I brought a hand to my mouth to try and stop any noise that may have escaped me at the sight of my friend. The kind giant had been such a help to me and Annabeth when we'd been here the last time. Seeing Damasen reforming both saddened me and gave me hope. The idea that I wouldn't have to be alone here anymore… Not to mention, I wanted to pay the giant back for everything he'd done.

Something about the scene wasn't right, though. A niggling thought made me frown as I looked around the clearing from my place inside another clump of trees, crouched low behind some sickly swamp grass. Whatever wasn't right… didn't jump out at me. I wasn't used to figuring things like that out or putting them together. Sometimes it just happened, but actively looking for problems and solutions had never been my strong point.

What about this bothered me? Other than the monsters taking over Damasen's hut. Damasen was right there, but the empousai said the area wasn't claimed anymore. Were they planning on driving the giant out? I doubted Damasen was popular among the monsters after siding against Gaea. So what were they all doing here? Yeah, the driving-out idea was the only reason I could come up with. Did monsters have some sort of hierarchy claiming ritual or something?

So what should I do? If I went in fighting now, I could accidentally destroy Damasen's bubble in the process, and the giant with it if I wasn't careful. And that was if I even got to said bubble without it being destroyed by someone else. Although just cutting the guy out shouldn't be too much of a problem… right? Usually when I killed the monsters in the bubbles, I cut off their head or stabbed their heart or something like that. Would just piercing the bubble work?

I bit my lip and looked at the army around me—because that's what it was, an army. A new thought occurred to me. Did they think that when Damasen fully reformed and came out of his bubble, he'd convince me to lead them against the gods or something? They should know better… Then again, they were monsters and didn't really make sense to me.

I was still contemplating what my next action should be when a group of dracaenae hurried into the clearing. The other monsters made way for them as they rushed up to Thorn and began speaking quickly. Unfortunately, I was too far away to hear their conversation, but I didn't have a good feeling about the development.

My bad feeling proved to be true when Dr. Thorn rose to his full, very large height, and sent a menacing grin around at the whole army.

"We've had several groups that haven't returned, and when looked for, no sign of them was found. I believe this means our honored guest has arrived."

A cacophony of cheers and boos erupted from the nearby crowd.

I shrank back. They meant me. I knew it. I put my hand in my pocket and pulled out Riptide.

"Mr. Jackson! If you could please step out!" he called, almost cordially. I felt my jaw clench. "I think you'll find what we have to say very… interesting."

Yeah. Right. I hadn't been born yesterday.

When nothing happened, Dr. Thorn (was he even a doctor?) frowned. "I can promise no one here will hurt you before you've heard us out."

Yeah? What about after?

Monsters in the crowd shifted and the manticore's expression darkened further when nothing else happened. Finally, he raised his very large tail over Damasen's bubble.

"This is your compatriot, is he not? If you do not come out, I will be forced to kill him again. And again. And again. I promise you I will find him, wherever he is, and keep him from reforming."

My breath caught in my throat and my hands, already clenched in fists, began to shake. I looked around again at all the monsters and then back at Damasen. No! I couldn't let that happen to the giant, but…, I had no way to stop Thorn from following through with his threat either.

I'd buy more time and figure something out later. I was better at that anyway.

"Fine," I called out and moved into the clearing with Riptide uncapped, stepping casually around a tar pit. I didn't bother focusing on any other monster or how they had all more or less frozen, staring at me. Instead I made sure to meet the manticore's gaze. "I'm here. You wanted to talk? Talk. But leave Damasen alone. He's got nothing to do with this."

Dr. Thorn smiled beatifically. Or he tried. It wasn't that difficult to see right through the expression.

"I realize that the last time we parted may have been on… unsavory terms." I openly snorted at that, but didn't say anything else. Dr. Thorn's eye twitched, but he otherwise went on like nothing had happened. "However, I am willing to look past that—as are many here—and join you on your quest to overthrow Olympus."

I felt my eyes narrow and I grit my teeth. My own eye may or may not have twitched. "That's great! Or it would be if I planned on ever overthrowing Olympus. Which, for the last time, I'm not." It wouldn't be the last time, but one could hope. Or beat it into their sculls.

A murmur spread through the crowd in a wave, breaking off into small pockets here and there. However, Dr. Thorn didn't seem fazed.

"You would side with the gods again? Even after they threw you down here? So undeservedly."

I looked to the side for a moment and composed myself before looking back, firmer than ever. Acknowledging that hurt. Thinking about it hurt. Hearing it hurt worse, but ultimately, it was something I'd more or less come to terms with. I was thrown down here; I didn't deserve it; the gods sucked… but they would be better than the Titans—even without Kronos—and anyone was better than Gaea.

"Yes."

Cries of outrage sounded around me, but Dr. Thorn held his hand up and the enormous group of monsters quieted down. He had a dark frown on his face, but forced a smile.

"You are far more… forgiving than any monster I know of."

"You've obviously never met Damasen then," I said, nodding towards the giant floating in the bubble.

I could tell the manticore's patience had begun to run out as he glanced at the regenerating giant, lips thin. Honestly, I was surprised he'd lasted that long. The Dr. Thorn I remembered had been condescending and impatient the entire encounter.

"No. I've never met the weakest giant," the manticore finally admitted.

I grit my teeth. "Damasen is not weak."

"He always was," Thorn shot back angrily. "He rejected power in favor of kindness and turned his back on his family!"

"That's what makes him strong!" I snapped, equally as fierce. "He turned his back on what he knew was wrong despite the pressure from people like you."

I expected that to incense the monster, but Dr. Thorn seemed taken aback for a second.

"You… think of us as people?" he asked, gesturing around.

I shrugged, hoping I looked more nonchalant than I felt. "Yeah, why not?"

A pause. "Yet you eat our kind."

That took me by surprise. "O-only to survive! And only those that aren't aware! And I hate it just as much as any of you do!"

As if sensing blood in the water, Dr. Thorn approached me, a grin beginning to spread on his face, although it looked far from pleased. "You 'hate' it? That is your defense? Truly?"

"I had to survive!"

"Why?!" Thorn asked, voice not quite a shout, but the condescension had returned. "Why are we any less important than you, demigod? Oh, great son of the Sea God! Worth far more than us lowly monsters."

I felt my anger boiling and the earth around me began to rumble. The monsters shifted nervously, but I didn't pay them any attention, focusing instead on the manticore. "You kill people! And you started that! Innocent mortals who have nothing to do with you! You—all of you—have been doing it for centuries! You started this whole 'survival of the fittest' cycle where you pray upon mortals and they defend themselves—they survive! Just like me! You have no room to blame me for anything! Not when you get reborn again and again and again! I don't!"

Dr. Thorn stood there, blinking at me for a couple of seconds before the grin was back, this time cruel and wide.

"Not yet. And it looks like it'll take you several cycles to come to the same realization we all have! That the gods are not worthy of their positions!"

"I know that!" I shouted. That seemed to draw the manticore up short, along with the rest of the small army of monsters gathered there. After a couple of seconds of a tense silence, I deflated. "I know that." I sighed and looked up, "But what makes monsters or Titans or giants any better? Nothing! I could go on and on about how the gods take advantage of their children. Demigods—at least Greek demigods—don't expect to live into their late teens most of the time and the gods don't care. They just use their children, send them through quests to bring the gods glory, put us through Hell—literally in some cases—only for us to die before we really live…"

I paused.

"But at least then we have a chance. It's terrible… and even if you live, you just watch people around you die again and again and again. But how many of us do you think would live if Kronos or Gaea was in charge?"

"If you side with us –" Thorn started, but I cut him off.

"Right. Because that worked out so well for Luke, and Ethan, and Selina and all the demigods that sided with you! How many of them survived, huh?!"

"If we'd won they would have!" Thorn shouted, any pretense of restraint gone.

"No! They wouldn't have! How many mortals do you think would survive the Titans taking over? Or the giants? And the demigods living? Don't make me laugh! We're all half mortal! That means we have mortal families that the wars that would come from a change in management would likely kill—and that's in the best case scenario!"

Thorn snorted derisively, looking utterly disgusted. "You actually want to protect the weak mortals?"

"Yes," I replied, voice rock-steady.

"You are only as weak as that which you protect," the monster sneered.

"Really?" I returned the sneer with a hungry grin of my own as I raised my blade into position. "Come fight me and we'll see how weak I am."

Thorn snorted, and then his sneer returned to that cruel grin. "You still don't get it. Allow me to demonstrate." With that, he raised his tail high. I realized what he was doing a moment before it happened and the world fell out from under me. As if in slow motion, I sprang forward, hand outstretched.

"NO!"

And then the manticore's tail pierced the bubble and shot straight into Damasen's heart. The giant's eyes snapped open, face twisted in pain. Then Thorn drew his tail back. The bubble popped and the giant fell to the ground with an earth-rumbling thud. Then all Hades broke loose.

I saw red. The monsters nearest me leapt at me with shrieks and yells, ready to tear me apart, but I rushed forward to meet them, hardening my water armor—just a breastplate and some arm guards for now.

Not enough.

Desperately, I reached for the nearest source of water—my own seawater in bottles—and pulled it out, but I still didn't have enough! What about the swamp water? Though most of it had been stuck in the ground and did I have time to draw it out in battle? I tried anyway, but with all the attacks coming my way, most of it kept slipping through my grasp. If only I had something closer! And why was Damasen's clearing so dry?! It was a swamp!

Tar was a liquid… right? And the whole Earthshaker thing… could that work? I reached for the bubbling pits as I swung, jumped, and thrust into the oncoming monster hoard. The tar responded, but slowly—too slowly. I could summon water from my seashell, but that would take more concentration than I had at the moment, with literally hundreds of monsters ganging up on me.

I grit my teeth. No! I had… to reach… Damasen!

I strained my senses and felt sources around me, both above ground and under. Desperately, I pulled, unable to spend the time or concentration I'd need to do anything else. I didn't care what any liquid that responded would destroy. That was, after all, the point.

Despite that thought, I didn't expect the ground to tear itself apart, swallowing a large number of monsters. It felt different—harder in a way—than my control over water, but I'd take it. Several nearby monsters also seemed to simply pop out of existence, but I only vaguely noticed. How could I focus on them when I only had eyes for the crumpled form of the cherry-red giant curled on the ground? More monsters rushed forward and I squashed them with my water with barely a glance, much like I had the scorpions earlier, a little amazed at how easily I could control the shape of the water just then. The shrieks of pain that suddenly cut off, barely reached me through the battle haze and my worry for my friend.

I lifted my water back into the air and froze it into ice shards, then rained it down on the monsters surrounding me, all while swinging Riptide around and fighting off those few monsters that could get to me through my attacks.

Suddenly, I felt something in my arm and I screamed as an excruciating pain shot through the appendage. I glanced down and saw one of Thorn's spikes sticking out. I grit my teeth and pulled it out. It tore the skin and hurt even more, but I'd been through worse. The manticore's spikes hurt, but their poison wouldn't kill me as far as I knew. I'd just have to fight through it.

So I did, swinging my sword in a blur and calling more liquid back to me. Thorn shot more spikes at me, but I managed to dodge, ignoring the tears of pain running down my cheeks as I continued to fight.

"Do you see your weakness?" Thorn asked as I slew the monsters around the manticore, approaching the final obstacle between me and my friend.

"Shut up!" I shrieked and drove my sword towards the manticore's heart. Then I saw the tail shoot towards me. I reinforced my water armor and twisted my torso to the side. The tail scraped by me, Thorn overreaching with the unexpected force behind a strike that didn't hit. I twisted back just as the monster panicked, trying to bring his tail back. He threw his arms up, but it wasn't enough. The celestial bronze blade went right through the monster's neck, reducing him to gold dust. I paused, breathing hard. My gut was beginning to hurt again, but…

I looked around the field and saw that I'd finished off a good chunk of the monsters, and the rest seemed more than a little hesitant to approach me. Good. I glared at them.

"I won't pursue anyone who leaves now," I growled. I didn't know if my voice carried or not, but it must have because the majority of the monsters turned and rushed off into the trees. Those who stayed remained several yards back.

"Anyone still within this clearing in ten seconds will fight me."

That got the rest of them to leave. I still didn't trust them (for some strange reason) and as I turned towards my downed friend, I raised a wall and froze it behind me, not even bothering to watch it form. Then I rushed to Damasen's side.

The monster, still covered in puss-goo, wasn't doing well. He coughed and groaned and had curled into a ball around his chest.

"D-Damasen?" I asked carefully, coming to kneel beside the large head.

The giant coughed again, but looked up. "P-percy?"

I swallowed and nodded. "Yeah. It's me."

Damasen closed his eyes and opened them again, as if that would correct his vision. "Why… are you here? Did you not escape?"

I took a deep breath. "Yeah. We did. Gaea's gone."

He looked hopeful. "She's really gone?"

I nodded. "Burnt and scattered."

Damasen seemed to relax a little, but then he winced again. I didn't know what to do. I could give him some of the Phlegethon… but would that help? Monsters tended to stay away from it from what I'd observed, and when I used it on them, it killed them. Or maybe my ambrosia? I reached into my pocket for the bag of the godly food.

"Why are you here… again?" Damasen asked.

I frowned. "Later," I said. "First I have to heal you. I have some ambrosia and Phlegethon water. Will either one of those help you?"

The giant blinked at me. Then he chuckled… and winced. "Don't waste what you have. I didn't finish… reforming…" he paused and looked away, coughing, his rust-colored dreadlocks dragging limply on the ground as I lifted his head. "I can't be saved."

I shook my head. "No! No, there has to be something I can do."

The giant smiled up at me. "It's nice to know you really do care."

"Of course I do! You were the reason we were able to save our friends! The world! You and… and Bob did so much for us. I can't ever repay you."

The giant smiled again, lips melting into something warm and soft. "Thank you, Percy Jackson. Now tell me why you're here again. Maybe I can help you escape again? At least give you some information."

My breath caught in my throat and my hand clenched tightly around the canteen. I put the ambrosia back in my pocket, reluctantly and pointedly careful, before picking Riptide back up and squeezing that with my other hand.

"I don't think so. The… the gods put me here." That hurt to say. So much. I hadn't actually said it aloud before, not as an explanation. I felt tears come to my eyes and brushed them away angrily. It had been almost three (ish) years. I should be over it, right?

"They… what?" Damasen asked.

"There… there was a prophecy. I don't even know the exact words, but everyone says that it's about me, again! It said I would overthrow the gods! I didn't want anything to do with the gods! I just wanted to live my life and marry my girlfriend and maybe have a kid! Go to school! Get a job! If I never saw any of them ever again, I'd be thrilled! I turned down godhood once even! Why would I want anything they can give me! WHY?!"

By the time I got to the end of my tirade, my voice had risen to a shout. It just came pouring out and I couldn't seem to stop it.

"I hate being here! I hate this place! I hate the prophecy and how everyone keeps trying to make me fulfill it! Tar… the Pit god says I'll become a monster too the longer I'm here, but if I try to die, I'll be away from my friends in the underworld and… I hate it here. I hate being alone. I hate that I can't see the people I love and I. Hate. Them."

I sat there for several seconds, just breathing hard, while Damasen just stared at me, lying on the ground in front of his enormous hut made from drakon bone.

"The gods?" he ventured carefully.

I blinked at that and I went over what I'd just said. It… it was true, I realized. I was so angry… And yet…

I deflated, suddenly feeling so weak and just nodding tiredly.

"That's what they want, you know," Damasen said quietly. "Those who keep urging you to fulfill the prophecy."

"I know," I replied quietly, wiping those stupid tears away again.

"All of the gods wanted you here?"

I shook my head. "No. My… my dad… he fought for me. Hades said he was acting under protest. I don't know about the rest of them… but still, nobody stopped it. They just threw me in here, and I bet they haven't thought of me since."

"Maybe," Damasen said, then coughed. I put my hand forward, worried, but then stopped, realizing that one of them held my sword and the other my canteen full of Phlegethon water. "But maybe not. And even if so, do you want to prove them right? That you are this child of the prophecy and you will overthrow them? If you do, in their mind, it would have been right to throw you down here again."

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. No. No, I really didn't. But I didn't want to be here any longer either.

The giant chuckled, then winced. "I didn't think so," he said, voice croaking with pain.

"Enough about me. We need to figure out how to help you—"

"I told you, there's nothing you can do." He said it so kindly, but matter-of-factly that I had to bite my lip and look away. "I'm glad I… got to see you, though." His breaths were coming in faster, and heavier.

I sighed and looked back at my friend again. "Yeah. Me too."

"I believe in you," Damasen said with a wry smile. "If anyone can prove them wrong, it'll be you. And if you do overthrow them, it'll be peaceful and you'll just convince them of the error of their ways."

I snorted through a wet smile. I'd never done things the peaceful way, but now wouldn't be a bad time to start, I supposed. "They're gods."

"They're not Titans or giants… so at least… you have a shot."

I laughed outright at that.

"Is there anything I can do for you?" I asked after a moment, smile fading and voice quiet again.

The giant smiled sadly. "Survive. Live. Thrive. Escape. Get home and marry your girlfriend and have those kids." He snorted. "Maybe name one of them Damasen?"

I closed my eyes and bit my lip. I knew Damasen wasn't going to be gone forever, but I also knew that the giant reforming before… well, before I died myself, I supposed, was pretty small. If I got out of here, I'd likely never see the giant again. It had been hard enough to accept the first time. Now that I desperately wanted a companion—someone I could trust at my back, and who could trust me to have their back—it was infinitely worse.

"If I get out of here, I'll name one of my kids Damasen," I said softly. "Promise."

"When… you get… out of here."

I forced another smile. "When I get out of here," I repeated, hoping it was true.

The long silence that followed felt heavy and inevitable and I hated it. Only the Giant's moans and heavy breathing broke said silence.

"I would have… liked to have had… a friend… down here," Damasen finally rasped.

I took a deep breath, lips thin as I focused to keep my breathing under control. "Me too."

"Say hi… to Annabeth… for me."

"I will."

It still took so long—what felt like forever—for Damasen to finally fade into sulfur flakes. It took several more minutes of me breathing my tears away before I felt stable enough to turn towards the water wall blocking me off from the rest of the clearing.

The moment I saw it, I froze. That… wasn't water. Not entirely in any case. It was too red—with little flecks of gold—to be just water.

Was that…?

That was…

Panic rose inside me as I took a step back. I reached a hand out to see if–hoping that–it was just something splashed on the other side…

It wasn't. The wall responded to me immediately, and I could sense everything inside it—the water and the… other substances. I released my control immediately, stumbling and falling down into the gold dust left by Damasen as the wall of water crashed down. It flickered in the toxic air around me and I couldn't get enough air in and…

And then I was running, not noticing how my water armor fell away behind me.

I didn't know how or when or where I was going, I just knew I had to get away.

I ran for a long time.

xXx

AN: Sorry this is up late. Real Life slapped me in the face. BTW, if your fridge ever goes out, I sincerely hope you catch it faster than we did. :/ Glad it's cold enough to put our food out overnight. Really, REALLY hope local animals don't get to it.

*sigh*

That being said, thank you to SmolAvidReader, Berix, Asterius Daemon, and Quathis for their help on this! I really appreciate your help guys.

I really hope you all got last week's chapter so this one makes sense, because some people didn't.

Next week's chapter: Jane

Discord: discord. gg/xDDz3gqWfy (no spaces)