Chapter 57
Percy POV
My body felt sluggish as I woke up and it took me a minute to realize where I was, namely my father's palace in Atlantis. I'd been here twice before, both when my father wasn't present since We couldn't risk angering Zeus. Pushing off the bed I rightened myself and moved for the door. Upon entering the hallway I could hear the sounds of battle in the distance and I swam towards it. Soon enough I exited through an empty doorway and found myself on the roof of my father's palace. Below me a battle raged on below as green flames burned throughout the city. Most of the fighting was focused outside the city but there was evidence that the defenses had been breached recently.
"Lord Perseus." Delphine said, startling me. I had been so focused on the Carnage in front of me I hadn't even heard him approach. "Forgive me, I didn't mean to startle you. Please follow me your father is waiting."
Just around the corner, my father along with Triton and Zoe were looking at what looked like a stone map with images moving across it. "Percy" Triton greeted everyone's taking his eyes off the map.
"I'm glad you're up." Zoe added.
"What's going on?" I asked.
"Oceanus has managed to unite a fair number of the old Sea Gods and has brought his army here to Dethrone me." On the map I could see the two armies clashing and a man who looked like he was wielding a snake in one hand and a sword in the other approaching.
"What can I do to help?" I asked.
Tearing his eyes away from the map, father looked at me "As much as I appreciate the sentiment you're not ready to go up against Oceanus and his army. Besides, you're needed on the surface. Whether you realize it or not the demgods are looking to you as a leader and you can't do that from down here."
"I-I don't think I'm cut out to be a leader." I said
"Because of what happened to your friend?" He asked, I nodded.
"Did you leave him to die?"
"What?! No! Of course not!" I shouted angry at him for even suggesting it.
"Did you not try your best to save him?"
"I did everything I could to save him!"
"Was there a better option available?"
"No, this was the best we could come up with."
"Then I believe you have exactly what it takes to be a leader."
"...huh?"
"Son, look around you, my kingdom is under siege. We are at war and whether we like it or not people will always die during war. We cannot protect everyone and we will always have to make hard calls. While some may disagree with me I feel that the traits a leader needs most is to understand the value of life. I've seen millions of generals and warlords in my time and many of them completely disregarded the lives of their men and their citizens. While some did have success on the battlefield almost all of them met a grizzly end. Either their forces eventually ran out or their own soldiers turned traitor on them. But the ones who truly succeeded in war were the ones who thought of their soldiers.
A wise man once said that if your soldiers believe you would die for them they will die for you a thousand times. But more than that if we are to win this war we must not forget the value of a life for it is that very thing we are fighting for. To the Titans their forces are just numbers, pieces on a board to be sacrificed at a moment's notice. This disregard for life is why my siblings and I rebelled against the Titans in the first place. This is what separates us from them as rulers of the world and if we were to give that up for the sake of winning then the outcome of this war would be meaningless because we would be the same as them.
You understand this concept and you understand what needs to happen in order to win this war. That is why it is you who must lead."
I wanted to believe I could do it but I still felt lost and inadequate for the task. How could I stand up to Kronos and how could I even hope to lead them without getting myself killed, it seemed like a paradox. I was the most powerful demigod alive, that we knew of, so I practically needed to be on the front lines yet at the same time logically I couldn't because if I died then there would be no one left to lead. I never wanted this burden and yet everyone was looking to me as if I held all the answers.
"It's time for you to go back to Percy." Father said, I wanted to protest but he raised his hand "Oceanus is approaching and in order to fight him I'm going to have to enter my true form."
'And I would die if I was here for it.' I mentally finished. Nodding in acceptance I turned to camp halfblood and took off at top speed.
Time skip
Coming back to camp half blood had never before felt so foreboding. My fellow campers noticed me right away and it didn't take them long to see that I was alone and understand what it meant. Selina was the hardest to face and afterwards she ran to her cabin. After that I was forced to tell everyone what I'd learned in regards to Luke and Kronos. Most looked horrified at the idea while the rest grew concerned about what this could mean. Mr D. left almost immediately afterwards to inform Olympus.
When the meeting was adjourned I went back to my cabin and laid on my cot. Despite what my father said I still didn't know how I was going to lead them, Hades my little skirmish with my so called grandfather had proven just how outmatched I was.
"Percy." Nico said which caused me to shoot off the bed in alarm. My blanket caught my feet and I crashed to the ground. "Um, are you okay?"
"I'm fine." I snapped, "How about you tell me how you got in here because I know I locked that door."
"Oh right I shadow traveled in here. I'm sorry I didn't warn you but I needed to talk to you."
"Setting aside the fact that I have no idea what shadow traveling is, what did you need to talk about?" I asked.
"I heard about what happened on the Andromeda and I think I know how Luke's body was prepared to handle all that power and if I'm right we can use it to make you strong enough to fight him."
"How?" I all but demanded.
"Are you in?" He asked tentatively.
"Yes I'm in now, how did he do it?"
"I think he figured out how to safely swim in the river Styx." Nico said "No one since Achilles has been able to do so and come out alive but one of my father's subjects spotted him in the underworld a while back. He didn't make it across the Styx so we figured he wasn't able to achieve whatever he was trying for. That is unless the river was his goal all along and he didn't need to cross it."
"But how did he make it out alive?" I asked.
"I have a theory and Bianca is checking it out, I was planning on picking you up then going over to meet her. Do you need to grab anything?"
"Just a pair of pants and Riptide."
AN: I know this chapter isn't that long and I'm sorry to make you for what I'm sure is nearly a year at this point. The reason it took this long is because I've decided to put more time into writing my own original book and I'm proud to say that I recently finished it! That said it's all written on notebook paper so it's going to take some time to digitize it and then I need to do my edits. Hopefully it will be ready by summer may or so and then I can get it published. I will be making the book a priority so I don't know how often I'll be updating but I promise that I will finish this story and all my other ones as well.
