POV: Annabeth
Everybody turned around in their seats to stare at Zeus in confusion.
He began to speak, but was soon drowned out by the sounds of huge waves hitting the beach in terrifying crashes.
"Poseidon! What are you doing? Calm down!".
The focus now turned to Lord Poseidon who was looking out to the sea in confusion.
"It's not me!".
"What do you mean it's not you? You are the lord of the seas. It has to be you!".
"Well it's not. It's not my fault!".
Just then, a figure dropped to the ground from high above, landing on one knee and making the earth crack around him.
The two brothers quieted as everybody stared at this new arrival.
He was clad in all black, his face was shrouded by a cloak that also covered most of his upper body.
He was wearing dark black jeans even though it was the middle of the summer.
But by far the most interesting thing about him were the dark blue wings that protruded from his back.
As he stood up, he pushed his cloak out of his way, exposing his arms.
He was wearing a plain black t-shirt, and as far as was visible his arms were covered with various burns and scars.
Everybody was shocked into silence, his injuries even eliciting a few gasps.
Lord Zeus was the first the recover.
"Who are you?".
There was a beat of silence before he spoke. His voice was familiar somehow, but it was impossible to tell where from.
"You don't know? I heard you have been looking for me". His voice was deep and scratchy, and held something within it that made my senses light up.
His words were confusing, but apparently not to Poseidon.
He gasped, and the strange man turned to face him.
"Ah good. I'd hoped I hadn't changed that much".
He smiled a slight grin at his words, mischievous and slightly crooked, just like…
No. It couldn't be.
"Percy?".
The Lord of the Seas spoke, and the man's body language softened slightly.
"At your service".
He made a fake bow, but before anybody could talk or say much of anything he continued.
But his tone was icy, and nowhere near as friendly.
"Now will somebody please tell me where the hell Annabeth Chase is?!".
His words grew louder as he continued until he was practically yelling. A wave crested on the water with an enormous crash that accentuated his words.
The happy smiles were wiped off of faces and replaced with confused looks at his icy demeanour.
But Annabeth didn't care.
"Percy!". She ran down from where she had been sitting on the second row of seating and sprinted as fast as she could towards him.
They met in the middle as he had also begun to move towards her and collapsed onto the floor together. Suddenly, the entire ocean was calm and a beautiful shade of blue green.
He held her in his arms as she sobbed incoherent things to him. Finally one thing came through.
"I thought you died!".
He wiped her tears from his cheek using his thumb and was about to say something else when a dark laugh interrupted them.
"How sweet!".
A chill ran down Percy's spine as he turned around to face his old enemy.
"Tartarus". His tone was back to being icy and dangerous as he stood in front of Annabeth in order to somehow protect her from the evil that seemed to be radiating off of this being in waves.
A man emerged from the shadows in the corner. His body was pure black, there were no stars or galaxies scattered around it as with Chaos. No, this man was much darker than her. His eyes were just red sockets full of fire and his very being seemed to radiate darkness.
Gods and demigods alike throughout the stadium drew their weapons, but the primordial only had eyes for Percy.
"Annabeth, go back to your seat", Percy warned, not taking his eyes of the man in front of him.
"But-"
"Go! Now!". She was shocked at his harsh words and he must of sensed this because he added one more thing on to the end in a softer voice, "Please".
"Awww. How sweet! Is she your little girlfriend son of Chaos?".
At this the gods seemed to stir uncomfortably, especially Poseidon, who stared at his son disbelievingly.
"I am not a son of Chaos. I belong to Chaos and serve her as payment for a debt I can never truly repay but I am still Poseidon's son".
The gods seemed shocked by his words, and some even sat down. But just for a moment, Poseidon looked happy.
"Boy, be careful how you speak to this being, he is-". Zeus tried to warn Percy of his manner of speaking, but he cut him off.
"Yes, yes, I know. This is Tartarus, primordial being of the pit. We've met". His last words were laced with a double meaning, but Annabeth had no time to ponder it when Tartarus continued.
He laughed again. A sound of pure darkness that seemed to affect everybody but Percy.
"We have met, haven't we little half-blood? Have you told them yet how?".
"I'll get to it", he growled. "Why are you here?".
A gasp went through the crowd of gods and demigods at Percy's rude words. But they did not seem to mind the primordial being.
"Glad to see you haven't lost your edge, Perseus. I'm just here to have some fun. I heard your great protector has finally let you free. I just wanted to come see for myself. How are you healing up?".
Flashback:
Percy waited for them to come. The doors of death had long since disappeared off to their next location and now he just sat on the ground where they once were waiting for the army to reach him.
Best to make his death as quick and painless as possible.
The army had finally reached him, and a empousa was just about to slash him to pieces when a voice called out, "Wait!".
The voice seemed to come from here and everywhere at the same time, and the army looked up and around in confusion.
The depths of Tartarus somehow got darker, and then suddenly a figure appeared. A man, made completely of shadows with eyes of pure red fire.
"This one is mine". His words sent a shiver down Percy's spine, and the strong urge to run suddenly coursed through him like adrenaline. But he didn't.
I suppose that was my big mistake.
A couple of monsters bound him in cuffs that prevented him from using his powers (like there was any water around here to manipulate anyway), and dragged him towards the man who was now seated in a throne made of pure darkness.
"Who are you?". Percy tried to make his voice sound strong and brave, but it wavered, giving him away entirely.
The being smiled and sat back in his throne. "I am Tartarus, primordial being and ruler of this pit". It waved it hands to gesture to the environment around them, as though it was a grand masterpiece that he was proud of.
"What do you want from me?".
It sneered, taking one large step and suddenly being very close.
"I want you to remember. I want you to always remember that I could crush you. Me. I defeated Olympus' Greatest Hero. I have succeeded where others have failed. Even my dearest wife was unable to defeat you. And yet, all you had to do was take a stroll through my domain, you have yet to face my entire essence and you are already defeated".
Tartarus had stood up and begun pacing while he talked, but now he was back, standing directly above him, that ugly sneer back on his face.
"You, the sea god's most favourite son. The hero of olympus! You have fallen. Olympus will fall too", its voice was low and dangerous, but he raised it again as he addressed Percy as well as the monsters who had him captive. "You will never be able to defeat me!".
He turned and began to walk away, turning to speak to one of the monsters holding Percy's chains. "Do it".
Those two words would spell out the beginning of the worst years of his life. The beginnings of unimaginable pain and suffering.
After those two words, the monsters got horrible grins on their faces.
Two of them held his chains back tighter, while another approached him with a hot iron in its hand.
It grinned wickedly one more time before it pressed the iron onto his cheek, filling the cavern with his screams, and his nostrils with the smell of burning flesh and blood. A smell that he would come to recognise as familiar.
The salt in the tears that spilled down his cheeks stung and sizzled, making him cry out more.
The last thing Percy heard before he blacked out from the pain was the dark laugh of Tartarus as he stood nearby and watched.
"Who are you, little demigod?!".
End of Flashback:
"Oh I'm feeling just fine. How about yourself", Percy replied, sarcasm and venom dripping off of his every word.
There was that sinister laugh again. It made every fibre in Annabeth's being itch to run away. She could only marvel at how Percy could just stand there and hold such a casual sounding conversation with him.
"Oh I will be fine. Great even once I avenge my wife, Gaea. Your puny little world shall be mine for the taking".
The gods stood up at that, facing him and drawing his attention.
"We have defeated your wife. What makes you think that we will not defeat you?", Zeus called.
"Oh I think your young hero knows", Tartarus mocked, "Or have you not shown them?".
All eyes turned to Percy, but he just growled at Tartarus. "Leave this place", his voice is quiet and dangerous, but you can hear every syllable.
He only laughs and then turns to Percy with a sneer.
Percy's hands clench at his side, and faster than anybody can see, he has brought out Anaklusmos and a fully formed trident is in his hands.
"I said, LEAVE!", the power crackles beneath his hands, and he brings his trident down so that it slams into the earth, causing the entire area to shake and a crack to appear that snakes its way towards the being that is Tartarus.
His wings emerge and he is lifted into the air until he is level with the primordial's head.
Tartarus' sneer disappears, but he does not leave. "Who are you to defy me once again! Have you not learned your lesson from the first time?".
A cold wind sweeps through as Percy's anger grows.
"Who am I?", Percy's voice took on a dark coldness that had never been there before, and frost began to crawl across the ground at his feet, "I am the darkness of the cold that sweeps through and kills people in their own beds. I am the strength of the blizzard. I am winter itself! And you. You do not stand a chance against me", he finishes with his voice cold and menacing.
He allows his aura to expand, freezing anything near him. He touches one finger to Tartarus and a frost slowly begins to creep across his body, starting at his chest and making its way across his entire being. Spreading like a spider web on a window.
The clouds above them grew dark as a hurricane began to form above them, turned white from the frost and snow that has gathered inside of it from Percy's aura.
"Did you practice that, boy?", Tartarus asks, a dark amusement creeping into his smile.
"When you and I fought, I had not fully accepted the strength of my powers. But now I know", lightening flashed within the growing hurricane above them as if to emphasise his point, "I will not be as easy to defeat as I was the last time we met. Do not underestimate me".
If it is possible for a being made of pure darkness and hatred to look scared this one did. But his sneer soon returned as he began to try and speak again.
"This place will fall! And when it does-", he didn't get to fully carry out his threat as Percy interrupted him.
"NO!", a bitterly cold wind whipped through the amphitheater. In it you could see venti, wild spirits of the wind. They surrounded the primordial, cutting him off as they attacked him with vicious fierceness. "This place, is under my protection. Do not ever come here again! Or I will show you true anger".
"You better watch your back, half-blood. When the time comes, I will enjoy destroying you. Personally".
With that, the primordial stepped back into the shadows and disappeared.
Just as quickly as it arrived, the storm disappeared. The freak cold weather, the sudden hurricane, the minor earthquake. All gone. The sun was shining and the ocean was a wonderful calm blue as though the events that had just transpired had never happened.
The only evidence was the boy who now stood in the middle of the amphitheater, alone, with a heaving chest.
He collapsed forward, falling until he was on his hands and knees.
Tears dripped down his face, as his memories of Tartarus threatened to overwhelm him.
He was tired. So tired.
"Percy!". Annabeth came running, but before she could reach him he stood up.
In the disorganisation that was Percy's anger, the hood of his cloak had fallen away from his head, revealing his face for all to see.
His hair was still raven black and unkept. It fell across his face in unorganised yet perfect waves. But most of the similarities stop there. His skin, once so perfectly tanned from the beach was now pale from the repeated exposure to the cold and darkness. His face was sharper, more angular. And his eyes were darker, no longer the calming green of the sea on a lazy afternoon, but rather the stormy green of a wave about to pull you under.
The biggest shock factor, though, was not something that had changed, but rather something that had been added.
On his right cheek, was a scar, a brand.
The symbol of the sea, of his father was the most prominent thing about it. It took up almost his entire right cheek. Underneath it, the words όλα πρέπει να πέσουν, or "all must fall".
It was white and faded, made many years ago. But its meaning was still clearly visible.
I have beaten your greatest hero. Nothing will stop me from destroying you.
Percy locked eyes with his father, whose own trident was grasped in his hand where it always was.
His eye flashed to it for two seconds, his eyes filled with pain and memories before he opened his wings and left. Ignoring the calls of those behind him.
Everybody, even the gods, were shocked at what they had seen.
Then Annabeth broke down.
Tears started to roll down her face, and large ugly sobs escaped from her lips. She had just gotten him back. And now he was gone again?
And then her friends are there. Piper is rubbing her back and murmuring things that she doesn't remember but still somehow make her feel better. Jason and Leo are behind her, telling her that he'll be back, that he just has to cool off.
And a part of her knows that, but another part of her remembers how they had laid together and Tartarus and talked about how they were going to escape, together.
Soon, her tears and sobs stop, and she casts her friends grateful looks before once again tuning in to the small amount of conversation that had started up again.
"This is bad. This is really bad", Apollo said, his usual smooth look gone from his face replaced by one of fear.
"Well thank you for pointing that out for us, captain obvious", Artemis replied, trying to lighten the mood. But nobody missed the look that she gave her lieutenant, Thalia.
Finally, Zeus started to ask the real questions. "Where has he been?".
Everybody quieted at the lord of the sky's words. Until the quiet voice of Nico di Angelo spoke up.
"Speak up, nephew". The lord of the sky boomed, even though everybody knew full well that he had heard what he had said the first time.
"With Chaos, the creator of the universe".
All was silent, so Nico took this as his signal to continue.
"Think about it. We knew he was in Tartarus for the better half of two years, and then he just simply vanished. No trace. Chaos picked him up".
Annabeth's mother nodded. "Yes. It is the only explanation".
"But how? We thought that Chaos had faded eons ago", Zeus asked. And it was true. Chaos was truly the oldest being in the universe. The creator of everything. Others after her had faded so why hadn't she?
"Chaos cannot fade. Chaos is the creator. She is responsible for everything new. If she were to fade, the entire universe would fall into disarray. Back into… well… chaos", Annabeth reasoned. Her thoughts earned an approving look from her mother.
Looking around, everybody seemed satisfied with that solution. Finally, the mystery that they had been trying to solve for more than three years was over.
But one more thing hovered over their heads.
Finally, Zeus had the nerve to say it.
"And what of his powers?", he looked around, meeting everybody in the eye. Everybody but Poseidon, who was looking out to see with misty eyes. "What say you, brother?".
Finally, he turns away from the sea and speaks. "My son is very powerful indeed".
Throughout the demonstration of all that Percy could do, one thing had stuck with the lord of the seas the most.
"He is still my son. I am still his father".
"Does this surprise you, uncle?", Athena asks, evaluating his body language and movements.
Poseidon looks at the trident in his hand, the tips glowing green with power. The very same trident that had been burned into the side of his son's face. Suddenly, the metal felt like it burned his hand and he dropped it, staring at him in horror.
"Tartarus burned that into his face. Percy was a child of the big three so to send a message he had it burned into the side of my son's face!", Poseidon began to grow angry, but at the same time he felt unbearably sad.
He had caused this. In some ways, the fate that befell Percy was his fault.
"It's okay… Calm down, uncle. Percy must be very strong to have survived all of that. He does not blame you for any of this. So why should you blame yourself?". Slowly, Poseidon's anger dissipated after Athena's words, and he sat back down again.
"This will be a whole other kind of battle than we had with Gaea", Annabeth started, "With Gaea, the entire war was about trying to keep her from waking up. But Tartarus is already awake, he is already risen. He is just biding his time until he attacks. I fear we have less time to prepare than we did with Gaea".
Faces all around became grim, as her words sunk in. They knew she was right. If they were going to defeat Tartarus, they needed help and one really good plan.