Chapter 17: Battle of the Labyrinth
3rd Person POV
The group of two demigods and a clear sighted mortal arrived into the heart of the Labyrinth and Daedalus' workshop, only to see Quintus, the substitute sword instructor from CHB.
"Quintus?!" Annabeth asked, befuddled. "Who?" Percy and RED said at the same time in response. "Quintus is the new sword instructor at camp… but why are you here?" Annabeth asked and slowly pulled out her dagger. Percy noticed this and let his hand rest on the hilt of Kurouzu.
"Miss Chase," Quintus began, "I believe it is customary for one to reside in their own home," he finished and drew looks of confusion from the group. Annabeth pieced it together faster than the others and whispered, "Daedalus." RED, bless her heart, had no clue what she joined in on, much less what was going on right before her, but Percy was still a little confused, until he pushed his senses to focus on the man before them.
"B-But how?" Annabeth voiced, but before Daedalus could answer, Percy did. "You're an automaton, aren't you?" he said and Daedalus looked at him in surprise, as did Annabeth. "Clever. I never thought I would use that word to describe one of Poseidon's kids," Daedalus said and Percy scowled heavily. "That bastard is a sperm donor. Nothing more," Percy hissed and Daedalus blinked.
"Perseus Jackson, Son of Susano'o and Adopted Son of Artemis," Percy clarified and Daedalus went wide eyed for a brief moment. "Intriguing," Daedalus muttered, but before he could fire his questions, Annabeth got the group back on track.
"Daedalus, you're Quintus, so you know that the Titan's are going to use your creation to attack the camp. Help us!" she rushed out and Daedalus sighed heavily. "I am aware, but I'm afraid I can't help. I have already given Ariadne's string to the Titans' forces. Not entirely willingly," Daedalus replied, though the last bit was muttered under his breath.
As Annabeth let out a colorful string of curses, another group entered the workshop. An empousa, who Percy deduced as an elder or leader of some kind given her aura, King Minos who was traveling with Nico and Nico himself. They brought monster and demigod forces with them as well and the scene quickly turned to a standoff.
"Kelli," Annabeth spat at the empousa. "Hey blondie! Since that hunk over there killed Poseidon's brat, we like totally need to capture him and bring him with us. Don't worry sweetie, Luke said he wants to give you a chance to choose the right path too!" Kelli stated far too upbeat for anyone's taste. "I hate charmspeak," Percy stated and Kelli's eyes widened in surprise for a fraction of a second as it had no effect on her intended target, before she settled into a glare and told her forces to attack.
The ensuing fight wasn't anything Percy would consider noteworthy as he cut down any monster that he came across with extreme prejudice. Regardless of how many he cut down protecting RED, or Annaebth and Nico cut down for their own survival, the battle was a losing one.
After Zeus knows how much time, Perfect fought his way to Daedalus. "Why did you help them?" Percy asked as they fought side by side. "I didn't have much of a choice… and a penance I suppose for what I did to my nephew," Daedalus provided and Percy processed that as they cut down some telekines.
"From one monster to another Daedalus, your nephew wouldn't want this for you. It's time to move forward and keep living," Percy said and Daedalus adopted a look of both shock and confusion before he nodded stiffly. "You'll have to tell me your tale another day Perseus. Take your friends and there are newly improved wings on the back bench. I have a few tricks to hold them off for now. I will meet you at the camp. Go!" Daedalus said and Percy gave him a stiff nod and gathered Annabeth, Nico, and RED.
The group of 4 fled as fast as they could to the mortal world through the route that Daedalus provided and quickly surveyed their surroundings and addressed anyone's wounds. "Now what?" Nico asked and Annabeth answered rapidly. "We need to find a way to camp and fast," she said and a moment of silent thought passed.
"Well, it's not ideal, but the Labyrinth warps distances right?" Percy said and the others turned to look at RED. She looked confused at first before whipping out her phone and calling for a ride. Some hour or so later, the group found their way to another Labyrinth entrance and were back in the maze once more. After hiking through it for some unknown amount of time [AN: time is warped and I don't want to give specific times. Sue me.], they came across a tunnel that made Percy's blood run cold and froze him on the spot.
"Percy what's wrong?" Annabeth asked and Percy's breathing sped up for a moment before he collected himself. "We're at Othyrus… where Zoe…" he trailed off and Annebeth put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Something's different though. There's a power here that wasn't before," Percy said and Annabeth paled slightly.
"Stay here. I'll take a look," Percy began and before Annabeth could protest, he added, "Strictly recon, don't worry." Annabeth begrudgingly nodded and Percy crept back onto the mountain where his beloved sister died.
Percy POV
I quickly pushed all thoughts of Zoe out of my mind and snuck into the palace. I kept to the shadows and vapor traveled past any patrols when it was necessary until I got to the Throne Room.
'That definitely wasn't here before. And the thrones were in shambles,' I mused as I crept toward the golden sarcophagus that hummed with power. I carefully pushed the lid off and suppressed a gasp for what I saw. 'It's not Kronos, but Luke… They're merging. Even with his power, that's quite the gamble,' I thought as I sensed demigods and monsters approaching.
I vapor traveled back to the shadows and watched for a moment as Ethan came back in and went over brief plans for the upcoming siege. 'Time to go,' I said to myself and snuck back to the Labyrinth. "Kronos' sarcophagus is there and the thrones aren't in shambles anymore," I told them straight away and then turned to Annabeth.
"Luke was in the sarcophagus. He's merging with Kronos. I don't know if we can ever bring him back," I told her and she shook her head quickly in the negative. Before we could retreat, a booming laugh was let out in the tunnel. "It's rude not to say hello to your hosts. Especially your grandfather, Grandson," Kronos/Luke said and I quickly pushed the others forward and tried to run.
I tried, but it felt like I was moving through syrup. 'Time control,' I thought bitterly and briefly rejoiced in the fact that it was only me that was caught up in it. "I heard about what Poseidon did to your mother. Come and join me and we can carry out his retribution along with the other Olympians," Kronos said to me and I resisted the urge to roll my eyes within the time field in fear that my vision would be slowed as well.
"Heard it before and I'll say it one last time: I don't fight for that bastard. I fight for my mother," I hissed at him and he chuckled again. Annabeth was too caught up in the fact that Kronos was using Luke's body to act, Nico, I assume, was still unsure of his feelings toward me, but RED became my favorite person.
Of all the things she could attack the Titan of Time with, she threw a plastic blue hairbrush. I dare say that her aim rivaled a hunters, as the brush flew and smacked Kronos/Luke right in the eye. For a moment, it seemed the merging of the two beings wasn't complete and the scream that escaped Kronos' mouth was actually Luke's.
The time field dropped and Nico acted immediately, summoning a wall of black stone to cut off the Titans' forces and we all ran to get as far away from there as we could.
Annabeth POV
"That was Luke!" I yelled hopefully and a little excitedly at Percy and he took a deep breath and looked me in the eyes. It was a little unnerving how intense his stare was, but I quickly pushed it down. "Annabeth, that was Kronos in Luke's body. They've merged," he told me and I went to correct him, but he calmly held up his hand to silence me.
"It doesn't look like the merging is complete yet and I don't know that it will ever truly be, but Kronos is the Titan of Time. he is far stronger than Luke is. I heard Luke's voice just as you did, but there is a slim chance that he is still in there and even if he is, he likely can't take control from Kronos," he told me and I deflated momentarily before the anger and hopefulness bubbled up again.
"You don't know that! That was him!" I yelled and Percy sighed and put a hand on my shoulder. "I know, Annabeth. I just want you to be prepared for the possibility that he's gone. If he is, we have to cut him down to make sure Kronos doesn't win," he told me softly and I felt fresh tears well up in my eyes, but I refused to let them fall.
"As great of a moment that was, what now?" RED asked as we continued walking again. "We need to get back to camp. The attack could already have started for all we…" I started, but trailed off as Percy and I noticed a familiar rasta cap coated in dirt. "Grover," I whispered and looked at Percy who nodded. I picked up the cap and Percy and Nico drew their blades as we ran down the tunnel the hat was in front of.
I ran ahead of everyone and as the tunnel started to get lighter, Percy rushed forward and grabbed me as a club swung overhead where I was just standing. We whipped around quickly to fight the attacker, but Nico saw him first. "Tyson?" he asked and the clumsy cyclops came into view with an unconscious Grover over his shoulder.
He laid Grover down and bounded over to me. "Annabeth!" he bellowed jovially and scooped me up into a hug. "Tyson!" I exclaimed and let him twirl me around. "What happened to Grover?" I asked as I saw Nico and RED checking on him. "We were following the trail to Pan and he passed out," Tyson said as he set me down and I patted him on the shoulder.
Before I could go check on him, he asked the one question that made me freeze. "Where's brother?"
I paled and the tears started to well up as I snuck a glance at Percy who also tensed. I was about to break the news to him gently, but Percy beat me to it. "I killed him," he said in that emotionless tone that sent shivers down my spine.
Faster than I could react, Tyson had Percy pinned to the wall by his throat with tears spilling out of his big brown eye. 'Percy easily could have dodged that,' I thought quickly before I tuned into what the cyclops was saying. "YOU KILLED BROTHER!" Tyson bellowed with rage and sorrow as Percy let himself be pinned in the Herculean grip of his biological half brother.
"WHY?!" he roared and Percy surprised me by remaining calm and collected as his eyes darted over to me. "Tyson," I said softly and his head snapped over to me. "Tyson, let Percy down. Steven… he betrayed us. H-he was working with the Titans. He wanted to hurt your father," I said carefully as my own few tears spilt.
Tyson's grip on Percy slackened and Percy dropped back down to the floor of the cave with slight bruising around his neck. "Brother… wanted to hurt Father?" he asked brokenly and it surprised me how badly I felt for a cyclops, but he was a friend after the quest for the fleece. I numbly nodded and whispered, "I swear on the Styx."
Grief and sorrow overcame the cyclops as he collapsed to his knees and sobbed. I let him to his devices and checked on Grover as he was slowly coming to. I didn't notice Percy walk carefully over to him and sit on the floor in front of him, but I heard him speak softly.
"Tyson," Percy said and the cyclops looked up with his teary eye. "I'm sorry that I killed him… but he wanted to hurt my friends and I couldn't let that happen. I don't know for certain, but there was a chance that he would have hurt you, and you're my friend, so I had to protect all of you," Percy finished and Tyson sniffled a few more times.
"Friend?" Tyson asked brokenly and Percy offered a small smile. "Yeah buddy. You're my friend and I will always do whatever I can to help and protect you," Percy said and got a small smile in return.
3rd Person POV
After the reunion and confrontation, Grover was up and heard about everything that happened, including Steven. He looked at Percy with slight fear and anger, but there was nothing he could do about it, so they moved forward and found Pan's resting place.
Pan revealed to the group that he was fading and that Grover was to spread word that he was truly dead. Grover refused heatedly for nearly half an hour before he finally relented and promised that he would. After a few explanations to his fading due to the deterioration of his domain of the Wild, he finally faded and a small amount of white mist flowed into Percy, Annabeth, Tyson, and RED and a significantly larger amount into Grover.
RED led them out of the maze and started to apologize repeatedly to everyone and especially Grover, as her father is a wealthy land developer and she felt responsible for the old god's fading. Percy and Annabeth waved her off immediately and Grover took some time to explain that while it wasn't her fault, she should try to tell her father to ease up.
"We need to get back. Now," Annabeth said and the others tried to formulate a plan as to how to get back. Percy stepped off to the side and let out a long and loud whistle. The others looked confused and Percy just shrugged. "I tried to call any Pegasi in the area. Hopefully, they-" Percy was cut off of a loud flapping of wings overhead.
'Milord,' they pegasi called in Percy's head and he quickly gave them the run down for how they needed to get back to camp ASAP, and soon enough, the 5 of them (RED called another ride to get home) were airborne and headed to camp.
Percy POV
We landed back at camp and saw that all the available campers were preparing for war. The traps were set at the entrance and preparations were nearly complete. "We need to find Chiron," Annabeth said and I took charge. "I'll handle that. They need you to check and prepare the strategy," I told her and turned to Nico. "Nico… It wouldn't hurt to have you fight with us," I said with all the hope I could muster and he looked at me for a moment.
"I'll stay to fight… Bianca would have wanted me to," he said and I gave him a stiff nod before running to the Big House. "Chiron!" I called out and the centaur wheeled out into view. "Perseus! Welcome-" he started but I cut him off. "No time. They're coming. Luke has merged with Kronos. We found Grover, Tyson, and Nico. They're here. Annabeth is preparing the campers. Quintus is Daedalus," I listed rapid fire and Chiron took it all in stride.
"And what of Steven?" he asked and he must have noticed my body tense and eyes steel themselves, but before either of us could say anything, the cheering of monsters was heard. "Shit," I muttered under my breath and sprinted out of the Big House with Chiron on my tail.
The monsters had burst through the Labyrinth and sprung the first series of traps that took out a good portion of their forces, but more just kept pouring out. I found my sisters immediately and they all yelled to me, but due to the situation, I hardly addressed them. "Stay in your high vantage points with the Apollo campers and dwindle their forces down! If you're joining the fray, don't go alone! Younger hunters stay out of the fight and pick them off! Only engage for self defense!" I yelled and they all nodded and continued their duties.
"Nice of you to join us!" Phoebe yelled at me as we both loosed arrow after arrow and I found myself chuckling. "I've been busy," I replied back and I felt her roll her eyes. I lost count of how many arrows I had fired and put my bow away. "I'm going in! Thalia, with me!" I yelled and the two of us hopped down and drew our respective weapons and flanked the forces from the right.
3rd Person POV
Despite not fighting together for very long, Percy and Thalia were a two-demigod army. Percy wielded Kurouzu and a hunting knife and Thalia her spear and Aegis as they cut through the forces with almost no effort.
Percy ducked another strike from a dracnae and slit its throat with his hunting knife as Thalia blocked a strike meant for his back and pierced the unlucky empousa's throat. After several waves of enemies, Thalia began to bring down lightning strikes that Percy used the residual energy to coat his own blades as he decapitated a pair of cyclops that thought they had him done for.
Percy took a quick survey of the field and saw Annabeth in armor calling our patterns and formations, Grover playing his pipes and tying up enemies for easy picking, and Tyson bashing anything that came close to him and the satyr.
A hulking figure came bounding through the forces and Daedalus had arrived on the back of a hellhound that Percy would later learn was his and her name was Mrs. O'Leary. A heavy stomping rumbled on the field and the campers and Percy panicked for a moment, until he saw several hands crush and through monsters around.
Percy let himself smile as Braires had come to the camp's aid for freeing him from Kampe. The smile, however, was short lived as an ear shattering roar pierced the air and another massive figure flew from the entrance to the Labyrinth. "What the-" Percy heard several campers yell as Kampe came crashing down onto the battlefield.
"It's Kampe! Stay away!" Percy yelled as her scimitars cut down several campers in one swing. Cursing under his breath, Percy fought his way to Braires. "Braires!" Percy yelled and the Hundred Handed-One looked over to the young demigod. "I know it will be hard, but I need your help with Kampe! You and I can bring her down together!" Percy yelled and Braires hesitated for a moment.
The determination set into his look and he nodded quickly and the two charged the monster. "Braires!" Kampe hissed and lunged for the Hundred Handed-One, but Percy moved quicker and blocked the strike before returning it with his own shallow cut to her arms. She hissed in pain and narrowed her gaze on him.
"I will eat you, demigod!" she roared and Percy quickly changed his plan into a dance of dodges and parries from her poison blades. As Percy did everything he could to survive, Braires tossed any rock and monster he could grab at the monster, missing most, but scoring his own hits that allowed Percy to counter Kampe's strikes.
Kampe was littered with cuts some 30 minutes later, but they were only slowing her down, and hardly much at that. 'This isn't working. I can't use Hyoton, otherwise the campers will be caught up in it,' Percy mused as he added wind to his strikes to score more and deeper slashes into the monster.
After another 15 minutes, the opportunity to finish the fight came as Grover released a loud shriek that deafened most of the camper and sent primal fear into the monsters. 'That feels like Pan,' Percy mused as it disoriented himself and Kampe enough to finish it. Braires maintained his composure and delivered at least 50 punches to Kampe's face and torso, disorienting her further allowing Percy to run up one of her arms.
As he ran up, he performed his hand seals and yelled at the top of his lungs, "Raiton: Chidori!" The lightning engulfed his right hand and he leapt for her throat and pierced the tender flesh like it was paper. Silence pregnated the battlefield and only the gurgles of Kampe and the sizzling of her flesh could be heard.
In the blink of an eye, the monsters panicked and began to retreat into the Labyrinth once more, due to Grover's Panic, but Percy didn't let up. He flipped over the dissolving corpse of Kampe and flashed through the hand seals once more. "Suiton: Suiryuudan no Jutsu!" Percy yelled and a dragon made of water that towered over everyone at 60 feet tall roared and rushed toward the entrance that the monsters retreated to.
The camper started to roar in approval after the shock of Percy's power wore off and Percy dropped to a knee to catch his breath. Annabeth quickly took charge and shouted more orders. "We can't expect them to give up! Get the wounded to the infirmary, drag the deceased off the battlefield, prepare more defenses!" Annabeth yelled and the camper scrambled to carry them out.
Percy joined Annabeth, Daedalus and Chiron to discuss the plans.
Percy POV
"I probably drowned a lot of them, but they'll be back," I said immediately and they grimly nodded. "As long as the Labyrinth is there, we won't be rid of them," Annabeth added and I could nearly feel the frustration radiating off of her. Daedalus turned to me and surprised all of us by saying, "Perseus, now would be a good time to hear your story."
"Seriously? Right now?" I asked after I blinked in surprise and he smiled a knowing smile. "Humor me," he said and I looked at Annabeth and Chiron who both shrugged. "My true father, Susano'o fell in love with my mortal mother in California, but Poseidon noticed and became jealous. He had Hera wipe her memories of Father and replaced them with Poseidon. I had already been conceived by then, but Poseidon took my mother and their essences merged into me. I watched my mother be killed by an abusive step-father and triggered my powers, killing both my mother and step-father as a result. I ran away and Artemis found me and took me in," I said quickly.
Daedalus looked surprised at first, but the shock wore off and he nodded. "The Labyrinth had survived this long because it is tied to my life. If I die, it dies," Daedalus said and I noticed Annabeth's mind working a mile minute. Daedalus turned to me once more and said, "You're right. My nephew would want me to move forward. I need to atone, so as one monster to another, take my life and the Labyrinth with it," he said and I blinked at him while I analyzed the situation myself.
'This solves the problem instantly. Enemies killed or trapped instantly and a huge blow to their forces while camp remains safe,' I deduced and steeled myself before nodding at him. Annabeth protested immediately, but Daedalus pulled out a laptop. "This is all my work. It is yours if you want your camp to survive, this must be done," he said and Annabeth opened her mouth, but no sound came out.
"Thank you," she whispered and took the laptop from him before he turned to me. "Mrs. O'Leary will need someone to look after her," he said and I nodded. I drew Kurouzu as the monsters and demigods began to reemerge from the maze. "Thank you, Daedalus," I said and ran my blade through his heart.
3rd Person POV
As soon as the blade pierced his chest, a massive earthquake struck camp, but it was felt all around North America. The Labyrinth was no more once the life faded from Daedalus' eyes and the monsters realized this. The campers, led by Clarisse, took the monster's realization as an opportunity to strike and chased down those that remained as they tried to flee.
The Battle of the Labyrinth was over and it was Olympus' victory.
Following the battle, the wounded were treated, the deceased were burned and the solemn atmosphere permeated the barrier of the camp. Chiron and the questers discussed the treachery of Steven and the other events of the quest, and later that night, Percy found himself at the beach and allowed his thoughts to run through his head.
Percy POV
'More died than I would have liked, but it was an undeniable victory. Now, for the Shinto demigod,' I thought before I sensed a presence behind me.
"Perseus," he said and I clenched my jaw and turned around. "Poseidon," I spat at him and saw him narrow his eyes at me. "Is it true that you killed Steven?" he asked and I tensed. 'There's no way I can fight him here and now,' I thought, slightly panicked.
"I did. He was working for Kronos. I told him if he threatened my family and friends that his head would roll. I also killed Antaeus while we're on the subject," I said as evenly as I could. "Antaeus was foolish for those gladiator fights in my name, but why should I believe you when you tell me my son was a traitor?" Poseidon asked with narrowed eyes and let his aura into the atmosphere around us.
"I swear it on the Styx," I said and the thunder boomed overhead, causing Poseidon to relax his aura. "But had he not been working with the Titans and still threatened my family and friends, well I make good on my promises," I said with my own eyes narrowed. We had a rather intense stare off for a moment before he turned to look out to sea.
"And why should I still not kill you where you stand now? You deny your heritage, disrespect me, and killed my son," he said near emotionlessly and I resisted the urge to scoff. "Had you wanted to kill me, you would have already. You won't because you don't want to risk war with my father while the Titans are rising, you don't want to remove Mother from your side against the Titans, and with Steven dead, I am the prophecy child," I said through clenched teeth.
He didn't look away from the sea but hummed in acknowledgement. "I did truly love your mother," he said after a long silence and I was about to explode, but he held up his hand for silence. "I acted rashly after I discovered Susano'o, but I did love her and regardless of how everything happened, you still are my son too," he said and I clenched my teeth so hard I nearly cracked a tooth.
I remembered Akkorokamui-sama and Zoe's words before I exploded and took a deep breath. "You acted rashly and set me on this path. I will never forgive you for that and I will never accept you as my father," I told him evenly and took another breath. "But I killed my mother, not you," I told him and he looked at me in shock.
"I have come to terms with what I have done and seeing as our fates are intertwined with this prophecy and our lineage, I will… try to… tolerate your existence in my life," I said finally and turned to leave. I took a few steps before he called out to me again.
"Perseus," he said and I looked over my shoulder. "Happy Birthday," he added and disappeared into sea spray. I stood there for a few moments and shook my head. 'Gods my life is twisted,' I thought as I went back to Mother's cabin.
As soon as I stepped inside, the lights were flicked on and confetti was in my face and hair. "Happy Birthday!" they all yelled and I couldn't fight the smile that rapidly overtook my face.
3rd Person POV
The hunters celebrated with Percy for a few hours with cake and a few gifts and games, but it was just what Percy needed to get his mind off of the conversation with Poseidon. The atmosphere was so full of joy and familial love, that Percy didn't even care to think about the problem of the Shinto demigod as he drifted off to sleep.
But that was still a problem that was approaching faster than he could hope.
AN: Chapter 17! Sorry for the late posting, truthfully I get lazy and unmotivated.
Some announcements: I will take awhile to post this story again (purposely this time) As I need to plan how to introduce the Shinto demigod. I will ask that if you voted for the Harem you recast the vote as being raised by Artemis, a Harem would certainly not be Percy's style. Also I'm on the fence about giving him Sharingan still so thoughts please!
I'll try to finish my other stories quickly and get on that Fairy Tail crossover update and revision as well as the other stories I promised to do!
Until next time!