Welcome to the rewrite of Confused by Time! For those who have read the original, you know what you're in for. For new readers, welcome, I hope you stick with it through the chaos that's going to happen.
The companion to this is 'Confused by Time : The Tartarus Years', which will detail Percy's time in Tartarus.
The final character tag will be added at the appropriate time to avoid spoilers.
Chapter 1
Annabeth narrowed her eyes down at the design before her, spinning a pencil between her fingers as she considered the changes to Apollo's Temple on Olympus that the god had requested. Another statue in the main atrium of the building, as if the god didn't already have enough dotted through his Temple. Still, Annabeth always tried to consider the mercurial opinions of the gods on their Temples on Olympus and if Apollo wanted another naked statue of himself in the main atrium then he would get one.
When Annabeth had accepted the offer to rebuild Olympus after the war against the Titans three-hundred years ago, she hadn't initially anticipated it taking all this time. At first she'd taken to the challenge with a focus that ignored everything else, entrenched in her designs and hunched over Daedalus' laptop for hours at a time until Percy would drag her away from her work with his crooked, troublemaker grin, telling her that she needed to take a break.
Annabeth wished now that she'd spent more time with him. It hadn't been long before December had rolled around and then Hera had stolen Percy and the war against Gaea kicked off – which had taken Percy away from her again, this time without any reunion when he'd been forced to stay behind in Tartarus.
The only information Annabeth received now was the updates from Nico whenever the son of Hades would drop by Camp Half-Blood between the tasks his father set him. And all Nico ever knew was 'He's still alive', which at least relieved Annabeth, but also always left her worried.
Annabeth sighed as she looked at the laptop before her, a new model from Hephaestus that was heavily modified and adapted to allow her to do her designing for Olympus with a 3-D and fully interactive model projected above the laptop itself. It was a marvel of technology, but Annabeth turned the base statue of Apollo in a circle without really seeing it properly, unable to bring herself to start.
A loud crash and screams from outside through the open window gave Annabeth an excuse to close the laptop with a faint frown, the projected image shutting itself down. Annabeth rose and descended down from the third floor of the Athena cabin, which was her workshop for her Olympus designs.
The cabin door opened sharply, a dozen of her young siblings stamping through. Annabeth raised an eyebrow, noting their soaked clothes and the water dripping puddles onto the floor. "Canoeing didn't go well?" She guessed.
One of them turned angry grey eyes towards Annabeth. "Poseidon's kids think they're so funny," she said, anger darkening her tone as she tried to wring lake water out of her hair. "Pulling us down into the lake," she muttered angrily as Annabeth started down the lower stairs onto the ground floor.
One of the younger boys shouted in surprise as he pulled a small fish out of his shorts pockets. Eyes wide, he rushed the little fish out of the door. Two of their siblings hurried after them, hopefully to make sure nothing happened between the young Athena camper and the Poseidon kids who'd no doubt be lingering around the lake still.
Annabeth sighed. She pressed her lips together, nodding slightly. "Make sure you're all dried off before dinner," she said tiredly. "I'll speak to them." And Chiron. But with so many campers around now, it was difficult for Chiron to wrangle them all. Annabeth had no doubt that without her and the other immortal campers that Chiron would have had many more problems with the teens he had to keep under control. Barely a day seemed to pass without one of the cabins antagonising another, it was clearly just now the time for Poseidon's children to bully Athena's.
Following from the defeat of Gaea, the gods of Olympus had granted a form of half-immortality upon each of the Seven and other significant figures at both Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter, for as long as they helped to raise the next generations of half-bloods after the two last wars had heavily reduced both the Greek and Roman demigod populations. At least, that was the official reasoning from Zeus. Annabeth suspected he only wanted to avoid a repeat of the Luke Castellan incident and that Olympus was using the immortal campers to encourage loyalty to the gods in the new generations of demigods. Now three-hundred years of relative peace had lasted and the two demigod camps had seen a rapid population increase, including with children of the Big Three.
Where Hades cabin had Nico and the Zeus cabin had both Thalia and Jason, Poseidon's cabin had no such role model.
Annabeth pressed her fingers to her forehead, massaging at her temple as she closed the door to Athena's cabin behind her. The cabins of the other gods were sprawled about her, each of them looking only a single story tall. It was magic from Hekate that allowed for the deceptive appearance of the cabins from the outside. Annabeth threaded her way through them, noting the single cabin solely designated for the use of the unclaimed demigods before they were claimed at the age of twelve by their godly parent. It was plain and unadorned compared to the cabins allocated for the gods and goddesses, but had become a necessity.
The immortal daughter of Athena paused briefly at seeing one of the sons of Poseidon, Darren Clearwater, heading in her general direction. As far as the children of Poseidon went, Darren starkly reminded her of a younger Percy more than his other siblings. While his eyes were slightly greener than Percy's and his hair not so wild, he held more of Percy's personality than many of his other siblings that had passed through camp in the last three-hundred years.
Darren hesitated when he spotted Annabeth, before he trotted over to her, looking slightly worried and rather sheepish. "Miss Annabeth!" He exclaimed. "Hey!"
Annabeth raised an eyebrow at his concern as he chewed at his lip. "What happened?" She asked.
"I'm sorry! It wasn't me," the twelve year old son of Poseidon said swiftly. "I swear! Are they ok? The others thought it would be funny."
"They were wrong," Annabeth said flatly and disapprovingly.
"I know," Darren muttered. Annabeth didn't miss the glimmer of mischief in his eyes though, having leant to pick up on it near the very beginning of her becoming one of camp's immortal campers. It had been an important skill to develop early on.
Annabeth sighed. "I think it's best you get going," she said. "Shouldn't Poseidon cabin have weapons training now before dinner?"
"Yes," Darren said, his eyes flicking behind Annabeth to where Athena's cabin was half hidden behind a few rows of cabins.
"It's best not to be late for Clarisse," Annabeth firmly pointed out to him. While Annabeth tended to teach more of the short-range weapons such as daggers and knives, Clarisse handled the swords and spears, for which Poseidon's children were well-known.
Darren paled, smart considering Poseidon's kids had clearly decided not to go to weapons training in favour of dunking Athena cabin in the canoe lake. He hurriedly nodded and with a final glance towards the Athena cabin, he ran off in the direction of the training arena. Annabeth watched him go, making sure he really did leave. She had no doubt that if he'd gone to the Athena cabin as he'd clearly been intending, all the plumbing of the cabin would mysteriously burst and flood everything. There was no need in Annabeth scolding Darren too much, since Clarisse would drive the cabin harshly for being so late anyway.
The three children of Poseidon currently at camp were a nightmare to deal with, more so than even Zeus' or Hades' kids. But Poseidon's children always were since Percy, perhaps it was overwhelming pride that the last Great Hero of their world had been Percy, a son of Poseidon himself.
Annabeth crossed the open area in front of the Big House, her frustration reaching its peak as she stormed across the porch and opened the door. "Chiron!" She called as she stepped into the building. While the cabins had been expanded further in the past three-hundred years, the Big House had remained largely the same. Annabeth paused briefly and glanced to the vine which reached towards her from the wooden interior wall, strangely animated for a plant. Annabeth narrowed her eyes at it, making sure to keep out of reach. She'd been present when Leo Valdez had poked the plants when they first appeared upon Dionysus' tenure of Camp Director finishing and had seen them entangle him – Leo had burnt them all back for it, severely upsetting Dionysus.
"What Hades is suggesting with this is dangerous-" a familiar voice said, one that made Annabeth raise an eyebrow.
"In here, Annabeth," the centaur called back.
"- the very nature of where the quest would have to go means it's doomed for failure. I assumed the point of making them all immortals was to keep them alive to train the next generation of demigods, not having them go on a quest which will see them all killed."
Annabeth curiously followed Chiron's and the other voice through the Big House to one of the larger rooms, raising an eyebrow at the figures sat across from him. Nico had been granted immortality on his twenty-first birthday, hitting another growth spurt in the years before and filling out somewhat, now a far cry from the gangly kid he'd been when Annabeth first met him during the Titan War. Dionysus too looked vastly different to how he'd been when he had directed Camp Half-Blood, now that he'd long since been reunited with his wine. The god looked the way he wished and in that moment he had gone for the mid-teenage years look, looking particularly odd as he was nursing a glass of wine in his hand as he eyed an array of cards in his hand, more placed down on the table before each of the three players.
"Mr. D," Annabeth said as she eyed him, recalling the conversation she'd overhead. "I didn't know you were here, it's good to see you again."
"Anniebell," Dionysus greeted in response, causing Annabeth to smile slightly. Three centuries and the god still refused to say her name properly.
"Nico," Annabeth greeted with a warm smile.
The son of Hades smiled back at her. "Hey," he greeted. "It's good to see you."
"It's been a while," Annabeth agreed. She eyed the cards on the table, lips twitching slightly. "Mythomagic?"
Nico glanced at her with a smile before he returned his attention to the cards on the table. "Yeah," he said. There was a Poseidon on the table before Dionysus, the god clearly rather smug about it, alongside a Hyperion and Iapetus. Various other immortals, mortal and monsters were arrayed before Nico and Chiron. The Iapetus card pulled at Annabeth's chest and nearly took her breath away when she noticed it. More so because the name tag on his janitor's uniform on the moving hologram read 'Bob'.
Annabeth glanced to Dionysus. "What are you doing here, Mr. D? I thought you didn't like coming here anymore."
"What does it look like?" Dionysus asked before he took a sip of his wine. "Playing mythomagic, obviously."
Annabeth rolled her eyes at him, the god smirking over his goblet. Annabeth turned to Chiron. "Poseidon cabin overturned my cabin's canoes again," she said to him.
The centaur winced. "Oh dear," he muttered. "Did you speak to them or do I need to do so myself?"
"They were skipping weapons training to do so," Annabeth said. "So I'm sure Clarisse is giving them all a horrible time for it as we speak." Annabeth paused briefly. "But tomorrow during Capture the Flag I'm still going to have my cabin crush Poseidon's into the ground."
Chiron grimaced slightly, before he inclined his head slightly. "As always," he said in faint amusement. "I hear Zeus and Hades cabins have allied with Athena cabin for tomorrow?"
"Yes," Annabeth said with a rather smug smile. Poseidon cabin did themselves no favours for Capture the Flag with their behaviour.
"Then I am more than certain that Poseidon cabin will, for all of a week, refrain from overturning canoes when they lose Capture the Flag."
Annabeth sighed. She wished there was a more permanent solution to stopping them, but losing desert privileges simply wasn't a strong enough deterrent. "What was I was hearing coming in then?" Annabeth asked, changing the topic away from the misadventures of the Poseidon cabin as she recalled the conversation she'd briefly overhead.
She watched as Chiron placed down a monster card for the Nemean Lion before answering. "Nico has come with news from Lord Hades; Mr. D was sent by Lord Zeus to listen. Apparently, Lord Hades believes that there is soon to be an opportunity," Chiron slowly said. "I do not want to give you false hope, Annabeth," he said.
"What's the news?" Annabeth asked, eyes flicking from Chiron to Nico and Dionysus.
Nico's small smile grew, and he placed down a card. "There might be an opportunity for a group to head into the Pit," Nico said. "We don't know why, but things are… silent. It looks like the only chance we're going to get – at least it's been the only one we've had in three centuries. I'm thinking we should take it while we have the chance."
Annabeth stared at the card that Nico had placed down. There had been changes to mythomagic in the few centuries that had passed, mostly updates from Nico and Dionysus wanting to expand the deck. Nico had been the one with the idea to turn it into part of the initiation for new campers, turning the collectable card game into a game between campers. But still, one of the rarest cards was Percy Jackson. A holographic image of Percy was projected onto its surface, shimmering in the room's buzzing light above their heads.
"Lord Hades thinks we can get him out?" She whispered, her voice quiet. "Nico – is he still alive?"
Nico looked Annabeth in the eyes. "Yes," he said. "He is. I can feel it."
After hearing nothing from Nico for five decades now about Percy, Annabeth was relieved to hear that. She herself hadn't heard anything from Percy since their messages back and forth had stopped maybe two centuries ago now. Hermes had informed her that his shrine they'd been using to communicate with Percy down in Tartarus had been destroyed.
Annabeth leaned on the table. "Good," she whispered. Annabeth took a deep breath. "What's the plan?"
"Lord Zeus will have the final decision on this quest, Anniebell," Dionysus warned her. "It's not granted yet. Don't get ahead of yourself."
"If this is our chance shouldn't we take it?" Annabeth demanded.
"There's no knowing what the quest would face," Chiron said firmly. "Without Lord Zeus' permission and without preparing thoroughly for this quest, nothing will happen."
"But if this is our chance now – we have no way of knowing how long this window will be open for," Annabeth urged. "We have to do this!" Rachel was living permanently in Camp Half-Blood these days; it would be simple to get a prophecy from the Oracle to validate a quest into the Pit to get Percy out.
"Annabeth," Dionysus said sharply, squinting at her suspiciously and clearly knowing exactly what she was considering. "Lord Zeus has final say."
Annabeth stared at the card of Percy on the table, watching as his black hair shimmered. The hologram on the card smiled crookedly and Annabeth's expression twisted as she saw it. "Chiron-"
"Dionysus is right," Chiron said. "Now, he has heard the news from Hades and he will inform Lord Zeus."
"After we finish this game," Dionysus said firmly as he tapped one of his cards. "Then I will return to Olympus."
Annabeth wasn't surprised that Dionysus was favouring finishing a card game over reporting to Zeus. He never seemed to be in a rush to do anything demigod related, even less so after he'd finished his tenure as Camp Director.
Annabeth scowled, but then she stilled as Dionysus slid a card down onto the table with a smug smile. "And I believe that I win," the wine god said with a smug smile as the card settled to a stop.
Clear displeasure crossed Chiron's expression as he noted the card and Nico sighed as he gathered up his own, nudging aside Dionysus' card and sweeping the Percy Jackson card from underneath into his hand. "That card's unfair," he muttered.
Kronos.
The card held enough damage by itself to remove all monster and mortal cards from play, but that damage could also be multiplied by the amount of major Titans on the battlefield played by the same individual whom played Kronos. It was in effect the nuke of mythomagic and endlessly frustrated anyone whom happened to play the game with Dionysus whenever the god held it in his deck.
According to Poseidon, that was accurate. Nico had been trying to get the card off Dionysus for decades, but the god refused to accept even a quest in return for it.
"You did want them to be as close to real life as they could be," Dionysus said in amusement. The hologram of Kronos had been reluctantly provided by Poseidon whom clearly had first-hand experience with how Kronos appeared. It made Annabeth's blood run cold every time she saw it, recalling those same golden eyes staring at her from Luke's face.
Chiron gathered up his own cards, taking up Kronos and wordlessly handing it to Dionysus. The centaur seemed to be glad to get the card out of his hand when Dionysus took it off him, chuckling to himself over his win and blatantly ignoring everyone else's unease.
Annabeth's eyes narrowed as the hologram on the card of Kronos smiled before Dionysus flashed away, a vicious smile that was all teeth and venom.
I'm not sure how regular updates will be, it depends on how much Time I have on my hands. Hopefully Kronos will be kind to me and give me a little more.
This fic will get quite dark, along with the companion story. Just a warning now. There will also be a highly toxic relationship which no one should aim to base their own relationship on - I feel like that needs to be stated early.
I hope you enjoy the story!
