Chapter Text
Percy didn’t feel very dead.
For a start, he could still wiggle his toes, which he was pretty sure was a good sign of alive-ness.
Secondly, he was warm. He may have flunked biology, but even he knew that corpses should be cold. Plus, he’d visited (a nice way of putting it, really) the Underworld many times before, and it wasn’t exactly toasty.
Finally – and this was probably the most telling sign – Percy was 76% sure that the girl stood opposite him was drinking hot chocolate. As far as he knew, hot chocolate wasn’t served in the Underworld.
“First time here?” The girl said, taking a sip of her drink.
Percy blinked.
“There’s hot chocolate on the stove,” she continued, waving a nonchalant hand in the direction of a small kitchenette. “You may as well get settled. This usually takes a while.”
The girl – who Percy could now see had messy black hair, poison-green eyes, and a strangely-shaped scar across her forehead – sank into a large armchair and pulled out a book.
Percy blinked again.
“Are you dead?”
The girl paused.
“Hmm. I think so.” She said, “Though sometimes it’s hard to tell.”
“Am I dead?” Percy then asked, idly wondering if this was all just a very strange dream.
“Most likely. Though if you’re here instead of whichever afterlife you’d usually go to, then you’re probably not dead-dead. Just… mostly dead.”
Mostly dead? What-?
Percy shook his head.
He had no idea what was going on and, frankly, he didn’t care. Even if he wasn’t dead-dead, as the strange girl suggested, he had no desire to go back to his life – the life that ended, quite violently, with betrayal and a lightning bolt – so he figured he may as well help himself to that hot chocolate and wait for someone to explain everything.
Filling his mug – a blue one that had appeared out of nowhere on the counter – with the warm drink, Percy then moved to lounge on the sofa. The girl opposite him remained engrossed in her book, and a comfortable silence fell, letting Percy, for the first time in years, truly relax.
He didn’t know where he was, but if this was his eternal afterlife… well, Percy was pretty happy with it.
Elysium, as great as it might have been, still held the souls of all the people he’d failed to save. It would also, likely in the near future, be residence to the souls of his betrayers – the friends that has so easily turned their backs on him as soon as the Gods decreed it.
“…too powerful!”
“…too dangerous!”
“A threat to us all!”
“He cannot be allowed to live.”
“The council has decided…”
“Not my son!”
Percy shook his head, forcing away the memories of his last moments on Earth.
No. This afterlife, with the comfy sofa and the warm hot chocolate (and maybe even blue cookies if he asked nicely), was far better than Elysium.
Even the green-eyed girl, who’d done little more than welcome him before falling silent to read her book, was better company than he’d had in years. How sad was that!
If only his Father and brother could be there with him…
His Father, Poseidon, had been the only one to fight for Percy. While some of the other gods had been reticent, at first, to actually kill him, Poseidon was the only one to openly oppose Zeus’s decision. He’d been willing to fight, facing down Zeus himself, but the other gods had overpowered him. They’d forced him to watch as his half-blood son was executed.
The sight of those anguished sea-green eyes, that so closely resembled his own, would haunt Percy for the rest of his life. Well… his afterlife.
It was nice though, to know his Father loved him when most of the other Gods rarely bothered to even recognised their children.
It was a thought he could hold onto. That he was loved. Even if his friends had disappointed him in the end, even if the gods who Percy had fought two wars for had turned against him, at least he still had the love of his parents. Paul, his stepdad, had loved him too, as well as Tyson, his sweet baby brother. Percy didn’t want to think about how upset Tyson would be when he heard the news, how those baby-seal eyes of his would well up with tears and he’d wail for all the ocean to hear.
Yes. Percy knew he was loved.
It was more than many demigods could claim.
A loud POP sound snapped Percy out of his thoughts, and he looked up to see Thanatos – the literal God of Death – standing at the foot of the sofa. His wings spread out, majestically behind him, and his eyes twinkled with something akin to amusement.
Why was he here? Was he here to take Percy away? He didn’t want to leave! It was so peaceful in this afterlife. Surely they wouldn’t put him here just to drag him out? Right
It’s about time you got here,” the girl spoke up, closing her book and placing her now-empty mug on the coffee table. “What were you doing? Playing peek-a-boo with the dead babies again?”
Percy choked, turning to stare at her incredulously. Peek-a-boo with dead babies? What the hell?
“I was not.” Thanatos replied, smiling at the girl with surprising fondness, “Though why you continue to tease me for such a thing, I know not. You didn’t seem to mind it when you were a baby.”
I’m sorry… what?!
“Well, I wasn’t exactly dead, was I? Just slightly-dead. And besides, it’s not like I can remember it! I was a baby.”
“A very cute and very powerful baby.”
“Cuteness does not aid in memory retention. If it did, I would have photographic memory.”
“Ah, complimenting yourself again, are you?”
“Well, no one else does.”
“Um, excuse me!” Percy cut in, staring wide-eyed as the girl bantered with Death, “can someone please explain what the hell is going on!”
The duo turned to him, as though only just remembering he was there, and he tried not to fidget under their combined gaze.
“Ah, yes,” Thanantos said, “Perseus Jackson. Someone will be along to explain things to you, shortly. Your death has caused quite a stir.”
“A good stir or a bad stir?” Percy questioned, “Like, are we stirring cookie dough here? Or the kind of stirring where ancient monsters wake up and choose violence?”
There was silence for a moment, as the two digested his words, and then the girl – Percy really needed to learn her name – snorted, shoulders shaking with laughter. Thanatos just looked perplexed.
Before either could answer, however, a different voice echoed through the room.
“An interesting analogy,” it said, neither male nor female sounding, but deep and smooth. “Though the answer is neither. If anything, your death is both incredibly annoying and rather exciting.”
Percy spun around, laying eyes on a tall figure with skin as black as the night sky, and teeth so white they should probably come with a warning label.
“You’re not the first god to call me annoying,” he said, warily. “And I’m sure most monsters would find my death quite exciting, so which are you?”
The figure laughed.
“I am neither god nor monster, little demigod. They are nothing but children compared to me.”
Percy narrowed his eyes.
“So, you’re a Primordial?”
He hadn’t exactly had good experiences with Primordials – Gaia, Tartarus, Nyx – so he was, understandably, suspicious.
“Some would say so, yes.” The figure replied, thoughtfully, “but I ecisted long before even those entities were formed.” – They smiled, flashing their too-bright-teeth again – “I am Khaos. Creator of… well, everything!”
Khaos spread their arms, as though expecting applause.
Percy blinked.
Khaos. Right. Creator of the Universe. The Grandpa Primordial. The Void from which everything – including cookies, and monsters, and cookie monsters – came. Right.
Why the hell were they talking to him?
“I’m guessing you’re here for a reason, Mr. Creator-of-well-everything.” The green-eyed girl spoke up, reminding Percy of her and Thanatos’s presence, “Mind filling us in on what it is?”
Wow. She was almost as bad as him when it came to talking to powerful beings. Maybe they could be friends…
Khaos laughed.
“Althea Potter. You have always been a favourite of mine. So bold, so beautiful, so loving despite never being loved in return.
The girl – Althea – tensed, and Percy frowned.
“How many times have you sacrificed yourself for your loved ones?” Khaos continued, “and how many times have those same loved ones turned their backs on you? You know the truth, yet you do nothing about it. Why is that?”
“What’s the point in fighting against injustice,” Althea replied, a hint of steel in her voice, “when you know that, even if you win, you’ll be painted as the villain?”
Percy stared at her, noticing, for the first time, the haunted look in her emerald eyes and the multiple scars peeking out beneath her clothes. Even here, in a seemingly peaceful afterlife, with hot chocolate, and books, and comfortable armchairs in which to relax, Althea looked alert, ready to jump up and fight at a moment’s notice.
Percy was sure he’d have been the same if he wasn’t also sure that he’d died already.
“Indeed,” Khaos sighed, appearing almost sad, “You are so powerful, little lion, that people fail to see the hero that you are, and instead see the threat you could be.”
That… hit a little too close to home for Percy. After all, hadn’t he died for exactly the same reason?
“And yet,” the Creator continued, “even after all that hurt and betrayal, you still love them, don’t you?”
“Not all of them.” Althea replied, instantly, and Thanatos reached for her hand, “I have no love for the ones that manipulated me. They can rot in hell for all I care. But there were a few… they had no idea what was going on. They never betrayed me. They were my real friends.”
Khaos hummed, an amused glint in their eyes. They then turned to Percy, and he gulped.
“The two of you are so similar,” They said. “You have both been abused,” – Althea flinched and Percy glanced over at her – “both had prophecies and responsibility piled onto your too-young shoulders. You have both grown to possess power greater than any other of your kind, and both have been executed because of it. And yet… you both still have so much love to give. You haven’t given up on the world, and that tells me… the two of you are real heroes. The kind of heroes that songs are written about. The kind of heroes that deserve… a reward.”
Percy’s brain blanked. A reward? What kind of reward? An eternity of peace and quiet sounds nice.
“What kind of reward are we talking here?” Althea asked, looking as though she expected someone to jump out and scream ‘April Fool’s!’.
“Well, you see,”Khaos replied, moving to sit in one of the armchairs with a dramatic flourish, “I had a plan for you two—"
“Oh no.”
“I hate when gods have plans for me.”
Khaos ignored the interruption.
“You were destined from birth to be soulmates—”
“Say what now?”
“Soulmates exist?!”
“—You were supposed to meet, fall in love, and bring balance to my universe.”
Khaos pointed at the very-confused-looking demigod.
“You, Perseus, would have ascended to godhood in your own right, joining your soulmate in Immortality.”
Percy raised his eyebrows.
“And you, Althea,” Khaos narrowed his eyes at the girl, “would have finally accepted your role as Mistress of Death, and stopped with all this dying nonsense, becoming a true immortal.”
Althea winced.
“The two of you would have worked together to bring peace and balance to the world, later giving birth to a new, and improved, generation of Immortals.” – Khaos took note of Althea’s wide eyes, and quickly added on: “Not literally, of course.”
“Of course.” The girl mumbled, gripping Thanatos’s hand tightly.
“All of this would have come to pass,” Khaos continued, “had those meddlesome Fates not interfered! Honestly, why I allowed them so much power over my creations, I have no idea.”
“You didn’t want the responsibility, my Lord.” Thanatos piped up, “And you’re a terrible weaver.”
“Well, yes, there is that.” Khaos waved a dismissive hand, “But moving on… when the Fates decreed that you two were to die – dead-dead, not just slightly-dead or even mostly-dead – I knew I had to intervene.”
There was silence for a moment, as Percy blinked rapidly, trying to digest everything, and Althea rubbed the bridge of her nose. Thanatos just stood, silently, patting Althea’s hand, though he seemed to be quite amused by everything going on.
“Alright,” Althea sighed, sounding thoroughly done with the conversation, “let’s assume that we understand everything you just told us,” – she gestured between herself and Percy – “you still haven’t answered my question.”
Khaos blinked.
“What reward?”
“Ah, yes.” The Creator of the Universe stood up again, “Your reward. It’s quite an inspired idea, if I do say so myself, and it will be incredibly entertaining for me. Like a new season of a show you thought had ended.”
They smiled giddily, and Percy was suddenly very worried.
“So, my idea, yes…” Khaos clapped, happily, “I’m going to send you back in time!”
Althea blinked.
Percy blinked twice.
Althea blinked again.
There was an awful lot of blinking going on.
“You want to send us… back in time?” Percy questioned, slowly, still trying to wrap his head around how, exactly, that was a reward.
“Yes!” Khaos nodded, “Well, not you-you. I’ll be sending your souls back to your younger bodies. You’ll retain all your memories, and your power-levels, of course, just in slightly smaller vessels.”
This led to some more incredulous blinking.
“You want us… to do it all… again?” Althea questioned this time, also talking slowly as though begging Khaos to think it through.
That is what I said, yes.” The Pre-Primordial confirmed, sounding a little exasperated now, “You can change as much as you like, and I’ll make sure you have a way to communicate with each other. I’d hate to send you back, only for you to die before meeting each other again! No, no. This time, you’ll have each other, and all your knowledge of the future. It will be wonderful!”
Percy opened his mouth to suggest a better reward, like blue cookies, but he paused.
Go back… a second chance. A chance to change things…
There were so many lives that he could save. So many people he could stop from dying. Sure, it wouldn’t be pleasant having to go on all those quests again – though maybe he wouldn’t have to, maybe he could let someone else do the saving – but it was a chance to save the people he’d failed before. Plus, maybe this time he could actually live and enjoy his life. He could spend more time with his Mom, get back into skateboarding again, maybe even join his Dad and brother down in Atlantis and learn more about Atlantean culture.
He glanced over at Althea, noticing the way her eyes had glazed over, likely thinking the same thing he was.
He’d quite like the chance to get to know her, as well. If she really was his soulmate, then… surely a relationship with her would be better than the disaster of a relationship he’d had with Annabeth.
Althea looked up, meeting his gaze. Excitement sparkled in her eyes.
Maybe she had people to save too. Maybe she saw this as a chance to get free of those that manipulated her. Maybe she just really wanted to live again.
Whatever the reason, it seemed that the two Soulmates (which Percy was still majorly confused about) were in agreement.
“When, exactly, would you be sending us back to?” Althea asked, carefully, and Khaos squealed in glee.
They’d clearly taken her question as acceptance of their plan.
“I’ll send you back to the summer after your first year,” They said, “the summer of Perseus’s first quest. I can’t tell you exactly when, as these things can get a little tricky, so be prepared to wake up in medias res, so to speak.”
Percy squinted, trying to remember what in medias res meant, while Althea continued her questioning.
“And we’re allowed to change whatever we want?” She confirmed, “What about the Fates? Won’t they try to stop us?”
“Oh, those meddling crones.” Khaos sneered, “They won’t be able to do anything. Now that I’ve taken you under my wing, you are free of the Fates’ influence. They may try to change the world around you, in order to get their Weave back on track, but they can’t directly affect you.”
“That’s good to know.” Percy mumbled, a little worried about what the Fates could change.
“Oh, and one more thing.” Khaos waved their hand and, in a flash of blue light, another figure appeared in the room.
This one Percy recognised, and his heart swelled with happiness.
“Dad!”
Poseidon’s eyes widened, and he launched forward to sweep Percy into a hug.
“Oh, Perseus. I’m so sorry. I tried to stop them, but my brother,” – he spat the word, angrily – “is apparently too much of an idiot to see reason.”
“It’s okay, Dad. I’m okay.” Percy replies, enjoying the hug – the first real hug he’d ever gotten from his Father. “Khaos has a plan.”
Poseidon stepped back, confusion clear in his gaze.
“Lord Khaos? What-?”
“Do not worry, Poseidon.” Khaos spoke up, catching the god’s attention, “I have only good intentions with your son. Honestly, I think my idea is the best reward he could have gotten for his heroic acts.”
“R-reward? Please explain.” The Sea God looked unnerved, and Percy pat his shoulder, comfortingly.
“Lord Creator-of-Everything over here has decided to send us back in time.” Althea answered, and Poseidon turned towards her, finally noticing her presence, along with that of Thanatos.
“Back in time?”
“To our younger bodies,” Percy explained. “We’ll be able to change things. Do things better. Althea and I…” – he glanced over at her, smiling slightly when she blushed – “we’re going to work together.”
Poseidon looked between his son and the new girl, curiously. Thanatos decided to answer his silent query.
“They’re Soulmates.” He said, “I had hoped my darling Mistress would never get into such a relationship. She’s far too young in my opinion.” – Althea rolled her eyes behind him – “But at least it’s with Perseus.” – Thanatos’s expression became thoughtful – “He did save me once, so I supposed I must approve.”
It took a few moments for Poseidon to digest this news, but when he did, he turned to Percy with a bright smile.
“Congratulations, son! I’m sure you’ll be much happier together than you were with that Athena spawn.”
It was Percy’s turn to blush, grimacing slightly at the mention of Annabeth. Though, to be fair, he had thought the same thing.
Poseidon turned back to Khaos.
“If you are to send them back in time, then may I ask, what am I doing here?”
“Well, you will be going back with them, of course!” Khaos replied, and Percy’s head shot up, hopefully, “You and Thanatos shall accompany them. The four of you will be free of the Fates’ meddling, and have permission from me to change as much as you’d like. Though, please, do make it entertaining. Being an all-powerful immortal can get terribly boring sometimes.”
Althea huffed a laugh, and Percy grinned.
The excitement from what they were about to do, made Khaos’s eccentricity more amusing than before.
“So…” Percy said, his eyes meeting Althea’s across the room, “when do we leave?”
Khaos cackled, and with a snap of his fingers, everything went black.