Chapter 3 - Stubborn
The sun had risen on the nineteenth of August when Percy was finally dug out of the rubble. As soon as a large enough gap had appeared in the rubble, Kronos had slipped out from under the metal support and forced his way past Percy, causing startled shouts to erupt from above.
The relief on Annabeth's face when Percy clambered out after him made him smile even as the air-pocket collapsed now that Kronos wasn't holding it up any longer.
Thalia whistled. "You survived six hours with him? I'm impressed."
Percy cracked a smile. "Well, he was pinned. If he moved the entire thing would collapse on his head. Guess he wasn't willing to bury me if it meant burying himself." The Titan was long gone by then, no doubt making his way back to his army.
"Percy."
The demigod spun around, eyes widening. "Dad!" He grinned. "You came?"
Poseidon sighed, looking rather pained. "Yes. And Atlantis has been decimated by Oceanus' forces. No doubt he'll be moving to join Kronos here now that he's finished with me."
"Typhoon?" Percy questioned.
"Gone," Zeus rumbled. His frown deepened. "You didn't kill Kronos."
"Well, he was sort of holding the air space open. If I'd killed him, I would've been crushed. Besides… I couldn't."
"Why?" The king of the gods demanded.
Percy took in a deep breath. Kronos' scent still lingered slightly. "Smell that?"
The godly alpha scowled. "Yes," he said, "there are omegas here. So what?"
The demigod puffed out his chest, grinning from ear-to-ear. "That's not any omega's scent. It's Kronos'."
"Kronos is an alpha," Zeus said, sounding particularly unimpressed with the young demigod standing before him.
"Nu-huh," Percy disagreed. "I've just spent… how long did you say it was, Thals?"
"Six hours," Thalia supplied, looking oddly pale in the sunlight.
"Six hours with him," Percy said. "He was pinned. Properly pinned down there. I am one-thousand-percent certain that Kronos is an omega. In a confined space like that there's not much room for mistakes about this."
Zeus looked faintly disturbed by this news, until he shook his head. "It doesn't matter," he flatly said. "You still should have killed him."
"Nah," Percy said, "I got a better idea." He grinned, actually turning his back to Zeus so he could face his father. "I going to get him to mate with me."
Poseidon looked faintly green. "Ah – Percy – is that… wise?"
"Absolutely not," Zeus snapped, obviously irritated with the demigod for showing him such disrespect, but Percy honestly couldn't care less in that moment. Maybe he'd apologise later.
"What? Why?" Percy growled lowly. Who was Zeus to tell him no? "Think about it!"
"Percy, no," Poseidon said.
"It's not a bad suggestion," Athena mused.
"Exactly!" Percy exclaimed, noting that from her place off to the side, Annabeth looked rather concerned for him.
"Percy, did you hit your head?"
"What? No! No, seriously," Percy insisted. "I think it's a good idea."
"It's terrible," Poseidon protested. "Not my son."
"But-"
"Percy, mate-bonds aren't something to be entered into lightly," Poseidon warned. "Take your time to think this through."
"I did," Percy grumbled, "I thought it through for six hours." Six astoundingly bearable hours where he'd actually been able to sit still for the first time in his life, all because of Kronos' scent. "Really," he insisted. "I want to do this. Just let me try – please."
No-one looked too pleased by Percy's idea.
"If Kronos was an alpha," Athena said, "we couldn't bind him to Olympus. But as an omega, if he mates with one of us…"
"See?" Percy asked gleefully. "Let me try."
Zeus exhaled deeply. "Three days," he relented.
"Seven?"
"You have four days. If nothing happens by then, we're killing him."
Percy nodded slightly, realising that was the best answer he'd get.
"You're insane," Thalia hissed at Percy as he all but skipped back to the group of demigods.
"Really?" Percy grinned. "I thought it was a brilliant idea."
"You really want to mate with Kronos?" Annabeth demanded on his other side. The beta looked incredibly disappointed for some reason, not that Percy wanted to spend time thinking about that. He had an omega to convince.
"Yeah – why shouldn't I? You can tell it from his scent alone. He is one strong omega. And the six hours with him were actually bearable… though I'm probably only alive because he couldn't move without burying himself. But yeah. We talked."
"You talked."
"Yes. What? Annabeth – why're you looking at me like that? What did I do?" Percy yelled after the demigoddess as she shook her head and walked off with a muttered Seaweed Brain.
"Well done, Sherlock," Thalia said. "So what's your plan, genius?"
Percy blinked. "Huh?"
"I'm not saying that I like the idea of you mating with him – because quite frankly it absolutely disgusts me and I sort of want to vomit at the thought – but you've evidently got it into your Kelp for a Brain that this is a good idea. So – your plan? If you want to convince Kronos, it better be a bloody good one."
Percy shrugged. "I don't know. I figured I'll just improvise and see how it goes. Guess we'll find out at sunset, right? He'll be back again then for like his hundredth try at storming Olympus."
Thalia stared at him.
"What?"
"I'm trying to decide the type of seaweed I should bring to your closed-coffin funeral."
"Oh, shut up," Percy grumbled. "This'll work – you'll see."
Thalia grimaced. "I really hope I don't see it. Catching you two in that act is not something I was ever expecting to happen."
"I hate you. Why're you so mean to me?"
"Shut up, Kelp Head. Start using that empty brain of yours."
Percy was correct, of course. At sunset, Kronos once again marched his army towards the Empire State building. Unfortunately for him, the gods had now joined the defence. Traps were laid up and down the streets and the demigods were prepared and rejuvenated for the night.
It was only half an hour into the night when Kronos was first spotted.
Percy caught up to him at the corner of Third Avenue and Thirty-Fourth Street, finding him strolling down the middle of the road, scythe in hand. A flash of irritation crossed his face as he saw the demigod standing in his path.
"You have a death wish."
Percy smiled crookedly, lifting Riptide. "Come on, Kitten."
Apparently this kitten had very sharp claws.
After five seconds of backing up, Percy found himself grabbed and flung away into one of the many cars lining the street. He grunted, but merely rolled back to his feet and came back at the Titan. Percy wasn't backing down.
It seemed that preoccupying the Titan was easier than it seemed. While the gods were supporting the demigods – they couldn't interfere directly, but encouragement wasn't out of the question, - Percy was keeping Kronos from advancing to allow them to decimate his army even further.
Percy panted as he ducked away from yet another swipe of the scythe. This was getting ridiculous – he couldn't get close enough to land a hit, and the Titan kept throwing him aside with ease. The Achilles Curse was making Percy tire faster than usual, despite it no doubt saving his life a thousand times already that night.
He couldn't keep up with Kronos so long as he used his scythe.
"Why fight with a scythe?" Percy asked. "Luke would fight with a sword, but I suppose that requires more skill than you have."
Percy figured Kronos' pride wouldn't let him take that one lying down. Both as an immortal Titan and an omega, and sure enough, the scythe had transformed into a sword when Percy next blocked it.
He was mildly surprised to find that Kronos was actually slightly worse with a sword than a scythe, but also very relieved. Percy was able to bat a lunge aside and return with a swift strike to Kronos' lower arm. Kronos growled and hacked at Percy's side, using the strike as an opportunity to get in close. For a brief moment, the only thing that Percy could smell was angry omega and then Kronos' fist caught the side of his temple.
White flashed across his vision and he felt the impact of him slamming into another car, causing the door to cave inwards. Percy struggled back to his feet, shaking his head slightly to try to clear the ringing, and then fixed his eyes on the Titan again.
As soon as he was within stabbing distance, Kronos lunged, only for his sword to rebound straight off Percy's chest. He let out a frustrated growl, backing up a few paces to observe Percy before baring his teeth. "You're tiring," Kronos mocked. "You may still be invulnerable, but soon you won't be able to keep up – no matter which form Backbiter takes."
Percy growled and stepped forward, making a move to slash at his stupid face, but Kronos grinned and danced to the side. Percy only realised what Kronos was doing then, even as he slipped behind the demigod with a sudden burst of speed – stupid Lord of Time – and Percy felt about a dozen rapid blows land in different places on his back, all in the fraction of a second.
"Shit," Percy gasped, twisting away from Kronos and deflecting the next strike from him – heading straight for his face – away towards the ground. He went to retaliate, but didn't get very far – Kronos blasted him away down the street. Percy groaned, forcing himself to his feet and blinking in confusion at the sight before him.
Kronos was gone. Instead, a black panther leapt at him. Percy grunted, the weight of the big cat slamming into him and he went down in one sharp motion. Golden eyes gleamed gleefully down at him even as claws the size of kitchen knives scrapped harmlessly down the side of his face.
Percy snatched up Riptide and plunged the bronze blade into the panther's side. Kronos screamed, jerking away and wrenching the blade from his body as he did so. Percy rolled to his feet, gasping shit shit shitshit because even if it didn't hurt him, it had given him a terrible surprise and Kronos was heavy. Percy grabbed his trusty sword before returning his gaze to Kronos.
He was prepared for another attack, but it didn't look like he needed to worry. Ichor rolled steadily down Kronos' side, pooling in his tracks. The omega backed up as Percy took a small step forwards, ears pinned right back and body low to the ground.
Percy blinked as the street became a fraction brighter.
Had he really…?
He had. The sun was actually rising. Percy snorted in disbelief. He'd kept Kronos preoccupied for the entire night. Kronos twisted to look behind himself towards the rising sun, and then growled lowly. Percy grinned. "See you tonight?" He asked.
Kronos snarled at him before the panther shifted shape back into a Titan. Backbiter shimmered and faded away, melting into the tarmac and the Titan turned and trudged back down the street.
"That a yes?"
"Stay away from me," Kronos snapped over his shoulder, stopping where he was to turn around to face Percy. "Don't you think if I wanted an alpha in the first place I could get one with ease?" His jaw tensed. "I've had enough of self-confident bastards whom think they have the right to me just because they're an alpha."
Percy shrugged. "I'll convince you," he promised. He took a step forward, expecting the Titan to step back, but Kronos lifted his head and stared Percy down.
"Go to Tartarus."
"I'm not giving up," Percy swore. Kronos didn't answer, turning back down the street, one hand clamped to his side and slightly stooped over.
Faintly, the demigod thought that it was far too easy to wound the Titan. Something was throwing him off.
What do you think is wrong with Kronos?
ShadowsClaw: I do too:). Yeah, I mean... Kronos is always so strong and so powerful in the stories. While it's realistic, it also gets a bit boring.