Hi, so this is a brand new story because I had this idea last night and I'm not inspired by the one I was writing before. I'll say more at the end of the chapter.
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters or story line of PJO, all rights go to Rick Riordan.
Cold leeched into my bones freezing me in place on the cold metal floor. Not that I wanted to move, no. I wanted nothing more than for the bottom of this stupid cage to open up and let me fall on the floor and then through it, all the way down to the underworld. I had no such luck.
I had failed. I didn't deserve anything I wanted.
So instead I laid against the cold golden floor of my cage watching as the sky passed above me. I had counted cloud for a while, looked to see shapes in them, but after a few days that had gotten boring.
My captors were in no hurry to get back to their fortress, that much was obvious. After three days of drunken partying in New York City, of which I had been forced to witness, the slow procession back to San Francisco had given me far too much time to think.
I knew that they could have just flashed us all to the castle instantly. But no, this was their victory parade and I would be made to witness it all.
I was their most prized trophy of war after all. The demigod who had almost beaten them, now injured, humiliated and scared. They were loving it.
I should probably say who I am.
I'm Percy Jackson, the last son of Poseidon. I retrieved the lightning bolt, I stole the fleece, I saved Artemis and I beat the Labyrinth. I was the one fated to make the choice to save or destroy the gods… and I destroyed them.
It had been going so well. For days we had managed to hold New York City, beating back the titans little by little. But then it was like a switch. Suddenly the titan forces were overwhelming us and we were forced to back up to the Empire State Building. A final line of demigods and our allies against the hordes of monsters.
It didn't surprise any of us then when their king managed to slip through our defences and reach Olympus. That was when the battle was really lost.
First Thalia fell, trapped by a statue. Then Grover was knocked unconscious. Ethan fell to a grim death thousands of feet bellow us. And then finally Annabeth was pushed away and injured by the titan, unable to fight.
That left only me. I was exhausted we had been fighting flat out for days and the Curse was sapping my strength more and more each minute. I had been thrown around and used like a punching bag for Kronos as we fought in the council room, I had barely any strength left but deep down I knew this was how it would end.
Me and him. As it was fated to be.
I just didn't realise it would come this close. The heat in the room was rising steadily as Kronos's true form burnt away Luke's mortal body, and if he was allowed to break out, I knew that everything would be over. We would lose.
I stood shakily to my feet, determined to kill the titan before he destroyed us all. But he was already at Annabeth. I wish I could move faster, get to her. But I was too weak, it took all my effort not to simply fall to the floor again but slowly I started making my way over to her. I just hoped I wouldn't be too late.
I heard her desperate and bleeding whisper "Family, Luke. You promised."
I thought the Fates must have been with us because the titan lord staggered backwards slightly muttering "Promise" and looking at her knife. Suddenly he gasped as if he couldn't get enough air. "Annabeth…" But it wasn't the titan's voice it was Luke's. He stumbled slightly. "You're bleeding."
"My knife." Annabeth choked out, she tried to move but her arm was bent at an odd angle and the knife slipped from her grip. "Percy, please…"
Her eyes were begging with me, imploring me to help her. I found the strength to move and hurried to her side, scooping up the knife. I quickly knocked Backbiter out of Luke's hand, it spun into the hearth. Luke didn't even pay attention, he just reached for Annabeth.
"Don't touch her." I growled raising the knife.
Anger rippled across his face as Kronos's voice growled: "Jackson". His whole body was starting to turn gold as Luke's mortal body was almost gone.
He gasped again and this time Luke spoke; "He's changing… Help. He's – he's almost ready. He won't need my body. Please-"
"NO" Kronos bellowed cutting off the son of Hermes. He spun wildly looking for his sword, it was still smouldering in the coals. Glowing white in the heat. He stumbled forwards, I tried to stop him but he back handed me across the room. I flew backwards, landing next to Annabeth, cracking my head on the base of Athena's throne.
"The knife, Percy," Annabeth muttered. Her breath was shallow. "Hero… cursed blade…"
My vision came back into focus just in time to see Kronos reach for the blade, but the bellowed in pain dropping it to the throne room floor. His hands were smoking and seared from holding the blade.
He turned and collapsed holding his ruined hands, Luke's blue eyes flickered towards me again. "Please, Percy."
I should kill him; I knew I should. He wanted to die. He needed to die to stop Kronos from coming back. I had to kill him.
But he seemed to know what I was thinking, "You can't do it Percy, he'll take back control. Only I can do it." He was definitely glowing now; I knew I shouldn't trust him. Not with how quickly he had been flicking between his personalities.
I raised the knife to strike. Then I remembered what Rachel told me, "You are not the hero."
"Come on Percy!" Luke begged. "There's no time."
I knew if Kronos escaped it would all be over. He would be like no enemy I had ever faced. He'd destroy the gods throne and either make them fade or imprison them in the darkest parts of Tartarus. Life as I knew it would be over.
But I couldn't do it. I couldn't help but notice the flickering ring of gold around his irises that threatened to overwhelm the blue. Kronos was trying to take control.
But then if I didn't do it, there was no way I would find his mortal point in time. "I'm not the hero." I breathed out, almost silently. Without a second more hesitation I spun the knife around and handed Luke the hilt.
Grover yelped behind me. "Percy? Are you… um…" Crazy. Insane. Off my rocker. Probably. But I stood before Luke, defenceless as he held the dagger.
Then the laugh that had haunted me since I as twelve echoed through the room. No, no it couldn't be. I lunged for the knife, but he rolled away letting me land heavily on the hard marble.
"You tricked me!" Annabeth cried from where she sat on the floor. Tears were clearing flowing down her face.
"No. You idiot." Kronos drawled as he strolled back over to me. "I tricked Castellan, that fool thought he could hold me back." I felt a toe wiggle under my stomach before I was flipped harshly onto my back, forced to look up into his solid golden eyes. "He really did think he could win me, but I can see into his head. That was never going to happen."
A sharp kick sent me sprawling over the floor, slamming me into the edge of the hearth. I didn't know if I could break bones while I had the curse, but it certainly felt like I had. My whole body burned.
"And here they come." The titan king drawled, slowly making his way towards me. Painfully I shuffled so I was laying on my back, I tried to make it seem as if I was just trying to look at the titan when in reality I was shielding my mortal point from whatever would happen next. "Here come the gods." Kronos chuckled gleefully, placing a heavy foot on my chest to stop my wiggling. I glared at him, but I had achieved what I was trying to do.
The last thing I saw was the titan lord inspecting me as the gods burst into the room before everything exploded into gold.
So that was the first chapter, just basically setting up the story and letting you know how my version alters from the original.
If any of you have read my other story 'A Heroes Fate' you'll know that I am writing a book but I am entirely uninspired at the moment, I blame the pandemic, so when I had this story idea last night I knew I had to write it. Hopefully the lockdown situation will mean that I actually get on with writing this story and I'll aim to give you weekly updates. But please don't get annoyed if I'm late, there is a lot going on in the world right now and when I get too stressed I can't write so please bare with me as I try to keep an update schedule.
I hope you are all well and please stay safe x
