Chapter 7

Percy was sitting on a couch in the middle of a room. He had tears streaming down his face. This was the fifth time this week he had cried and it was only Wednesday. He kept reconsidering his decision to become a god. He would never see Annabeth again, not really. He had seen her a few times while in the underworld but he was never allowed to spend time with her. They were a part of two different worlds now, and there was no going back. At first Percy had accepted immortality to protect his daughter, Poly. But now, he didn;t know if he was right. His daughter may have been better off living a normal life.

He was also scared because of the other reason he accepted immortality. He wanted power. He didn't want power in order to lord it over others, but he still wanted it. He wanted to be able to do what Luke couldn't, he wanted to take over the gods. He had been looking over why the Titans failed and it was obvious. They were lacking in overall power. Their armies were larger but weaker. They needed to have converted more of the minors and more demi-gods. Percy thought that this was obvious but he had also been living with Annabeth for ten years.

Percy got off the couch and walked over to the fireplace. Ever since Hestia joined, his fire had been going stronger that it ever had. He sat there for a moment before flashing to the underworld.

When he arrived, he felt welcomed yet feared. Since becoming the master of the pit, he radiated dark energy almost equal to Hades. He walked through the fields of Asphodel, to the palace. When he got there the doors opened before him. The sight he saw shocked him. There were the members of the original seven plus Will, Nico, Reyna and Meg. Everyone except Jason had a grey glow surrounding them. In the middle of this bunch was Hades. Percy made his way to the middle of the room, only ten yards away from where the group was standing.

"What are they doing here?" Percy asked. He didn't want to sound rude but he was rather upset. He knew Hades had banned him from communicating with his old friend to keep the balance, or some shit. The day he had found out, no fewer than 30 landslides happened along with at least 50 hurricanes. He was infuriated at Hades but had come to terms with the situation. But now he saw all of his friends that he had just come to terms with ever seeing again. The air in the room darkened immensely.

When the group felt the change they all exchanged looks, was this coming from Percy? They were about to ask Hades what was going on when he did something none would have expected, he knelt. The demi-gods looked on in sheer awe, Hades knelt for no one. Yet here he was kneeling to one of his least favorite demi-gods of all time.

"Sorry," Hades said quietly. "I think they would be a great asset and I thought about the rules a little bit too. During the ceremony I felt something that was different than all of the other time I had felt it be done. There was a certainty to it that I had never felt before. Like that whether or not you had accepted the powers would have been given to you."

Percy looked at him with a confused expression. He had felt the same thing. Like accepting the powers only made it less painful. The two looked at each other and exchanged a silent but quick conversation.

You tell them

No you, you are the one who it happened to.

Fine death face

Hades smirked at this last comment, knowing that he had won.

"So, hey guys," Percy said. The other gave him an unimpressed look. Great start, he thought to himself.

"PERCY," Annabeth yelled. "Where have you been? I thought that he would have killed you but you never arrived." She was fuming, her face was as red as a ghost's face could get.

"I - " Percy started. He looked over to his uncle for support. He gave a small nod for him to continue, the news was going to be spilled eventually. "I was made a god," he said quietly.

A stunned silence which followed was quickly interrupted by ghost Annabeth trying to judo-flip Percy, failing, then storming off.

"ANNABETH," Percy screamed as he ran after her.

"NO ,YOU ABANDONED ANY CHANCE OF US BEING TOGETHER YOU ASS-HOLE!"

Percy stood there for a moment until he finally fell down to his knees. He started to weep, only for his tears to quickly stop. He wanted to hurt something and bad. He had been so stupid, to accept it. To think that he would never have to face Annabeth. He stood up and flashed out of the room. Annabeth felt him leave and looked back at Hades as if she needed conformation. He gave a solemn nod as she too fell to her knees. The other demi-gods gathered around her as she began to truly weep.

When Percy arrived it was how it had been the last time he had been here. Dark red and depressing. He had finally come to the pit because he needed to blow off steam. He was fuming. He wasn't mad at anyone except himself, it was his fault. He had thought about how he had permanently separated himself from Annabeth everyday since becoming a god. He never felt good about and had almost had his power removed multiple times. He had wanted to die multiple times. He had cut himself only to see golden ichor streaming out. He thought about how no one asked him about the broken punching bag found on the floor at five in the morning. They never asked him why the tide would become extremely violent at four in the morning. They had never asked why. The only ones who had were Poesidon and Hestia after they saw the marks under his SPQR tattoo.

He was lost in thought when he heard a voice behind him.

"Thought I would never meet you, Perseus Jackson, as me anyway."

"Aren't you supposed to be a blended titian right now?"

"Oh yes but no. After I was defeated by you and the bastard Luke, I had seemed to lose my control over time. I was most enraged but I kept waiting. With less power it took me less time than ever to reform. I was only about halfway reformed until recently. The pit seemed to have changed, like a shift in leadership. The anger of the new leader allowed reform to happen faster."

"Well, I'm sorry but you'll have to go back to being minced titian, Kronos."

"You shouldn't blame him Annabeth," Hades said calmly.

They were all sitting around a stygian iron table. Piper and Hazel were right next to Annabeth, comforting her as she cried.

"He had no choice," Hades said. "I was there."

"But he could have, he could have declined, he could have…."

"But if he did it would have made it more painful for him. The power received was going to come to him no matter what. No mortal has ever defeated a primordial, much less lie. When that happens the rules are different. Him accepting only saved him from more pain and possibly losing his soul to Chaos," Hades said. By the time he had finished Annabeth was looking at Hades with a new found respect, she had never heard him speak remotely this soft to anyone. Nico was staring at his father with wide eyes, he had heard him use that tone only once before and it was with Persephone.

"Where is he now," Annabeth asked.

"Tartarus."

Percy was sitting down on the ground near the river styx. He was covered in golden dust and ichor. He had defeated Kronos in a matter of minutes. He had been in the lead the whole time and could have ended in seconds but dragged it out. It ended in a similar fashion to his war with Tarturs, just with a lot less poison blood being thrown around. He didn't feel better, in fact he felt worse. He looked over his shoulder to see piles of golden dust. He had challenged every monster he knew of to come and fight him, and he beat them all. It felt like he had been down here for only a few minutes but he knew he had been down here for longer. He was scared to go back up to the Underworld for fear of never being able to live this down. He had lost it. He was surprised that he hadn't hurt anyone that he knew of but that didn't matter. He didn't know if he could go up to the surface and face Annabeth and Nico and Piper and everyone.

He got up and walked around then made his way back to the Styx. He was sitting lost in thought when a figure appeared behind him.

"You must be him," the figure said. Percy sat straight up and turned to face the newcomer.

The person he was facing was dressed in all black with a mask covering her math and nose. Her eyes had black goggles covering her eyes. The only part of her that you could see was her pale forehead. Percy's hand instinctively went to his sword.

"Are you the Jackson kid they all talk about?"

"Who are you and how do you know my name," Percy growled.

"Whoa, hold on their bro," she said.

"Who are you," he asked again.

"Dad never told you, go figure," she said with a bit of distaste. She started to unwrap ger scarf and take off her face coverings. When she was done percy found a pale face with startling sea-green eyes staring back at him.

"My name is Jayla, and I'm your sister."