Hey guys! Thanks for all the reviews last chapter! Until further notice, I think I'm just gonna clump all the review answers into one general thing right here. So if you want answers, look in my main AN! The other way is too time consuming, and I only have so long to work now that I have school all day. So here we go! If you guys want, I can do a POV from one of the characters not in Tartarus. Probably either Artemis or Nico. You can tell me in the comments if you want that! Also, I am American! I speak English. (In case you can't tell! ;) ). To everyone that had guesses on who the figure is: Nice guesses! Unfortunately, I'll have to save who the figure is for later. (As in in a paragraph or two!) So I can't tell you know. That'd be cheating. ;) Anyways, in related news, my poll is still up! Go vote if you want! It'd be fun to do if you're bored! Other than that, i own nothing but please enjoy this chapter! :)

Percy's POV

My eyes shot back to the bed, taking in the figure sitting on the edge. The person sitting there was supposed to be dead...

I gasped, barely realizing that I had dropped my key onto the green rug.

"What... What are you doing here?" I managed to choke out, stunned and feeling like I had gotten punched in the face.

I had watched them die... I was there... Yet their lips curved up gently in a hint of a smile as they said, "Aren't you surprised to see me?" Instead of a light tone that's usually associated with those words, they were tense, as if they didn't know if I'd hug them or punch them.

Honestly, I wasn't sure what to do either. For years, over two decades, I had grieved their loss. Knowing I couldn't save them from destroying themselves to save me and everyone else. I had sworn that I'd gladly trade my life for theirs, letting them live in my place. Obviously not in Tartarus, but you still get the point.

Now that I had the chance to apologize for my mistakes (letting them die, not fighting harder, making the choices I did that led to their death), I wasn't sure which of us should be apologizing.

I was about to speak, when suddenly I wasn't in my blue-walled room anymore. I was a kid again, only sixteen years old exactly. Most kids get cars or parties on their sixteenth birthday. I got to watch an old friend (ok, more of a frenemy) die.

I saw myself, kneeling next to a body that was slowly turning into a lifeless corpse. Olympus's throne room was smoldering around us, I mean them, I mean... I'm not sure what I mean.

I watched myself talk to the carcass, along with a blond girl that was on the other side of the body. Watching it from a third person point of view, I really noticed the amount of blood pooling on the floor.

My vision flickered, returning me to first person view. Yet I was still in the flashback, now staring down into the face of my old frenemy who ended his life so thousands more could live instead. His blue eyes that were starting to glaze over and become lifeless were staring into my green ones. His blond hair, lying around his head like a golden halo, was mixed with blood. Blond hair mixed with blood... Blond hair mixed with blood...

Suddenly, I wasn't in the Olympian throne room anymore. I was kneeling next to a different blond. Her gray eyes that were starting to glaze over and become lifeless were staring into my green ones. Her blond hair was sprawled across the grass like a golden halo, because she was an angel. My angel. Her blond hair was mixed with blood.

I was shaken back to the present. Literally. I blinked, and I was gone from the two blondes that were dying. Instead, I was kneeling on the ground, sweating and panting, staring into the face of the blond man that had ended his life to saved thousands. He was looking at me in worry and confusion.

"Luke," I murmured, lunging forward quickly to hug him. He was taken aback for a second, before he hugged me back.

"I'm so sorry. So so sorry," he kept repeating as we embraced on the floor of my bedroom.

After a moment, I pulled back to look at him. He still had his scar across his face, and his blue eyes still sparkled mischievously. Instead of holding bitterness and anger, now they shone with happiness and joy. And his blond hair didn't have any streaks of red in it.

"I understand now why you did it. I didn't before, but I do now," I told him, overcoming my post-flashback anxiety.

"Percy..." Luke started, "I realize that what I did was wrong. I might've hated the Olympians, but I chose the wrong way to go about it."

I nodded. "Kronos is a bad guy. He wanted bad things, and he blinded you to what was good. But you saw the truth in the end, and you ended up saving countless lives."

Luke nodded in agreement before the concerned look appeared. "Percy, are you okay?"

"Of course I am."

The son of Hermes frowned. "You didn't look okay a moment ago when you seemed to be having a panic attack."

... Oh. That. Why'd he have to bring that up? "I'm fine," I tried to assure him. "I've just got to get the hang of controlling my flashbacks."

"Flashbacks?!" The concerned look didn't lessen. If anything, it intensified.

I wanted to kick myself, but I figured if I did, Luke's maternal instincts might kick in and he'd force me into bed.

Trying to play it off, i shrugged, scoffing slightly. "It's no big deal." Yeah, it's just a terrifying, insanity-inducing vision that happens weekly. Nothing to worry about.

Luke looked like he didn't believe me, but he (reluctantly) dropped the subject. "What are you doing here?"

I blinked. "Well, this is my room... I think the better question would be what are you doing here?"

"I meant what are you doing with Chaos?" Luke sighed, rolling his eyes.

Oh... I cleared my throat. "I knew that. Anyways, it's a long story."

"I have time."

I shrugged. "Ok then. It all started when he saved my life in Tartarus—"

"Tartarus?" Luke interrupted. "What were you doing there? You're the Hero of Olympus!"

"Was," I corrected, scowling.

"Was?" Luke repeated in stunned confusion. "What happened?"

I sighed. "The long story just got longer. Still want to here it?"

Luke nodded eagerly, so I recounted everything that had happened. Everything that caused me to be wrongfully banished, everything that had occurred in Tartarus, and everything that had happened between then and now.

Once I was finished, Luke was scowling too. "The Olympians... You were innocent! Why would they do that to you?"

I shrugged, wondering that myself. "It wasn't all the Olympians. It was mainly Ares, Athena, Hera, Zeus, and Poseidon," I spat. I took a deep breath to make sure I didn't accidentally send Luke back to Hades in a fiery explosion. "Although I think Apollo might've been in agreement with it as well."

Luke shook his head in disgust. "And here I thought they had changed. Especially after that wish you made after my death."

"Some of them did. Artemis became more open to men, and Aphrodite stopped torturing people with their love lives. Slightly. And several others changed too."

Luke nodded slowly. "I guess I can see that. I haven't witnessed them in person for so long, so I wouldn't know."

I grinned. "I won't hold it against you." There was a brief moment of silence in which neither one of us spoke. Then a thought occurred to me, which I had to voice. "Luke, I told you what I'm doing here. What are you doing here? I thought you were in Elysium."

He sighed, suddenly looking older than his physical age. "It's a long story."

"I have time."