There was an odd source of tranquility that Percy had been experiencing ever since he had gotten to Camp Half-Blood in the summertime. So many times before this summer Percy had been through a series of affairs that had in one way or another lead to people trying to kill him.

For once, he was able to relax. There wasn't an Earth Mother who was trying to crush him, not a Titan King that was after his blood and there wasn't a mooing Betsy that could cause the apocalypse. This was one of the only times he was able to relax.

Well as relaxing as it could be, his hair seemed to drip from the amount of sweat there was from teaching the Apollo children sword fighting. The job of teaching the other campers had fallen to him after the last sword instructor having died in the giant war.

"Alright, that's enough." Percy interrupted the Apollo campers. Seeing as how their hearts weren't into it and they were just playing around near the end of it. "Go and get some rest. I'm sure Will would love to know how your sword fighting went." There was an edge of steel in Percy's tone. He wanted to make sure that they understood how annoyed he was at them right now for not taking him seriously.

Working like a charm, the Apollo campers shot up and fled the arena as if a bull had been chasing them. Percy couldn't stop the sigh that escaped him as the floor was now littered with swords that the campers hadn't bothered to pick up. Honestly, he wasn't that scary.

Percy slowly drew up the celestial bronze sword and capped it. Turning the sword into a golden ballpoint pen. After capping the sword he put it in his pocket and began to walk around, collecting the swords that were littered on the ground.

Unsurprisingly the Apollo kids had been really messy and it left Percy taking longer then he wanted to clean up the area. They were arguably as bad as the Hermes cabin. By the time he was done the cleaning up the arena, it was night time and he had most likely missed dinner. Hopefully, a nymph would be so kind as to grab some food for him after this.

The lights illuminated the arena during the night which helped Percy finish cleaning up the mess. Walking over to the arena he went to turn off the lights. As he put his hands on the light switch the lights flickered once. Drawing his hands back from the light switch he stared at it for a moment.

Had he hit the light switch on accident and not noticed it? Going to touch the light switch once more to turn it off the lights flickered once more. Now Percy knew he was being messed with. His eyes turned to the other side of the arena where the other light switch was and found it undisturbed. Keeping his eyes on the switch he went back to hit the switch to turn off the lights.

This time it worked successfully as the lights switched off. Percy stayed for a moment to make sure that the lights wouldn't be flickering anytime soon and when there was no response he went to walk out of the arena only for the lights to flick once more right before he closed the door.

Now he knew that someone had been messing with him. Flinging the door wide open he walked into the arena with Anaklusmos uncapped and ready to battle. "Come out." His voice seemed to echo throughout the arena. A firm grasp behind it.

Reaching out with one hand he went to turn on the lights. The familiar click of the switch was heard but unlike what happened last time, the arena refused to be illuminated. The lights that normally clicked to life at times refused to turn back on.

Now Percy's guard was up, it seemed all too familiar to him with the event that happened over two weeks ago. "I know you're there, the one claiming to be Death."

"Ah, What gave it away?" The voice spoke mockingly in Percy's ear, making him jump slightly to the side. Flicking his sword over to the position where the voice had come from. A slight acceleration in the beating of his heart surprised himself.

This was different than the time he had met Nyx in Tartarus. While that was a place of torture and death there was at least a possibility of knowing that Nyx was indeed there. There was something odd about the person he was facing. With Nyx, he could grab ahold of her body and manipulate her if he had to, which he had done. With the person claiming to be Death, there was nothing around her. No form of liquid. Just pure and utter darkness. The only sense of familiarity was his trusty sword he had defeated so many with.

He couldn't sense the presence of the person who had just whispered in his ear. "What do you want?" Percy asked her in a blank voice, keeping the fear out of it.

There it was, once again the mocking yet seductive laughter that happened to echo all around him. It almost made Percy wonder if she was trying to let him know that he was nothing more than a plaything for her. Like she was trying to show off the authority she had over the situation. "Oh, Perseus it's been two weeks to this very minute!"

Percy waited for her to explain but there was nothing except silence. "It's been two weeks since I've met you, yes. Now tell me what you want or piss off." Percy tapped his foot slightly impatiently. The earlier fear now gone yet a hint of curiosity was in his tone.

He could practically feel the grin that was rolling off of her in waves. "It's been two weeks since you've done anything interesting, Silly!" The familiar mocking tone sounded somewhat sarcastic.

This sent Percy on an edge as he stared at where he believed she was at. There was a tingle in his gut that told him something bad was going to happen. Whenever immortals used the word interesting, It normally meant something big was about to happen. Percy's had a feeling this wasn't going to be an exception.

"How amazingly astute of you," Percy commented dryly. Surprising even himself and the amount of sarcasm his voice showed. "Should I go and get a medal for you?"

There was a brief moment of silence that put Percy on the edge until he heard laughter. Unlike the times before where it was a mocking and dry laughter, this held one full of mirth that begged to escape from her. "That… That was actually funny Perseus. Who knew you could be such a comedian?"

"I try."

He could feel the smile. It seemed to radiate off of her. There were no words that seemed to describe the way of how he knew this but every fiber in Percy's body knew she was smiling. "Stop that."

"Stop what, Perseus?" He ignored the amusement coming from her voice.

"Tell me what you want." It wasn't a demand nor a question. It was something that Percy just said. There was no curiosity in his tone, there was only a want to get rid of the nuisance that had entered into his life.

The lights flickered on for a moment and Percy caught a glimpse of someone standing across the room. It had been on such short notice that Percy's eyes struggle to adjust to the light for a moment and when they had the lights turned off again.

Once more the lights flickered on. This time Percy was able to make out the figure and find he was indeed talking to a girl. One with pale skin and bright purple eyes. Before he could take note anything else the lights flickered off again. Next time the lights flickered on the girl was in mid-step coming towards him, already halfway through the arena. It was as if Kronos himself had stopped time and decided to take a three-dimensional picture that you could rotate around.

On the fourth flicker that the lights came back to life, Percy had an irreversible shiver that traveled up his spine. She was closing in on him now and he could just make out the deadly smirk that was plastered onto her face. It looked as if she was a doll that wasn't allowed to stop smiling with a grin that was forced on her. Her bright violet eyes looked amused at the situation and her pale skin looked untouched. It was as if a beauty of death was approaching, letting you know just how theatrical Percy's death was going to be.

Most people in this scenario would have started to run, trying to escape the inevitable. Most people would have closed their eyes and waited for the death to come, welcoming it. Most people would have tried holding up the sword in a wimpy fashion and have hoped for the best.

Percy Jackson was not most people.

Something clicked in Percy as the fourth flicker of light illuminated the arena. Instead of finding a way to retreat from the doll-like figure, Percy held up Anaklusmos in a vice grip pointed straight at the doll in a flash.

There was a loud squelch sound that seemed to echo dramatically throughout the arena. Percy felt as if he was supporting something as he tried holding up his sword. Finding it much heavier than normal.

Before Percy could do anything, the lights flickered to life. It took a couple moments but the light came fully back to life after a few tries.

For the first time ever. Percy had the urge to throw up where he had been standing from the sight of death. He had never taken a human life before and while this wasn't human, there was something definitely showing that this was some recreation or clone of the human race.

Unlike normal human blood which was red, black blood seemed to be splattered all over the floor with some of it reaching Percy. There was a trail that slowing came about halfway down his blade before dripping down to the ground, splashing each time it landed.

Percy looked up to the girl with void purple eyes that didn't seem to move at all. Anaklusmos was lodged into the middle of her neck and she had slid partway down the blade. Her smirk was still plastered on her face which for some reason annoyed Percy greatly. Tilting his sword down, the body seemed to slide down with it and made a quiet thump as it collapsed to the ground.

Percy winced as the body collapsed on the ground. Killing monster like appearances versus the human-like appearances had more of an effect on him than he liked to admit.

Staring at the body for just a moment, Percy soon turned around and walked towards a bench with a towel on it. Glancing at the body one last time just to make sure nothing happened to it, he grabbed the towel and began to wipe off Anaklusmos. It was the first time that anything had actually stained the blade other than the golden particles that sprayed on it after killing a monster.

It took Percy a moment to realize but as he was wiping Anaklusmos he found that the black blood refused to come off of the blade. Pausing in his actions Percy took a close look at the blood on the blade. There seemed to be nothing different with it so Percy pulled some water out of a nearby water bottle and gently began to wipe the blade. This had no effect on it and the black blood refused to move from its position.

"What the…" Percy trailed off as he stared at his sword. The towel was now filled with the black blood but the blood on the blade refused to leave its spot as if it was stuck there. Had it already hardened? He could already see Zoe Nightshade staring down at him from the stars and glaring at him for messing up the blade. "Perhaps I should talk to the Hephaestus cabin?" He mumbled to himself. Hopefully, Leo would have been able to fix this up.

As he was about to put Anaklusmos down and start cleaning up the arena, something caught his eye. On the edge of his sword a small movement began to happen, too small for the normal eye to pick up but with Percy's demigod reflexes he saw the black blood begin to go up the blade.

Trying to drop the blade, Percy found himself unable to do so. It was as if gorilla glue had been stuck to his hand and he was unable to peel it off. "What the Hades?" He murmured.

Once more trying to drop it, Percy found himself unable to do so. A tinge of panic started to surge into Percy. This was not normal, this was something different entirely.

"What's the matter Perseus, scared?" The voice of death said from behind him and Percy's eyes grew wide. Turning around to see the person he had just closed moments before, looked to be in perfect shape as she grinned widely at Percy. Well, as perfect as one could look with a sword wound that went right through their neck.

"How are you still alive?"

She grinned widely at Percy's question. "Oh, my Percy. If you think something as small as that is going to stop me you better think twice. Nothing will pull you from me." She purred at the end of the statement sending an uncontrollable shiver down his spine, something he happened to be doing quite often when talking with this person.

Percy ignored her answer to the best of his abilities. "What is this?" He asked her. No doubt she had done this to him.

"It's a gift."

"I don't want it." He immediately retorted back.

Her smug grin only made Percy want to stick a blade in her neck once more. "Why Perseus. What is given can not be taken back. Besides, the gift is starting to take effect."

Percy wore a confused look for a moment before his eyes lit up and stared down at the black blood. He hadn't even felt it as it went up to his hand and was now beginning to crawl across his skin and grow up his neck. The tingling sensation felt weird and Percy wanted to shudder. He had no idea what it was and it may very well kill him.

Behind him, Percy felt two slender arms hug him. "I can't wait to see what you show me, Percy." A kiss was planted on his cheek once more.

"Wha-" Percy froze in his movement, it was as if all strength left his body. Before he knew it he collapsed on the ground and blacked out.

Death stood above him, a wicked grin gracing the features that somehow made her look eloquent despite the scene. "Hey Perce you-" A voice called out from the doorway to the arena. A demigod that Percy must have known had a look of fear as he saw the scene. "Hey! Get away from him!" The boy pulled out a pitch black sword.

Death snapped her fingers and the boy collapsed to his knees, gasping as he lost control of his body. Death walked by him uncaringly however right as she passed him she paused for a moment. "You would do best to keep my property safe, boy."