Disclaimer: Not mine.
I woke up from the nightmare shaking and sweating. It's been ages since I've had a dream like that, but one pops up now and then. It was probably brought on by yesterdays conversation. I sighed as I realized I'd probably have more of those nightmares when we're staying at Camp Half-Blood. Oh well. As a demigod I lived through constant bad dreams during the second titan and giant wars. Falling into Tartarus didn't help matters either.
Unable to keep still, I got up and wondered into my ensuite bathroom. I hesitated for a minute by the mirror, before lifting my shirt over my head and staring at those awful words carved into my chest.
Traitor to Olympus.
The scars all over my body have faded now. They are barely visible white lines, almost unrecognisable as scars. The brand on my chest, however, is less faded than the others, though just as silvery. I usually try to avoid looking at it but today I didn't bother. It couldn't bring back many more bad memories than visiting Olympus and Camp Half-Blood would.
I received a message from Chaos, telling me to be ready to leave in five minutes. I grabbed the spare packed bag I always keep from under the bed, put on my mask and left to meet Chaos.
When we were all there and ready to go, Chaos decided to drop one last bomb on us. "As you know, what we call Chaos time moves faster than time on other planets. So less time will have passed on Earth than on Chaos planet. In fact, I think that it's been about five years since Percy's - sorry, Thysia's death for the Olympians."
We just stared at him. "You're only telling us now?" Clarisse yelled.
"Sorry." Chaos apologized. "But I didn't see any point in worrying you ahead of time."
"So you just decide to leave us a nasty surprise minutes before we go to see the Olympians?" Epsilon demanded angrily.
"Basically." Chaos agreed cheerfully. "Oh look, it's time to go and see the gods. Come along." He created a portal and stepped through it. We looked at each other before we followed him. "Coward male." Huntress grumbled. We jumped through the portal together.
The throne room at Olympus was almost exactly the same as I remembered it. Hades and Hestia, however, now have their own thrones. Good. They deserve it.
As usual, the gods are arguing. I've no idea what about, and I don't particularly care. I just want them to stop.
Unsurprisingly they didn't notice our entrance. They must have been too busy behaving like infants.
Omega stepped forward and shouted, "shut up!"
All of the gods turned and stared at our rude interruption. I guess it isn't everyday that a bunch of strangers come into your home and start yelling at you.
"Who are you and how did you get here?" Zeus thundered. Typical god of the sky.
"I am Chaos, Creator of the universe. I am here to offer my help and support in the upcoming war against Tartarus. These ten behind me are the most highly trained team in my army, known as the Elite. If you accept my help then they will be stationed at your Camp Half-Blood, training the demigods for the war until the Elite are needed."
"And if we don't accept your help?" Zeus asked, his voice dangerously low.
"Then you are even stupider than you look." I stepped in. "We are offering help. Don't turn it down for the sake of your pride."
Zeus went purple. Then he started breathing again. He narrowed his eyes at me, but instead of threatening to blast me with his bolt, he did something I never would have thought he'd do.
"I think I've met you before."
I went still, but only for a second. Zeus was thinking. I needed him to stop. Best way to do that was to make him angry.
"Fortunately I haven't met you before. I don't think I could survive two meetings with someone as arrogant as you."
As expected, this really irritated Zeus. Thankfully Chaos stepped in, quite neatly cutting off Zeus's rather annoying voice. "Forgive my son, Zeus, but he bears a grudge against the gods. It would be wise not to irritate him. He will help you, but that doesn't mean he likes it. If you give him a reason to hurt you ..." Chaos didn't finish that sentence. He didn't need to. I was radiating power far greater than the gods, and Zeus could feel it. The thought of all that power directed at him made the king of the gods pale.
"Of course." He said. "Forgive my impudence, but how are we supposed to trust your Elite team when we can't even see their faces?"
"Point taken. You can see the identity of all, except my son. However, they can keep their identities a secret at Camp Half-Blood."
"That is acceptable." Zeus agreed.
I stepped forward. "I am Thysia, adopted son of Chaos, Prince of the Void, Primordial god of everything, leader of the Elite team and Commander of Chaos Army."
Luke stepped forward. "This is Epsilon, second in command of Chaos Army and member of the Elite team."
Nico stepped forward. "This is Omega, third in command of Chaos army and member of the Elite team."
Clarisse stepped forward. "This is War, second in command of the Elite team."
Zoe stepped forward. "This is Huntress, third in command of the elite team."
Silena stepped forward. "This is Beauty, member of the Elite team."
Beckendorf stepped forward. "This is Forge, member of the Elite team."
Bianca stepped forward. "This is Angel, member of the Elite team."
Conner and Travis stepped forward. "This is Jester and Pranker, members of the Elite team."
"That is all very well and good," said Hephaestus, "but who are you?"
"Come on Dad," Forge exclaimed, grinning. "I know that you're better with machines than with people but surely you recognise your own son?" He slipped off his hood.
"Charles?" Hephaestus asked, disbelieving.
"And Mom's gone blind if she didn't see this coming." Silena joined her boyfriend of ten thousand years with her hood off. Aphrodite squealed in excitement, probably sensing the emotion between the two.
"It's good to see you, my lady." Zoe murmured, walking towards Artemis. "It's been a long time." She slipped off her hood. Artemis smiled. "Welcome back, Zoe."
"Thank you, Milady." Zoe stepped back.
Nico and Bianca walked towards Hades, pulling down their hoods as they went. "Hello Father."
Hades just sat there an stared. Probably wondering how he failed to notice that his children's souls had left the Underworld.
"You better not have forgotten us, dad!" The twins yelled towards Hermes, pulling down their hoods. Hermes smiled at them. "Jester and Pranker, eh? Why am I not surprised?"
Clarisse bowed towards Ares before flinging off her hood. "Hey dad. Long time no see."
Ares laughed. "Second in command to one of the most well known fighting forces in the universe? That's my girl." Clarisse beamed with pride.
"So, only Epsilon still hasn't revealed his identity." Athena counted off the others and myself, knowing that I'm not going to reveal my identity.
Luke sighed and pleaded to Chaos. "Do I have to do this?" He whined. Chaos nodded. "Think of it as payback for that whoopee cushion on your first day."
"But that was ages ago." Luke moaned.
"Immortal over here." Chaos pointed out. "Ages ago is barely anything to me."
Luke groaned and ripped off his hood before he could think better of it. The Olympians gasped in surprise. They weren't expecting him. Hermes quickly shrunk himself to human size, then strode over and hugged him, before muttering something in his ear and returning to his place.
"Why are they all from this world?" Athena asked suddenly.
"I'm sorry?" Chaos looked at her in confusion.
"At least nine of the ten are from this world. Why so many? There must be others with similar skills whom you could have recruited." Damn Athena. She's smart. I wonder how long it'll take her to figure out who I am.
"I didn't decide entry for the Elite team. I picked Thysia to be the leader, and he handpicked the others in his team. If you want to know why he picked your children, you'll have to ask him."
The Olympians looked at me. They weren't going to let the subject drop now. I didn't bother to wait for Athena to ask me the same question.
"The Army of Chaos keeps an eye on all wars. It came to our attention that war was brewing in your world when Perseus Jackson left on a quest to retrieve the master bolt. I watched the second titan war unfold from beginning to end, and then I did the same for the second giant war. I was asked to put together the Elite team not long after. The people I chose for the team died in your wars, died before their time. I chose them because out of all the people in all the universe, I felt that they deserved a second chance."
"I see." Zeus commented.
"Now that we are all friends, I'm going to leave you be." Chaos said. "Remember, Zeus, Thysia doesn't like you. Don't irritate him." And on that happy note, Chaos portaled out.
"Where's Poseidon?" Bianca asked. I looked at her, startled. They never mentioned that name. Not around me. Then I looked up at Poseidon's throne. Bianca was right. He isn't here, and I would have realized that sooner if I hadn't been avoiding looking in his direction, afraid he would recognise me.
The gods shifted, looking down at their collective feet.
"He is fading." Apollo was the one who had spoken. "I've done all I can to bring him back, but guilt over his son's death is eating at him. I can only slow the process, not stop it."
"What do you mean, guilt over his son's death?" I asked. I couldn't help it, I knew it will look suspicious, but I need to know.
"I thought you said you watched the wars? Surely you know what happened?"
"I want to hear it from your point of view." I said, expressionless.
"Percy was a good kid." Ares began. I blinked. Ares just said that? "He didn't like me very much, and vice versa, but that was because we fought a couple of times and he won. As much as I might've disliked him, though, I was impressed by his loyalty and determination. Not that I'd ever tell him that, of course." He added.
"His fatal flaw was loyalty." Athena spoke up. "We knew that, yet we still believed that he would betray us."
"I was so paranoid." Zeus spoke out. "I could only see that he could betray us, not that he would."
"We were watching the demigods train from Olympus as usual, when a visitor arrived. He said he was from another world, and he had news on a traitor of Olympus. He showed us a recording of Percy murdering his mother and stepfather. He claimed that Percy was loyal to someone else, someone he'd known since childhood. He said that we would have to be careful about confronting Percy. He said that Percy had a gift with words, and would be able to make them suit him, leaving him looking perfectly innocent, which was why we had to decide if he was guilty or not without him present. We found him guilty, sentenced him to torture and death." Hades stopped talking. That's the most I've ever heard him say.
"And that's what we did." Artemis spoke. "He was one of the few men I ever respected, and I let them kill him."
"We watched Poseidon torture him. He was furious, you see. He believed that Percy had killed his old love. Percy died from the torture mere moments after a monster attack on camp begun. They'd found a way to get past the barrier that protects camp."
"That won't happen again." Zeus promised. "I've upgraded it."
"There was a shape changing monster there, one I've never seen before." Athena continued talking. "Before the army attacked, he turned into the person that convinced us that Percy was guilty and said, "Percy really was loyal, you know. You needn't have killed him." Then he transformed into Percy and said, "He really didn't kill his parents. He didn't need to. I did it for him." Then the monsters attacked. We tried to kill that particular monster, but we failed. A lot of demigods died that day."
"Poseidon has been fading since then. I've tried to help, but he feels too much guilt over what he did. Unless Percy suddenly turns up and forgives him, Poseidon will fade." Apollo said, depressed.
"What are the chances of winning this war without him?" I asked. Ares and Athena glanced at each other. "Low." She said. "It wasn't just his powers that we used in war. Now that he is fading, his people are fading too. His Cyclops forges supplied all of our armies with weapons and armour. Now they can't do that."
"So without him, it'll be very difficult to win this war?" Luke asked.
"Yes." Hephaestus said. "I can make up for some of what he did, but not all."
"I'll go and talk to him." I offered.
"What would you know about what he is going through?" Dionysus asked rudely.
"People I love have died horribly painful deaths because of me." I said. "I probably understand better than you do." And on that note, I flashed out to Poseidon's palace.
Foreshadowing just a little. Will Percy reveal his identity? Will the author stop asking rhetorical questions?
... Probably not. Shib.