POV: Annabeth
Another year passed and still no sign of Percy.
The gods still came, and together they still talked for hours for as to how to save him. The only thing that was different this year was that neither Nico nor his father attended.
This left a sour taste in Annabeth's mouth.
How could they give up so easily? They had only been searching for two years and they had already decided they had better things to do? Well screw them.
The rest of the gods and heroes attended, and Annabeth was grateful for that.
After they defeated Gaea, Annabeth and the other crew members of the Argo II were made immortal.
Under other circumstances Annabeth would never have agreed, but with Percy gone, it seemed she had no other option.
They were in the middle of Artemis' explanation of her findings when Nico emerged from the shadows followed closely by his father.
Nico and Hades had grown steadily closer. To the point where Nico now ruled beside him in the Underworld. He even had his own tiny throne at the foot of his father's up in Olympus. In fact, they all did.
Nico stumbled after emerging from the shadows, and his body began to faze between physical and ghostly. It was scary. This usually only happened to him after he had exerted a great amount of energy, so he greatly peaked Annabeth's interest.
His father placed a hand on Nico's shoulder, and he was immediately grounded back into the physical world.
He looked up with a grateful nod before turning back around and addressing the meeting.
"Something's wrong".
The effect was instantaneous. The gods looked distressed and began to talk among themselves while tears formed in Poseidon's eyes and he quickly tried to wipe them away without anybody noticing.
The effect on the demigods was worse. From Nico's tone of voice, everybody immediately assumed that he meant that they had found his soul in the Underworld, which meant he had died.
Nico seemed to realise this and so interrupted before anybody could fall into hysterics.
"No, no, no, no. He's not dead".
That got everybody's attention.
"He's not dead he's just gone".
Everybody looked at him confused, so he continued.
"For the past two years, my father and eye were able to sense his soul in Tartarus. We didn't know where, and it was faint, but we knew for a fact that he was there. But now, now he's not. He's just gone. We thought at first that he had died, so we searched through the Underworld. That's where we were", at that addition he looked at Annabeth and she nodded as a form of forgiveness, "He's not there, but he's also not in Tartarus, or anywhere on Earth. He has just… vanished".
There was silence that lasted for at least five minutes before Zeus spoke.
"How is that possible. One cannot just simply vanish. He has to be somewhere".
Everybody turned to look at Poseidon, but he was not looking. Instead, he just looked out to sea, his eyes slightly misty. The waves responded to his mood, splashing and beating against the shore.
Finally, he spoke, "He is not in the ocean. I have searched and I do not sense his presence anywhere. How is this possible?".
"Lord Poseidon, if I may. We cannot give up hope. Maybe his soul has disappeared because he has found a way to escape Tartarus. He is still out there. All souls go to the Underworld when they die. His has not, so, he is still alive. Somewhere, he is still alive. We cannot abandon him".
Even through her words Annabeth was crying. She tried to muster as much strength as she could in them, and it thankfully seemed to work. After another beat of silence, the discussion continued, and Annabeth sighed in relief.
They had not given up on him. If Percy Jackson was anywhere, they would find him.
POV: Percy
One year later
Percy walked down the halls of Chaos' palace, his boots making satisfying sounds along the black marble floors.
Chao's palace, which before looked so foreign and cold was now like home to him.
It was decorated to resemble space. Black marble made up most of the floors, and the walls were all painted a dark grey. All the fixtures were silver in color.
The only thing in the entire palace that didn't follow these colors was Percy and Xavier's rooms.
Percy's room was green blue and silver. He still loved the sea, it ran through his veins as much as blood did. But the cookies were lighter, colder. He liked the cold, it was the first thing he could remember from his rescue by Chaos.
Xavier was the other hero (or lost soul as Chaos liked to call them) that Chaos had rescued. He was a demititan, son of Hyperion, the Titan previously in charge of the sun.
No surprise there that his room was painted warm shades of yellow, orange, and red.
Xavier and he had become great friends ever since Chaos had brought him back a half a year ago.
Xavier had been cast out by his father and loathed him greatly. Hyperion has told him that he was only born to oppose demigods, and after they lost the war he and the other demititans were punished severely.
He had run away and probably would have died if Chaos hadn't rescued him.
He was in better shape than Percy when he had arrived, so after 6 months of training they were finally ready.
Percy had taken to dressing with a black cloak with a hood that covered his face. It covered up the scar on his face. The scar that reminded him of his two years of torture.
He stopped walking at the thought, his hands clenching at his sides. His eyes flashed dangerously but then a hand landed on his shoulder and interrupted him from his thoughts.
"Hey. Snap out of it, man. You're going to make the toilets explode again".
It was Xavier. He must have been walking to meet Chaos for the same summoning that he had. Percy could here the joke in his voice, but he wasn't kidding about the toilets.
One time when he was still recovering he had a nightmare and the toilets did explode. The halls were flooded for an entire day.
Slowly, he relaxed and his hands unclenched.
"There you go. Come on, let's go see what our Lady Chaos needs is for.
Since Percy arrived at Chaos' Palace, Xavier has been the only one capable of calming him down when the memories threaten to overwhelm him.
Xavier was always happy and bubbly. Percy always joked that he was the bright side of the sun whereas his father was the dark side.
You can't mistake him, though. Xavier and him were equally matched fighters, and his eyes could contain a scary amount of fire if he wanted to.
But usually they didn't. Usually he was happy. Usually.
Together they walked into Chaos' throne room. When Percy had first walked in here a year ago he had been amazed. Through an enchanted window in front of her throne, Lady Chaos was able to see any one of her worlds that she wanted.
Today, her view was of Earth, and she was frowning.
She smiled as they walked in, though. And the window immediately went dark.
"Boys! Good, I've been waiting for you".
Her image flickered and suddenly she was standing right in front of them.
"It seems that the day has finally come".
"What day, my lady?".
Xavier voiced the question that Percy had been thinking of himself.
"The day that I have been training you for. Today, you go to Earth to fulfill your duties".
She smiled down at them kindly, and they both kneeled on one knee at her feet.
"As you wish, my lady".
They had both pledged their allegiance to Lady Chaos when they had been recruited.
In return, she had granted them immortality and had promised them a fraction of her power to use in their duties.
Their job was to wipe all evil from the planet. Rapists, murderers, corrupt politicians. Lady Chaos believed that they were all destroying her beloved planet. They all had to go.
Throughout their training they were taught many different forms of combat, as well as being drilled in stealth and espionage.
They knelt as they knew that the time had come when Chaos would depart on them their last gifts.
She put a hand gently on both of their heads and started the process.
"Boys. As you know I am Chaos, creator of all. I have domain over every aspect of every world in the universe, including Earth. What domain would you each like control of?".
It was a simple question, yet Percy's mind drew a blank, so he let Xavier go first.
"My lady, I would like domain over all things hot. The winds, the hot sands, fire, light. I wish to have domain over all the things my father had and more. I want to be the good that my father never was".
"Very well". Percy could hear the smile in her voice and he knew that Xavier had chosen well.
That only put more pressure on his choice, though.
Xavier shuddered, undergoing the changes that he had wished for.
Golden wings sprouted from his back as he had asked for control over the winds. His hands ignited and his eyes flowed bright before dying down again.
She smiled kindly at him.
"It is done".
He lowered his head once more as a sign of respect before standing up.
He spread his wings tentatively before a huge grin took over his face.
"Oh man...", he moved them up and down once and shot into the air.
"This is awesome!", he shouted down, doing loops and barrel rolls.
Percy couldn't help but laugh at the kid-like joy on his face.
Lady Chaos turned her smiling eyes on Percy as Xavier touched down on the ground beside him and once again kneeled down on one knee.
"Now, Perseus. What is your choice?".
His mind was still reeling, but there was one question on his mind.
"When I make my decision, I will get to keep my powers as a demigod, right?".
The sea still played an important roll in his life, even if there wasn't much water in Chaos' residence it still ran through his blood. Losing that would be like losing a part of himself.
"Yes of course, Percy. If you wish your powers as the son of Poseidon will stay with you".
He breathed a sigh of relief, but his inner turmoil started again.
What should he choose? The only element he had ever felt close to was water, and he already had domain over that.
As if sending his thoughts, Chaos touched a hand to his shoulder and made him meet her eyes.
"Think, child. What element besides the water has ever brought you comfort?".
Her questions sent him back through his memories of when he was recovering in the castle. The cold, chilling feeling of his recovery room. The cold wind that touched his face when Chaos came to rescue him from Tartarus.
Just like that he new what he was going to ask for.
"I would like domain over the cold. The bitter wind and unforgiving darkness of snow and sleet in a blizzard. But also the lightness of the first snow of the wintertime".
Just like with Xavier, she touched his shoulder and she felt a powerful chill go through him that made him shudder. Wings sprouted from his back and he discovered after examining them that they were a blue as dark as the deepest depths of the ocean.
All of a sudden his skin felt cold to the touch, and he felt frost begin to gather beneath where he kneeled.
He was as familiar with his new powers as with his command over the sea, and found himself immediately able to reign in the chill that seemed to emigrate from him like an aura of power.
He stood up, tall with his new sense of power and stretched out his new wings.
They were sharp and angular, and the individual feathers felt somehow sharp and soft at the same time.
He smiled, a genuine smile. One that had not been seen in a long time.
He shot into the air, letting out a joyous whoop as he swirled through the air, riding cold currents of wind of his own making.
Finally he forced himself to touch down, standing side by side with Xavier.
Chaos smiled down at them fondly. Her eyes seemed to twinkle- although that may have just been the stars within the galaxies that made them up.
"Thank you my lady. I won't ever be able to repay you". Xavier said, kneeling down once again.
Percy copied his actions but Chaos did not allow them to stay like that for long.
"Stop, stop. You make me feel ancient when you do that".
"But my lady-", Xavier didn't get to finish whatever he was about to say as he was interrupted by his own laughter.
Just as suddenly, Percy understood what he was going to say and continued for him.
"But my lady, you are ancient".
He too burst out laughing until tears came to his eyes.
Meanwhile Chaos, the creator of the universe was giving them what could be described as a death glare.
But her eyes were still twinkling with amusement and she let them have their fun before she cut off their laughter.
"Alright, alright. I think that that's enough now".
They made that joke all the time, and it just got funnier every time.
But they heeded her words and stopped laughing.
"And now before I send you on your way I depart upon each of you one last gift. A weapon".
Percy initially tried to refuse. Riptide was always with him and it was his favorite weapon.
"My lady, I appreciate the gesture, but-".
She waved a hand, cutting him off.
"I know what you are going to say, Perseus, and you should not worry. I have just simply reshaped your faithful weapon".
"What? How? Riptide always returns to my pocket when it is taken away".
Just as he was saying this he felt in his pocket and noticed that the steady weight of his pen that was Riptide was missing.
She raised an eyebrow at him and he stopped talking, with Xavier smirking at the entire conversation.
Percy punched him playfully on the shoulder before they both turned to look at Chaos expectantly.
After a beat of silence she handed them each a pen. One was silver and one was gold.
Percy got the silver and Xavier got the gold.
They looked at each other and grinned before each uncapping their pens.
Percy's extended just like Riptide used to, except instead of a sword it unfolded into a trident.
His breath caught in his throat as the powerful feeling of the sea washed over him.
Inscribed on the handle was it's name, Anaklusmos.
He raised his eyebrow at Chaos, and she replied to his unspoken question.
"I left it in its Greek form so that you will always remember your roots. You are mine now, and you answer first and foremost to me. But I want you to remember who you are inside. You were Greek, you are Greek, and you will always be Greek. Never forget that".
He nodded his head solemnly and examined his new and improved version of his old weapon.
It was made of a silvery metal that seemed to swirl into an icy blue as he held it. The tips and base were both made of crystal. He was once again stunned by how much more in tune his powers seemed when holding a trident.
When he had been experimenting with different types of weapons when he was training with Chaos they had discovered that his powers and fighting skills were much stronger when he used a trident.
Ever since then the trident had become his default weapon, and his fighting skills had increased leaps and bounds.
Percy grinned, happy with his new weapon and turned to look at what Xavier had gotten.
He was grinning too, and his pen had extended and separated into two flaming swords. When he had uncapped the pen, the cap had transformed into a strap for them so he could wear them across his back if he wanted to.
After messing around with their new weapons for a moment, Chaos explained to them how they would each return to them if lost, just as Riptide originally had.
Too soon, it was time to go.
Lady Chaos pulled them each in for a hug, which surprised Percy at first, but he soon hugged her back, surprised at its warmth.
"Okay, you two. It's time to go. I will be monitoring your progress from here, and will be in contact if there is anything more I need to tell you".
"Goodbye, my lady", Percy said, bowing.
"Yes, thank you for everything", Xavier continued.
She just nodded her head in acknowledgement and a black portal opened up behind each of them.
"Go. Protect the Earth".
They nodded, then turned around.
Xavier grinned at him, and he grinned back before stepping straight into the blackness of the portal.
Percy Jackson was on his way home.