The demigods and gods went to their quarters, changed and washed their faces. Jason wanted to talk to Aphrodite before they sat down about the idea that Percy had. He went to her quarters and knocked.
"Hey." Piper grinned. Jason gave a small grin and Piper invited him inside.
"Your mom's here?" he asked. Piper nodded.
"I need to talk to her as well but she's in the washroom right now." She said. Jason nodded. The two of them sat on the couch and waited for Aphrodite to come out. When she did, she grinned when she saw Jason and Piper sitting there.
"What brings you here?" Aphrodite grinned at Jason though she already knew the reason.
"Uh I wanted to talk about something." Jason said, shuffling his feet. Piper was about to get up and leave but Aphrodite gestured for her to sit.
"You wanted to talk too?" she said. Piper nodded hesitantly.
"Well, both of you can sit together." Aphrodite said. Jason and Piper looked at each other by sat down.
"Jason." Aphrodite said, gesturing to him. Jason took a deep breath.
"I have feelings for somebody…for Piper even though she's dating somebody but not in this time." He said nervously, trying his best to not look at Piper. Piper's eyes widened and she almost choked on air.
"And Piper?" Aphrodite asked with a small smile.
"I-I have feelings for Jason now too…but I think that it would be unfair to Shel if I date him." She said. Jason's eyes widened and he looked surprised.
"It wouldn't exactly be unfair to her because you haven't started dating her yet, technically." Aphrodite said
"But still won't it just be odd that I kind of left her." Piper said guiltily
"Not really. It might just be better for her because it will hurt her more if you call her right now and tell her that and it will be hard for her but if you don't do that right now then she can find somebody else and settle down with them." Aphrodite said with a small smile. Piper shuffled her feet.
"Jason's your mate, Piper and you're his." Aphrodite sighed. This time Jason and Piper did choke on air.
"You think that I should not call her?" Piper asked. Aphrodite nodded and gave a small smile.
"Do you feel clearer about yourself though?" Aphrodite asked. Piper nodded.
"Very much so. I really felt a relief at discovering my sexuality. And like now these feelings for Jason aren't based on fake memories." She said. Jason gave a small smile. He hadn't expected Piper to have the same feelings for him. He thought that it was just one sided.
"So are we dating now?" he asked with a smile. Aphrodite smiled. Piper chuckled.
"Its not wrong right?" Piper asked Aphrodite again.
"No. But if it makes you feel better, the fates had asked you if you wanted to continue your relationships. If you didn't then they would make it in a way that your partner finds their mate." Aphrodite said. Piper nodded.
"That'll be better for her. How do I say that?" Piper asked "That I don't want to continue?" she asked.
"Say it out loud." Aphrodite said
"I don't want to continue my relation with Shel. But please give make sure that she finds her mate." Piper said. Then a note came to Aphrodite from the fates which said that they would do that. Piper sighed.
"Yes Jason, we can date now." Piper smiled. Jason grinned blindingly.
"So are we supposed to kiss now?" he asked with that crazy grin. Aphrodite grinned and nodded. Jason and Piper kissed each other. It felt more different, more like it was meant to be. Aphrodite squealed. Piper and Jason blushed as they pulled away. They thanked Aphrodite and went.
Their friends squealed like five year olds and then burst into cheers once Jason and Piper told them that they were dating again.
"Lets talk." Annabeth said, once all the gods had returned from their quarters. They all sat down.
"Percy." Nico said. Everybody turned to look at him. Percy nodded and took a deep breath.
"So right now we're basically in a time which is just after the third quest. I'll refer to that as the Titan's Curse. The great stirring was mentioned by Thorn during that time and Bessie had some into play about a week before and Artemis was tracking the monster by then. So it has been only about two weeks maximum since the great stirring has started. Boreas mentioned that the great stirring caused the monsters to rise in the second war which makes it the main reason for Gaia rising." Percy said
"So you're saying that we could stop the great stirring from happening." Nico said. Percy nodded.
"Time's frozen right now. So technically the days aren't passing. It's only getting night and days here but down in the city, it is just after the Winter Solstice." He said
"But we can't technically stop the whole second war from happening. There's a prophecy for that." Will pointed out.
"Ah but that, the prophecy hasn't been issued yet." Percy said with a small grin. There were some wide eyes. Rachel nodded.
"He's right. In this time, I haven't even become Oracle yet." She said. "In fact I can feel the first prophecy changing as well but its words are still there because the plan hasn't been put into action yet." Rachel said "And it won't change unless we succeed. Because time's frozen. We could just come back at Olympus, plan something else and keep trying to figure something out." She said
"That's kind of cool." Castor chuckled. Everybody nodded.
"We'll try our best to make sure that we don't need to do that." Pollux said. They all nodded again.
"But if we change things then you might not even become the Oracle." Apollo said to Rachel
"Make her do the pledge now then. Then no matter what we change, the pledge will still remain and she'll still be Oracle." Percy said. Apollo nodded. Rachel got up and repeated the pledge that made her the Oracle. Green smoke came out from her mouth and she sat back down. Apollo gave her a side hug.
"Okay. Percy what is the plan?" Castor asked, looking at Percy with determination and some respect. The Elder Greek demigods all looked at Percy for his plan and his words. It was immediately very clear to the gods that they would take no leader as their own except for Percy. The others turned to look at Percy as well.
"Okay. So this is an elaborate one." Percy said. Rachel took a notebook so they could note it down.
"Now first. We have to make sure that the stirring doesn't continue. We know that the great stirring has something to do with the monsters near Tartarus which is in the Underworld. Nico, you're the one who can tell us what's going on in the underworld. I'm sure you've got a track of all the monsters in Tartarus and the Underworld." Percy said. Nico nodded.
"So you check those records. If you have anybody in Tartarus who works for your dad then ask them what's going on." Percy said. Nico nodded.
"Okay Perce, I'll check that out. It's dangerous but not impossible." He said
"How dangerous?" Percy asked
"Just about how dangerous all our quests are." Nico said "Though there are going to be some complicated monsters, I'm pretty sure that all of us can deal with it." He said
"I'll help." Hades said. Nico nodded again.
"Okay great. Now if there are monsters there, which there will be, then you're not doing it alone. We're going to fight with you." Percy said.
"But Percy, we can't die right now." Nico said.
"We can't but getting hurt is still possible. It might be even worse. And I would really like to see you not hurt." Will said.
"Percy and Will are right." Thalia nodded. The gods nodded in agreement as well.
"Okay." Nico sighed.
"All right Perce, we'll check it all out." Nico said. Hades nodded.
"Great then. So the next part." Percy said. The demigods nodded.
"Annabeth, I need you and Thalia to Iris Message Luke." He said. Everybody's eyes went wide.
"But-but-what?" Annabeth choked out.
"This is around the time that he came to your house to ask you to run away with you. You and Thalia are the only ones who can convince him." Percy said
"Convince him of what?" Reyna asked
"To meet us without his minions." Percy said, standing up straight. Annabeth and Hermes choked on air. Thalia nodded.
"You're going to talk to him, Percy?" Castor asked
"Not just me. So, me, Thalia, Hermes, Connor and Travis and Chris." Percy said "We have to talk to him. Try to get Luke back out of that brainwash. To make him realize what he realized too late." He said
"But Perce, we weren't able to do that before." Lee said
"Not then, no but now we know what happens. Luke's intelligent. I'm pretty confident that he will listen." Percy said. The Elder Greek demigods who had known Luke either through the first war or from before nodding in agreement.
"But I want to talk to him too." Annabeth said. Percy's expression turned a little disturbed.
"Wise girl, the Luke that we're going to talk to isn't the changed Luke. He's still the one who serves Kronos. Even though he asked you to run away, when you said no, he did go back to Kronos though he might not have had a choice but he is still a little brainwashed. I don't want you to see that side of him again and I don't want you to keep thinking about that again. But if you want to talk to him then you can definitely come with." Percy said, looking Annabeth in the eyes, his expression a little troubled.
Annabeth bit her lip but nodded. She understood what Percy was saying and she knew that he was right. She didn't want to see the brainwashed Luke and hear his words again.
"No it's fine. You're right." She said. Percy gave her a sad smile.
"I want you to contact Daedalus. Tell him what happened and what he did. Convince him for the Ariadne string. We do have Rachel but she's an oracle now so I don't know how that works." Percy said
"It'll work just the same." Rachel assured him.
"Okay but I think we still need Daedalus on our side." Percy said. She nodded.
"Percy, what's next?" Pollux asked. Percy nodded.
"So once we convince Daedalus, he would understand that he has to die. So Nico, you have to free him again." Percy said, looking at his cousin. Nico nodded.
"Then we need to make sure that Typhon stays in his prison." Percy said, standing up a little straighter. The gods nodded.
"For that, we're going to have to go to St. Helens, the volcano again. We know that there are telkhines and that I caused the volcano to erupt. So first we have to make sure that the telkhines don't stay there anymore." Percy said.
"Leave that to me, lad." Hephaestus said. Percy nodded with a smile.
"Okay then, once we've got rid of the telkhines, I'm going to have to cause the mountain to erupt again because Typhon is going to break free either way later on and that's not going to be good. This way, once the volcano erupts, you all can make sure that his prison is secure." Percy said to the gods who nodded.
"But you're going to end up at Calypso's island again." Aphrodite said
"No. Last time I made the volcano erupt when I was almost falling into the lava-" Percy said. Most people grimaced. "-But this time around, I can do it from outside." Percy said
"You sure about that?" Ares asked. Percy nodded.
"Dad's going to be there and so is Leo. Just in case I need some help." He said. Poseidon and Leo nodded.
"After that, we have to go to the part of Mount Othrys where we saw Kronos' sarcophagus. Once we hear what Luke has to say about the plans, then only can that part of the plan go a bit further and we can decide what to do then." Percy said.
"What about the other titans? At the mountain." Jason said. Percy gave a small smile.
"Last time, the Greeks and Romans weren't together and nor were the gods fighting along with us which I hope that they are going to do this time around?" Percy said. The gods nodded.
"Duh." Apollo grinned. Percy smiled.
"So we fight there." Reyna said. Percy nodded.
"Only choice. It's a pity that Bob's memory hasn't been washed with the Lethe yet." Percy said. A few nods. "Which reminds me that we're going to need some water from the Lethe as well. Just in case we need to wipe the memory of some other titans." Percy grinned. A few chuckles but everybody nodded.
"So that's that. That's the plan that I came up with." Percy said with a grin. The Elder Greek demigods and Chiron shook their heads fondly.
"And that's why Perce, that's one of the reasons that you're our leader. And your loyalty, dedication, friendship, trust, etc." Chris grinned. Percy grinned at him and his friends as the Elder Greek demigods nodded and so did Chiron. Jason felt a little jealous but he quickly squashed it down. Percy was his cousin. He was happy for him.
"This plan is absolutely crazy but I love it and that's why its going to work." Nico laughed. Percy grinned at him.
The gods were quite surprised that Percy came up with a plan this quick and efficient. Though it was a little crazy, the gods knew like Nico said, that it would work because the reasoning that Percy made was very good and most likely to succeed.
Poseidon felt extremely proud of Percy. To say that he was proud would be an understatement and a simple 'I'm proud of you' wouldn't be enough. Triton and Amphitrite looked awed of Percy at the time and a little surprised. Tyson on the other hand was just like the other Elder Greek demigods. He was proud of his elder brother.
"Yeah, you're the leader who nobody treats like a superior or formal because you don't want to. You didn't ask for it either, you know? And like we can still tease the crap out of you." Nico grinned. Percy grinned back.
"Thanks guys but this is more of a democracy and not monarchy." He said. There were a few laughs. Some of the gods now knew as to who was going to be the leader of the second council of gods.
"Yeah and they like you or they don't but even your rivals would trust you to watch their back." Michael grinned. Percy smiled widely at his friends.
"Well no denying that." Clarisse said with a small smile
"How much are you going to pretend, Clarisse? You two are really good friends." Annabeth chuckled. Clarisse chuckled and Percy grinned.
"Anybody got any suggestions, questions or feelings?" Percy asked.
"You think Luke is going to listen right?" Connor asked. Percy nodded.
"I'm pretty confident." He said
"Lets say that there is a 1% percent chance that he doesn't. What are we going to do then?" Travis asked
"We know his spot. If he takes on the soul of Kronos, then we stab him there." Percy said, his expression pained and disturbed. Hermes flinched.
"But then again, it's extremely important to hear what Luke has to say." Percy said.
"Are you sure that you can erupt the volcano? Isn't that too much use of power?" Zeus asked.
"It is but I think that I'm more experienced than I was when I was about 14 to 15. So I don't think that I'm going to pass out and yeah, I think that I could erupt the volcano but then like I said, dad and Leo are going to be there, just in case." He said.
"He's right. Two of us together can most definitely cause the volcano to erupt." Poseidon said
"Chris and Clarisse are you guys fine with going back into the Labyrinth?" Percy asked the two.
"Yeah." Chris and Clarisse nodded together and squeezed each other's hands.
"You sure?" Travis asked worriedly. The two of them nodded.
"It's scary but I can't live my life being scared." Chris said with a chuckle. Clarisse nodded in agreement.
"Okay then." Percy said with a small smile.
"This plan is honestly genius." Castor grinned at Percy who smiled at him.
"Thanks man." Percy said.
"So when do we carry it out?" Nico asked
"We should finish the book today. How much ever is left. We can do this tomorrow or day after tomorrow. The days according to us. So tomorrow can be for preparation." Percy said. Everybody nodded.
"Okay then." They said
"Lets take an hour to process this and then continue." Hestia said. Everybody nodded.
Everybody went to their respective quarters.
Nico paced the length of the main bedroom while Hades and Persephone just watched him pace and felt a little anxious or nervous themselves.
"Nico, could you please stop pacing?" Persephone requested. Nico sighed, stopped and then continued pacing. Persephone threw her hands in the air and Hades chuckled. Hazel gave a smile as well.
"I can't believe that this is happening, you know?" Nico said. Hades nodded.
"I don't think that any of us ever imagined the opportunity of going back in time to change this all." He said. Nico nodded.
"But I'm ready." He said. Hades gave him a smile.
"I hope dad's going to be okay." Travis said worriedly to Connor and Chris.
"Why won't he?" Chris asked
"Like Percy said, we're going to be talking to the old brainwashed Luke for some time until we can make him see sense and I don't think that he's that fond of dad right now." Travis said
Connor and Chris nodded, their expressions worried and troubled.
"The plan's amazing though." Connor said
"That's true." Chris and Travis nodded.
"The thing with Percy is that even if in some rare situations, his crazy plans fail, we lose absolutely no amount of respect for him." Chris said. The two of them nodded.
"Even if this one gets messed up which is a very very low possibility. Like in decimal numbers but even if it does, I'm still not going to lose any respect for him. It's just going to be the same." Travis said.
"It's like that for everybody." Connor said
"But I highly doubt that this isn't going to work. Everybody agrees to it and the reasoning and situation is right on point. Percy's good at making these kind of plans." Chris said. The Stolls nodded in agreement.
"And even if the smallest or biggest thing goes wrong, we're all there for him as well. He's not alone. That's the thing about him as well that's there for everybody and we're there for him. Like his said, it's a team but everybody acknowledges him as a leader but he treats it most like a group but is there as a leader unknowingly or knowingly when its needed." Connor said. Travis and Chris nodded in agreement.
Hermes stood in the balcony of his quarters, his emotions all mixed and overwhelming. His kids came outside and just stood with him. They didn't say anything but them just being there meant a lot to Hermes. The fact that they were there and provided some silent comfort made him a bit more at ease.
Thalia and Annabeth decided to go for some coffee because they really needed it then.
"I never imagined that we might get another chance to stop all of this." Annabeth sighed. Thalia nodded.
"Annabeth, you have to be strong though." Thalia said. Annabeth nodded.
"Are you mad at Percy for saying that you shouldn't talk to Luke?" Thalia asked. Annabeth shook her head.
"No. He's right. I don't want to see that side of Luke again." She said. Thalia nodded understandingly.
"His plan is good." She said with a grin. Annabeth nodded with a proud smile.
"That's Seaweed brain." She grinned. Thalia chuckled.
"That he is." She smiled.
"Hey." Piper smiled at Jason and joined him at the skywalk. Jason smiled at her.
"Hey Piper. I just want you to know that I'm really glad to be with you again." He said.
"Me too." Piper smiled at him.
"What are you thinking about?" she asked.
"I'm just feeling a little odd you know? Because I don't know who this Luke guy is in person. I know who is in only words." Jason said "And that he used to be Thalia's best friend." He added.
"It is going to be a little confusing for the ones who don't know him, especially as we didn't witness any of the changes that he went through before and the way he acted. We only know about it in words. But we could take it like that we're trying to prevent something bad like a war and save some lives." Piper said with a sigh and a small smile. Jason nodded and smiled.
The two of them stood there as the wind slapped their faces and ruffled their hair.
Percy stood by the pool in his dad's quarters. He sat down and put his feet in the water as he thought. Poseidon went up to him and joined him. Percy smiled at his dad who returned it.
"Percy, I can't say this enough but I'm really proud of you." Poseidon said. Percy's eyes widened as he looked at his dad who gave a small chuckle and nodded.
"Thanks dad. That really means a lot to me." He said
"Of course son."
"So are you thinking about anything in specific?" Poseidon asked
"Yeah, the fact that I'm going to face Luke and the whole fight has to happen in one day. Not has to but that fact that it will and that we're going to try to stop not just one but two whole wars." Percy said.
"Yes, that can be overwhelming." Poseidon sighed
"I'm not overwhelmed but its just something that nobody thought that we could do. It means a little more about Luke for the Elder campers because we know Luke. Even the ones who joined us during the middle of the first war know him…" Percy explained.
Poseidon nodded in understanding.
"It will be all right, Percy. Your plan is great. You have your friends and us and we have you." He said with a smile. Percy gave a grateful smile to his dad.
"Thanks dad." He said. Poseidon smiled at him.
"Have you told you mother?" he asked. Percy shook his head.
"None of us have told our mortal parents. We'll tell them only once we finish." He said. Poseidon nodded.
The two of them stayed there in silence but it wasn't awkward. It was just nice.
After an hour and half, Chiron requested everybody to come and read again. He himself was a little nervous, emotional and a mix of emotions about this whole thing. He hadn't expected anything like this either.
Dionysus was feeling emotional himself. Though he didn't really feel that attached to Luke but he was still one of his campers. There was still some sort of mix of emotions that he felt for them and he knew that it was going to be hard for Hermes- his brother as well.
He knew that his kids knew Luke from a long time as well but they said that they were prepared though they did waver a little in their expressions which did disclose what they felt, they assured him that they were fine and all right. He knew that they were ready but he also knew that it was going to be an emotional ride for them as well.
Everybody was removed from their thoughts by them all sitting down and getting ready to read and back to the story in the book.
As for the books, the gods did know that they would be way more relieved that those events won't happen when they pulled the plan off but they also knew that they would still feel anxious, worried, a little panicked when their kids were in danger in the book just at the thought that it could have happened and the fact that it technically already did happen.
The demigods' and their memories would be given back after they finished both the series. It already did happen technically in their time. So basically it would just mean that those events happened, they went back in time to stop those events from happening and they succeed and once they return to their time, they still have some memories, just maybe not that much pain but some of it but that was as if some sort of old movie that they watched because they prevented it from happening the second time around. So they would be fuzzy but the feeling would still be hard for the gods to shake off while reading the books.
"I'll read first." Will said and picked up the book.