I made it back to my bunker a couple of hours (ish) after I woke up again, leaving any excess water in the moat and parking my bike inside the garage. Then I put the food away and curled up under the pelts in my pool room for the rest of the 'day'. My gut still hurt and I didn't have much reason to try and tempt fate, so taking another nap it was.

Will would be proud of me.

Hopefully I could sleep without demigod dreams, because my second nap on the banks of the Phlegethon had not been pleasant. Didn't even remember my dreams and still woke up screaming. That happened far too often here (that happened far too often period). I really wished I could see Annabeth or Clovis or Grover again, but no. At least my dreams the 'night' after I got back didn't leave me feeling shaky for hours after I woke up.

I would like to say I fell back into my routine after that, but for a long time, that routine had been made up of building my bunker, fighting monsters, and training, and I didn't have much more to do besides that. Now I didn't even have the whole 'bunker' thing. Out of sheer desperation for something to do, experimenting with ice and fire-water golems became my go-to with training, besides my swordplay, and I even created a golem to fight against. Problem was, controlling their movements while I fought probably wasn't doing me any favors, and certainly wasn't satisfying, so I eventually just made some ice dummies and went to town instead.

Few monsters showed up during that time and I often found myself growing restless. The peace was nice at first, but I couldn't help wondering when the other shoe would drop and that made me antsy. ADHD and 'antsy' do not combine well.

Eventually, I realized I would have to face whatever foe Phlegethon had warned me about. I had followed through with his request and sacrificed some of my food to him, though I had to build a brazier out of ice, dump Phlegethon water into it and then sacrifice my food before it melted through said ice. I got better at making heat resistant ice that way, at least, and I assumed it worked because the food was always gone by the time I returned any sacrificial water to the river. I figured returning it would make doubly sure the sacrifice would get to him, even if it was a bit of a pain to trudge to the river, take water out, pour it, sacrifice, try and stop it from burning through everything, and taking it back outside. It was more than worth it for the favor of a decent god down here.

The thing was, the longer I went without the more powerful waters from the other rivers, the more worried I became. How long would it be until a Titan or a god came my way? One that didn't like me nearly as much as Phlegethon seemed to. Like Polybotes. Though I had a sneaking suspicion that when he showed up, Tartarus would have completely withdrawn any protection. I hated being a science experiment for the primordial, but was thankful it had kept me alive so far. Well, for a given definition of alive. Living in constant pain when not in my water, having to rely on my divine powers to just get by, barely able to talk to people who didn't also want to kill me or manipulate me to their own ends…

I had a feeling I could beat some of the weaker gods and Titans that came after me but… I really didn't want to risk it. There wasn't any way around it. I needed the water from the other rivers.

But I wouldn't make it before I had at least one more battle apparently… and from Phlegethon's tone, it wouldn't be an easy one.

On the bright side, I could prepare now that I knew. It kind of felt like a prophecy, except more straight-forward (seriously, Phlegethon had become one of my favorite gods, right behind Hestia and maybe my dad), so I prepared as best I could for a hard battle. Lots of water bottles, at least a third of them being Phlegethon water, stuck to my backpack and a couple to my belt. For this fight, I wanted to make sure I had exactly the clothes I needed, so I used Aphrodite's clothes. They were getting old, with tears and holes in them that I'd tried to mend, with little success (my needles could really use some help) but they still changed as I willed them to, so that was good enough.

I also made sure to pack food in case I got lost, including a fair amount of granola bars shoved into the various pockets I willed into my pants. Aphrodite would probably faint at how terrible it looked, but it did what I needed it to, so that was good enough.

I took my bedroll, a couple of knives both in my backpack and on my person (mostly the celestial bronze ones), Riptide, and that was it. I didn't want to travel too heavy. That would make it more difficult to fight. I really wished I knew who I'd be fighting, but that didn't feel new. Par for the course and all that.

I decided to use my ice-pegasus again. I still hadn't used it for a long trip, but this was as good of a time as any. Besides, I'd gotten better at controlling its movements. I was also hoping it might intimidate whoever I was supposed to meet. I doubted it would, but it was something new and that helped me feel better about the whole situation for some reason.

I made one last sacrifice before I left, proud that the food dissolved before the water burnt through the ice, and then headed out to face my next challenge. As before, I froze my food and backpack in the horse before hopping on, heading outside, refreezing the walls, and then hopping into the air. I dropped the 'sacrificial water' (that sounded kinda creepy and I resolved to never say it aloud) into the river and was on my way.

A couple of hours (ish) later, I'd just spotted the Delta in the distance. I wondered if I'd be fighting another blob-monster. As I thought about it, my senses suddenly screamed at me. I dove to the side, willing my Pegasus to move with me, just as I saw what had come at me. Harpies. They looked a lot like the cleaning harpies from Camp Half-blood, but dirtier, more unkempt, and definitely harsher. They cackled and stuttered at me, but I couldn't hear any actual words. At least the harpies from camp (and Ella) could talk.

I frowned, glancing around. While there were a fair amount of harpies, there weren't nearly enough to really bother me, which either meant I'd run into them by accident, or there was a bigger, badder monster around here somewhere.

I couldn't see anything else in the sky, so I looked down and froze. There, on a large cliff overlooking the river, stood a familiar form; one I thought could not return after he'd been sucked into Tartarus' armor. Glowing skin, the color of copper, golden armor, and burning eyes that could match the sun at its peak in the Sahara.

Hyperion.

And no sooner had I thought that, then the being burst into flame and reared his hand back. I barely had time to curse before a ball of fire came shooting at me. Mentally, I reached back for the floating bubbles of seawater that had become more or less constants in my life, aiming to form them into shields, when something grabbed me from behind, talons digging into my back painfully. The harpies! I cursed again. How could I have forgotten them? Just because they weren't more than mid-level monsters didn't mean they weren't a threat. I mentally kicked myself.

The harpy flung me aside, managing to throw me off of the pegasus. As I fell (down, down, into Tartarus!) I panicked, willing my ice golem to come after me but a streak of light I caught out of the corner of my eye had my instincts screaming again. I wrenched my body around, Riptide in hand, and was barely in time to catch Hyperion's long, golden sword.

That was imperial gold, I vaguely realized just before I caught the vindictive grin on the Titan's face. My eyes widened as all sorts of reasons for that smile rushed through my head. Whatever he was planning, it wouldn't be good for me. Desperately, I called my water down, managing to form it into a mess of water armor around me just in time for everything to burst into flame.

I was never so grateful that I'd learned to regulate my temperature until that moment. Since I had practice surrounding myself with Phlegethon water, I didn't even get burned, but the water making up my armor did evaporate. I grimaced. That was not good. At least it had helped with my injuries from the harpy.

When the flames vanished, I saw the ground racing towards me, rocky and uneven, and had to think fast. Looking over, I saw a cliff face near me and kicked out to push off of it before using what remained of my make-shift water armor to slow my descent. It took some fancy footwork, but I managed to land safely enough, even if I had to push off onto another nearby rock or risk falling again. Then I landed on the relatively flat land below the cliff.

Once I felt stable enough, I braced myself and stood, looking around. All I could see of Tartarus were rocks, hills, and mountains. Except for the sky above filled with red clouds, of course. The rock wasn't even black or obsidian-like stones, but all sorts of different shades of brown and gray. I had to be far from the Phlegethon.

The muted colors only made Hyperion stand out more. He shone where he stood, opposite of me, grinning cruelly.

"Where are we?" I asked—demanded really—as I took a stance. Fighting on the uneven terrain would be difficult, but not impossible. It would hamper us both, at least… I hoped.

"Well, it looks like someone grew up," Hyperion said instead of answering. "At least physically. I wonder if you'll put up a decent fight now?"

I bared my teeth at him as I reached down to unscrew the bottles of seawater I had with me. I'd have to do everything I could to buy myself time to summon more if I wanted to fight with water here. It was so dry… Probably on purpose.

"Says the guy who got beat by me last time."

"You did nothing," he snarled. "Your pathetic nature spirits did."

"If they're so pathetic, what does that make you?" I shot back. "Seeing as you lost."

He looked about ready to destroy me with his eyes… which may or may not be an actual power of his. Then he seemed to calm down and his vindictive grin returned.

"I've taken you away from any water, son of the Sea God." He gestured around us, and he was right. I could sense almost nothing.

(Almost, but I didn't like contemplating the exception.)

"So, now what will you do against someone like me?" He puffed out his chest, showing off his gold armor as he struck a pose. He looked utterly ridiculous, even more so than I remembered, and I wondered if that had to do with this 'Stinking Pit' as he'd so called it. For hating it here so much, he definitely seemed more confident than at the Battle of Manhattan. Something his ego really didn't need.

He was so cocky and condescending. Then again, it was Hyperion. Could I expect differently?

I took a deep breath and raised my sword, finishing uncapping my last bottle of water, that would make it all the water I had on me. It wasn't as much as I wanted (should have expected someone would try and separate me from my power source—the word 'domain' ran across my mind, but I smothered it quickly), but I did have Phlegethon water too.

Of course, I didn't know how much it would do against the Titan of Light and Heat, but… it was better than nothing. I hoped. I also had enough seawater to… well, make a breastplate that may last a couple of hits, or some spikes that would probably end up evaporated. So either one offense or a longer-term defense. Yay. And I didn't have time to summon more seawater, or the ability to concentrate on taking moisture out of the air… that still took way too much out of me.

I swallowed as I thought through everything I had. Every advantage and disadvantage. I got a boost of power in Tartarus, sure, but nowhere near as much as the monsters, Titans, and giants did. Hyperion had already been nearly impossible to beat weakened…

But what choice did I have? I couldn't run away.

I could use my power on my own blood to keep up with his strength, though, and—

Before I could finish that thought, he became a streak of light and I had to dodge out of the way. Apparently he wasn't as fast as actual light waves because if he had been, I wouldn't have been able to move out of the way in time. He paused and shot back toward me. At least with that speed, he had to go in a straight line, so I was able to block him, barely. Unfortunately, he had both speed and power, something I didn't have. I grit my teeth as he pushed me back against a rock, our swords locked. He pressed harder and it was all I could do to keep him at bay, arms shaking as I put all of my own power into making myself stronger. Well, not all of it, I was afraid if I put all of my power behind that, I'd start bursting blood vessels and that was the last thing I needed.

"Everyone else is sooo interested in you," he hissed. "They think you'll lead them in some grand rebellion. But even if you could, you're just like the gods. So superior, but so weak when taken out of your domains."

I grit my teeth. I was not like the gods! "Superior?" I asked, grunting. "I'm just fighting to live."

I ducked down and he rammed into the rock behind where I'd just stood, causing it to crack. I tried to hit his side as I ducked behind him, but his armor stopped my strike, of course.

"You know," I said as I backed away from him, carefully stepping over the uneven ground, "my girlfriend gave you as an example of a classic case of 'projection'." It had been a little while ago, when she'd told me about one of her psychology classes. She'd literally given Hyperion as an example to help me understand it. (My girlfriend knew me so well.)

"Projection?" he asked, yanking his sword out of the stone and turning to face me again. Was it just me, or was he glowing brighter? That could not be good. I'd have to be ready to close my eyes and hide if he decided to go nuclear-light-explosion on me.

(Maybe I'd been talking to Leo a little too much, that sounded like something he'd say.)

"When you accuse other people of the traits you don't like about yourself," I explained, "or traits you do like about yourself but you know other people don't like, so you accuse others of them to take scrutiny off of you… that's projection." At least as I understood it.

His glowing eyes narrowed. "What did you just say?"

"You accused me of being 'superior', but when?" I asked. "If I could live a normal life away from Greek and Roman (and even other) pantheons, I would in a heartbeat." I wasn't about to tell him that my power scared me—that I felt more monstrous every day and wasn't even sure what I was anymore. I didn't need to say that to support my point.

"Yet every time I meet you, you always talk about yourself and are literally obsessed with anything shiny, bright, or flashy—anything you think you personify. I don't think it's just a domain thing. I'm not the one who desperately tries to convince everyone I'm superior!"

With a yell, he rushed at me again, and again I barely managed to dodge. If it hadn't been for my water armor, my back would probably have all sorts of scrapes and cuts from rolling across all the rocks. I'd already had a hard time keeping my footing, but had thankfully managed so far. I just had to keep aware of my surroundings. Thankfully, I was good at that.

"I know I'm superior," he hissed as he swung at me. If it hadn't been for my water armor, it would have cut me in half. As it was, I flew back, tripped over several rocks and went skidding uphill a little. That really hurt my ankle and heel. And back because rocks in Tartarus… I hoped I hadn't torn anything inside my body at least. Thankfully, whatever had rammed my foot hadn't broken skin but I could still feel all my other cuts bleeding, and I didn't have time to try and stop them.

Once I came to a stop, though, I forced myself to look up at him and grinned. "I think you believe that about as much as I do."

He yelled in anger and lifted his sword to bring it down on me. I managed to roll out of the way, but it was downhill and I had difficulty stopping. It took too long to get to my feet, and I did so just in time to stop Hyperion from splitting my head down the middle.

After a moment, though, he backed off, studying me and breathing hard. Eh, fair. So was I. Maybe I could use the Phlegethon water as spikes? It didn't evaporate like regular water did, although I didn't want to risk a lot of that due to me needing to survive and heal. I didn't know where I was in relation to the Phlegethon and I couldn't sense it anywhere near.

(After a moment, I realized I did sense the Lethe in the distance, though, which… was both good and not.)

"Bold words for someone who relies so heavily on others," Hyperion said, calmer now.

I snorted. "You say that like it's a weakness."

He blinked as if I'd said something that didn't compute. "It is."

I shook my head. "No, it isn't. It's admitting you have weaknesses so other people can make up for them. In the end, you're stronger for it." Well, when you can trust your back to those people.

For several seconds he just stood there thinking over what I'd said. I was fine with that. The longer we didn't fight, the better. I was used to stalling until I came up with a better plan. Or until Annabeth came up with a better plan, but it worked here too. I hoped.

"What backwards logic."

I snorted. "Says the guy with the superiority complex." Not that I had any idea if he really did, but it sounded about right.

Instead of inciting him to attack like I'd expected my dumb remark to, he just clenched his jaw, and then smiled again. It was worse than his other ones somehow. That smile made me far more cautious than any other expression he could have made.

"Well, if it isn't such a weakness, let's see how you take this." He took a bag off of his belt (it had to be warded against too much heat) and opened it before dumping the contents out. Several dark, marble stones fell to the ground. I frowned. Why would I care about some rocks?

Then he reached into the small pile, picked out two of them, and tossed them to me. I didn't let them hit me, and wasn't stupid enough to catch anything the Titan of Heat decided to throw at me. They clattered past me, bounced off of a pile of rocks and came to a stop.

Hyperion just stood there, looking smug. After a moment, I slowly backed towards the rocks to get a better look at them. Part of me was curious, part of me just wanted to stall longer, and none of me wanted to attack him (he was a Titan). So fine, as long as it gave me a couple more seconds to…

I saw the face on the larger piece of marble, even in the dim light of Tartarus. It was a familiar face.

Hermes.

My eyes widened and I jerked my head towards the second stone… darker, just like the columns around the shrine…

"No," I whispered.

"Yes," he said. "I destroyed that disgusting shrine. Your only link to your friends… your weaknesses. Do you see now?"

I couldn't do anything but stare at the marble pieces. He didn't know about Apollo's scroll or my dreams but… the scroll didn't have any way for me to answer back and my communication dreams happened maybe once or twice a year, if I was lucky.

That shrine had been a huge help to my sanity after I'd fallen down here and the food and… and I'd been so stupid to lead the Titans right to it. I'd known it was a risk but I realized I hadn't really thought…

And now it was gone. My only real ability to communicate with the outside world.

With Annabeth.

I felt something else inside me crumble as I stared at those pieces.

"Well?" Hyperion said triumphantly, laughing. He'd just destroyed a large part of my world, and he was laughing. At my pain.

That familiar rage began to boil inside me, but I couldn't find the will to stop it just then.

"Did I not tell you? Weaknesses! You've lost your will to even fight!" He laughed harder and came to stand more or less right behind me.

I could barely hear him over the pounding of my heart and blood rushing through my veins.

Or… wait, that part was his too. I could sense it.

I'd never tried to control Ichor before. Ahklys had been all poison and tears. Well, now was as good of a time as any. Better, even.

With my power, I reached out to the liquid I could sense and grabbed it. It resisted, but I managed to keep hold of it, forcing Hyperion to freeze in place. The lifeblood of the Titan felt similar to the Phlegethon, but darker, with more malice in it. Funny coming from the Titan of Light.

"That's the thing with you monsters," I heard myself say quietly, not turning to face him. My eyes didn't want to leave Hermes' carved face. "You think ties are only weaknesses to be exploited. Let me ask you: ever heard of the term 'morality chain'?"

Over my time reading a lot of the novels Annabeth had suggested, I had come to learn that term. I hadn't realized I had one… or several, but now it seemed kind of obvious.

I honestly tried to care about that, but I couldn't just then. Not through the numbness and shock. I knew I hadn't processed what had happened but all I could feel besides that numbness was the all-consuming fury.

I have no idea how I looked when I turned around to meet the Titan's gaze. My body moved calmly, confidently, but I felt like I was moving it from a distance. His eyes widened, though, and he seemed rather shocked himself. I wondered if anything about me had changed. But did it matter? No. No, it didn't.

"Morality chains aren't difficult to define, so even someone like you should understand. And you just shattered one of mine."

"Why… can't I… move?" Hyperion asked, barely able to move his jaw. I let his ichor flow through his body, had to keep him alive for now, after all, but I wouldn't let it move beyond where it already was. No amount of him trying to force it would work. I don't know how I knew that, but I did.

For some reason, I didn't feel like answering his question. Maybe it was the rebel in me, not wanting to seem submissive at all, but I also wanted him to know what he did—how bad of a choice he'd made.

Was this how gods felt?

I knew that later, I would really hope not. Just then, I couldn't care less.

"See, I was born to Poseidon—to the Sea," I went on. "Because of that, I can control water, obviously. There are other things I inherited from my father too, but that's what's important." I took one step, then another, and another around him, confident in my ability to hold this being in place. My hand still gripped Riptide so hard it shook, but I wouldn't be using it. "Funny thing about the sea? It changes. And when I was here the first time, well, I had to adapt to survive. That started something, I think. Domains can change and mutate too, right? Well, mine did."

He spluttered in disbelief, but didn't say much of anything, really.

So I continued. "And being down here now… well, I've had a lot of practice with liquids that aren't remotely within my father's domain."

"That's impossible!" he tried to yell through gritted teeth.

I laughed and shook my head. "No. Definitely possible. So maybe, when you reform in the future, whenever you try and pretend that you're so superior to others, you'll remember this. Remember that you were defeated by a lone demigod out of his element."

He looked like he was concentrating on moving with all his might, and I did feel a tug on the ichor, but I held it fast.

"You… haven't defeated… me!"

I laughed again (something inside me registered that that laugh didn't sound like me… I didn't know who it sounded like, but still couldn't care) and shook my head. Then I made the ichor expand.

In less than a second, the Titan of Light exploded into nothing. More gold rained down around me, but none of it touched me. I wouldn't let it. After all, it wasn't all sulfur-dust.

I don't know how long I stood there, looking at the spot where Hyperion had been but eventually even my anger faded to numbness as I picked up all the marble stones he'd dropped. Then turned to walk away. I didn't care where I went, as long as it wasn't there.

I walked for a long time.

xXx

AN: Soooo yeah, that happened. *ahem* What? I like OP Percy.

I also love all of your reviews and promise I read and treasure every one of them. I don't always have the spoons/mental bandwidth to answer them (SORRY!) but I wanted to thank those of you who have read my stuff. Seriously, thank you so much. :)

I'm looking for someone who would be willing to look though my original story. It's about 120,000 words long, fantasy (post apocalyptic magi-tech society), main female character. Is anyone interested? I don't have the money to pay you, so this would be more of an actual beta-read than an editing. I just want a reaction.

Lastly, thank you to my beta readers! Berix, Ajax, Asterius Daemon, Starlight3 and Quathis!

Thank you for reading!

Next Chapter: Of Aftermath, Plans, and More Titans

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