Chapter 34:

Disgraceful War

The weight of a billion eyes.

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Hostile heavens threatening to fall down on him.

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The earth shook like a mangled corpse underneath.

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The sky is not the sky. Elysium is not Elysium. The Greeks aren't to be trusted.

Percy cradled his head between his arms, as if to block off the physical world from him. But it didn't matter. The restless feeling came from within, and from outside.

It made sense he could not catch sleep but it was a horrible experience all the same. Somewhere in Elysium Atlas still stood, holding the sky at bay while the forces of the gods wanted nothing but for him to drop it and to bring a swift end to everything.

It wasn't just the sky bearing down. The realization that he had reached the last bastion of humanity alive came crashing down on him as well. The realization of what he had gone through to get there. The feeling that the end was approaching. It all bore down on him. Each burden heavier on his soul than the last one.

How was one supposed to relax, in a time like this? At a place like this?

The so-called War Council would take place tonight but like everything lately, that time seemed to be further away than it should and the hands of the clock moved with agonizing patience. Maybe time was also breaking down alongside the rest of the god ruined word. But it mattered little. Percy was ordered to rest up by Reyna. Easier said than done when the sky outside was visibly shaking and the very ground underneath Elysium threatened to cave in with every enemy attack.

The room he found himself stuck inside, despite its luxurious and expensive design, had a cold and distant feel to it. Percy tried to lean back against the black leathered sofa. It was a very good looking one, made of black obsidian, cushions made of the finest silk and it's frame embedded with gemstones. Its design was, as was every part of the Titan's stronghold, impeccably beautiful and yet devoid of warmth and comfort.

Percy shifted his weight around some more, trying to find a sweet spot that would allow him to ease into slumber.

He couldn't. He opened his eyes and stared at the diamond laced chandelier that hung above him.

"You should really try to catch some sleep," a soft raspy voice murmured. On the other side of the waiting room the mountain of snakes and scales shifted slightly. Kampê's torso rose above her main body and she gave Percy a tired look. The usual animal heads that morphed around her body continued to sleep, indifferent to Kampê's actions.

Kampê yawned and said. "You don't know when we'll need to run again, and you might not get a chance to rest this safely again."

Percy briefly questioned whether the jailer had been sarcastic, but decided against it. To a degree Elysium was safe. He understood why he should sleep, his body yearned for it but his mind refused to shut down.

Percy sighed and tried to lean back again but the couch bent at slightly the wrong angle, making him feel as if he was constantly slipping. He silently cursed the Titan's for having awful sofas. "It's hard to fall asleep with this many monsters around." Percy pointed to the window. Through the dark stained glass he could barely make out the shape of a dragon against the sun. "I've never seen this many at one place before. My demigod senses are just screaming at me to get out."

That and the constant bombardment outside, the rumbling of the earth and the subtle but ever present current of strange magic, all continued to poke at his senses, yet it changed up its rhyme enough to the point he couldn't grow used to it and let it dull his mind.

Kampê opened her mouth but closed it, clearly changing her mind. She got up from the ground, stirring the snake heads away and strode towards Percy's side of the room.

"You didn't have this problem before." Kampê smiled and hissed a laugh. "Remember, you slept through that screaming star storm."

"I guess that's true," Percy murmured. He leaned away from the back of the sofa. Underneath the spotless black marble floor reflected his own image back at him. "This place, something feels bad about it. I know it's Mount Othrys but something else is nagging me as well. I just have th…and…bu…" Percy closed his mouth. He realized he would never be able to put his feeling into words.

The sensation was like an itch inside his stomach, the phantom pain of a missing thought, the hurt of something yet to come -the sensation was somewhere between these three and yet not even close. Words failed him at every angle. The only thing he could say is that it felt like that day. The day the gods declared war.

"I agree," Kampê said suddenly. Percy looked at the monster. The monster gave him a shrug. "No, I can sense it too. There's something more to this." Kampê moved her arms in front of her chest, mimicking a thinking pose. "Maybe I should ask that Praetor some questions." Kampê 's tail playfully curled around one of her scimitars. "Though she might not be the person we should be demanding questions from. This smells like a Greek plot."

"Exactly!" Percy exhaled deeply. "I just…I can't relax. I have a feeling that there's something coming. A trap of some sorts."

"Ha!" Kampê grinned, revealing a set of sharp teeth. "We haven't killed anything for more than a full day. Of course it is a trap." Her expression dimmed a little. "However, there's scarcely little we can do now."

"I know." Percy slumped back against the couch. "I just want to know why and at this point, I would be happy with just that. We could try to find Ogygia again and life out the rest of our lives there."

"Really?"

Percy shrugged. "Hestia said there's no hope for Humanity. I don't see what Elysium could do to stop Olympus. All I want to do is fulfill my promise to Leo, then I feel like my part is done."

Kampê gave Percy a concerned look. "You should sleep, you're rambling."

A light hearted chuckle came from Percy. "I feel you might be right." Percy closed his eyes for a brief second.

"Get some rest. I'll watch over you." Kampê whispered. "If they are indeed plotting something, I'll get us out of here."

Percy tried to nod, but before he could finish the thought and put it to action, he was plunged into a blissful, unaware, dark.

He was wandering the halls of Elysium when it happened. Slowly he was drifting towards where he presumed the Council meeting to be, when a voice cried out his name.

"Percy!"

Suddenly something embraced him from behind. For a split second Percy froze up. His body felt like it was jolted awake and thrown into ice water directly after. The faint smell of lightning oozed around him and he was ready to fight for his life. That was until he felt the embrace turn into a hug and he registered the voice that had called out to him.

Percy eased up and exhaled deeply. He felt uncomfortable, half strangled some would even say, but in an okay way.

Next to him Kampê watched the girl behind him warily, putting no effort into hiding her antagonism towards her. Not that it mattered, Percy immediately felt better, as if a thousand jolts of good energy and positive thoughts had been injected into his bloodstream.

Percy tried to turn around but the girl's grip was rather strong. Her warm body pressed against his and he felt her breath on his neck as she rested her head against his. "Give me one more second of this, seaweed brain." the girl's voice pleaded.

There were only a few people in the world who'd call him that. Even fewer of them who hadn't perished.

"Thalia?" Percy half gasped—half stammered. He craned his head around and saw a flash of silver, black and a soft moonlit glow.

"Of course, you idiot." The Hunter released him from her grasp.

Percy wondered for a split second whether he was looking at another Fata Morgana. A phantom created by his own mind, or from the mist. But he failed to find evidence for this.

"You're real," he muttered.

"So are you," Thalia scoffed, though she tried to hide it, the bewilderment in her eyes was more than clear. Thalia's eyes darted between Percy and Kampê. "Dam Percy, I heard Kampê was on our side, but I thought it was another baseless rumor. Turns out, she's on your side." Thalia's smile felt good to see. He again checked to see if he hadn't traveled back in time by accident, or traveled to a timeline where everything was normal. Again he came to the conclusion that it was real.

Kampê reared back and hissed "I am on no one's side. I am just here for my amusement." Thalia took a step back and looked at the jailer with a concerned look, in her hand she was already holding a silver hunting knife.

"We're friends." Percy gave one of Kampê legs a playful bump on the thigh.

"The Daughter of Zeus better watch her tongue," Kampê grumpily muttered, though her posture did relax.

After she had recovered a little from the shock Thalia's eyes turned back to the son of Poseidon. "You're actually alive." Thalia looked Percy up and down as if she expected him to vanish into thin air the moment she pulled her gaze away.

"I mean, I can say the same for you." Percy said.

The daughter of Zeus, true to Artemis' blessing, hadn't changed much at all. It was almost as if the gods never declared war. She still wore the silver parka and carried a hunter's bow over her shoulder.

Through the window moonlight flushed through the obsidian hallway, basking Thalia in a soft white glow. Despite everything, she was still a Hunter.

"So if you're still alive despite everything," Thalia excitedly said. "Then maybe Annabeth is al…" Thalia saw Percy's expression and her own expression grew dark. Like a whale stranded on land, the words on her tongue died down miserably."Oh…I see."

Percy gave her a grim nod. "We got separated during the initial attack on Camp Half-Blood. I'm sorry." He stuffed his hand inside his pocket and pulled out the Yankee cap. The cap looked dirty and stained. He held it out to Thalia.

"This is the last thing I have of her. She gave it to me before Zeus…"

Thalia grimaced. She bit her lip and balled her fist. "Those bastards." The air crackled around her.

She slapped Percy's hand away. "Keep the cap." She turned her head up. A dirty grin ran across her face. "We'll make them pay. You're here now, so that means we can finally turn things around. Like the good old titan war, remember?"

"Yeah," Percy said half-heartedly. He wasn't sure what exactly his role was, but he couldn't bear to share his insecurity with Thalia.

Now he looked at the girl again and noticed little details he hadn't seen before. She hadn't aged at all, yet her face now bore scars. A finger on her right hand was missing and the bow had been modified with strange stones attached to it, bound with green rope. But the most striking difference was her eyes. They were like glass, as if a slight shock could cause it all to crumble.

"So what happened to you?" Percy asked. "I hadn't heard anything about the Hunters. I thought you all got wiped out the first day when Artemis turned."

"Well…" Thalia refused to look Percy in the eyes. "We ran. Scattered like roaches. I don't know how I made it out alive, but most didn't. There's only six of us left." Thalia paused. "No, five."

"You still have her blessing though." Kampê remarked. She sniffed the air. "The stench of the rotting moon. How are you not dead?"

"I don't know," Thalia remarked. "It might be the last bit of remaining humanity that kept Artemis from revoking it. Or maybe she can't do that, similar to how most artifacts kept working after Olympus declared war."

Thalia grinned. It was the smile that Percy had learned to fear and respect. The spark of genius coupled with pride. "Or it could be the arrogance of the gods, and their arrogance has always been their downfall." She gave Percy a knowing wink. "You're not the only one who has been busy. We're going to finish what the two of us should've done years ago."

"Oh?"

"We should go to the Council meeting," Thalia gave Percy a slight push. "You'll hear all about it. The Endless Crusade can finally begin."

A/N Sorry it's been a while since I updated. As a reviewer pointed out, my upload schedule is indeed worse than Technoblade.

I'll try to upload the next chapter sooner, though I suspect we have less than 10 chapters left regardless. So an end to this fic might be in sight.

Thanks for reading, if you still are, drop your thoughts in the reviews and I see you hopefully soon!

Ps: Also I think this is genuinely one of the happiest chapters I wrote.
PS PS : Discord in bio or something.

-CaptainMoonShine-