Son of the Moon

Chapter 67

-Percy-

His vision was black as Tartarus even as the screaming stopped and Percy felt himself collapsing to the ground. The cool hands of who he assumed was Serephone trying to stem the bleeding. He though the heard footsteps storming into the throne room but his hearing was starting to fade out like his vision had.

"-aded!"

That was a man's voice, so not the Empousai that Polybotes had died to save. Had the others managed to recover?

"-ecy?"

What were they discussing? It was getting harder to think, and everything was growing so cold.

"-ne way."

A way? A way to what?

"-choice." That word came through clearer through his fading sense and carried weight.

Like lightning, Percy felt power pumping into him faster than his blood could leak out. Slowly, his eyes began to crack open as he looked down, seeing the red flowing from his guts turning gold even as the wound began to stitch itself closed.

"W-what?" Percy coughed, looking around as he saw the brazier's fire had dimmed since his vision faded. The corpses of Pollux and Miranda were removed and the blood on the floor had dried so he wasn't sure how long he had been in that state. The Throne room was now filled with the returned gods and the forces who had been defending New York.

"Percy!" Bianca threw herself into his arms, holding him tightly even as his mother did the same not even a second later.

"We made a Choice." Zeus spoke solemnly, "One that should have been yours to make but I…I could not just let you die after you had saved Olympus." The face of the pained grandfather faded as the King of Olympus rose to his full height, blasting the master bolt into the heavens "HAIL! Perseus Jackson, new god of Olympus!"

"HAIL!" the other gods and goddesses intoned even as Percy was thunderstruck, processing that he was a immortal now. He was a god now.

"I…you made me a god?" Percy felt his strength returning far faster than it ever had when he was a mortal, further confirmation of what he'd just been told.

"A single Choice shall end his days." Apollo quoted the prophecy "An apparently misleading line. The choice was not yours to decide, but father's. And it ended your days as a mortal, but not your existence."

"I…" Percy trailed off, his eyes widening as he processed what he was experiencing "Mom…Bianca…I can feel you!" he glanced at his shining silver arms that were wrapped around his love and his mother, able to feel them under the metal that had remained cold and unfeeling since he lost his flesh arms "I can feel you again!"

"Those arms have become a part of you during your time as a mortal, and as such they are with you as a god." Zeus nodded, "A true part of you, without the hindrances you suffered before." Pushing himself to his feet, Percy saw the spot that had once held Poseidon's throne stood empty even as he felt a tether to that location. As he continued to stare, the marble floor began to shift and crack, a gleaming silver throne pushing up that he felt drawn to.

"HAIL!" Apollo intoned, his voice carrying the weight of Prophecy and Truth in it that Percy had never heard before. He wondered if that was because of his new status or if it was just something that his Uncle had never done near by him in the past "Perseus Jackson, newly throned Olympian god, your domains are decided! You shall rule as god of Heroes, as god of Quests, as god of Determination, and god of Poisons."

"Poisons?" Percy was stunned at that last one.

"Polybotes…he left his essence to you." Serephone's voice was soft, mourning "He changed you to help you strike the final blow." Following her gaze, Percy saw silver scales on his skin, meeting where the metal of his silver arms were "I don't know if he will ever come back." or if he was truly faded, "But his power remains with you, as does his trident." Percy could still feel Polybotes power in that weapon as it lay by him, but his own energy as well "Until then, if you will have me, I will serve as your priestess. Honoring his last choice, and waiting for him to come back to me." The monster woman gave a sad smile "No matter how long it takes."

"I will welcome you." He promised her, not wanting to dishonor the ally who'd ensured they could win the day "And I look forward to him coming back too." He hoped Polybotes would anyway.

"First though, we need to recover as best we can and prepare for the final push." Zeus spoke up again, "Gaea still remains with her Giants. So far as we've been able to tell she revived all the Giants loyal to her the first time by now. With Polybotes sacrifice and your having already slain Alcyoneus and Orion that leaves nine major Giants to deal with."

"My banes, Ephialtes and Otis." Dionysus spoke up, the other gods with remaining major giants following suit.

"Periboia." Aphrodite scowled.

"Mimas." Hephaestus shook his head.

"Hippolytos." Hermes spun his Caduceus, the snakes upon it hissing in distaste.

"Enceladus." Athena spoke up, sounding distracted as glanced in the distance, Percy's gut telling him she was watching Annabeth's lumbering return to Tartarus.

"While I still have Porphyrion, Hecate has Clytius, and the fates have Thoon." Zeus finished up, "Every god will have a demigod partner to help them deal with any Giants when we go on the offensive." Zeus glanced to the demigods, specifically those closest to Percy "Once this is done, and we no longer have to contend with the Giant Invincibility, then several of you shall join Perseus in eternity." A weight Percy hadn't given voice to yet faded at that statement, Bianca squeezing his hand to show she'd felt the same.

Olympus became a flurry of activity as the demigods were all brought up to rest and recover while the spell over New York was removed and the Titan prisoners questioned.

"Percy…there is something else you should know." His mother's voice was soft as she pulled him and Bianca away from the flurry of activity, heading to a much quieter garden "It's about the New Rome force that attacked Othrys."

"I was fighting Perses when his power vanished." Percy felt the mourning for lost soldiers already, figuring that was what his mother was informing him of as they came here.

"Yes…but there's something else you weren't informed of." His mother held both his hands, "Reyna didn't want you to be distracted so she kept this silent, but she led that mission herself." A stone fell in Percy's stomach "Hades said she and the others with her were already fast tracked to Elysium." It was cold comfort though as he let his tears fall at the pain of learning that it wasn't just good soldiers and allies who died, but one of his friends.

All of this…because of them.

A furious silver aura began to rise from his skin like mist "I'm going to ram my sword through Thalia's fucking skull." Percy snarled, "She and Gaea are going to pay for every fucking person who died because of this stupid war."