Author's Note: Apologies on the long, long delay. Things at work have been crazy. I'll have more to say at the end of the chapter… and the story.

Epilogue

When Grover rushed into the bunker, Annabeth and Silena, already deep in discussion, immediately sensed the gravity of the situation from the look on his face. He caught his breath for a second, and then blurted out, "Is this a secure place to talk?"

"I've set up several charms already," said Silena, turning away from Annabeth. "It should be fine."

"The Council voted to kill Percy. Or whatever the equivalent would be. He needs a distraction."

Annabeth's face seemed to slowly drain of color, bringing her skin closer to the color of her eyes. She remained silent. Silena, however, grew angry. "That's insane!"

"It's politics," muttered Annabeth. Her eyes looked far away, like she was lost somewhere else for a moment. Then, she shook her head. "Grover, do me a favor. Grab Clarisse."

He moved quickly. When Clarisse came in, Annabeth couldn't pull her eyes away from the stump where her arm had been wrapped, the gauze covering it a deep red. "What's this about? I'm trying to rest."

"Would you say this battle has been handled well?"

Clarisse looked ready to punch her. "Is that a joke?"

"The Olympians voted to kill Percy. He needs a distraction. Now, if I were to ask everyone to express their dissent somehow, it might look bad. But you… well, the Olympians won't blame you."

Slowly, Clarisse began to smile. If she didn't know any better, Annabeth would say the arm wasn't a big deal to her. "You want a protest, huh? I can do that. As it so happens, there's a dump with about fifty tons of garbage a short walk away."

Annabeth smirked. "Thanks."

"Hey. We look out for our own kind." She rushed out the door, shouting orders to the demigods.

"You sure this is a good idea?" asked Grover. "If the gods find out…

"They won't," said Annabeth. "Besides, it's not like they can do much about it. They need us, Grover. If all the demigods are rioting, well, they have to listen. You made contact with Percy through your empathy link?"

"He Iris messaged me. So I lied initially. But… he knows."

"Good. That may be the last you hear of him. Once he's fully immortal, I think the link will fade."

"I'm gonna miss him," muttered Grover.

Annabeth nodded solemnly. "I guess I'll miss him too, infuriating as he is." Her voice fell to a whisper. "Best of luck, Seaweed Brain."

OoOoOoOoO

That evening, Zeus donned a hooded cloak and knocked on Athena's door. She let him in, setting a kettle on the stove for him. Until the steam began to rise, she was silent. "It's unlike you to make a visit," she muttered.

"This was a disaster," he responded.

"It's also not often that you're angry at me."

He frowned. "What were you thinking? Kronos and Percy are on the loose. Hades and Poseidon are livid. Others on the council now doubt us. Persephone is badgering her mother! The demigods are in protest! Athena, how was that a good choice? You are our chief strategist; you always think these things through! And yet-

"I did think it through," she said, cutting him cleanly off. "Like I always do."

"He was not going to betray us!"

"He did," said Athena, not breaking eye contact. "When I made my decision, he did."

Zeus did a double take. "What?"

"Loyalty isn't tested when you're asked to do the easy thing," said Athena. "I asked Percy to do something hard; something out of his comfort zone. And he showed his true colors. Better to face it now than later on."

"You voted to torture him for one hundred years! Of course he's afraid!"

"I can't afford to take risks," sighed Athena. "He took on Kronos and Hermes all in one day, and he wasn't even at full power. Imagine how strong he will become. I had to know where he stood. Trust me. This was all for the best."

Zeus's face looked overcast, sadness brewing in him. "I hope you're right."

She poured him some tea. "I haven't failed you yet. I will not fail you now. And these problems will all fade with time. We will address the demigods. Poseidon will calm eventually. Hades… well, he has always been known to play cautiously. We have time. Kronos and Percy are weak, and Olympus is stronger than ever."

"How will we placate them all?" asked Zeus. "They are fiercely angry, Athena. If we-

She held up a finger, silencing her father with a smile. "It's simple. We'll give them what Percy wanted."

Zeus's eyes widened. "What do you mean?"

"We'll make them into real Olympians. Bind our family together. We'll do everything he dreamed of… just without him."

OoOoOoOoO

The wind swept through the foothills of the northern Appalachian Mountains, the vegetation bowing down before the powerful force. Beckendorf, the goosebumps on his skin sticking up, wrapped his arms around his body, hoping to retain some of the heat. It was abnormally cold for August, but then again, they were up high. Begrudgingly, he crept closer to Kronos's warm furnace of a body.

"So what now?" he finally asked, his voice flaring with more annoyance than he would ever give to any other god. Kronos minded, but not enough to do anything, it seemed.

"You're my hostage," grunted the titan. "For now, anyways. Until I'm healed up."

"You piece of shit," muttered Beckendorf.

Kronos gave him an enervated smile. "Be thankful I'm letting you go. Other gods would probably keep you for your whole life. This'll only take a few months," his voice fell, "if I play my cards right."

"Don't try to make yourself better than the gods."

"I am better than the gods," said Kronos, not deigning to give Beckendorf face time for that comment. "You know nothing about me, Beckendorf." It was the first time he had said Beckendorf's true name, and it felt odd.

"You manipulated all of them!" shouted Beckendorf, the wind drowning a bit of his ire. "You twisted my girlfriend and my best friend into warped versions of themselves… who does that?"

"I had to!" roared Kronos, twisting to face him. "You think being a god is easy? You don't get in this business without risking blood, sweat, and tears, Charlie!" Beckendorf rolled his eyes. "Oh, you think you're so superior, on the good side, huh? Well, let's hear what the Olympians are up to now, shall we?"

He snapped his fingers and a tablet-like device appeared. Fumbling with the device, he finally brought up a television feed to watch.

"Wanted fugitive Perseus Jackson is on the run from Olympian justice," announced the news caster. Three images of the gods flashed across the screen: Hermes, Athena, and Apollo. "Three council members are dedicated to hunting him down and turning him in to Tartarus to prevent any terrorist insurgencies from reaching the Olympian capitol."

"No," muttered Beckendorf, his breath growing heavy. "That's not… they couldn't have–

"See what it is I'm up against?" asked Kronos. "See the hypocrisy in all of the demigods' rantings against me? I was playing a rigged game trying to save Percy Jackson, save Luke, save Silena, and save you! But the gods would never do that. They'd rather you dead or locked away in a torture pit." He snapped and the tablet was gone. "So next time you feel like lecturing me–

"You didn't need to start a war!" shouted Beckendorf. "You could've approached Percy carefully!"

"You think the gods would tolerate me talking to Percy without an army, Beckendorf?" asked Kronos. "You're absolutely mad! As if they would… unbelievable." Kronos trudged forward, the wind breaking against his massive carcass.

"But you don't regret anything?" asked Beckendorf. "After all this fighting, all of it for nothing, you don't–

"I REGRET EVERYTHING!" roared the titan, turning on Beckendorf and lunging his face mere inches from the boy. For the first time, Beckendorf was truly frightened. "All of it is terrible! You think I don't understand the horror I brought on my children and grandchildren? Do you think I enjoy lugging around an 18-year-old boy just so that I can live?" He backed up, sitting down on a rock and burying his face in his hands. "Everything I do in this life, I do wrong. But there is no other way to move through it, no other way to ensure peace for the future."

Beckendorf was silent for a second. Even though he was shivering, he didn't feel too terrified. He had been around Kronos long enough to know that for all his intimidating theatrics, he wouldn't really harm Beckendorf. "And what about Percy? Are we just going to leave him?"

Kronos's head peeked up from his hands. He laughed a little. "You've got to be kidding me. After all that, you want me to help Percy Jackson? He wouldn't even give me the time of day, much less–

"But he's out there alone!"

"He made that choice!" shouted Kronos. "Time and again, I offered him a family and a future, and every time I. Was. Rebuked!" The titan balled his fists. "I only have so much patience–

"If you truly regret what you did to him–

"Don't lecture me!" yelled the titan. "I don't want to hear it!"

Beckendorf bowed his head, relenting. Kronos grunted, turning back to the path. They marched on for a while, the silence passing between them. Finally, Beckendorf sighed. "Did you really care about them?"

Kronos sighed. "What do you mean?"

"I mean my friends," said Beckendorf. "You said you felt betrayed by Silena most of all, but also by Percy and Luke. Were they just tools?"

Kronos snorted. "I don't need to–

Beckendorf's voice flared to a roar, the first time he had truly matched the titan in ferocity. "Answer me!"

Kronos's face grew long. "Yes." A tear streamed down his eye. "Not as much for Percy… I didn't know him as well as I would've liked. But for the other two… and I could not do anything. And I can only put up with so much. So drop it."

Beckendorf sighed. "Fine."

They continued on for what seemed like miles in silence. Finally, as Beckendorf's legs were growing tired, he caught sight of a small white piece of dust floating gently down in the air. He reached out his hand to grab it. "What… what's this?"

Kronos stopped, his eyes tracing the horizon with slow, calculating movements. More of the dust began to fall, sticking to their bodies. "Snowfall."

Beckendorf's eyes widened. "But… it's August."

Kronos licked his lips. "Things are worse than I feared."

"What do you mean?"

"We need to go," said Kronos, avoiding his gaze. "I'd stop and rest, but we really don't have time."

"Is this going to continue?" asked Beckendorf. His skin began to grow cold. He moved closer to Kronos. "How is… how are people going to survive this? How is Percy going to survive this?"

"Pick up the pace!"

"Kronos, how–

"I DON'T KNOW!" shouted the titan. He paused, chest heaving. "I told you to drop it. I can't… I don't… I have no power over this. We need to go, NOW."

Beckendorf looked out over the tree-studded foothills, listened to the sound of the snowfall as it grew faster, more ravenous. His breath grew misty, so he closed his mouth and swallowed.

"In the forest, Charlie," grunted Kronos. "It's warmer there."

Beckendorf's eyes grew wide, distant. He looked at Kronos, sadness in his gaze. "There's going to be another war, isn't there?"

Kronos bit his lip, something he feared saying resting beneath his lips. "We need to leave," he said softly. He turned, not looking back, and trudged forwards, as he always had. But Beckendorf lingered for a second, his demigod heart tugging at him to return and do something, do anything at all. Run another quest, fight another monster. Silently, he wondered whether there was any room for demigods in a war between the gods.

THE END

Author's Note:

I think it was 2008 when I first read Percy Jackson. I got up to The Battle of the Labyrinth. There was a small excerpt from The Last Olympian featuring Beckendorf interrupting Rachel and Percy, and that was all I had to ruminate on in school. So I imagined that the only way for Percy to beat a titan was… well, to become a god. And even though The Last Olympian came out, I still liked my personalized version a bit better. In 2013 I would've put pen to paper and cranked out Percy Jackson and the Spear of Power, which has not aged terribly well. And now, in 2023, I've finished The Rise and Fall of Percy Jackson. This journey has comprised more than half of my life at this point, and even though I don't have the same connection to the young protagonist that I once did, I find myself sentimental at the end of it all. It has been amazing trying to flesh out the world of the gods that Riordan began to paint. It has made me, though not the best writer, a much stronger one, and given me a lot of joy. Which is why part of me is sad to see it go.

When I was much younger, I swore to never publish a fanfic I didn't intend to finish, and I suppose that in closing this one out, I live up to that promise. But I imagine for some of you, that might be a pretty hollow delivery. Sure, I ended this fanfic. But there's clearly more to tell. This is, after all, a prequel, technically speaking. I know many of you asked for me to tie up the loose ends with this epilogue, but I can't bring myself to – a whole story is required for that. There's no easy way to repair the damage done to Percy, to explore the hard choices that members of the camp and the gods will have to make, to plow the trauma that drove Kronos to make those decisions, to grapple with Beckendorf and Silena's misgivings about the gods and their loyalty to Percy… all of it would take too long to do justice. And so, I'm sorry to leave you on a cliffhanger. But there's no other way this story could end, because there's just too much to say.

If you want a picture of how it might end, you can always go and find Percy Jackson and the Spear of Power on . But my writing style has changed a lot since then, as well as my personality. It suffers from a lot of defects, and since I was a much younger man at the time, is probably harsher to Annabeth than I would like it to be now. It will, however, give you a sense of the general trajectory of the story, how it will be ended, roughly speaking.

As for whether I will ever rewrite it: a large part of me wants to. There's a lot more to tell, as I mentioned, and I've grappled with it all for years. But I have to be honest with you here – I'm getting older. Like, am about to have myriad responsibilities that will stop me from publishing at any acceptable rate older. And as I said, I'd rather not publish something I have no intention to finish. If you hear from me about rewriting Spear of Power, it will no doubt be far into the future, when I have a solid outline for the story, and have drafted much of it already. I apologize, but as you will all no doubt learn one day, that's life.

I want to note quickly before I end that a lot has changed in the Percy Jackson universe since I first dreamt this idea up long ago, and that has definitely shown throughout the story. My head-canons fifteen years ago involved shipping Nico with Katie Gardener, and I was true to that, although many people were (I think quite fairly) perplexed by this decision. Hell, sometimes I even wonder if people remember who Silena and Beckendorf are anymore. Back when I was reading The Demigod Files, I thought they were gonna be front and center for the rest of the series… RIP to them. And then of course Kronos is canonically just dust in the news series. This is all to highlight, I suppose, another complication of rewriting Spear of Power: by the time it's ready to be published, Riordan will have steamrolled into obscurity a lot of the material that once bewitched me. Which is fine, of course – it just makes it harder for others to get enjoyment out of it.

But one thing I can say to all of you is: thank you for reading my story! I have received many comments, complimentary, critical, and questioning, and most, if not all of them, have helped me in some way. Even the critique has forced me to think more deeply about why I wrote the characters the way I did; it has been really fun to grapple with that! And it just brings me joy to know that a few people appreciate the complexities of this universe like I do. So thank you for your support over the years, whether you are a new or old fan. It means a lot to me. And I hope you found as much joy in reading this story as I did in writing it. Whatever the case, may you continue to find those stories that bring joy to your heart!

-PJFan01