Once again things are chaotic so no replies today though I do so love the reviews- I'm caring for my grandparents again hence the chaos.
In any case I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Percy's gaze focused on the beach as she got closer, ignoring the clamour from the sinking Princess Andromeda. At least she'd destroyed the boat and a good chunk of Kronos' army. Though a fair amount of it had been close to the top of Mount Tam, had been attacking her friends.

Had the explosion from the spell killed them? Had it killed her loved ones?

Percy didn't want to dwell on that. She had to believe that the others were fine. That they were safe and they'd be just fine up there.

She had to believe that or she'd fall apart and she couldn't risk that.

Then they reached the shore and Percy landed Blackjack, slipping off his back, "Triton I'll help you out of the net in just a second I need to deal with-" she froze.

Fuck. Where was Kronos? Where was Luke- she couldn't see them on the beach.

She hadn't been gone that long had she?

"Princess!" the call came from the left- and a little behind. Percy turned, her eyes focusing on Kronos- he was further down the beach, up to his waist already in the water. And he was stopped, stood where he was watching her she could feel those glowing gold eyes boring into her, see them even from this distance.

"Oh you are an arrogant motherfucker." She called.

"And you are your fathers child. You and he both have your grandmothers eyes-"

"You know you can't get away on the water then-"

"Perhaps not usually. You're right, right now I couldn't truly defeat you. You can kill me here and now."

"Oh I'm gonna-"

"But you won't." Kronos called back, his voice mocking. "Do you know why?"

"No, because I mean I really want to kill you." Percy was moving towards him, Riptide held at the ready.

"Because, you have a choice to make." Kronos pointed back in the direction Percy had come. "You can kill me. You're powerful enough and I'm not yet at my full strength. I'm bound by this mortal form. The moment you truly use your power I'd fall. But then you won't have time to save Castellan."

Percy felt her blood run cold and she swung around, her gaze focusing on a shape- past Triton and the Ophiotaurus, who were trying to get themselves out of the net, to untangle it enough to wriggle free. Past Blackjack.

There was a shape, slumped half on the sand half in the water- face down.

"LUKE!"

And it wasn't even a choice to Percy. Not really.

She would not, could not let someone she cared about die. And she'd promised Luke that she'd help him. She'd promised.

She would not let him die, would not let him drown.

And she was running, tears pouring down her cheeks as she ran, dropping to her knees at Luke's side, gripping his shoulders and hauling his face out of the water, pulling him over so that he was face up on her lap, holding her hand over his mouth.

No breath. He wasn't breathing fuck. He'd been face down. That meant he'd probably inhaled some water. He was either dead or dying and Percy had to help him she had to.

She knew that water in the lungs was very bad- she had to keep her head, had to focus. She closed her eyes, trying to picture it- picture his lungs, the water pooling inside of them- and slowly, oh so achingly slowly she imagined pulling it out, pulling it back the way it had come- and she could feel… feel something happening.

And then after what felt like a lifetime she was pulling water out, his lips slipped open and it came out in a stream which she tossed to the side as Luke coughed, a jagged sounding cough- and he sucked in a breath of air, eyes opening slowly as he groaned.

And now that she knew he was alive Percy let her focus shift- bruised throat, that was visible, and a nasty gash across his chest.

Nasty and probably very painful but not life threatening.

"W-" he coughed, "What happened?"

"I got the Ophiotaurus and Triton away from the boat. When I got back here Kronos was escaping and you-"

"I tried to stop him." Luke's voice was hoarse and rasping. "I- we fought. I don't- he- my chest and- and then he hit my head I don't-"

"It's okay." Percy's voice was soothing as she brushed limp wet blonde hair out of his face, just like she'd do for Estelle and Alexander. "You drowned. You weren't breathing but I got you back."

"Feel like shit."

"Well you did pretty much die." Percy let out a weak almost hysterical laugh. She felt like she was falling apart. "But you're okay now. You're okay."

"I owe you one." Luke closed his eyes. "Did he- did he get-"

"He got away. It's not your fault you tried to stop him."

"I know." Luke opened his eyes again, brows furrowing. "Did you say the Ophiotaurus and Triton?"

"Yeah."

"God Triton?"

"Poseidon's son. My big brother, yeah that Triton."

"Your b-" Luke stared at her before he let his head drop back and laughed, a weak but genuine laugh. "You're Poseidon's daughter."

"Yeah. Yeah I am."

"I should've fucking known." He shook his head. "Explains a lot."

"I should hope so." Percy turned her gaze back down the beach. "We should probably help Triton and the Ophiotaurus out of the net."

"You might have to help me up."

And so Percy did, helping Luke stagger to his feet, one arm wrapped around him as they made their way back towards Triton, the Ophiotaurus and Blackjack, though Triton had managed to get himself out of the net and was carefully guiding the Ophiotaurus out into the water.

"Are you okay?" Percy called.

"Fine." Triton turned his head to look at her. "You little sister?"

"I'll be fine."

"And your… friend?"

"Luke's alive."

"Better than he might have been." Triton gave a very small nod. "You must get the Ophiotaurus to Olympus sister."

"How am I supposed to do that?" Percy huffed the words.

"It's simple." Triton waved a hand and the Ophiotaurus floated into the air in a ball of water.

"No offence Triton but I am not a god and I am tired." Percy huffed the word, "I'd pass out before we even got close."

"Then I will come with you." Triton said the words simply, and as Percy watched his tails shifted and transformed into two normal human legs- wearing shorts and a Hawaiian tee.

"That would be easier." Percy paused, "Except how are we meant to get back to the others." Her gaze shifted to Blackjack, "No offence but you can't carry all of us right?"

"Sorry boss lady but no way."

"He might not have to." Luke was pointing.

Percy followed his finger and her gaze focused on a silver chariot that reminded her of Santa's sleigh, being drawn by golden reindeer with bright silver horns.

It was strange how comforting such a weird sight could be.

"Lady Artemis." Triton nodded, "That is her chariot."

"Guess when we stopped the spell it freed her godly power." Percy was glad of that. She'd have hated to fail. And it boded well for the others, for their survival.

And then the chariot was landing on the beach, touching down gracefully and coming to a stop alongside them- and Percy barely had time to brace herself before Piper and Annabeth were on her, both of them clutching her tightly.

"Don't you ever scare us like that again Seaweed brain." Annabeth gasped the words.

"I swear if you do I am going to cut your hair." Piper threatened.

And Percy wrapped her arms around both of them.

"I'm okay. We're both okay."

"That is very reassuring." That was Artemis' voice, and Percy pulled free from her girlfriends to focus on the goddess. "I am glad to see that you're not too badly harmed.

She was definitely a goddess again, Percy could sense the power from her, though she looked much the same as she had since Percy had met her.

And in the chariot Percy could see Grover, Bianca and Thalia, all grinning at her, and Carter and Sadie too, both sat down, Sadie was awake at least, though she looked exhausted and simply raised a hand and gave a little wave.

"Knew you could do it. Nap now."

"Nap's are good-"

"There's my beautiful hero." A boy emerged from behind Artemis, a wide grin on his lips. A very familiar one with his golden curls and tanned skin, and that gleam in his eyes. "It's a pleasure to meet you my fierce beau-"

"She has two girlfriends thy fool." Percy saw Zoe, smacking Apollo's shoulder, which just made the god pout.

She took them all in for a long moment.

They all looked battered- cuts and bruises all around, but they were alive. All of them were alive and they were as well as could be hoped. Apollo and Artemis had probably done something to protect them during the explosion of power.

"What happened?"

"The explosion pretty much blew up Mount Orthys." Annabeth explained. "We all got thrown backwards- took us a while to dig one another out from the rubble but Lord Apollo and Lady Artemis managed to shield us from the worst of it."

"Monsters?"

"They fell victim too." Piper shrugged, "The ones that survived and dug their way out were easy enough to order to leave."

"We owe you a great deal." Artemis spoke up. "You saved myself and my brother Percy-" her gaze flicked to Triton. "I see Prince Triton is here and-" she blinked, "The Ophiotaurus."

"Yeah. Triton's going to help us get him to Olympus. He's sort of been following me."

"That would make sense." Artemis gave a small nod, "He would feel most comfortable with a daughter of Poseidon." Her words were pointed and Percy gave a sheepish smile and a small shrug. "What happened to you two? And the Sarcophagus."

That made Percy's smile slip.

"The spell was incomplete. But it half worked. Kronos has risen. But… he's mortal. Which is something."

"Did you manage to stop him?"

"No." Luke shook his head, "We tried but there was too much. Percy had to save the Ophiotaurus and Kronos beat me-"

"Are you okay?" Thalia's voice was quiet, but there was genuine concern there and Luke managed a strained smile.

"Better than I probably should be. Percy had to save my life."

"Eh she's good at that." Annabeth waved a hand dismissively, through she rested her chin on Percy's shoulder as Piper twined an arm around Percy's waist. "You'll get used to it."

"She's right." Bianca gave a wry smile. "She totally saved my life too."

"I do my best." Percy ran her fingers through her hair, tugging sharply at the tangles before- "What about Alina?"

"I don't know." Artemis spoke up. "We didn't see what happened to her. I imagine she's still up there. Under the rubble."

"Right." Percy took a deep breath. "Right." She knew what she needed to do. "I'll be right back okay." She focused on Annabeth and Piper- who both met her gaze with concerned looks, before they pulled back.

"Go."

"Thank you."

"Kick her ass for us." Sadie spoke up.

"I will. Blackjack!"

"Ready boss!" And Percy was flinging herself onto Blackjack's back before anyone else even had time to protest, taking to the sky and soaring towards the top of the mountain.

And when they reached it the sight took her breath away.

The ruins were even more ruined- there were blocks of black marble strewn everywhere.

To call it a disaster sight seemed like an understatement.

Percy landed Blackjack and slipped off his back.

"You wait here a second buddy okay?"

"Not a problem."

And Percy began her search, using her magic to lift blocks of stone, stabbing the occasional monster that got free and tried to attack her.

It took a surprisingly short time for Percy to locate Alina.

But then she knew roughly where she'd been stood, and when she pulled away a block of marble and found the girl barely conscious beneath it Percy felt that thrill of pride as she moved in close and crouched in front of the groaning woman.

"Alina. Alina can you hear me?"

"Fuck you Kane." Her voice was hoarse. "Fuck you. Don't you fucking gloat."

"Oh I'm not here to gloat." Percy said the words softly. "You know I received a prophecy. It talked about facing foes and bringing vengeance."

"Will you kill me?" Alina managed to focus her gaze on Percy, "Kill me as you did my father?" there was a sort of satisfaction in her tone, as if she felt vindicated by that thought.

"I wanted to." Percy said the words softly, "For what you did to Desjardins I really did want to. But you know I've realised something. Because I was thinking what is the worst possible thing I could do to you. What would strike you to your very soul. I mean I'm the girl with the power to even destroy your very soul, I could do anything. And then I thought about what you'd hate most. What would tear you apart, disgust you and I know. I know what I'm doing with you."

"Then do it." Alina glared weakly, spitting the words, "Do it now Kane."

"I'm letting you live." She saw Alina's eyes widening in shock. "I am being merciful. And I will take you to Brooklyn House and deliver you into safe custody myself, where you will be dealt with by the proper channels. By my brother, because as the Pharoah it is his place to decide your punishment. Because there is nothing you will hate more, nothing that will get under your skin more than knowing that I beat you. That I beat you and that I am the better person by far than you will ever be." Her hand lashed out, curling around Alina's throat and lifting the girl, who's eyes were wide with shock.

"For Desjardins? To be the person he believed I am? I'll let you live." Then her free hand lashed out, curling into a fist and smashing into the side of Alina's head, and Percy watched the girl slump limply before lifting her in a bridal carry, draping her over Blackjack's back.

Alina's punishment wouldn't be hers to dictate.

But she would always know that she had won. She hadn't sunk to Alina's level and she had won.