Chapter I

The gym was alight with shouts and the sounds of splashing. He knew from experience that when you're in that clear blue pool, when you're lost in the feeling of the water and the pounding of your heart echoes throughout your body as your muscles strain, it's hard to notice anything else, and its dangerously easy to feel like you're on top of the world when the laps come to an end. It's hard to notice how you might be doing something wrong. But to the people on the bleachers, in the stands, where he was sitting currently, it was just barely noticeable. Sure the untrained eye might miss it during the flurry of everything else, but when it's repeated half a dozen times, even a half-blind person could point out the flaw. And that's when he caught it, in the middle of the pool when everyone was already making headway into the next lap, a girl, he didn't know her name, was just a little late on the turn. He called for a snack break to let everyone catch their breath. It wasn't a particularly hard exercise, but repetition withers even the most athletic after a while. As they chowed down and relaxed from enduring nearly an hour the same thing, he racked his brain, trying to come up with the girl's name. It frustrated him that he drew a blank, but he shrugged it off.

Four years on this team, being the senior captain, he was bound to meet the newer generation and forget most if not all of their names. Still, he had to be professional, especially if he would reprimand her in front of everyone. It was cruel, but it was fair, and embarrassment works as a fantastic motivator to never repeat mistakes. He called them back to the pool to finish it one last time and kept his eyes near her as the other swimmers kept their pace on through the five lap swim for the seventh time. Was she a Freshman? No, she looked too old. Maybe a Sophomore? No, still, he was at least familiar with them, and he knew all the Juniors and all his fellow Seniors. As they came up to the turn, his eyes trailing her, he saw her dragging behind the others ever so slightly. And that's when his mind shifted into his other form.

The top half of a mountain, floating half a mile from the ground in Lebanon, Kansas, sat Olympus. Divine City of the Greek Gods. He wasn't wearing joggers and a comfy shirt anymore; instead, he was wearing a dark blue Chiton with gold embroidery. And instead of the pen he was writing notes about the swimmers pace and the teams overall time, he wielded his symbol of power, the Trident. He groaned softly, bringing his hand to his face to massage it in annoyance, and nearly flinched, feeling his short beard. In contrast to the smooth hairless face, he had moments before. Looking up, he was greeted with a sight that was familiar and yet still incredible to take in. 11 other Gods sat around him. To his right, four Gods sat lounging in their thrones.

A God of War, a God of Messengers, a God of Wine, and a God of the Forge. In front of him, he faced a Goddess of Agriculture, to her left three other Goddesses and one God. A Goddess of Wisdom, a Goddess of Love, a Goddess of the Moon, and a God of the Sun. To his left sat the King and Queen of the Gods. Why was his consciousness suddenly thrust into this body? He should be back home at school during practice. But something forced his personality back to this meeting that had bored him out of his mind. He reached into the recess of his mind to head back to his otherself when he realized the throne room was utterly silent and all eyes were on him.

"I'm sorry, can you repeat what was said?" he asked, his grip on Trident increasing in annoyance.

"Poseidon, I realize that perhaps your priorities may have drifted from your position not only here, but in your kingdom as well, as you continue to meddle in your old mortal life," Athena said pointedly, staring him down with a small smirk having known he was elsewhere and not paying attention. His anger flared at the accusation.

"You dare, Athena? Do you dare to accuse me of faltering on my duties in my domain? Do you see the sea in turmoil? Do you feel the earth shake and crumble beneath you? Tell me, do you see the skies darken and rumble with storms and turn and quake with hurricanes and tornadoes? Tell me do-"

"ENOUGH! Brother. Peace, please, Athena's question was not poisonous. Still, I can see how you may have found offense in it," Zeus cut in, ending his brother's tirade before it could take a more dangerous form. His rage calmed, but his glare at Athena was akin to daggers.

"Yes, you're right brother, my apologies. Now, was there something asked of me, or was Athena's pathetic goading all?" he replied, collected once more.

"We're deciding whether or not to reveal ourselves to the mortal world," the Queen commented, smoothing her dress in the process. He was shocked

"Seriously? It has finally come to this?"

"Why not? All of us have taken our mortal vessels, we are united as one Council, the Pantheon grows stronger by the day as more and more deities are reborn and find hosts." Zeus took a breath and started once more, his voice booming across the throne

room "this world is in turmoil. For TOO long, our influence has wavered, and look at what has happened. Mortals need the guidance of Gods! At the very least, the knowledge of us will influence their actions." He finished, smiling, pleased with himself. Apollo cleared his throat.

"I propose we sustain taking action and coming out at this moment, Father. Perhaps the current state of the world is too heavy for us to suddenly appear and interfere."

"My thoughts exactly, Apollo." Athena returned, her gaze swept across each deity, slowly, methodically, eyes piercing and calculating, almost as if all-knowing. "Yes, we are Gods, yes we have finally returned to our seats of power. But times have changed. I implore you to look around at the mortal world. How much has it altered? These are not the same mortals who would once burn cities and kingdoms, sacrifice lamb and cattle, whole people, in our names, for our favor. I am all for reintroducing ourselves into their lives once more, showing them that there IS a higher power, even if it is not what they were expecting. I have a plan, I always have a plan, and it requires we take this slowly, and not rush in blindly like fools and redeclare ourselves as absolute rulers." A chorus of agreements flew across the room. None thought it unwise. After all, if it comes from the mouth of the Wisdom Goddess, they could trust it was sound, though Zeus seemed a little annoyed to not be able to enact his plan, even he knew to trust his daughter.

"Then it is final; we shall lay the vote aside for now and give this planning time to fester. Would until the Summer Solstice suffice, daughter?" Zeus asked, raising an eyebrow at Athena.

"Six months? Yes, yes, that could work." She replied and began to mutter to herself as she was lost in plans and ideas that only she would understand.

"All is settled, yes?" Zeus implored, looking around at his fellow Gods. "Good, then I call this meeting to a close!" and with that, Zeus slammed a lightning bolt into the center of the throne room and vanished with booming thunder alongside Hera. It didn't take long for the rest of them to follow suit, everyone flashing out in different manners, some staying behind to quietly converse with each other. He sighed and rubbed his temples, another meeting, another somewhat massive waste of his time, he thought. Quickly feeling into his domains and making sure everything was in order, he closed his eyes and let his form dissipate into sea mist. His two separate minds combined as he opened his eyes just in time to see the swimmers finishing up their laps.

"Damn," he whispered, quickly looking at the watch on his wrist to confirm that he hadn't missed too much. Moving the recent divine events to the back of his mind, he reminded himself that he was mortal right now. He wasn't host to a countless millennia-old sea God and wasn't an Olympian. He was lying to himself, but he didn't care. He was just the average high school teenager. He was Percy Jackson. He wasn't Poseidon, not now. Right now, he had to reprimand a girl for slowing down their swim teams overall time. Not be worrying how he had to reveal himself as a greek god to all of humanity and how the mortals would react. As they started to head up and out of the pool to dry themselves, he called for everyone to stop and listen up. "Ok, so after multiple times of repeating this, I think I know exactly why our time keeps staying so high. Someone isn't pacing themselves correctly. It's only slight, but it's noticeable. Now, you, blonde girl with the red cap." pointing at her, watching as her eyes went comically large, he had to repress a chuckle at the image. "During the final lap, you lose practically all of your speed on the final turn, you look like you finished running a 5k marathon instead of just 5 laps, learn to pace yourself and fix it, or I'll have to put you on the reserve team, and you won't swim at competition . Got it?" She nodded profusely, eyes downcast and cheeks nearly as red as her cap. "Alright, gang, that's it for today. I'll see you all tomorrow after school, tell those who weren't here today to come, or there'll be hell to pay from Coach B!" he warned, knowing full well that Coach Brunner was too kind on the newer members to give them a hard time.

Packing up was always the most tedious part post-practice. Still, he kept busy humming tunes to himself while putting away the school towels and closing up the pool. Generally, he found it peaceful, cathartic even. He preferred to be alone at times, just to fully relax and be himself, so when the heater vents set up in the corner started spewing flames, he got real annoyed real fast. His eyes flashed as he felt the power of the sea god flow through his veins. Whatever this was, it wasn't a monster. And if a deity was going to attack him, he wasn't taking it just lying down. Flexing his right arm, Trident formed from the water vapor in the air and nestled into his waiting hands as he pointed it towards the demonic vent.

"Now now, brother, you wouldn't strike your very own big sister, would you?" a calming voice emanated from the flames as they spread out and upwards, swirling into the form of a woman. And from the fire, Hestia stepped out. He breathed a sigh of relief.

"Hestia, my dear sister. I wasn't expecting you to visit me at this time, so please understand my hostile response and forgive me," Percy chuckled, gesturing at the glowing tattoos that appeared along the length of his arm and the six and a half foot long gold and silver trident. She warmly smiled at him.

"It's understandable, Poseidon, after all I did drop in unannounced," she said, taking in her surroundings.

"Percy," he stated bluntly.

"Pardon?" Hestia replied, bringing her eyes back to him, confused.

"I'm not Poseidon. Not now, at least. Right now, I'm just plain old Percy, a mortal trying to get through his last year in high school." he said, slightly annoyed.

"Ah, I see, forgive me if I confused you for the God of the seas, with the whole glowing eyes and the Trident that could split a continent in half sitting in your hands with ease," she came back hotly. He sighed loudly, flexing his arm once more, causing Trident to dissipate back into water vapor, and relinquished his hold on the power flowing through him, returning to normal.

"Please, can I at least speak to the mortal girl underneath? The real you, and not the projection of Hestia?" he drawled, rolling his eyes at the Goddesses antics. Ever since the resurrection of the Pantheon and the Gods alongside it, many deities acted utterly differently, or at the very least, a combination of both God and human personalities. Even though there was a small minority, who stayed the same. He would never understand how a Mortal would willingly give up their entire body, mind, and soul and practically wipe themselves from existence just for a God. 'Hestia' was an example of a mixed personality. Her host's name was Reyna. She was 17, a year younger. And so far, the only other Vessel he personally knew before they were picked and ascended. They had been childhood friends, but he hadn't seen her for about four years until the original 12 olympians, Hestia, and Hades chose them eight months ago.

From what he could discern from Poseidon's memories of his eldest sister, Hestia was almost always soft-spoken, timid, and extremely friendly, almost motherly at times. Seeking to avoid conflict and defusing hostile situations, which would typically be during council meetings. Though there was that stint during the Titanomachy… but the memories become fuzzy. Sifting through the very recess of an immortal's mind, it's not uncommon for things to be unable to be perceived, so he didn't pay it much attention. And now, with Reyna being a Vessel for Hestia, their personalities melted into a perfect blend of each other. Having always been quick to temper, stern, and never able to back down from a fight, she seemed like the polar opposite of the Goddess of hospitality and family. Still, hey, things happen, and even Gods can't explain it away.

"Anything for you, you big whiner," Hestia chirped, her form already shifting. The fire that adorned the top half of her head and weaved into her golden-brown hair vanished into smoke as her stature slowly shrank, going from 5'11 to about her average height of 5'8. She visibly de-aged as well, going from what he could only assume was mid 30's back to 17. Her features became a bit more normal, no longer having calming brown eyes that nearly seemed on fire. Instead, she had her regular dark black eyes that stopped radiating an aura of warmth. "Better now that I'm boring old me?" she inquired, gesturing to herself and flashing him with a particularly colorful hand gesture.

"Oh hush Rey, if you're boring, then Zeus must be a loyal husband," he stated, chuckling at his own joke. Thunder boomed menacingly overhead. He gave the roof a colorful hand gesture of his own.

"Ha! Same old Percy, aren't you?" Reyna snorted out, eyeing the roof with a grin.

"Well, yea, that's the whole point. Now whatsup Rey? I doubt you popped in just to have a casual conversation and annoy Zeus with me," he said, getting serious.

"Always more perceptive than you seem." she smiled and let out a sigh, looking tired.

"You're right. I didn't drop in just to chit-chat. Something is brewing on Olympus, Percy. The Council has turned a blind eye so far to your, and other name Gods, repeated interactions within your old mortal lives. Still, the longer it goes on, the less and less Zeus can ignore it." She rubbed her eyes and let out another sigh.

"This is affecting you, isn't it? The coming conflict this is going to create, it's already weighing on your domains." he asked, immediately regretting that he did. "I'm sorry, I know you don't like pity or anything like it."

"You're right I don't, and you're also right on the former, it's unpreventable, but it could be much worse than it already is. So maybe the blow on my domains and on the Council's trust in each other can be lessened if you and the others play your cards right and don't fuck up," She growled out but lost all hostility towards the end of her sentence. "They're called Ancient Laws for a reason, Perseus. Break those Laws, and you know what happens. Prancing around and banging the occasional mortal or spending a couple of months popping in and out of their world to look consistent is fine. It might even be borderline pushing it. But what you're doing? It's just straight up against everything those specific laws stand for. You can't just go back to your mortal life and live it out as if everything's the same." those onyx eyes cutting into him, pleadingly, angrily.

"And who's going to come to collect? Zeus? He wouldn't risk an open war against me, especially now. I'm more in tune with Poseidon than Zeus is with whoever's running his show." he stated darkly.

"No, it would never even reach war, you actual idiot. All he would have to do is bring the blatant breaking of the Ancient Laws to the Council's attention, practically forcing their hand in voting to decide on a verdict, and ultimately a punishment. The Olympians are a democracy, much as Zeus sometimes tends to forget with that stupid flashy crown on his head, even he bends to the majority vote's will. And so must you." she finished, staring him down, then quickly turned her gaze to the roof. "I have to go now," she started, the flames from the vent spewed out once more, snaking their way up her body, her features shifting towards Hestia's once more. "Remember this conversation, Poseidon. Forget your past and embrace our new lives. It is time for change. Farewell." as she said this, the flames encircled her faster and faster, nearing a tornado of fire and smoke, yet oddly not intimidating in the least, until ultimately her form erupted in pure flame and disappeared.

"Always the drama queen," he muttered, picking up a nearby mop and washing the gym floor as the room lost its warmth and comfort from before.

A/N: Well that's the first chapter down! This is my first shot at a PJO fanfic after years of being on this sight and reading amazing stories of all shapes and sizes. If you have any questions, feel free to leave a review and I'll get back to you!