"Percy, son, wake up…"
My eyes snapped open and I was immediately scanning for threats, trying to find Gaia again but something was different.
"Easy, son, easy," dad's voice came from around me once again. "You did it."
"I did it?" I asked, shocked. Still trying to find dad in the cool, clear water. I looked down but could only see a black abyss.
"You did it. You did what no immortal has ever done, you slew the Earth Mother. Her power is so broken that she will not awaken until after what the Norse call Ragnarok. You did well, my son. The Trident is yours, as it was Oceanus' before me."
"The Trident? Your Trident? But, dad, it's yours! And I thought the Cyclopes made it?"
"No, son. Not anymore. The cyclopes did forge the Trident from Atlantean Silver but for another entirely, the weapon is the penultimate symbol of the sea and I no longer have the strength to carry it. When you took the Trident I passed my strength on to you. It will not be a fast process to acclimate to the power this grants you, but it marked my end. I, Poseidon, the Stormbringer and Earthshaker, Neptune, Lord of the Seas, will fade. I am proud of you and what you have done, my son."
"Dad, no… don't leave me too!" I begged. "I lost Annabeth, I can't lose you too!"
"It's too late for that, my son. It is all but written. Your mother and friends will miss you dearly, but you cannot go back to them just as I cannot escape my fate."
"No… no, no, no! You can't do this to me!" I roared, heartbroken.
"I did nothing, boy! Your duel with a primordial force of nature rocked the very fabric of our reality. You held seven godly symbols of power; four belonging to Olympians, my own marking you the new heir of the Sea, the symbol of the underworld, and the de facto symbol of godly strength itself - The Bolt. You held three royal symbols of power, my son, you are lucky you didn't tear our world apart with the forces you released."
I reared back as if I was slapped and felt the blood drain from my face, "are they-"
"They're okay, son. Your interference was necessary to save them," the rage in his voice died as he tried to comfort me, "your Annabeth made her choice, though her mind shattered in the House of Night. At the end, she was little more than a puppet playing at a mockery of life. Death was a mercy for her, do not doubt that. And it was mercy for you even more so. She did not feel pain, but you would have tried to love a husk of the woman you once loved so dearly."
Even underwater, the tears burned down my face like liquid fire, "I watched her get torn apart, dad… They shredded her, and I shredded them. An entire horde of monsters with nothing but Riptide and a stolen shield and spear."
"You had Damasen and Iapetus as backup, son. Surely they…"
"Guarded my rear as I tore everything from the most insignificant Telkhine up to Kampe to shreds. Damasen and Iapetus barely did anything but stare at the carnage and made sure I didn't get stabbed in the back…"
XXX
Three days ago…
Tartarus…
"That's a lot of monsters," I whispered as Annabeth, Bob, Small Bob - who was still in Bob's shirt, and I stood on a cliff overlooking the valley housing the doors of death.
"Yes," Bob said, "they should not see you through the mist but we must hurry."
"Hurry… Yes, hurry," Annabeth said nervously, her eye twitching slightly. I couldn't help but cringe slightly at her behavior, she hadn't been… right since our flight through the House of Night but it was our meeting with Ahklys that she really changed. She was more erratic, less calculated than she normally was. If we weren't facing down the largest army I had ever seen then I would have been terrified of what all the signs together meant but I could only really focus on keeping us alive.
Together, the four of us made our way down the cliff - Annabeth and I both invisible to the legions of monsters surrounding us while Bob was sneered at by the surrounding monsters.
"Break the chains," Annabeth muttered as she looked at the replicas of the elevator doors from the Empire State Building, "break the chains and Gaia doesn't have the doors… She really should have found something stronger," Annabeth giggled as she walked straight for the chains on the left while Bob faced the glowing gold and dark blue armored Titans standing at the doors. I could only stare in horror, rooted to the spot as I watched Annabeth take her place 'by the go-'
"Iapetus! Well, well. I thought you were hiding under a cleaning bucket somewhere," (Riordan, House of Hades), "well? Don't just stand there man! I've been standing here for ages!" Hyperion roared as my mind whirled with thoughts of what was happening to my Wise Girl.
"Hours, brother," Krios rumbled, his deep voice obviously irritated, "though, if you would spell me when the doors come back. My thumb is about to fall off, I'd leave those damn Telkhines to whatever's between but mother would show her... disapproval when I got to the surface."
Without signal or warning, Annabeth brought her Drakon bone sword above her head, driving it down through the chains holding the doors with a colossal clank! I felt my eyes bulge as the death mist rolled off of us like water thanks to Annabeth's little stunt leaving me floundering a few feet from the chains in plain view of everyone and thing. I was barely able to make a dive for my side of the chains when I felt something crash into my side with the force of a small tank. My ribs buckled for a second and I thought they would snap, but shockingly they held, though the impact still drove the air out of me. I fell to my side sputtering and gasping even as I heard:
"What is the meaning of this!" from Krios. I glanced up to see the Titan recovering a typical Greek shield from the ground, his position at the button all but forgotten, "demigods!? In the Pit!"
"Jackson!" Hyperion howled, his burning yellow eyes locked onto me as I struggled to my feet.
"Hyperion," I said heavily but grinning all the same, "didn't I make you a pine tree the last time I saw you?"
"And you'll pay for that," the Titan of light growled. "You're outnumbered, Demigods. No backup, no reinforcements. It's just the two of you. What can you do to us?"
"You're no Jason Grace, little Demigod," Krios said with a chuckle, "but perhaps I may get a small amount of fencing practice today. Iapetus, hold the door while we deal with these pests."
Krios couldn't say another word before Bob's spear flashed up and sank into a chink in Krios' neckplate. Hyperion whirled around but Bob was already moving, his spear batted Hyperion's own to the side and pierced through his breastplate with ease.
"You will not hurt my friends!" the Titan said to the piles of golden dust beside a golden spear and the blue and bronze shield, "Percy, the chain!" Bob was barely able to say that as Small Bob jumped from his shirt and grew becoming a full-sized Nemean Lion, ready to face the horde of monsters. I didn't have time to think, just picking up the glowing golden spear and launching it toward the chains. The chains shattered like glass as the spear returned to me. I could only look at the thing in confusion before I heard Bob growl.
I jerked my head around to see the army of monsters hadn't really figured out what was going on yet but they were starting to mutter among themselves in discontent. I picked up the fallen shield too, testing the spear's balance when I heard the murmurs start.
"Percy," Bob started slowly, "how are you holding those?"
"Doesn't matter," Annabeth said airily, shocking me and Bob both. Annabeth, smart, stoic, Annabeth, was anything but airy. And it terrified me even more than her erratic behavior, "not at all. Not a teeny-weenie bit!" she giggled. I felt my eyes bulge even further as I turned to look into Bob's own wide, silver eyes full of confusion and terror.
"The madness of night…" the Titan whispered fearfully as Annabeth raised her sword and laughed like a demented five-year-old, I was barely able to turn back to her as she took off at a full sprint toward the monstrous horde. I could only stare after her for the space of a heartbeat before my mind caught up to the situation. But by then it was far too late.
"Annabeth!" Bob and I screamed in unison. I tried to follow her but before I could, she brought her sword up in a lethal arc toward the neck of a cyclops. She managed to kill two more but she didn't make it past the veritable wall of monsters in front of her.
She didn't last two seconds before she was torn to bits.
I couldn't breathe. I couldn't think. She was just… gone. Just like that. No fanfare, no warning, nothing. Just the jeers and cheers of the monsters that shredded her.
I saw red.
The spear in my right hand burned with golden light even as the black and celestial bronze shield pulsed an eerie bluish-bronze as I launched myself into the fray. I felt the spear make contact with a Hellhound and I lost my grip on it, immediately drawing Riptide to replace the weapon.
I didn't notice that the spear plowed through a hundred monsters before returning in a ring of golden light as Riptide surged up and down like an omen of death. I felt the wind pick up around me, the blood in my veins singing to the blood coursing through them. If a monster didn't fall to my sword they fell to the raging storm behind me. I was too lost in the battle frenzy that I never noticed Damasen join Bob at the Doors while the Drakon and Small Bob crouched, ready to take on any that might somehow survive the veritable meat grinder that the battlefield had become thanks to me.
For three hours the slaughter continued. Some monsters even had time to resurrect themselves and come back for more - none tried a third time. Eventually, I came face to face with Kampe - the last survivor.
"My, my," she said with a wicked grin as I stood there with the golden spear in one hand and the blue-bronze shield in the other, "it appears you have done the impossible yet again, Mr. Jackson. But you will not beat me."
"Won't I?" was all I said as I launched the spear at her chest. Her eyes widened as the bolt of golden light leaped toward her like a shaft of solid sunlight. She was able to dodge at the last second but screamed as the spear grazed by her right arm. It barely made contact, but the power was so immense that the weapon severed her arm from her body. She stared at the fallen appendage with fear in her eyes but she charged me anyway, fighting even more desperately.
It didn't matter.
I brought Riptide up as her Scimitar slammed into my shield with a dull thud, I barely felt the blow but threw a punch toward her snake tailed body. The place where the shield hit her collapsed like a house of cards and she fell to her side screaming in agony.
"It's over, Kampe," I growled, leveling the recovered spear at her throat.
"Please…" she begged, tears spilling from her coal-black eyes, "please not with that spear…"
"Why?" I was curious after all, what could scare her so badly when we're on her own turf?
"It's a symbol of power, a Titanic symbol of power. If you kill me with the spear, I'll fade like the rest you killed with it!" I smirked and drove the spear forward, "for Annabeth." Her eyes widened as she realized what had happened with those last two words. I looked up from her corpse that strangely didn't disappear and saw that there were at least ten thousand other bodies that didn't disappear into a cloud of gold dust either, though there was quite a good bit of that scattered over the field too. Seconds later, those bodies crumbled and turned to ash before my very eyes. I swallowed heavily, barely noticing the weight of the spear and shield falling away from me as they collapsed into a pair of rings - one of gold and a ring and one of bronze - that attached to my necklace as I surveyed the carnage I unleashed.
"I must say," a voice said from my left, "you have surprised me, Jackson." I turned to see a man in a rather nice business suit standing there, but he had no face - just a swirling pool of black and purple. I took a closer look and realized that his shirt had no actual pattern - it was just swirling, screaming faces.
"Lord Tartarus," I said quietly, yet as respectfully as I could manage, "are you going to try to stop me from leaving?"
"No. In fact, I want you out of my domain in the most expedient way possible, short of tossing you into Chaos - that is. That way is the doors. The chains are broken, you and your potential lover saw to that yourselves. I cannot hold the button as I cannot interfere in the machinations of mortals or act against another Primordial directly. You must choose who will accompany you to the surface. I wish you good fortune, Mr. Jackson. May we never meet again," the embodiment of the pit said before sinking into the ground and disappearing and - for the strangest second - I could have swore that the expressionless pit of swirling darkness was actually sneering at me. I blinked and felt myself go cold as I turned to face Iapetus and realized - with no small amount of shock - that Damasen was there too.
"Damasen!? You're free?"
"Aye, boy," the giant said, "I am. Go with Iapetus, I'll hold the door. Mother will never let me walk free but I do not believe she'll realize that the Piercer walks the land once more."
"Damasen," Iapetus started only to be cut off with a single word from the gentle giant.
"Go."
And so we did. Together with Iapetus and Little Bob, we boarded the Doors of Death and watched them close behind us as the Drakon and Giant stood guard.
With a small ding after an uneventful trip up, we found ourselves in a large, stone cathedral. I wasn't really able to take it in as I slashed at a Telkhine holding the surface door's button with Riptide as soon as the door opened - scattering the annoying thing into a cloud of dust as Iapetus speared another one while little Bob roared ferociously and crashed into the rest like a bowling ball.
"Intr-ugh!" Another one of the annoying creatures yelped before it was cut off by Little Bob, I growled and snarled as Iapetus smacked around a few hellhounds with his mop.
"Percy!?" I heard from my left and whirled around with my sword raised only to see a panting Hazel standing there with wide eyes.
After a relatively short battle in (what I learned was) the House of Hades (and a quick duel against another giant) we made our way back to the Argo II. I refused to say anything about my time in Tartarus other than to introduce Iapetus and Little Bob to the rest of the crew. Mostly, I spent my time on deck, willing us through the Mediterranian as fast as I could with a bearing toward Athens. Even with my help, the trip took four days.
We arrived in Athens and directly into a trap. Turns out, Reyna and Nico had been captured en route to Camp Half-Blood with the Athena Parthenos, trying to head off the Roman invasion force that was still traveling across the midwest. Unfortunately for Gaia, we traveled much faster than she could have anticipated and arrived in Athens days before the Romans could even set up a forward command post, much less mount a full invasion.
Unfortunately, that meant she had to accelerate her own plans by a wide margin. By the time we made it to the beachhead, we were attacked by the Giants and an awake Gaia. The fighting was brutal but the gods came to our aid as fast as they could, but it was still five precious minutes wasted. So far, Iapetus and I were the only two having any major luck in fighting any of the giants rather than just distracting them long enough for reinforcements to make it. I watched as Leo lost an eye to a grazing hit from Enceladus' spear, he cried out and landed on a knee but before the giant could drive the spear forward, a column of fire erupted in front of Leo. There was a ringing crack as a hammer was driven down onto the spear.
"Not my son," Hephestus growled, his hammer raised for another hit as lightning clapped behind him, revealing Aphrodite, Zeus, Ares, Hades, Apollo, and Athena armed and ready to fight.
"Did someone call the cavalry?" Apollo snarked as Zeus - 'no, that had to be Jupiter. Zeus would never wear something that even Caesar would be jealous of,' I thought as I took in the purple toga covered in an imperial gold set of Roman armor with a ridiculously ornate helmet - moved to stand beside Jason who was facing Porphyrion.
"How touching," the giant king growled, "but we aren't here to talk!" He brought the spear up in a textbook throw that impacted directly with Hephestus' stomach. For a split second, I paused as the horror of what just happened set in before I saw red once again, launching myself toward the Giant King, only to be intercepted by Polybotes.
"No, sea spawn," the grotesque monstrosity said with a mad grin, "you're mine, boy. I promised to chain you to the bottom of the sea and I will!" And with that, there was no more talking.
Before I was completely absorbed in the fight, I saw Apollo launch an arrow into Enceladus' eye. The bane of Athena howled with pain but was cut off short as he caught a bolt of white fire to the chest, courtesy of Leo Valdez. I smiled ferociously as Bob thrust his spear toward the Giant's chest and the fight was on once again.
"Percy!" I heard from the waves behind me, I ducked knowing what was coming next. I felt the hiss of parted air over my head and glanced up to see Polybotes stagger back from the rogue wave that slammed into his chest.
"Hey, dad, nice of you to join the party," I snarked as Bob took the opening and stabbed Polybotes in the thigh. I tried to get in close enough to jab Polybotes in the foot but the Retarus was too fast. He kicked me away before I could so much as bring my sword back up to try and cut at the heavy, braided lines of the net he threw at me. Thankfully, I didn't have to as the net was blasted aside from me in a torrent of wind.
"I tried to get here earlier but traffic was terrible," Poseidon snarked as he stood in the sand with his trident planted at his side, "but better late than never."
"Sea god," Polybotes growled, as he leaned on his Trident heavily - his hand on the place Bob just stabbed him, "long have I waited this day."
"The day you die? Why would you ever look forward to that?" I snarked as I charged again, not letting the Giant say anything else. The fight against him was even more brutal than it was in New Rome, this time he knew all my tricks - all my moves. But this time I had Iapetus and dad to back me up, but that just made him fight harder. Eventually, dad was able to get me on one side of him by taunting the enraged giant but he paid the price for it.
"You want my title? My Domain!?" The god of the sea yelled as blue light swirled around him. Gone was the relaxed surfer persona, in his place stood an armored man in a blue tunic and simple legion armor. It took me a second to realize that the armor was - strangely - Silver before I realized it was the same metal as the Trident itself, I barely had time to think it may have been special before I heard: "you'll have to do better than that then!" Neptune barked as he launched himself forward with a series of lightning-fast strikes.
"Puny god, don't you realize you can not defeat me!? I'm stronger than you! Better than you! And I will kill you!" Polybotes howled as he jabbed forward with the trident of his own. Simultaneously, Neptune and Polybotes' tridents sank beneath the others' armor and into their opponent's stomachs. Polybotes gave a bloodcurdling smile but I was already in motion from his side. By the time he had looked up with horror etched on his face, my sword had already cleaved through the armor around his neck. In an instant, Polybotes disappeared in a puff of golden dust, leaving Neptune with no support. He fell to the sand, golden ichor streaming from the hideous wound in his midsection.
"Dad?" I nearly panicked at the blood pouring from his stomach, tossing Riptide to the side as I knelt beside him, he just smiled when his gauntleted hand touched my own.
"It's alright, son," he said quietly, weakly. Too weakly. His other hand grasping at the silver Trident. I picked it up and pressed it into his hands, but he pushed it back into my hands and rasped out, "it's yours now, it's the only way. Be brave."
And with those last words, Neptune disappeared in a cloud of sea mist. I just stared blankly at the trident in my hand, the maniacal laughter of the watching Earth Goddess ringing from behind me. I stood up, Trident in hand as I drew Riptide from my pocket and locked eyes with Gaia.
"Enough!"
XXX
Presently…
"Now I don't even have Riptide!" I cried out, "Gaia shattered it like a damn toothpick, dad! My sword! Now it's nothing but shards in Athens," I said as a dull green light pulsed from my necklace.
"And in doing you gained nine new weapons. Hyperion's lance, Krios' Shield of Night, Vulcan's hammer, Aphrodite's dagger, Jupiter's Master Bolt, Athena's Aegis, Hades' Helm of Darkness, my Trident, and…" he hesitated for a second before whispering, "Backbiter." I felt my head jerk down at the name at the red light that started pulsing with the name. The orb of light drifted off my chest, particularly my neck, and down into my hand, changing into a horribly familiar shape. "The blade has been reworked by Hephestus, it is nowhere near as potent in soul magicks as it once was - though it is now a true symbol of war."
"Damn…" I muttered as I looked at the opposing metals on the blade, tossing the sword to the side only to see it return to my neck - specifically my necklace - in an orb of crimson light and take the form of a small red bead. I shook my head at the strangeness that godly magic had but didn't question it further.
"The sword is not abandoned so easily, Perseus. Perhaps when you bond with your own symbol in full you will be able to cast it away but not until that point. But know this, Backbiter is not the only weapon that can kill mortals in your possession. All of your weapons, save potentially Venus' dagger and the helm of darkness, are able to harm mortals - though the helm only allows for true invisibility, as you well know. Though, I must admit, the idea of the Bolt unleashed in its full power on mortals terrifies me."
"I can't wield the damn thing properly though," I say, remembering how it hit Gaia after I threw it compared to how Jupiter used it.
"Because it is not your personal symbol, that would be the Trident. Olympus help the poor soul that bonds with that javelin," Poseidon muttered darkly.
"Right, because that isn't confusing," I said, throwing my hands up as I glanced toward the surface.
"Break the surface and your connection to me snaps, Percy," Poseidon said quietly, and suddenly the idea of going up doesn't appeal as much anymore, "this isn't a normal sea, we do not have power here. Any can breathe in these waters, should they find themselves here. This is the Celestial Sea, the bridge between the cosmos."
"Could have sworn that was a rainbow…"
"That's the Bifrost, think of that as a bridge over a small river. This sea connects a much vaster series of planes of existence. Even the primordials tremble in fear at the idea of this place."
"So, it's Chaos?" I asked, thinking about the singularity under Tartarus.
"No!" the Sea god barked in an almost panicked tone, "no, Chaos is the absence of life, an anathema to existence. Thankfully, it is not aggressive nor - do I believe - aware. This Sea, on the other hand, is life incarnate. It is accessible only at certain times and-or in special cases. The Bifrost connects realms in our plane, think of this as a sort of in-between."
My mind spun trying to figure that one out but I shrugged and gave up trying to figure out what that meant.
"A most succinct answer, Lord Neptune," a new voice said. I whirled my head around to try and find the source, failed, and looked up to see a kite-like, glowing thing coming down from the surface of the water, "Percy Jackson… Welcome to my realm. I must say, you are an unexpected bout of good fortune. I am Raava."
"Uh… Hi?" I said weakly as I heard dad chuckle in my ears.
"Eloquent, Percy. Eloquent indeed. Raava, please, it's Poseidon. How long has it been now, old friend?"
"Nearly seven thousand years, my lord," I felt my jaw drop.
"Truly? I seem to remember four or five. Hm, time dilation then?"
"May chance that is the case, our worlds are separated by time, space, and dimension after all," the kite-thing said with a chuckle as it turned to me, "but I did not come to catch up with an old acquaintance, no… I fear there have been... developments recently, my Lord."
"Vaatu?" I heard the tension in dad's voice but it dissolved with Raava's next words.
"Not quite, though there have been stirrings with Harmonic Convergence fast approaching… No, this situation is one of man and of myself. The previous Avatar died in the Avatar State, he lives but he will not have time to release himself from his stasis and heal himself before it is too late. The Fire Nation marches on the world, though luckily they were hampered by two factors: lack of manpower and a worldwide manhunt for the Avatar. They slaughtered the Air Nomads on Fire Lord Sozin's command a century ago and still have not yet fully recovered, though they recovered enough to attempt to seize Ba Sing Se four years ago."
"Uh," I cut in before Raava could say anything else, "hate to interrupt, but what the Hades is a Ba Sing Se, a Fire Nation, Harmonic Convergence, and who are the Avatar, Air Nomads, and Fire Lord?" I asked, the title unfamiliar.
"Ah, Mr. Jackson!," Raava said in a calm voice but slightly startled as if she had forgotten I was there, "yes, you would be unaware of these things, wouldn't you? Lord Poseidon, do you wish to do the honors or shall I?"
"You may, Raava. I have not glimpsed your world since the day Yangchen was announced as Avatar," dad said, slightly amused.
"Then you will need to be brought to speed as well, my Lord," Raava said seriously. "For one, the Air Nomads are no more. I am unaware of most events of the world due to my host being, shall we say, absent for the past century."
"Absent?" I couldn't help but ask. "And what do you mean your host?"
"To put it simply, I am the spirit of the Avatar, Mr. Jackson. The Avatar is a mortal who binds the Spirit World to the realm of Benders through their connection to me. The benders are men and women who control the major elements of Water, Earth, Fire, and Air and make up the four elemental nations: the Water Tribes - settled at the north and south poles, the Earth Kingdom, the Fire Nation, and the now extinct Air Nomads. These men and women are able to command Water, Earth, Fire, and Air - much like you did against Gaia in your duel. In the final bout against her, you entered a state similar to the Avatar State which is how you are able to speak to me now.
"The avatar was once the peacekeeper of the nations, a bridge between the mortal and immortal planes, as such he or she is able to bend all four elements to his whims and wishes. The Avatar State is the accumulation of power and knowledge of thousands of years of knowledge from men and women who have borne my spirit, until my most recent host," she said with regret in her voice. "The boy that I chose to be my new Avatar was a flighty child chosen by fate, a boy who could not bear the responsibility of his new title. He fled his home in the Southern Air Temple and most likely saved his own life, but at a terrible cost. The Fire Nation, under the light of what is now known as Sozin's comet, invaded the Air Temples and slaughtered the Nomads down to the last man. The Sky Tribes managed to flee and hide but they too were slaughtered to a handful of survivors. What remains now is likely a small group too terrified to fight or show their faces, I am unsure. I am only able to know what I am told by other spirits who deem fit to gaze at the mortal world - thus I knew of the failed siege of Ba Sing Se.
"But Avatar Aang fled hours before the slaughter, deciding to flee south with his Sky Bison to escape his obligations to the world. It would become a lethal mistake. The boy was caught in a sea storm at the Southern pole. He tried to find safety but was tossed beneath the waves. He entered the Avatar State and managed to hold himself in stasis - which I have held for a century - but the difficulty came when he was a mere moment from sealing his meditation orb, he was struck by lightning."
I nodded slowly in understanding, "and what does this have to do with me?"
"You understand, excellent, boy," Raava said approvingly. "When an Avatar dies in the State of Harmony, their connection to me is at its strongest. If an Avatar dies in this state then their connection to me is severed and the Avatar of the four nations is no more. You are outside the four nations and thus there is a bit of leeway where you are concerned."
"You want me to be your new Avatar?" I scoffed slightly, "lady, I'm not sure if you noticed but I'm not quite cut out for peace."
"Perhaps not, but I am rather limited in my options."
"And so are you, Percy," dad said quietly, "I can't send you home and Raava is offering you a new one here. I cannot promise you will find a better realm if you take your chances in the Celestial Sea."
I frowned slightly but nodded.
"Alright, but what am I looking at with this new world? Why shouldn't I take my chances in a new world entirely? One no one can find me in?"
"Because there is no guarantee the world you would find yourself in would be populated by humans, no guarantee that you wouldn't be hunted for the symbols hanging around your neck. I will be the first to admit that the Olympians did you wrong, my son. I was unable to be there for you, and for that I will never be able to apologize enough," he said quietly.
"Understatement of the century," I grumbled.
"Careful, Percy," Poseidon growled, "you are my son, but be careful of what you say."
"Careful!?" I burst out, "I had to hunt down the Bolt when I was twelve! I had no idea who or what the gods were and Zeus thought I had managed to make my way to Mount Olympus to steal the thing! I was thirteen when I had to find the golden fleece, at fourteen I joined the small club of beings who can say they held up the damn sky! Do you have any idea how heavy that gods forsaken thing was!? Do You!?" I roared, but didn't give him time to respond, "I was fifteen when Kronos decided he wanted to use the Labyrinth to get into camp and invade New York. At sixteen, I fought Kronos himself!
I thought I had some small amount of peace when that damned second prophecy was given, when I was kidnapped by Hera who - if you don't remember, TOOK MY MEMORIES - and threw me to the Wolves! Literally! She dumped me with Lupa, which turned out rather well but that's not the fucking point!" I roared to the open sea, imagining dad being in front of me instead of yelling at Raava.
"Percy," Poseidon hissed but I kept on.
"I was placed with the Romans, you know - that super secret camp that the 'I can do no wrong Olympians,' had kept secret from us Greeks because we were killing each other on sight! Then I had to fight a Giant's cohort of Demigod Ghosts and fell off an iceberg in Alaska! I nearly drowned in Muskeg for my trouble and was terrified of my own father's domain because of it!" I was panting and pretty sure red faced at this point but kept going. "Thankfully, Annabeth found me again but even that went wrong when Leo blew up camp Jupiter! It wasn't his fault, of course, but the fact that me, Jason, AND Leo, were all possessed thanks to Gaia STILL pisses me off! Then I had to fight my own half brother, who's mother was Medusa - of all the monsters in Greece - because YOU couldn't keep it in your pants!"
"Perseus Jackson! You will stop this at once!"
"No, dad!" I spat, "what have the Olympians done for me except point me at a threat and say, 'ahh! Percy, kill it!' Since I was TWELVE!? Damn it, dad, I'm tired of it all! And if I can have some measure of peace in this new world, I'll damn well take it!"
"I apologize to be the one to bear the news then, Mr. Jackson," Raava said quietly, "but the world is currently embroiled in a war of conquest by the Fire Nation."
"Then point me at this Fire Lord and be done with it, if I'm basically fighting an army of calm Leos I think I'll be perfectly fine," I growled to the kite thing before turning back to the sea, "and dad? I know you loved me in your own way, but you've made my life utter hell just by getting mom pregnant. I'm taking Raava's deal."
"And I don't blame you for that," dad said heavily, his anger evaporated once again. "I couldn't help you as much as I wanted until the end. The ancient laws barred me from so much as speaking to you unless absolutely necessary to the continued survival of Olympus - not to mention what Zeus would have done if he knew you existed. I wasn't able to spend more than twelve months of time with Sally thanks to those laws, that's why I had to leave when you were young. I wanted to have sometime to spend with you later in your life. I was able to transfer my essence to you thanks to the Trident, you became my official heir the moment I passed it on to you - the true prince of the seas, I knew you would need that power to fight Gaia."
"Gentlemen," Raava calmly interrupted, "I hate to interrupt but there is a situation developing. Avatar Aang's meditation sphere has been discovered. We must act quickly," I felt my jaw tighten but I nodded slowly.
"Take this as my final gift, my son," Poseidon said mournfully and my vision blurred for a second. "My knowledge of the seas and tides, the Earth and her plates. Use this information well, my son. I am proud of the man you've become, fare thee well." And with those last words, I felt dad's presence slip away. Another tear rolled down my face as I turned to Raava.
"What do I have to do?"