"Perseus Jackson, you stand here today before the Council to discuss your actions on the night of June Twenty-First. On that night, you committed the murders of no less than seven demigods, despite no prior aggravations. How do you plead?" If you had asked Percy Jackson how he would be spending his Friday night, he would not have told you being tried for murder by godly deities. Of course, nothing he did went according to plan, so that was where he ended up.

"Like I said, Lord Zeus, they were servants of Gaea. They dissolved into the earth as soon as I killed them. And "no prior aggravations" my ass, they threatened me to Hades and back with-" He was interrupted by the King of the Gods, who was barely refraining from killing him on the spot.

"I asked HOW DO YOU PLEAD! I did not ask for your lies your stories, mortal. Do not act like you are better than us." Percy scoffed at the nature of the egotistical God of the Skies.

"I plead guilty-"

"See there, brothers and sisters! Guilty!"

"-to saving my camp from seven traitors, and, by the Gods, Zeus, I would do it again. Just because you had another child who was part of that group does not mean that they were not traitors. Hades, he was the leader of it!"

"Silence, demigod! As you have plead guilty, I will now issue your sentence!" This was met by uproar from the other gods and goddesses of the council.

"Brother, you can not simply sentence him without hearing everything he has had to say! He has told you his reasoning, and it was true! They returned to the earth as soon as they were slain, I have seen this with my own eyes!" This came from Poseidon, the father of the demigod in question. Hades was now allowed on the council due to Percy's wish at the end of the second war, but could not form an opinion. He knew the effects the killing of a human could have on a person's soul, no matter the reason.

"You are biased, brother, for the traitor is your son. Be silent."

On the other side sat Hera, who could not go against her husband, no matter what she thought. While the boy showed slight insolence to her, she could put it aside by attributing it to the influence of that Annie girl, who seemed to hate her no matter what she did. Demeter was also against the boy, as one of her children was also in the group, and she mourned the loss of her child. Hestia, the last of the elder gods and goddesses, was stoutly with Percy, as she knew for a fact that the seven killed had been in self-defense, as they were traitors to Olympus, and a threat to the rest of their children.

Moving on, Apollo knew he was biased, but he supported Percy, despite one of his children, a daughter, being part of the group. His daughter who had been killed was rotten to the core - while he could not directly interact with her, he could still discern that much. And, as the God of Truth, he could tell that Percy was not lying about anything that he had said, except perhaps that he would do it again if the need arose. The blood on Percy's hands was affecting him already, and that was how Apollo knew without a doubt that he was innocent. "Father, he is telling the truth!"

"Silence, Apollo! I know that you do not like me, my son, but at least let us condemn this murderer!" Apollo just shook his head, disgusted by the man he called his father.

Across from him, his twin sister Artemis was currently torn between voting with the hero or her father. While she had no ties with any of the seven killed, one of the females had been a virgin, and she believed that, given the chance, she could've been saved, but, instead, she was now dead. However, she also knew that he was right in his actions, and he shouldn't be sentenced to literal Hell for doing the right thing, as that was no doubt what her father was planning to do.

Aphrodite was simply against the boy to make his love life harder. After all, his girlfriend, Annabeth, would no doubt join him in Tartarus as he had done for her, right? And what was more romantic than a boy and a girl in love, fighting together against anything and everything? Of course, it wasn't because she was bitter at him for not wanting to sleep with her. Because everyone wanted to sleep with her. She was the prettiest woman on the planet, right? Right...?

Hephaestus also lost a daughter in the seven, the maiden that was influencing Artemis, and, although Percy had helped them out, and was a friend of one of his favorite children, Leo, he simply could not let the death of his daughter go unnoticed. He could have brought them in without killing them, at the very least!

Ares had also lost a son, but even if he hadn't, it wouldn't have changed his answer: "Guilty as charged, Pops. Look at him. He even said he'd do it again. He's a danger to Olympus, throw him in the Pit." Of course, Ares didn't really think that the punk was dangerous, he just loved to see the weaklings squirm, and the runt had the audacity to best him in combat. He could rot for all Ares cared.

Dionysus voted with his father - an attempt to appease him to hopefully reduce his sentence at the blasted camp. Athena also voted with her father - she had lost a son, which only fueled her rage against the sea spawn, overpowering any instinct to adhere to her domains and think her thoughts through. The hatred of Poseidon and his children, the loss of her son, as well as that dreaded Perseus dating her dater - it was all too much to handle. With him out of the picture, many problems would be solved, and her children avenged. "Of course we must throw him into the Pit, father. He has murdered seven demigods. What is to stop him from killing the rest of our children under the pretense of them being traitors? He obviously suffers from PTSD, but that is no excuse."

Last was Hermes. He had lost two children, a son and a daughter. And yet, despite having more of a reason than any other god to hate Percy, he just couldn't do it. The boy had tried his hardest to do everything before killing those seven kids, just like he had tried to do everything to save Hermes' other son, Luke. He knew that the seven were servants of Gaea, and, in the end, none were repentant. His own children had followed each and every word that had come out of damn Marcus' mouth, eager to please the son of the King of the Gods.

And so, the vote was tallied, although one could expect that even if it had not gone in his favor, Zeus would have banished the boy anyway. "Any last words, Perseus? And, just so you know, so you may be tortured for eternity, and just because it would ruin you even more, you will be granted immortality as you descend into the Pit." Zeus smirked at his 'logic'.

Percy took a slow look around the room of arranged gods and goddesses. His father was looking down and crying, tiny droplets of salt water forming and falling to the throne below. Percy could feel the seas around the world in turmoil. Hestia was openly sobbing at the prospect of losing her favorite demigod, perhaps, forever. Apollo and Artemis both had their eyes closed, wishing they could do more for the hero. It seemed, at the end of the day, no matter how they got there, their minds remained connected.

On the other hand, he could see Demeter's morose expression, knew that she wished she didn't feel like it was necessary to banish him, but in the end, she had. Ares looked as triumphant as ever, finally getting to see his rival beaten down. He looked into Athena's eyes, the ones he felt most betrayed by - he had thought that he had finally proved to her that he was worthy of her daughter, but apparently not. He could see there the little flecks of alarm and grief that had started to poke through the haze surrounding her mind - hints of the wisdom she truly possessed breaking through, seconds too late. And Zeus.

Zeus was... interesting. It seemed that he had been thrown into a blind rage by the death of his son. For a second, Percy sympathized with him. Then he remembered that he was being eternally damned by him, and threw that care out of the window. Taking a deep breath, he spoke.

"To those who voted against me, for many of you, I understand your thought process. Some of you, I do not blame. I wish you could see the proof and the truth. To those who voted for me, thank you. If I ever get out of this mess, maybe this will be something we can laugh about one day. Dad, I'm sorry I couldn't be a better son. Please, don't tell my mom that I've been sentenced to Tartarus. Let her think that I am a terrible child, that I hate her, anything but this. And please, move on from me. Don't let your emotions wreak havoc on the people, it's not their fault. Lastly... Zeus. My Lord, I'm sorry for the loss of your son. I really am. But... one day you will realize that this was the wrong choice. And, I swear it on the River Styx, I will be there to witness it." Thunder flashed in the background, signaling the oath's creation. "And, since I'm already eternally damned anyways, I'm free to say this... fuck you, almighty Zeus." Percy flipped him the bird, and as the Pit opened behind him, and Zeus rose to strike him in with his bolt, he looked at one last person, Lady Hestia, who had an arm extended towards him with a light orange glow. Even as he was hit by the bolt, and could feel himself pushed into literal Hell, he could still feel that orange light washing over him, providing him with a slight feel of heat, as well as calm, as he fell, smoking, towards the worst place on Earth, for the second time that year.

As he fell, Percy couldn't help but think, 'Damn, this would all be real anti-climatic if I died as soon as I fell.' Of course, this wasn't to be, as he could feel the immortality kicking in halfway through the drop, which was also probably the reason why he had survived the strike from the Master Bolt.

As it was, he just had to draw the moisture in from the atmosphere around him, which was actually really humid for some reason, in an attempt to slow his descent. What he did not expect, however, was a tug in his naval which was unfamiliar to him, and definitely not the accompanying flames that started to pour out of his feet at such a rate that his descent slowed, and after a few moments he started to actually start moving back up. And then the flames sputtered, and he started to lose altitude again. 'Alright, that was new...' he thought, 'what the Hades did Hestia do to me?'

With a few more attempts, he managed to coax the flames back, although they were nowhere near as strong as before, and just barely avoided splatting into a pancake with a combination of the flame propellants and the water shield that he had managed to obtain from the atmosphere around him. Above him, he could only watch as the entrance he came from closed itself off.

Shaking his head, Percy started to move - perks of having ADHD, he could never stay still anyways. He didn't know where he was going, but figured that he would find something eventually. As he moved, he started to think about what Hestia had done to him. For a long time, he couldn't figure it out - and then he thanked his lucky constellations that he was sometimes listening to Annabeth when she talked about the most random of things, because, one time, she had mentioned champions.

Gods could choose champions, who gained many things, such as an overall boost to physical attributes and intelligence (which was probably why Percy was even able to remember all of this stuff anyway), and also characteristics of the god or goddess' abilities. Now, Percy just had to remember Hestia's abilities... she was normally just so peaceful, it was slightly difficult to remember her doing anything other than being diplomatic, or caring for her hearth.

Luckily or unluckily, as all the thinking was starting to hurt his brain, Percy managed to run into a group of monsters. Actually, it was slightly crazy that he had traveled for over an hour without finding any monsters, but he attributed it to Zeus finding the most desolate landing place to throw him.

The group was made up of two hellhounds and a cyclops - not favorable odds for a normal demigod, but Percy wasn't a normal demigod... and after his fall from Olympus, not even a demigod at all, actually. Uncapping Riptide, which he had luckily been allowed to keep, he grinned - finally, some action! He could only think for so long before getting bored.

The cyclops saw the sword and let out a booming laugh. "How the Hero of Olympus has fallen... Welcome to the Pit... Brother..." He smirked, and charged, followed by the two hellhounds. Percy grit his teeth, and swung his sword, surprisingly with much more ease than before. Perhaps another side effect of the blessing? The first hellhound was cleaved in half, letting out a yelp of surprise, sadly reminding Percy of Mrs. O' Leary. The second hellhound leaped back, and the cyclops came running in. Raising its club over its head, the monster brought it down on Percy, who tried to block it...

Only to feel the bones in his left hand crack slightly as he redirected the blow. 'Note to self...' Percy thought, 'Enhanced strength does NOT mean enhanced durability...' Luckily, he was immortal now, so, with any luck, or even just adherence to the normal rules of godly logic, his hand would be as good as new in a few hours. But... right now, he was a hand down against a cyclops and a hellhound.

He jumped forward, surprising the two monsters, and cut off the left leg of the cyclops with a side slash, leaving the monster unable to move without falling over. Seeing him distracted, the hellhound jumped at him, intent on clawing his back, only for Percy to whirl around and decapitate it with a single blow. He smirked, and turned back to the cyclops, finishing him off quickly. He started running, seeing the gold dust of the first hellhound starting to swirl back up - after all, no monster stayed dead for too long in Tartarus.

As he ran, he remembered something that Lady Hestia had once told him. "The hearth has the power to harm as well as heal, Young Perseus." At the time, Percy had just wanted her to stop calling him 'Perseus', but now, it had more importance to him. He tried to focus the power he had felt before into his left hand, but, logic filling the gaps he had missed, fire came out instead, the rush of power through his hand hurting it even more in the process.

He grit his teeth to hold back a scream, knowing the pain and emotions that came from it would already be attracting some monsters to his location. He tried again, this time focusing the power to stay inside his hand, and hopefully not explode it or something. Miraculously, he felt another wave of heat flow to his hand, and suddenly, the bones started to repair themselves, and the tissues and tendons started to pull back together, However, there was an unexpected drawback to using a goddess' power in a place full of the enemies of the gods and goddesses.

As soon as his hand finished healing, there were multiple flashes of light around him. Percy looked around him to see multiple Titans, such as Hyperion, and Krios, and, of course, at the head...

"Why, hello there, grandson of mine... how nice of you to... drop in." Kronos cackled.

Here, my attempt to create a 'Percy falls into Tartarus' story with an actually balanced Percy, since most of the ones I've found he's either pathetically weak, unreasonably strong, or highly mentally unstable. Next chapter will be him out of the Pit, and roaming around America (will do flashbacks to try and make it up to this point in Tartarus over time) until he is finally caught by Artemis and the Hunters. Yes, this will be a Percy with the Hunt story. No, it will not be a Pertemis... probably. Even though I like the ship, he now has a vendetta against the gods, and will be placed under the Hunt's 'care' and more of a watchful eye to make sure he is not going to turn against Olympus, although it is also twenty years later. No time changing in Tartarus, yay, despite what the first book said about the Lotus Casino and monsters gathering yada yada yada.

TO BE CLEAR, Percy is not going to be blessed by Chaos or some shit. No Chaos in this story. Yippee. He isn't going to have wings or anything like that. He has been blessed by Hestia in an attempt to save his life. While he will gain slight pyrokinesis, he isn't going to suddenly be able to create miniature suns. He will probably be able to conjure up enough fire to mix it in with his normal fighting, and through constant torture and spars with titans and stuff will gain more combat skill. The healing I gave him is not instantaneous, not broken, and not easy to do. I'm trying to keep him balanced. Also, yes, he will be able to summon food - Not godly ambrosia and nectar, because that's dumb, but some simple home cooked meals for himself. He's not going to be able to just clap his hands and ta-da, a meal for forty appears on the banquet table, enjoy your feast.

Ah, yes, another thing - he won't take too kindly to being taken advantage of by the hunters. He will try to bear with it, because that is the type of person he is, and that won't have changed too much over the two decades he has been gone. But he will snap. He won't be their errand boy and chore boy, and definitely won't roll over because of some infatuation with Artemis. Jesus Christ, I love me a well written Pertemis story, but all this stupidity over people changing their entire personalities over the course of a few weeks is just mind-boggling to me. Sorry, that's all for this little rant.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Review and favorite if you liked it, if you didn't, feel free to tell me where I went wrong!

Thanks,
PJO Fan Power.

Chapter finished 11:22 PM, September Thirtieth, 2019.
Total word count: 3,313 words.