All rights belong to Rick Riordan

Chapter 16

The Wings of Change

(Percy)

With great effort I pulled my head out of the wall where it had been lodged. The curse of Achilles had protected my body but I now had one hell of a headache and that pissed me off more as I looked at the son of Koios who seemed rather pleased with the act.

I stood back up before assuming the ready position again this time ready for the air current as well as the arrows should they come.

"Is that all the great Perseus Jackson has to offer, I am almost disappointed. How could scum like you have defeated the Titans and even the giants?" Lelantos gibed feigning confusion.

"My enemies underestimated me." I muttered back as I quickly dropped Riptide and drew my spear.

At the sight of the golden weapon the Titan's eyes briefly became visibly worried as the spear formed to its full flaming length in my hand. However, they swiftly returned to their previous complacency as he notched an arrow. Both of us released at the same time as I stepped forward and threw the spear at the same time as he released the string. The two projectile weapons passing within inches of another as they careened towards to the others sender. His arrow arrived first and I struggled to block it with my shield as it sought to hit my right shoulder. He simply curled his bronze wings around his body and the spear glance off the bronze feathers before burying itself point first in the marble flagstone floor. Short of staggering him and stripping a few individual feathers off it had not accomplished anywhere near what I hoped it would do.

Once again, we eyed each other, I was now again wielding Riptide as I watched the winds begin to build up around the Titan again. Suddenly simultaneously he released another arrow before sending the winds out to his side on a bending course toward me from my flanks.

Once again, I blocked the arrow only for the conflicting winds to catch on the larger surface of the shield and throw me off balance for a fraction of a second. But that was all that was necessary as I felt another arrow piercing my gut and also punching the wind out of me. I staggered before falling to my knees the shield falling from my arm Riptide by my feet as my hands grasped the arrow imbedded in me.

I could hear distantly laughing as Lelantos celebrated his apparent victory. I began to groan in frustration and grit my teeth through the pain, there was no way I was dying now not after everything I had done. Lelantos was correct I was no longer a demigod and he could attack me but there would be nothing stopping my father from ripping this place down in revenge if I died. I would not be the cause of another war not if I could still do something to stop it.

I watched my own blood pool around my hands in frustration before I snapped the shaft of at the point of entrance and stood up wearily. My left hand still cupping the wound in my abdomen.

"So, you choose to die on your feet after all sea scum. Well then why don't you come here then so I can end this!" Lelantos lauded before sending another current of air, this time to push me from behind.

I had been waiting for this moment and as it began to push me, I thrust my foot through the strap of my shield. Very soon I was riding the shield like my old skateboard towards the Titan with him providing all the propulsion. During the short journey across the room, I concentrated on him and on my time powers I would need two seconds to do my plan. Two seconds he had to not move. I almost wanted to smile as Lelantos simply stood still. Seemingly waiting for me with his open hand out as if ready to receive my neck the other holding an arrow like a knife.

When I was only two meters away, I acted. I froze the Titan before reaching under his arm and grabbing the base of one of his wings before swinging myself around behind him and kicking him square in the back with my shield strapped foot. The face of the shield made contact at the exact same time as he was restored to normal time. The super powered blow threw us both to the floor with me desperately still holding the base of his wing.

For a few seconds it seemed the Titan was shocked by what had happened as he failed to move, then again getting kicked in the spine was never fun to deal with at the best of times.

I struggled to rise to my feet on top of him before I grabbed the matching wing on his left. I was now in a position of bending over standing on the titans back both feet through the shield strap, hands grasping the non-bladed base of his wings. Up close I could see that every individual bronze feather was as sharp as blade and I was thankful my first grab had not caught them. As it was, I tentatively tugged the Titan's wings backwards before shouting to the face down figure. 'Yield'

"Never!" He cried out trying to pick himself up. As soon as he replied I simply jumped down a little on the shield and the multiplication of force crushed him back into the floor. The other wings were now flapping furiously trying to hit me but seemingly were unable to bend completely backwards.

"Final chance Yield!" This was true I could feel the strength flowing out of the wound in my chest. I had perhaps a minute before I lacked the strength to finish this in my favour.

"No, I will die before I sub—" Lelantos cried out but never got to finish that statement. As soon as he said no, I simply grabbed the two wings as hard as possible before pulling my legs up and slamming my feet down on the concave side of the shield. There was the sound of tearing flesh and breaking bones swiftly followed by screams as the two wings were ripped out of his back. With nothing to brace myself on now, I fell back off him to the floor as he cowered in pain, spasms striking his whole body.

Struggling to stand I walked over to the curled-up figure, one hand grasping my wound to stem the blood. The other now holding Maelstrom as I looked down at him.

"Yield!" I said raising the blade above his head.

"Lelantos stop being a fool and Yield, I will not lose more of my family today." Koios shouted at my opponent while his wife Phoebe looked solemn next to him staring at her son.

Slowly, the wounded Titan raised his head until he was eyeing the point of the twin-metal blade facing him almost with fear.

"I yield." He said simply before collapsing onto his side. I could now see the front of the Titan's robes were a mess of ichor as well no doubt created when he smashed against the hard floor three times most likely causing unintended internal damage such as broken ribs.

"By the right of this council, I declare Perseus the victor and by right he claims the domains of the fallen." Themis stated in her role as judge. I saw a golden light being given off by Lelantos moving towards me before the severity of my wound caught up with me and I too lost consciousness.

I woke up in intense discomfort, due to the throbbing in my head that had seemingly yet to subside. My stomach felt like it was on fire and my back felt like I was lying on a lump of bricks. I looked around and saw I was in a small room; it was obviously still in Orthrys judging by the black stone walls. I was laying on a bed with golden sheets underneath me it seemed. My stomach was bound in bandages. On the opposite side of the room the unconscious form of Lelantos was lying face down in his bed, his remaining wings splayed out to the sides leaving a massive gap where the main pair were missing.

Suddenly, I heard movement outside and was surprised to see Apollo walk in, wearing a white lab coat like a doctor, his name actually embroidered on it in gold above the breast.

"Hello cousin glad to see you are awake at last. This was not what I had in mind when I came to visit my mum and meet the grandparents." He joked sitting down across from me.

"It was not exactly how I planned it either, but at least the other guy had it worse." I joked back despite the pain I was still experiencing indicating towards the opposite bed.

"Yeah, it seems uncle Lelantos learned why no one wants to mess with you. Although I hear it cost him more than just his wings." I was briefly startled by the revelation that he was Apollo's uncle, which meant he was obviously Leto's brother of course and I began to remember the words the council had said before I blacked out.

"What else did it cost him?" I asked confused still half out of it.

"Well technically from what I have been told he is now a Titan without a domain which means he is just a normal immortal but with wings. The ones you ripped out should eventually heal luckily for him but Koios says you now have his domains as well." He said as I looked at him blinking repeatedly.

"Which is something else you seemingly haven't noticed yet, I have to admit I like the colour." He said looking at me intently only increasing my confusion.

"Perce sit up." He suggested.

I slowly struggled to pull myself forwards, as I did so I put my hands down on the golden sheets and yanked backwards hoping to pull my torso up. However, the moment I did so I felt excruciating pain flare up on my back. Frantically I reached back with my hands to find the source of the problem only to encounter resistance near my spine.

"Apollo is that what I think it is?" I asked with trepidation.

"If you mean the almost a dozen golden wings your now sporting, the ones you just pulled down on causing intense pain to yourself then... yes."

Without a second's thought, I had jumped out of bed and to my feet almost crashing into the god in front of me. Luckily the god pre-empted this as my balance seemed off due to the newfound weight on my back. I looked at the floor to see my shadow was contorted and wider than it was tall. I turned my head to my left to see the several magnificent wings spread across the room behind me.

"Here I will save you the hassle." Apollo said simply, before summoning a mirror that covered the entire wall.

The figure in front of me was unbelievable to behold, as I stood opposite my own reflection. The most obvious thing was the six pairs of wings of different sizes that ran the length of my abdomen, before fanning out to each side. The top pair rising above the sides of my head the bottom alongside my thighs. All were composed of interlocking golden feathers that seemingly weighed nowhere near as much as they should have, if I was able to stand.

Tentatively, I brushed a hand along one of them to find the feathers soft and malleable like a normal feather yet when I brushed it the wrong way they stiffened and felt sharp like Lelantos's. The other noticeable difference was I was easily several inches taller than before. I had been six feet tall before which was about the same as Apollo's human form. Now I was almost a head taller than him as I looked down at him.

"Cuz I am going to say you look awesome, the wings, your height, get yourself a set of armour and you will look like a badass. There is one more thing you have not noticed that is different. Sit down and undo your bandages." He suggested confusing me, what else could possibly be different?

I did as he asked and unwound them from my stomach careful to avoid my wings that got in the way as I struggled to fold them behind me. When I had finished, I looked down at my stomach to find it completely healed. Confused I looked up at the god of Healing.

"No look at the bandages." He advised and I did so, not noticing anything unexpected at first. Sure, they were covered in crimson blood as expected but as I looked harder, I noticed something different about the crimson stain, bits of the bloody bandage shined slightly in the light. Amongst the general crimson were tiny drops of gold here and there in it signalling Ichor but then why did I still have mortal elements to it?

"Why have I got ichor in my blood now? I didn't when I fought the Romans and I didn't when I fought him over there, why now?"

"I am not Athena, but I believe it is a result of your unique nature but this is purely guesswork. I think when you obtained my uncle's domains the Titan percentage of your DNA rose further at the cost of your mortal and the ichor is a product of that increase. Your blood is confused as to your state of body; it is unsure how to react to you. As far as I can tell you are still partially immortal but you can still die as the mortal side of you is still vulnerable. Likewise, your new height is also a product of this I think, it tried to give you a proper Titan's height but failed." Apollo guessed and his explanation made little sense but what I did understand was I could still die.

"Okay so am I fine now and not prone to dying anytime soon then Doc?"

"Yeah, your gonna be fine Perce, the headache will fade within a few hours. Although you will need a new wardrobe I think." Apollo said making me realize he was correct; nothing would fit my taller frame and what the hades was I gonna do about the wings? As if to answer my thoughts Apollo clicked his fingers and I was wearing white shirt and slacks. I rose from the bed and saw my wings emerged from the back of the shirt from slits in the fabric.

"Don't worry about it too much, Aphrodite has an entire fashion range designed for the wind gods like Boreas and Co. Although they only have one pair in stock currently, she may need to tailor you some." He suggested watching my hands feel the back of the shirt. Hopefully that was something I could get sorted without actually meeting the goddess of Love.

"Oh, one more thing before I have to go drive the sun as I am running late now. I am not telling the others about this cuz, I want to see the look on their faces when you come back next year. Although you may want to find a way of folding them or tucking them in somehow, otherwise doors are gonna be a bitch." He said with a grin.

"I can imagine already, I hated low doors already now I am even taller and wider, this is gonna suck in the mortal world." I stated with a sigh, at least Orthrys and Olympus were designed for taller beings.

"Anyway, got to go, tell my mum I miss her already." He said and with that he was gone in a flash of light and I made my way to the door.

I walked the labyrinthian corridors of the palace for what seemed like hours as I searched for the Throne Room. As I walked, I hoped to find Iapetus or someone else in the council who could tell me where I was supposed to be staying. instead the palace was silent as a tomb with no one to be seen or heard. Using the opportunity however, I slowly got used to the additional weight on my back and I began to gain some limited control over the wings being able to flex and bend them on my own without having to use my arms anymore, although I still had no idea how to fly. My overall wingspan it seemed was about twice my height around fifteen feet or so to my six-foot eleven frame.

Eventually though I finally found myself back in the Throne Room however this time it was a lot more populated than before. The thrones themselves were filled by the same figures as before but more than a dozen other figures filled the space in-between them.

I listened in from the doorway as the council finished explaining what I had told them were the conditions of their release and answered the questions they might ask. Afterwards they explained about me and Lelantos explaining the damage to the room as well as the discarded weapons around the room which I hadn't resummoned except Riptide that had returned to my pocket on its own.

When they finished describing the result, I walked in further making my presence known.

The assembled Titans before me looked at me with wide eyes as they studied every inch of me. I was still a few feet shorter than most of them but my wingspan easily made me far larger until I folded them down behind me. Slowly I made my way through the assembled crowd who remained silent as I made my way to my throne. The throne itself had also changed automatically there was a bend in the back of the seat and it was also higher. I sat to find the bend perfectly accommodated my wings as long as they were spread out to my side. The top pair resting lazily curling over my shoulders while the bottom followed the sides of my legs, the rest simply flowed over the side of the throne folding over one another.

I watched as the assembled crowd of minor Titans looked stunned before they suddenly took a knee, much to my annoyance.

"All hail, Perseus, Son of Poseidon, Titan Lord of Time, Constellations, Light, Titan of the Air and Hunters' Rhea called out to the minor Titans before us.

"That's enough of the bowing already, I am new to this and that makes me feel pompous. I have only been a Titan for two weeks at most, you have been so for millennia." I explained uncomfortably as they rose to their feet.

I listened in to the rest of the meeting, only answering questions when asked as I learned who was who and what they were like. All of them treated me respectfully, though I wasn't sure if it was because no one wanted to be fool like Lelantos and all knew my reputation as an enemy. After another hour the council session finally came to an end and the assembled Titans and Titaness's went their own ways apart from a few who made their way to their partners thrones and they left together. Eventually only myself, Nemea and an auburn-haired Titaness were left in the room as I retrieved my weapons from the places, they had fallen including Lelantos's bow that was by all rights mine. Even if in all likelihood I couldn't hit the side of a barn, whilst standing inside in it.

When I had finished doing so, the Titaness looked at me with reassuring caring eyes before talking.

"I offer my thanks for my release and for the help you have shown my daughter twice now. Once when my cousin imprisoned her and when her Hunters were attacked and you brought their killer to justice. Although I see you have been forgotten by the council and no one has shown you your chambers, follow me." She said and I tried to remember her name.

We walked in silence through the twisted corridors because she said nothing and I tried to remember her name as I looked at the back of her head and her auburn hair that reminded me of someone else before it hit me, how had I not realized when she mentioned helping Artemis.

"You must be Leto then; Apollo sends his love before he had to leave and Artemis hopes to see you soon." I said to the figure in front of me.

"It was about time you remembered my name and thank you for bearing their words, my prison may not have been as bad as some of the others but any mother misses her children when they are separated. We were only permitted to meet every hundred years or so, so I am looking forward to meeting her again soon." She answered effectively ending the conversation for the time being.

A minute later we reached my chamber according to Leto, she claimed it had formerly been Kronos's before he and Rhea had married but was now empty. She explained that the decoration was done according to the occupant and I simply had to imagine what I wanted and the room would procure it for me.

"Oh, and Perseus, thank you for not killing my fool of a twin brother, hopefully he will use the opportunity to realise what an idiot he has been." The Titaness said gratefully then promptly bid me farewell as Nemea and I entered the room.

For the next hour I scrutinized the size of the room planning things out before following Leto's instructions and begin to imagine what I wanted. I imagined walls dividing the space creating individual rooms. I created a swimming pool and fully outfitted gym at the far side of the space. Next, I created a bathroom all decorated in sea-green tiles. A wide lounge with sofas and a massive HD TV, Games consoles and speakers, just for the shear hell of it I also imagined a golden Lazyboy recliner and was surprised when it actually appeared. The far wall was a large aquarium with sound proof glass filled with all manner of fish. I like being surrounded by fish; I cannot however stand their constant fornication over me. In the corner of the room, I created a giant cat bed for Nemea to stay in, as well as an access point to the outside with attached stable for Blackjack.

Finally, I imagined my bedroom, compared to the rest of the place it was simple other than a simple Kingsize bed everything else was simply practical. No use of fancy metals or anything simple oak furniture. It was not as if I had much in the way of things to place in the cupboards or drawers. My clothes were now all largely pointless and what did fit was basically underwear that would have fit in a backpack. The last thing I placed in there was a weapons rack which I placed my arsenal on in expanded forms. Riptide, Maelstrom, Chasing Wisdom, the bow, the spear and finally my shield and I realized Apollo was right the only thing I lacked was a set of armour and I was done. Perhaps I should ask Tyson about it one day, if he wasn't too busy.

Finally, I was done for the moment and I laid on the bed, I had created a hollow in the mattress so my wings curled upwards from my sides and I didn't feel the lump against my back like before. As I closed my eyes, I hoped the coming times would not be as difficult as today.

Slowly I drifted off to sleep, as I did so I wondered if this was going to be the rest of my life. Hanging around with the rest of the titans in comfort and peace. For so long now I had been always under threat from something and now I was supposedly safe I wasn't sure how to act, maybe it would eventually grow on me.

AN. If anyone wants a rough image of What Percy's wings look like search google for Gallantmon Crimson Mode but gold of course.