A/N - Hey guys, I just had to post this chapter before the reading ones just to clear some stuff up and deepen a couple of plot lines before we progressed in the reading because this would set up some plots for the future fillers. Also, I thought that I might not be able to post for a while so I wanted to get this up but turns out I might be able to post after all :)
Anyways, this is a pretty big one and it has a couple of surprise cameos and a BAMF Percy for a while as well and honestly, this has got to be one of the chapters that I was super excited to write. I really hope it turned out well.
Let me know how you felt about it and if you had a favorite part in the chapter, then do let me know that as well :D
Also, don't read the end notes till you read the chapter :P
"One sec, dad. Would it be all right if we took a break? I think its becoming increasingly important for me to inform Percy and the others of something." Castor interrupted. Dionysus raised an eyebrow curiously but nodded nonetheless.
"I agree. There's something urgent that I have to inform everybody about as well." Rachel wrung her hands nervously
"As this seems of the utmost importance, we can continue later." Chiron said with a nod and gave Percy a knowing look.
"All right guys. War council. 15 minutes. Map room." Percy announced as he stood up and everybody else followed his lead.
"I'll arrange snacks." Travis grinned.
"I'll get drinks." Beckendorf grinned.
"Leave the stress balls to us." Will said.
"It's a war council, right?" Athena asked hesitantly.
"We can't be productive without an overdose of sugar and stress balls to manage that overdose and anxiety." Thalia snickered and all the Greek demigods laughed.
"That honestly sounded maniacal." Hades snorted in amusement.
"Maybe it was." Nico winked at him.
Everybody started leaving the room and either headed to gather the necessary materials or decided to grab a bite before they went to the map room. As the big three and their kids along with Amphitrite and Persephone sat down, they were greeted with a surprise guest.
Rhode walked up to her parents and Triton with a wide grin and the three of them were smiling widely as they gave her hugs. Percy on the other hand was not so happy. The only reason he was able to get along with Triton was because of the reading and he and Kym went way back but he did not get along with Rhode who seemed keen on hating him.
"Perseus." Rhode greeted a little coldly. Poseidon, Amphitrite and Triton grimaced a little as they were reminded by the fact that Percy and Rhode did not get along at all.
"Rhode." Percy said with a forced smile. The others watched this with interest and hoping that the bitterness wouldn't escalate.
"So, how long are you going to be here, sis?" Triton asked as Rhode joined them at the big three table.
"Only for today. Came for a short visit." Rhode shrugged and then glared at Percy. "Wasn't aware that he was also here." She said with distaste.
"Rhode." Poseidon said sharply "That was unnecessary." He said. Percy on the other hand, merely raised an eyebrow.
"Looks like you haven't been watching the news? Huh, I thought that such important news would be important for a princess to know." He retorted.
"Percy." Poseidon sighed as Rhode glared viciously at Percy. Percy looked at Poseidon and sighed. He'd spare his dad the misery of him creating an argument with Rhode. The others at the table tried to hide their amusement and tried to change the topic.
"Soo, any agenda for the war council?" Hades asked awkwardly. Percy nodded.
"Kind of." He answered. Rhode snorted in the background receiving a glare from Thalia. She was going to get really annoyed if Rhode wasn't going to let her brother at least complete. Percy looked unbothered as he just ignored her and continued.
"We're going to take a look at what Castor and Rachel are going to say and then progress accordingly and talk strategy that concerns it." Percy answered Hades who nodded.
"Whatever they have to say seems like something that will have a heavy impact." Zeus mused. Percy nodded again.
"Most probably. Both of them are people who would never say something is urgent unless it is." He said.
"And yet you don't seem very concerned about it?" Persephone asked. Percy shrugged.
"I am but there's a war coming, I highly doubt that anything is going to be casual." He said.
"Do you even have a strategy for the war?" Rhode snorted. Percy looked at her.
"Do you know what's going to happen in the war?" he raised an eyebrow. Rhode seemed speechless and shook her head.
"Yeah well neither do we. I think it would very stupid to come with a strategy without knowing what we're thinking of a strategy for." He said. Poseidon grimaced as he sensed Rhode's anger building about. She was really going to piss Percy off at one point despite the son of Poseidon having only a few things he got angry about. Nico, Thalia and Jason muffled their snickers and even Hades and Zeus seemed to be hiding small smiles at Percy's reply.
"Do you seriously think that I don't understand strategy after being alive for thousands of years and seeing much more than you have?" Rhode snapped at Percy. Percy's eyes flashed with suppressed anger which was not missed by anybody sitting at the table. Poseidon gave Percy a slightly pleading look, asking him to not engage in an argument with Rhode and Percy ran a hand through his hair and settled for glaring at Rhode.
"Rhode, that's enough." Poseidon told her, his tone authoritative. He might have been able to stop Percy from getting angry at Rhode but he didn't stop Nico or Thalia who looked defensive of their brother. Heck, even Hades and Zeus were scowling at what Rhode said.
"Oh so you've fought Kronos before? And Gaia? And the giants? Oh, and you've been through Tartarus too? Damn, how didn't we hear about that?" Nico retorted as he leaned against his chair. Rhode clenched her hands into fists.
"This is between my brother and I. Stay out of it." She said to Nico who shrugged.
"Brother? That's interesting." Percy chuckled humorlessly. "Because you're not my sister." He said. "Triton's my brother but you're not my sister." He said. Poseidon flinched as Amphitrite and Triton winced.
"I'm not saying this." Percy said. "You already said that to me once. I believe it was very clear when you told me that I was a bastard born out of wedlock and didn't truly belong to the sea as my mother was mortal and that I could never be part of the family." He said and shrugged. Everybody's gazes snapped to Rhode's.
"Did you say that to him?" Poseidon asked quietly, trying to keep his anger in check. Rhode's silence answered his question for him.
"You have absolutely no right to say that to him. Percy's my son and he is part of the sea as well as the family. It is beside the point that his mother is mortal. I will not tolerate such behavior of yours towards Percy, do I make myself clear?" Poseidon growled. Apart from Poseidon glaring at Rhode, so was everybody else. Hades was restraining Nico and Hazel from resorting to violence while Persephone held him back. Zeus was restraining Thalia and Jason and gritting his teeth to restrain himself. Rhode looked at Amphitrite who also looked angry.
"I agree with your father. Percy is part of our family and you will treat him as such. He is nothing less of a son to me." Amphitrite said. Percy looked at her in surprise while Poseidon hid it as he was glaring at Rhode.
"We should get to the war council." Percy said in order to break the tension. Everybody nodded.
"Where is it?" Rhode asked.
"Map room."
"I'll be there." Rhode said.
"You're not invited. You won't be allowed to enter." Percy told her coolly. Rhode looked like she was about to say something but this time Hazel cut her off.
"If you're about to say something about how you should be allowed as well, let me be clear. Percy's our leader and when he says that somebody cannot attend the war council then they cannot attend the war council." She said fiercely. Percy gave Hazel a small smile.
"Lets go then." Zeus said as he got up, followed by the others.
"Well, you guys are busy. I'm going to head back." Rhode said and clenched her jaw as she mist travelled back.
"Oh my gods, Perce. I am so so sorry about what she said." Triton said to Percy miserably. Percy chuckled.
"Hey, its not your fault. Relax." He said.
"But still." Triton said and shook his head.
"Oh shut up." Percy playfully punched Triton in the arm. "Not your fault." He said and Triton smiled at him.
"Percy, I'll be talking to her. If we'd have known that she said all that to you-" Poseidon started as they walked towards the map room.
"Dad, its all right. Rhode and I…well, we have a strained relationship and that's not on you." Percy said with a small smile.
"But it is my job to know if she had been saying such things to you." Poseidon said, a hint of sadness in his voice accompanied by exhaustion which obviously was not missed by Percy who stopped and turned to face Poseidon.
"Look, nobody could have known because I never told anybody and obviously you cannot stalk me and know about every single conversation that I've had. So don't blame yourself, all right? She said what she said but you guys have never made me feel out of place. You all made it clear that I was part of the family and that's why what she said didn't bother me and it never will." He said with a smile and Poseidon gave him a side hug.
"I'm glad you know that, Perce. Never forget that you're always going to be part of the sea." He said. "I told you that the first time we met and I'm going to keep reminding you." He said. Percy chuckled.
"You also called me a wrongdoing the first time we met." He joked and Poseidon stuck his tongue out at him, making Percy laugh harder.
Once they reached the map room, all the demigods sat around the round table after grabbing stress balls and Gatorades while the gods preferred to stand behind the chairs while a few sat down.
"Everybody's here." Chiron announced and Percy nodded.
"All right. Rachel, you go first." He said. All gazes snapped to Rachel.
"There's been a…change." She said. Apollo's eyes widened in surprise while everybody also looked bewildered.
"That's possible?" Chris asked.
"I didn't think so until it happened." Rachel sighed.
"Well, there's a first time for everything." Lee said with a small smile and gestured for Rachel to continue.
"You know the whole mortal heroes who were going to be allying with us? They won't be." Rachel said. "They're busy in a war of their own. Its only the two camps again." She said. There was silence as everybody took that in.
"What are the new lines in the prophecy then?" Grover asked.
"That's the annoying part. The line concerning the mortal heroes has just been omitted and the first line has been replaced by 'the heroes of the wars'. There's no replacement for the line in the prophecy." Rachel said.
"That is odd but seeing as the prophecy is from the fates, they can alter it to their will. They normally don't but this time they have." Apollo said.
"That's even more concerning. The fact that the fates have changed the prophecy is worrying." Reyna shook her head.
"True. But, lets look on the positive side. Interacting with new allies is one less thing to worry about." Annabeth said. Everybody nodded slowly.
"Castor, what did you want to tell us?" Percy asked.
"Right." Castor said. "I had a nightmare and it wasn't a flashback. It was the future and I'm damn sure that its not fake because I have the ability to differentiate false dreams from true ones." He said. Everybody moved to the edge of their seats.
"I saw Kronos' forces in the labyrinth, heading towards where its entrance is in our camp. They plan to somehow reinstate it and invade camp. It wasn't demigod led but the monsters…" Castor trailed off and closed his eyes. "…they were ones that I had never seen before and nor had I ever even heard of such creatures." He said. The demigods took deep breaths.
"What was the number?" Clarisse asked.
"Hundreds." Castor said as he ran a hand down his face tiredly.
"We need to figure out a way to guard that entrance." Travis said.
"No. We need to figure out a way to prevent them from even reaching close to the entrance because if there is an attack, we'll lose more than half our numbers trying to stop them. Heck, we might not be able to stop them at all. If they attack camp, then we're massively screwed." Clarisse said grimly. Percy closed his eyes and exhaled as he stood up.
"We need to protect camp as a whole. Not just the labyrinth and that means more watchtowers. The younger demigods will not at all be participating in this war. By young I mean below 13. There is no way that they will be a part in this." Percy declared as he leaned over the table and everybody looked at him, absolutely riveted. No demigod argued or opposed over the statement that he had made and he continued.
"We need to not just guard the labyrinth from outside, we need to guard it from inside. We need to access it again and make sure that we block it before any of Kronos' forces have even the slightest idea of what's going on. Beckendorf and Leo, I need you to go through all the plans in the cave at camp and work with Annabeth and check out all the plans stored in Daedalus' laptop. I'm sure we'll find something useful there. Apart from that, we'll have to create a wall that would create a barrier and constitute as one line of defense in the labyrinth. Get ready, y'all. We've weaponizing the labyrinth." Percy announced with fire in his eyes and sat back down in his chair with all the demigods nodding.
"Do you think we can pull that off?" Pollux asked. If he was being honest, this whole labyrinth business was what scared him more than the actual war but if he and the others were going to face it again, then he was damn well going to be ready this time. He'd had enough of holding his power back against monsters. He was the son of the god of insanity and this time the monsters were going to realize how.
"We can manage it." Beckendorf nodded.
"One more thing. I'm concerned that if Castor's getting nightmares, then Kronos would start approaching people in their dreams as he did before. If that happens, we have no way to know if any demigod would turn or not." Chris said grimly.
"Have any demigods been on any quests as of late either sanctioned by camp or outside camp?" Nico asked. Chiron nodded.
"A total of 3 but none of them seemed unhappy after returning." The centaur informed.
"Who were the three? Hayden, Abigail and Sherman?" Percy asked as he tapped the table with his finger and Chiron nodded with a small smile. Of course, Percy would know who went on quests. The demigod had made it his duty to know who went on a quest and the names of any new campers.
"I talked to all three of them. They're all alright." Percy sighed.
"So did I. They didn't seem to be upset about anything. However, Abigail was a little upset but I talked to her and she seemed alright after that." Grover nodded in agreement.
"We need to make sure that Kronos can't get to the demigods through dreams. I hate to admit it but one of greatest strengths is to bend people to his will." Chris said with distaste and a light shudder. Clarisse squeezed his hand reassuringly and he gave her a small smile before focusing his attention on Percy. The gods marveled at how despite how much loss these demigods dealt with while fighting Kronos the first time, they still had the unbreakable strength to sit here and continue to plan for a second war with him.
"Hypnos cabin." Percy said as the realization hit him.
"You think Clovis could help build some kind of anti-dream shield?" Katie asked with wide eyes and Percy nodded.
"He might. At least his father definitely could." He said.
"We should call Clovis. He might be able to clear this then." Connor said. Everybody nodded. Poseidon created a light spray and Annabeth tossed a drachma in it.
"O' Iris, goddess of the rainbow, please accept my offering." She said and the mist shimmered. "Show me Clovis, head counselor of the Hypnos cabin and Camp Half Blood." She said. The mist shimmered again and finally showed the inside of the Hypnos cabin where Clovis was snoring comfortably.
"CLOVIS!" Annabeth shouted in order to wake him up and the son of Hypnos shot up on his bed.
"No, I didn't." he panicked and then saw the surroundings and sighed in relief. "Oh thank the gods I didn't mess up the lyrics on stage." He muttered and then rubbed his eyes sleepily. His gaze focused on Annabeth and he pouted at her.
"I was asleep." He mumbled.
"You're always asleep." Annabeth reminded him and Clovis grinned.
"That's fair." He yawned. "What's up?" he said.
"I'm coming to pick you up. We really have to talk to you about something important." Nico informed. Castor furrowed his eyebrows as he saw who all were present in the iris message.
"Damn, what's happening that you guys are having a bloody war council?" he said, his voice serious and eyes devoid of sleepiness for once.
"We'll fill you in." Percy assured him. Clovis nodded.
"Gimme 2 minutes. I'll get ready." He said. "I promise I won't go back to sleep." He grinned at them and everybody chuckled lightly and Clovis disconnected the Iris message.
"I like him." Hermes chuckled. "Seems chill." He said.
"He's like that." Chris nodded. Two minutes passed by and Nico shadow traveled to the Hypnos cabin and returned with Clovis who'd actually changed into a midnight blue shirt and jeans and brushed his pillow hair for once. Clovis went and stood next to the table and looked expectantly at the others.
"So, what's up?" he asked again. Rachel brushed him up on the prophecy and the changes as well as Castor's dream and Clovis pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes. He'd fought in the first war. He'd been claimed but had been in the Hermes cabin as there had been no Hypnos cabin then. Like other demigods, he had absolutely no good memories of the first war. He'd lost 2 of his half siblings along with a couple of his best friends which included his best friend as well. He'd seen a few of them turned to the other side and he'd seen their dead bodies on the battlefield. He sighed finally and straightened his posture and removed his hand from the table which he'd held onto for support.
"First of all, its great seeing you guys alive again." He smiled at all those demigods who'd been revived and they grinned at him. Most of them remembered Clovis from before the war.
"Secondly, Castor, I know that if you're saying that the dream you had was perfectly real, could you please share that dream with me so I can just confirm once? Its just a safe bet." He asked. Castor nodded.
"But how do I do that?" he asked. Clovis walked over to him and kept his fingers on Castor's forehead and closed his eyes as he saw the dream that the son of Dionysus had had. After he was done, Clovis' face was pale.
"As real as me." He said and everybody sighed as they leaned back in their chairs and the gods rubbed their temples.
"So how can I help?" Clovis asked.
"We were wondering if you could make some sort of anti-dream shield around camp." Percy said hopefully. Clovis rubbed his chin as he thought about.
"I'm guessing that I'm not allowed to tell the rest of the Hypnos cabin or any cabin about this prophecy yet?" he said.
"Its less about not being allowed but we don't want them to worry about it yet." Chiron informed. Clovis nodded.
"That's fair. We don't want to freak out the young ones and the new ones." He sighed. "I know how to build this kind of shield but I'm going to need help if I have to build it on such a huge scale. More specifically, my dad and Hecate's help." He said a little anxiously.
"I can talk to your dad. I'm sure he'd like to help." Hades assured Clovis who looked a little surprised that even the gods were participating in the council but he smiled nonetheless.
"Nico and I'll try to talk to Hecate." Hazel said. Nico nodded in agreement.
"All right then. I'll get some preparation done but there's not much I can do until dad and Hecate agree." Clovis sighed.
"Don't worry about it. The three of you can start working on it together itself. Get some rest." Percy smiled and Clovis grinned at him.
"Now that, I love doing." He said and everybody laughed and Travis threw a ping pong ball at Clovis and the son of Hypnos flipped him off dramatically, increasing the laughter.
"All right, is there anything else that's pending?" Annabeth asked everybody.
"Yeah, just one thing." Beckendorf said and everybody looked at him.
"The barrier that Percy was talking about putting in the labyrinth to serve as a line of defense would need to be made of an alloy of Celestial Bronze and Imperial Gold. So, we need to arrange a good amount of both of them." He informed.
"Leave that up to me, son. I'll find the necessary amount of both the metals." Hephaestus smiled at him which Beckendorf returned.
"Also, guys, we're going to need as much defense as we can muster and this time we need to stay ahead of Kronos because something tells me that this war's going to be worse than the one before-" Percy said, a little bit of anxiousness in his voice but he continued. "-so what we need are insane solutions and ideas and lucky for us, we all excel at coming up with those. So if anybody comes up with some so godsdamned insane that people would tell us it won't work, then let everybody know." He said with a small smile and everybody laughed as they nodded.
"You're the craziest of the lot, Perce. Chug a couple of coffees and you're going to end up thinking of some ideas that people couldn't even dream about." Chris laughed and Percy grinned sheepishly.
"That's hilarious." He said and Chris snickered.
"So council's done?" Leo asked and Percy nodded.
"Guys, just one thing. Don't work yourselves too hard. And don't worry too much. We've all dealt with the most psychotic shit and we're going to be able to deal with this. Don't lose sleep over what's coming because sometimes, your mind thinks of things that are worse than reality. And yeah, we all might end up getting the dreams again seeing as we're not going to be protected by the shield but we'll deal with it because we've done it before and seeing as we all hate Kronos, we'll be able to tell him to get the fuck out of our dreams. But yeah, war's coming and its not going to be easy but it never is. This time I have a feeling that the stakes are going to be high. So, brace yourselves, all right? But don't break yourselves." Percy said and everybody hung on to every word he said. Honestly, Percy had a way with words. When he gave a speech, everybody listened.
Chiron smiled as he saw the growth of that 12 year old boy that he had met into this leader that his friends respected and loved and his enemies feared. He knew that Percy had never asked to be a leader and yet he'd been hailed as one and he'd settled into that role. Chiron knew that Percy doubted himself and sometimes, he could tell that Percy was scared of his himself but he didn't know why and yet, Percy would protect anybody he could. He might doubt himself sometimes but nobody else did and that's what made him a leader. He understood the responsibilities but one thing that Chiron wasn't fond of was that such a young child who should have been worrying about college was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. But throughout the reading as Chiron saw Percy's bond with his father and uncle strengthen, he could see that even they began realizing just how much Percy pushed himself and rather than just knowing that, he knew that his brothers related to Percy. Not many people knew that but Chiron knew his brothers well enough to know that they pushed themselves further than they should and he knew that they were weighed down by a lot more than responsibilities. But Chiron knew that when the time came, they'd be there for Percy and the thought made him smile.
As the council adjourned, everybody walked with their respective parents and it was clear that everybody was in awe of Percy as a leader and of all the demigods as well. They'd been through crazy stuff together and they were prepared to go through yet more crazy stuff together. Not many people had that unbreakable spirit in them and that's why they all hoped that that spirit in the demigods would never break because they weren't sure that they'd be able to see what caused it to break.
As the demigods sat with their families for eating lunch, Nico repeatedly poked Percy in one shoulder with a finger on his right side while Thalia did the same on his left side. Percy pouted at both of them.
"You guys are just ganging up on me now." He complained.
"Oh well." Thalia said nonchalantly.
"I hate you two." Percy grumbled, making his cousins snicker. "Let me eat." He whined and his cousins cackled.
"You know I get mad if I don't eat." Percy said finally with a smirk and Nico and Thalia held their hands up in surrender and Percy chortled.
"Honestly, though, Perce. What's with the whole 'brace yourself' thing? Isn't that what was written on the letter you got from Uncle P?" Nico grinned at Percy and the son of Poseidon burst out laughing.
"I guess it sort of rubbed off on me." He said. Poseidon chuckled. "It was 2 words and I'd read the letter like a 100 times. Shit got stuck in my head." Percy grinned.
"See, that's the importance of only 2 words." Poseidon said to Percy with a smile and the demigod snorted in amusement.
"Fair." He said. However, as lunch progressed, Percy grew quieter as he repeatedly thought of the war council and his mind flashed back to the dream that he had had about the first Titanomachy and he tried to control his rage towards Kronos.
"Hey, Perce. Are you worried about something?" Thalia asked him quietly and Percy shook his head.
"No. I'm fine." He said with a smile.
"O-okay. What's up?" Nico said to him. "I'm fine is what you say when you're not." He said.
"I'm just thinking." Percy shrugged.
"Are you worried about Kronos showing up in your dreams again?" Nico asked gently. Percy's eyes flashed dangerously, not because of the question but because of the thought of the titan.
"I'm worried about 99 things about the upcoming war but that fucker showing up in my dreams is not one of them." He all but growled. Nico merely raised an eyebrow and Hades and Poseidon sighed as they knew why Percy was angry.
"You're angry." Thalia said with a small sad smile. Percy shook his head.
"I'm done." He said. "I'm done with dealing with dear old grandpa-" he said the last part with distaste "-He's taken a loan of life and I'm going to be collecting high interest on that. And I'm done holding myself back. I'm done being nice. Kronos is bankrupt on the coupons of mercy by Percy Jackson and I don't care whether he comes in my dreams or not." Percy said, gritting his teeth. Everybody on the table looked taken aback by the words that came out of Percy's mouth. Nobody had seen the demigod seem so angry and the fact that he didn't yell or that he was awfully composed was even more terrifying.
"I knew Percy was angry after finding out what happened in the first war but I had no idea that he was this furious." Hades whispered to Poseidon who nodded in agreement and swallowed thickly. Hades kept a hand on his shoulder and gave his younger brother a small, reassuring smile.
"You're out for revenge huh?" Thalia said with a small dark chuckle. She was too, out for revenge. Not for the same reasons but yet, out for revenge.
"No." Percy said, his voice filled with controlled anger. "I'm out for blood. And its never going to taste sweeter." He said, baring his teeth and that, that scared everybody.
"What in actual Tartarus." Zeus muttered under his breath
Those who knew why Percy felt angry took sharp breaths as they processed the demigod's fury and just how deep his loyalty went while the others stared at him, knowing that Percy had had enough of playing the good guy even against the bad guys. He was getting ready to embrace the raging part of the sea that caused tsunamis no matter how much toil it took on him personally. Even Thalia and Nico looked fazed but they didn't look surprised. They knew that whatever was causing Percy's anger was because somebody close to him had been hurt. They believed that it was something that had happened during the second Titanomachy however, this time it wasn't just about that.
"Well, we're all exhausted with being the demigods who try to be better than their opponents. Some people don't deserve that." Nico sighed.
"Yeah. As Harvey Specter said, sometimes the good guys got to do bad things to make the bad guys pay." Thalia chuckled. The demigods went about eating as if nothing had happened and the gods just stared at them in what was a mixture of amazement and pure shock. They'd all known that Percy's anger was exactly like that of Poseidon but it was never going to cease to make them reel back whenever they saw any of their anger.
"Hey, Perce." Beckendorf said as he walked up to the big three table and pulled a chair. "Leo, dad, Tyson and I were talking and after coming up with designs and analyzing both celestial bronze and imperial gold, we realized that despite the fact that both of these metals would have remarkable strength, it won't be strong enough to hold the kind of forces that Castor is talking about even after weaponizing it. We either have to figure out some way to make it strong enough or we're going to have to think of something else." The son of Hephaestus informed. Percy furrowed his eyebrows and gave a small chuckle as the answer hit him. Beckendorf grinned as he saw that.
"You got an answer, didn't you?" he laughed full-heartedly. Percy grinned at somebody he viewed as an elder brother.
"Leave the strength of the mixture up to me." He said. Beckendorf grinned widely.
"You bet, little bro." he said and got up. He clapped Percy on the shoulder before he left.
"Don't stress yourself, Perce. You're there to make sure that we don't and I need you to know that we're there to do the same for you." He said seriously and Percy gave him a small smile.
"I know. Thanks, man." He said gratefully.
"You don't have to thank me for this." Beckendorf smiled as he left to tell Hephaestus, Leo and Tyson about what Percy had told him.
"What are you going to do?" Zeus raised an eyebrow and all Percy did was grin in response. He pulled out his phone and typed in a name and called the person.
"C'mon, pick up." He muttered.
"Hello." The voice on the other side said. "Percy. Jackson." The voice said and it was obvious that the person was grinning. Percy got a grin of his own on his face.
"Sadie. Kane." He laughed, the name surprising everybody sitting at the table. The gods and goddesses exchanged bewildered looks. How in Tartarus did this demigod know everybody?
"How you doin'?" Sadie's voice rang out from the other end in a perfect imitation of Joey Tribbiani.
"You trying to rizz me up, mate?" Percy said in a perfect British accent, making Sadie laugh.
"Did it work?" she joked.
"Yes, your highness." Percy snickered, making Sadie cackle as well.
"So, what's up, Dory?" Sadie asked and Percy chuckled at the nickname.
"You can do better than that, Kane." He said.
"I'm flipping you off through the call." Sadie answered and Percy snorted in amusement.
"All right. Listen. I need to talk to you and Carter about something serious. Is it possible to meet up?" he asked finally.
"Hmm. You're at Empire State building right?" Sadie asked and Percy answered in the affirmative. "Right. We'll meet you at the coffee shop opposite it then. Give us 10 minutes." She answered after yelling something to Carter.
"Awesome." Percy said.
"Listen. Can you also bring along Annabeth. Carter's read this new book on architecture and he's trying to explain it to me and I'm trying to not curse him with a silence curse. And I need to rant about Anubis to somebody and that's you." Sadie requested and Percy laughed and that increased when he heard Carter yell something at Sadie in the background and Sadie screaming back.
"You bet, bro." he said.
"Also if the son of Hades, what was his name? Nico-" Sadie started "If he's there get him too. I wanna to learn about his powers and talk to Anubis because he was interested." She said and Percy grinned as he looked at Nico.
"I'll do that."
"Done. See you in 5, bitch." Sadie said and Percy hung up.
"How do you even know these guys?" Amphitrite asked in bewilderment and Percy winked at her.
"I have my ways." He said.
"That's even more concerning." Hades said dryly. Percy just shrugged.
"Nico, you're coming. You know Sadie right?" he asked Nico
"Yeah. The Anubis magician." He said and Percy nodded.
"She wants to discuss powers with you seeing as your dad and Anubis have similar domains." He said and Nico grinned.
"Brilliant." He said. Percy then went to tell Annabeth that they'd be meeting Carter and Sadie soon and she nodded.
"We'll be back." Nico grinned at the gods at their table and the three of them shadow and mist travelled to the coffee shop that was discussed.
"I have no idea what all happened here within the last 30 minutes." Zeus said finally as the three demigods left and he shook his head.
"Here's the summary. Percy's pissed. Thalia's pissed. Nico's pissed. They're going to meet the Kanes." Hades said, counting off his finger tips and his brothers turned their heads to look at him.
"What?" he said. "You asked." He shrugged.
"Yes. Very enlightening list, brother." Zeus said to him with a raised eyebrow.
"You understood it, didn't you?" Hades said to him, crossing his arms.
"Why, yes, I did."
Carter and Sadie arrived roughly 30 seconds after the three Greek demigods. Percy and Sadie high fived while Annabeth and Carter shook hands.
"Guys. This is Nico, son of Hades." Percy said, gesturing to Nico who waved awkwardly. "Nico. Carter and Sadie Kane. Egyptian magicians." He said to Nico and he shook hands with the Kanes.
"I still love how the 'egyptian magician' thing rhymes." Percy grinned.
"I am strongly in agreement with that." Sadie nodded sagely. Carter ordered coffee for everybody and till the coffee came, Annabeth and Carter talked about the architecture book that Carter had read and Sadie ranted about Anubis to Percy and Nico, both of whom looked highly amused.
"So, what's going on, Perce?" Carter asked as their coffees came and they all leaned back in their chairs and got down to business. Percy explained everything about the war to the Kanes and their faces went grim and they nodded.
"We heard about the prophecy. Looks like the fate of the world is once again on the shoulders of your guys." Carter sighed. Percy, Annabeth and Nico nodded grimly.
"How can we help?" Sadie asked.
"We were wondering if you could give us the help of a few of your spells." Annabeth said. Carter and Sadie nodded.
"Sure. What kind?" Sadie asked. Percy explained the mixture of Celestial Bronze and Imperial Gold to her and what they wanted to do with it.
"We could definitely give you a strengthening spell. Those are fairly easy but what I'm concerned about is that whatever weaponization you do to the barrier, its not going to be enough. From what I'm understanding, the titan has an overwhelming force, more so than the last time and much more vicious as well. You might need a few more spells in order to weaponize barrier itself." Carter mused.
"What kind of spells are you talking about?" Nico asked curiously. Carter and Sadie exchanged a look and came to a silent agreement.
"Enhancement spells might be a good way to go about it. From what you are telling us, the demigods have different powers and you could weaponized that barrier with them. You enchant this spell with a bit of your power and once you incorporate it into the barrier, it will enhance it and continue to have its effect on the enemies if they try to attack the barrier. For example, if Percy uses a bit of his power and puts in the spell, after putting it in the barrier, it will continue to hit the enemies with water blasts. That would be increasingly useful with a more variety of powers." Sadie explained.
"But wouldn't it tire us out if our power is constantly being used?" Nico asked confusedly. Carter shook his head.
"This spell repeatedly utilizes that small amount of power. After you've put the power in the spell, it does not use your energy." He said.
"That's going to be crazily useful." Percy nodded.
"Yep. Also, illusion spells might really help with what you're planning as well. Those can be scary when you want and silly at the same time. You want monsters to have nightmares. That's your spell. Its going to show them things that terrify the monster dust out of them. It will make them think that weapons are being fired from one direction and in order to dodge them, they'll step in front of an actual weapon." Carter smirked.
"That's insane." Annabeth whistled. Carter and Sadie high fived.
"How are you gonna work those spells on the barrier though?" Percy said, rubbing the back of his neck.
"You just need to give us a small amount of the mixture and we'll put the spells in that itself. They spells will automatically magnify as more amount of mixture is added into it." Sadie explained.
"We can get the mixture in about a day or two." Percy told them and Castor and Sadie nodded.
"Great then. We'll have to meet in a relatively secure place though so that we don't have to perform the spells in front of humans because that gets hard to explain to the cops." Sadie snickered.
"That's fine. We can just manipulate the mist. Nobody's going to notice a thing." Percy smiled.
"That's so cool." Carter whistled.
"We'll meet here itself then. I love the coffee." Sadie grinned.
"Seriously? They barely put coffee in this." Nico wrinkled his nose.
"Do you eat coffee or something? There was plenty." Sadie gaped at him. Nico chuckled.
"I suppose I'm immune to it at this point." He said.
"Y'all are insane." Sadie shook her head and the demigods grinned sheepishly. Everybody got up and shook hands and gave fist bumps again.
"Oh!" Carter said as he remembered something. He pulled something out of his pocket and that something was a small vulture shaped amulet. "We knew that we'd be meeting you again but we were ordered to give it this time itself." He chuckled to Percy and held the amulet out to him.
"Nekhbet sends her wishes." He smiled and Percy chuckled as he took the amulet. "It provides luck and helps keep you from breaking. She said that due to the war, you'd have a hard time. This will make sure that your spirit stays intact and you don't crack." He explained.
"Tell her I said thank you." Percy said solemnly with a small yet the most genuine smile ever.
"Will do." Carter smiled.
"Look guys. Thank you so much for helping us out here." Percy said to them gratefully. The Kane siblings smiled.
"Don't mention it, man. This isn't our war to fight but we're allies and we're friends. If there's any way that we can help save the lives of even a few of your people and play our part in helping you fight this war because this is going to be a tough one, then we definitely will. We can't fight but we can help you with spells that will strengthen your side." Carter answered with a sigh and a small smile. Everybody was quiet as they let that sink in.
"What are you guys going to do in the meantime when the war starts?" Percy asked.
"We're going to pray that you win because everybody's screwed if you don't."
Poseidon, Hades and Zeus were sitting in the cabin in the woods after the demigods had gone to meet the Kanes.
"I can't believe that they know the magician kids." Hades said for the millionth time.
"Honestly, I can at this point. Percy somehow seems to know everybody. I'm not going to be surprised if some random dude walking on the street recognizes him." Zeus shook his head.
"That's a complete possibility seeing as he was on the news a few years back for torching the Arch and because he was being accused of murder." Poseidon said dryly. His brothers snorted in amusement.
"I think I was more shocked by the conversation that the three of our kids had about fighting Kronos. It had to be one of the darkest conversations I'd ever listened to especially coming from 3 teenagers." Zeus said, running a hand through his hair.
"It was less shocking and more terrifying in my opinion especially since you don't see them so lethally angry most of the time." Hades said with a shake of his head. "But knowing exactly why Percy said what he did, I understand it." He said. Poseidon just rested his head against the back of the wall and closed his eyes, trying to forget the memories of his torture as he had tried more than a million times. As he had tried every day of his existence.
"What do you mean you know why he did it?" Zeus asked sharply. Hades raised an eyebrow at Poseidon, silently asking him whether he's going to be one to tell Zeus or Hades was going to have to.
"Percy found out about Tartarus." Poseidon swallowed thickly. Zeus' eyes went wide and his jaw dropped to the ground.
"That explains it but how the fuck did that happen?" he asked finally.
"He had a nightmare. It was most likely sent by the fates." Hades said.
"Goddamn." Zeus muttered "Now I'm just surprised that there wasn't an earthquake at Olympus." He said.
"An earthquake? That's the most you expected from him? At this point he looks ready enough to chop Kronos into smaller pieces than you did and make it 100 times more painful and yet feel no regret about it at all." Hades said with raised eyebrows. Poseidon winced, not wanting his son to have the kind of weight that was caused by such violence.
"I knew that he would be angry but not this angry." The god of the seas admitted. Zeus and Hades snorted in amusement at that.
"You're literally one of the people he cares about the most in the whole world. And he saw what happened to you in the Pit. Hearing about is one thing and that would piss him off as it is but seeing it-" Hades said with a scoff at the end "-That's a different matter altogether." He said.
"I'm worried about Percy. Whenever something about this war comes up, he's always carrying the weight of the world." Poseidon sighed.
"You're worried about him and he's worried about you. I honestly don't know how it took the campers so long to figure out what his parentage was." Zeus chuckled.
"Well, both of them do have the same fatal flaw." Hades nodded. Poseidon's gaze snapped to his.
"What did you just say?" he said.
"That you both have the same fatal flaw." Hades answered with a small smile.
"I don't think that that's true." Poseidon frowned.
"Then you're insane." Zeus deadpanned.
"You're not going to think its true because of it in the first place. Everybody knows it except you." Hades raised an eyebrow at Poseidon.
"Yeah right." The god of the seas scoffed.
"Hey, you can deny it all you want but its true." Hades shrugged. "Anyways." He said
"I really can't get what Percy said out of my head. He's so much like you that I don't even want to imagine how he's going to get once his mercy snaps." Zeus said to Poseidon.
"If you want to see that then all you have to see is him facing father. There's no way Percy's going to let him go easily." Hades told Zeus who tilted his head and nodded.
"He's a good person to have your back. Maybe the best." The god of the sky admitted.
"What are you looking so worried about, brother?" Hades furrowed his eyebrows at Poseidon who swallowed thickly.
"I don't want him to turn rageful for me." He said. 'I don't deserve it' he thought but didn't say it out loud.
"I think that there are limited people that Percy would turn rageful for and you're one of them. I don't think there's anything you can do to convince him otherwise. He never leaves anybody who hurts somebody he cares about in the best condition and well, seeing just how you were hurt, he's not going to be able to stop himself from feeling the fury no matter what." Hades thought out loud.
"He can be really scary when he wants." Poseidon said finally with a light chuckle.
"Terrifying." Hades agreed. He remembered the time when Percy had just jumped in the Styx and faced his army. Oh man, did he want to forget that.
"Did the three come back from their meeting with the Kanes?" Zeus asked.
"I told Nico to give me a call once they got back." Hades said, taking out his phone which started ringing right as he switched the screen on. "Wow, speak of the devil." Hades smirked and chuckled as he picked up.
"You said speak of the devil, didn't you?" Nico's smug voice ran out.
"And how in our name would you know that?" Hades sputtered.
"Because I'm guessing after what happened at lunch, you're probably talking about us and in that scenario, that's exactly what I would have said." Nico's chuckle rang out from the other side.
"That was plain creepy." Hades told him.
"Thanks." Nico said. "We're back, by the way." He added. "Where are you guys?" he asked.
"Where are you?" Hades countered.
"At Uncle P's quarters."
"We'll be there. Give us a sec." Hades said and Nico hung up. Hades informed Zeus and Poseidon and three of them teleported to Poseidon's quarters.
"So, what happened?" Zeus asked as soon as Percy opened the door.
"Hello to you too." The demigod replied amusedly as the three gods walked in.
"Did you get an amulet?" Poseidon asked as he squinted at what Percy was holding. The demigod nodded with a smile.
"Nekhbet." He said. "Its for good luck and mental strength."
"Why would she send you a charm for good luck?" Hades narrowed his eyes.
"She likes me. She calls me dumb but she likes me." Percy snickered.
"How does she know you?" Poseidon asked with a mixture of bewilderment and worry at what all his son was upto on his face so it basically looked hilarious, making Percy laugh. Zeus snorted in amusement at Poseidon's question. He'd heard stories about Percy's quest with the Kanes seeing as it was an inter-pantheon quest and it was his job to know about quests like those.
"She-" he started answering but was interrupted by Percy.
"Ahh no no no no." he said, shooting up from the bed he was sitting on, taking Zeus by surprise and the others. Annabeth and Nico burst out laughing at Percy's panicked face.
"Its nothing to worry about." He assured Poseidon who face palmed and groaned.
"I need water." He grumbled and walked over to the counter and picked up a bottle. Percy rubbed the back of his neck with a sheepish grin.
"Does anybody mind telling us what happened though?" Hades asked dryly.
"Oh right." Nico said, sitting up straight. "They said they'll help us out with any spells that we needed and suggested a bunch of spells as well. We're going to be meeting them again in a day or two so that they can enchant the imperial gold-celestial bronze alloy. We told Beckendorf before we came here so he could start working on it as well." He informed.
"Well, then, that's great!" Poseidon grinned.
"Yep." Annabeth smiled, popping the p. Zeus then checked his watch and sighed. He was going to have to deal with all the paperwork later and he pinched the bridge of his nose but shrugged the exhaustion off.
"We have to go back to reading." He told everybody and tapped his watch. Everybody sighed and walked to the wood cabin in the forest and everybody began trickling into cabin as the message of the reading reached them as well. Dionysus picked up the book and flipped to the correct page.
A/N-All rightt, so I know that the avengers crossover was something a few of you were looking forward to but I am already writing a story with the PJO x Avengers crossover and after thinking about it, I felt like I wanted the next war to be about something that I had already previously teased in this series as well. So I'm really sorry about the confusion but for all those who wanted to see a crossover, I am writing one and if you want to check that out then its on my profile :))
Again, I'm really sorry but I hope you enjoy how this series progresses 😔😊 (yeahh, opposite emojis but I'm kinda chaotic)