After dinner that night (during which Percy had lit a small fire in a stove in the corner and they'd all sacrificed part of their dinner again—Percy to Hestia and Neptune because it was probably a good idea to stay on his good side), they all retreated to their rooms to do their own thing. Annabeth called her father and let him know that her train had been late and because of it, she was on a quest now. She'd be there soon, though she didn't have a set time. At least that's what she told Percy she'd said. Judging from the look in her eyes, something else had gone down that she wasn't sure how to take.

Percy didn't ask and she didn't tell.

Meanwhile, he called his mother and some of his other friends from camp, mainly to wish them happy holidays or Merry Christmas, or whatever they preferred. Most people just appreciated the well wishes, and he loved that. His mother was just glad he'd made it safely.

He'd called the entire Hermes cabin, and whoever remained there. Leo and Beckendorf at the Hephaestus cabin (they seemed to be working on something big for any upcoming battles, so yay there). Luke and Thalia had been at the Zeus cabin moping and unhappy but obviously taking comfort in each other if their holding hands the whole time had been anything to go by. Honestly, Percy was a little surprised Luke had been let into the Zeus cabin at all, really, but there he was. They said they'd talk to him about what was bugging them later (even though he already knew), but they'd like to be alone at the moment. He respected that and told them he'd give them another call in the upcoming days.

Then he worked through most of the rest of the Hermes cabin who hadn't been at camp, before beginning to contact the rest of the cabins and the people he'd befriended, just to say hi. That had taken a large portion of his secret stash of drachma, and unfortunately he couldn't just go out and get more because Romans didn't use them. He could potentially use Roman coins, but didn't think he could get those easily with how New Rome was treating their group. At least he was still getting his monthly 'allowance' from Poseidon (don't ask him how that worked with the schism) so it shouldn't be too bad, he'd just have to be frugal for a while.

He'd actually ended with the Apollo cabin and Erin being the last person he'd contacted; wanting to end the night on a good note.

After she answered and they exchanged hellos, he asked her how Colorado was.

"Boring, but I'm looking forward to graduating high school."

Right. She was eighteen. Almost nineteen. He hadn't spoken to her about her plans for after graduation.

"Any colleges picked out?"

"Well," she said thoughtfully, "I have applied to a few good ones in New York so I can be there to help out with the camp more."

Percy's shoulders relaxed, and he was glad she probably couldn't see that through the small window of the IM-phones as Percy liked to call them. No one else but Leo did, but he was positive it would catch on eventually.

"So you're coming back?" he asked quietly.

"Of course," she said fondly. "I know a lot of people graduate and never look back, but that's not me. I'd like to keep teaching healing to my siblings. Besides, Luke's there. He's only a year older than me and he stays."

He didn't have anywhere else to go. But Percy didn't think that was his place to say.

Then Erin paused, as if thinking hard about something.

"I… didn't survive the harpy attack in the original timeline, did I." It wasn't a question. Percy felt himself stiffen.

"I don't know," he said.

"You knew something was coming for me, though."

He sighed. "You were sixteen last summer, almost seventeen. There weren't a lot of options."

Neither one of them spoke for a while after he said that. Then, "You said you might be several centuries old." Percy cursed his past self. He hadn't wanted the camp to know about his godhood status, so he hadn't said anything about it. Only that he was from the future. When people asked from when, he just said a while and shrugged, keeping it vague. The only other person he'd told besides Luke and Annabeth had been Thalia. And the gods, but they didn't count.

"You are, aren't you." Again, it wasn't a question. And he couldn't lie to her. Not outright. But if he deflected, she'd take it as truth anyway.

"Yeah," he muttered.

Another pause. "How?"

He shook his head. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Okay," she said after a moment. "But if you ever do… I'm pretty good at keeping a secret."

He smiled at the tiny window. Judging from her own small grin, she'd seen it. "Thanks," he said. "I might take you up on that."

He didn't want to keep talking about it, and tried to change the subject back, but it felt stilted. Not negative, necessarily, but awkward. Finally, after some goodbyes, they ended the call. It wasn't the high note he'd wanted to end on, but he'd take it.

xXx

Percy had asked the other two which room they'd be comfortable with taking. Annabeth, as wary as she'd been around him, still wanted nothing to do with Tyson more, so she asked for the far room and if he could take the middle. Tyson had just been happy to have his own room that wasn't a refrigerator box. The look on Annabeth's face when he'd said that had been uncertain, but she hadn't said anything.

Once they'd all gone to bed for the night, Percy couldn't seem to sleep. When he finally did drift off, though, he knew it was another one of those dreams almost immediately.

It didn't help that he seemed to be in Tartarus. Thankfully, he'd had enough dreams about the place over the years that he honestly only felt mild discomfort at the inhospitable landscape. The gold mist swirling before him was another matter.

"Perseus," Kronos' cold, dark voice—so opposed to the brilliant, golden glow—said.

Percy took a deep breath at his name—his full name, of course. "Grandfather."

The gold formed into a general figure of a face, one that thankfully looked nothing like Luke's. It took Percy a minute to realize that this must be Kronos' actual face, or an approximation, because he could pick out features he recognized. Some in himself even. The shape of the eyes. The cheekbones. That smile.

Why did his father have to inherit Kronos' smile? And then pass it onto Percy? He withheld a shudder.

"I have to thank you for being a messenger," the Titan said. "My future self was quite ingenious to take advantage of the situation. Though it seems you received your memories faster, unfortunately. No matter though."

Percy wondered if that meant Kronos still didn't have all his memories. He could hope, but couldn't assume.

He also didn't think he could press Kronos for more answers without giving away too much information of his own, so he just changed the subject.

"Where's Roxanne?"

"You know, Perseus," the Titan went on as if Percy hadn't even spoken, "I always thought it funny, once I heard of your ascension, of course. What were your domains again? There were five of them, correct?" Percy's jaw clenched, still not wanting to give too much away or risk falling into his destruction domain again. Why did all his domains have to follow him back? He'd been just fine with only his father's, the first time.

"Protecting your little demigods was one, wasn't it?"

"Where's Roxanne?"

Once again, Kronos continued as if he hadn't heard Percy. "Loyalty—to gods that don't deserve it, of course." Percy snorted. If Kronos thought that was where his loyalties lie, he didn't know nearly as much as he thought he did.

"Something with the ocean, too. But something about the earth as well. Weren't those combined?"

Percy just shook his head, wondering if Kronos could even see him. Most likely, he could only sense Percy's consciousness but that wasn't a certainty either.

"Then there was the one you gained down here." Percy couldn't help that he stiffened. He didn't want Kronos to know about Ahklys… but then again, if he'd somehow reformed down in Tartarus, even enough to send some memories back from the future, then he'd probably coalesced enough to learn about that. Percy really wished that memory had gotten lost along the way back in time.

"What a cruel little godling you are."

"I don't want to hear that from you," Percy responded. "Now, where's Roxanne?"

"Powerful too. Why did you side with the Olympians?" Because they wouldn't destroy the world on a whim. Or, at least, had a less likely chance. He was still convinced Kronos would wipe out humans as much as he could if he won. At least Morpheus—who had sided with him the first time—cared about humans enough to put them to sleep. Well, either he cared, or he hadn't wanted the panicked crowds that could get in the monsters' ways. Humans banding together could turn the tide out of sheer numbers if sufficiently motivated. They'd have difficulties fighting monsters, but it would be possible. They'd just have to be clever about it all, but they could be. Kronos either knew that and didn't want to deal with them, or he didn't and saw them as insects to wipe away. Percy didn't know which, but he couldn't let someone who thought either gain control again.

"Why? Because they're not you," he said instead. "Now answer the question."

"And then there's your last one… Perseus." Percy winced. It was bad enough when demigods and gods said his name, but Kronos was putting as much power behind his voice as he could, and it was waking Percy's destructive side. "It's amazing how altruistic some of your other domains are. Even liquid, to an extent, despite how you gained that one. Loyalty, your little half-mortals… even the ocean one can be pretty neutral. But destruction, Perseus? One of these doesn't belong, methinks."

"Yeah, well, sapient beings are complicated like that," Percy snapped back. "Go figure. Now, for the last time, where. Is. Roxanne?" He knew he put too much power behind that—more than he wanted, but unfortunately not enough to phase Kronos as he laughed.

"Right here." The golden aura swept around Percy, and he turned to see a figure curled up next to the Phlegethon, dirty, bleeding from where jagged rocks had pricked her, and so dirty she almost blended in with the river bank.

"Roxanne!" he yelled, rushing forward. She didn't respond. He reached her side and checked. She was breathing, but slowly.

"Thankfully, I remembered your little stint down here," Kronos said thoughtfully as Percy dropped to his knees, not caring about the sharp rocks biting into them. He reached his spectral hands out to her. She stirred at his touch. He tried to channel as much of his demigod domain into her as he could. He could heal demigods in the future, just because they were his domain. But did he have that kind of power now? Especially in a dream. He didn't know. He hoped so. "That's what saved her," the Titan went on. Percy ignored him, closing his eyes and focusing on her. It reminded him of the night they'd found her outside the camp. "The Phlegethon. And my presence, of course. But living down here is so… difficult. So little food. She has to kill monsters to eat, you know, Perseus."

Percy grit his teeth. He had to focus on his single demigod domain. Nothing else could sneak in or he could hurt her.

Almost as if he'd read Percy's mind, Kronos chuckled darkly. "Such conflicting domains. Protection and preservation versus destruction. Gods with conflicting domains tend to end up at war with themselves. I wonder how long that will take you? And which side will win."

Below him, Roxanne groaned and opened her eyes, a dull brown-gray almost blending into her dirty skin.

"Who's there?" she slurred.

"It's me, Percy."

But she didn't respond, head rolling back onto the ground almost immediately.

"Thank you for sending her my way," Kronos said, almost mildly. Percy grit his teeth. "A mean little thing, this one. Vindictive."

"Do you say that about everyone?" Percy asked, once again trying to focus on helping Roxanne. He knew what it was like down here, and if he could give her any respite from the nightmarish landscape, he would.

"Only those who deserve it."

Percy snorted. "That's called 'projection'. You should look it up."

Thump, thump, thump! What was that noise? And where was it coming from?

"Well, I think it's about time you woke up then, now that we've had our little talk, Perseus. After all, I have plans to alter, and you have a storm to quell."

Confused, Percy blinked. "Wait, what?"

But then he found himself gasping and sitting up in his small bunk. The boat rocked hard and he fell out of his bed. What?

"Percy!" Annabeth's voice came from the other side of the door, "is this your storm?"

He stood up. "My what?"

"Your storm!"

"Big brother!" Tyson wailed. "I don't feel so good."

Another wave rushed the boat. Percy gulped and reached out to the lake around them. Large waves rocked the entire body of water, and he could sense the storm above. A storm that shouldn't be there…

Cursing, he reached out to his surroundings and breathed out, trying to calm everything and himself. Slowly, ever so slowly, the wind calmed and the waves smoothed out. The clouds overhead began to clear away. That had been his storm. But he thought he'd been getting better with his control…

Except Kronos had kept digging at him, trying to prod him into… this? Probably. He grit his teeth, but continued to force the lake to calm.

Finally, everything had returned to normal and he glanced up to see his open door. Annabeth stood there, staring at him. Tyson peeked around over her shoulder, face pale.

"Percy…" she started slowly, "what was that?"

He grit his teeth. "Grandfather," he growled.

Her eyes widened and her own face paled. "What… did he want?"

"To sabotage me. Kept calling me by my full name."

She frowned. "Using your full name does that?"

He shook his head, feeling more tired than he had when he'd gone to sleep. "When spoken by a Titan, it does." Apparently.

"Any Titan?" she asked cautiously.

He shrugged. "Dunno. Really don't want to find out."

She nodded but her troubled frown didn't leave her face.

"Big Brother!" Tyson said, rushing into the room and scooping Percy up, causing the boat to rock again with the sudden shift of weight. Behind him, Annabeth—who had jumped out of the way—yelled in protest as she tried to keep her feet. Percy wondered how she had in that storm. Maybe she hadn't? He tried not to feel guilty.

"Hey, I'm okay, big guy," he said, patting Tyson's back. The cyclops just continued to hug him. Sighing, Percy resigned himself to being his brother's support demigod for the next half-hour at least. Behind him, Annabeth sighed and he heard her bare feet tromp back to her room.

Eventually, he managed to get Tyson back into bed, then collapsed onto his bunk himself. At least he wouldn't have to get up too early tomorrow. Maybe he could sleep in.

Yeah, right.

As he drifted off again, he made a mental note to send as much food down to Roxanne as he could once he got back. He could get something to the Hermes shrine at least. Maybe some canned goods?

That was the last thought he remembered before sleep overtook him once again.

xXx

He woke to the sound of wood hitting wood.

"Yay!" Tyson yelled after a moment. "You're so good, Annie Beth."

Annabeth didn't answer, but the noises did start up again. More aggressively. Well, she wasn't yelling at anyone, and Tyson didn't sound like he was in pain, so Percy would call it a win. For now.

After washing up and grabbing an apple, some peanut butter, and some bread from the cabinet in the small kitchen, he climbed up the stairs and into the cool morning of a Californian winter. The sun had risen, but hadn't cleared the mountains in the distance yet, so he'd managed to sleep in fairly late. A nice surprise. He didn't expect it to last.

"Brother!" Tyson said happily the moment he saw Percy.

"Finally," Annabeth said tightly, spinning around from where she'd been hitting a dummy set up in the middle of the deck. There wasn't a lot of space, but that could be training in and of itself. Where she'd gotten a dummy, he had no idea. Maybe she'd asked their guards? "We need to strategize if we're going to win this."

Percy found himself smiling at that, albeit a little sadly. That was so Annabeth. Just… not his Wise Girl. "Because Athena always has a plan?" he still found himself saying.

She scoffed. "Of course. Tell me everything you can about the fighting style here."

His smile brightened, and may have turned just a little smug. "I'll do you one better. Most fights are best two out of three for demonstrations like this. I don't know if that's how they used to do it in Ancient Rome, but it is how they do it here. I know how they fight from experience, so I figure if I go first, you can watch their movements and come up with a strategy then."

She blinked, eyebrows rising in surprise before lowering in thought. She put a hand to her chin, then nodded. "Good plan. But I'd still like to know what you can tell me about them."

"Fair enough. Well, there's a reason Rome dominated the Mediterranean Sea for nearly a thousand years, give or take a century or two. While their fighting style changed significantly over the years, the really successful plans tended to work around discipline, consistency, and later on, numbers. Their god of war did take over battle strategy and it shows. They incorporated a lot of planning into their strategies. It made them very successful, and you'll find a lot of that implemented here in New Rome today."

She scowled, but took that in, nodding. Then she eyed him suspiciously. "Why am I hearing a 'but' in there?"

He shrugged. "Every style of fighting has its weaknesses. Greeks tend to power through things in general." Her eyes narrowed and he held his hands up. "Not saying that there's no strategy in the way Greeks fought. Of course there was. But usually not to the harsh and rigorous standards of the Romans. Greeks tend to be more unpredictable, and that can be a strength or a weakness. Romans tend to be very rigid. That can be a strength or a weakness."

"But not every Roman—especially New Roman—will necessarily adhere to that stereotype," she muttered.

Percy grinned, nodding. Of course she'd catch onto that.

"What type of armor will we be wearing?"

"Probably a decent amount. This isn't a fight to the death, though they'll probably set the conditions of winning and losing once we get there. It could be first blood, it could be knock out or surrender. But they will definitely have armor, a shield, and at least one weapon of your choice. Since we're the challenging party, we'll choose our weapon first and may not know what the defenders choose. But you will have to declare every weapon you take into the arena. Not doing so could invalidate the fight."

She sighed, but nodded again. "Okay. Yeah. We can do this."

He smiled. She was probably trying to convince herself, but she wouldn't say it if she didn't see at least a possibility.

"Percy," Tyson said suddenly, voice small. "You and Annie Beth are fighting today, right?"

Turning to his brother, Percy nodded.

"I don't want you to fight."

How was it that Percy couldn't help but think of Tyson at this age as adorable? And sweet. And just the best.

"A cyclops that doesn't want to fight?" Annabeth asked skeptically, voice low enough he could barely hear it. Percy was pretty sure he wasn't supposed to hear it, so he ignored it and pushed down the frustration and anger that rose with those words. He'd deal with that later.

"I don't like it either, buddy," he said, walking up to his suspiciously shiny-eyed brother. Code yellow, code yellow, potential crying alert! Handle with care. "But we have to prove that we're worth listening to, and the people around here don't tend to listen to people who aren't skilled. Unfortunately, fighting is a big thing here, and something we'll have to do in the future. It's part of the reason we're here at all, to help Camp Jupiter prepare for war. So we have to prove we can."

Tyson just looked down sadly. "I don't like it."

"Me neither. But unfortunately, in the pantheon we were born into, we have to get used to it." Though maybe that was something he could change?

His domains thrummed with that thought and he felt himself stiffen. Pushing the thought aside (again, later), he put a hand on his brother's shoulder. "But you're not here to fight. You're here to learn how to build things. So you don't have to worry about fighting at least."

Tyson's eye lit up. "Right! I remember!"

Annabeth scoffed again, but Percy still ignored her. "Hopefully, you won't have to fight while you're here at all." Great, he just jinxed it, didn't he? Trying to keep that thought from showing on his face, he went on. "But you do have to be prepared for it, just in case. Okay, buddy?"

Tyson didn't look happy, but he still nodded. At least he didn't look like he was about to cry still. Crisis averted.

After a couple of moments, Tyson brightened again. His moods hadn't been nearly so whiplash in the future, but Percy still found it endearing. "I'll build you the best weapons!"

"Whoa, there," Percy said, smiling. "I already have Riptide." He held up his pen. Tyson's shoulders sank, so the time-traveler hurried on. "But I could use a shield. One I can take with me. Or maybe some armor. Annabeth too."

"Don't bring me into this," she muttered, but there wasn't a bite to her words. At least not like there had been. Improvement.

"Anyway," he clapped a much happier looking Tyson on the shoulder. "I'm going to show Annabeth a couple of Roman basics, and then we can go for a swim if we get done early enough. Sound good?"

"Yeah!" Tyson beamed.

"Great," Percy said as he stood. "Now, let me show you some of the basics you can expect to see." He turned to Annabeth and took out Riptide, holding it up. "Romans tend to get in close with a lot of stabbing and thrusting while using their larger shields to protect their bodies. Not always, but again, basics. Now this move…"

He continued to show her a lot of what she could expect and could already see her latching onto the different movements and how they could be useful and what chain of strikes, slashes, and parries could be beneficial. She wasn't a daughter of a war goddess for nothing.

Now if her body would be able to keep up with it was another matter altogether, but he would be surprised if she didn't already have a dozen strategies in place by the time he finished an hour and a half later. Of course, that was when he realized Tyson had finished off his apple, the peanut butter, and half the loaf of bread.

"Tyson!" he'd practically whimpered. Now he'd actually have to cook something for breakfast. His brother had just rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. Something about the entire scene must have looked funny because Annabeth burst into laughter and both of the boys turned to stare at her. That, of course, just made her laugh harder.

He pouted outwardly, but inside, he beamed. Maybe this whole quest wouldn't go too badly after all?

He really should have known better.

xXx

AN: So, missed last week because I came up with another short-story idea. It's actually already finished (only 4 chapters long... which is STILL FOUR TIMES LONGER THAN IT I PLANNED ON! Why am I seeing a trend here?) Should be posting that one pretty soon here. :) Let's just say Percy gets his peace. It isn't anything like he imagined it would be. Current tentative name: Choices if you want to keep an eye out. :)

Update on Hubby: He got his trake out! *squee* And those tend to heal surprisingly quickly. But now we don't have to worry about him having a nurse everywhere he goes because of any complications with his tracheotomy. Also going to have to be doing a lot of work to make the house safe for him. It's gonna be a doozy, but hopefully he can be home early next year. :) *crosses fingers*

Anyway, thank you so much for reading!

Also, thanks to my beta readers and a particular group of generous supporters: Srinikha, Snow, Asterius Daemon, Shadow Slayer, Starlight3, The Chromancer, Fiah, Pan_theytic_idiot, aaron E., Rayanne E., Splashbear, Shelby A., Rodger44777, and Quathis for their help on this!

Check out my discord for a link (#announcements or #Obis-podfics-and-youtube) to my youtube and my original book on Amazon! Still looking into finding another place I feel I can trust for book publishing outside of Amazon, but life has been... hectic. *ahem*

Discord: www. discord. gg/xDDz3gqWfy (no spaces)