A/N: I do not own PJO. Thanks for reading, reviewing, following, and favoriting. The review number shot up, and I'd like to thank everyone who took the time to review for this story! Credit for the idea of this chapter goes to, again, the Invisible Pretender-I liked the idea of linking this and the last one!

PERCY

Charon stared at him in shock, his dark eyes opening as wide as quarters. Finally, he collected himself, blinking and then poking him to check if he was real.

"Still not dead, I see. What can I do for you?" His eyes twinkled. "And don't bother telling me you 'drowned in a bathtub…'"

Percy laughed—it had been so long since that quest nine years ago, and he'd almost forgotten the excuse he had tried to pin on the guardian of the underworld. Now that he actually thought of it, drowning in a bathtub—unless it was a bathtub for an Earthborn—would be highly impossible.

"No," He admitted. "I need an audience with someone in Elysium."

Charon nodded, and Percy realized he was wearing another Italian suit, this one a rich shade of burgundy. "Of course. No guarantees once we cross, but I'll take you there as a, ah, thank you for giving me a pay raise." He clacked his heels together, grinning.

Percy followed him into the elevator, and for once, he noticed Charon didn't shove any spirits out of the way. The elevator doors closed, and morphed into the familiar boat that rode across the River Styx. He wondered what the mortals saw, what the mist concealed and bent their mind to.

"We're here," Charon informed him. His voice had turned into a raspy whisper, and Percy nodded before cautiously pushing his way into the crowd of spirits.

Cerberus barked at him, but he threw a red rubber ball into the air. The three headed hellhound snatched it up, almost biting it in half, and he thanked his girlfriend—almost fiancé—for coming up with the idea. Giving the second head a nostalgic rub, he made his way safely through the line.

The lord of the Dead was on his usual black obsidian throne, his eyes pits of hellfire as he glowered at Demeter. The goddess of agriculture was so mad she was red, ruby plants all around her turning into ears of corn, which immediately wilted in Hades' presence.

"Mother! I am happy here!" Persephone was perched on her petaled throne, scowling at her mother. The flower in her hands turned from red to black to purple and back again, wilting and perking back up in the span of seconds. Demeter switched her glare to her daughter, though it turned less harsh.

"How can you be happy in this…this place?" She asked, seemingly disgusted at the gloomy palace and the jeweled plants. Persephone rolled her eyes, plucking at her dress. Though she was as washed out as he had seen her on their mission on retrieving the Sword of Hades (Which Zeus hadn't found out about yet), she looked at peace for once.

That, however, was ruined by the scathing glare sent the way of her mother.

"You—" Hades noticed him, his expression changing to relief at the interference. "Perseus! Come to ask something again?" The tone was amused, however, and he marveled at how much the god changed after he had been given a throne on Olympus.

"No," He assured the Lord of the Dead, smiling slightly. "I would like an audience with Orion."

Hades nodded. "The hunter is out today, but Artemis visited this afternoon. She said to expect a call from you." Percy looked up at the god, confused.

"Okay," He muttered. "So do I leave now?"

Hades immediately looked panicked at the thought of his interference gone, and rapidly shook his head. "No, you can stay." Demeter huffed, grains of wheat fluttering around her like pesky flies. She glared at Hades again, and the god glared back.

"Perseus! You must be eating cereal!" The goddess turned to him, smiling like a cat on steroids. "Look how strong you've gotten! See, Hades, if you ate more cereal and oats you wouldn't be so scrawny!"

The god scowled, his eyes darkening. "Sure," He agreed. "In your wildest dreams." In a blast of heat and hellfire, he disappeared into thin air, leaving a fuming Agriculture goddess staring angrily at the spot where he had once stood.

"Perseus, tell Demeter that she's being annoying pestering me about my husband!" Persephone urged him. Her multicolored eyes glimmered as she glanced up at the ceiling, exhaling a breath of annoyance.

"Perseus, tell Persephone she has to come back to her mother right this instant!" Demeter demanded. She stomped her foot like a four year old throwing a tantrum, simmering with anger. "Did you see Hades? He's so dark, and gloomy!" The goddess shuddered, as if that alone was the deciding factor.

"Mother!" Persephone complained. Her robes shifted from pale gray to white and then stayed lavender. "He's my husband!"

"He shouldn't be!" Demeter snapped. "I told you that you could have married Apollo, or Hermes, or anyone! But no, you had to choose him!" Demeter clicked her fingers, the air around her beginning to smell like burnt crops. "What is so good about him?"

The two goddesses began bickering again, each throwing glances at him as if begging him to take sides. Caught between two angry goddesses, he tried to avoid sharing Nico's fate.

"Um…my ladies?" Both of them turned.

"Yes?"

He gathered up the courage. "Maybe we could…um…talk about this?" Demeter's eyes lit up, while Persephone sighed before raising her eyebrow, as if encouraging him to go on.

"Yes?" Three chairs appeared out of nowhere, and Demeter sat down. Persephone folded her legs under her and lowered herself into the second, and he had no choice but to follow or look like an idiot standing there. "So, Kore—"

"Don't call me Kore!" The goddess of springtime snapped, before she calmed, folding her hands in her lap. "Mother, I love him! Why don't you see that?"

The goddess of Agriculture frowned, wrinkling her brow and staring disapprovingly at her daughter. "How can you love him? He kidnapped you, for gods' sakes!" She leaned back in her chair, still watching Persephone intently. "He tricked you into staying here!"

"I wanted to stay here!" Persephone argued. "I ate the seeds because I liked the place. Your palace was all flowers and pink and…"She trailed off, shivering at the idea of her mother's supposed pink palace. Sounds like Aphrodite's, without the makeup, Percy thought.

"Lady Demeter…with all due respect, I think your daughter is very much in love with Hades. Though maybe he's dark and gloomy to you, he may be different for Persephone…" It was hard getting the words out as he had never known hades to be anything but dark and gloomy, but Persephone beamed.

"He's right," She agreed, her face lighting up like flowers. "He's always so kind to me…is that so hard for you to see?" She scuffed the ground with a laced sandal, and Demeter's brow creased, pondering the words.

"He's Hades," She argued weakly, staring at her daughter. "Are you sure you want to be with him?" Her words were uncertain now, shaded out by Persephone's passionate argument.

Percy sighed. "Lady Persephone?" The goddess of springtime nodded at him. "You're conflicted," He decided. When she failed to answer, he took that as confirmation. "You love Hades, but you also love your mother despite how frustrating you think she is. You want to stay with Hades, but at the same time Olympus and the mortal world sound wonderful as well."

Persephone stared at him, her eyes wide. "That's…exactly on the spot," She finally said. "Nemesis told me you were good at reading people, but…" Demeter watched her daughter, and he could see the gears turning in her head as she thought about his words.

"You want to stay underground," He continued on, watching Persephone's reaction. "But you also wish to spend time with your mother. If it was possible for Hades and Lady Demeter to get along, you would be overjoyed." She nodded, brushing a stray curl from her face. "But most of all, you want to be you. You want to be free to make your own choices, without anchors weighing you down." He paused. "Am I correct?"

He waited for one of them to blast him, to tell him he was so far off it was insane, but Persephone was only gaping at him, a startled expression flitting across her face. "Yes," She finally admitted. "How…how do you know?" She sounded genuinely curious, not demanding, and he shrugged.

"Being stuck between Romans and Greeks is harder than I thought," He told them. "Maybe I want to be free, too."

Demeter glanced at both of them, her honey colored eyes indecisive. "I will give Hades a chance," the goddess relented.
"But if he hurts you…"

Persephone leaped out of her seat and threw her arms around her mother. "Thank you!" Percy started to back away, but the goddess of springtime called him back. "Thank you for making her understand," She told him. A black pearl appeared in his hand, catching light. "Crush this to go back to your home."

She turned away, and a familiar milky sphere engulfed him as he crunched the pearl under his feet.

A/N: It was harder than I thought to portray their characters, so...sorry for any OOC ness. I will attempt to do Hestia next-she's one of my favorite goddesses, and I'm eager to write about her. I may or may not finish Hestia's chapter today-already started-so you can check before nine to see if it's up.

After that, I plan to do Athena, like Shao4361 suggested-does something with spiders sound too corny? And then, perhaps Hecate. Any other suggestions are very welcome, and if you have a specific request, I will try to include them as we go along! Hope you enjoyed this chapter and that it met your expectations, and press the pretty review button! See, I made a bow for it!

PS: I set up a Beta account...since no one's looked at it yet I thought I'd introduce it here. If anyone wants me to Beta them... Thanks for reading this ridiculously long authors note.

~Johanna