Chapter Text
“For the last time Hyperion, we are not waking up Mom”
“Mom would help! She loved when she ruled the first time” Hyperion protested, his golden armour a blinding contrast to the shrouded form that Kronos took.
Percy blearily took in the scene before him. He was on Mount Othrys, judging from the surroundings (and the fact he could see Atlas holding up the sky was also a pretty good indicator).
Atop the mountain stood Hyperion glinting painfully in the sunlight. At his side stood Krios in deep black armour, his helmet decorated with ram horns.
Privately, Percy thought both titans looked a bit tacky in their colour-coordinated armour. Although, he supposed eons in Tartarus probably made it hard to keep up with fashion trends.
Kronos was there as well, taking on the black-shrouded appearance he tended to in Percy’s dreams. However, this time he wasn’t holding a creepy oil lantern or giving vague threats to Percy’s friends and family, so he considered this a significant improvement.
“I have enough to deal with as is… Castellan has been so difficult lately” Kronos snarled. He waved his arms around in annoyance, causing them to disintegrate into a black mist around him.
“At least mom has a body” Krios idly commented as Kronos forced the wisps back into an arm-shape.
“I’m getting a body! The boy is just weirdly attached to it… it will be mine soon!” he shot back.
Percy barely managed to muffle a snort at that. For someone who desperately wanted a body, you figured he’d understand why Luke liked having full possession of his own.
Although the idea of Luke being possessed by Kronos was concerning… he’d have to worry about that later.
Hyperion eyed Kronos. “I don’t see why you don’t want to wake up mom… you were always her favourite” he commented.
“Only because he was the youngest!” Krios added.
“You were her least favourite” Atlas grunted from his place under the sky.
“I hope the weight of Dad crushes you” Krios replied.
Atlas snarled, but did not comment further.
Percy was incredibly amused. Watching his mortal enemies bicker like children was way better than whatever his history teacher had been rambling about before he fell asleep.
He didn’t understand why he had to learn about American history anyway - the only relevant figure there was Washington, and that was only because he was (apparently) Annabeth’s brother.
The point is that Ancient Greek history was far more relevant to Percy’s life than whatever was going on in the 1780s. Percy was a bit busy with his own war, and he already knew about the American Revolution, thanks to Mr. D.
(Last summer the entire camp had been forced to witness as he, Apollo and Hermes recreated the musical they had written about founding father Alexander Hamilton)
(Percy was most surprised at the fact Hermes was the lead rather than Apollo - and the fact that the musical was actually good)
Annabeth would probably give him a lecture about “learning from the mistakes of the past” and “adapting new battle strategies” but in his defence, Mr. Lewis’ monotone voice was worse than fighting a pack of angry hellhounds.
“Waking up Mom is too complicated… we don’t have time to get demigod sacrifices, we’re busy fighting a war” Kronos stated, drawing Percy’s attention back to the conversation.
“We are literally fighting a war against demigods… how hard is it to snag a couple as sacrifices?” Krios questioned.
Kronos’ form shrugged, as though he hadn’t considered that.
Krios shook his head. “We need to get Koios out of Tartarus soon, he’s the only other one with common sense”
“And Iapetus, he gets me,” Hyperion added.
“All you and Iapetus do is fight about who looks better when you’re identical” Krios countered, looking skeptical.
“He’s the only one that can hold a candle to my handsomeness,” Hyperion replied.
“You. Are. Identical.” Krios shouted, throwing his hands in the air in anger. This was problematic, as he was also holding his sword, which swiped Kronos’ vapour form in half.
“You idiot!” Kronos snarled as he willed the mist to form into a shrouded body again.
Percy couldn’t decide if he wanted to laugh or cower in fear at how angry Kronos was.
Once Kronos had formed a body he levelled his brothers with a death glare almost as bad as Annabeth’s.
“We don’t have time to sacrifice demigods. Like you said, we must focus on getting our forces out of Tartarus and the upcoming battle.” Kronos said.
Krios shook his head, sighing.
“It would be way easier to do all that with mom…” he trailed off.
“We don’t need mom!” Kronos insisted. If his shrouded form didn’t taper off into swirling darkness, Percy swore he’d be stomping his feet like a toddler.
“But sacrificing demigods would be so easy…” Hyperion pouted.
“We couldn’t just sacrifice any demigod, it’d have to be a powerful one to wake Mom,” Kronos said. “And we’re not wasting forces to get demigod sacrifices,” he told him.
“Aren’t we recruiting powerful demigods anyway?” Krios sighed.
“We’re not sacrificing our demigod recruits” Kronos frowned.
“Aren’t you already doing that with Castel-” Krios said, but was cut off by a pointed glare.
“Okay, but what if we hunt down Poseidon’s kid to sacrifice him, two birds with one stone?” Hyperion suggested.
Percy paled at the mention of him. Not only did he not like the idea of being sacrificed, he was right here, and he really didn’t want attention on him right now.
To his horror, Kronos seemed to ponder the idea. He hummed, stroking what Percy assumed was a beard underneath his hooded face.
“He is a powerful one, if the boy won’t be my host, his blood should at least be put to use when we kill him,” Kronos said.
Which woah - not cool. First off, he was not pleased to know Kronos apparently wanted him to host his soul. Absolutely not. Percy was not interested in possession or soul hosting or anything like that.
Second, what was this ‘when’ in killing him? Percy would prefer they not kill him. He enjoyed being alive and in control of his body autonomy. He did not consent to any of these evil plans
Although, generally he didn’t consent to evil plans, so they probably didn’t care about his thoughts, but still! Percy was an unwilling party in all this.
He considered telling them so, but stayed silent, wanting to continue watching the titan-temper-tantrum showdown.
“Exactly, and then we get Mom back to help us kick the Olympians butts!” Krios exclaimed.
“Can I do the sacrificing?” Atlas asked, deciding to join the conversation with a sadistic smile.
“No way, I call dibs, it was my idea,” Hyperion said. “Plus you had your chance to fight him, I want a go,” he said, beaming wide, showing off his painfully white teeth.
“None of you are killing him. That is my honour” Kronos stated.
The honour of killing him? Percy couldn’t decide if he was meant to be flattered or not. He decided against it, considering they were still plotting his death.
Kronos didn’t get the hint that Percy didn’t want to be brutally murdered, going on a tangent about how his body would ‘crumple underneath his might’ or whatever.
Percy tuned most of it out, letting his mind wander back to the American Revolution musical.
What was it called again? Oh yeah, Hamilton. Pretty uncreative name in his opinion, I mean, it was just the name of the dude it was about.
Percy really did wonder how they convinced Hades to participate - although he was a surprisingly good singer. Come to think of it, he thought Hades might have wanted to be there, considering how invested he seemed in the acting.
Nobody was as invested as Apollo though, who somehow managed to play three lead characters at once.
Most traumatizing was him and Hermes acting out their ‘affair’. There were kids at camp who would be forever scarred by Apollo spreading his legs while wearing a red dress.
Those kids included Percy. He could never look at either god the same afterwards.
Maybe that was why Luke had betrayed the gods - if he saw his dad getting it on with Apollo, he would also want to tear down Olympus.
“Yes, Perseus Jackson, his blood will look wonderful on my Scythe” Kronos pondered. Percy was snapped from his - frankly traumatizing - thoughts of Apollo in that red dress at his full name being said.
Unfortunately, it seemed saying his full name had made him visible to the Titans, as Krios turned and looked directly at him.
“Uh Kronos, why did you summon the boy?” Krios asked, turning to look back at Kronos - who was still ranting about killing Percy.
“I didn’t summon him, which one of you fools did, is this some joke” he growled, looking at Hyperion pointedly.
“I didn’t do anything!” Hyperion protested, looking offended at the accusation
“It appears the little hero has brought himself here then,” Kronos said, and Percy could swear he was smiling, despite his face being covered by the hood and dark mist.
Percy put up his hands in defence. “Listen, I didn’t do anything except fall asleep in class,” he said.
“How did he bring himself here?” Krios questioned, looking more curious than angry - which was preferable to the scowl Hyperion was levelling at him.
“Eh, it’s just a thing he does, he’s rather uncontrollable, thanks to his blasted father,” Kronos remarked.
“Listen, I don’t want to be here listening to you guess bicker over who gets to sacrifice me to revive your mom or whatever - actually, can you guys not sacrifice me, that’d be nice” Percy interrupted.
Krios’s eyes narrowed.
“How long have you been here, little hero?” he said. “How have we not detected you until now?”
“I am not little. I’ve actually had quite the growth spurt, thank you very much” Percy replied, ignoring Krios’s questions.
Kronos grumbled something that Percy could swear sounded like ‘about time’. Percy agreed. Annabeth being taller than him last winter was embarrassing. He hoped he was at least the same height as her now.
“You are still below average height for a godling” Krios noted, looking Percy up and down.
Listen, Percy got that puberty was taking its sweet time with him - but did these titans need to rub it in his face? And people claimed he was the disrespectful one.
“Perhaps we should get a different one for Mother, a sacrifice that’s a bit taller,” Hyperion noted.
“I’ll be taller than you when I knock you on your ass,” Percy replied nonchalantly.
Hyperion did not take kindly to that one, lunging towards him. He grabbed him by the arm and hoisted him into the air.
Shit, Percy had really hoped that contact wouldn’t work, considering Percy was currently in a dream.
Hyperion seemed surprised at the realization as well, pausing to look at where he was grabbing Percy’s arm in shock.
Percy took advantage of the distraction, twisting and biting the titan’s hand.
Hyperion let out a yelp and dropped him. Percy clambered to the ground, nursing his burnt tongue - why did Hyperion’s skin burn, that was so unfair.
“He bit me!” Hyperion shouted, looking at his brothers in outrage.
“Yes he is feral,” Kronos said, his tone similar to one you’d use when discussing the weather.
“And he has Rhea’s eyes, how interesting” Krios stated, bending down to examine him.
Percy wrinkled his nose. “Dude, you are too old for me.” he said in disgust, pushing the titan away.
“You’re the one that’s making it weird!” Krios spluttered.
“Please stop hitting on my grandson Krios” Kronos deadpanned.
“I am not hitting on him!” he insisted.
“Oh, killing me is fine, but flirting is where the line gets drawn. You’ve got weird morals dude” Percy told him.
“I am not flirting!” Krios protested but was ignored.
“Krios is not a suitable match for you” Kronos stated.
“Krios is not a suitable match for anyone,” Hyperion added.
“Eurybia and I have a very happy marriage,” Krios scowled. “We have three sons”
“And Perseus is named after one of them! That’s weird Krios!” Hyperion yelled at him, slapping him upside the head.
“Uh, I thought Perseus was the son of Zeus” he interjected.
“Why must all my grandchildren be idiots?” Kronos wailed.
“It’s genetic,” Krios mumbled.
“Not Perseus, Perses, who the first Perseus was named after” Kronos stated.
Percy slowly nodded.
“Nobody remembers me or my children,” Krios scowled. “Perses, the titan of destruction - my baby boy”
“Okay… good to know?” Percy said.
Krios looked at him, his expression unreadable. Percy was regretting saying anything at this point.
“He was also rather feral,” he said, his head cocking to the side as he considered Percy.
Faster than Percy could blink, Percy was snatched up by the titan and pulled close to his chest. He tried to push away, kicking his feet and flailing with no success.
“You will be my new son” Krios stated, his grip on Percy tightening uncomfortably.
“He’s my grandson!” Kronos snarled
“I have a dad!” Percy protested at the same time.
“But I thought we were killing him to wake Mom!” Hyperion pouted.
“He’s annoying” Atlas contributed from underneath the sky, only to receive death glares from everyone else.
“Don’t listen to him son, he’s just cranky cause he’s stuck holding the sky” Krios said, patting Percy on the head in a gesture that was probably meant to be reassuring.
“He’s not your kid Krios” Hyperion countered.
“Yeah, holding the sky sucks, he probably wishes he could stretch his legs,” Percy remarked.
“It’s your fault I’m here!” Atlas growled.
Percy stuck out his tongue at him.
“Hyperion! Take the sky from me so I can pummel that brat!” Atlas screamed.
Krios’s grip on Percy tightened more protectively. Percy would be thankful, Atlas’s glare was murderous - except for the fact Krios was squeezing so tight he couldn’t breathe.
Thankfully Kronos - and that was a weird thought to have - noticed Percy’s face turning purple.
“Krios, you are suffocating Perseus” he observed.
“Oh,” Krios said, loosening his grip.
“Put me down!” Percy said, wiggling in the loosened grip in an attempt to get free.
“He’s probably gonna bite you soon,” Hyperion added.
He was correct, as Percy sunk his teeth into Krios’s arm.
“Ow!” the titan cried, dropping Percy, who landed on his feet this time.
“Why are his teeth pointy?” Krios whined.
“Poseidon was a biter too,” Kronos said.
“You ate him, you can’t talk” Percy replied.
“And he constantly kicked me in the stomach!”
Percy grinned at that.
“Don’t worry Perses, I’m much better at parenting than him,” Krios said, pulling him into his side.
“Percy” he corrected, pushing away.
“Yes, that’s what I called you”
“Krios, your kids are literal disasters” Hyperion commented.
“Perses is destruction personified, Pallas has an unhealthy sword obsession, and Astraeus writes horoscopes online all day,” he said.
“So they behave exactly like their father,” Kronos added.
Percy turned to look at Krios.
“Dude, horoscopes, really?”
“That’s what you have an issue with?” Kronos said.
“Shush cannibalistic grandfather” Percy replied, waving him off - literally, as his shrouded form turned into black vapour.
Unfortunately, the vapour had very flexible movement, as it grabbed onto Percy and dragged him away from Krios.
“My brothers are a bad influence on you grandson” he commented as his ‘body’ reformed.
“No, I’m just like this,” he replied, smirking.
“He’s an amusing mortal, are we sure we have to kill him?” Krios said fondly.
“But… mom?” Hyperion said.
“Eh, she was only the better parent cause dad was a dick” Krios shrugged.
Hyperion considered this. “Mom did play favourites too much,” he conceded.
“Wait, are the daddy issues just genetic or something?” Percy asked.
“You have daddy issues? But you’re always siding with him” Kronos said in disbelief.
“I helped my mom kill my abusive step-dad that she married to protect me, and my dad practically abandoned me for the first twelve years of my life, of course I have daddy issues” Percy shrugged.
“But- you side with him?” Kronos spluttered.
“You tried to drag me into Tartarus, my dad told me he regretted my birth, he’s slightly better” Percy amended.
“This is why I’m adopting you” Krios sighed.
“No, you’re not,” Percy and Kronos both replied firmly.
“Perseus - it’s mid-day, why are you asleep?” Hyperion said, as though the thought had just occurred that humans tend to sleep at night.
“Uh- in my defence my history teacher is really boring?” Percy offered. The Titans did not look impressed.
“Perses! History is important for young tit- er demigods” Krios exclaimed.
Percy didn’t attempt to correct him on his name, instead sending him a slightly guilty smile.
“Are you sleeping in class, little hero?” Kronos frowned.
“I didn’t mean to fall asleep!” he protested. “And I already know about the American Revolution - Hermes and Apollo traumatized me with it”
“Why are you learning about America” Kronos said in disgust.
“Cause I’m American? I don’t know, I don’t want to learn about it either” he replied. “Take it up with the education system, not me” he shrugged.
“This is why we need to focus on getting Koios out of Tartarus” Krios insisted.
“No, we need to get Iapetus out of Tartarus” Hyperion countered.
“We need to get them both,” Kronos stated.
“How about neither?” Percy suggested, not wanting to fight even more titans.
They all turned to look at him, and he was suddenly regretting speaking up.
“I mean, surely you don’t need your brothers to take down the Olympians - cause you guys are so uh, big and powerful and definitely don’t keep getting your asses kicked by me?” he said, though it came out as more of a question.
Thankfully, the titans seemed to be nodding in agreement, and Percy was bewildered at the fact that it had actually worked.
That is until Atlas decided to speak up.
“He’s trying to trick you! And making fun of you at the same time!” he cried.
Well, it was worth a shot.
“That’s it, we’re sacrificing him, I want Mom back,” Hyperion said, pulling his golden sword out of its sheath.
Percy similarly uncapped Riptide and adjusted himself to be in a defensive position.
Although, it turns out he didn’t have to fight, as Krios and Kronos both jumped to his defence - or rather, Krios did, as the sudden movement turned Kronos into dust, which flung Percy into a coughing fit as he accidentally inhaled some.
Gross - his nose would never recover from the Kronos bits in it.
Luckily, it seemed some of the Kronos-dust had gotten into Hyperion’s face as well, as he was suffering from a similar coughing fit, rendering him incapable of fighting.
Krios stopped duelling his brother, moving to pat Percy on the back as he violently coughed.
“No sacrificing my son” Krios grumbled.
“Not… your… son” Percy spluttered in between coughs.
“Yes, he’s my grandson,” Kronos said, reforming beside them.
“Unfortunately” Percy grumbled.
“What?” Kronos said, eyes narrowing.
Percy sent a glare back at him.
“With all due respect - and by that I mean no respect - I do not want to be part of this dysfunctional family”
Krios sighed dramatically “You and me both, kid.”
“Krios, you’re my favourite titan” Percy told him.
Krios’ eyes widened, and a minute later he found himself engulfed in a hug.
“I’ve never been anyone's favourite!” he cried with joy.
Percy squirmed and pushed the titan off him.
“I take it back, you’re too clingy”
“Ha, I’m his favourite again,” Kronos said smugly.
Percy whipped around in bewilderment.
“Bro, you are my least favourite,” he told him.
Kronos seemed surprised by this - though Percy couldn’t fathom why.
“But- what- why?” Kronos asked, genuinely confused.
“Are you serious?” he questioned. At the silence that followed Percy realized he was being serious.
“You tried to have me dragged into Tartarus, you told Luke to set a pit scorpion on me, every time we interact you try to have me killed - you were literally planning to sacrifice me…”
“Not anymore!” he amended. Percy rolled his eyes.
“You’ve been haunting my dreams since I was twelve. That’s both creepy and traumatizing. I’m getting tired of you threatening my friends” he finished, crossing his arms.
“You brought yourself here in this dream! I am not responsible for that!” Kronos said in reply.
“That’s your defence? Really?” Percy questioned.
Kronos’s form shrugged.
“I have limited control over what you do when you dream unless I send dreams to you, it’s not my fault if I appear in your dreams” he countered.
“But- the dreams you send me are the worst!” he complained. “It’s always the same thing too - ‘join me little hero, or I’ll kill all your friends’ or ‘you will die painfully and in vain’ blah blah blah” he mocked.
A strange noise came out of Hyperion. Percy turned to see the titan’s face had turned bright gold and he wore an expression that made him look constipated.
‘Well, fuck, this is where my impertinence gets me smitten" Percy thought, looking at the angry titan's face.
Instead, Hyperion burst into laughter - which was a terrible grating noise. Percy might have preferred being smote.
“Shut up! I’m throwing you back in the pit after the war!” Kronos snarled at him, which only seemed to encourage Hyperion's laughter rather than stop it.
“Hush brother, the demigod is amusing,” Krios said, smiling down at Percy.
Kronos turned his attention back to Percy.
“The dreams I send are very creative and scary. Castellan was very receptive to them.”
“Luke isn’t the brightest. I mean, he’s only siding with you cause his daddy issues are even worse than mine” he told the titan.
Kronos spluttered. “Are my dreams really not that scary?” he asked, sounding very uncertain.
Percy found this incredibly amusing, I mean it’s not every day your sworn enemy asks for reassurance on how scary the nightmares he sends you are.
“I mean, maybe I was scared the first time when I was twelve, but you’ve been doing the same thing for two years, it got old quick,” Percy replied.
Then, sensing an opportunity, he continued.
“What would be really scary though is if you ditched the black thing, I mean blue is a way cooler - I mean scarier colour. And your voice is really too er- low to be scary. You need to make it high and squeaky, like this.” Percy said, pitching up his voice and squeezing his nose to make it nasally.
Kronos considered this for a moment, his head tilting to the side.
“Are you fucking with me, child?” he eventually asked.
Percy smirked.
“Krios, your not-son has clearly never been disciplined” he sighed, raising a hand to his hooded face.
“Perses-us” Krios said, catching his slip-up “Uh, don’t mess with your grandpa?”
Hyperion cackled again.
“No wonder your kids turned out the way they did,” he remarked.
“Eurybia managed time-outs” Krios mumbled.
“I’m not your son” Percy half-heartedly protested.
“I don’t think you have a choice, kid” Hyperion commented.
Percy groaned. He found himself almost wishing he was back in class. This was undoubtedly the weirdest dream he’d ever had - and he’d once dreamed about blue-cookie fish having a dance party on Smelly Gabe’s grave. Thinking back, that was a really good dream.
It was just as he was thinking about this that he vaguely heard a bell in the distance.
“Hmm, it appears you are waking up, little hero” Kronos said.
“No, we were just bonding!” Krios complained.
“I’m sure he’ll find himself back here sometime, he tends to do that” Kronos replied.
“I don’t do it on purpose” Percy grumble.
His arm was then jerked, and he found himself being violently shaken back and forth by an invisible force.
“How are you sleeping through that” Hyperion pondered as Percy attempted to regain his footing.
“Mr. Lewis is really boring. Pity me.” Percy replied.
Hyperion nodded solemnly.
“Have fun with school Perseus” Kronos told him.
Percy groaned at the reminder that history was not his last class of the day.
He opened his mouth to reply, but instead found himself spluttering awake, one of his classmates violently shaking him as Mr. Lewis towered over him.
“I will not! Ack!” Percy said, sitting up abruptly and nearly headbutting his teacher.
Mr. Lewis scowled at him. Percy scowled back.
“Mr. Jackson this is the seventh time you’ve slept through my class. Detention!” He cried, slamming his hand on the desk and walking away.
His classmate - a guy named Jay who Percy was on somewhat friendly terms with, sent him a pitying glance.
“Sorry man, I tried to shake you awake, but you were really knocked out,” he said.
“It’s alright - thanks for trying though” he said.
“Yeah, but I’m still sorry you got detention,” Jay said, before grabbing his bag and exiting the classroom.
Percy put his head in his hands at the reminder of the detention. It was his tenth one this month - he was totally getting kicked out at the end of the year.
Sighing at his inevitable fate, he packed up his stuff and left the classroom. Glancing at the clock, he swore under his breath - he was definitely going to be for his next class.
He blamed Krios - that and Mr. Lewis’s droning voice. But mostly Krios.