-Chapter 2-

The taxi had dropped me off a few blocks away from the Empire State building. I decided I could use the walk and take the time to sip a coffee in the cool morning. The air was cold but not frigid and the faint smell of sewer and caramel flavored coffee was enough to remind me of fond memories of Annabeth and I walking along the city streets. Gods I missed her.

Walking through the front doors of the Empire State, I gave a nod to the front desk attendant. He nodded back and reached under the counter and produced a card key. He handed it to me and I made my way to the elevator, the entrance to Mount Olympus.

A few minutes later and I was standing before three of the twelve Olympian Gods. Zeus, Hera, and my father Poseidon sat on their thrones with mostly neutral expressions. My fathers' eyes held a hint of concern. I knelt before the gods.

"Rise Perseus, Son of Poseidon," Zeus spoke with a booming voice. Each god held an air of absolute power and authority. Even when they spoke, they exalted power. I rose and met each gods gaze. "Perseus," Zeus said. "Many discussions have been held in reference to the events two years ago when the being known as Darkseid attempted to terraform the earth."

That was a shock, I had no idea that was Darkseid's goal. Why didn't the gods tell us this? I thought. No, they couldn't have interfered even if they wanted to. "Okay," I said drawing out the word. What was the point of this meeting? Talking about the events of that night dug a pit in my stomach.

"Though the laws forbid the intervention of our help we… decided to intervene anyway." He paused and looked to his wife, the queen of the gods, Hera.

Hera straightened her posture and said, "Apollo had foreseen a future where the entity known as Darkseid would complete his goal and completely terraform the earth. Darkseid and his subordinates would have successfully controlled the kryptonian known as "Superman"." Her voice held disdain when she said the heroes name. "-and with his aid they would have destroyed the world as we know it. If all human life were to end, so would the residence of Olympus, our home. That could not happen and thus we decided that each Olympian on the council would directly intervene and destroy Darkseid."

It took a lot to process what I was hearing. They helped? How? "But… we failed, you did nothing!" I said choking up.

Hera narrowed her eyes at my outburst but continued, "The intervention of the gods was a success. Darkseid was stopped and thus the world was spared."

"What do you mean?" I nearly shouted. "We barely held him back, the superheroes, the Justice League were the ones to drive him back to his home planet!" I tried to think. This was a lot to take in. "Do- do you mean Wonder Woman? Was she your way of helping? She's an amazon, right?" I said.

Hera clearly disliked me speaking up but with a look from Zeus she continued, "The amazon was a creation by the Council as a means to stop rogue gods." She waved her hand dismissively, "But that is besides the point, she was her own agent at the time. No, we could only act as soon as Darkseid arrived on Earth, where our range of power existed. Any planning before hand would have been in direct violation of the divine laws."

"So, what did you do?" I asked fearing the answer. What reason would the gods have to tell me all this? If it wasn't something tied close to me why would they request an audience at all.

"We decided to unleash an explosion of godly energy upon Darkseid to destroy him completely. We could not be there in any form so we poured our godly power into a singular eruption of energy no being could survive. When Darkseid had grabbed Annabeth whilst flying into the air, in accordance to a previous voting on the matter, we sent down a ray of energy into her being causing an explosion that should have killed Darkseid."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I really couldn't. Because that's not how I remembered it at all! No, no, no, that's not how it happened there was no explosion, none what's so ever! I was about to voice my confusion when Hera continued.

"The explosion was enough to knock the other six demigods, yourself included, unconscious. It was a perfect moment, the Justice League, as you called them. Had been swarmed by the parademons and were not in direct combat with Darkseid."

"But I saw her die," I whispered to myself. Tears had streamed down my face at hearing what had truly happened.

"Similar to when I had sent you to Camp Jupiter, we decided to alter your memory to avoid unseemly anger. We-"

"Show me," I said fighting down the anger in my voice. "Show me what actually happened."

Zeus spoke up, "Very well, Perseus." He waved his hand and immediately I felt a piercing feeling in the back of my head. Memories flooded my head space. It was enough to make me throw up onto the marble floor.

Annabeth had charged Darkseid. Leaping off the shield Reyna wore. He had grabbed her by the head, and she dug her knife into his arm. Darkseid flew upwards at a blinding speed in an attempt to shake her off. Once they had reached a certain height a golden light enveloped Annabeth and an explosion consumed the night sky, a force like a thousand charging minotaur's completely knocked all of us back into fading consciousness.

"No!" I shouted my hands gripping my hair. "You didn't! Tell me!" I demanded, my voice rising in anger. "Tell me you didn't kill her!" I yelled.

"I apologize Perseus. It is the truth. We had thought, that in a few years' time, that you would be in the right mental state to know the truth," Zeus said sympathetically. "The past two Council meetings your father, Poseidon, urged us to show you the truth and it was decided that you would be told what had actually happened that night."

I couldn't describe the feeling brewing inside of me. I was betrayed by the gods. They killed the love of my life! Anger and rage burned in my soul. I wanted nothing more than to kill Zeus this instance. My breath was ragged, and I couldn't bear to stand in the company of these cowardly so-called gods. I turned and walked angrily back to the elevator entrance. Poseidon called out to me, but I did not stop walking.

The elevator dinged and I was once again walking through the lobby area on the first floor. I didn't acknowledge the man at the counter. Even when he tried to stop me from leaving, asking for the card key, I promptly grabbed the front of his shirt and shoved him off his feet away from me. He landed with a hard thud and a groan and I left the building.

Once outside I had no idea what to do, I had no idea how to cope with this. It was infuriating! I stormed off in a random direction. I had walked for an hour or so and ended up at the Pier. I sat at the ledge, hands gripping the wood planks.

They killed Annabeth, they killed her and didn't even bother to own up to it for two years! I yelled in anger and slammed my fist into the floor. The wood splintered and a piece fell into the water below me. I wanted to jump in. To feel the cold comfort of the ocean and soothe my pain. But I didn't want to feel better. I only wanted Annabeth. Hot tears streaked my face. A couple of fish had wandered toward me and cried out words of comfort. They felt my anguish. But I didn't need their sympathy. I didn't want it! "Get away from me!" I screamed in rage. The fish as well as the water itself was pushed back by a powerful invisible force. The water created a twenty-foot-wide circle of bare ocean floor for a few seconds before rushing back in to fill the space. Then, all of a sudden, I heard a voice.

"Perseus Jackson of Earth, You have Great Rage in your Heart, You Belong to the Red Lantern Corps."