Blanket reply to reviews as today has been difficult- my brother is unwell and that is never fun. Anyway, yeah Atlas got pissed off and was an idiot, Percy is good at provoking people what can I say. The Alina confrontation... may not go as people expect and uh... I would say sorry but I am really not.
Heheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheh. Heheheh.

Percy could swear that she felt a tremor in the ground from the force with which the sky fell onto Atlas' shoulders before he could escape.

She heard his bellow of rage but Percy was already moving, grabbing Apollo and dragging him with her, staggering to her feet, ignoring the ache in her muscles from the brief fight with Atlas.

"Get to the others! Help fight off the monsters and untie the others." Percy shoved Apollo hard towards the others. Grover was working on untying Artemis, and Ananbeth was already untied and untying Piper and Sadie- who was still slumped, unconscious. Luke had given up on untying anyone else, he was too busy fighting off monsters who were coming up the mountain, and that was just the start of an army on their way up she was sure, just the front line. Fuck.

"Luke!"

"Percy-" Luke turned his head, "What do you need?"

"You." Percy rushed towards him and the others, "We need to stop the ritual."

"How-"

"Well-" Percy shoved her hand into the duat, tugging the scythe out in a smooth motion. "How about we sever the connection."

"Percy-" Luke's gaze was almost afraid, "I don't-"

"If you don't stand up to him now I don't think you ever will. You need to do this." She held out the scythe- and after a long moment Luke reached out, curling around the staff of the scythe above Percy's grip.

She was sure he could feel the power humming through the weapon, it was practically buzzing, close to it's master.

But Alina didn't realise the significance and Kronos was undoubtedly distracted by the fact that he was about to get a body again- and Percy could see Alina raising a blade.

She was going to kill Carter.

Fuck she was going to kill Carter.

She was going to kill Percy's big brother.

Percy knew she wouldn't make it before the dagger clasped in Alina's hands was plunged into Carter's heart, she wouldn't make it to Alina. But she and Luke could make it to the glowing stream of golden godly power. To the sarcophagus which held Kronos.

So they ran, Percy guiding Luke even as Atlas bellowed in the distance.

And Percy could feel the power of the spell, fighting back against them, Kronos' power trying to slow them, a golden glow was being emitted from the sarcophagus as they got closer to it.

"We have to push through!" She managed to scream the words, and she felt Luke's grip, right above hers, tighten on the scythe, could hear him letting out a guttural yell, and Percy forced herself to move faster.

And then it happened, they were there.

And together they brought the scythe down severing the stream of power from the Sarcophagus and slashing into the golden lid, breaking the connection.

There was a stunned moment of silence as Percy and Luke both staggered forward from the momentum as the golden ribbon disintegrated and they both practically toppled over the sarcophagus, landing in a heap on the other side of it, Percy's too tight grip on the Scythe never faltering. She felt like she'd never be able to uncurl her fingers.

"Did we do it?" Luke's voice was shaking as Percy turned her head to look at him. "Did we stop her from bringing him back?"

"We stopped the spell." Because Alina's chanting had died off, she was staring at them with wide eyes, blade halfway to Carter's chest, a stunned look on her face.

"No- no-"

And then the world turned gold.

It was like a physical force, erupting from the sarcophagus, which shot towards them like a rocket, sending Percy and Luke flying backwards from the force of the blow- and holy fuck but it felt like a metal dodgeball to the gut. She wouldn't be surprised if she'd broken a few ribs- then again it was a metal sarcophagus so same difference Percy supposed.

And it sent them shooting back off the top of the mountain. In any other situation it might have been comical, if they weren't speeding through the air so fast that the world around them was a blur.

Fuck. Fuck she hoped that the others were okay. She could see the way the ruins on the top of the mountain were being torn apart by the shockwave.

She managed to turn her head, gaze meeting terrified blue eyes.

Luke. He was clinging to the Scythe too, his knuckles white from how tight he was gripping it.

Percy managed to bring her arm around, grabbing at his wrist tightly.

She was not letting him go now.

She closed her eyes tightly as Luke managed to swing his arm around to grab at her, as they flew through the air.

"Did we do it?" his voice was almost whipped away the second the words slipped past his lips but Percy could hear him, "Did I stop him from rising did it stop him?"

"We stopped the spell." Percy forced her eyes to open again. She needed to focus if they wanted to survive.

They were falling now, still flying through the air but there was a definite downwards component to their fall now.

She managed to turn her head, to actually look around them.

They must have been thrown with a lot of force Percy realised, because they were already a pretty good distance away from the peak of Mount Tam- far enough that Percy was pretty sure they would land in the sea.

"Thank you." Luke's voice was small. "For- for trying to save me."

"Oh fuck no." Percy focused her gaze on Luke, "You think I'm letting you die here?"

"You think we're getting out of this alive?"

"Just close your eyes Luke." Percy pulled him in closer, letting Luke cling to her like a lifeline.

He might be the older of the two but right now he was the one needing to be taken care of.

She kept a tight grip on the Scythe with one hand, the other wrapping very firmly around Luke.

She shifted, twisting them as much as she could so that she would hit the water first- and then they were under.

In normal circumstances Luke would have went splat, but he was with Percy. And with Percy nowhere was safer than the water.

They were under in an instant, and Percy formed an air bubble around them. It took Luke a moment to realise that they were no longer falling and he opened his eyes slowly. "W-what-" he looked around, "We're underwater." He swallowed hard, "Is- is that some kind of weird magic."

"I mean, isn't pretty much everything involved with Egyptian and Greek shit weird magic?" Percy raised an eyebrow, and Luke let out a snort of laughter.

"Touche."

"Come on." Percy pulled him with her as she swam towards the surface, breaching it and looking around.

"Well." They weren't insanely far from the shore. But still, they were pretty far- and- "Huh. Isn't that-"

"The Princess Andromeda." Luke's expression was a grimace to say the least. "I am not proud of that."

"Well." Percy shook her head, "I would say let's deal with it now but we have other priorities."

"Like what?"

"That." Percy nodded towards the beach- towards the glint of gold on the sand there.

"Is that-"

"I think it is."

"Fuck." Luke tightened his grip on her, releasing his grip on the scythe and gripping her shoulders. "Let's get this over with."

"With pleasure." Percy pushed them forward, shooting through the water like a bullet from a gun, leaving a wake of white frothed water behind them from the sheer speed with which they were moving.

Then Percy felt her feet brushing against the sand, and Luke's grip on her shoulders loosened as they were both able to start walking, emerging from the surf side by side, Percy keeping her grip on the scythe tight as they walked towards the sarcophagus.

It was still closed, and there was a gouge taken out of the lid where the Scythe had sliced into it.

And Percy shot a sidelong glance at Luke.

His face was determined and she knew that he was in agreement over their course of action.

The Sarcophagus contained at least some part of Kronos. If they destroyed the golden monstrosity they'd be delaying Kronos' return even further.

As they reached the Sarcophagus Percy felt his hand gripping the Scythe too, just below Percy's as they both raised it, ready to bring it down with a single swing- except- "Is that-"

"Movement?" Both of them were staring at the gash in the lid- and there was movement inside.

"NOW!" but it was too late. Percy and Luke didn't have the chance to swing the Scythe down.

The lid was blasted off with a shrieking noise, flying through the air- thankfully away from them, Percy would not have appreciated getting cut in half and they probably would have with the force that it exploded off.

Before Percy even had time to blink a hand was shooting out- like some kind of cheesy vampire movie Percy thought half hysterically as a grip like steel clamped around her wrist- Percy cried out, trying to tug her hand free but no, no it was useless.

She could hear Luke yelling, trying to pull her and the scythe backwards, but she didn't focus on that.

She found herself lurching forward and clamping her teeth down hard on a tanned wrist- which caused a yell of stunned pain, and the hand released her wrist.

Percy yelped, staggering backwards as Luke hauled her away.

"Holy fuck holy fuck holy fuck!" he was wide eyed and frantic as Percy staggered, raising her free hand and wiping the back of her hand across her mouth, grimacing at the familiar metallic taste of blood- blood?

Percy's gaze focused on her hand, on the back of it, the red streaked across her skin.

Was she bleeding?

"Oh gods." Luke's voice was stunned, and Percy shifted her gaze, following it to… and it could only be Kronos.

The Titan was tall- he looked like he was maybe in his thirties by mortal standards, with dark curly hair- curly like hers Percy realised, just shorter and still dark. And his eyes were a glowing gold.

He was tall for a mortal too. 6'5 at least, which Percy was totally not jealous of at all.

And at first she wondered why he wasn't as tall as Atlas.

Perhaps he was simply not at full strength yet, after all they hadn't finished the spell.

Though she could certainly feel the power rolling off the Titan. His eyes were glowing gold. And thankfully they weren't focused on her and Luke, or his scythe, which they were still holding. That was probably not good.

He was looking at his hands, probably savoring the moment, savouring having a form once more. Except Percy found her gaze focusing on something dripping down his arm.

Red.

Not golden Ichor but red blood.

"He's bleeding."

"What-" Luke's voice was confused, "What are you-"

"Luke he's bleeding. He's bleeding blood."

The spell had been incomplete. Kronos had a form now- and he even had power, probably a lot of power.

But his body wasn't that of a Titan.

"Holy fuck-" and then Kronos was lifting his gaze, eyes narrowing on them.

"The traitor and the irritating princess I see." His voice was low. "I believe you have something of mine. And I want it back."