodical in their squares and regimented in their control. The veterans of Legios XIII and XIV led the Roman front. Their junior cohorts were in front, the veterans being saved for once the true sword on sword melee began. Jason held his position in the center of the two legions with a long double line of the 12th behind him. Legio XII Fulminata had been his since Africa and he would stake his life on them. Opposite of his lines a chant was rising from the Greek lines.
"Cháros! Cháros! Cháros!" Jason looked to his trumpeter and gave a forward motion with his arm. The legions responded to the trumpet call and began their march forward. Skirmishers rushed forward, their javelins and bows prepared to attempt to break the Greek lines. Behind the Twelfth six large machines were moved forward by their engineers. These were the lynch pin to Jason's defeat of the Greek phalanx. The eidolon knew that he could not match Percy Jackson in power. If the Son of the Earthshaker decided to fully unleash his power there would be know alternative than to unleash his master's forces upon the survivors of both armies. In the shadows of the mountain they waited already. The decisive part of the coming battle would be the Roman assault. IF the could close the distance between their lines and the phalanx quickly enough, Percy could not destroy them with an earthquake without killing his own men. Jason looked at his front lines. He was doing exactly that. Killing his young men in order to let his veterans feed the crows.
The skirmishers were eight hundred meters away from the Greek lines. They were crossing a small mountain creek carrying water toward the sea. None of them noticed the creek seemed to be running slower and thicker than most water would. By the time the skirmishers were four hundred yards away the first three legions had passed the small creek. The first pair of war machines had passed and three stood above it when they saw a mounted man in the center of the Greek hand raise a spear into the air. He thrust it harshly into the ground and single tremor tore through the Hot Gates. On the high ground above the Romans, three demigods understood the message. Travis and Connor Stoll and Nyssa daughter of Hephaestus dropped their torches into the creek that they had been slowly dumping Greek fire into for the last few hours. With a green fireball, the fire shot towards the sea.
Jason and the other Romans heard the whoosh before they felt the intense heat. Then came the smell. The smell of human flesh burning as engineers were caught in the inferno. Their screams filled the air and Jason pointed his gladius at the origin of the fire a bolt of lightning cratered the area. He looked around and saw the Greek lines moving. Three legions were cut off from the rest and on his right flank the red capes and lambdas of the Spartan line bellowed their cry of death. "Et parare vias tuas. Aim in medio eorum." [Prepare the onager! Aim for their center!]
The engineers began to crank on the spin wheels which prepared the machines. Projectiles were being loaded. The best way to counter the phalanx, considering the lack of a flank due to the terrain, was to cause immense damage in a single location and pour gladii armed legionaries into the breach. Their short swords would cause chaos amongst the ranks of the Greeks. Jason looked to his left. The creek had carried enough Greek fire into the sea that the surf was a conflagration that was impassable for the soldiers on the other side. He did not know how they could have managed to have so much Greek fire waiting that they could hold back his soldiers. The screams of the burning men had ended, either by their expiration or mercy killings by their comrades.
The front ranks of his army were only two hundred yards from the front. Even as he shouted for archers he saw the former Hunters of Artemis, now the Daughters of Perseus, raise their bows and thousands of Greeks follow their example. "Sagittis! Sagittis!" he bellowed and the warning was translated as officers ordered their men to raise their shields.
"Sfentónes!" came the order from the Greek lines. From behind the first row of aspis shields stepped forward a row of Greeks who at this range seemed to waving their arms wildly. Suddenly those arms flung forward however and many of his front rank crumbled as the Cretan slingers' projectiles connected with them. Most had kept their shields to the front, those that had not, paid for it.
"CUNEUM FORMATE!" shouted Jason Grace. As his soldiers began their charge he looked to the onagers. At a motion of his hand they released their payloads. Instead of two heavy payloads, he had ordered them loaded with several medium sized stones, envisioning a type of shotgun blast impact with the Greek lines. At the Greek center were the Pegasus emblazoned shields of the Corinthians. They bore the brunt of the pitch covered and flaming stones. Screams to match the cries of the dying Romans filled the Greek lines. Percy saw Jason suddenly surge forward with the veterans of Legio XII Fulimata. He's trying to force the center.
The main frontage of the lines were locked into their deadlock. The Roman pila had opened gaps that had been rapidly filled by the hoplites behind them. That was not the case in the center. Seven ranks deep the line had buckled. Ten ranks deep Greeks were killing their brothers in mercy. Jason himself was leading the charge on the center on his horse. Percy turned to Thalia. She nodded and gripped her spear as Aegis expanded on her wrist.
Percy raised his spear overhead and her heard the rumble of five hundred cavalry begin their charge. The Twelfth was carving into the Corinthians. If the center fell the line would crumble. Far behind the Roman lines the Greek fire had died to a level that more Romans were beginning to cross. Percy hit the rump of his horse with the spear and the stallion rose on its hind legs before beginning to run towards the potential breach in his lines. Arrow left, he heard the voice say. With a simple tilt of his head to the side he felt the projectile graze the side of his helmet instead of pierce his eye. Enyo, he prayed, bring destruction on my enemies.
Then throw your spear. The voice responded. A look overtook Percy's face. No one charging after Percy into the breach could see the look. But they could feel the power radiating off of him. Frank and Hazel recognized the aura about him, it was the same as when he had fought an entire legion of ghosts alone in Alaska. They all knew what his name meant, now they believed him capable of it. The Greek infantry opened the preplanned route for the cavalry and then closed ranks behind them.
With an almost lazy motion he tossed his spear into the air and caught it with his arm already cocked back and ready to throw. His arm flashed forward and Jason Grace turned at the last second to watch the newly promoted legate of the Twelfth fall with a Greek spear through his skull. He knew who had thrown it and for the first time in his existence the eidolon felt fear. The King of Greece was over ninety-five yards away and closing the distance quickly. Golden eyes watched as Percy drew the xiphos from his scabbard.