I see everyone is pleased with my inclusion of Shay in this story, as the grandfather of Percy's previous past life during the French Revolution. Now, I understand that Shay has canon grandsons, but we admittedly left canon behind a long time ago, with bits and pieces thrown in for the sake of continuity. Besides, all of my fics are inherently AU, so whatever.

Moving on, we have the Lotus Casino, Santa Monica, Procrustes...probably...and the Underworld, and anything else I think to add or omit. I'm not entirely sure myself.

I write the opening AN before I have any of my thoughts for the chapter fully fleshed out.

Disclaimer: I don't own AC or PJO

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Percy had been walking for two hours straight at a pace exceeding that of a fat person's sprint, and he was barely winded. He had always wondered about that; Faris and Vergil had been able to sprint at top speed, wearing at least fifty pounds of additional gear, almost indefinitely, and he could pretty much do the same. However, just because he could keep this pace for a day, those behind him could not.

What wasn't helping matters was the fact that he was still in his cold mood, and everyone was too afraid to say anything due to their fear of the strength he had displayed, and his whole willingness to kill people. Brutally.

Growling to himself at his own attitude, lapse in control and insensitiveness to the stamina of his friends, Percy came to a dead stop in the middle of the Las Vegas strip. He opened his mouth and was about to turn around to dole out orders, but he was interrupted by a snazzily dressed bellhop.

"Hey, kids! You guys look tired. Why don't you take a quick break in here real fast before you continue on your way?"

Percy didn't need Eagle Vision to tell that this place, this...Lotus Hotel and Casino...was bad news. There was a feel of magic in the air, the kind of magic that promised pleasure and reprieve, and that was the kind of magic that put Percy on edge the most, for it was the same kind of magic that surrounded Medusa's lair.

He was very close to slicing this 'bellhop's' throat and moving on to the next venue, but Annabeth was quick to accept the invitation for a rest. Perhaps it had something to do with the air condition blowing from the open doors, and the smell of food wafting from inside, or maybe it was a girl thing. Granted, Grover and Beckendorf looked perfectly happy with going inside.

However, there was one voice of reason besides Percy, though her words came at a Delayed time.

"Something's wrong here," Lou muttered, holding her Husky puppy, Kira. Percy only just now noticed the subtle humor in the situation: Lou Ellen, the witch, was holding Kira, the animal companion. "There's magic in the air...it feels inviting, but there's…"

"A sinister undertone?" Percy supplied with a dark voice, eyes glacial chips of emerald.

"Yeah…"

Kira whined and wriggled deeper into Lou's arms.

"Keep your guard up and your wits about you. We're about to enter a new battle."

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New battle indeed, for Annabeth continued to insist that they take this situation at face value, and enjoy the chance for a reprieve. And by reprieve, Percy meant use the free, unlimited cash card, all-access game floor, no-line roller coasters, skyline skeet shooting machine, and snackbar.

For a reason he couldn't explain, Percy felt strange when he thought of the concept of shooting guns from a Vegas skyscraper, like it could quickly devolve into something very horrible.

Lou Ellen was the sole voice of reason, but even her voice and Percy's combined could not deter Grover, Annabeth, and Beckendorf from running to the lower floors, eager to relax and enjoy themselves and fill their stomachs. It had been a full 24 hours since he had eaten last, and Percy had yet to even consider the thought of food.

His mind was occupied with far more important things.

He stood on the balcony, pondering the words of Kronos while the memories of the worst things Faris and Vergil had seen played through his mind. The amount of negativity that flowed through him was not healthy. However, a fuzzy and fluffy knife cut through his thoughts.

Percy looked down to investigate the feeling coming from his leg, and saw that Kira was sitting on her haunches, lightly pawing his calf, tongue out and panting excitedly, tail wagging slowly. She looked up at him with probably the closest thing a dog would ever come to making a smile.

Against his better judgement, he picked up the puppy, and held it at face level, arm's locked out in front of him. Kira panted happily at this developement, doing a very good job of looking cute.

Percy deadpanned, "The effect of your innocent aesthetic is ruined when one recalls that you are, in actuality, a rapist gangbanger from Denver, Colorado."

Kira whined, pawing at his wrists and wriggling in his arms, clearly trying to get closer to him. Percy sighed and allowed this. The Husky puppy promptly began to lick his cheek.

"You're an annoyance."

"No, she's my cutie." Lou came to stand next to Percy on the balcony.

"...I'm still not happy with you."

"Yeah...I never got the chance to apologize for that, so...sorry."

Percy gave her a half-lidded, sideways glance. "'Sorry…' Whatever. It's done and it's over with; no point in getting upset over it now."

Lou could tell she wasn't entirely forgiven. Percy's response was his way of saying 'we have more important things to worry about right now.'

Kira began to whine and jerk in Percy's arms, trying to get to the witch, so he let her go and watched her fly. Lou yelped and caught her puppy before she could hit the ground.

"Impeccable reflexes."

"Demigoddess. Duh. But please, don't throw my dog like that again, or I'll do something worse than turn you into a girl…"

"Mm-hm," Percy hummed, clearly not threatened.

A few moments of silence passed, before Lou spoke again, this time uncertain and hesitant.

"Percy...are you okay…? I know being turned into a girl, and then being violated like that by Ares was...terrifying, but...how you killed those men...that look in your eyes, your aura…"

"No, Lou, I am not alright. Your sleeping spell came at a bad time, and I had some bad dreams due to the thoughts floating through my head. I woke up still feeling everything that I was feeling in my dream, and I have yet to feel those emotions burn themselves out of me."

"What was your dream about?"

"The horrors of humanity."

"Oh...what kind of horrors?"

"Rape and murder of family, along with the rape and torturing of a virgin woman."

"Oh."

"Yes...oh."

Silence enveloped them again, but it was Percy that broke it this time. "You told me that you can see visions of people's pasts...what have you seen of mine?"

Lou's face set itself into a neutral mask, one that revealed nothing of the inner workings of her mind, but Percy knew people; he had been around for a while. He knew she was weighing the pros and cons of answering his question, which told him that she knew about as much about him as he did, possibly more.

"Do the names...Faris and Vergil...ring a bell?" Lou said slowly.

Percy exhaled out of his nose. "So you know about them...do you know if there are any others?"

"Four more. I've only seen bits and pieces of each of the lives but...the third looks like it takes place during the Golden Age of Piracy, with Blackbeard and Charles Vane, and I think the American Revolution. The fourth one takes place during the French Revolution, the fifth just after the Civil War, in what I think is London, and the sixth life, the last life...World War I."

Percy hummed, low and long, a clear sign of his displeasure at being informed of this.

"Do you...do you want me to tell you more?"

"No," he answered immediately. "Recovering from Faris and Vergil's memories was an experience in and of themselves. I do not want to be left in the dark of important details and minor ones. I will remember these lives eventually, and I'll deal with them then. Until that time comes, however...ignorance is bliss."

Lou nodded her head. "Okay."

"We've spent too much time here. It's time to leave. Begin packing what was unpacked; I'll find the others."

The witch nodded. "On it, Mentor!"

Kira yapped in agreement.

Percy's eye twitched.

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In hindsight, perhaps it would have been better to send Lou to find the other three, since she probably had a locator spell, or something of the sort. Granted, Percy also had his own location methods, though they required something of an elevation point.

Luckily, this place had an indoor roller coaster that almost touched its cavernous ceiling.

Climbing the metal architectural structure had been easy, compared to some of the other places Percy had scaled, though the shaking and rattling presented a challenge that was met with determination and annoyance. The Assassin hung off the edge of the roller coaster, just below the top of the first crest, and activated Eagle Vision.

Immediately, dozens of lights appeared in the throngs, and Percy realized with a small bit of dread that there were demigods here, demigods from all gods. Reds, blues, greys, oranges, pinks, greens, and others. Percy even saw, to something akin to astonishment and suspicion, two black auras. Considering his own was green as the sea, and the daughter of Zeus' from the Third Crusade had been electric blue, it stood to reason that those two black auras were children of Hades.

Percy briefly entertained the idea of kidnapping them and using them as hostages and bargaining chips, but that was not how he operated. Ever. Hostages and kidnapping were a Templar tactic.

Anyway, amidst all the auras of demigods trapped here, only three of them were glowing bright gold.

Percy leapt off from the roller coaster, his stomach jumping into his throat as the wind roared in his ears. He swan dived into the pool with all the skill and grace of an Assassin who had been doing such an act for decades. Percy emerged from the pool dry as when he dove in, and quickly made his way to the first of the golden auras.

It was Grover, playing a reverse deer-hunter game, in that he was playing the deer and shooting the humans.

"Die, human scum! MWAHAHAHA!"

"Oh, boy…"

Percy's utterance earned him the attention of Grover. The satyr turned to him with wild eyes, pointing the plastic weapon at the demigod's face. "DIE! DIE! DIE!" Each word was punctuated with the click of the trigger.

Percy rose a brow, then he ripped the gun from Grover's grip, and rammed the stock into the satyr's forehead with enough force to knock him flat on his back, but not unconscious.

"That was more satisfying than what it should have been…" Percy muttered.

Grover blinked at the ceiling, the haze leaving him.

"Huh…?"

"Get up, it's time to leave, and we need to get Beckendorf and Annabeth."

Grover still wasn't entirely out of it yet, but he did get to his hooves and follow dutifully behind his demigod friend. The next person Percy found was Annabeth, and she was playing a virtual architecture game in which she was building a city. It was a good looking city.

"Annabeth, time to leave."

"Huh? We just got here, though."

Percy's eyelids fluttered rapidly in annoyance. "Okay then...there's a spider crawling to your butt."

Annabeth shrieked and began to rapidly spank herself.

As funny as that sight was, perhaps the funniest thing was how the throngs of sheep were completely ignorant as to what was going on a few feet away from them.

Annabeth calmed down and put her back to Percy, looked over her shoulder, and poked her butt out. "Did I get I it?"

The Assassin successfully ignored his budding hormones, but Grover had much less willpower, and stared in awe at the sight presented to him.

"Yes," Percy said seriously. "You got it."

Annabeth sighed in relief. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it. Let's go get the blacksmith."

They found Beckendorf in the middle of a welding seminar...giving it. "Now, it's important to wear the proper equipment for this, elsewise you could get seriously hurt. Injuries range from blindness, burns, broken bones, and gruesome death." The son of the Forge God hefted an industrial flamethrower. "Let's get started!"

His audience consisted of small children who were in total awe at what they were seeing.

Percy calmly walked up behind the large teen, and chopped his neck. Beckendorf crumpled like a stringless puppet. The children all 'awe'd' in tandem. Percy hauled Beck into a fireman's carry, which should have been much harder considering the size difference, but if there was any struggle, Percy did a good job of keeping it hidden.

"To the front door. We're leaving."

"We get that, but...why?" Annabeth asked.

"Quest. Lightning bolt. Save the world."

The haze fully cleared from both of their eyes. Their mouths made perfect O's.

"Precisely. Let's go."

At the door, they found Lou waiting on them, bags packed, Kira happily panting in her arms. Percy still had Beckendorf across his shoulders, much to Lou's amusement. A bellhop came running to them.

"Hey, kids! We have our new platinum cards, giving you access to the VIP suites, the high-end restaurants, and-"

"Son, shut up before I kill you and trigger an earthquake that'll topple this tourist trap."

The bellhop turned and ran. The quest exited the hotel. Annabeth turned around and growled in frustration.

"The Lotus Hotel, of course." She then launched into an explanation about the Lotus Eaters, the Odyssey, narcotics, and trapping people for all time because...reasons. It wasn't actually known why the Lotus Eaters lured people in and didn't them leave. Perhaps they ate them?

Anyway, now they had to find a new way west, and Percy hailed a taxi cab. He still had the unlimited cash card given to him by the kind bellhop. However, once seating arrangements in the cab had been made, Lou simply used the Mist to control the driver, thereby saving the card from use.

All across the Mojave Desert, the cab never dipped below 100.

In other news, the quest had gone into the Lotus Hotel and Casino with fifteen days left in the quest, and now they had five days left. Not too bad, but not good, either. Percy told his friends about the other demigods he had seen in the Lotus Hotel, to which the general opinion was sympathy, followed by the crushing reality of their inability to do anything for the lost souls in the hotel.

Percy wisely kept his suspicion of there being children of Hades in the casino to himself.

After a few hours of speeding, the quest arrived at the beach of Santa Monica, and Percy frowned at the amount of trash that was everywhere. See, this wasn't a problem back during the Renaissance and the Third Crusade, because people respected where they lived, and they were raised right. But whatever.

"So...now what?" Annabeth asked.

"Now...I walk into the water."

With that, Percy walked into the water, leaving his confused quest mates behind on the beach. Soon enough, the waves were over his head, and he kept walking, dry as a bone, breathing perfectly fine. Eventually, Percy reached the shelf, and looked down unto the abyss with a raised eyebrow.

He raised his arms to his sides, palms up, like 'I'm here now, what do you want?'

Now, on one hand, he was eager to meet his father face to face. He wanted to know what Poseidon was like. On the other hand, had had fathers, Umar and Virile, and his memories and experiences with them had more or less filled the fatherless void that this modern life entailed. So, it was with mixed feelings that Percy received the Nereid riding the giant seahorse.

Disappointed that Poseidon wasn't here in person, not all that broken up about it anyway.

"You've done well, young hero. You have done your father proud."

"Tell him I said thank you. Now, business. Why am I here?"

"For these." The Nereid produced five pearls from behind her back.

"These will return to the sea. Always, no matter where you are."

"An escape from the Underworld, I presume."

The Nereid remained passive, but there was a gleam in her eyes.

Even though Percy was of the mind that Poseidon's absence did not bother him fully, there was still a little part of him that wanted...to get back at the god. Make him feel guilty.

"Tell me...is my father aware of what Ares did to me?"

"Yes, he is aware of the episode at Waterland. He's quite impressed with your abilities."

"Hm. Does he know what happened at the diner afterwards, when the shield was returned?"

The Nereid adopted a confused look. "No," she said uncertainly, "what did happen, then?"

Percy turned around. "Go find out."

Then he rocketed through the water at speeds comparable to that of a bullet.

The Nereid watched him go with a pensive expression. The way he alluded to events after the episode at the waterpark...he made it sound like something terrible had happened. Something horrendous, like a crime that deserved only the utmost punishment.

The Nereid would return to Atlantis and go to the places in which magic was practiced, and she would ask to see the events in which the Sea Prince described. What she saw, made her scream. What information she brought to her Lord, made him furious.

Ares would come to find a new enemy in those of the Sea.

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The quest asked what happened down there, and Percy gave them the short version, along with giving them all a pearl. From there, they hopped back in the cab and made haste for Los Angeles. Valencia Boulevard was not hard to find, and the glowing gold building was even easier to find. Granted, a place called DOA Recording Studios was a little ostentatious, and Percy was only a little embarrassed at using Eagle Vision to find such a place. The cab driver didn't say anything when the demigods, satyr, and puppy vacated his cab, but Percy gave him a couple hundred-dollar bills.

Because he was nice like that.

Inside the Studio was a bunch of transparent figures—the dead, presumably—and a man in an Italian suit wearing sunglasses. He had a name plaque in front of him, and it was torture on everyone with ADHD. Though, with common sense, they all deduced that this was Charon, and not Chiron.

When they got close to the ferryman, he looked up at them and grinned fiendishly.

"Well, well. If ain't Poseidon's gender-swapping brat. Tell me, kid, you a girl today or a boy?"

Percy looked at Lou Ellen, who had the decency to blush and look away. Percy looked back at Charon. "I am a boy. I always will be a boy."

"Uh-huh, sure. Anyway, I hear you bought into that Christian stuff, so lemme ask you this." Charon jerked his chin in a direction, and everyone followed his gaze. There, sitting in a chair, praying, a string of beads that ended in a cross dangling from his clasped hands, was a holy man.

"If your God is real, then why is he down here in my waiting room instead up there in the clouds?"

"Revelations, chapter 20, verse 13: 'The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and Death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and all were were judged for their deeds on earth. As you said, Charon, this is but a waiting room."

"Eh, fair enough, but still...he was a religious man, a Christian, and yet here his soul resides, in a pagan domain. Why ain't he in Heaven?"

"Why do you still draw breath, Charon? Because God allows it." Percy jerked a lazy thumb over his shoulder. "This debate might have had more merit to it had you been using anyone other than this man, the Televangelist who had been using his funds to line his pockets, committing sin against the children of God. I believe he died at the end of a police chase, driving his Lamborghini for the Lord."

Percy's eyes bored into Charon's. "To believe in Him is to have eternal life, and deliverance from evil. Tell me, ferryman, do you think this man truly believed, or did he simply use the concept as a get rich quick scheme?"

The pagan was silent.

"Now let me ask you this: among all the dead that reside in the Underworld, are any of them true believers in Christ?"

Charon hesitated, "Well...how should I know that? A lot of people come through here…"

"As I thought. Do not seek to play this game with me in the future, false god, for you will lose again."

"Whatever. Lord Hades is waiting on you, anyway."

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The quest stood on the black shores of the Underworld, and while Percy just wanted to do a quick fast march to Hades' palace, everyone else did not share his sentiment.

They were scared.

"Hey, uh, Perce?" Beckendorf said.

"Do not call me 'Perce.'"

"Right, sorry, but, uh...you got any...you got any wise words of advice for our situation? Or a great motivational speech?"

"'Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil.' Now suck it up and let's go."

Percy then proceeded to stroll forward, humming a merry tune as he went.

Lou Ellen looked at her friends. "I'm motivated. What about you three?"

Kira barked, her way of showing confidence.

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Remember, it's Annabeth that's wearing the magic shoes, but also remember the fact that Luke said Grover was such a bad luck magnet, that he confused the curse on the magic shoes. So, will Annabeth also confuse the curse, will the shoes recognize that they're not on Percy's feet and therefore not activate, or will it even matter? You might have also noticed a distinct lack of Procrustes here, and that is because I had no valid way of squeezing him into here, especially because Lou has Mist powers, which means that Percy still has the unlimited cash card. Whatever could he use that for, I wonder?

Also, Poseidon knows how Ares mouth-raped his child, and he's not happy. That'll be fun come later chapters.

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