Chapter 2

A/N The hero in the Stars will have priority as it is the far more popular one, however, this WILL be updated regularly, just not as fast as The Hero In the Stars

Song I'm listening to "Made in America" Toby Keith

Somewhere in Northern California-

Last Time

Suddenly the earth started to ripple and churn. He sensed great power coming from... Something nearby. As something started to rise out of the earth, he drew his sword. Whatever it was kept rising until it was about 10 feet

tall, then it stopped. It looked like a woman with her eyes closed, as if she was sleeping. Her body seemed to be made of dirt, leaves and twigs. As she raised her head in his direction he pointed riptide at her and said steadily "who or what are you".

"Why can't you tell" she responds in a mocking tone of voice. "Think of your mythology Perseus"

It slowly dawns on him "you... your Gaea, the primordial of earth. Why are you here?"

"Yes. I am. As to why I'm here..." She smiles which looks weird on a sleeping face. "I'm here to offer you a deal.

Percy POV

I point my sword at Geae, desperately trying to understan what she means. "Deal? As far as I remember, which admittedly isnt much, is that you are evil, and are trying to destroy the gods."

"Well, partial credit. I am trying to wake up, not necessarily destroy the gods. Look at the world around you. Haven't the gods excelled at messing up and making the world worse? They attack me because they are afraid of my power, not because I intend to overthrow them."

Trying to to keep the fear out of my voice, I respond. "Let's assume for the moment you are telling the truth. If you are, why are you here?" She responded with another smirk plastered in her face.

"Why, I am here for you. I heard about your exploits in the Tian war. In actually rather surprised. A mere demigod like you going toe to toe with Kronos? Extremely impressive."

Percy shuffled his feet awkwardly. "It was a team effort. And it was Luke who was the real hero."

"And humble too! That is a very rare trait for a demigod to have. Anyway, the gods are going to try to fight my rising, and I would rather not have you as an enemy."

"So what?" I respond, riptide still held in her direction. "You came to kill me?"

Gaea sighed in exasperation. "I swear on the Styx that no matter what happens here I will not kill, capture, or injure you in any way while I am here. Happy?"

I slowly lower my sword. "Better. Although you still haven't answered my question on why you are here."

"Oh, how absentminded of me" was the response. "I don't want the gods to convince you to fight me, so I would like for you to remain neutral. The gods have only ever used you for their own ends. Even at the reward ceremony, you used your wish to fix errors that never should have existed. It is ridiculous that Hestia and Hades weren't on the council."

The more I thought about it, the more sense Gaea's arguments made. Even after all I did for them, the gods still voted on wether to kill me. Poseidon had left me alone and didn't protect my mother. Zeus constantly killed the lovers and children of his brothers just for petty spite and fear of their power. Hera wasn't much better., plus she had kidnapped him and put him to sleep for severel months. Athena was biased and proud. Ditto for Artemis. Dionysus was a useless old drunk. Ares was arrogant, boastful, and easily swayed. Aphrodite was a slut. 'Nough said. Demeter... well, didn't really have anything against her, except her obsession with cereal. Hephaestus felt the need to protect a bunch of junk and killed one of my friends. Apollo cursed Halcyon Green just because he tried to save others. Hermes just stood by while his sons childhood was scared by a mother gone mad. I finally decided to speak "while the gods aren't perfect, they are better than the other alternatives."

"Are they?" Gaea mused. "I wonder if you will still think so after you see this." She waved a hand and a giant flatscreen TV appeared and flickered to life. "I swear on th Styx that what you are about to see actually happened while you were sleeping." On screen, an image came on. It showed Annabeth and Butch, the son of Iris, with three demigods that he did not recognize. It looked like they were flying through the clouds, on a chariot with angry storm clouds behind them. One of them-he could now see it was a Ventus-lunged forward, hitting the wheel and sending the chariot plummeting to the ground. After a painful looking crash landing, it appeared as if the demigods were on a ranch. Suddenly a flash of light alerted them to the fact a goddess was near. "Lady Hera" most of the demigods exclaimed and bowed. Annabeth however was the lone exception. She marched up to Hera and got right in her face. "Where is Percy! You kidnapped him and lied to me about finding him!"

Hera looked rather unperturbed. "I never said you would find him I said you would find a clue. As for kidnapping him, well, it was necessary."

"Did you have the approval of the council?" Hera's silence was enough of an answer. "How dare you! You steal him away from me without even having the approval of the other Olympians? You lying, nagging, ugly, traitorous bitch!" Annabeth ranted as she spat at Hera's feet. Hera's eyes glowed with flame. "You go too far!" She bellowed as she snapped her fingers and a herd of cattle stamped from the direction of the ranch, trampling Annabeth into the dirt. As the dust clears, Annabeth's mangled and broken body can be seen lying in the dust.

"Annabeth!" Butch yelled as he ran forward and felt for a pulse. There was none. He looked up. "You murderer!".

The TV dissolved. Percy felt numb inside.

"Now do you see?" Gaea asked. "If you agree to stay neutral, I will not only give you a new home beyond the gods control, but since I control the doors of death, I can give you back Annabeth as well."

At this Percy's head snapped up. But before he could say anything Gaea continued.

As an additional sweetener, I will even obliterate your demigod scent so no monsters can find you. Do you agree?" She knew she had him.

Percy spent a minute thinking, and then nodded slowly. "I agree."

The last thing he heard as the world dissolved around him was Gaea's voice.

"Excellent..."