Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson or any related characters! Please, please, PLEASE review if you read; all feedback is greatly appreciated. You all are awesome, and thank you for reading my story!

Percy was standing on the golden clouds once more, surrounded by rainbows. It was a comfortable warm/hot temperature, which Percy assumed was what tanning on the beach felt like. The sun was right there, trying to warm the ice layer that had formed around his heart. It was a stark contrast to the aggressive waves and the strong winds that were on the Fireworks Beach within the dream. Iris was waiting on a smaller cloud right in front of him. She smiled, but there was more sadness than warmth in her eyes. Percy felt like sitting down, but he felt like he was going to sink straight through the clouds.

Iris spoke first. It struck him how much she reminded him of his mother. "Well? Did you learn what you needed to learn about your friend?"

His friend. Not girlfriend. His friend. Percy thought for a moment. He had figured out Annabeth's motivation, and had figured out her end goal, however twisted it was. Even though it wasn't the answer he wanted (he didn't know what answer he would've wanted), Percy responded, "Yeah. Yeah, I guess I did."

Iris nodded, but Percy figured this was the last time that he was going to see the goddess for a long time. He had questions. He took a breath. "Did you mind if I asked you a few questions first?"

Iris sat down, cross-legged on the cloud. She beckoned him to go on; but he felt weird talking to someone who is technically dead. Even though he did it with Bianca, doing so with Iris was even weirder.

"First off…how are you dead? What happened? I thought gods weren't able to die?"

Iris' hand went to her neck as if remembering the sword. "The sword your friend attacked me with was of Stygian Iron, a metal capable of absorbing or destroying the souls and essences of monsters, as well as being able to injure even gods. It would be similar to your celestial bronze sword being able to harm Ares in you two's fight years ago. The Greek gods, put simply, are a race of powerful immortal beings that have domain over something. They can be wounded by supernatural attacks like the Stygian Iron sword, but they wouldn't necessarily 'die' because the power that flows from their thrones, sacrifices, animals and sources of power keeps their life-force going. With that knowledge, most gods don't 'die'...instead, they may fade away, or their essence can be scattered like in the case of Kronos. However, I'm not sure if I would even describe myself as a god, Jackson. At least not in the traditional way. I had no shrine, no sacrifices made to me, no animals, and my source of power is a rainbow. So I don't know if I meet the criteria. Maybe a better description is a very useful immortal. But since I was in a human form, your friend delivered a fatal blow with the Stygian Iron sword; allowing her to severely injure me."

Iris looked on sadly and Percy suddenly understood. "Because you don't have a throne or a source of power or sacrifices to live upon, you couldn't draw upon it to heal yourself. Your human form was dead."

Iris nodded. "Right. If she would have tried that with, say, your father, it would barely have stung for him. Now, my godly essence was not necessarily destroyed and frankly, I'm not sure if it can be destroyed. But the blow took and absorbed a lot of my life essence and power because I was holding a lot of it in that form. Currently, I am so weakened that I can no longer take a physical form. Hence, I 'died.' But it's not so bad, though. Fleecy got a new job as a part-time personal messenger for Hades and part-time judge of the Underworld. Her resume will be packed if she ever decides to come back to the living. She's told me that the Underworld is so dreary and needs some more color and light, so she is working on that."

Percy shuddered at being Hades' personal messenger. Iris spread her arms and looked up in the sunlight and rainbows as if she was trying to give a huge hug to the biggest cloud ever. "Me...I live among the rainbows. I am simultaneously here, everywhere, and nowhere. Even though Camp Jupiter is visiting my shrine and making small sacrifices of their food, it may be another thousand years until I am able to take physical form once more, if at all. That is saddening, though; I liked living on Earth. Business was good. There were so many people who needed to turn to an organic lifestyle. But my old friend Hermes may be able to create a more efficient version of Iris-Messaging. That would be nice."

She smiled and Percy grinned. She was such a good sport that he couldn't believe that anyone would try to hurt her. But Percy's smile melted away as he thought about her death, Fleecy's place in the Underworld, Cyrene's capture, Annabeth's oath, and how his friends would react to what he learned in the dream.

Iris frowned as well. "What's on your mind, Percy?"

Percy looked up at Iris. Her warm brown eyes drew him in. He felt compelled to tell her the truth; it was as if he couldn't think of any reason to lie. "Annabeth had told me that she made an oath on the River Styx to serve Arachne and to do whatever she tells her to do. I don't think anyone has fully explained to me what happens when someone breaks an oath on the River Styx…I just know it's bad. Do you think you could explain it?"

Iris put her hand to her chin. She shimmered like a mirage. "Hm. I know the popular saying is that oaths made on the River Styx are supernaturally binding. If not fulfilled, it brings something worse than death to the Oath Bearer. Compared to demigods, gods get off relatively lightly because they are immortal. In the older days, if they broke an oath, even gods would be forbidden to live in isolation without godly food and drink, ambrosia and nectar, for ten years."

Percy tried to imagine living in isolation without food or drink until he was 28. His mind went to Tantalus and how he must have felt for all those years. At least Tantalus had Camp Half-Blood to hate. "But what happens if a demigod breaks the oath?"

Iris looked at Percy. "Once Annabeth made the oath on the Styx, the Fates had their eyes on her. Arachne has no power over what the Fates decide, but she knows the consequences are worse than death. It's possible to threaten someone with the terrible punishments that the Fates impose upon those who break the binding oath."

Percy thought back to Thalia dying on Half-Blood Hill, steps away from the safe place she had always searched for, and turning into a tree to be used for years. He also thought about Luke who was possessed by Kronos, led an assault on Olympus, then killed himself.

"But Annabeth is still alive," he asked dumbly. "Even if she was too young to make an informed swearing upon the Styx, shouldn't the punishment go upon the oath bearer? The punishments seemed to only fall on people she was close to."

Percy felt like he was in Pre-Calculus, trying to understand the lesson that the entire class already understood. Iris thought for a second. "Maybe the Fates went easy on her because she was tricked into the oath. Maybe Arachne protected the daughter of Athena from any punishments falling upon her, so the Fates' judgment was forced to redirect to someone close to her. Or maybe to Annabeth, seeing her friends suffer and die is a fate worse than death for her."

Percy remembered when they were in the Labyrinth and Annabeth told him the last line of the prophecy was, "To lose a love to a fate worse than death." She seemed broken when Percy had told her about Luke offering himself to Kronos.

Percy didn't fully understand, but he had a bit more context, which is better than nothing. He had one more question, though. "Why don't the gods just stop this? I mean, I'm not asking for Zeus to strike down Annabeth with lightning, but why don't the gods attack Annabeth for killing you?"

The rainbows bent around them, like light refracting. Iris sighed and gave a sad smile. "Why don't they get rid of poverty and hunger? Why don't they immediately kill terrorists once they make up their minds to attack? Why don't they eradicate all the bad people on the planet? You're getting into some philosophical questions about power and morality, Percy. But simply put, the gods are limited to how much they can interfere in mortal affairs, upon the decree of Zeus. It must affect them on a major scale, a scale large enough for the gods to intervene. That's why they send demigods to do so much work as opposed to doing it themselves. Otherwise, they would have struck down the son of Hermes before he climbed into Kronos' coffin, ruining Kronos' plans. Unfortunately, your sister does not fall into the category of a godly-tier threat. However, like Poseidon and Hades did, gods can convince Zeus to bend the rules a little bit for their own personal reasons."

The sight of the restored and updated Camp Half-Blood flashed through Percy's head. Percy thought to himself that he needed to get rid of that rule if he was ever a god. He nodded and grinned. "Thank you, Iris. For everything. You are more appreciated than you know. You deserved a lot more praise."

Iris smiled once more. "You're a good hero, Percy. I hope that you feel strength and comfort whenever you look up at a rainbow. Keep in mind that rainbows may be just beautiful enough to justify the storm."

She winked at Percy meaningfully, and he was whisked back to the Fireworks Beach, where Poseidon was waiting.

Poseidon was in the surf, talking to a dolphin who seemed to be telling a very animated story; his flippers were waving all around and his squeaks seemed to be filled with punchlines and emotion. Poseidon was laughing sporadically, a huge, booming sound that made Percy smile. He trudged into the water and Poseidon turned to see his son walking towards him. He rubbed the dolphin on its head and met Percy half way.

"Well, son, what happened? What did you find out?"

Percy realized that he probably was going to be asked to recount this several times over the next few days. He told the whole story to Poseidon, who listened intently as he looked out to the surf. Once Percy finished, Poseidon exhaled, which confused Percy again due to his previous question about gods and oxygen.

He turned to Percy. "She cannot be allowed to sacrifice Cyrene to bring Arachne back. That proud weaver needs to stay in Tartarus for all time. You need to save her."

Percy nodded. For the first time since Cyrene was gone, Percy knew what he needed to do, knew his priorities regarding who he saves, and knew where he needed to go; the Asopio Pool.

Poseidon looked at his son. "It seems like Annabeth has had a sinister shadow over her over most of her life. Do you blame her for the decisions she made?"

Percy thought for a second. "I blame Arachne, but I'm disappointed in Annabeth. There must've been some alternative rather than doing whatever Arachne wants, whenever she wants. She could've told me or Chiron or Thalia. Or even Athena. Where has she been this whole time?"

Poseidon shook his head. "I'm not sure. I know that I would doing whatever I could to break the rules and save you from your imprisonment."

Percy fought the urge to smile at the weird compliment. "Thanks, Dad."

Poseidon started to walk deeper into the ocean, but stopped and looked back. "Did you have any more questions for me?"

Percy felt bad that he had exhausted all his godly questions with Iris. But he did have one.

"Do gods need to breathe?"

Poseidon looked taken aback for a second, then narrowed his eyes in thought. "To be honest, I'm not sure. I don't think we necessarily need to breathe, just like humans don't need to breathe. If you wanted to, you could stop breathing right now."

Percy didn't know if his father was joking or not as Poseidon winked at him, walked into the sea, and exploded into tiny bubbles. Percy put his hands in his pockets and started to walk away. The sun was starting to lower in the sky and he sensed that it was about 5:00 p.m. He heard a scream and a bleat, and he looked up. About a hundred feet away, Thalia and Grover on the climbing wall. Thalia was at the top, but Grover had barely gotten halfway. He seemed to be stuck because his hooves had stepped into one of the pegs incorrectly. Grover tried to pull himself up, but fell to the ground with a hard thud.

Thalia nimbly leaped to the ground and landed without a sound. Percy jogged over and both he and Thalia were looking over the satyr as he rubbed his head. Grover was wearing a green shirt and no pants, which prompted Percy to wonder if wearing no pants meant the same to satyrs as it does to humans.

"Ow…oh, hey, Percy. I was just at the top of the climbing wall, and decided to jump off. I landed on my feet, and then decided to just chill here and look at the sun. I didn't fall off or anything, why would you think that? Oh, you didn't bring that up? Oh, look at that, silly me."

Percy grinned and he and Thalia helped him up. Thalia grabbed her shirt and looked at him. She was only in a black and blue sports bra and sweat glistened on her body. Her silvery glow illuminated her entire form. Her hair was pulled back and her muscles coursed and stretched as she moved. She had combat pants to go with it, which seemed to be an odd combination. The sight of her with nothing on flashed through Percy's head, which he quickly pushed out his head.

Thalia pulled her black shirt over her head as she asked, "So what happened?"

Percy sighed and looked at Grover. The satyr seemed to be reading Percy's emotions as he looked on with concern. Percy had them sit against the climbing wall as he told them the story. Once he was nearing the end, Percy looked up and saw storm clouds forming over the area. Grover looked up at the sky as well. Percy heard campers begin to jog into their cabins to avoid the coming storm.

Percy's story trailed off when he looked back at Thalia; her eyes were sparking. She gave him a nod. "Keep going, Percy. Finish your story."

He felt like it was a trap, but he finished the story. Grover sat back, his horns hitting the climbing wall. "Wow."

Thalia stood up and walked towards the Amphitheater. Percy and Grover watched her go and when she was out of earshot, Grover shook his head. "I don't even know what to say. She had been working for Arachne the whole time? And didn't tell us?"

Percy shook his head. "I'm not sure why. We've done the impossible before, we could've…helped her, I don't know. Chiron is very knowledgeable about these things, we would've been able to do something."

Grover sighed and blinked hard. "Annabeth…oh, she's been through a lot. I should've known when I had found them that something was wrong. I should've asked how a seven-year old demigod had gotten from California to the East Coast by herself."

Percy put his hand on Grover's head and rubbed his hair. "It's not your fault, G-man. We just didn't see it coming. But…I've made my decision about her."

Grover looked up and Percy retracted his hand. "About her…?"

"About Annabeth. I had been listening to everyone else's opinion mostly because I didn't want to confront the feelings myself. After listening to everything and talking to Iris, and talking to Poseidon, and after some introspection, I don't think Annabeth is a bad person. I think she's a good person and if she had the chance, she would put that Stygian Iron Frost Sword right through Arachne and end all of this."

Grover nodded slowly. "I understand. Annabeth is someone who has always been complicated. It's not like she's been working with Arachne and causing havoc for fun. Based on what you said, she's been doing it because a) she was forced to due to her oath and b) she felt like the most logical choice was to avoid the River Styx's repercussions, do whatever Arachne wanted, and have faith that we and others would be able to stop it. She even worked with us to fight against plans that she had helped set in motion."

Percy considered that. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

Grover was just getting warmed up though. "I mean, can you imagine if she had refused to kill you? You may have ended up as the host of Gaea or of Polybotes, or something, forced to fight against us and ending up dying. That would've been a lot worse than a knife in your-"

Percy put his hands out for Grover to stop. "Okay! Okay, I got it."

Grover blushed. "Sorry."

"You know Juniper thinks that Annabeth doesn't love me? Because she did something that she knew would hurt me."

Grover rolled his neck. "I mean, I partly agree. I'm not sure if Annabeth loves you in the conventional way. But isn't love different for everyone?"

Percy thought about that and looked off to Thalia, sitting alone at the Amphitheater. "Yeah, I guess." He wondered what had ticked Thalia off more than he expected.

Grover looked back at Thalia and answered as if he read Percy's mind. "Dude, you just told her that the sacrifice she believed she made for her family was all because Annabeth broke her oath to Arachne. You also told her that Annabeth even prepared to kill her at one point. Did you notice that she was preparing to kill you and Thalia at different points in time, but when it came to Luke, she didn't hesitate in saying no?"

Percy hadn't thought about any of those points. "But Annabeth had brought the gun with her on the ship."

"Maybe to throw off Arachne. But look, Thalia just heard that one of her childhood best friends betrayed her and ended up on the way to do something unspeakable as the servant of evil. Sound familiar?"

Percy didn't need to be told twice. He stood up and headed to the Amphitheater and as he got closer, the smell of ozone got stronger. He saw Thalia sitting on the back row, staring towards the stage-area of the Amphitheater. Percy ignored the strengthening ozone smell and sat next to her, but facing the other way; the ocean. Percy saw Thalia's eyes moving back and forth as if she was trying to catch something that was moving too fast to follow.

"What's up?"

Thalia shook her head. "Don't. I don't want your pity."

Percy swallowed his irritation. "Pity? I was just checking on one of my best friends. Can I do that?"

He shot her a grin. Thalia looked at him for a beat, then turned her attention down to the stage. "Annabeth always seemed like she wasn't on the same level as the people around her, like she had to come down to our level to interact with the laypeople. We thought that it was just her parentage but...it makes more sense now. She was already in this scary world, bound in an oath to one of the most bitter and cruel monsters in Greek history. She was constantly wrestling with her own demons and with Arachne in her head. So any time that Luke and I would talk to her, we were actually bringing her back to Earth."

Percy wished that he knew what to say. Instead, he shared. "During our conversation, I thought about you."

Thalia looked at Percy, and this time, it was his turn to keep his eyes on the ocean. "I thought about you in an orange Camp shirt, running around, scaling the climbing wall, fighting monsters, going on quests, having a solid group of friends, dating people…maybe even growing up and becoming a counselor or living until adulthood."

Thalia turned away. Percy cursed to himself; he was truly a vlacas. He hoped that would've made her feel better. However, she looked back at him and tried for a smile. "I wished for that too. I prayed for it. I just wanted as normal of a life that I could have. But, look at me…I was never part of Camp Half-Blood. I will never have one of those shirts on. I'll always go on quests with the same group of girls and wolves. Not that they're bad, they're great. It's just…it's not the normal life I wanted."

The ocean blew a sea breeze at them, blowing Percy's hair back and Thalia's ponytail forward. "Well, you have friends here, Wonder Woman. You have the favor of the gods; all the gods either want to kill me or kill me."

Thalia fought back a chuckle. "And don't even get me started on dating. Looks like that's gone forever."

Percy cocked his head. "Mm, I don't know. Maybe Artemis will make an exception."

She rolled her eyes. "Artemis doesn't make exceptions."

Percy gave a dry laugh. "Worth a try for the right guy, I guess."

Thalia laughed with him and Percy thought about how cool Thalia is.

"Regardless, Thals, you're strong. One of the strongest people I've ever met. Your powers, your personality, sacrificing yourself for your friends, becoming a strong tree, turning back into a strong woman, fighting monsters for the rest of your days…I think more people need to be like you."

Thalia nodded. "Yeah, I am pretty great."

Percy scoffed and Thalia smiled, but it was gone just as quickly. She shifted so her legs was straddling the bench she was on and she was facing Percy. "Percy, honestly. What do you think about this Annabeth stuff? Do you think that she's beyond saving?"

Percy turned so he was facing her as well. "I think…I think she's made up her mind about what she needs to do. And I will stop her at any cost. It doesn't mean she's a bad person. I just think she's a generally good person who's…about to do something evil for her perception of the greater good."

Percy realized how weird that sounded coming out his mouth. Thalia continued to look at him. "But don't you think that the choice she gave you was ridiculous? Killing your baby sister or killing her brothers? What kind of choice is that? Being Arachne's sleeper agent within Camp Half-Blood or suffering the consequences of a broken oath on the River Styx?"

"I…I don't know. I can't really imagine making the choice."

Thalia's eyes struck with lightning. "Percy, I would've killed myself before being used as a pawn for some disgusting, super old spider-lady. Or anybody, for that matter. And if I had a choice between killing your baby sister or killing Jason? I would've made the decision to kill Arachne. I would've found a way to do it, especially if I had as big a brain as Annabeth. I would've found loopholes, ways to warn my victims before I came for them, ways to trick Arachne, ways to alert the gods so they could help, the whole nine yards. Arachne would have relinquished control once she realized that I'm much easier to deal with as an enemy than a servant."

Percy felt his heart twist and he looked to the bench. Arachne was right about one thing; Thalia was too…Thalia to ever be manipulated. He felt a hand cup the right side of his face. Her hand was soft, but her fingers were lithe and firm, like any one of them could beat Percy in an arm wrestle. Percy felt energy coursing through her hand and thought about the lightning that could build up in an instant.

He looked up and met Thalia's eyes. She looked like she had made a decision. "Percy, I would never hurt you…or anyone I care about for that matter. I would do everything in my power to save my friends, and the world."

It reminded him of Juniper and Calypso, telling him that someone who truly loved him would never do anything to hurt him for any reason. But Thalia couldn't possibly love him, especially since she had put in that "anyone for that matter," statement. And she was a Hunter. Percy didn't even know why he was so invested in this.

Thalia smacked him twice. "Let's go. The entrance to the Asopio Pool is on the bottom floor of the Belvedere Castle in Central Park, New York. We need to get there as soon as possible and save Cyrene. Go grab Grover."

Percy smiled at the alliteration and slid off the top bench, jogging towards the climbing wall.

Rainbows may just be beautiful enough to justify the storm. Percy wasn't sure why that had popped into his head.

Quick notes:

Shout out to JC RH, thank you for encouraging me and giving me your thoughts regarding the story over the past days. I've read all your reviews carefully and they provide a lot of constructive feedback. I do plan on finishing the story and seeing it through, regardless of the amount of reviews!

Thank you to all those that reviewed, my heart goes out to you. I always love whatever feedback because it shows that you all took the time to give your thoughts on my little old story! Keep giving me your thoughts. I will do my best to continue to update quickly.

I understand that the story is different than some of the other fanfics, and that was where I was trying to take it; someplace different and new. I know some characters may seem a bit out of character, and the twist with Arachne may have caught a few people off guard, but stick with the story with an open mind. I think you may like where the characters end up.

Aetemus, I hope this chapter has answered a few of your questions. I apologize if I have dipped out of continuity regarding a few things. Thank you for your opinions and questions; they made me think about the whole story in a different light!