The rising sun was barely visible behind the smoke that billowed from the wreckage of still faintly burning buildings. Every breath Percy took was thick with the taste and smell of fire and ruin. Everywhere he looked was evidence of what had happened.

Camp Half-Blood, his home away from home, was no more.

Barely anything in the camp still stood. The Big House, which had been one of the more prominent landmarks, was little more than a burnt-out husk of a building, with few of its wooden beams still standing in the midst of its collapsed state. All of the strawberry fields that the children of Demeter had painstakingly cultivated over successive generations of campers were little more than trampled fields, the plants shredded and uprooted. Most of the cabins were damaged in some way, and the ones that weren't were filled to overcapacity by the influx of people needing a roof over their heads in such tumultuous and dangerous times.

"This is bad," Thalia uttered, her voice low and firm in the face of such wanton destruction.

Percy clenched his fists as he suppressed his anger and frustration. There was little he could do here – Kronos and his fellow Titans had planned their attack too well. Both Olympus and Camp Half-Blood lay in ruins, with the latter taking far more damage due to the magnitude of the battle that had taken place. The bulk of the Titans' forces had assaulted the demigod camp, overwhelming the defenders and necessitating the arrival of the Olympians to even the odds. Even so, the collateral damage was too high.

And Percy had been unable to do anything to stop it. He hadn't been able to entirely defend Olympus, and he did nothing for Camp Half-Blood as it was torn apart by forces and powers far greater than its host of demigod fighters. They had rushed over to the camp as quickly as they could after leaving Olympus in Hestia's hands, but it had still been too late. The battle was over and all that was left was the damage that had been inflicted to the people that had once called the place their home. The only satisfaction Percy had was that Kronos had been stopped once and for all, but as he stood in the middle of what was once a thriving bastion for demigods, even that was of little satisfaction to him.

Hearing his shoes crunch on the gravel and debris that littered the paths, Percy made his way over to his cabin – the cabin of Poseidon. The door was barely hanging on, with one of its two hinges knocked loose from the doorframe, and there was the trunk of a collapsed tree – possibly thrown, judging by the fact that there weren't any trees that size that close to the cabin – embedded in the stone of the cabin's exterior, breaking through the ceiling and part of a wall.

Brushing one hand against the wooden door pockmarked with damage, Percy slowly walked into the place he had he had made his own over the past few summers, taking in its current state. The inside of the cabin was trashed and ruined. His bed was broken in half, the drawers – many of which were empty – in pieces, and his shelves, some of which carried mementos of the past, lay on the floor, their contents scattered. The fountain that Poseidon had added as a gift was cracked in half, the water from it leaking onto the floor of the cabin in a puddle. Likewise, Tyson's painstakingly handcrafted decorations were knocked off from where he had put them, many dented and dinged as they lay on the floor. He knelt as he examined some of things on the floor, absentmindedly picking up some of the pieces of his belongings before tossing them away again.

Percy heard a footstep on breaking wood behind him as Thalia stepped in to view the damage with him. They surveyed the damage in silence.

Percy stood up. "It could've been worse." He turned to look out of the broken windows of the cabin that overlooked the lake. "There are cabins that are completely gone. At least I have something to repair here." He fell silent, looking over the calm lake, its small ripples and movements at odds with the immense destruction on land.

"Are you okay?" Thalia asked, concerned by Percy's conflicted expression.

"Yeah… I just kinda want to jump in the lake. I think being in the water would do a lot of good for me right now."

Thalia nodded as Percy strode over to the door near the backside of the cabin that led to a veranda on the lake. He stopped as he opened the door, turning around to face Thalia.

"Do you want to come with me?" Percy suddenly asked.

"Huh? Into the lake?"

Percy nodded.

"I'm not sure…" Thalia trailed off. "If you need some alone time…"

He waved it off, heading back and taking one of Thalia's hands into his own as he stared into her eyes. "I'd appreciate your company."

Thalia slowly nodded and let herself be led out by Percy. The two of them stood on the small covered balcony of the cabin, just inches away from the water of the lake.

"You ready?" Percy questioned. Thalia nodded. "Alright then, hold tight." Thalia slipped both of her arms around Percy's waist, and the son of Poseidon leaned until both fell into the water sideways.

Thalia instinctively yelled, but immediately she realized that this was unlike any other time she had gone into water. For one, she couldn't blow out any bubbles of air because she was still breathing. She looked around to see a faint bubble of air around her and Percy's heads, one that extended to about their mid-torso. Underneath that, Thalia could still feel her clothes and skin getting soaked, but she ignored it as the two of them sunk to the relatively shallow bottom of the lake. When she realized that they had stopped moving, she pulled her arms back and marveled at the sight of the lake from the bottom. Faint rays of sunlight shone through the surface of the water, illuminating small fish as they swam by and the variety of plant life that grew underwater.

Percy sighed, looking around as he extended the bubble to account for his movements. Thalia hesitantly watched a series of emotions pass over his face.

"You okay?" Thalia asked, unsure of what she should do.

For a few moments, Percy didn't respond as he looked off into the distant waters with a solemn expression. Eventually, he turned back to face Thalia.

"I always felt at peace in the water," Percy finally spoke. "Like it was home. Warm, comforting, and secure. I could always be safe in the water. And," Percy's voice cracked, "I felt closer to my dad. Now… I don't feel that anymore."

Thalia grimaced as she walked closer to Percy. She felt a sorrow in her heart for him, but it was hard to show how she empathized. Her relationship with her own mother had not been good, and while her father had been absent for most of her life, he was still alive. Caring for someone else in the midst of their pain was not something that she was experienced in, and seeing Percy, someone she deeply cared for, in such a state only made it more difficult for her to figure out what to do. Thalia slowly brought Percy into a hug, letting him lean his head on her shoulder as she held him. She did her best to comfort him with her physical presence as he began to cry, trying her best to soothe his stormy emotions.

"I failed," Percy lamented. "I should've kept his throne safer. I should've fought better. I should've won."

"No," Thalia suddenly said, causing Percy to pull back in confusion. "You did win. There's nothing you did wrong."

"But my dad-"

"Was already injured badly when he got to Olympus," Thalia completed, determination in her eyes as she tried her best to get Percy out of his despondency. "Kronos managing to destroy his throne was just one part of it. Your dad fought hard and bravely against Oceanus and defended the seas from the Titans. There's nothing more you could've done, and you should be proud of your dad."

"Besides," Thalia continued, whispering as she leaned closer, "you're already a great hero. Don't go putting so much on yourself – you're not alone. I'll be with you every step of the way." She closed the space between the two and kissed Percy. It was a solemn gesture – silence permeated the small pocket of air at the bottom of the lake. Neither dared to move, and Percy, even as he accepted the truth of her words, still had tears roll down his cheeks in the midst of the kiss. Thalia ignored the moist saltiness from Percy's sadness and continued until she no longer could.

The two demigods broke apart panting, a thin trail of saliva connecting the two momentarily as each soul-searched in the aftermath of the moment.

"So don't carry the weight of the world just by yourself," Thalia quietly said with a small smile.

Percy slowly nodded as the bubble shrunk to perfectly encapsulate just the two of them. There was something soothing about them just being together, floating alone at the bottom of the lake. It was calm and quiet, a welcomed reprieve from the responsibilities of the world above. He wanted to savor every moment, especially with her. There was no guarantee they'd have many more, if any, like this.

Percy and Thalia walked hand in hand back to where the rest of the campers were assembled, having dried off a bit and made themselves look presentable. There were a couple of stares as they made their way to the center of the dining pavilion, which had since lost its roof. The wooden benches and tables were gone, replaced by stone variants haphazardly placed around the area, and as Percy made his way to the small podium where Chiron stood, a silence fell over the campers.

There was a hint of trepidation in Percy's heart as he stood facing all of the campers and more. Some he knew by name, and the rest by appearance. Weariness and pain were etched into each and every one of their faces. For Percy, it felt as though a lifetime had passed since the battle on Olympus commenced; for the campers, the memories of what had happened just a night earlier during the battle at Camp Half-Blood were still fresh and vivid.

He gave a great, shaky sigh as everyone waited for his words with bated breath.

"I know," Percy began, his voice quiet and slow, "that we have all… lost so much." He paused, and a few of the more energetic campers nodded in agreement. Everyone had lost someone or something.

"It's… easy to ask why this happened, why we needed to go through this kind of pain. What's the point of all this if this is all it brings?" Another pause. Percy looked back at Thalia and Chiron. The latter gave a thumbs-up for encouragement while the former smiled at him. "I think that's the wrong question. There is no 'why' to what happened. The fact is that it did happen, and nothing we could've done would've changed that. It didn't matter if we were here or not – this attack would've still happened. This is just an example of what evil will bring to our world. If we fight back, we will feel pain and face loss. If we don't fight at all, we will lose everything. It's only right for us to do what we can in the face of such evil."

Taking a deep breath, Percy steadied his rapidly beating heart. At this point, he was pulling from everything he knew – books, games, movies, and most importantly, his heart. The words came out naturally. "The dead are gone. For the rest of us, we can only mourn them and move on. We can honor their memories by fighting against the tyranny of the Titans and more that they would've fought for." Struck with inspiration, Percy remembered an interesting tidbit of information that Annabeth had once offhandedly told him, one that seemed fitting for the time they were now in. "Like a phoenix, we will rise from the ashes of this. We can't stand back any longer – now is the time to attack, to push on and persevere!" Percy raised a fist in the air. "I will march on the enemy to show them that good will not stand by and watch the world burn! Who is with me?!"

For a few still, quiet, and absolutely terrifying moments, there was a silence. Then one camper – a son of Hermes that Percy only recognized from seeing time to time – raised his own fist and roared in agreement. In the blink of an eye, the entire crowd of demigods, spirits, and more were yelling their affirmation. The roar of the crowd was overwhelming, and Percy, breathing hard from his own stirred passion, could feel his heart thumping rapidly in his chest at the sudden surge of adrenaline.

Chiron walked forward in line with Percy, his sword raised in solidarity with the campers. The fact that a respected elder like Chiron was joining in with their cry for justice, for the triumph of good over evil, seemed to invigorate the crowd to greater heights. In the front, Grover – complete with injured leg – did his best to jump up and down in excitement as a smiling Bianca did her best to calm the wounded satyr down. Near the back of the crowd, Annabeth cheered for her good friend, for the responsibility and burden he was now taking on by putting himself at the head of the campers' fight against the Titans – no, not just the campers, but seemingly rather what remained of the 'good' in their mythology. Percy had taken his first step as the moral and emotional leader of the fight against the evil that rose from the depths of the ancient Greek myth.

To Percy's left, Thalia came forward and took Percy's left hand in her right, her own left fist raised in the air like Percy's right. He turned slightly and smiled, matching the one that was on her face as they both turned to look out over the adoring crowd. It did not go unnoticed that their resident son of Poseidon and daughter of Zeus – the only two of their kind – were hand-in-hand with one another. They were a symbol of hope, of two from one of the greatest divine rivalries in the Greek pantheon coming together. There was something infectious about the idea that if they could unify, then so could the rest of them as a single force against those that had dared attack them, taking loved ones and lives so cruelly from the world.

The campers were not the only to notice either.

Atlantis

Percy walked alone in the stately hallways of what had been Poseidon's palace. Just days after giving his call to arms at Camp Half-Blood, he had emotionally moved from passion to sorrow once more. There was no other way he could feel during his own father's funeral procession and ceremony. The event had drained him to his core, and now he walked alone, in want of time to think and ponder, to move on and get over his pain.

Still, in tumultuous times, Percy had barely time alone to get over such feelings. There was new king of the sea to be coronated and a war to be conducted. He had come to an agreement with Triton, Poseidon's son with Amphitrite, as per Poseidon's will; Triton would take the throne, but Percy would receive his father's trident. To both parties, it was an equitable trade. Triton had no wish to use such a weapon in war, and Percy had no desire to sit on a throne and take political power.

Coming to a stop, Percy stared at the doors that blocked him from his destination. They were grand doors, studded with pearls and diamonds, made from intricately laid and designed shells. It had a definite 'sea' theme to it, fitting as it had been Poseidon's personal chamber. Percy had also received the chamber to use whenever he was in Atlantis, as well as whatever personal belongings Poseidon had left behind inside, as part of the will that Poseidon had written. It was strange that an immortal had written a will, but in hindsight, Percy couldn't help but think that his father had not expected to survive the powerful enemies he had faced.

With a tentative hand, Percy pushed one of the doors, letting it swing frictionlessly open. What he found inside was pretty much what he had expected: a massive bed with curtains, drapes covering access to a veranda with a view of the city, and a large desk that had various documents and trinkets haphazardly thrown about on it. To the side was a slightly ajar door that led to a bathroom. It wasn't an ostentatious room by the standard of a royal, and it was comfortingly functional. It was very much a room that Percy could see himself using, if need be, in the future.

Percy ignored the bed and veranda for the desk. The will had told him specifically of one last thing, one last 'gift', it could be called, that Poseidon had for Percy. Digging through the various unorganized items on the desk, Percy finally came to a stop when he closed his hand around what he was searching for. Pulling a camcorder out of the pile, he held it up to eye level as he examined the device. It was, perhaps surprisingly, like any consumer camcorder that could be found in the mortal world, apart from the fact that it was underwater and seemingly functional. He put a thumb on the closed video screen, but, before opening it, hesitated. He wasn't sure what he would find inside, and he wasn't sure if he was ready for what he would find.

Still, Percy sat down, steeled himself, and flicked open the video screen with his thumb. The camcorder's screen instantly flickered on, its battery indicator showing a full charge. A video also began to play, and Percy felt his heart tighten as he saw his father sitting at the very desk Percy now sat at. His desk now, Percy realized. But he gave little importance to such thoughts as Poseidon began to speak.

The god of the seas sighed, as if he were unsure where to start. "Hello, Percy," Poseidon finally said, his voice solemn and strong, just as Percy remembered it in life. "I am recording this in the event that I will no longer be with you." Poseidon's sea green eyes seemed to dull at that thought. "Terrible and difficult times are ahead of us, and as I see it, there is no guarantee that any of us, even the gods, will survive through it. That is why I am here today – to say what I may never have the chance in life to say to you."

"I have done many horrible things in life," Poseidon stated with some measure of guilt evident in his voice, which had lost a portion of its unshakable essence. "Some cruel, some despotic, and others unjust by modern standards. In my younger days, my brothers and my sisters and I were all more… base. More barbaric. You could even say that I, like my brethren, were more human then, more susceptible to the ebbs and flows of humanity's passion and emotions. I tell you this because I did many things I now regret back then, but out of all of the things that I have done in my long lifetime, the one thing I regret the most… is leaving you and Sally." Poseidon seemed to choke slightly on his thickening emotions just as Percy felt his heart hurt.

"There are many things I would give up to have the chance to redo that moment when I turned my back on her and left you both alone. I can't begin to describe the pain and anguish I now feel because of what I have done – not just for myself, but what I have inflicted on both you and your mother."

Percy quickly paused the videos as he squeezed his eyes shut. Even so, the faintest drops of tears leak out, becoming one with the water around him. In a single instant, Percy could almost see what life would've been like with a father that loved him, cherished him, cared for him. He could imagine it already – childlike peals of laughter, a loving and strong embrace, and a general warmth that, apart from what his mother had given him, was bereft from the other figures in his childhood.

"No," he said to the frozen image of his father, "don't say that." The angst in his heart at what could've been remained, but Percy hit 'play' again, pushing forward.

"There is not enough I can ever do to apologize for this," Poseidon continued. "I have been too much of a coward to fully apologize to you and your mother, even when I should've rightfully kneeled in from of the two of you to atone for what I have done. This abandonment has been the greatest stain on my consciousness and honor, bar none. So, I will do here what I could not do in person." Poseidon took a shaky deep breath before locking eyes with the camera lens.

"Perseus, I am sorry for everything that I failed to do. I have failed at being your father, and this is a failure that I will carry for the rest of my lifetime."

Percy nearly paused the video again then and there, but he didn't, instead touching the small digital image of Poseidon. For the late god's part, he was also still and silent even though the video was still running. Both father and son took a few moments of solemn solitude, each working their way through the myriad of emotions that had cropped up with Poseidon's words.

Finally, Poseidon took another deep sigh and continued. "But even though I have failed you in the past and maybe even the present, I want to do the best for the future. That is the least I can do as a father who has miserably failed for so many years. That is why, included in this video camera, I have included a few extra clips. Some are to help you harness your powers, advice collected over thousands of years of my children figuring out what they can do as well as intuition into the nature of what your natural gifts are from myself. Others are just me talking, trying my best to impart what little wisdom I can give. This collection may very well be my last gift to you, but if that is to be the case, then I would hope that it is a gift that will help you in the future."

At this point, Poseidon leaned back in his chair and stared at the ceiling for a few moments. "You know, at some point, I would like to meet up with you and your mother. Just for old times' sake, the three of us alone. Your mother is truly a remarkable woman, so much so that she is unlike any, mortal or immortal, that I have known over these many thousands of years. She deserves someone better than me, but even so, I would like to reclaim just a little bit of that wonder and happiness that I have no right to."

Poseidon looked down back into the camera, and for a few silent seconds, sea green met sea green. "Percy, as I bring this particular entry to an end, I want to reiterate one thing. I want you to hear this one thing." A pause. "Throughout the length of my life, the wonders that I have seen, the creations, great and small, that I have built… seeing you as a baby in that cradle, your mother lovingly sitting beside you to tend to you… that was my proudest moment. That was my happiest moment. Nothing has come close." Poseidon chuckled a little, though it was rather mirthless for a laugh. "It is strange how that, in such a long life, what I treasure the most came so recently. As if my entire life was building up into that moment."

"I love you. You are my son and I don't want you to ever forget that." He paused. "Be the hero for others that I couldn't be for you."

The video screen flickered to black, and Percy slowly closed it. He felt numb from what he had just seen, and as he put the camcorder back on the messy desk, the dam broke completely. He felt tear droplets come out, fading into the water as quickly as they came. He sobbed quietly in the seat, alone in the large room.

Over time, however, his sobbing stopped as he felt a resolute spirit forming in his soul. He felt angry that his father had been taken from him, that they never had time to come together as a family and to reconcile. It was unfair. It was unjust. But nonetheless, it had still happened.

His determination turned its direction toward the ones that had caused it all. Kronos and the Titans. But even that was not entirely correct. Kronos had already been vanquished. No, the real enemy was Chaos. Percy's sea green eyes burned with a fire – not entirely rage, but rather partly with purpose and adamant resolve. Yes, Chaos was the true mastermind of all that had happened, all the pain that had been brought to those he loved and cared about.

This was beyond fighting just because he was a hero. He needed to fight to end the suffering that had been brought to so many. He needed to fight to protect those who didn't have the strength to protect himself. Ultimately, he was someone with the power to make a difference, and he needed to – no, he wanted to use that power for good. Maybe that's what it meant to be a hero.

Percy knew what he had to do: heed his own words. Like a phoenix, he was going to rise from the ashes of all the pain and suffering that had been inflicted. Renewed with the fire of a righteous justice, he resolved to take the fight to the enemy – to Chaos itself.

A/N: I'm still here. I apologize for the rather long wait – life, school, and a myriad of other things all coincided at the same time, so I've been really, really busy. Still, I'd like to reiterate that I am committed to finishing this story, and the way it looks right now, I am still aiming to finish this story this year. Future updates may not be on Monday mornings, so following would probably be the best way to see whenever I update. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and stay tuned for the next!