'I wonder if she knows that these chains can't hold me?' Percy thought. 'Of course she does, she's not that stupid... right?' He contemplated that for a second. Being able to do nothing but wait for many years had killed most of his impulsive nature. He marched up to the Throne Room, a magnificent structure that Percy recalled being awestruck at the first time he had seen it.

Oh, all those years ago. Of course, the awe faded quickly back then, when he had remembered that he was there to hopefully not die for something he had nothing to do with. Now, there was just indifference. His 'fate' had been given in the room before him. He had sunk into the Pit from the highest point possible.

All of the sudden, the doors blew open. He walked in slowly, being led by Artemis, who lifted an ethereal silver bow and shot a streaking silver arrow into the sky, where it flashed into thirteen different colors, which all went separate directions. "Oh, fireworks," Percy smiled. "Yippee." Artemis shot him a confused glance, no doubt wondering if he had been turned insane by his time in the pit. It was possible, but unlikely.

It took about two minutes before the first god flashed in. "Percy..." Hermes breathed, unable to form a full sentence at seeing the Son of Poseidon back.

"Lord Hermes," Percy acknowledged. He respected the god for having seen reason even throughout the deaths of his children. But the God of Travelers was wary.

"There's only two ways back from the Pit. Tell me, have you joined Kronos or Gaea?" Percy looked appalled.

"Of course not! I spent a long time with dear ol' pops though. Wasn't too fun. Hey, isn't he your grandpa also, now that I think about it?" Hermes nodded warily. "Oh well. Family issues, huh?" Hermes was saved from responding by another flash in the air, this time, Athena. She surveyed the room quickly.

"Artemis, why have you called..." She trailed off, finally landing her eyes on the one she had banished to Hell. "Percy..." She spoke, taking in the chains. Grief filled her eyes, and Percy noted the weakened aura around her. It appeared that her actions had taken their toll on her.

"Oh, if it isn't the goddess of Unwisdom herself," Percy sneered. The betrayal two decades ago did not fade easily, and throughout his time with Kronos, Athena had been the one targeted most. Artemis appeared and smacked the back of his head lightly, forcing his chin down. He rolled his eyes. "Whatever."

Athena looked like she wanted to approach him, but she held back. She saw his fingers twitching, and the forced smile on his face. It would not be wise, she decided, somewhat ironically. Another flash signified the arrival of another goddess, Aphrodite. She was immediately all over Percy.

"Oh my, Artemis, who is this hot hunk of meat you've brought? Someone finally to catch your eye?" She winked at Artemis, who grew slightly enraged by the question, but breathed in deeply to try and sate her anger. Aphrodite then made her way over to Percy, still not recognizing him. "Hey there big guy. I don't know what you did to make little Arty over here mad at you, but I'm sure if you helped me... scratch an itch, this could all blow away, if you know what I mean." She winked and blew Percy a kiss.

Without looking up, Percy deadpanned, "No." Aphrodite blinked in response, but attributed it to him not having seen her body.

"Why don't you look at me, sweetheart? I'm sure we can figure something out." She hugged her arms under her breasts to accentuate them more, but the dark-haired man refused to even glance at her. She tried again, charmspeaking, "Wouldn't you just love to take me out to dinner somewhere, maybe have a few drinks, and maybe share some... privacy?" She poured the charmspeak into her words.

Finally, the prisoner looked up at her, making her jump away in fright. "Fuck off, Aphrodite." Aphrodite's eyes widened, remembering the misdeed he had done to him on his judgment day.

"P-Percy!" She squeaked. "I-I'm so sor-" He cut her off.

"Save it. I know what you tried to do. Leave me alone before I decide the rest aren't worth it." He muttered. The goddess obliged, practically running away to her throne as the rest of the gods flashed in. After about three more minutes, the rest of the gods were finally assembled.

"Daughter, why have you called this meeting?" The King of the Gods spoke. Even through his immortality, the signs of stress were showing. Throughout his blond hair were streaks of gray, and his eyes looked tired.

"Well," The Goddess of the Hunt started her story, "I was making my way to Camp Half-Blood with my hunters, we were making our annual trip. However, outside, we noticed a man bringing a child into camp. But this man had no godly presence, yet a large amount of power, and seemingly a hatred towards the camp itself. So, of course, I stopped him, and detained him."

"And he came with you, just like that?" Apollo spoke from his throne, encouraging his sister to speak more, who sighed in response.

"No. I surrounded him with my hunters, and he caught some of them off-guard and knocked them out. I chased him down and then beat him in combat." Apollo detected the last part as a half truth, but decided to let it slide. He didn't need to air his older sister's dirty laundry.

"Get to the point, Artemis. Who is this man?" Zeus questioned his daughter. Artemis stared her father directly in the eyes and took a deep breath.

"He's the only one who can help us win this war, father..." She trailed off, collecting herself. "Perseus Jackson." There was an tumult immediately. Most of the gods scrambled for their weapons, while Hestia smirked, his father's eyes widened in joy, and Zeus... sighed in relief? That last part was surprising. Hades nodded in approval, no doubt having sensed him leaving Tartarus immediately.

Ares rushed at him, having gained a spear and shield. "Ares, stop." Came the voice of Zeus. It wasn't worried, wasn't paranoid, just absolute. He turned to Percy, and shrunk down to a humanoid size, walking towards the young man. "Nephew, it is good to see you. I was worried that you planned on avoiding us entirely." Percy raised an eyebrow.

"What's that supposed to mean?" He was very confused, raising an eyebrow at the thunder god walking closer to him. Zeus shook his head and laughed, confusing the rest of the gods now, too. The blond-haired man had seemed nearly depressed for the past few months, so this was highly out of character, and towards Percy no less.

"You truly are dense," the god said in wonder. "How else do you think you made it out of the Pit?" Athena's eyes widened, followed by Percy's. That had been a question on his mind. He had been wandering before he had been able to make it back to the land of the dead, and then the living after that.

"Only a god or titan has enough power to open a hole into Tartarus..." Athena whispered.

"Or out of it..." Percy finished. "I see. Thank you, uncle. I assume that my father and Hades were in on this as well?" The two mentioned nodded, reaffirming what Zeus had said.

"You should never have gone in there. Hecate has been stripped of her domains and godhood, I assure you." Percy tilted his head, the chains behind him rattling.

"Why?" Was the simple question he asked. Athena sighed and took it as her time to shine. She shrunk down to mortal form and approached Percy, keeping a close eye on his bound hands.

"She was enlisted by Gaea as a last resort if she failed. At the very least, she wanted to take you down, so she had Hecate enchant some of us to... vote against you." Percy stared at her, his eyes piercing almost into her very soul.

"Bullshit."

"I swear it on the Styx." Thunder rumbled in the background. Percy nodded, the angered look on his face not disappearing.

"Who was enchanted?"

"Zeus, Hephaestus, Hermes, Aphrodite, and... me." Percy's eyes narrowed.

"So... Hermes could fight it off, and the rest of you couldn't? Hades, Hermes had the most reason out of all of you to convict me!"

"It's not that simple-" Athena started, but was cut off by Percy's angered yelling.

"It seems pretty simple to me! You're pathetic, Athena. I'm disappointed that I ever planned to call you "Mom"." Athena choked back a sob, while Aphrodite gasped. All of the sudden, the chains around the son of the sea's arms burst. He grinned as he felt the sensation of being 'fully awake' again, reminding him of the start of his forced training.

"Get up." A voice came into Percy's groggy head. He tried to look around at his surroundings, but everything was dark.

"Five more minutes..." he groaned, inexplicably tired. All of the sudden, a foot made contact with his side, and his body flashed in pain. So, he either wasn't at home, or had time-traveled back to when Gabe was still alive. He tried to move his arms, but found that they were shackled together. So, not Gabe, then. He had always been too dumb to know how to lock anything up.

Finally his eyes adjusted to the dim light, and his memories started coming back to him. Falling into the Pit, fighting the Titans, losing to Kronos... being captured. A sense of hopelessness washed over him as he made his way to his feet. The sting in his side faded quickly, but he was jostled into a room. The guard who had been moving him finally faced him, and Percy found it was some sort of hog-human hybrid.

"Wow, someone's been taking their ugly pills." He said. The hybrid had the face and snout of a pig, the body of a human, and cleft feet. The hybrid grunted and smacked Percy across the face before unlocking his the cuffs around his wrists. Percy immediately punched the monster, and then wished he hadn't. The cheekbones were incredibly durable, apparently. The monster grinned maliciously before holding up a small remote and pointing at Percy's neck.

He looked down, and noticed a collar he had missed before. His head shot back up, but it was already too late. Electricity sizzled across his skin, thousands of watts going through his body, much more than Thalia had ever blasted him with. He fell to the ground, convulsing. "Don't attempt to escape, or we will take disciplinary action." The monster spoke in a monotone voice, although his eyes flashed with glee - and a challenge. 'Do it. Try it. Just try it.' They begged. Percy knew well enough that it was a trap.

"That collar serves as tracking, punishment, and also containment. Wherever you go, whatever you do, we will know." Ah, that explained why he could only access about a tenth of his power. It was probably due to the amount of Celestial Bronze that had been put into the device. The pig then held up a familiar pen. "Do you want your weapon or not?" Percy's eyes widened.

"How did you manage to... what...?" Riptide had always returned to him, no matter what. The pig snorted.

"Sewed up your pockets. Honestly, your minds are so narrow." It was true. Riptide returned to his pocket, but if he had no pockets... Apparently it stayed where it was. He made a grab for the sword, but his guard pulled it away, and then chucked it at the wall. "Fetch."

Percy made a run for his weapon, leaning down to grab it. As soon as his fingers closed around it, he heard the hybrid say, "Have fun." He whirled around quickly, but another wall had appeared behind him, and when he turned back around, the wall that Riptide had run into had disappeared. He took a few tentative stepped forward. He made his way into an arena, where hundreds, perhaps thousands of monsters sat in the stands.

"And for your newest contender, fresh from upstairs..." An announcers voice boomed throughout the arena, but Percy could care less, since as soon as he had stepped in, he had felt some more of his power return to him. "Peeeeerseus... Jaaaacksooon!" Percy, hearing his name, started looking around, before finally realizing what he had been forced into. Across the arena, the Nemean Lion roared and stamped his foot.

Percy swore and thought, 'Fresh out of astronaut food, damn it.'

Sorry if this doesn't really seem to fit too well. I had to try a few different versions before I decided on this. I'm just trying to get to the good stuff - war and brutality. And stuff. So, the gods aren't entirely responsible for their actions. Unsurprising, since their actions had seemed odd even then. However, Percy isn't about to forgive them immediately. He appreciates Zeus due to Zeus getting him out of Tartarus, meaning that he had at least seen he was wrong. Still doesn't mean he forgives him.