Time: Same Time

Not in control of her body, Athena was forced to stare into Percy's dark, glassy sea-green eyes.

She braced herself for the inevitable barrage of horrors that was soon to overwhelm her mind. She wanted to close her eyes, to look away, to curl up in a ball. But in vain.

A picture of a blonde woman flashed into her mind, one of several nights she had spent crying alone in her palace. Always the butt of ridicule, always the lonely nerd, the outcast.

Hestia had the demigods and minor gods who loved her unconditionally. Artemis had her Huntresses.

Artemis was the one she was closest to. And now, this son of Poseidon had taken her away.

Poseidon... she remembered with boiling, unfiltered hatred, how he was the first one to humiliate her for things out of her control, how he was the first to curse her children.

Maybe a part of that was her fault. Her hubris always getting in the way of everything, not letting her back down from anything.

And, alienated from everyone around her, Athena sought companionship in the only things she knew intimately, her books. It might have suited Hephaestus- he was anti-social and introverted- Athena was moulded by circumstance to become the anti-social, introverted, cold-hearted bitch she was.

She saw herself, the young and lively, naïve and hopeful, Athena, in her daughter Annabeth. She had been jealous of her old qualities manifesting in her daughter, Annabeth finding the perfect companion and partner in the best man in the world. She should have been happy, and proud that her daughter got Percy, who was something of a grand trophy to everyone.

But she didn't. She felt jealous of her daughter, and the looming wall of her burning jealousy crashed onto the poor soldier she secretly desired. She treated Percy the worst she had ever treated anyone, worse than any son of Poseidon ever born. She exacted revenge for every insult ever thrown her way in her four millennia of life, in the ten years she knew him.

She felt tears welling up in her eyes, not allowed release due to her lack of control of her own body.

She felt Calypso stare at her questioningly, and with a bit of hostility. She was not surprised at the latter. "A-Athena?" The Titaness stuttered at her unnatural state.

Athena wanted to speak, to say something, but she couldn't. She felt like a puppet on strings as she stood up, taking everyone for surprise at the fact that she could stand at all after the mental torture she had undergone.

Athena wanted to scream in abject terror at her predicament. She swore to all the deities above her that she would never poke at the sensitive god again as she stiffly, unnaturally, took a step towards the pinned Dark god.

"Mo-mother?" Angela's voice was trembling, nervous at her state as she neared the violent, captive god.

"She's under his control!" Calypso exclaimed, horrified, as she lunged at the goddess, trying to restrain her. Piper looked up from the makeshift bandage she had tightly wrapped around Reyna's absolutely damaged knee, hurriedly drawing her attention back to her patient as the ex-Praetor moaned in pain.

After a moment of disorientation as they tried to decipher the Titaness' meaning, Angela and Cynthia lunged at Athena, capturing both of her arms. The three girls tried to drag the wisdom goddess out of the room, trying to separate the spark from the gunpowder keg.

There was a crash behind them. Seized with terror, the girls turned around to see Percy clawing at his jaw to free himself.

He had reverted to his crazed look, his jaw dripping blood as it was pried wide open by the knife embedded in his jaw. His crazed, bloodshot eyes were concentrated completely on the three guiding the captive Athena out of the room, his pupils dilated. Long scratches ran down his cheeks, bloody tracks of golden ichor on his tanned skin.

He strained his head as far as it would go with Katopris pinning him to the counter, his hands steadily turning more and more of the cool, marble floor to fine sand. His jaws were skewed at an awkward angle. His clothes were drenched with ichor, the life-blood gushing lavishly from the cut on his wrist, seeping through the pile of golden sand around him.

Percy suddenly seemed to have a flash of intelligence, a glimpse of the human beneath him shining through the veil of the raw, animalistic instincts inhabiting his mind.

He grasped a hold of Katopris, wrenching it free from his jaw. Shards of shattered wood and hope flew from the gaping hole his sudden force had left in the demolished counter.

There was a metallic zing, and the unmistakable sound of a knife thudding into a wall.

Thalia whimpered as she felt the cut on her cheek bleeding. Sand from the half-decayed metal handle of Piper's knife made her long, silky black hair dusty. The cool metal of the knife pressed against her bleeding cheek, embedded right into the wall barely centimetres from her head. She regretted ever lowering her shield to look at what was going on.

Percy hadn't even been looking at her when he threw the knife.

Rachel reached out to grab the knife, thankful for a nice weapon, but Sydney slapped her hand away, grabbing the knife and tugging it into her parka. "Don't touch the knife or... that will happen." Her eyes wandered over to the cut on Thalia's cheek.

As if on cue, Thalia screamed in pain, clutching the left side of her face as she dropped to her knees in mind-numbing pain. And before their very eyes, the skin on the left side of her face started crumbling like weak, old pottery, leaving disgusting, brown, rotten blood and flesh in its wake.

The daughter of Zeus could not take the mind-numbing pain originating from her head, so close to her brain, anymore, as she blacked out, slumping to the ground, unmoving.

The Little Big Three were frightened beyond their wildest nightmares, and were hugging Rachel tightly, seeking comfort as they saw their big sister knocked out by their crazy, and, dare I say it, evil, big brother. Tears streamed down their face, dampening the Oracle's lush red hair. Ignoring the tears streaming down her own face, Rachel hugged them tightly, overprotective of the three demigods, six years younger than her.

"Will Big brother be fine?" Rose asked, eyeing the injuries marring his body, the same time Violet, asked in abject terror, "What is going on?"

"Will Big sister be okay?" Neo hiccuped, her bloodshot eyes focused on the prone form of the fallen demigoddess. Her view of her sister was soon cut off.

Aegis clanged to the ground, immediately taken up by Ruby, who again backed the weaker ones against the corner of the room. She eyed the rampaging god and the pile of sand that sat in the middle of the once peaceful dining room. Her eyes wandered over to the two unconscious goddesses- Hestia and Aphrodite, who still lay unmoving on the other side of the room.

She cursed.

"On it!" Sydney shouted, immediately springing into action as she inched her way to the two. Her wary movements were not needed apparently, as the growling Dark god knew only one target in his tunnel vision.

The cracked screen of the television was pouring out more sand, all its wirings having decayed to fine dust.

Cathy raised his knives, feeling like a WWI soldier charging through no man's land as the relentless machine gun that was the rampaging god, cut down their ranks one by one.

Percy paid her no mind.

He lunged at Athena like a rapid dog, ichor dripping from his frothing maws, making the goddess back away in sheer terror for her life. Once she realised that she was free from his control, the wisdom goddess did the wise thing- she turned heel and fled, limping from her injuries, panting and gasping for breath as she tried to outrun an almost omnipotent monster in a last-ditch attempt.

Cathy was left to crash into the counter, groaning in pain as she felt her shoulder crunch sickeningly.

Percy's advance was halted abruptly as several spiked, Stygian Iron chains wrapped around him, binding him as they dug into his skin. The chains stretched taught, catching at his throat as they stopped him in his tracks. Dark power, same as Percy's, but much less in magnitude, malevolent and vile, yet tame and controlled, resisted his.

It was almost like killing a Panzer Battalion with a pistol. A feat worthy of an entire Sabaton album.

Percy strained against them like a chained dog, before he turned to the one holding his chains.

Growling, he lunged again at Styx, who was eyeing him coldly, without any visible emotion on her face. She was beautiful as usual, her large tits straining against the tight, flowing midnight black dress that she wore, hugging all her beautiful curves in all the right places. Her dark hair cascaded down her back in soft, gentle curls. Her grey eyes, so much like her hateful waters, glinted coldly like two pebbles on the banks of her river. Beautiful, full ruby lips sharply contrasted her pale skin tone. Her delicate hand held on to the chains with surprising strength, enough to subdue the mindless animal of a Dark God.

And before Percy's desperate lunge could complete its course, he was halted, again.

This time by the thick, reinforced rubber sole of a silver-studded, shiny, black biker boot to his head.

And again, Percy lost the light around him to the darkness in his mind.

Time: An Hour Later

Percy woke up with a killer headache.

He lay still in the bed, dreading what he was going to see.

The cannons firing were still fresh on his mind. He felt cockroaches and snakes, all manners of vile creatures that lived under the earth, crawling up his paralyzed body. He tried to block out the feeling, knowing it was nothing but his PTSD acting up again.

He tried to concentrate on the real world, which was very difficult to do with his eyes closed. The memories of his most recent nightmares were still too fresh. He saw Annabeth over and over again, each time in a more horrible state than before, helpless to do anything as she was brutally killed. His feet sank into the wet earth, muddy with her blood.

He wanted to curl up in a ball.

He was not a soldier, no leader, no god. He was still the abused, bullied, socially awkward, stunted child with dyslexia and ADHD. His skin pale, his body thin and bony.

He was still a scared child, desperately craving for love, warmth and affection. He vaguely remembered the feeling, but it had faded somewhere along the way.

All that was left now was the lingering warmth after the person had left his side.

Annabeth was gone.

There were whispers in his ears again, whispers telling him to die, Athena's violent verbal jabs mixing in with Annabeth's accusations. He could feel his heart racing violently, thumping against his ribcage. Despite his eyes being closed, he could almost feel the shadows closing up to him, stalking him like a relentless predator. His skin crawled with critters- he was sure he was buried six feet under the earth. The earth suffocated him, claustrophobic and suffocating.

Percy screamed in terror, trying to shake off the insects crawling up his flesh, digging into his skin. His eyes snapped open.

It was almost like seeing two layers of reality. He could see he was in a white room, wearing a white gown, but that world was grey and hazy, filled with static, grey hazes. Grey faces swam in his vision, hands violently clutching at him.

Percy beat them away violently, more concentrated on the more immediate threat. The white gown changed to a pale shroud riddled with holes, its edges eaten away by time, with dry bloodstains darkening the dirty cloth.

Bloody letters read- Here lies Percy Jackson-

He could not read any more as he felt his eyes burn and hurt. There were crawling insects in his eyes.

He screamed in pain, trying to claw his eyes out.

There was a sharp pain in his right arm, and almost like a ship at a harbour, he was anchored to the real world, separate from the horrible, dark, senseless, nightmarish world of his fractured mind.

He took a sharp breath, trying to calm his racing mind as he raised his shaking fists, prepared to fight anything in front of him.

Piper stood in front of him, her face terrified, an empty syringe clutched in her hand like a weapon.

Seeing the daughter of Aphrodite, Percy collapsed, his shaking legs finally giving way. Luckily, he fell on the bed he had just sprung from.

There was a beep, and Percy felt the air conditioning turned on as he felt the cool gust of air directed at him. Thankful, he swept the sweat beading his forehead away, as he felt the delicious, slight sting of the chill on his skin.

His eyes surveyed the room.

Piper stood by his bed, beside several girls whose identities Percy had to struggle to remember, his clogged brain not functioning properly. His limbs occasionally twitched, and he tried to ignore the lingering, crawling feeling of several thousands of small legs on his skin.

He identified Hestia tending to someone else, who was also sitting up on their bed, protesting against the goddess' ministrations. Styx, Nyx, Nemesis, and Eris stood together by his bed, eyeing him with the slightest hint of worry escaping their cool, indifferent facades. Nemesis was polishing the remnants of some golden ichor off her shining, silver-studded black biker boots, with mortal shoe polish.

Calypso and Atalanta bustled about, those with minor injuries sitting in chairs, all the beds in the room being occupied.

Athena and Thalia were still out cold. The wisdom goddess had a bandage wrapped around her head, with a wet cloth on her forehead. Angela sat by her side, tending to her injured mother, accompanied by Sydney. Even Percy could tell that the daughter of Thanatos was there only out of her friendship with the daughter of Athena, rather than love for the goddess.

Thalia's sides were occupied by Cathy, Cynthia and Ruby. Percy's heart leapt to his throat when he saw that her entire face was covered with bandages, revealing only her pale lips, her right cheek and right eye. Her black hair was done in a braid that wouldn't get in the healers' way, thrown over the edge of her bed. Her chest slowly rose and fell.

Reyna was on a bed just beside Athena, awake, but lying down. Percy could feel her piercing onyx eyes staring at him. The Praetor's hair was done in her signature braid and thrown over her shoulder. Her wrists were wrapped with bandages, and one of her legs was in a plaster.

Artemis was sitting up in her bed, propped up on pillows in her bed. Her shirt was gone, and she only wore a strapless bra to protect her modesty, revealing all of her pale, creamy skin and toned stomach. Her lower half was covered with a thin sheet. Her left shoulder and arm were completely wrapped in bandages, in a cast. Her lush auburn hair was thrown over her other shoulder. Her silver eyes Percy with slight apprehension- and Percy's heart cracked- slight fear.

Aphrodite was by Ruby's side, patching up a few cuts on her face, carefully tending to her daughter as any loving mother would.

Rachel stood by the door, looking nervously at Percy and then at Calypso, who had become the unofficial head healer.

He assumed Neo, Rose and Violet had not been allowed access to the medical wars in fear of what they would feel. He almost snorted at the thought. They were too pampered, almost treated like ten-year-olds, whereas in reality, they were fifteen, almost sixteen, still by far the youngest of all of the girls. He then berated himself for being a hypocrite. He pampered them the most of all.

Drew had probably not wanted to take part in any of this, and had gone off to do whatever she wanted to do.

"What happened?" Percy rubbed his face with a tired hand, before resting his hand on the bed. Yelping in surprise, he jumped up when the place he had touched turned to dust immediately.

He looked at the others, bewildered and scared. The four Dark goddesses were giggling at him.

"That, Percy-" Eris started, for Nemesis to finish her sentence, "-is your godly power."

As usual, Nyx was the one to explain further, while, as usual, Styx just stared at him in undisguised disdain, though her dark grey eyes glinted as they subtly roamed his almost naked form. "Since you are a god, Percy, you have some special powers that are like a raw manifestation of your domains. They are your last line of defence, and first, too, until you manage to unlock your other powers. For example, Artemis can shoot bolts of moonlight, while Hestia can control fire. Zeus can shoot lightning bolts, while Poseidon can control water."

She pondered for a moment. "Your power is to turn anything into dust upon touching, though it seems to take longer exposure for living things to turn into dust."

Eris interrupted, "You can most probably control it after training- like increasing or decreasing its potential as you wish."

Percy stared at them, disbelieving. He parted his lips to speak, when, obviously, Nemesis beat him to it, speaking in a poor imitation of his high pitched, frightened voice. "How can I stop it?!"

Seeing Percy just blankly state at her, Styx interrupted, finally deciding to be helpful, not to torture the poor Dark god anymore. "You must feel... something. Just shut that off."

And of course, the goddess of Hatred- minor goddess of Hatred, Percy reminded himself, he was the god of Hatred- had to be vague.

Wracking his body and mind for sensations that shouldn't be there, Percy finally came up with a stinging feeling in his otherwise uninjured palms- the source of his 'power'. It was difficult, seeing that half of his body ached and stung, covered in bandages, and his head was pounding, but he managed to 'cut it off', by concentrating on the sting, willing- somehow convincing- his heart that he wasn't feeling it anymore.

After an entire two minutes of convoluted mental gymnastics, he felt his stomach finally relax, which made him jump straight up in surprise at the sudden feeling. He had never realized the almost unnoticeable tug in his gut, like a watered-down version of when he used his demigod powers. He assumed that slightly uncomfortable feeling would go away, too, with sufficient training.

The way Styx hid her giggles elegantly behind her palm, made him realise that she probably knew about everything, and had intentionally been vague.

"So, why are you here? What happened?"

"We felt your turbulent emotions and violence through the link we share. You almost faded." Nyx's voice wavered.

"Is that a sign of love I hear?" Eris teased, making everybody else in the room bristle jealously as Nyx blushed a bright silver.

"N-no." Her stutter told otherwise.

But Percy had no time for the drama. He almost slammed his fist down on something, but unsure if he had really deactivated his power, he refrained from doing so. "What happened exactly? Why are they all hurt?" His voice was a low growl.

Nyx gave Calypso a pointed stare, making the healer squirm. "Wh-what?"

"Tell them all that you know about your master." It was an order from a Primordial to a minor Titaness.

Calypso squirmed some more, before she sighed, throwing Percy an apologetic look as she sat down heavily on a nearby chair, not caring for her usual grace and etiquette. "What did you dream about, Percy?"

Percy looked at her questioningly, intentionally keeping silent.

Calypso answered for him. "You recently dreamed of being buried alive, and being eaten alive by insects." Percy stiffened, as several gasps rang about in the room. "A common dream to have when you are suffering from PTSD."

She continued, pondering over things. "In my six millennia of life, I've never seen any immortal, demigod, or even a legacy suffer from mental diseases like PTSD. I don't think Nyx has seen either." The Primordial, by far the oldest in the room, shook her head in the negative. Calypso continued, "They simply don't have nightmares. Ichor makes it impossible. Prophetic dreams are different. But of course, Percy has proven not to be normal before, time and time again."

"You dreamed about fighting an army of monsters. A last stand after Annabeth died. Thousands of monsters against you." Calypso told in an even voice, as if knowing others' dreams was normal. "And your fight against the army transferred to the real world, where you thought of us as monsters to be exterminated, after Athena's words provoked the nightmare. Why you constantly targeted her, though, is a mystery."

"I did all this?" Percy asked, horrified, disbelieving that a simple nightmare could cause all the injuries that he saw.

"Yes, you and your Dark godly powers. Don't worry, it's not like you are going evil or anything. At least, not yet." Several people in the room let out relieved sighs at her explanation, though Percy himself was least reassured.

Calypso threw him a pitying look, regretting the fact that she had to announce the next words- the complete, cold and harsh truth- to the entire room full of girls that loved the poor, poor, scared child in the impeccable guise of a soldier.

"In my studies on Percy's body and mind, I found signs of severe abuse and neglect as a child, stunted growth, several unhealed internal wounds or incorrectly healed wounds, several improperly set bones. There were several suicide attempts, abnormal brain swellings, crippling depression, apart from the regular demigod dyslexia and ADHD. He has been having regular nightmares since age four, bar two years in the middle he was at peace with Annabeth. The nightmares came back full force after their trip to Tartarus, accompanied by severe inflammation in the digestive tract from repeated ingestion of Phlegethon water, and several respiratory and cardiac ailments from the toxic air of the Pit. He also has a completely insane mind, held together by weak threads. How is he even alive and acting normal, is a medical wonder. Normally, immortality should have cured all these, but..." She trailed off.

There was silence in the room.

Silence that heralded the approaching storm.

AN: Okay, here are a few jokes to cheer up the mood.

Me at home during COVID-19 quarantine: *setting up all kinds of skulls, drawing pentagrams, and upside-down crosses, playing all sorts of unholy metal songs, generally making the house look like a goth wet dream*

Mom: WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!

Me: Umm... you told me to Satanize the house.

Mom: SANITIZE! I TOLD YOU TO SANITIZE THE HOUSE!

Random Karen: Metalheads are all violent and hateful, and promote Satanism and Devil worship.

Meanwhile, the metalheads peacefully protesting against animal cruelty somewhere in the world, cuddling with their pets, headbanging to In the Name of God by Powerwolf, and The Last Stand by Sabaton: *Laughter* You dumb bitch.

LMAO! Keep calm and CR7!! Keep calm and LM10!! (Messi)