Even knowing otherwise, Percy inhaled so dramatically all of his memories might have come back as he shouted excitedly, "I stab Gabe!"

"The fact that you have more than one jerk relative is the sad part," Thalia chuckled all the same for him.

Jason had only managed to say the chapter title and already his hands were trembling with frustration. The insolence of this Greek child battling Mars! ...and yet, it wasn't him. This was Ares, a fool who had somehow been no more the mastermind in this than Luke. There was something more at play here, and Percy was acting his part as unwittingly as the gods.

Suddenly Jason had the urge to turn and scowl at Percy, that he hadn't needed to ask what the date was anymore because something of the date June 21st now should have stood out in his mind...he got the briefest flash of loading up a truck with water bottles and relief blankets for some reason before it fizzled back away and he just hoped the mortals hadn't suffered too bad.*

"You guys mention that a lot, but wouldn't the mist just cover that?" Jason asked.

"Better we don't get any double takes all the same," Percy shrugged.

"It's a wonder he can even swim, between the fur and hooves," Magnus said in sympathy.

"Goats can swim just fine actually, they're excellent at it," Alex assured, she'd transformed into all kinds of animals to test their capabilities, preparing for any emergency and practicing her ability.

"The things you know," Percy chuckled.

"Oh gods, don't tell me she was behind it all instead!" Percy threw his hands up in the air in exasperation.

"You'd never see an evil Athena plot coming until it was already over," Thalia chuckled, which didn't make anyone feel better.

Percy was twining his pen between his fingers, absently wondering if it was possible to break in this form he was bending it so hard. Only the very vaguest of impressions stopped him from tearing up now without shame, only the prayer that this ache was dulled with time because he'd never had to really experience this kept the emotion at bay. In the way he knew of Annabeth, and Grover, he just had to believe his mom was somewhere out there waiting for him. It made no sense, but then, nothing had his whole life as he fought to keep going.

"You were an instrument in it, not the orchestrator," Jason corrected, tapping the dwindling pages against his chin. "Not that the difference would save any of this, but a distinction nonetheless I hope the gods learned."

"The fact that they did blame all of this on one puny half-blood is almost impressive," Alex nodded. "You'd think they wouldn't entertain such grandiose destruction to be allowed by anyone but a god!"

"It's why kids of those three were made illegal," Jason agreed, frowning down at his tattoo again.

"And we're still sitting right here waiting for you to get on with it," Percy grinned at them, waving his hand impatiently and looking longingly to the ceiling as much as anyone.

'It wasn't just him either though,' Hearth signed, and Magnus nodded, they all knew that by the god's own rules. Ares hadn't started this either, something about that pit, something else was still going on.

"And you're supposed to have some brains to win a war, what a horrible representation," Alex sneered.

Jason relaxed, marginally, it helped to keep being reminded that the names were just that. Whoever Mars was to him, it wasn't this guy.

Clarisse had done nothing but get a spear broken and drink toilet water though. If she did have a hand in this, it was even more manipulative and strategic for never having come close to being caught. There had been no gifts to distrust from her.

Nico burned with fury for the slight against his dad as much as Thalia was pretending she wasn't for Zeus's bolt. It was the principle of the matter, their parents were not to be stolen from, made to look weak, lest the perpetrator face the wrath of their kids too for the disrespect.

Magnus was frowning down at his hands this didn't seem to mean much to gods, nor to Annabeth. If she loathed her dad so much, would she still hate him too? Their parents had so little to do with each other for so long. Now here he was, not even related to her on the godly side with no clue how to go about finding that out.

She'd overcome her dislike for Poseidon's child and was now yelling in a war god's face though, he smiled as he looked back up. He was pretty sure she'd welcome him into this mess of a family.

"I officially hate magic," Percy grumbled, that was way to complicated to think about too long.

"You're in for a doozy of some mind messes," Thalia chuckled. Maybe that was why he had such trouble manipulating the Mist like she did, he had an inherent dislike of it.

Everybody just kept calling him the thing in the pit, but Jason could feel it, the answer had been there in the very first chapter, if by the wrong name. Somewhere in his mind, he knew the name, and it was of no God...

"Busted," Will muttered, nobody had mentioned dreams.

"Bad," Nico quoted, as it left quite a bad taste in his mouth Kronos was already so powerful he hadn't needed dreams to manipulate Ares, he'd been whispering in the god's ear already at this time. Luke believing in Krono's cause had already sowed chaos into the world above.

This was a Titan, what would Gaea cause?

"Is that better or worse than killing you for personal reasons?" Magnus mocked.

"I don't intend to find out," Percy said with a straight face, clutching his pen at the ready now.

It was hard for any of them to imagine him as a little twelve-year-old all of a sudden. He sat straight in his seat, the most intense expression on his face like he'd just killed a Fury, but so much more powerful. He'd just lost his mom, again, and he'd been given a target for all of the bad crap that had happened since then. His expression was fierce, disturbing even, it was hard to tell if he was about to take on Ares or all of them.

"Woah," Alex said in appreciation, suddenly wondering if she could borrow Percy for a bit. She didn't know if it was possible to actually kill a god, but she had a good feeling he'd help her figure it out if she introduced Percy to Loki.

"If only it was that easy to challenge Clarisse into leaving you alone," Will sighed, but sadly the camp was stuck with her constantly challenging everyone else to fights.

"Are we sure Percy isn't just a really convincing ghost?" Jason stage whispered.

"I think he'd still cause the same amount of trouble," Thalia sighed.

Percy touched his necklace now as if her hands had lingered there over time, he wrapped his fingers around his own beads and smiled, relaxed right back without a care or worry in the world. Just like that, it was unbelievable of anyone to assume that lingering expression could be housed in this guy.

Jason smiled warmly at Percy's friends, these gifts, they'd given up every part of themselves for him and were probably out there now tearing the world apart to find out what happened to him. He glanced down at his threadbare shirt, he had nothing but some burnt-up skin and a strange coin to show him his past. He wondered if anyone cared enough to be out there looking for him.

Nico studied Percy intently for a few moments as he pondered if these were really Percy's last moments, if he somehow knew he'd be dead the moment they left here, what his last words would be. Would he be able to spit out his darkest secret? Unlikely, as he could barely admit it to himself. Percy was going to get out of here just fine, but he was heading somewhere he might not come back from... he'd assumed before Hades's protection might keep him safe, powerful enough even down there, but now he wondered again at his dad's words about pride.

Percy was no more immune to mortal follies than he was, but Percy had taken on the god of war and won. What wasn't possible?

"Nico?" Will tapped him gently on the shoulder while Jason paused for breath, he really didn't like the lingering, odd look on his face as he studied Percy.

Nico was back to ignoring him though.

"Reduce, reuse, recycle?" Alex grinned.

"I wouldn't be surprised if a satyr invented that motto," Percy laughed.

"He can be defeated though," Thalia stated confidently, she wouldn't have needed Annabeth's recount to know Percy would win this fight. Hercules had, twice, and Percy was already a better swordsman than his immense strength.

Percy smiled at her gratefully the same way he had Annabeth and Grover. He still wished he knew how they'd become friends, but it took no effort to imagine her there along with them right now.

"I don't want to hear anything about your ego when you're involved in this fight," Jason muttered. It helped to keep calling him Ares, but he was still concentrating to keep his head wrapped around this event.

"I wasn't the one to put my thoughts on display," Percy reminded in exasperation, frowning at him and biting back the words he was lucky it wasn't his thoughts.

A voice-activated wave would have come in handy right about then to startle Ares, but nobody was crazy enough to mock, let alone offer advice to Percy in a battle even Thalia had never attempted. To fight one of the Olympian gods just was not in the scope of their life before this moment, and Percy was holding his own!

Only the whispering voice of Kronos not wishing for Percy's death might have been what was staving Ares from ending this with a snap of his fingers, his curiosity to see what this child could do for him in the prophecy. Only the war gods' arrogance at the challenge might have had him playing with his food this whole time. Only Percy.

Jason's vision was oddly doubling though, as he kept reading his muscles kept twitching, and it was almost as if the description of Ares was trying to superimpose over someone else, black armor with stars and rams horns- but he shook his head and muttered something about maybe needing glasses as the vision in his head faded back away to the words proper.

'You mortals and your spectator sports,' Hearth frowned for the brutish display of it all, he'd take a bow and some magic any day over sword fighting arenas.

"Did you want us to start a chant for you?" Thalia frowned. "Is being on the winning team to a bunch of cops really the concern right now?"

"Do you want to get arrested by them after fighting off Ares!" Percy balked, the hilarious juxtaposition of being led away in handcuffs after winning this fight was sincerely bizarre.

"I wasn't there to help," Will batted his eyes innocently, "but I gladly would have Perce."

Most of the others groaned, Nico loudest of all as he rubbed at his ear like that had physically hurt, but Percy grinned and gave him a mock high-five which Will gladly returned.

They'd all been getting a taste of Percy's true powers being in the same room with him and throughout this journey. Here, they felt, with Annabeth's advice and raw talent, was Percy at his most powerful. How he'd survived to be lounging in a sea-weed beanbag now eyeing the door like he was thinking about getting a snack instead of dead.

In all the gaping mouths around him, Percy found he didn't want anyone to start cheering or congratulating him. He'd resented Hades calling him prideful when he'd have rather it never got to this point at all. In all the fights he'd been in, even this one, he'd only started them when he saw no other pathway. A bully only ever stopped when you stood up to them, but he still wished Ares had just given up the items and admitted to being fooled just like him rather than this 'accomplishment,' of wounding a god.

Thalia grimaced with distaste. The blood of Uranus mingling with the ocean had created Aphrodite, but that was a primordial deity, she hoped nothing had popped out of the sea because of this.

A ghost flickered through Percy's sea-green eyes, and Nico had no part in it as he saw the shadow same as the others. This curse had come to pass, and it had cost someone their life. Percy bowed his head and held tight to his pen, but this day was won. He looked back up with sorrow for what his victory had caused and prepared himself to feel it again all the sharper for it.

"Just like that?" Magnus demanded. The god had really just, fled?!

"What do you mean just like that!" Percy protested, "let's see you take on a god!"

He still made that sound far to normal and Magnus was wondering if he'd ever get used to all this craziness.

"Nope, that's still a weird sentence," Magnus muttered, even after all that.

"That's not even a good reason not to eat something, has she tried Taco Bell?" Alex scoffed.

"Oh, so now you're going to encourage the monsters to eat me?" Percy pouted. "Shall I start preparing recipes for you to give?"

"I'm still withholding judgment," and something about the way she said that made him believe it.

Jason suddenly felt in awe of Percy. Anybody else on this Earth would have held that over Hades's head, especially after everything he'd just been through. Demanded his mother back, ask for knowledge no mortal could conceive, riches, an apology at the very least.

Nope. He just, tossed a Godly item to a Fury, casual as could be.

Percy looked from Jason still studying the book with a bad case of constipation of his own for that fight and Alex's fluctuating attitude on if she wanted to laugh with him or cut his head off. He wasn't particularly worried about it, he'd just impressed a fury, he was pretty sure he could rally everyone in here to overcome whatever was coming next.

"Seconded," Magnus promised.

"Seconded," Alex smirked.

"Oh, good, because on a usual day you're neither," Will teased.

"That's the one!" Percy sighed, resisting the urge to start nodding off already, though that might come across a little rude...though it was about him. If he had a right to fall asleep to any story, couldn't it be his own?

They were almost done though, he kept assuring himself. Just a couple more chapters, he could practically count down the pages soon and he'd be able to fall asleep next to Annabeth...

Jason could feel the forbidding name on his tongue, but for once he hoped it wouldn't pop out of his mouth, that he, Percy, and even Annabeth were wrong. He'd never imagined the gods in such a fragile state of existence, it felt insulting to even entertain the idea, but after that display Ares had just given, his very foundation in the whole system felt shaken by just how much they all had to lose if such a war broke out.

"Never a dull moment with you Perce," Will snorted. Maybe it was because he knew this worked out, but he found himself losing interest in these massive, fantastical retellings of the greatest stories of their time as he kept watching Nico in concern, who barely looked like he was still breathing as he kept himself focused solely on the door just waiting to run again already.

PJOPJOPJOPJO

Yes, I did dramatically end on Solangelo for the third time in this book, but don't worry, you all know there's no close ending in sight and so I'll move on to another pairing more in focus on the next book and I'll try to keep rotating between all of them getting special attention.

*For those that don't know, like me, and had to look it up, LA to Berkeley Hills is a six-hour drive, but I still like to imagine Camp Jupiter and Camp Half-Blood helping relief efforts when natural disasters happen in their general vicinity. The Roman's especially, having that huge populated city with tons of retired warriors and resources in a heavy earthquake and disaster-prone state.