Ocean's Farewell
Percy looked from his spot at the café, one he funded and founded. Hiss workers, former thugs that had seen the error of their ways (re: get their ass beaten) are currently performing their duties while doing what he asked them to. After all, he has some important visitors coming.
He turned his head, seeing one of the 'people' he'd been waiting for entering the café. He signalled his worker subtly, causing him to nod and led the young woman to his table.
"Well, I never thought you going to invite me here Percy," Artemis said, in his disguise though the auburn hair and silver eyes remained the same. She looked like a woman in her twenties, which is appropriate considering he looked like a guy in his twenties as well, from a mortal's perspective.
"This is important business, one I wanted to talk with minimal witnesses that can actually hear us," seeing how serious the son of Poseidon is, Artemis straightened up, paying attention to what he was about to say.
"We just have to wait for another person. She should be here any minute." When he said that, Artemis relaxed, deciding to enjoy the drink Percy ordered for her.
Not even a minute had passed when another woman entered the café, Artemis's eyes widened as she clearly recognized the newcomer. Percy signalled his men once again, the woman was led to his table.
"Considering who you invited Perseus, I could have guessed what topic we will be having," not one to play games, Athena quickly pushed for the reason he called them both.
Percy hummed, he expected the smartest Olympians to correctly guess why she was called, especially when the other recipient is Artemis. Deciding to not beat around the bushes, he proclaimed the reason he called the two goddesses quickly.
"Let us talk about measures for the future Titanomachy and Gigantomachy."
Percy leisurely looked to the sea, relief and delight in his entire being. The talk he had with the two goddesses had been fruitful. Now, he need to tie all possible loose end, making sure the camps, and subsequently Olympus, ready for wait is coming.
He heard sand crunching on ones feet and didn't even bother to look when he heard a rear falling on the sand besides him.
"Luke," he said, "what are you going to do when the summer is over?" the question seemed to hit the son of Hermes like a truck.
"I'm not sure." The uncertainties can be heard from his tone. "I planned to just stayed at camp but to learn that my mother become this way because of the Oracle and Hades, leaving her will leave a bad taste in my mouth."
Percy just nodded. He could understand what the blonde gone through. To learn that his mother suffered so much because of a curse from the god of Underworld, which is caused by the king of gods (nice going there Zeus!) he probably didn't know what to think.
He had been traumatised from childhood, and meeting his father at his mother's house didn't help at all. The only reason he didn't hold any grudge against Olympus probably because of his intervention.
Percy sighed, "I'm not going to tell you what to choose, because that is your choice. Whether you want to live back with your mom or live at the camp, that's up to you. I'm only going to advice you to think what you truly want." As he said his pieces, he walked away. The son of Hermes going to need some time alone to digest his words.
So, when he met with the remaining member of the trio, he signalled them, calling them to him. "Don't go to Luke yet. He need some time alone for now." Understanding bloomed on their faces. Nodding, he about to leave when Annabeth shyly asked.
"Perse, can we talked," the timidness in the voice of the daughter of Athena sounded so wrong so he just followed the younger girl.
When they arrived into a secluded area, the blonde sat, the older boy doing the same. Behind them, Thalia remained standing, ready to act as support for her de facto younger sister.
"Is it about leaving the camp and living with your father?" before she could say something, Percy guessed her intention.
"How do you know?" the distraught look on the girl face caused him to berate himself.
"Luke did the same thing," was his honest answer, the girl just nodded while looking to the ground.
"What should I do?" he predicted the question coming from miles away, but he still couldn't find the perfect answer. He settled for the second best instead.
"Do you want to live with your father or not? Ask that question to yourself and then you will truly know what you want," cryptid but correct in what he wanted the girl to think about.
"O, and Thalia," before leaving, he decided to do the same, mostly because he knew the girl would asked the same thing.
"Think about the same thing like I ask Annabeth too," as he said that, he vanished into a burst of sea water.
He looked at the throne of gods. He had been summoned to Olympus, somewhat expecting it, though either they going to try to kill him or do something else, he have no clue. Either way, it need to be done. After all, he need to clear another loose end.
He soon walked inside, eying each thrones with scrutiny before he walked to the most front throne, where Zeus himself is seated.
"Lord Zeus," he bowed, before he turned towards his father throne, "Father," before he retreated and walked to the centre of the room.
The king of Olympus nodded before in a booming voice, shouted, "Perseus Achilles Jackson! Today, we will talked about your fate!" his father is right, his uncle is a drama queen.
"I hope you not thinking about killing my son Zeus," Poseidon threatened his younger brother, looking at him like a shark finding its favourite prey.
"No, I will not be foolish enough to do that. Besides, most of the council member will vote for him to be spared, and I do owe him for what he did to my daughter," the sky god words seemed to appease the older god, who sat back on his throne. When did he stand up?
"We will be talking about granting you godhood, young hero," soon, they were silence, which lasted for five seconds before a cacophony of sounds erupted. Percy could've care less. He still surprised by the proclamation of Zeus.
Having enough, Zeus slammed his thunderbolt to the ground, creating a greater sound than the voices of bickering gods, enough to silence them. "This is not for discussion," he warned, his eyes landing on Ares, whose the one making the most noises.
Realising his father gaze is on him, he looked to the ground. Still, Percy could sense turmoil and anger of the god, no doubt still humiliated by his lose to him. He couldn't care less about that. The only thing in his mind right now is how to reject and replace it with his own proposal, which will help Olympus in the long run.
Knowing he needed to answer his uncle, Percy take a deep breath before speaking. "I'm sorry Lord Zeus, but I must refuse," his rejection caused the throne room to burst into sound once again but a wave of hand by the king stopped it before it got too far.
"Why are you refusing, nephew?" its not spoken with venom but Percy could feel some form of either frustration or anger. Thankfully, he already had his answer prepared, just it will break his father heart.
"Its because I will be leaving this world soon," his answer caused the throne to burst into "WHAT??!!" The only one not surprised are Artemis and Athena, both having been briefed about it when he called them.
Flashback
"Second Titanomachy and Gigantomachy," Artemis and Athena parroted his words, the son of Poseidon nodding.
"After all, you could sense the monster stirring, right Artemis?" he looked at the goddess of the hunt, Athena doing the same.
"And Athena, you probably looked at all of the monster sightings and saw some kind of pattern." This time, the goddess of wisdom is looked at by the other two.
Both nodded, causing Percy to talk once more, "I called you here to plan contingencies against the Titans and Giants. Make some plan for the future."
Athena was the one that spoke first. "I see, so what plan do you have, you must have one if you called us," this time, the two goddess looked at him expectantly.
"More like a prevention tactic. I wanted to make the minor gods and demigods to side with us instead of the enemies." His words caused the goddesses to blink.
"What do you mean by that?" questioned Artemis, clearly upset by his word.
"What exactly I meant. The minor gods had been treated, not horribly but enough to wound their pride. They are treated like lesser, which would create resentment in the future. The demigods, ones that didn't live at camp felt like being abandoned, or if they were children of minor gods, might turn against Olympus if their parents did so,"
Percy's explanation makes so much sense to the goddesses, who looked at each other in dismay.
"So, what kind of plan do you have?" Artemis could scarcely believe it. Athena, asking a child of Poseidon about a plan, the world must be ending. Judging by the surprised looked on his face, Percy must thought the same thing.
"Don't give me that look," Athena said defensively. "You clearly smarter than most of your half-siblings and smarter than many demigods, including my children. Of course, I would listen to what plan you have."
After they stopped giving incredulous look to the goddess of wisdom, Percy spoke, "Its something the Olympians needed to do. Give the minor gods some speaking power in the council, or something similar."
Athena seemed to think about it, "It an effective solution, but the hard part is implementing it. I'm not sure if father would allow the minor gods to do that," she said, clearly annoyed by Zeus skill as a ruler.
"We can propose it to father. Think of it like the secondary plan, because it looked like you have more," Artemis optimistically said, looking at the son of Poseidon.
"The second, less effective but might get approved is by creating cabins for the minor gods, at least one with children. If they don't have any, we can make some kind of shrine, like the Roman did," when he said Roman, Athena looked unhinged before returning back to normal.
"How do you know about them?" she asked, clearly angered by the mention of Roman.
"I travelled a lot," was the answer she get, and one she had to be satisfied with.
"We could discuss how he knows about them later, now, we should talk about the plan," Artemis become the mediator, stopping Athena from asking another question.
She huffed, clearly wanting an answer but decided the one given is enough. She also going to talk to the goddess of the hunt, she clearly knows more than she let on.
"Alright, the prevention plan had been laid out, know if you have any possible ideas, tell it know so we can work out the kinks." Seeing how the son of Poseidon looked anxious, Athena couldn't help but questioned it.
"Why are you so worried about? The wars will happen but the time would be like 6 to 7 years from now. It's not like you leaving," the last sentence is meant to be a joke but seeing how the boy stiffen, she couldn't help but gasped.
"You're leaving?" the questioned seemed to make the son of Poseidon to age by a few decades.
"Not by choice," he replied wistfully. "Do you remember when I suddenly leave the camp when the gods come to visit?" he asked, the goddesses just nodded, remembering it like it was yesterday.
"it's because my existence caused great changes that affect the world more than it should," seeing the goddesses looking lose, he sighed before explaining.
"Think the world is like a lake. Action of any mortals is like ripple of the fish, common enough it didn't effect the lake as a whole. Then the action of the divine, which can be think like a boat crossing the lake or a large stone thrown into the lake, or something similar. Then we have me, an anomaly, one that should be like the ripple of a fish but with what I did, what I changed, my action can differ from simple ripple to natural disaster, changing the lake to the point its unclear if the effect will be good or not. To prevent myself from changing to much, to the point the world might be in crisis, the fate told me a year ago that I could choose to leave and stopped effecting the world to much or continue to live here and caused greater disturbance. So, I choose to leave."
Athena and Artemis couldn't help but be mind-boggle by the explanation. In a way, they could understand his decision, after all, he might cause more harm than he intended to. However, Artemis decided to question his decision.
"Why do you have to leave? If you stay, you might able to effect it more, maybe turning it into a positive," while Percy could see the angle Artemis is working on, unfortunately, he had to burst the goddess bubble.
"I told you that there is a reason I leave after the fight with Ares right?" seeing them nod, he continued, "I have to repair what could be call a disturbance on the world. One that if left uncheck could cause a natural disaster of the same scale as the eruption of Pompei at best, apocalypse of biblical proportion at worst."
Now they understand why he looked like he take the easy way out. It just the harder way would mean the possible decimation of humankind, one he didn't want to cause if can be avoided.
"Looks like you would be leaving in the future. When?" the question was answered immediately, "a month from now," the goddesses nodded.
"Well, let's make some more plans. Got to prepare for the future right?" Artemis exclaimed, but the tone clearly didn't reach her eyes. In the end, they created more plans, few to circumnavigate Zeus's paranoia (re: stupidity), some to work with when he come to the realisation that he needed to take action.
After discussing for almost 2 hours, they stopped, not because they didn't have more plans to discuss, but because the other patrons started to eye them suspiciously. The chances of some being clear-sighted mortals couldn't be ignored too.
Still, as they reach the end of the discussion, Athena asked one last question, "Don't you worry we might not be receptive to what you planning?" the question was first replied by a mirthful laugh.
"Well, because I created a restraint in case you decided to be difficult." As he said that, he placed his teacup. In an instant, the two goddesses felt something pressing on to them, one that is weak enough for them to shrug if they release more of their godly energy but from Percy's look, they going to regret it if they do that.
He removed the cup from that spot, causing the pressure to disappear. "That's what I prepared if you both being difficult," as he sipped the last of his drink, the goddesses nodded. Causing him trouble would be very foolish, especially when Artemis could remember when the last time she caused trouble in Percy's 'domain'.
"I'm going to take my leave now, after all, I'm a busy person." As he said that, he walked to the entrance and opened the door. When the door finally closed, he was gone.
Flashback ended
As they listened once again to Percy's explanation, both couldn't help but look at the sea god's face. As expected, he had a distraught look, one that would appear whenever the death of his child happen. In a way, it similar to death, after all, Percy going to leave to another world, one where they likely to never met.
"Is there nothing we could do?" it felt wrong to here Poseidon sounded so desperate. Unfortunately, miracles cannot be created just if you wished for them. Not even for Percy.
"No, and I tried to look at many places already." The answer broke the god's heart even more.
"I'm not going to stop you from consoling each other, but it will be preferable if you do it in private," at Zeus's words, the two looked at the other gods, clear discomfort on their face, unsure what they should do.
Reluctantly, Poseidon stopped fretting about his son. Zeus then shifted his gaze towards his nephew, one that started to grow on him. "While godhood is something you clearly didn't want and cannot even benefit from, we will do one final request, as long as it's not too excessive."
Hearing that, Percy's eyes widened, to think he would be given a highway to his goal. He thought for some time about which request should he ask for. In the end, he decided to choose one that will help his goal.
"I request for the minor gods with children in Camp Half-Blood to be granted their own cabin, and demigods to be claimed at the latest a night after they reach camp." His request caused the gods to be in deep thought, while Poseidon looked at his son with a smile. Even when he was likely to never meet his friends ever again he still helped his kind.
"Because of the frank easiness to do your request, I will allow another request, with the same restriction, not to excessive." Eyes widened comically as every god looked at Zeus like he had grown a third eye.
"What, it will be easy enough to do, and it didn't even benefit him at all," Zeus tried to make an excuse, but everyone, including the densest person there (cough Percy cough), could tell he being dishonest with himself.
"Alright, then I wanted both Hades and Hestia to be granted thrones and spots in the council," after mulling every single possible request, he decided to pick the one with the greatest benefits and less likely to be denied.
They could see that Zeus is a bit reluctant to dong it, but after giving it some thought, he decided to just nod. "That will also be with cabin for them both, am I correct?" Percy's laughter answered his question easily enough.
"Excellent, now let's summon the two new members of the council." With that, Zeus send a quick glance to Hermes, who nodded and disappear, before in less than a minute, he come back, Hades appearing a few second later.
"What is this summon about?" he asked, Hestia, appearing next to him, clearly confused as well.
"Not much, just our youngest god decided to request both of you to become members of the Olympian council." The nonchalant way Zeus said it caused everyone to have their jaws dropped. He didn't even tried to be dramatic about it!
Which is followed by "I'm not a god!" from Percy. "Well, that's to be discussed for another time," the way Zeus said this caused both Hermes and Apollo to laugh their ass off, followed by Poseidon. Hey, he loved his son, doesn't mean he can't and won't play pranks on him.
The indignant sputtering from Percy was ignored as the Olympians watched as the two eldest Olympians are knocked back to their senses. "Well, if you put it like that, we have to accept it, little brother," the tinies grin on Hades' face widen as Zeus sputtered, the goddess of Hearth chuckling at the youngest of children of Kronos's reaction.
With that, Hades and Hestia snapped their finger, two thrones appeared, one next to Poseidon and another between Hera and Demeter. The two gods sit down on their respective thrones, ignoring, along with everyone else, the grumble of a son of Poseidon.
('I think we being a bit to mean with him,' Apollo said, talking telepathically less the boy could hear them.
'It was fun though,' refute Hermes, the two gods conversation can be heard by everyone, telepathically.
'Are we going to tell him of the cult the demigods created to worship him?' Hephaestus's question was answered quickly by everyone else.
'NO'
'If he finds out, it will be an interesting massacre,' he remarked dryly.)
The announcement of the new cabins and council members to the campers and huntresses was delivered by Percy. The excitement of new cabins was quelled mostly by relief sighs of the unclaimed being claimed. For the children of minor gods, they stayed at the Hermes Cabin, their former resident, though judging by the numbers of workers, from Cyclops to skeletons and zombies, the building should be finish in just a week.
The excitement was later doused by cold water when Percy told them the other news. Hearing their teacher leaving caused the entirety of the campers and huntresses to cry out, even the likes of Phoebe, James and Zoe.
The huntresses had planned to leave for some time, to do their job, but hearing of his future departure decided to stay. Naturally, everyone else didn't mind. After all, the big brother, even though he is younger than everyone else except for Annabeth, will be leaving, so chasing them away will be too cruel.
So, for the rest of the time, Percy is still in their world, the demigods spent as much time as possible, learning new things with him, training with him, and even following him on some monsters hunt, where he leaves them to hunt monsters, along side being familiarised with the safe house he created.
They also become one of the labour force for the new cabin, helping build new ones, the children of Athena focusing on architecture helped draw the plan. O course, Percy decided to upgrade the camp, as Billy aptly said.
Flashback
Looking at the gourds on the ground, Luke couldn't help but asked, "So, you asked for some help, specifically you wanted the Olympians' ichor to make the camp better, is that what you saying, Percy."
"Yep, now I can't make the camp bigger," Percy seemed unphased by his question, the answer making more questions pop up inside Luke's noggin.
"What do you mean make the camp bigger?" thankfully, Zoe is with him and having another person helped to keep his question in check.
"Just like I said, by using some technique, I can compress space, making some areas bigger than they appeared," and Zoe was lost too. An expected result, especially with their teacher probably have some more complicated theories to explain it.
"So, you saying that for example, the area of a basketball field can house an entire stadium, or something similar?" thankfully, they have Matt, who is the smartest person in the camp, so they will not be completely lost.
"Exactly. Just like the throne room on Olympus, the size outside didn't look that big but after you enter, it look much larger inside," he purposely choose an example so they can better understand the inner working.
"That's why I removed every building in the camp. So that they won't get in the way or get destroyed." He explained more before focusing on his task.
The others decided to watch from a safe distance, one where they definitely won't be caught in the crossfire. Of course, that means being at least 1 mile away from him, and that is them being generous about it.
The only ones that stay are Chiron, Argus, Dionysus, Luke, Zoe and Matthew, all of which are curious about how he's going to do it. They watched as the blood of the Olympians flew, mashing with one another, performing a brutal cocktail of blood. The blood then turned into mist, a bloody one, before dispersing them into the camp.
Then, vertigo.
The camp suddenly expanded, bigger than the area it was supposed to be in. The forest also expended, at least in their opinions. Every part of the camp become larger, the already large camp in their opinions expanded even more. They watched as the barrier become more solid before disappearing, no doubt it was still there.
The entire expansion happened for several hours, with some people continued to take watch while others get lunch. By the end of the day, it was done, judging by the heavy breathing but smiling Percy.
"Looks like its done," he said, before gesturing for the others to enter before he entered the newly rebuilt camp.
The others hesitantly jumped in, only to gasp at how much bigger the camp is. The cabin area could probably fit 10 football stadiums and still have room to spare to put an entire baseball stadium and basketball arena. It is probably big enough to put 100 cabins if each is the size of the Big House.
"There will be more than enough room for at least a few hundred cabins, Percy," Chiron said, getting nods from the others.
"Well, I planned to make a bigger cabin for each god, probably two storeys tall and I say about 50 feet long and 20 feet width," the size of the cabins caused them to widen their mouth considerably.
"That rather large, don't you think?" Chiron asked, a strained smile on his face.
Percy looked at him confused. "But I think it just good enough. I mean, with its that big, more spaces for demigods in case they wanted to use the cabin for testing new techniques or anything they want really," he explained.
"It just, the size may be too big for a single person like Thalia and Stephan," the ancient trainer explained, causing Percy's eyes to widened.
"Oh right, well, we could make it smaller but changing the size because of different gods, because that's going to cause a riot," at that Chiron agreed.
"So, we let the campers decide if they wanted the cabin to be bigger, slightly big, or the same as before," Matt suggested, after all, he could see the appeal of having a bigger cabin.
"Lets do that," then, Percy's stomach grumbled, how could such a loud noise come from a little thing?
"Let's have dinner first," Percy said, embarrassment either hidden or just he didn't feel embarrassed at all.
Flashback ended
The voting had ended with an overwhelming victory for the biggest cabin for every cabin. And so, the builders delivered. Each cabin now have the bed at the second floor while the first floor having a lounge room, entertainment room, and different room for each cabin, like a bigger library for the Athena Cabin and Armoury for the Ares Cabin.
Still, its already Percy's time to leave. He asked the Fates to send him from Camp Half-Blood. So he could make his last farewell. To his surprise, by the time the Fates arrived, the gods, all of the Olympians and many minor ones had come.
He sees his father, with tear-filled eyes, along with his brother and stepmother, in the same state as his father inflicted upon them. He tried to withhold his tears. No need to cry yet. Wait until the speech from Zeus then cries.
Yes, apparently Zeus decided to give him one last present, but his father wont tell him wait it is. Oh well. He just has to be patient. Zeus already began his speech, he realised. Astonishingly, it filled with praise of him. He probably didn't want to be indebted and not pay it, such is the pride of a god.
After Zeus's speech, he was called to the centre by the king of gods. "Perseus," he began, "because of your service to Olympus, the council decided to give you all of our minor blessings, to ensure you will be given more protection in your lives in the new world,"
As Zeus finished talking, the Olympian Council surrounded him, blessing him with their blessing. He could feel it, the blessing of the fourteen gods, all being absorbed into his being. From better targeting skills from Apollo, to the ability to shrug off alcoholic and drug influences from Dionysus, the blessing will definitely help him tremendously.
As the blessing is done, he bowed to the gods, "Thank you for the blessings, my Lords and Ladies," he said with respect, after all, during this time, they had earned his respect.
Zeus merely nodded, before gesturing to the bags neatly packed. "This contains supply, from ambrosia and nectar, to Celestial Bronze, in case you needed to create weapons and the like. With this, along with any other supply, you will be able to handle anything the new world throws at you,"
The proclamation by Zeus maybe arrogant, but a well placed arrogantly. The amount of supplies will be enough to set any demigods to any monster infested places, much less a place with lesser monsters and weaker worlds.
The gifts are already gifted, now, it's time for him to be with his student for one last time.
First, the trio come, giving him hugs as he hugs them back. Then the campers, followed by the huntresses. Then the gods. To be honest, he was surprised by the last one, but they clearly wished to do this. He hugged them for what he believed the last time.
As he finished the last of the hugs, his father pulled him to the centre, this time for a photoshoot. The person forced to take the picture is the gatekeeper of Olympus, the one guarding the lobby of the Empire State Building.
After the photoshoot, he was engulfed in one last hug, before looking at the gathered with teary eyes, proclaiming as loudly as possible, "I will never forget you guys!".
With that said, he slowly walked to the portal the Fates created, unknowing of what world he would be sent to, but ready for it.
The Ocean adventure will continue in this new world.