o0o Chapter Two o0o

Questions bounced around his head, ran circles into his brain, and resonated inside his mind. He didn't know what had happened, last night he fell asleep in his cabin, but that is most certainly not where he woke up. Surrounding him on all sides were white walls, above him a white ceiling, below him a white carpeted floor. He stood in the middle of a fair-sized rectangular room. Nothing special was in the room, in fact nothing at all was in the room, except of course the boy examining it. He examined the room for what seemed like hours, trying to see if there was a way out or where he was, or why he was there, but it was no use. There were no lights (how this was possible he couldn't fathom, because the room was indeed lit up) no abnormal cracks or crevices, no hint to how he had possibly gotten in there, no place visible place for the air to come in. It stumped him.

How is this even possible? he asked himself. If he thought about it though, he found the answer. Anything was possible in his life, whether you look at all the impossible things he had done, or the impossible amount of bad luck he had, or the impossible amount of things he somehow got tangled in, or just the complete oddness of his life, you would know; just because it shouldn't be possible doesn't mean it isn't.

So, he sat down and thought. He tried to figure out why he was there, yet again, or where there was, as he had many times before. But really, it all lead to the same conclusion: he knew nothing.

So, he decided to just wait and hope who ever put him there came back and explained what the hell was happening. As he sat there and waited, he thought, this time though he tried to do the expect opposite of his previous attempt at thinking. He thought of anything but his predicament, his mind ran wild. After barely anytime at all, his ability to stay on the 'happy thoughts' train began to wear out. He was losing control. His thoughts flew off the rails, he told himself to stop thinking, but it had no effect. He tried to shut down, it didn't work. He tired thinking of other things, yet again to avail. He tired... And failed, he was sucked into a dreamlike state, except this was anything but a dream.

:-:-:-:

He dreamt of Tartarus. It's terrifying, tall rough walls of rock that stretched forever up. The crimson colored clouds that made up the atmosphere, the dreadful sulfurous air the clogged his nostrils and choked his throat. He remembered the feeling of drinking fire, the torment of torrid liquid trickling down and scouring his throat. He remembered the fight with the Arai. He remembered and felt as the curses piled on him. He was hurting. His had just received the gorgon's blood, he felt as if he was fin got explode. His insides were flipping mad burning, on the outside he felt no better. He exploded.

:-:-:-:

Jolted back to reality and still hurting he looked around the room.

It was the same.

He needed to see Annabeth, she always helped him after things like this. He did likewise for her.

He felt his pockets for drachmas and came up empty handed.

Well there goes the easy way, he thought.

He walked around the room again, for some reason he thought this might help. It didn't. He didn't even know what he thought he would find, for he had already looked. He did it again anyways, at least it gave him something to do. Doing nothing was absolutely maddening, and thinking had proved to do more harm than help. Halfway through his second, and most recent round a bright flash illuminated the entire room. He was about to turn around when a voice made him freeze.

"Perseus Jackson, we meet at last."

The voice was smooth and elegant and positively oozed with power, behind him stood a goddess, there was no doubt about it.

Now he had two choices, ignore her, and get smited, or turn around and deal with her. And since the second one sounded a bit more pleasant... He turned around.

The goddess in front of him had wavy waist length blonde hair and cold, bottomless black eyes, she looked to be in her thirties with an ageless face baring a hard expression, mouth set into a thin line as gazed at him, seemingly unimpressed. At what, he had no idea.

It's not my fault I'm here is it? he thought.

An emerald green dress adorned her body, it went all the way down past her ankles and over flowed out over her feet, long sleeves that widened as they reached her wrists, and a thin black pattern of diamonds covered the entirety of the long dress.

You could tell she wasn't human. The ethereal elegance and beauty she seemed to possess and the otherworldly power she emitted just screamed superiority. The way she held herself told you she was better than you, that she was someone you needed to bow down to, someone to worship. She was a goddess, but he had stopped bowing a long time ago. It didn't matter to him, she wouldn't get the respect she 'deserved' for, well, kidnapping him for whatever she wanted, because Percy was fairly sure that's what was happening. Next came some long speech about how he was lucky to be chosen and how he should be extremely honored to do... He didn't even want to know.

He stared her in the eye, unblinking. She obviously was waiting for him to talk. He was doing the same. She let the silence stretch on, to the point of extreme awkwardness, eventual it became somewhat intimidating. Though his only thought was, this is so annoying, but he had indeed agreed to the staring competing - so to speak - and he sure as heck wasn't going to lose to the goddess that dragged him here. One thing that was irritating him about this was that he still couldn't place her, she seemed familiar, but he couldn't think of a name to match the face. He knew he had seen her before, and the place, the name, the face, it all was at the tip of his tongue, yet he couldn't grasp it. He could wait though.

:-:-:-:

He stood there holding her gaze for what felt like hours, with the fact that she was a goddess and he was a son of Poseidon (he had learned to use that as an advantage in staring contests a long time ago) it very well could have been. The longer he waited the more annoyed he got. The entire ordeal, thoroughly, thoroughly pissed him off. On top of all of it in this time he was granted to think, his mind made it all worse. Flashes of his past nightmare ran across the back of his mind, the hellscape he tracked across for months, the pain...

"Perseus."

When she finally broke his out of his thoughts it sounded like she was calm. If you listened closely though - which the demigod did indeed do - the way she said the word communicated that she wasn't very pleased to step down from her high horse.

He only continued to stare at her in stony silence urging her to continue without making a sound. He wouldn't speak until he was satisfied.

"I have chosen you for a very important quest; one like no other you have ever embarked on. I need you and you alone for a very important reason, I needed one demigod, out of hundreds I chose you. This is no small feat, it wasn't random, after thinking long and hard about the matter I came to you, and for more than one reason. Before I tell you why, I must explain some of what lies in your future."

He was silent.

"You will be sent to help another race that lives upon this planet coexisting with rest, yet they are in hiding. The shadow of war is upon them, threatening to overcome them within the next few years. I am a Titaness I cannot interfere. You can.

"You may not care about the people. You may believe that this is not a matter of your interest, that it doesn't concern you. In a way this is true. It is not technically a matter that you should mess with at all. In fact, there are rules against it, but I feel this is a special occasion.

"As I mentioned there is war approaching, your task is simple enough to explain. Tip the scales. This is a two-sided war, most of this undercover society is fighting on one side, on the other side are men and women who believe they are better than the rest. They would like to rule the society, they believe it is their right, because they are better, after they complete this they won't stop.

"I told you they are in hiding; these people do not want it to stay that way. They believe normal people are less than them, they would like to then wage war, on virtually, the entire world. Starting, with the United Kingdom where they currently reside, even though these undercover people live all over the world, that is where the trouble is. Where I am sending you.

"If you don't yet see the problem, I will tell you straight out. If (and quite possibly when) those people win the war they will expose themselves to the world. The world means demigods too, will know. Zeus will see those people as a threat. He will not let them walk free, but it will not be he who does the fighting. It will be you. And along with you all the other demigods, just when you are reviving peace it will be taken away by something that doesn't even know of you.

"By fighting this war, you are preventing another for your people. You will fight for all your people as you fight for this community."

Clouded as his thoughts were, Percy understood what she was saying. Yet all he could think to respond was, please let there be a hidden camera somewhere. It was unrealistic and absurd, Percy knew that; but with an overload of information, especially such awful information, there wasn't a way to focus on it directly without breaking down.

He knew he should be questioning her, and he did have questions.

Why was I picked?

Why now?

When do I go?

Do I have a choice?

What is this secret society?

Why aren't they normal?

Yet none of them really mattered, in fact he already had an answer to one. He knew he had no choice. What was the most pressing to him was what the 'job' or 'quest' entailed. He would be leaving. Percy wanted to feel better before visiting his mom, he planned on physically going to see her for the first time this weekend. Camp was his home and he was slowly healing there, being among friends, training with no real stress, having fun again. And Annabeth, he was nothing without her, she was his world, she helped him make it through the day, and he helped her.

He was starting to feel slightly normal again. He felt the weight of the wars, the weight of the deaths, and what felt like the weight of the world on his shoulders, he wasn't happy all the time, but he began not to feel so bad all the time. He wasn't back but he was coming. He has days where he was truly happy, he didn't have to fake as much, it was good, there were less random memories of the pit which helped. Percy was recovering. It stopped there though. Percy was being ripped out of place, and he knew it.

He couldn't do this, yet he had to.

Percy wanted to spend the year with his friends, with camp, with his mom, with Annabeth. His friends did not need him, they were strong, they could do without. The camp definitely didn't need him, he was one among many, he wasn't even a counselor of any other kids. His mom, she... To put it lightly, she wouldn't like it, and neither would he, but she had Paul to take care of her, she didn't need her disruptive, trouble causing, violence bringing son. Especially when she was pregnant. He almost broke down at that, he was going to miss his little sibling being born, but he couldn't, he had to go, he had to convince himself to. That wouldn't help.

Annabeth, leaving her, it broke him, he needed her. She did not need him. He wanted to be there for her, protect her. She reminded him she didn't need to be protected. He wanted to be there to help her. She reminded him she didn't need help. However jokingly she might have said it didn't mean it wasn't true. She was strong she could do things by herself. He didn't want to leave her, but that was only something he didn't want to do.

He had to go.

By doing this, he would help her the most, if he thought about it. The most he could do was stop her from fighting in a war. She would understand, she didn't need him.

These people need him too, but it's not he like he would have a choice either way.

By going he would prevent war. Typically, he would just believe the word of some powerful being, but he saw the truth in her words. She wouldn't make a lie this elaborate about another race just to mess with him. The way she kept glancing at him as he thought, just about screamed that she wished it didn't have to be him she picked, but also some resignation. She knew that it was her choice, it wasn't going to waver.

He also knew the only way not to fall apart was to accept it. Otherwise it might be even worse for his mind. He did not want got go, but he was going to. He could save many lives on both ends. Both demigods and whatever this community needed him to do this. His wants didn't matter. He had to go.

"Fine"

"Excuse me?"

"Fine, I'll go."

She looked pleased for once since coming, a small smile started to creep onto her face, it wasn't very kind though, it seemed almost feral.

"Good. I'll get you what you need and make sure everything is explained. I'll be back tomorrow; the books will arrive before then."

Percy covered his eyes as she flashed out.

He just tried to shut down, sleep or something. He was yet again left to think, something at camp he tried to avoid this as much as possible. It never ended well. He thought about all of this, and what it meant. The more he thought the less and less he liked it. He constantly reminded himself though, it didn't matter what he wanted, if he had the chance to save countless lives and prevent a war. He was going to take it.

The dream from earlier flitted through his mind and he sunk down on the stupid white walls. He had no idea how was going to survive without Annabeth.

He knew though, that she would be fine without out him, even if he could barely manage. And that's what matter.

He fought the feeling of emptiness by telling himself that she was alright. That because of him she would be alright. And because of him, she wouldn't have to fight again.

Even as he fell asleep though, the battle still raged within his mind.

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You know what? I think I might be able to do this weekly... My life has no order or organization, what happens goes practically, so here I am. I hope you're liking this so far, sorry about all the short chapters, this one is longer at least. This may take a little bit longer to kick off, I'm thinking Percy will be at Hogwarts in the next two to three chapters. Remember, I'm new at this so forgive me if this isn't the best thing you've ever read. Thank you to all of you who are here reading this. I'm still kind of surprised I'm actually here, posting. Anyway, I do want to ask again, please review if you have anything to say. Good, bad, or otherwise, I just want to know your thoughts on it.

:) Thanks for reading, BBB (9/25/2020)