After killing those two mortals, there were a few things Percy couldn't stop thinking about. One, he usually was not supposed to harm mortals as a demigod. Yet, he thought about how it felt good. It felt good to help those who needed it. It felt good to kill. After all, the worst scum of mortals were monsters in their own right, weren't they? Except they didn't disappear into a poof of golden dust, but instead their bodies lay limp on the ground, while their souls left for judgment.

The second thing was that he felt their blood. He felt their heartbeat pulse as blood poured from their wounds. His fingers had twitched, his powers pooling just under his skin, itching to be released. He had fought to suppress the itch inside of him, yet it left him wondering. Had bending that rat's blood unlocked something inside of him?

"Some things aren't meant to be controlled. Please."

The memory had forcefully pushed itself to the forefront of his mind, and he winced. Blood. He couldn't believe he truly was thinking about how he could bend blood. Bending poison had seemed like a miracle, a testament to the horrors of Tartarus that it forced it out of him.

Maybe something had gone wrong somewhere with him. Maybe the Fates cursed him with all of this power with the intent of driving him insane. Maybe the gods really had made him a god that day he declined them, only two years ago. Maybe Tartarus had broken something inside of him, a place that no one was meant to survive, let alone a half-mortal.

Something about him felt extremely wrong, like he could scratch the skin off his body and find no respite. He rolled over on his mat, his eyes unfocused into the wilderness before him. Now that he acknowledged it, he felt the power drumming in his veins, barely constrained. The more he ignored it, the more it bothered him. It begged for release, for him to do something.

He sat up silently and slowly rolled his neck to release the tension in his muscles. Alexios stayed still from where he laid on the ground, but he shifted his pure black eyes to look at Percy.

Percy hummed to himself as he reached out a hand to run his fingers through his wolf's soft coat. He tried to force the feeling running through his veins away, firmly focusing on the feeling of the fur in between his fingers. Alexios whined and pushed his wet nose into Percy's leg, and Percy cracked a small smile.

He decided it was time to get up and pack up his camp. Time to move on, keep walking throughout the wilderness. Except instead of focusing on hunting more animals, or practicing his bow skills, he had a different goal in mind. He was curious about this power, but also he felt that he would explode if he did not relieve the constant itch underneath his skin.

He would have to start small. Just because he could feel the blood in the two mortals he had killed yesterday didn't mean he was able to control it quite yet. The power was there, humming inside of him, yes, but it felt uncontrollable.

He heaved his backpack onto his shoulders after packing the last of his things, and set off deeper into the trees. As Alexios padded behind him, he thought. Deer were abundant in this stretch of the woods, but they were definitely too big to start on. It was starting to get colder, and the leaves were turning from a vibrant green to a muted yellow. Many animals are preparing for hibernation, before the snow covered and killed the grass that he currently stood on.

A rustling on a nearby tree made him pause, and he turned his head to watch a squirrel scurry across a branch, mouth bulging with acorns. He raised an eyebrow, and let his pack fall from his shoulders onto the ground. The noise startled the squirrel, but Percy raised a hand and tugged on the powers in his gut. The squirrel froze in place and let out a little squeak.

That had been easy enough, he thought. It had also certainly helped in releasing a bit of the itch deep in his bones. But, he wondered if he could do more. He was going to test the limits of this newfound power.

He twitched his fingers, focusing on making the squirrel move to his will. After a few seconds as he reached deep inside of him, the creature slowly started to walk across the branch with stilted movements. The rushing of blood through the tiny animal sounded like a tsunami inside of his mind, and his neck twitched as the sounds of nature faded from his ears. All he could hear, all he could feel, was the pounding heart of the terrified critter in front of him.

He tilted his head at the squirrel, observing it quietly. His energy was quickly depleting, and he felt himself getting weak in the knees. With one last push of force, he clenched his fingers into a fist, willing the animal's little heart to stop beating.

The squirrel twitched once, and then stilled, but Percy knew it would take minutes before death actually collected it. He counted slowly in his mind, stopping when he saw the light leave its tiny beady eyes. He exhaled harshly, a hint of a

Percy stared at the dead squirrel at his feet. He felt the floodgates inside of him spring open, and power rolled through his veins and muscles. He felt utterly exhausted, and his arms went limp by his sides. Yes, he was brimming with power. But that power required an immense amount of focus and willpower. It was like an unused muscle that he tried to use to lift a hundred pounds at once.

His knees gave out from under him, and he barely caught himself as he hit the floor. Alexios had stood quietly watching from behind him, but slowly pawed over to him as Percy continued to stare at the dead animal on the ground. He continued to look, unmoving, his face betraying nothing about the emotions that raged inside.

"Lunch, Alexios," he mumbled as he wrapped his arms around his torso. Alexios hesitated before gently treading over and sniffing at the squirrel. Eventually, he softly picked it up in his jaws, and walked a few feet away from Percy before beginning his meal, seemingly intent on giving the demigod some space.

He felt too many things at once, and his heart pounded wildly in his chest. Did he really want to go down this path? He knew he could work on strengthening this power until he was strong enough to cut down anyone in his path. A part of him screamed inside his head, yes, yes, you're never safe. NEVER. SAFE. Protect yourself, or they will take you down.

A part of him, that sounded suspiciously like Annabeth, screamed at him that this is wrong, so, so, SO WRONG. You need to stop RIGHT NOW.

The last part of him sneered with contempt. Why should you care about anything anymore? They've broken you. All of them. It's time to take what you deserve, time to instill fear deep inside their cold, dark hearts.

He gripped his hair between his fingers, tugging on the strands until he felt pain in his scalp. He felt disgusted, no he felt disgusting. But he also felt vindicated. He felt like he was going to break apart right then and there, but also he felt more powerful than he's ever felt.

Something nudged him, and he fell backwards onto the grass with little resistance. A wriggling fluffy body pushed itself onto his stomach, and between his arms, until it was fully situated on top of him. His eyes fluttered open, unaware that he had even shut them. Alexios' gaze pierced into his soul, and Percy wrapped his arms tighter around the wolf lying on top of him. The heavy weight of the animal soothed him, and Percy allowed his head to rest against the cool grass.

He shut his eyes as his heart rate started to slow, and allowed himself to fall into the domain of the sleep god.

A deep frown etched itself permanently onto Zeus' face as he angrily slashed through the image made of mist in front of him. He had spent the last hour watching his brother's son, and what he had observed deeply disturbed him.

Zeus had heard about the demigod controlling poison in Tartarus and during the war against the Giants, but blood was an entirely different matter. He had been willing to overlook the poison, but this changed everything. He stared straight ahead, alone in the throne room, atop of his throne. The cold marble pressed against him, as Zeus gripped the armrests.

Perseus was the strongest demigod he had witnessed since the Ancient times, where gods had been at their strongest, and their children a reflection of that. Since the times of the great myths of heroes that even the mortals still remember the names of.

Perseus' existence was a mystery to him, as was the source of his powers. There were many factors that could explain away his strength, ones that Zeus had little wanting to explore, if not to ensure that something like this doesn't happen again (unless it is one of his own children).

He feared that he had made a mistake. A mistake that day that they will come to regret unless they fix it now.

A mistake that they had allowed Perseus to live.

a/n: hopefully this chapter + remaining ones will be even just a little bit better bc i wrote chapters 1-6 about 3 years ago lol