Chapter 27: Reading Exiled

WARNING: TORTURE AHEAD (IF YOU DON'T WANT TO READ IT, SKIP THE PART BETWEEN THE '**'. ITS WORSE THAN ITS BEEN BEFORE.

Percy knew it was coming, the part where Kronos was showing his feelings, emotions, stuff that the others would not understand, the ones his other side of the family would not understand! So that was why he was pacing to the door and bed.

"Get on the bed Percy," Kronos murmured, his head of hair a mess from sleep and he motioned to his body. "Let me distract you," he chuckled, and Percy caved.

The book would matter later when they were reading, right now he was Kronos'.

.

.

Zeus sat idly in the throne room, the gods had wanted to know more of what was going on and he sure as Hades did too, but the book would not open. Magic was on it, from what Hecate could tell and would not open unless all who were present whistle reading/listening could not open it. So that was why he was happy when the Titans entered, their group of demigods were followed by Luke.

"Where is Kronos and Percy?" he demanded and ignored the glare he got from his uncles.

"It is not our place to question the Kings, they will come when ready," Oceanus said and grabbed the book out of his lap.

Another half an hour and the Greek and Roman demigods came fourth all a bit sleep ridden and anxious to finish the book, finally the two Titans entered.

"Shall we begin reading?" Percy asked and moved with a slight limp to his throne and motioned for Iapetus to read.

Hades nodded. "Yes. I saw them before they shadow-travelled, and Nico told me that is what Iapetus said. He was reviving the dead for their army. I saw Luke and the other demigods that turned on the Titans there too," he ignored Apollo as the god snickered, "Charles Beckendorf was there beside Silena, apparently having decided that where she went, he went. Either way, the Titans have experienced demigods in their army now."

"All demigods are experienced, its in their blood," Kyla one of the many Athena children snorted and was about to recite when someone coughed a "shut up." Her face went red and she stayed silent.

"Iapetus told me where they were hiding out," Nico put in helpfully from where he was standing beside Hades. "He said he had to get back to Othrys. The Titans are hiding out on Othrys," Nico said firmly.

"That's impossible," Athena frowned. "We checked there. They weren't there."

"Have Hecate go," Poseidon suggested. "There's likely several layers of Mist covering the Black Fortress. And Hazel should join her. The two of them should be able to uncover the truth."

"Hermes, send a message to Hecate and Hazel that they are to immediately go to Othrys with a group of demigods and recheck for anything that could prove the Titans are there," Zeus ordered.

Hermes nodded and immediately flashed out. "It's lucky its sunrise," Artemis murmured.

Poseidon nodded. "Hopefully, we've found them. Then we can launch a mission to free Percy."

Poseidon nodded along to his books thoughts and he so wouldn't allow Percy to be on Othrys anymore then necessary.

"It's too dangerous," Zeus said firmly. "Father won't allow Percy to be taken."

"Obviously," Poseidon muttered. "But he doesn't have to allow it."

The gods stared at him. "You're honestly suggesting we break into Othrys?" Hera exclaimed. "Are you mad?"

"Are you scared?" Poseidon shot back.

"Scared Potter?" Luke whispered in a close mock of Draco Malfoy, a wizard he had met in England on a mission for Kronos quite sometime ago.

"You wish," Luke answered himself in a different tone of voice, it made the others look at him as if he were crazy, or in Dionysus case: Crazy. He was not, he was just trying to make light of the situation.

"Of Father? Yes!" Hera hissed. "Like you should be!"

"He doesn't seem very bad, I mean we don't know his backstory and all, he could be a very nice person at heart you know?" Ethan said and glanced to where Kronos sat.

Poseidon's jaw clenched. "I won't be afraid of him – not while he's holding my son hostage."

"Poseidon," Krios spoke up from his spot in the throne section, eyes turned to him. "You're brave and reckless, I like it."

Poseidon looked up at his uncle and frowned a little, something was odd, when they were not reading the books, the titans usually were quite rude or outright ruthless, but sometimes they showed kindness and it scared him. He was not sure if he was on the right side or not.

Conflict burned in him, and if it ever came down to a fight… Poseidon knew he just might end up choosing Percy's side. Percy was his son and had gone through so much. He just needed his son and he was okay. Amphitrite was understanding, and Triton was with him until he died or was disowned.

"That would usually be when someone should be afraid of him," Hades frowned.

Poseidon shrugged. "Well, I'm not."

Zeus sighed and leaned forward. "What's taking so long, Iris?" He demanded.

"Connecting," Iris' voice said, ringing around the throne room. A screen formed in the throne room, revealing Hazel, Frank, Reyna, Jason, Piper, and Hecate.

"Found anything?" Zeus asked.

Hazel held up an arrowhead, the point shining golden in the waning light. "It's imperial gold." She paused, running a finger along the edge, and showing the gods the blood on her finger. "But if it was used it should have been dulled. It has not been. It is stronger than the arrows the Legion uses. It could be from a Titan."

Frank cleared his throat. "Maybe removing the Mist would help," he suggested.

Hazel nodded, turning to Hecate. "We just try to tear it down?"

"Just like paper, imagine it in your mind and it will happen, its pretty easy, just like creating mist, you just have to be powerful enough to try and beat the other powers." Atlas said and looked at his father who was looking at him to be finished with his explanation to whoever was listening.

Hecate nodded. "There may be force acting against our efforts, so be wary of that."

Hazel nodded and raised her hands alongside Hecate, the two Mist users concentrating on removing the Mist covering the entire mountainside. Hazel immediately felt like she had been punched in the gut and lost her concentration. "There's so much," she breathed.

"More than there should be," Hecate agreed. "You felt it didn't you?"

Hazel nodded. "Someone's holding the Mist up," she murmured, glancing at Hecate. "Ready to try again?"

"Of course," and they raised their hands again. Hazel concentrated on removing the layers of Mist one by one, the sheer amount of them shocked her and she almost lost her focus again.

Then she heard the gasps behind her and opened her eyes. Framed against the sunset was a massive Fortress. Othrys towered over them, casting a massive shadow across most of California. It seemed to touch the stars coming out above them, the whole structure completely black. "Lord Zeus," Hazel said, suddenly feeling exceedingly small in the shadow of the Titans. "The Titans are definitely here."

"Way to go and point out the obvious!" Jason Grace murmured and sat back at the sharp glare he got from Percy.

"I think we should go," Jason said uneasily, looking around into the darkness. "This isn't safe."

Hazel quickly agreed and started backing up when a low growl was heard, and a hellhound padded out of the darkness, staring at the immortals. Jason fried it with a small bolt of lightning, and it vaporised.

"Wait," Reyna suddenly hissed, looking up at the Black Fortress.

"We have to go!" Jason exclaimed.

Reyna shook her head. "I see someone," she murmured.

Piper tensed. "Who?"

"I don't…" she trailed off as a Greek fire torch was lit where she was looking, and her eyes narrowed. "Kronos," she growled.

"Names have power you know. Especially for mortals," Percy stated. "And all you guys do is seem to say them all the time, though I am sure Kronos doesn't mind."

Iapetus read louder when he saw others about to protest.

The demigods immediately took out their weapons, looking up at the Titan King. He stood on the same level as Othrys high above them, the Greek fire casting a green glow over him. It was hard to see him despite the torch in the darkness, but Hazel could have sworn she saw him scowl down at them before tilting his head to the side slightly, and Hazel's instincts started screaming at her.

The demigods scattered as Ladon hissed, uncoiling from his tree and his one hundred heads hovering above them. Hazel launched herself towards Frank, quickly shadow-travelling him away with her as the others used their various ways of teleportation to escape.

"Launch an attack!" Ares roared. "We know where they are!"

Ares shook his head at Iapetus' almost identical pitch of voice to his and scowled, stupid titan.

"I will not risk it," Zeus snapped. "They're too strong. We can catch them unawares when they leave Othrys."

"But-"

"Enough!" Poseidon roared. "Arguing won't help!"

Ares spun around to face Poseidon. "They've been staying right above Camp Jupiter! They could destroy the Camp in an instant if they wanted! Heck, Kronos alone could destroy the state of California."

"He won't," Athena said firmly. "They need a place to start. To get a foothold."

"And they've done that excellently," Apollo retorted. "We've got to stop them! We can-"

"Childish arguments, they need to get a grip!" Luke nodded with his friends.

"What?" A smooth voice interrupted, and the gods spun to see Hyperion scowling at them through an Arke Message. "Oh, please don't stop for me. It's amusing watching you argue."

"What do you want?" Zeus demanded.

Hyperion sneered. "You come completely uninvited and expect no repercussions of your actions? How interesting. We have a show for you. Of course, I doubt Perseus will enjoy it too much, but we will."

All the Olympian's eyes turned to the Titan who sat on his throne looking anywhere but at them, he had a far away look in his eyes, but didn't take his hand away from where Kronos had it on his leg. They held hands and listened to Iapetus read the part where Kronos realized his feelings.

Poseidon's eyes narrowed and he launched himself to his feet. "What are you doing to my son?" He bellowed.

Hyperion smirked and the Arke Message shifted to show Percy on his knees in the throne room of the Titans, his hands bound behind his back. The gods tensed, staring at Percy with varying degrees of shock.

Percy had only boxer shorts on and was shivering slightly, though from shock or just the cold air the gods did not know. They saw the scar down his arm that read, Lord Kronos, and Poseidon sucked in a breath, not having seen it before. Percy displayed scars over nearly every inch of his body, some more brutal than others, and he was staring at the ground, avoiding looking up at Hyperion.

"How can you love a monster like that?" Annabeth screeched starring at Percy who calmly patted Kronos' hand and murmuring something in a language the other occupants besides the Titan's did not understand.

"Shut the fuck up," He spoke in English, "and listen to the book and you will know," he sneered and sat back.

"Well," Hyperion hummed, summoning a dagger to his hand. "Shall we start?"

The gods tensed as Poseidon flinched. Percy shook slightly as Hyperion approached. The Titan studied him for several moments before speaking. "I've always wanted to know how long it takes for a fish to burn," he mused. "I haven't been able to do an experiment with Kronos hovering over you," he scowled, "but he's not here now."

Kronos turned his gaze to Hyperion who shook slightly, he remembered this day, the anger and disappointment in his brothers eyes, as well as the lost of favour had hurt the most.

Krios muttered something to Iapetus who nodded, slipping into a shadow without being noticed. Hyperion raised his hand, a flame spluttering into existence above it, and he directed a stream of fire towards Percy. It hovered before him, and Percy caught his breath, seeing the flames out of the corner of his eye. He relaxed his tense muscles, having learnt that it hurts more if he is tense. And he bit his lip to stop himself from crying out as the flames scorched his skin, quickly blackening it.

(***)

Hyperion smiled and moved the flames closer to Percy, making it touch his bicep. The pain increased massively, and Percy screamed. Hyperion laughed, holding the flames there as Percy writhed on the ground, the pain very gradually lessening until it did not hurt anymore. And Percy lay there, still feeling the heat from the fire as it burnt him right down to the bone. Then Hyperion withdrew the flames, sucking them into his hand. Percy frowned and glanced at his deformed bicep, then was now a burnt carcass, promptly gagging and throwing up over the black marble floor. He could see right down to his bone, which was blackened and charred. The skin around it had gone completely dry and looked leathery in the sunlight filtering through the slits in the walls that served as windows. What remained of the skin on his arm was completely white, bleached from the heat. (*)

Demigods had a highly active imagination and started to throw up, and to be honest some of the gods looked like they were going to, too.

Hyperion scowled at the bile on the floor. "You brat," he scowled, his eyes narrowing at Percy. "You'd-"

The doors of the throne room were blasted off the hinges, a blast of power knocking Hyperion off his feet and slamming into the wall the other side of the throne room. Hyperion staggered to his feet, a hissed erupting from his mouth. "YOU DARE-" He stopped abruptly, his mouth snapping shut as he saw who it was that had entered, pure fear evident in his eyes. "My – My Lord," he stammered, hurriedly bowing to Kronos.

The group of people were anticipating what was going to happen next when Iapetus paused and asked his brother telepathically if he should read the language switch in the old tongue or in English.

"Read gods dam it!" Thalia exclaimed and ignored the glares she got for startling them all.

Kronos was even angrier than he had been when Poseidon had interfered and killed the Kraken, and that said something. His previously golden eyes were now a cold, desolate black as he glowered at Hyperion. He took one glance at Percy before the marble cracked around him and he started glowing. "Iapetus," he spat out, "take Perseus away."

Iapetus quickly moved, coming in behind Kronos and picking Percy up, shadow-travelling away as Kronos closed in on Hyperion. "Are you hard of hearing?" Kronos snarled. "Perseus is MINE!"

Aphrodite and her children were all surprised and excited that the Romance was coming, it was an epic love story and Aphrodite was quite sad that she wasn't the one who had gotten to write it.

"I – I thought that you'd – I mean, the gods they-"

"You thought wrong," Kronos snapped, he clenched his hands so tight they drew ichor. "Krios, join Iapetus," he ordered.

Krios was relieved as he quickly scrambled out of the throne room, clambering over the twisted marble that used to be the massive doors. Krios had barely cleared the doors when Kronos imploded into his true form, the heat twisting the marble into streaks of black liquid which boiled and frothed, and every single being in the great hall between the entrance of Othrys and the throne room spontaneously combusted on the spot. A wave of primal anger washed over Krios and he stopped in his tracks, feeling an urge to go and tear apart Hyperion with his bare hands. Then Kronos sharply drew back on his aura, and Krios could think clearly again. He realised that at some point he had turned and started back into the throne room.

"That much control over them?" Athena whispered and looked at the Titan King who was sitting in his throne with no care in the world, he had Time on his side and as loathed as she was hating to admit, he had Percy Jackson as well.

He took a breath to regain his own control before setting off to Kronos' room where he could sense Iapetus waiting with Percy.

Kronos was angrier than he had been in a long time. He had given clear orders that his grandson was not to be even poked by any of the other Titans. Hyperion had done the complete opposite to his desires. And he had not poked the kid. No, he had burnt him until all his nerve-endings were obliterated and he could not feel the pain anymore.

Apollo and crew winced, as they were healers, they knew that Percy had been subjugated to a lot of pain, the other gods were thankful it was not them.

He was so tempted to slaughter Hyperion where he stood, but that would not help. No, that would just alienate the Titans and make them hate him, and he could not have that. He had to do something that would get the point across… his gaze landed on the Arke-Message through which the gods were still watching, their jaws open in shock. Kronos took a breath, drawing back on his true form and returning to his mortal one. Hyperion relaxed, thinking he was off the hook, however he faltered when he saw the gleeful smirk on Kronos' face.

"I leave for less than an hour to finalise the details of the deal with Mae'r Cysgodol, and halfway through it, Iapetus tells me that you're harming my property," Kronos hissed angrily. "If I cannot trust you with a simple order such as not harming him, then how can I trust you to follow my orders in a battle?"

Dread filled everyone's stomach, they just knew something bad was going to happen and with the way Hyperion looked very ill they knew it too.

The eyes of the Titans widened at his words, all of them having the feeling that they would not be seeing Hyperion for a long time. Hyperion swallowed, rapidly paling even more. "You can trust me, My Lord," he assured hurriedly.

"Obviously not," Kronos snapped, extending a handout towards Hyperion. "Yr wyf fi, Kronos, Brenin y Titans, torri'r rwym rhwng chi a'ch marc o rym," Hyperion's eyes widened as his sword lost its glow and shot into Kronos' outstretched hand, "ac yn eich bwrw oddi Othrys hyd nes y byddwch wedi dysgu i ufuddhau i mi. Byddwch yn cael dim cymorth o Othrys, a bydd yn cael ei gwahardd i gael cysylltiad ag unrhyw bodau o Othrys. Hyperion, Arglwydd Golau and Gryfder, rydych yn alltud."

Shocked silence, Iapetus didn't entirely speak what was written, he couldn't have the others try to banish a Titan, even though only the King could do that, he still just said that Hyperion was banished until Kronos saw fit.

Hyperion disappeared in a flash of light, and Kronos turned to the other Titans in the throne room, all of whom were pale and avoiding eye contact with him. "Clean this up," he snapped, gesturing to the bile on the floor and mangled remains of the doors, he paused, looking at Hyperion's throne. "And get that out of my sight," he sneered, turning on his heel and swiping his hand through the Arke-Message as he stalked from the throne room.

"I guess that's where we get our dramatic entrances and exits from," Leo piped up once Iapetus closed the book.

A/N: So, I kinda got a small vacation from work, because of COVID19, and I can update quite a bit, I loved the PM's and reactions I got from my chapter!

So, with love I have updated once again! Once again please review and maybe the next update might be faster!?

JIO