Percy
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The next thing I knew, we were in a giant room lit with torches. The room was colored darkly with entryways in three of the four walls. The last wall was behind a white-colored throne made of smooth marble or granite. Sitting on top of it was a man in a dark suit, his skin almost the same color as the throne he sat on. His hair had black streaks in its pure white color, giving it an off-putting feel. His eyes were a whole other thing. They looked to be pitch black but if closely looked at, you could make out stars and galaxies and nebulas in them.

He smiled at us, his teeth the brightest white I'd ever seen. "Greetings, Perseus Jackson and Michaela Triest," he thundered. "You have no need to be afraid of me."

"One second," I said. I turned to Michael. "What the hell? Michaela? You always said your name was Michael!"

"It is," he said simply, unbothered by any of what was going on. On the outside, at least. "But it's also Michaela."

"What, are you trans?"

"In a way."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Listen, let's not get into it right now," he said, patting me on the shoulder. "It looks like we've got much bigger problems than my name, dude." He turned back to the person sitting on the throne. "Sorry about that. It's been a bit of a hectic ten minutes."

"No worries," he said. He leaned forward, bracing his forearms on his legs. "Would you like me to address you as Michael?"

"Por favor."

"Alright. Perseus Jackson and Michael Triest, welcome to my palace. I am Chaos, the void beneath Tartarus from which all beings sprang from."

"Why are we here?" I asked.

He smiled again. "Why, I want to help you both."

"Why?" Michael asked straight-faced.

"You two are the most interesting demigods I've seen in a while. I couldn't let you two be killed for crimes you did not commit. That would be a waste of potential."

"What do you want with us?" I asked carefully. "It's never good when a god takes interest in mortals."

"Hm. Amusing that you think I'm like other gods, Perseus. I am not as petty, nor as naive. I was the first being, I have been around longer than anything else."

"You didn't answer my question."

"What I want is what's best for you two. I want to change your lives for the better."

"How?"

"I can send you back in time," he said with a hint of glee. "Back to before any of this happened, before Alexander Mare appeared, before you were alienated by your peers. I can bring all those lost back to life, make it so they won't die again."

"You can bring people back?" Michael gasped. "I'm in."

"Just like that?" I demanded.

He gave me a look that said he was dead serious. "You can't tell me that you don't want to see those people again," he said. "People like Silena Beaureguard or Michael Yew or Charles Beckendorf. I, too, have people that I would like to see alive again."

Their names pierced my heart. I sighed. "I guess that it would be nice," I admitted. "But what about the people we have now? Will they just forget everything?"

Chaos snapped his fingers. "I can make it so they can remember. You need only say a few words and they will remember."

"Al...alright, I guess I'm in, too, then. I don't like leaving everyone, but I guess it's for the best. Everyone will be back and we'll have another chance."

"Good." He leaned forward. "I have plans for you two. Great plans. Do not forget this kindness I have bestowed upon you, for I have surprises left in store for you."

"What do you-"

Before I could finish, he snapped his fingers and the dark room was replaced with the green and brightness of Central Park. I blinked at the sunlight, spinning around. The sound of cars and people filled my ears and felt of the wind on my face.

"Bright, bright," I heard Michael mutter, followed by the sound of stumbling.

After almost a minute, my eyes adjusted to the light. Beside me, Michael was on the ground, still rubbing his eyes.

"He could've given us more than a second's warning," he grumbled.

"True."

I sat down next to him and waited for his eyes to fully adjust. When they did, he looked around the park.

"I've never actually been to Central Park," he said. "Katie said you fought Hyperion here a couple years ago."

"Yeah. Over by the reservoir."

"Amazing." He looked at all the trees. "And these are all dryads? Tree nymphs?"

"Mhm. Listen, Michael-"

"You've got several questions for me," he interrupted. He pulled his legs up to his chest and wrapped his arms around them, but not in a nervous or fearful manner. More like he was getting comfortable. "I kinda guessed you would. Many things were revealed today."

"Yeah, no kidding," I murmured. "Well, if you're comfortable telling me, why didn't you-"

"Tell you any of those things?" he finished for me again. "Well, for one, I wasn't sure how you'd take them. I mean, you seemed fairly surprised when Zeus revealed my real name."

"Back in...wherever we just were, when I asked if you were trans, you said 'in a way.' What does that mean?"

"Soy fluida de género. I don't know how to say it in English. I'm...fluid? Is that the right word? It means I don't have a...a..." He tilted his head and tapped his chin. "What's the word? Género...género...sexo...¡ah, ja! Sex! I don't have a specific sex. I may be a boy, I may be a girl."

My eyebrows furrowed and I tilted my head. "You...you don't know?"

He shrugged. "My mother never seemed to. I never understood it, either. My sister was the only one to know which I ever was."

"So, I should refer to you as..."

"He is fine." He leaned forward and patted me on the arm. "Don't stress yourself, Perce."

"Thanks. And about Selene-"

"Someone appeared to me around a year ago," he interrupted. "Told me everything, even why I have ice powers. I think he had black hair. Or was it white? I know he had white eyes. Oh, your eyes are different, by the way. He was wearing something like an armani suit, I couldn't really tell. I'm not good with clothes."

"Wait wait wait wait," I said, shaking my head. "You said my eyes are different?"

He nodded. "They're a light blue, like...like..." He looked up and pointed at the sky. "Like that."

I looked up at the sky, which was cloudless and blue. "Like the sky?'

"Yeah. Anyway, I was in a forest when this guy appeared and..."

As Michael went on, I slightly tuned him out. What had Chaos done? So far he's sent us to Central Park and changed my eye color? What for? And what surprises was he talking about?

"Katie knows pretty much all of this, too, and I was planning to tell-"

"Wait, Katie knew all this?"

He nodded. "I told her. She's my best friend. Though I guess you're my best friend now since you're the only one who remembers me since Chaos wiped everyone's minds and-."

"Michael," I interrupted. "Calm down, please."

He closed his mouth.

"Thank you. Now, what to do?" I stood up and began to pace. "No one knows who we are...Oh no, my mom! I totally forgot about her and Paul!"

I ran my hands through my hair. What had happened to them? Did they really forget me? Wait, Chaos said we could speak to people and they'd start to remember. Maybe if we-

"We should go," Michael suddenly said.

"What?" I whirled around. "Why?"

"A feeling." He looked around. "Something's watching us. I can feel its eyes on us."

"Where can we go?"

"Camp," he said like it was obvious.

"But no one will remember us."

"We can make them remember. C'mon." He hopped to his feet. "How far is it?"

It was 72 miles to camp. We got a cab and had them drive us to where camp was. Surprisingly, Michael paid for the trip with a card he pulled from his pants pocket.

After the cab left, we both faced Half-Blood Hill. It seemed the same, but there was one thing I knew was wrong.

"The Athena Parthenos," I breathed. "It isn't here."

"You're right. Unfortunate, but I never liked it. Gave me the...fuck, I don't know the word. Spooky? It was spooky."

"That's not the point. Chaos did something. Why else would the statue be gone? He changed something."

Michael titled his head. "Uh, yeah? He sent us back in time. Back before Alex was around."

"But this is before the Giant War," I explained. "He sent us too far back. We need to-"

"Michael?"

We both looked up to see a girl about twenty staring at us with wide, brown eyes. She was in jean shorts and a dark green blouse, a yellow sun hat on her head.

It was Katie Gardner.

"You're back!" Katie cried out, running down the hillside. She crashed into Michael, nearly knocking him down with her weight. "I thought I'd never see you again! It's been so long!"

"What do you mean Katie?" Michael asked, hugging her tightly. "We've been gone for, like, half a day?"

Katie leaned back, tears in her eyes, and said, "I haven't seen you guys in three years."

"Three years?" We exclaimed simultaneously.

She nodded. She reached up and wiped her eyes one at a time. "It's been so hard. No one remembers you two, everyone's younger, Alex came to camp just like...just like you did, Percy."

"Okay, start from the top," Michael told her. "What's been going on?"

She sniffled. "After Apollo took you guys, I went to my cabin to...to cry, to be honest. I didn't think I'd see you two again, thought Zeus would kill you. I cried until I fell asleep and when I woke up...it was 2005. But I...I was still 18. I was still..." She faltered looking at Michael.

Whatever she was going to say, she changed her mind. "I asked if anyone had seen you, but when I mentioned your names, I just got weird looks. Everyone said that they'd never heard of you. Not even Travis or Clarisse. And that's not all. Annabeth's not around. Thalia was revived by Clarisse earlier this year. It's all..."

"It's all happening again," I finished for her. "We're redoing it all. This is what Chaos meant. The dead are alive again, a chance to redo it. To do it right."

"Wait, Chaos? As in the void beneath Tartarus?"

We both nodded.

"We've got a lot to tell you, Kates," Michael said.

Before we told Katie everything, she brought us into camp. She brought us to meet Chiron, who also didn't remember us. He gave us the whole 'you're a demigod, don't freak out' speech and told us about the gods. He seemed surprised that we didn't look confused by anything he told us, but Michael had just shrugged and said he'd heard weirder.

Then he had Katie escort us to dinner since it was almost that time. She explained that Alex had essentially taken my place as the son of Poseidon, meaning that he was now the child of the prophecy. If this was for better or for worse, I couldn't be sure.

Luckily, he wasn't here right now. It was nearing winter, so he was going to school. I wondered if he was as much of a troublemaker as I was.

We asked Katie how she remembered us when no one else did, but she couldn't explain it. All she could say was that it was like the fog from before was trying to cloud her mind, but she refused to give in and forget us. She didn't understand it any more than that.

We told her what we went through since we last saw her. She seemed to get upset when we told her that we agreed to turn back time. She asked us to give her some space for a little while before quickly walking away.

Michael and I were looking after her, confused, when we were approached by someone with blond hair.

"What did you do to upset Katie like that?" he asked. "She hasn't been that upset since the Stolls put chocolate bunnies on top of her cabin."

Wait, I recognize that voice...

"Lee?" I asked, turning around to face the blond, blue eyed son of Apollo. "Lee Fletcher?"

He screwed up his eyes. "Uh, yes? Do I know you from somewhere?"

"It's me," I said. "Percy. Percy Jackson."

"Percy...Jackson?" He tapped his chin. "That does sound familiar. Where do I know you from?"

"Here. I was a demigod here. I haven't seen you since you died. You were killed when a monster army invaded from the-

"From the labyrinth," he finished. He frowned. "How do I know that? There hasn't been a sighting of the labyrinth for thousands of years."

"That's because it happens in the future," I told him. "Next summer, Luke tries to lead an army of monsters through the labyrinth to destroy Camp Half-Blood. We stopped them, but you died during the battle."

Lee tilted his head. "Luke? The son of Hermes?"

I nodded. "He was manipulated by Kronos and-"

"Luke's still here," Lee interrupted. "He's the counselor of the Hermes cabin. But why does what you're saying make sense?"

"Because it happened," I tried. "Lee, it's me, Percy. I was the son of Poseidon."

A light turned on behind his eyes. He looked at me closely. "Percy? You...You're so much older now. And who's this?"

"Oh my gods!" I exclaimed in relief, pulling him into a hug. "I never got to apologize for getting you killed."

"Don't," he said, gingerly hugging me back. "But answer me; who is this?"

"This is Michael Triest," I introduced. "Michael, this is Lee Fletcher, son of Apollo. He's currently the counselor for the Apollo cabin."

Michael stuck out his hand. "Nice to meet you, Lee."

Lee accepted his hand. "Likewise. Say, are you a boy or girl? Your name is masculine, but your voice and face make it hard to tell..."

Michael shrugged. "Who knows, honestly? You can just refer to me as he. It doesn't bother me."

"...right. Anyways, if you're Percy's friend, that means you're a demigod. Do you know your parentage?"

Michael shook his head. "I'm thinking it was changed," he said. "Percy looks different, so I think his was too."

"Changed? By who? And how? And why?"

Michael and I shared a look.

"Hope you got an hour or so, 'cause it's a long story."