Luckily, Percy was given a clue of where to look for the Fates by Chaos. When she told him, "You can find the Fates if you know where to look," the image immediately popped into his mind.
Percy was just outside of New York. He remembered this place from all of his rides to Yancy Academy, as well as the one on the way back, where the bus crashed with him and Grover. In fact, this was the first place he met the Fates. Where they cut the lifeline of someone's yarn, which he later realized symbolized Luke's death.
He didn't know if they would be there, but he decided to take a look. Beyond that, he really had no clue what to do. Was it supposed to be hard to merely take all of their things? She said he could also kill them, but he didn't want to have to do that if possible.
He walked through the forest for a while, and heard a large snip noise. He remembered hearing that sound years ago. In front of him sat the Fates. They didn't seem to notice he was there. He devised a quick plan for taking all of their stuff. He would will some water from a nearby pond to encapsulate their feet and then pin them in place when frozen. Then, he would simply grab their things.
He turned on his Ring of Gyges and moved from tree to tree without a sound. He willed the water from a pond and froze them in place.
They noticed their situation and started yelling.
"Who dares to defy the Fates," one of them shrieked.
"No one can pull tricks on us. We control your destiny," another one said.
Then the one on the right had a moment of understanding. "Unless it's Percy Jackson," she wailed.
All of them started to scream and shout his name. "We know it's you," they told him. He decided to turn off his ring since they couldn't move.
"There he is," they hissed. He opened up his arms in a semi-taunting fashion.
"That's right, I'm here. I've waited for this day for a while. It's because of your guys' stupid system that I've been forced to live my life in solitude. I'm done with that," he said. As he spoke, he noticed his emotions starting to build.
"And what do you think you're going to do? What happens when we go away, you foolish mortal?" she asked him.
He thought about the question for a second. "I'm going to let people decide how they want to live their lives. As things are now, they are merely the pawns on your chessboard. That isn't right, and you know it."
The one on the right shook her head. "You foolish boy. Don't you get it. If we don't control the events of nature, everything will spur into chaos. The world as we know it will be burned to the ground."
"What about me?" he asked rhetorically. "Apparently I'm a part of this chaos, yet I haven't seemed to wrong anyone. In fact, I've done my best to help people in the process."
The middle one narrowed her eyes at him. "Do you really think that your intentions are as pure as they seem, boy? You think you do these things solely from the good of your heart? Who exactly have you been serving?" she asked. They had no clue what he had been doing with his life, since his timeline was disconnected from them.
"I've been serving the Hunt, trying to clean things and fix problems when I can," he replied. He didn't know why they cared what he was doing.
The one on the left pointed her crooked finger at him. "See, that's the problem. You think you are doing things with goodness in mind. Yet you are choosing to serve the one you love. You act out of selfishness. If you couldn't see that maiden goddess, you wouldn't be happy. You're not helping them. You are helping yourself in your life of loneliness."
Percy stood there in silence. He didn't know what to say. He thought that his intentions were pure, but after further examination, maybe him 'helping' Artemis was only because he cared for her, and that it made him feel good in the process.
The middle one spoke again. "Imagine the whole Earth was as self-interested as you. They only did things for the one's they loved. By the one, they only do that to be loved in return. Ultimately, every action is a reflection back on their own, personal yearnings. We prevent that from happening. So you tell us. Why should we put our faith in self-interested humans who would watch ten people die if it meant only one of their friends being saved? Why give them that choice? "
"Why give you guys the choice? It's not like you have made perfect decisions. I remember Luke dying to save us. I remember Annabeth dying a horrendous death. And that was all part of your system of order. Why would anyone want that?" By this point, Percy had tears in his eyes over the thought of Annabeth. What happened to her was terrible.
He continued, "If you guys were so good at your job, why would you have let me perform that fading spell to begin with, if you knew the consequences?" he asked them. At this point, he was essentially shouting.
"Percy Jackson, we may not have control over you now, but even that was a part of Nature's order. You act like we direct every event. No, we merely steer people in the right direction and they make the decision we want every, single, time. They think it's of their own choosing, but it's not. But when Annabeth died, we did not perceive your loyalty to be so strong. Your level of power and will matched ours in that moment, so we could only watch you do those stupid, idiotic things. That had never happened before. Not by a god, not by a titan. But we lost control over you in that moment. And look at all the suffering it has caused you because of it," one of them spoke.
Percy's tears began to fade. "And I did the best I could at every step afterwards. You guys don't know my intentions. And you are equally foolish to guess others' intentions as well," he said.
The middle one spoke. "Very well, let's put it to the test. If you are correct, that humans are good as they say, then we will give you all of our powers to destroy. If you are wrong, we ask you to let us continue our duties ordained by Order himself."
He nodded his head. "I accept on your conditions."
The middle one spoke, "Very well. Because we cannot control you, we will have to do everything here."
Once she said that, things got weird. In front of Percy appeared two red circles.
"Now Percy, perhaps you have heard of the Trolley Problem. If there is a train on target to run into three people, but you can move the switch to kill one person instead, do you do it?" the one on the right spoke.
"But that problem is outdated and could be improved. So we present to you, the following." She snapped her fingers, and Percy's eyes widened. In front of Percy were only two people, one in each circle. To his right he saw his mother. She looked surprised and scared that she was just teleported in the middle of nowhere. Then she saw Percy, and her eyes widened.
"Percy, my boy. I haven't seen you in years." She started to cry and tried to run up to Percy, but there was an invisible barrier preventing her from doing so.
He looked to his left, and his heart dropped twelve stories.
Artemis.
She looked at him and showed the same level of shock. She stuck her arms out and realized that she was also stuck.
"Percy," she called out to him. He saw her silver eyes start to shake, and tears had began to fall.
Percy looked above him, and his heart dropped all the way to Tartarus.
Above them was a giant crane holding an enormous, spiked ball made of Celestial Bronze.
Percy looked at the Fates. "What is this? Are you guys insane?!" he asked.
The middle one spoke. "You accepted this, Percy Jackson. If you want to prove the good of humanity and other beings, all that we ask of you is to make a choice. This isn't a moral dilemma of killing one to save the many. This is a moral dilemma of who you should chose to pick between the two you love the most. Beyond that, it is a moral dilemma of if you should make a choice at all, to cause your erroneous notion of free will to come into fruition."
The one on the right spoke. "And you should know, that spike has been cursed with the same spell that you decided to use against Hyperion. Your mother would die by the weight alone. But Artemis, on the other hand, she will go as well. Perhaps Artemis would die even worse than your mother, who will at least go to the afterlife. But then again, should a boy ever chose a man-hating girl who isn't even his girlfriend over his own mother? The one who raised for him and took care of him when no one else would?"
Both Artemis and Sally tried to talk, but the Fates must have prevented them from doing that. But they must have been able to listen, as he saw both of them pointing at themselves, mouthing the words 'pick me'. Percy wanted to crumple up like a worthless piece of paper.
"Again, Mr. Jackson, you are offered two levels of choices," the one on the left spoke. "You can choice between the two, or not at all. But only one of these circumstances gives you the ability to set humans free. And you are the very example to prove whether or not they deserve it. So tell us, Mr. Jackson, what is your choice?"
Percy immediately started to puke. He wiped his face from the bile and tears and snot. It wasn't pretty.
In front of him appeared a lever on a pedestal. The lever could be moved left, to 'Artemis', right to 'Sally', or upwards, to forfeit the choice.
If Percy's mind could be exemplified by anything, it would be a children's artwork full of scribbles and colors going outside the lines. He didn't know how to think of this. The decision was ultimately his. He didn't know what the right answer was. It was either kill his mom, kill Artemis, or prevent anyone from ever making a choice of their own (it also meant him not being able to see any one again and having to go back to being invisible around Artemis, but that wasn't even in his mind at the moment).
"What will it be, Mr. Jackson?" they asked in unison.
"Kill your mother to give all beings free will?" the one on the right asked.
"Kill Artemis, the one you love, to give all beings free will?" the one on the left asked.
"Or to not make a choice, to save them both but never let anyone have freedom of choice. To live the rest of your life alone to prevent sheer chaos?" the middle one asked.
Percy thought about it, and then smirked. "Why don't I just chose that last one and then talk to them anyways? You won't be able to do anything about it anyways?" he answered, appearing pretty happy with his response.
The one on the right shook her head. "Foolish boy. Try that, see how it works. Who will you talk to first? Artemis or your mother? If you talk to Sally, give her free will and prevent us from affecting her, then we will simply make Artemis fade in the meantime."
The one on the left spoke up, "Or chose to talk to Artemis, and your mother will surely be dead by the time you try and meet her."
He looked at them angrily. "You tyrants! You evil, terrible people!" he yelled at them. The earth started to shake, and a hurricane appeared around them. Yet the Fates didn't seem to be phased by his rage.
The one in the middle of spoke. "And don't worry, we will never give you the opportunity to meet both of them at the same, to prevent either of those situations from occurring."
The wind was roaring, probably eighty miles an hour. Percy was as mad as the day Annabeth died. He looked to the Fates in fury.
The Fates eyes glowed white. "Make a choice now, Mr. Jackson. It may be the last free choice anyone will ever witness."
Percy looked at the lever, and then to the women in front of him.
His mother had raised him. She did everything to make his childhood a good one. He remembered all the times she cooked him her famous blue chocolate chip cookies, or when she would bring home candy after work for them to enjoy. She was his life. And then he never was able to see her again. Could he ever live with himself not seeing his mother for years and then not being able to explain to her what happened?
And then there was Artemis, who literally stole his heart. He loved her through and through. He had no idea how she felt about him, but every time he saw her silver eyes and auburn hair, he wanted to take a picture of her and look at it for the rest of his life. His dance with her kept replaying in his head. He would do anything to have that moment once again.
And then there was everyone. Did he let his mother and Artemis go to prevent everyone from living their own lives. He knew what it was like for demigods who were forced into prophecies. He was the one who gave Luke the knife. Luke would still be alive if the Fates hadn't forced him to die. Same with Annabeth. Did he let this continue, where people died for no reason other than the whims of Fate?
He looked at the lever. Tears flooded from his face. His eyes were puffed up and red. He started to cry. He couldn't control any of his emotions. He wiped his face one more time. He looked at the two of them with disappointment, and he pushed the lever.
And the weight fell towards Artemis.
Woah woah woah. That was so fun to write. Wow. I hope you enjoyed. Please let me know what you think about this chapter. Yowza! Have a great day, thank you for reading.