"My father expects a grandchild after this," Percy sardonically said with a smirk. His voice was a bit cold too. Percy still haven't really forgiven the goddess for helping Piper back in Greece and suddenly abandoning her in the middle of the Giant War when things got tough.

Aphrodite was lying down on a bed. Percy sat at the edge of it. Percy had to admit, Annabeth did a good job on Aphrodite's room. It fit her. Aphrodite laughed. Percy couldn't place a thing on the goddess's voice. And it was quite disorienting to look at her. Percy shifted. He didn't say anything.

"Well, better let him believe you're doing…well, me, rather than alert anyone of your predicament, yes?" Aphrodite purred. Percy tried not to look at her. Aphrodite smiled.

"I don't look like her anymore, do I? Blonde hair, grey eyes? No?" she said. Percy rolled his eyes. "How about, green eyes and red hair?" she inquired. Percy huffed. "Well then, do I have cinnamon hair and dark almond eyes?" Percy glared at her. Whoops, Aphrodite thought. "Too soon?" She laughed at the demigod's reaction to her reference to Calypso.

"As a matter of fact, no, you don't look like any of them, okay? It's quite disorienting looking at you," He muttered. Disorienting was too mild a word to use, but he didn't know how to phrase it any other way. How do you explain looking at someone and not actually seeing someone? She doesn't exactly shift from girl to girl or anything. Looking at her was like looking at every beautiful place, thing, person, feeling—

"Yes, I suppose you don't have a type anymore. Pretty soon, you probably won't see anything in me at all," she says as if it was the most dreadful thing that could happen. Percy was getting a bit impatient. "Lady Aphrodite, I'm sorry to be rude. But in all honesty, I don't think my problem—which you say you know of and the solution to it—has anything to do with not being able to see anything in you."

Aphrodite gracefully barked out a laugh. "Oh, but it has everything to do with that, immortal demigod!"

Percy was restraining himself from rubbing his temples. "Well, I suppose, if you had your Annabeth beside you, she would've figured it out by now." Aphrodite snapped her fingers and Percy's wrist where the dove tattoo was started getting hot. The 2-D dove painfully detached itself from Percy's skin. Percy bit his lips to stop a scream. He failed.

Once it had removed itself completely, Aphrodite caught it with her palm and her palm glowed green. Aphrodite cringed at the sudden sea energy in her palm. She was not meant to hold this power. Faster than a blink of an eye, she teleported to a shore nearby and let the energy ebb back to its origin and teleported back to her palace where the son of Poseidon was clutching his risk light his hand was severed from it.

Percy growled at her, but let the goddess heal it. She produced another dove, when Percy said. "Oh, no, no, no. You are not going to tattoo me with that again."

Aphrodite laughed. "You need it, and if we don't change it now and then, the dove is going to blow up from all the energy it's leeching off you." Aphrodite quickly put her hands under his shirt and flattened her palm on his chest. She winked at him, and said, "It'd be easier to hide with your clothes."

Percy felt weak from all the energy sucked out of him. But he can feel his energy slowly ebbing back to him now that the block of a dove was gone. But he was getting overwhelmed. He sunk to his knees. And he was starting to get dizzy. Aphrodite just waited until he looked up and looked at her after he deliberately avoided so. He looked her in her eyes that held too many colors he never thought existed. And Aphrodite met his broken eyes. So broken eyes.

"Just please tell me what's wrong with me." Aphrodite's eyes softened. And she sighed and sat down with the son of Poseidon.

"I didn't leave my daughter to fend for herself in the war for no reason. I did it because you suddenly started the spell."

This was news for Percy. But he remained stoic. "Didn't you notice it? This is Gaea's revenge." Percy looked at her, almost glaring at her to continue. "You were supposed to sacrifice a pure emotion, your and Annabeth's. But you had to have been more careful, Percy. When you offer something from your being into a spell, you are left vulnerable. Anyone would be able to steal anything from your being easily. And Gaea saw that opportunity. When she saw she was being put to sleep. She was going to at least steal everything from you in return. I sensed your emotions. Love, compassion—your humanity. It was the ultimate revenge. She knew Olympus was going to make you immortal after the war. But what a more bitter way to give to you than for you to spend the rest of your immortality empty. They were slipping away. I couldn't just. I had to trust that Piper could—" Aphrodite paused. That moment in the Giant War was hard. Leaving her daughter to fend off for herself to save a human's soul.

"I almost got to you too late. I was able to grab back most of what Gaea took. But not all."

Percy closed his eyes. He needed to let this sink in. "What did I lose? Besides Annabeth."

Aphrodite shook her head. "In essence, nothing. It took a lot of my energy to pull everything back. But, although love does have a pull in every emotion there is—it wasn't enough to have just a pull. My jurisdiction over emotions could only go so far. I—"

"Lady Aphrodite," Percy breathed out, his eyes still closed. "What did I lose?"

"When I interfered—talk about third party, love—well, Gaea was already weak, so her magic rebounded and well, it didn't do its job, but I can't say it was somehow better, I don't know—"

"Please, Lady Aphrodite" T

There was something too shattered in the voice that Aphrodite blurted out, "Your soul."

Percy could've fainted then and there if the thought didn't occur to him at the time that it did.

"Excuse me? My what? Then how am I still alive?"

Aphrodite rolled her eyes. For an immortal, Percy still acted like a clueless mortal. "If you'd just let me talk. It's not that you lost it. It's just that…Gaea's magic—what's the right word—tampered with your soul. Do you have any idea how potent a primordial's magic is? It's the same way radioactivity is to mortals.

"Your soul is slowly dissolving to your energy. If you were a mortal, you would've died. If you hadn't been turned immortal right away, your mortal side would've burned and well," Aphrodite bit her lips and started looking everywhere except Percy.

"And?"

"You would've turned into a god," Aphrodite admitted.

"The magic would've consumed your mortal side. Your godly side would sustain you. And if you had survived that very painful ordeal, then you get to be a god. Instead though, you were turned immortal. And slowly, your soul is clashing—it's breaking your energies free."

Percy was getting really dizzy now. "But that doesn't really explain anything."

Aphrodite smiled sadly. "Sure, it does. Your soul is exposed to energy. And to corruption. And to a lot of things. You're as vulnerable as you were during the casting of the spell. Annabeth didn't cast the spell, so Gaea only had access to you—that's why it's only you. Energies everywhere around you are trying to get to yours. It's like an all you can eat buffet—and you're sending out a big signal to every being with energy out there. It might not be obvious to a lot of gods—but the most natural energies, those of the unconscious, call out to yours.

"You don't know that, but you feel it. If you don't train it all out, it's like there's a tug of war with a rope with more than two ends, and you're stuck in the middle of it all. When you don't train, it's like you're always confused. Your conscience, your thoughts, and your consciousness: clouded. And—"

"How do you know all of this?" Percy said to make her stop talking. His head was spinning. So what was he turning into?

Aphrodite purred, "Think, love. Everyone in the council was sired by a titan or Zeus, except me. Then what am I?"

"I—"

Aphrodite laughed. "I came from Uranus, yes. But yet I am a goddess and not a titan. I am the closest god or goddess there is to a primordial god, love."

"What?" Percy asked sharply. He so needed a minute. Aphrodite seemed to have sensed it; she kept quiet. She observed the son of Poseidon. Oh, if he only knew just how much of a trouble he was going to be. In fact, she could just bring him to Zeus now and he'd demand his death. And this time, it would be a reasonable execution.

"What am I turning into? Does this have anything to do with the Prophecy of the Champion?" Percy asked quietly. Aphrodite just shook her head. She wasn't sure herself. But she was sure bigger things were at work. She continued to observe the boy. Yes, the more she thought about it, the best thing to do was tell this to the council. She did have an idea what was going on in the little immortal's body. But. The problem she was afraid of was that killing the boy would start a civil war. She could picture it in her head. Most of the council will see this as a threat. Even the ever neutral of gods would vote to kill. The question was if Poseidon would be against this. If her speculations were right, this was a very grave transformation happening to Percy. It'd be a 50-50 for Poseidon. If Poseidon says no, then it is indeed a civil war. If Poseidon agrees, then it is war, between gods and demigods—something that has never happened before.

Percy broke the silence. "Why did you help me? Why are you helping me?"

Aphrodite cocked her head to a side. Yes, indeed. Why was she helping him? The answer was obvious though. She's lived through two different Ages, and she will lived through even if there was a next. "Listen well, little love." She said seriously.

"You are not to tell anyone about this. You are to make your Annabeth stop searching about it. The only one knows what's happen to you is me, your catalyst. The reason that this is happening to you, that you're still at least somehow alike to what you were. You owe me a life debt. Besides me, no one else knows. I've told no one. At least, that is, if no one has noticed your energies going rampant. We will keep it that way.

"I will help you go through whatever this is. But you owe me one thing—anything I ask of."

Percy eyed her warily. In this moment, he felt the emptiness. And he saw it, he was starting to lose purpose. What was the point of all this? He could be in Elysium and end his misery at whatever was happening to him. He could die into a hero, and not turn into some monster. He took a deep breath. "What do you want?"

Aphrodite smiled. She remembered the Prophecy of the Champion. And she wondered if anyone in the council besides her has realized the billion dollar question in it. It's not who the champion was. It's whose champion that champion really was.

"I want you to disappear."

Leave me alone, Nico screamed in his head. He was in the underworld. Training with the undead.

You have to get stronger, my friend. The voice haunted him. Your brother is coming. You must become stronger.

Nico sighed. He considered talking about it against his father, but he decided against. He doesn't exactly want to admit to his father and be like, hey, dad. I was training with Achilles, yeah? And then I blacked out. And the next thing I know was Achilles telling me that I told him that I wanted to bathe in the Styx. So, I just wanted to tell you that I think something possessed me or what. It's probably this voice in my head. Oh, wait, did I mention I was going crazy?!

Yeah, it's not exactly what he wanted for a conversation. He tried meditating and cleared his mind. He almost did it. But he kept going back to Percy. And Thalia. He had no idea what to do for Percy. But Thalia was more...accessible. She was right. They needed to stop pushing each other. He himself needed their help. But then again, he was right too. Who was willing to break down first? It wasn't him. But. That didn't mean he wouldn't look out for them. He'd have to start with Thalia—wait. What the hell?

Nico concentrated. He felt Percy's energy—as weak as it was—in Olympus of all places. He quickly shadow travelled to where his energy signature was and was surprised to find himself in Aphrodite's temple. He heard Percy scream. Nico blushed. Yeeeeaaah, maybe Percy wasn't that energy-less as much as he thought. What in Tartarus? Nico sighed frustrated.

He'll stick with starting with Thalia. And since he was in Olympus already and was also better at hiding his energy from others, then he might as well sneak around. Contrary to popular belief, it was Hades who was lax with the CHAIN THEM TO OUR DOMAINS command that was set out for the three of them, and not Poseidon.

Nico concentrated again. This time, he tried to focus on Thalia and ignore the pulsing energy from Percy in Aphrodite's temple. He shook his head. He knew it was over with Annabeth—but Aphrodite, seriously? Thalia, Nico muttered to himself, and then, he almost had a heart attack because the moment he stretched out his senses to the shadows, the shadows rebounded back to him. He sensed Thalia, but it was like something was blocking her from finding were she was specifically Nico's frown deepened. Curious.

Thalia knew Nico was right. And she wondered how long she could keep secrets from the gods. Thalia paused. She did need help. She wondered if Nico had any idea what each of their sibling's arrival meant. She wished she didn't know—but she didn't mean that. She had bargained with the fates after all. She frowned. She remembered how Percy had cursed the fates. And now, she wondered if that was her fault too. By striking a deal with the fates, did it change the future's courses to what was happening right now? Or was it fate that she bargained with fate? She stopped. This was giving her a headache and getting her nowhere.

She guessed that the world couldn't really have survived the Giant War unscathed. And she was getting the burnt of it. Literally. She looked at her burning skin, crackling with energy. She wondered if Jason had noticed. She wondered if Jason would be mad at her for the deal she made with the fates. Thalia bit her lip.

If she told Jason that she stole his godly birthright, would he be mad? Jason was a Roman. So, he probably would. But. If she hadn't made the deal, well. She couldn't accept it if the moirai had 'fated' Jason to be overwhelmed by his birthright as the price for putting an end of the Giant War. She didn't care if the fates needed Jason to be unable to bear his birthright. She refused to understand There was an alternative, of course. If she was to bear his birthright, he would be free of his duties to the war. But. What was really the cost? There was too much energy within her—she found it hard to believe that the fates believe she will be able to nurture it when Jason himself couldn't. And what was the alternative for Jason's life? Percy lost Annabeth. And. What did Percy really sacrifice for the War? She was afraid Percy was losing himself too.

And. The million dollar question. What alternative fate have she led them to when she had bargained with fate? Or was she fated to make this alternative fate, thereby making this alternative fate the supposed actual fate.

Okay. She was starting to really get a headache. She sighed and looked around her. Funny that even if Jason had been the one to have this birthright, it wouldn't be this potent in him. Funny that if Jason had the birthright, he wouldn't find this cellar in their father's temple. The world is unfair.

How does she tell anyone about all that's hidden in this? She wondered if her father even still remembered. From the texts she surprised herself to actually read, she gathered that this was her father's. Way back when he was a godling. Oh and the many secrets it possessed. But she had the feeling that even though this was her father's. That. The gods have no idea this place existed. And she had this scary feeling that. This haven't really been meant for her father at all. And worst of all, she had a feeling that this was something that the gods would start a war for.

There was a sound.

Suddenly, she had all her guard up. Her arms were running with electricity. Her eyes were feral. And all the energy she exuded were putting pressure everywhere. At this point, knowing Percy's state, she wondered if he was still the most powerful demigod in Greek history. And on that horrible thought, she wondered if by stealing from Jason, she was now burdened with the hero's fate that Percy originally was destined for.

She felt a shift. And suddenly, all the potent energy died down in a second. As if nothing happened. "Oh," she said. "It's just you."

The figure rolled her eyes. Her eyes were so light a blue it was almost yellow. Did that make sense? The figure putout her hands, and gave her the very thing that she'd been draining herself to solve, to break, to end. She sat down and started working her ass off as the figure stared at her. Observed her. Thalia kind of got used to being watched over an unknown figure that looked exactly like her.

Hestia was watching the hearth as always. It was funny. There was a time that she wanted the son of Poseidon to be her champion. But there was something getting...darker in him. She sensed danger. And it was disorienting. She has yet to know of what was happening in Perseus. But what was funny was that now, she was considering Thalia for her champion. After all, the daughter of Zeus did discover her very private room. Thalia was there right now, even. She will keep a close eye on her. And she couldn't even get started on the son of Hades. Just what was going on with this three?

The answer was obvious. The Prophecy of the Champion. Yet, it feels like she was just reading the back cover of a book, and have a book's worth of knowledge untouched.

She switched her focus at the fresh batch of demigods of the Big Three. Olympus was so focused on these three demigods They were so sure that their arrival meant something. Yet why couldn't she shake off the feeling that they are just stepping stones, Hestia thought sadly.

Present Date

Greece

Artemis closed her eyes and focused on the world. Her hunters were doing well, for now. There were no causalities as of date. She could afford to be out of the Concurrence for a while. They needed to wait a day more. Pure-bloods were very rare. And the few that she had located, Perseus refused. The Concurrence were going strong and some of the Pack and hunters were stationed there here and then. He had refused to have any contact with his Pack. It got her questioning. Percy just stared at her rather coldly and said, "I can't face them yet."

They were once again, in a forest. They were by a creek. The moon was strong. Artemis felt she was strong. She waited for the immortal. She watched curiously at Perseus as he took off his top garments and exposed his upper body. The scars. Her symbols. Her head spun: what had Perseus gotten into in the past 717 years? Perseus swiftly changed his garments. He had taken a swim in the creek. She wondered how he hid his presence from his father.

"I don't even know what I am anymore," Percy smirked, but his eyes were sad. He walked towards her."So, how would you know what I am?"

She didn't answer. She was still grasping the reality—the purpose of the reality that was playing out before them. Percy started a fire, lit it with his own hands to keep warm. She didn't understand. She was a goddess and he was...well, whatever he was. Lighting a camp fire seemed trivial. "What's it like to be immortal, Lady Artemis," Percy asked.

She raised an eyebrow. "You would know."

"But I haven't lived for millenniums like you. I still don't get it. I'm still not—"

"Anchored," Artemis realized. She looked at him and Percy smiled at her like he said well, yeah, that. Of course. "How did you survive for so long?" She asked. Percy shrugged. Artemis looked at him. Really looked at his sea green eyes. She remembered how, long ago. Too long ago. How her lieutenant had described his eyes were broken. They weren't exactly broken right now. Not exactly empty. But as she stared at him, his eyes seemed hallow. It made sense.

"Tell me how you've changed," she asks. Percy laughed the way he usually does, no matter how serious the question seemed. He looked at her funny. Lady Artemis said changed as if it was some sacred process. Like it had a capital C: Changed.

Percy didn't answer her though. "Tell me what you want from me, first. And why haven't you tried to kill me yet. I assume, from all you've figured out, you must know what I and my fellow 'immortals' means to this world and to this age."

Artemis smiled cruelly at him. "Obviously, the Concurrence. I say anything now, Zeus will have your head. I don't think the Concurrence is the period you wish to play out your war. It's not mine either. A war now will be our extinction."

Percy smiled amused. But he insisted. "My war? No, Lady Artemis. You misunderstand. I don't plan to wage war at all. I'm just an immortal. And so are my friends."

There was silence. "What do you want from me?"

Artemis looked at the sky and her favorite constellation. Zoe. And then, she looked at the night and the moon. "I want to know where she is. Both of them."

Selene, Percy thought. He looked at her cautiously. "If you know that, then you must know that I've used you. A few centuries now." Artemis frowned at him. She'd rather forget that bit among the things she have discovered. "Then you saving me over those Giants. I've repaid them." She simply said.

Percy laughed. "Of course."

"Now, really, Perseus. Tell me how did you change."

"I didn't have sex with Aphrodite."

Artemis did a retake. She was caught so off guard by it that she dropped the arrow she had been balancing in her finger and sharply looked at the immortal. "Excuse me?" How in the world does having sex with the love goddess relate to any of this?

Percy thought this was really funny. "I'm sorry," he said containing his laughter. "Try thinking back. It was so long too. You know, that controversy that I went to Aphrodite's temple? I mean, it was big news then, but I'd understand if you wouldn't remember. I didn't have sex with her."

Artemis glared at him, "And this is relevant how?"

Percy just grinned at her. "Because, Aphrodite ensured my survival."

"Does she—"

"Oh, no. She hasn't any idea at all of what she had set in motion all those years."

A/N

"Please write next chapter already..." Wolfman613

So I did!

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