Chapter 17: Reading Train or Death

"Well doesn't that sound good?" Apollo asked and relaxed onto his throne, letting his leg bounce in anticipation on what was going to happen in the next chapter.

Percy just smirked as he remembered what was going to happen, Leander in his arms shifted and snuggled closer for warmth.

Percy stayed in the cabin for less than an hour before he had to do something instead of just lying on his bed and throwing a dagger at the ceiling. He buckled Riptide and Oceanus' sword at his waist, grabbed a camp half-blood shirt (without sleeves, despite his scars), and changed his pair of jeans for shorts before striding from the cabin and heading to the arena.

In the arena the Hermes cabin and Ares cabin were practicing, and they all fell silent as Percy walked over to the dummies, ignoring the campers as he did so, and unsheathed Oceanus' sword. He took a breath and settled into his ready stance, his vision focused intently on the straw figure. His mind imagined golden eyes emblazoned into the straw, and an aloof expression. Percy glared daggers at the dummy and lunged forward, feeling immense satisfaction as the sword broke straight through the armour and buried itself up to the hilt. Percy forced his sword up, splitting the dummy in two, and pulled it out before decapitating it. The golden eyes staring at him faded away, and Percy's hand tightened on the sword hilt.

He looked behind him to check if anyone was still staring and glared at a few offenders before turning back to the dummy and concentrating. He fisted his left hand and there was a faint golden glow around the dummy which went back in time until it was fixed. Percy lifted Oceanus' sword and attacked the dummy again, feeling his mind focus on the dummy which now had deep sea blue eyes in Percy's head. Percy imagined he was cutting off Oceanus' arm as he attacked the dummy, and then he lopped off his head.

"What's the dummy ever done to you?" A voice behind him asked, and Percy instinctively twisted to bring the blade down on the speaker's head, but she quickly raised her spear to block the attack. The wooden shaft was cut straight through, and the demigoddess hurriedly jumped to the side.

Percy's eyes widened as he looked down at the remains of the spear. "Oops, sorry," he mumbled.

"Since when did you get so strong, Prissy?"

"You guys come up with weird nicknames, I mean what ever in gaia be good, did you ever come up with that?" Kronos asked the girl who shrugged.

"Came to me in the moment and it just stuck, plus I like it," the daughter of Ares said and continued to read.

Percy shrugged. "Titan strength."

Clarisse nodded and bent down to pick up the two halves of her spear, but Percy beat her to it. He held the spear parts together and his eyebrows furrowed in concentration before the halves moulded together seamlessly. "Cool trick," Clarisse said grudgingly.

Percy frowned. "Not really. It's Lord Kronos' abilities. They're not mine." He handed the spear back to her. "Did you want something?"

Clarisse looked at the destroyed dummy. "You seemed annoyed by something, and I didn't go down into Hell to get you back for nothing."

Percy scowled. "I'm annoyed that there's this constant reminder of what's happened recently."

"You didn't have to wear short sleeves," Clarisse said pointedly.

"That's not what he meant… am I right?" Iapetus asked and smirked when the girl let out a huff and a reluctant nod.

Percy bared his teeth. "Not that," he hissed, turning back to the dummy and waving his hand to change it back. "It's my damned speed, the strength. Everything has changed! I feel like part of me has just faded away!"

Clarisse frowned as she watched him savagely rip the non-existent intestines out of the dummy. "Alright. That's enough." She grabbed his shoulder, ignoring the threat that was spat from his mouth, and all but dragged him into an empty area of the arena. "Sword out. Come on."

"if he has Kronos' powers that means he will be stronger than you and could pulverize you in an instant!" Krios laughed and snatched the book out of Clarisse' hands and began to read, his voice was deep and it gave Jason the shivers, it wasn't too long ago that he had fought this Titan and now they were sitting down and reading a book on Percy's life. How in Tartarus did that happen?

Percy turned and studied her. "I don't think you want me to do that."

Clarisse raised an eyebrow and backed up a few paces to ready her spear, thinking that she was very grateful for putting armour on today. "Try me."

"Aragant and cocky, like all of Aress children.

Percy's mouth twitched slightly and he shrugged. "It's your funeral I'm worried about."

Clarisse grinned. "Are you scared, Prissy?"

"No," Percy retorted, "but you should be." And he attacked. He came at her like a whirlwind, slashing high towards her neck, and Clarisse's eyes widened. She ducked away to the side, swinging her spear towards his legs, but his sword was there to block it in an instant. Percy made sure to use the flat of the blade so he wouldn't cut through the shaft again, and he twisted away from Clarisse, so fast she could barely see him. His sword sang as it cut through the air, humming in his grip, and he could have sworn it was glowing slightly. Percy's sword slammed into the back of Clarisse's right leg only a split second after he'd moved, and she cursed under her breath as her leg buckled underneath her. Before she could react, the silver blade was resting on the back of her neck.

"Dead," Percy said calmly, and withdrew the sword, starting to walk away back to his dummy, but he did feel better – even if it was only a little – after that small fight.

Clarisse stared after him for several moments before lurching to her feet, grabbing her spear as she went, and hurrying after him. "Prissy, how…?"

"After fighting against only Titans and monsters that will stop at nothing to kill me for three centuries you're hardly going to even scratch me," Percy said calmly, not slowing down to wait.

"But you just… beat me in, like, five seconds!" The daughter of Ares exclaimed.

"Scared?" Percy said, his hood down and the charm up to hide his face, he didn't want anyone to know it was him, plus the Fates would make a perfect timing for him.

"And Lord Kronos could beat you in one split second. Trust me, I know," Percy mumbled. He sighed and looked up. "You're all going to die," he sounded so confident of that fact, that Clarisse was immediately worried.

"Then train us," she blurted out. "If you do that we'll be better. Less of us will die, and you said you wouldn't be helping us to fight them. You never said anything about training us. It's train or death."

Percy scowled as he turned to face her. "It took me three centuries to get to this point, and Lord Kronos can still kill me within minutes if he wanted. You all have no more than two years. You're already dead, you just don't realise."

"Such a pessimist son" Poseidon said with a smile.

"So you're just gonna leave us to die?" Clarisse demanded, "You're gonna let those bastards walk all over us without lifting a finger? Prissy, this is your home as much as it is ours, and I doubt you actually want it destroyed. Everything here turned to rubble? Set alight so that nothing remains? It that what you wanted?"

Percy glared at the ground. "No," he admitted, "I don't want that."

Clarisse grabbed his hand and started dragging him in the direction of the Big House. "Then come on. We've got to talk to Mr. D about this."

Percy grumbled. "Look, can you stop dragging me along? I'll follow you, alright?"

"And I thought you were a leader?" Zeus said and winced as Hera hit his arm.

"Shut up and listen to the story."

Clarisse let go of him and jogged to the Big House, ignoring the over exaggerated sigh that came from Percy before he followed her. "So, you know how Kronos fights?"

"Okay, firstly, we've seriously got to stop saying his name," Percy said as the temperature dropped and the sun seemed to give out less light. "Or," he mused, "saying his name a lot could give him a headache."

"Let's go with option two," Clarisse murmured.

Percy nodded. "Right. Secondly, who do you think I am? I know his fighting style off by heart by now." Clarisse seemed thoughtful as she ran, and they descended into silence.

Percy hesitated at the steps of the Big House, but soon followed Clarisse. Inside the gods and some of the camp counsellors were still talking, and Percy was more than a little pleased to hear it was about the Titans and what they should do.

Zeus frowned at Clarisse and Percy. "This is an important meeting, half-bloods," he chided, "you can't just barge in here."

"You should have locked the door," Percy said calmly. "How were we to know?"

Zeus scowled at him before he sighed. "What did you want?"

"Lord Zeus," Clarisse said respectfully, "I just fought Prissy here," she waved her hand in the general direction of Percy, "and have an idea."

Zeus raised an eyebrow. "An idea?"

"Involving fighting?" Ares demanded.

"Hush, Ares," Hera sighed, "let the half-bloods speak."

Clarisse frowned slightly as she thought about how to start. "Prissy beat me in less than five seconds," she announced, which made several of the gods' eyes widen – Clarisse was well-known as the best spearman in camp. "So I talked to him and managed to persuade him that training us doesn't count as fighting the Titans. He won't be fighting – like he doesn't want to – and less of us will die."

Zeus turned to Percy. "Perseus, what's your view on this?"

"Me helping's hardly going to do anything," Percy said sharply. "The Titans-"

"You easily beat Oceanus on the way out," Jason pointed out.

Percy frowned. "That's different. I've fought Oceanus so many times I've lost count now, and you-know-who knows that. When I fought Oceanus I was… angry, frustrated, pissed – and even terrified – and that is how I beat him so easily."

"Your powers over water beat his," Piper said. "You killed him by using the rivers that he had pulled out from the ground."

Percy sighed. "The Titans are weaker than usual in Tartarus. It's easier to use their own domains against them."

"Hold up a moment," Leo grinned and pointed at Percy. "Did you call Kronos you-know-who?"

"Why are you thinking of Harry Potter?" Annabeth asked and pinched her nose.

"What?" Leo asked and smirked. "Haven't you hear? All the Stories are true!"

Percy pinched the bridge of his nose in irritation. "Yes, Leo. I did. Because all of you seem to have forgotten that names have power. He is in Tartarus simmering in anger at the moment, and I really don't want to be giving him anymore power. Do you?"

Leo shook his head. "No. Sorry."

Percy grumbled under his breath. "Yes, I'll happily train all of you. I know the styles of the Titans from their King down to Leto."

Artemis and Apollo started at the mention of their mother, and the goddess looked at Percy with slight worry. "Is she alive?"

Percy nodded. "Last time I checked, and Koios seems rather annoyed by her decision to stay away from them, but he hasn't tried to kill her like Oceanus did with Metis, so that's good."

Athena's eyes widened slightly. "My mother's dead?"

Percy nodded. "Yup," he said, popping the 'p', "last time I checked. Their King's been cracking down on who's loyal and who isn't. The ones that aren't… poof, they're dead. Well, except for Krios and Iapetus… actually," he corrected, "they're also dead now. I'd hate to know what he's gonna do to Rhea if he manages to find her. Dead or alive."

Zeus winced slightly at the thought, and then he nodded. "Very well, Perseus. The immortal campers shall be trained by you every day for two hours from now."

"Isn't that a little excessive?" Jason asked.

Percy snorted. "I beat Clarisse in less than five seconds, Jason. You-know-who can beat me in less than three minutes. I'm doing this in the hope that you'll live long enough against him for some help to come to your aid. Though I'd hope that by now none of you are stupid enough to fight him." He looked pointedly in the direction of Annabeth. "Because, let's face it, going up against him singlehandedly is like signing your death warrant."

"And Death does love it when someone decides they want to die early, because they end up giving him company!" Hades said with a smile and summoned his angel of death, making every mortal flinch. After all no one wanted to die!

"Okay," Leo said, "while all of us know that Percy's probably the best to do this, shouldn't we wait a bit? You know, to let him settle back into the swing of things?"

Percy snorted as he saw that Zeus was actually considering it. "You guys don't even have two years, and that's looking at it optimistically. When the Titans come – and they will – there not gonna leave anyone who stands against them alive. Do any of you know what decapitate, disembowel, dismember and eviscerate mean? They're all terms for cutting off various body parts. Hemicorporectomy? It's the scientific term for cutting the body in half."

Everyone except the Titans and Percy looked green, and Poseidon looked ready to wage war on his father right then and their.

Nico shifted nervously in his seat. "Uh, Percy? Why're you telling us this?"

"Because King has no care what he does, as long as you're all dead at his feet. Trust me, I know. He's spent the last two-hundred and eighty-seven years telling me how he's going to kill each of you painfully right in front of me, and he's actually really imaginative. He figured out how to make my power null and void, completely useless, and then allowed Oceanus to do what he wanted to me – that was two-hundred-fifty years ago. It didn't take him long to figure out just how badly electricity affected me, and he knows the exact power and voltage that will stop the heartbeat of a demigod and an immortal, paralysing them, but keeping them alive. He can-"

"What exactly is the point of this?" Poseidon interrupted, looking very queasy as he realised that Percy was speaking from experience.

"My point is that King isn't stupid. He's likely cleverer than Athena," Percy said carefully, trying to get all of the beings to understand. "He knows his strengths and plays to them whilst covering up his weaknesses and using the weaknesses of his enemies. It's how he thinks – like he has nothing to lose, and that is the most dangerous enemy of all. Yes, he doesn't exactly want to be returned to Tartarus again when he gets out, but other than that he has no care for the wellbeing of himself, or his brethren. He lives to rise and for nothing else. The thoughts running through his head are all connected with tearing down Olympus brick by brick, and nothing will stop him." Percy paused and took a breath. "Do all of you know why I'm saying this?" He asked, looking around at the beings sitting around the table.

"Because we've angered him?" Nico asked.

Percy rolled his eyes. "That's one reason. The other is that I need to know if you're all prepared to die fighting him, or if you want to live." Percy met each of their eyes as he continued. "Kronos has seen inside all of your heads and knows what you all fear," he glanced towards Annabeth briefly, "but do you know what he fears?" Zeus opened his mouth, but Percy quickly cut him off. "I'm asking the demigods. I know you probably have an idea of what he fears, but they've seen him more recently."

"I have no clue," Leo announced, leaning back into his chair.

"I think…" Annabeth trailed off thoughtfully. "Remember when Poseidon asked him to stop?"

"That's my daughter!" Athena said proudly, looking down at everyone from the point of her nose, ignoring as others rolled their eyes.

The demigods nodded, and Nico leaned forward. "What are you saying?"

"He was angry," Annabeth said carefully, "and didn't you notice how much effort he put into not letting any emotions show?" She looked up at Percy. "That's it, isn't it?"

"Essentially, yes," Percy nodded. "It leads back to when he was betrayed by Rhea. You all have to remember that even though King does intend to destroy Olympus, he does actually have a reason. He is capable of human and mortal emotions, he's just spent the vast majority hiding those emotions from the beings around him. It's the idea of loving anyone again, the fear of emotions, and that is his weakness."

"He fears emotions?" Leo asked in confusion.

"Love," Percy clarified, "not just any emotion. He fears getting attached to anyone after what happened with Rhea."

"Damn right, do you have any idea on what she did to me? She ruined me and left me discarded…. But it doesn't matter, I have you" Kronos said into Percy's mind and let invisible hands trail up the newly made Titans cheek.

"So how do we use it against him?" Annabeth asked curiously.

Percy shrugged. "Beats me. That's not what I'm here for." He studied the beings for several seconds before a very small smile flickered into existence on his face. "I'll be in the arena when you want to start," he said before retreating from the room, feeling better than he had in the last three hundred years, and it was only later that he realised it was because he'd seen all his old friends and the gods listening to him, and even Zeus seemed to realise that Percy was deadly serious about the threat from the Titans.

Maybe the gods wouldn't fall as easily as Percy thought.

"Glad you have so much faith in the gods,"

A/N: I am so sorry for the late update! I have a full time job and recently got a promotion and cant update as much as I want, who knew i was going to be so busy? Anyways enjoy! and if any of you like Harry Potter… go check out my HP stories!