Sorry in advanced for this crack in Peranca. Don't worry, it's not over.

Chapter 8: Should I really love?

I made my way upstairs to the dining area, hoping that Nico had saved me a meal. Monsters rose as they greeted me, but ignored. Nico waved to me and motioned for me to come over. I came over as everyone was happily eating.

"I saved you another meal," Nico replied cheekily.

I smiled, "Thank you. Without you, I don't think I would be surviving."

Bianca rolled her eyes, "Must you be so overdramatic?"

"Overdramatic?" I demanded, "I need hot food! Without it, I'm-"

Bianca whacked my head. "Stop it."

I smiled goofily. "Whatever you say, sweetie."

"How is it that you go from stupid to obnoxious just like that?" Bianca asked as chuckles echoed in the dining hall.

"Well, that's just who I am," I replied smiling.

"Ahem Percy," Luke said as he looked at me.

I looked right back at him.

"Can I talk to you for a second?" he asked, "Outside. All alone?"

"You sound like a creepy stalker," Thalia laughed as laughter again arose.

"I'm serious," he replied and once everyone saw how serious he was, all talking ceased.

I got up and walked with Luke to the docks of the Andromeda.

"What's up?" I asked.

"What the Hades is going between you and Bianca?" he answered.

"What do you mean?" I inquired.

"You can't love yet," Luke whispered, "It's too early."

"You came out here to tell me that I can't love Bianca?" I asked incredulously, "Why?"

"Listen Percy," Luke told me, "At this stage, it's too early to get a girlfriend or to fall in love with someone. It's extremely dangerous. Can't you wait until your older and this war is over? If you fall in love with Bianca and she falls in love with you, we are still all in danger of dying. And your fatal flaw is personal loyalty. What if the gods used that to their advantage? If they capture Bianca and threaten to kill her, trust me, you won't let anything get in the way of getting her back, even if it means going over to gods side and abandoning the one who gave you a second chance. Think wisely about this Percy. I once loved, but look where that got me."

"You mean Thalia?" I asked.

Luke raised his eyebrow, confirming my suspicion.

"Yes," he finally said after a while, "Even though we have been reunited, those years of missing her was great. When we were young, we stuck together with Annabeth, when we were running away. We talked and lets just say, we go close and when she was turned into a tree...things got pretty complicated."

I nodded in understanding.

"Love is not an option right now," Luke stated, "In fact it is really dangerous for all of us. You will have to trust me on this. Now, I'm not saying to completely ignore Bianca. I'm just saying, stay out of relationships right now. And I'm sure Bianca isn't really suited to start dating right now. Titans Percy, you just met her! It's not healthy to rush relationships like that."

I looked at him amused.

"You sound like a child of Aphrodite," I said as he laughed.

"Yeah yeah," he replied, "I've been hanging out with those turds for quite a while. Not that I want to hang out with them."

I snorted, "I'm pretty sure you wanted to hang out with them."

He cracked a smile, "Let's go in and finish up."

He went in the ship as I looked at Artemis' struggling figure down on the mountain. I didn't feel a twinge of guilt or sympathy. Instead, I felt satisfied, but not satisfied enough. After staring at her for 10 more seconds, I rejoined my friends in the Andromeda. They gave me curious glances, but didn't say anything. I felt grateful.

"Are you guys done eating?" I heard Atlas' voice, "Come on soldiers, this isn't time to lounge around! Finish eating, we have to discuss our next step! Hurry ladies, hurry!"

"Ok, ok, gosh," Nico whined, "This dinner is too good."

"Are you suggesting that I should serve you grubs instead soldier?!" Atlas shouted.

Nico quickly shook his head.

"I can't hear you! Can you speak?" Atlas asked.

"Yes sir," Nico replied shakily.

"WHAT?!" Atlas screamed

"YES SIR!" Nico yelled louder.

Atlas nodded in satisfaction, "Good. Meet me in the meeting room once your done. I'll give you all up to 8:00 p.m. Be there by 8 or you owe me 100 push ups. Yes, even you ladies!"

Atlas stormed off.

"Glad to see we have a competent general," I muttered.

Luke gasped, "Do you know who your talking about? This is Atlas, Percy! One of Kronos' most strongest general! Of course he is competent!"

"Oh," was my only response which led to hands meeting faces.

I looked at the clock which said 7:50.

"I'm finished," I replied, "I'll meet you guys in the room, hopefully by 8. Adios!"

"Since when did Percy learn spanish?" was the question I heard as I walked to the meeting room.

I opened the door and there stood Atlas, who was waiting on the desk, his hands folded.

"Nice to see you so early, half blood," he simply said as I sat down, not saying a word, "Kronos has great plans for you. You should be honored, boy. No mortal has been offered a chance so great. You must not mess up as Kronos does not allow failures."

"But, you can't expect to be successful on every mission," I replied, "It's not fair."

Atlas raised an eyebrow, "I'm sure you have known that life is simply not fair. It is true that you can't be successful on every mission, but failure is only decided by a few options. Kronos chose you to lead and a failure can throw Kronos' plan off track, some being too great to recover from. With great power comes responsiblity."

I just bowed my head, deep in thought.

"7:59," Atlas growled.

"NOOOO!" I heard yelling as the door burst open. Luke, Nico, Thalia, Bianca, Willow, and Bob bursted in as the clock turned 8.

I raised my eyebrow, impressed.

"Take your seats ladies!" Atlas' voice boomed, "We are going to get started."

Atlas patiently waited as everyone took their seats.

"We are going to set sail to the National Museum of Natural History as I have some matters to take care of," Atlas began, "That is all."

"Are you serious?" Nico asked rising up, "You bring us in here and threaten to make us do 100 push ups, just to tell us this crappy plan?"

Atlas rose up quickly, "Don't call any of my plans crappy. If you value your life, I suggest you get out of my sight, now."

I expected Nico to run away like any sane person would, but he stood his ground.

"Listen here general," Nico spot, "Just because your Kronos' right hand man, doesn't mean you can threaten me or any of us."

"You incompetent half blood, get out right now," Atlas growled and Nico knew better than to not push it. He stormed out.

"Worthless," Atlas replied, "Don't be surprised if you see his carcass floating on the water today."

"I will not let your hurt my brother you horrible person," Bianca seethed, "You had no right to tell him that! No right!"

Bianca stormed out after Nico. Everyone save the general looked stunned. I debated on whether to follow Bianca, or stay in the meeting room.

"If you'll excuse me-" I began, but the general cut me off.

"Let them go," he told me, "You stay here Percy. It will be a miracle if you see those 2 Hades' spawn still intact in this ship."

This put me in a tough decision. I could listen to Atlas and perhaps forever lose Bianca and Nico, or I could disobey Atlas and be severly punished. Luke had told me to not love as it would cause me a lot of burden and pain. I kind of saw where he was getting at. Two sides of me were fighting as I tried hard to make a decision. I could feel perspiration dripping down me. I finally made my choice.

"As you wish general," I replied as I sat back down on my seat.

Yes, I chose duty over possible love. Duty is more important to me and I said to Bianca, there are more girls out in the world. Crap, now I feel really bad. I could feel a few stray tears coming down, knowing that I had lost Bianca. You may wonder how I knew that. Well, I just did. Luke knew what I was thinking as he nodded at me, sadly.

"I see those traitors have finally gone," Atlas laughed.

We looked at him questioningly as he swiped his hands.

"This is what had just happened," Atlas told us as we looked at the...mist?

"Bianca, we can't leave them," Nico cried.

"We have to," Bianca firmly replied, "They don't care for us."

"Where do we go?" Nico whimpered.

"Stop your whimpering Nico," Bianca ordered, "Let's go. I know this move called shadow travelling. Here hold my hand."

Nico gripped Bianca's hand as shadows started to flicker around them. As they disappeared, I swear I heard Bianca whisper, "Percy."

I looked stunned as they landed on what suspiciously looked like Mt. Olympus.

"You dare show your faces here?!" Zeus growled menacingly, picking up his bolt.

"Peace brother, my children are here to make peace with her," Hades replied, sounding very pleased.

"The oath brother!" Zeus reminded.

"Let me tell you this brother," Hades replied, "I did not break the oath. Here, let me explain it to you..."

The message faded as the meeting room was silent.

"Good riddance," Bob huffed.

"How can you say that?!" Atlas, Luke and I roared at him. He took a step back and cowered.

"Don't you know the gods got a new bargaining chip you fool?! Do you even know The Great Prophecy?!" Atlas asked.

"Lord Kronos will be mad at us all!" Luke also roared, "It will be a miracle if we aren't ripped apart by tonight!"

How is this a good riddance?" I asked Bob, "I let her go. It was all my fault. I can't believe I chose duty over her. This is complete bullshit!"

I saw Thalia staring at us sickly.

"Quiet!" she yelled as we all fell silent, "Even camp was better than this! At camp, at least we didn't argue all the time! Heck, camp was more fun than this as there were more options! And you, Percy, you told me the gods weren't good. You say they needed to be destroyed! But look at you Titans! You aren't better than the gods and at least there isn't total chaos when the gods rule! You guys should be ashamed of yourselves!"

Thalia stormed out, with Luke after her. Atlas gave a roar and exited out of the ship as Bob and Willow silently trudged after them, Willow giving comfort to Bob. I was left all alone. I pounded the table with my fist with rage and frustration. The gods were looking to kill me as my life with the Titans wasn't doing so great either. I cursed the fates for being so cruel. And finally all the pain I've been holding in ever since my first betrayal came pouring out as I couldn't control myself. I began crying raw tears, not giving any care to anything that was going on. After a few more moments of crying, I went to my room and took out Hellfire. I waited for Kronos to talk to me, to punish me, to say anything, but no answer came. I sighed and lay Hellfire on my desk drawer. My life during camp had gone from bad to worse as I was betrayed by Luke and as Zeus originally planned to kill me. I thought that going over to the Titans, I would be able to cause destruction while enjoying my life, but that wasn't working. Had I really made the right decision? Did I even have a choice to back down from the offer I was given? No, I had no choice. The god and titans were equal. They were both bad.

There was no good side in my eyes. They were both bad. If the gods hadn't jumped to conclusions and didn't say that I had betrayed them, I possibly might have escaped the first chance I had gotten, but their pride had gotten the better of them. I really expected Poseidon to hold on to the fact that I could still be saved, but I guess that didn't work. I fell asleep and dreams came to me.

I was approached by 3 old ladies whom I knew were the fates.

"Congratulations on making my life so miserable," I grumbled, not meeting them in the eye.

"We have come to tell you some news," the three chorused at the same time.

I raised my eyebrow.

"Your fate isn't tied to the string," they said, "You make your own choices and we have no part in deciding anything for you. Even we don't know why, but your life force is...controlled by another mysterious being. That will make you very powerful."

"I-I don't understand," I replied.

They stared at me like I was completely stupid.

"We have no control of your choices," they said, "Everything is up to you."

I took that in.

"What about The Great Prophecy?" I asked, "The one Atlas was talking about."

The fates sighed.

"We have tried and tried to tell the gods, or at least hint to them that they shouldn't let this prophecy control them, that there is another force, which is you, that is in control, but they won't just listen," they said, "But don't let this get through your head. Many forces know about this and will do anything to get you on their side. Also, you can die and when you do...we don't even know what will happen."

My head was hurting like crazy from all this knowledge and the fates looked at me sympathetically.

"Go to rest young hero and may no dreams bother you today," they told me as I closed my eyes and fell into a deep sleep.