Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

This summer and school year had probably the oddest one Percy had ever had in his life, now to be fair he just learned that all the Greek myths he learned growing up were real and that his father was Poseidon, God of the seas, so honestly it wasn’t that odd. He didn’t grow gills or anything like that over the summer.

Before school started, he did get to see Annabeth, she came by with Mr. Chase soon after their trip from Disney. Percy and Annabeth watched movies, while parents talked, likely to make sure there was someone who would look after their child if something happened to them.

The two were able to talk and Percy did learn some things. Apparently, Hades, Zeus and Poseidon swore to not have children, Annabeth stated it was because children are often more destructive and last time, they had too many, their children took the opposite side during WW2 which caused so much damage. She also mentions something about a prophecy about a child of the big three, but Annabeth refuses to give him any details. Percy decided to not pry, even if he could tell that the oath was not going to be upheld the moment they swore it.

The second was what he learned about his necklace. Annabeth had a theory that it hid his demigod scent, since Echidna didn’t even notice that Percy was a demigod while sitting right next to him. Plus, the only monsters he really fought on the road were the furies, the minotaur might have been something Alecto had grabbed for muscle. It would also explain why Percy could use a phone without a monster popping out of the bushes to attack him. Percy did ask his father who did confirm the ring was an artifact that belonged to his mother, meant to protect the wearer.

Speaking of his father, things were…. weird. Knowing your biological father was a Greek god and that half of the myths about him could possibly be real was, well it made things really awkward. At the very least Poseidon has respected Percy’s boundary, though he wonders how much is from the blessing considering Poseidon was one of the most overprotective gods, Ares being a close second. But still he respected it so yay for small miracles.

Poseidon had visited a few times with gifts, apparently to make up for a lack of birthday presents, Sally wasn’t happy about. Percy allowed himself to keep a shark tooth necklace, some old books of Greece and the civilization before it and its stories as well as some art supplies before Sally donated the rest causing the god to look like a kicked puppy.

It was so strange to Percy, he remembered a teacher once saying ‘don’t think of gods as humans, because they're not’ during class when someone asked why didn’t Hera divorce Zeus (which to be fair is a good question). It was strange but Poseidon acted so human, but there was something off about him, now that something was comforting to Percy but it felt like sea, you know there's something under the water even if you can’t see it. This became more apparent when Percy was about to leave for his school, Poseidon wanted another visit, I guess it was his overprotective nature but whatever kept Percy from being dragged away from his mom. They had somehow gotten on the topic of Percy’s drawings.

Percy allowed the god to look through his sketchbook, the boy had been trying his best to actually take note of his drawings considering what Annabeth and Grover suggested. He noticed that currently much of the drawings from the past were based off the Odyssey, much to Poseidon annoyance as he frowned at the drawings. However, despite what he was expecting there were a few drawings that just stood out as weird.

There was one his father just stared at. It was a simple sketch that wouldn’t seem out of place in a 12-year-old sketchbook. It looked like a humanoid monster, you couldn’t make out its face as it looked like it was hidden by dark floating strains of hair, but some parts peeking out you could see what looked to be broken pieces of shells, it had two sets of arms and its bottom haft looked more like a satyr but not really, it’s didn’t look like Grover’s legs. I mean it looked like it would belong in ancient Greek considering haft the monsters looked mashed together, but Poseidon just stared at the drawing before ripping it out of the sketchbook much to Percy’s protest. Poseidon quickly says he wanted a drawing of Percy’s before ruffling his hair and disappearing to who knows where.

That had been their weird summer, at least his dreams were as weird as they had been, or at least they were until tonight.

Percy’s dreams for once took shape after the long peaceful year. He could see Grover running down the streets, in panic, the world shaking behind the Satyr. He was being chased by a monster.

‘Come on, I have to get out! I have to warn them.’ Grover muttered to himself before he ran inside a bridal shop.

“Grover.” Percy yelled out as shadow began to overtake the building. “GROVER!”

The shadows shifted and suddenly he wasn’t in the streets but a forest. He looked around for Grover, he saw a figure running.

“Hey stop!” Percy called out chasing after the figure.

Percy ran and ran after the figure until it finally stopped close to a tree and leaned over as it threw up. He could see her clearly now, a young girl in punk clothing, her skin a sickly pale as the tree she was leaning on shriveled up and died. The girl spat out some nasty purple liquid as she looked up at Percy, electric blue eyes pleading to him.

“..Thalia…” Percy felt himself muttering.

There was a sudden crack as lightning struck close to the boy before the ground opened and swallowed him whole. He wasn’t falling for a long time before he landed on a floor of black marble. He looked around, greeted by a familiar sight that both filled him with fear and awe of its beauty.

‘It’s nice to see you again.’ A familiar voice said.

“I would agree but that would be a lie.” Percy said glaring at the figure. “Wouldn’t it, grandfather?”

'I should have guessed you would have figured it out by now.' The young figure muttered as he walked.

“Yeah, trying to kidnap someone tends to bring up secrets.” Percy said standing up, “How in the name of Hades are you in my dream. Dad gave me a spell.”

'And it is working wonders, however it’s just fading.' Kronos said, bring a hand to knock on the barrier keeping him away from the demigod. 'But it’s no matter, I just came to talk.'

“Lucky me.” Percy hissed out. “Stop wearing my face.”

Kronos looked at the boy, glaring down as if offended by the request, but his body shifted into sand before reforming. He looked older now, still younger than Poseidon as he was missing the beard however he was definitely an adult now considering his height and build. His hair was tied up as a crown of golden bones and leaves rested on his head, golden blooded stained his hands. After finishing he looked at the boy saying. 'Better?'

Percy made a face but didn’t comment to the Titan, just muttering to himself about why he’s bothering with this and not trying to wake himself up.

“I came to talk; I am not going to hurt you.” Kronos tried causing Percy to laugh.

“Oh bullshit!” Percy said. “The ‘I’m for friend, I’m not here to hurt you’ act is not going to cut it.”

Kronos took in a breath as if trying to calm himself. “You are confused, why are you so willing to listen to the gods and take their side? Luke is right, they are horrible to you demigods, that do not care about you.”

“Ha! Pot meets kettle.” Percy said. “I never said the gods weren’t crappy parents, but considering your track record they are the lesser of two evils.”

“Really? They leave you to the mercy of monsters and make you do quests.” Kronos counted.

“You ate your kids!” Percy replied. “I don’t see how this is even an argument.”

Kronos let out another sigh, Percy could see his hair whipping around as if underwater. “Listen, what I did to my children was nothing more than locking them up someplace safe, if I had wanted them dead, I would have chewed.”

“Like all the other gods you ate.” Percy replied, causing Kronos to stare at the boy in confusion causing the young demigod to smirk. “I love learning about myths ever since I could read them, and my dad gave me a very old book recently, written back during your time if I had to guess. You earned the title ‘Devourer’ not because you swallowed your own kids, but how many other small godlings you killed and ate.”

Kronos looked at him before his smile widened revealing sharp pointed teeth, stained with golden ichor. “Interesting, I figured that had been lost.”

“See point proven.” Percy said. “Honestly if I wanted to do the whole ‘misunderstood guy act’, you probably shouldn’t have been eating your own children and others, you cannibal.”

“Maybe but that still doesn’t change the fact that Zeus will try to kill you. While I will try to protect you.” Kronos counted. “I believe the saying is ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend.’”

“I have enough protection in the form of my father, and I know Zeus is an ahole, again I have a million stories to back it up, you, however I do not.” Percy replied. “I refuse to be a pawn in whatever game you are trying to play.”

“We are all just pawns to the threads the Fates weave for us.” Kronos said with a smile. “You are just part of a cycle that will take place, and I apologize for the burden but for your own sake you will join us.”

Percy let out a laugh. “Geez now I know where dad gets it from. It doesn’t matter, I won’t play a role in your cycle or whatever.”

“Oh, my boy, you can’t choose to not play a role in it, it’s already grabbed a hold of you.” Kronos said.

“I will fight against it, and I will break it.” Percy said. “I am not weak like you.”

“..What?” Kronos said, his eyes glowed more, cracking around him as his skin became darker closer to the onyx that covered the room.

“I’m saying that I will escape my so-called fate, what you were too weak to do.” Percy spit out.

Percy must have hit Kronos last good nerve because the titan began to melt, exploding into a million pieces of sand that got bigger, eventually reforming into something impossible big, like the night sky itself. Dark onyx skin that had been sealed together with gold, a golden mask as two faces peaked around, hair that looked like it belonged to the night dance again. Three sets of arms slammed into the barrier.

“I couldn’t escape the cycle! And neither will you!!”

Percy was jolted awake when he landed on the cold floor of his dorm room with a groan.

“Percy?!” His roommate said as he rushed out of his bed to the boy’s side. “You, ok?”

Percy looked up trying to ignore the aching of his body as he looked up at his friend, the tall six-foot boy looked down at Percy, worry was clear on his face. Percy smiled. “I’m fine Tyson, I just had a nightmare and fell out of bed.”

Tyson didn’t seem to believe him, looking over the boy again.

“Hey. I’m fine.” Percy said, grabbing the boy’s shoulder as he glanced over to the alarm clock. “It looks like the cafeteria is about to open up, why don’t we get dressed and head to breakfast.”

“Food?” Tyson replied, his brown eyes widening.

“Yes food, come up, let's get up.” Percy said as he stood up untangling himself from the blanket he pulled down when he fell.

Tyson followed Percy lead as they both gathered their clothes to change into, Tyson buried his face into clothes for a second, Percy had begged his mom to get his roommate some new clothes for him, even asking to use whatever birthday money she had saved up. Tyson deserved it.

They quickly got changed, Percy went to the bathroom as Tyson didn’t like changing in front of people and him going to the bathroom opened him up to bullying so Percy opted to do it. After getting changed, his bag with sketchbook and sickle secure, they left the dorms and headed towards the cafeteria. As they walked, Percy thought back to coming to this new school.

Meriwether College prep is some sort of private school, something Sally could only do now because of the child support she was getting from Poseidon. It was nothing like the normal public schools he had been to, as this school had Percy spending the night with only the option to go home on the weekends. Percy would have loved to go back to see his mom, but his heart hurt even thinking about leaving Tyson alone.

Tyson was the schools ‘charity case/pet project’, a homeless kid they had brought in to make themselves feel better. That became evidence on the first day when Tyson didn’t stand up for himself and the bullies smelled blood in the water. It was actually how they became roommates, Tyson supposed roommate Matt raised a fuss about being roommates with him, and he and his buddies jumped the boy. Percy saw and let’s say most of the boys ended up at the nurse's office. Sense then to ‘keep the peace’ the school sought to have Tyson and Percy room together, a while it didn’t get rid of the core of the problem, at the very least it allowed Percy to look after the boy he considered his friend.

They got to the cafeteria, the smell of food flooded their senses as the two quickly grabbed their trays and began to fill them up with food. Tyson had a lot of bacon and eggs while Percy had some blueberry pancakes. As Percy sat down to eat, he checked his phone for a text from his mom.

Percy frowned, there was no update. He and Sally had been going back and forth on a few topics, one was camp, school was about to end (Percy was surprised he wasn’t expelled but he came close a few times) yet Sally had made no plans to take him to camp Half blood. In fact, the last text from his mom implied that camp wasn’t safe anymore for Percy, which just seemed so odd, like he was missing key information. The other was about Tyson, Percy had begged his mom to allow Tyson to stay since he didn’t want him going back on the streets and child services were doing nothing. Sally only agreed but seemingly did so Percy would stop asking about camp.

Percy looked up from his plate, seeing Tyson trying his best to inhale his food.

One thing for sure, Percy knew Tyson was from the magical world.

Percy’s once partially green eye had been slowly shifting over the summer, his right eye was now fully a molten gold, no hint of the original green was left. It became a source of anxiety for the boy constantly staring at it in the mirror, maybe hoping if he looked closely enough, he would see the green and it would come back. Sally could tell the stress it was causing and took the boy to the eye doctor, yet the mortal eye doctor told them everything was normal, and the boy had two perfectly healthy green eyes.

It seemed that the mist made it so the gold was hidden.

Yet on the first day with Tyson, Percy allowed him to use his sketchbook, noticing the boy was nervous as well. Tyson produces a simple kid like drawing with a smile, happily telling Percy ‘It’s you’. Percy smiled and kept smiling even when he saw that Tyson had colored one eye green and one eye gold.

Tyson let out a grumble of disappointment which brought Percy out of his thoughts. The bigger kid looked down at his empty plate, with a sad expression. Percy silently reached for a big pastry he had gotten, tearing it and giving the bigger haft to Tyson. It was something both boys shared, their seemingly endless appetites.

Percy watched as Tyson happily chewed the treat, he knew that if Tyson was from their world he was likely dangerous, he didn’t seem to have the ADHD that most demigods had, which would mean he was more like Alecto. But that didn’t sit right with Percy, if Tyson was a monster he had all school year to try and kill Percy but yet if anything Percy did most of the protecting.

Either way, Tyson so far has done nothing to make Percy question his trust so until that happens, he would look after him.

“Percy.” A familiar voice whispered.

“Annabeth?” Percy asked as he turned around, he expected to see her face or maybe her blondish hair in braids but there was nothing.

Percy’s eyes narrowed as he saw the door to the cafeteria open and close without anyone going through. The boy stood up walking to the door, he could hear Tyson scramble behind him, quickly joining next to the smaller boy, trying to string together a sentence to ask Percy where they were going.

They stepped outside, Percy followed the small hints, tree branches or the sound of tracks stepping through grass. Eventually stopping close to the road, outside the gym.

“Percy? What’s wrong?” Tyson asked. Causing Percy to shush him for a second and then he heard it.

“I swore the little demigod was just around here, we hit the jackpot. Lots of tasty treats.” A voice said.

The three figures rounded the corner, at first, they looked like older kids, maybe being about as tall as Tyson before the mist about them began to disappear, they were taller about eight feet. Flat teeth stain with blood and muscles that could easily crack Percy’s skull.

“Oh look, a little treat.” One of them said,

Percy let out a growl as he immediately grabbed the sickle from his bag, it was the easiest to get to and he needed to protect Tyson.

“Ooo another demigod, our lucky day.” Another one of the monsters said.

“Tyson, move!” Percy said as he ran towards one of the monsters, the giant trying to bring a fist down which Percy quickly dodge and sliced through the monster's face, reducing him to golden dust.

“Ugh, he’s the son of the sea god, let’s hope he doesn’t have a salty taste.” Another one said as he picked up a big rock and tossed it at Percy at impossible speeds.

Before Percy could react, he was suddenly shoved aside by Tyson, causing the bigger boy to be struck, knocking him back into the building, causing it to crack.

“Tyson!” Percy screamed out before turning to the monsters, his eyes glowing golden in anger.

Percy launched himself at the monster, taking off its head. The boy wasn’t paying attention as the last monster got closer to Percy, before a knife went through the last monster turning him into golden dust.

Percy took some deep breaths trying to push down his anger as Annabeth appeared taking off her hat.

“Annabeth?” Percy asked confusingly before groan yanked away his current thoughts. “Tyson!”

Percy ran over to the boy, helping him up. Asking him way too many questions, way too fast that poor Tyson was having a hard time deciphering.

“Fine…” Tyson said bring up hand to rub his head. “Head hurt.”

“Just your head big guy?” Percy asked again, causing Tyson to give a nod yes.

“Where did you find him?” Annabeth asked, the hatred practically dripping from her voice startling Percy.

“He’s my friend, his name is Tyson.” Percy explained.

“Is he homeless?” Annabeth questioned.

“What does that have to do with anything? He can talk you know you just heard him.” Percy said.

“He can talk?” Annabeth replied. Ok, Percy was starting considered that this may be someone shape shifted as Annabeth cause what on earth.

“I talk. You are pretty.” Tyson said as he reached over to like touch one of Annabeth’s braids.

“Ah gross.” Annabeth said stepping away from Tyson.

Percy frowned as Tyson looked at his feet, knowing he had done something to upset the girl. His friend immediately grabbed his arm, trying to encourage commenting ‘It’s alright, that’s just how she is’.”

“Ugh we have no time for this, have you been having dreams?” Annabeth asked.

“Dreams, you mean the ones about Grover….or the ones about Thalia?” Percy replied back.

Annabeth was silent, her gray eyes practically racing a mile a minute as she thought. “Camp, dreams about camp being in trouble.”

“Mom was trying her best to not send me to camp, what’s going on?” Percy asked.

The two's panic was stopped when Tyson raised his hand like they were back in the class. “Monster outside called Percy…son of the sea god?”

Annabeth and Percy exchanged looks, the girl mouthed a ‘no’ to Percy, yet Percy figured the taller boy was owed some sort of answer, he had nearly been killed.

“Big guy, do you remember the stories about Greek gods I told you about? Zeus, Poseidon, Athena…?” Percy asked.

“Yes.” Tyson said with a smile as he remembers the stories.

“Well, those gods are alive and have moved to the USA and sometimes they have kids with mortals called half-bloods.” Percy explained. “Annabeth and I are half-bloods, that's why the monsters attacked me.”

“Yes.” Tyson said.

“So, you believe me?” Percy asked.

“But you are…the son of the sea god?” Tyson asked.

“Yes, Poseidon is my dad.” Percy replied. Causing Tyson to look at him confused as he tried to speak again.

“Ugh we don’t have time this!” Annabeth said. “We’ll talk in the taxi on the way to camp.”

“What?” Percy asked, confusion was clear on his face. “Annabeth that will cost s-”

“You trust me, right Seaweed brain?” Annabeth asked.

“Of course.”

“Then just trust me.”

Chapter Text

“You trust me, right Seaweed brain?” Annabeth asked.

“Of course.”

“Then just trust me.”

Annabeth quickly went to the street, fishing in her pockets for something before pulling out a gold drachma. Percy was about to say something stupid, but Annabeth spoke in Ancient Greek.

“Stop, Chariot of Damnation.” Annabeth said, Percy’s mind translating for him. She threw the coin into the road.

There was a moment of silence before a bubbling red liquid began to pool around the coin and a taxi emerged from it. It was the style of the normal yellow taxis you would see in New York, but this one was a gray color, almost like it was made out of some mist. There was some writing on the side, but Percy’s mind couldn’t decipher it. The driver window rolled down and an old woman with moppy hair covering her eyes stuck her head out.

“Passage?” She asked with a growl.

“Two-” Annabeth started to say before she saw Percy grab Tyson’s hand. “Three to camp half-blood.”

Annabeth walked over to the back doors of the taxi opening them up and gesturing for Percy to go in like it was the most normal thing, however as Percy and Tyson stepped closer the lady let out a shriek.

“We don’t take his kind.” The lady said pointing a boney finger at Tyson.

“We’ll pay extra.” Annabeth replied. “Three more drachmas on arrival.”

“Done!” the lady replied.

Annabeth rushed the two into the taxi, they all were shoved into the pack of the cabin. The doors shut and Percy looked forward, noticing there was no glass separating them from the driver, well drivers there were three.

Suddenly the cab started moving at almost breakneck speeds as the three ladies in front began to argue with each other. Percy was able to make out their names Anger, Tempest and Wasp but that was about it, besides something about an eye.

They continued to drive around a breakneck speed making so many illegal moves, poor Tyson looked ready to be sick and Percy was right there with him.

They made another sharp turn, causing Percy to mutter. “We’re going to die.”

“Don’t worry, the gray sisters know what they're doing, they're very wise.” Annabeth said, trying to encourage him.

“She’s right.” One of the sisters, maybe Anger. “We know things.”

“Yep, many things, even the location you seek!” Another said, maybe Tempest. At her words, her sisters began to yell at her letting him know before asking.

“What? What location, I’m no-” Percy started to say.

They began to argue with Percy as their driving got more chaotic, eventually they turned back to arguing with each other over the eye. It eventually became more of a physical fight with one hitting her sister and causing the eye to plop right in the middle of Percy's lap. The three began to scream for the eye, and Percy tore off part of his jacket to pick up the slimy thing.

“Nice boy, give it.” One of the sisters yelled.

“Not until you explain. What were you talking about, the location I seek?” Percy asked.

“No time!” Another sister screamed out as they hit the gas.

“Percy, what are yo-” Annabeth started.

“Tell me! Or I’ll throw it out the window!” Percy screamed out.

“No! It’s too dangerous!” One spoke.

“I’m rolling down the window.” Percy lied.

“Wait!” The sisters said. “30, 31,75,12!”

“What does that mean?” Percy questioned.

“Percy, there's no time, give them the eye! Now!” Annabeth screamed out.

“Too loud.” Tyson muttered.

Percy didn’t argue, plopping it down in one of the sisters' laps. The old hag took the eye and put it in her head.

The women looked around seeing where they were at and hit the brakes, meaning they were at camp half-blood.

“All right, we’re here.” Percy muttered, patting Tyson who was still holding his stomach. “Now tell me what those numbers mean.”

“There is no time, Percy!” Annabeth screamed out as she opened the door.

Percy’s eyes followed Annabeth trying to figure out what was wrong however as his eyes locked onto the camp half-blood hill and understood her panic. At the crest of the hill there was a group of campers, and they were being attacked.

Percy threw open the doors, Tyson following close behind, the ladies didn’t even wait for their extra payment they just spent off. Percy was trying to wrack his brain for an answer, it looked like these giant metal bulls were fighting campers, but it shouldn’t be possible, Thalia’s tree protected camp, they shouldn’t be there.

“Border patrol to me!” Clarisse’s voice screamed out. Percy's mind sputtered sense from all his memories camp didn’t have a border patrol.

Either way, Percy wasn’t planning to watch his fellow campers get stomped by a metal bull and pull out the sickle from his bag.

“Tyson, stay back.” Percy barked out.

“No!” Annabeth said. “We need him!”

“Need him?! Annabeth, he nearly die-'' Percy argued.

“Percy do you even know what’s up there?” Annabeth asked. “The Colchis bulls made by Hephaestus himself, we can’t even get close without getting fried to a crisp.”

Percy typically didn’t question Annabeth as adding more questions and answers to his ADHD brain just produced more nightmare drawings, but now he replied “Annabeth, I don’t know and don’t care. But I’m not letting Tyson get fried.”

“Percy!” Annabeth yelled out.

“Tyson, stay back.” Percy growled as he began running back up the hill towards the bulls.

Percy got closer, he could see more about the metal bulls, bronze in color, and he could practically feel the heat coming off them from here.

Clarisse wasn’t doing much better, well she was still fighting like Ares (meant as a compliment), however the other soldiers weren’t doing as well, as they broke formation as their clothes caught on fire, only leaving the daughter of Ares and a small group.

It happened so fast, but Bull 1 charged at Clarisse, hitting her square in the shield and sending the girl flying. Bull 2 noticed and began to make a charge at her now that she was down.

Percy reacted first, running as fast as he could and grabbing Clarisse, yanking her by the straps out of the way, just barely avoiding bull 2. Percy used his Sickle to make a long gasp into the monster, it still moved but let out a few groans as it did.

“Damn you, Percy!” Clarisse said, smacking his hand away.

“You're welcome.” Percy muttered before as jumped out of the way of Bull 2.

The metal monster tried to launch flames and fry Percy, but the demigod did his best to stay out of range. He felt like a bullfighter, doing his best to get the bull angry to get the creature to charge, and once that happened, he could move out of the way and strike at the beast's legs. It’s true, Percy was out of practice but something about fighting always came natural to him.

Percy had not been paying attention to the other bull, as it came out of nowhere hitting Percy in his side, causing the boy to go flying. He hit one of the trees, with a loud thud. He tried his best to move but pain though through his ankle, causing Percy to look and see his ankle was bent at a slightly off angle. Bull 1 seemed to notice that Percy was a sitting duck, causing the bull to circle back as if to get more space to kill him.

“Tyson, help him!” Annabeth screamed out.

“Can’t, get through.” Tyson said in a panic.

“I, Annabeth Chase, give you permission to enter camp!” Annabeth yelled out.

Suddenly Tyson was running towards Percy and the Bull like a man on a mission, the taller boy yelled. “Percy needs help!”

Tyson was able to get in between the Bull and Percy, just in time to stop the bull by the horns. The monster obviously was not happy and launched an inferno at the boy.

“Tyson!” Percy yelled out in a panic.

Percy could feel the blood rushing to his ears, his heartbeat in his head clogging up all the sound. No, no Tyson couldn’t be, he couldn’t?! How could Annabeth allow a mortal into a fight like this. He wanted it to stop..he wanted it all to stop!

It was almost like the world listened because for a second Percy swore everything stopped, just for a second before the flames started moving again, before disappearing all together.

Tyson was still standing there, not a pile of ash, holding the metal bull by the horns. Percy was probably about as surprised as the bull was as it didn’t even try to start its attack again.

“BAD COW!” Tyson scolded as anger tinged his voice, he brought his fist down on the head of the metal head causing a nasty dent. “Down!”

The bull staggered as steam began to escape the bull’s head before it fell down on the ground as its eyes slowly died down.

Annabeth quickly ran over towards the injured Percy, handing him a canteen of Nectar.

“You hit your nose?” Annabeth asked.

“What?” Percy replied as he touched his face as his nose didn’t feel hurt or broken. The fingers under his nose came back bloody. “Huh, a nosebleed? Wait, what about the other bull?”

Annabeth pointed at the other bull, which now was dying due to Clarisse's spear piece through its body. The daughter of Ares marched forward, taking off her helmet, she ignored any injuries she had as she glared at the two.

“You!” Clarisse snarled out. “I had everything under control.”

“Good to see you too, Clarisse.” Percy replied snarky.

“Ugh, don’t you ever try to rescue me again!” Clarisse yelled back.

“Clarisse.” Annabeth replied. “You’ve got wounded.”

Clarisse's anger quickly faded, turning back to the other campers. Despite how the girl could be, Percy always admired her care for her soldiers/team.

“I’ll be back.” Clarisse said like a movie villain before turning to her friends. As Clarisse returned to her group, Tyson came running up.

“You didn’t die.” Percy said, still bewildered.

Tyson looked down, tears pricking in the corners of his eyes. “Sorry, didn’t listen.”

“Hey, it’s ok, big guy.” Percy said, grabbing his face. “I was scared for you, that’s all.”

Percy’s eyes glowed for a second and suddenly he shoved Tyson back, turning around just to grab a spear that was going past him, meant for the taller boy behind him.

“Move Jackson!” The boy said he was from the Ares Cabin.

“What in the Hades!” Percy yelled before his anger caused him to break the spear, shoving the boy down. “He helped us!”

“He’s a monster!” The Ares boy screamed.

“Leave it! It’s not attacking so it’s not our problem!” Clarisse yelled, marching over as if threatening to drag the younger boy. “Stop wasting energy and help the wounded.”

The boy quickly ran, whatever problem he had with Tyson was clearly much lower than possible risking Clarisse’s wrath.

“What is his problem?” Percy growled out.

“Percy.” Annabeth said. “Have you ever looked at Tyson closely? I mean…really closely. Ignored the Mist, and really look at him.”

Percy looked at Annabeth before looking at Tyson, everything seemed to be the same, big build, teeth that were crooked, hair that had once been matted it took Percy a whole night of brushing and tears from Tyson to get it so didn’t hurt the boy anymore, and two teary brown eyes.

No. Just an eye.

One big brown eye that sat right in the middle of his forehead, as tears trickled down each side.

Percy's mind raced at first, a cyclops, one of the many monsters in Greek myth that constantly tried to kill heroes. But Tyson wasn’t a killer, he wouldn't hurt a fly unless needed. This was the same boy who cried his first night at school, to finally have a soft bed. The same boy who had woken up when Percy had a nightmare from his first quest and did his best to comfort him. The same Tyson who ran to help and save Percy as soon as he could. Tyson was a cyclops, and that means…

“He’s probably a baby cyclops by the looks of it. Also, would explain why he couldn’t get through the barrier as easily. He’s one of the homeless orphans.” Annabeth said.

“One of what?” Percy asked, keeping his hand on Tyson’s arm.

“They’re mistakes Percy, Children of nature spirits and a certain god, they don’t always come out right so they toss-” Annabeth said before Tyson began to cry harder, muttering about mistake.

Percy immediately began to comfort Tyson the best he could, bullies at the school weren’t just students but teachers as well and calling Tyson a ‘mistake’ was their favorite insult. Percy turned back to look at Annabeth and having been on a quest together she could easily tell Percy wasn’t happy with her.

“He seems to like you, we should get him back to camp, Chiron will know what to do.” Annabeth offered.

“Tantalus you mean.” Clarisse said as she walked closer, likely to chew us out.

“Tantalus?” Percy said as his mind tried to find a myth that matches the name, there was one, but it can’t be him, right? No sane god would put that many around a bunch of kids.

“The activities director?” Clarisse responded.

“But the activities director is Chiron and where is Argus? He’s head of security!” Annabeth exclaimed.

“Those two are gone, you’ve been away for a long time, things are changing.” Clarisse stated matter of factly.

“But Chiron has been in charge of the camp for over three thousand years, he’s helped train many heroes, what happened?” Annabeth asked.

“That happened.” Clarisse snapped as she pointed to Thalia’s tree.

Thalia’s tree has been a big landmark in camp, Annabeth would sometimes sit by the roots and read to them. Percy would sometimes join her under the pine tree, however the face hidden in the roots always made Percy feel uncomfortable. However now the once lifeful pine tree was gone, its leaves were now a sickly yellow barely staying on the branches as they littered the ground. There looked to be a bullet hole in the tree where green and purplish sap oozed out.

It was very clear; the barrier was in trouble because Thalia’s tree was dying. And someone had poisoned it.

Percy and Annabeth walked into the camp, the boy noticing the strange vibe. There was no relaxing vibe, instead everyone was tense, having weapons around, cleaning and helping the wounded. There were some campers that glared at Tyson as they walked but no one tried to point a weapon at the baby cyclops. Thankful Tyson's happy and childlike question helped raise Percy’s mood a bit, even if it’s a small amount.

They eventually got to Chiron who was currently packing to leave, Annabeth asked what was going on while Percy did his best to make sure Tyson didn’t randomly grab Chiron and earn himself a kick.

Annabeth and Chiron began to talk, and Chiron started to explain. Thalia’s tree had been poisoned, a poison from the Underworld and Zeus as well as those on Olympus didn’t trust him, thinking he had done it. Annabeth and Percy pointed out that logically it had to be Luke and Kronos, Luke had that blade, and it would be easy to slip into camp and poison Thalia’s tree. However, Chiron sadly said spirits had been on the lookout and hadn’t seen Luke and they needed someone to blame.

Chiron had to leave but not before grabbing Annabeth, making the girl swear upon the Styx that she would keep Percy out of danger, also mentioning a prophecy as well. She swore through tears before a horn was blown, a call to the dining pavilion.

The group of three went over, as many campers and spirits gathered to have dinner. Annabeth obviously went over to her table; he could see the other tables had sorted themselves. Someone from the Apollo table made a comment about Tyson which caused Percy to shoot a glare at the table.

“Ah Peter Johnson, here to cause trouble, are we?” Dionysus asked with a twinkle in his eye.

“No sir.” Percy responded, he didn’t know how the god of wine and madness was taking everything. He knew he cared for his twins, so he likely wasn’t happy what was happening about the barrier or Chiron but still.

There was a man sitting next to Mr. D, he wore a threadbare orange prison uniform, he looked just inches away from death, yet he moved perfectly fine. The man reached over for his food and drink only for them to shoot away from his hand, falling to the ground. Causing the man to let out a curse. Dionysus had fake pity for the man, but you could tell he was enjoying watching the man suffer.

“You're from the field of punishment.” Percy muttered. “The one under the fruit tree, always hungry and thirsty with relief being inches away.”

“Well, aren't you a scholar?” Tantalus sneered at the boy. “I hope there aren’t any more problems coming for you boy, that last thing we need is more problems.”

Percy wondered what the man could be talking about before realizing it was likely referring to the two Ares’s kids he sent to the hospital wing. Either way Percy held his tongue.

“No problems, sir.” Percy said, starting to walk away. “Come on Tyson.”

“That monster isn’t going near my sons.” Mr. D warned, glaring his purple eyes at Percy, causing the boy to make a gesture to the Poseidon table with his head.

“Oh, no the monster is staying here till we decide what to do with it.” Tantalus said.

“Him, his name is Tyson.” Percy said. “And he saved the camp, the bull would be running amok if not for him.”

“Yes, but still, we need to decide what to do with him, so he stays here.” Tantalus said with a smile, practically high off the power.

Percy looked around, he could see people staring and hearing whispers about him, he’ll likely become a pariah anyway for bringing in Tyson. So, if that’s the case, Percy was going to let everyone know and hear just what he thought of this newest camp director.

“But sir, for all I know you will just cut him up and feed him to a god. So no, he’s staying with me.” Percy said, raising his voice for other campers to hear. He quickly added a “Come on Tyson.”

Tantalus' jaw dropped as Percy practically dragged Tyson over to the Poseidon table, the boy only sitting his stuff down and making Tyson at the bench. Some campers whispered about the monster not exploding right away, which was slightly stupid, everyone knows if they weren’t the brothers of the Titans, then they were from Poseidon.

A wood nymph brought over a pizza; Percy guessed to make sure Tyson was fed. The boy quickly took two slices leaving the rest to the cyclops. He went towards the fire pushing one of the slices in.

“Poseidon, accept my offering.” Percy muttered before thinking in his head. ‘Do whatever you can to protect my brother, please.’

Percy went back to the table and took smile bites out of his slice before eventually handing it to Tyson who had finished the pizza. Eventually Tantalus eventually got tired of chasing around food and announced dinner was over before getting to announcements.

Tantalus said he was bringing back something called chariot races, which caused most of the campers to grumble since last time they ever hosted them a lot of people ended up hurt or dead. However, those protests quickly died down when Tantalus explained the reward for the winner of the race would not have any chores for a month.

Clarisse quickly stood up and brought up border patrol and problems they could have if all their attention was taken away from it. Of course, Tantalus ignored her worries and talked over her which the daughter of Ares was pissed about, Percy was sitting further away but he swore her eyes flashes red like her fathers.

“And now, one slight housekeeping issue.” Tantalus said before gesturing over to Percy’s table. “Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase have seemed fit to let that thing in here for some reason.”

Percy was going to kill this man. Even as campers whispered to each other it was Tantalus' tone that made Tyson squirm in his seat.

“Now normally Cyclops are bloodthirsty monsters, and I would place him into the forest for you all to hunt for sport. But this cyclops seems too stupid to be dangerous so until it provides its destruction, we’ll need a place to keep it. Stables are out because he’ll scare the horse. Any volunteers?” Tantalus asked with a wide smile. “Come now, any suggestion on where to kennel such a beast?”

That’s it, Percy decided he was going to kill Tantalus, he didn’t care if it upset Zeus or Mr. D. He was going to use his Sickle and make sure the bastard couldn’t talk anymore.

Percy grabbed the handle of the Sickle in his bag but stopped when everyone suddenly gasped. Percy turned back to see a dazzling green trident floating above Tyson's head, just like the one Percy got when he came back from the first quest.

Percy smiled and let go of the handle of his weapon, grabbing Tyson arm pulling his attention away from the glowing light. Percy spoke and meant it from the bottom of his heart. “Congratulations Tyson.”

There was stunned silence, so many campers waited years to get claimed and a monster had before them, however the silence was broken by Tantalus' laughter.

“Well now, I think we know where to put the beast. By the gods I can see the family resemblance!” Tantalus said with a laugh, causing many of the campers to join him, Annabeth and a few others stayed silent.

Percy took in a few breaths to calm him; Tyson didn’t pick up on the insult and that was the only reason Percy had yet to dub Tantalus ‘Kronos 2.0’. He knew deep down he would be looked down on, but it wasn’t the first time, when he first got to camp after breaking the Ares’s kid jaw, there were always those who looked at him like a wild animal, it was only after the quest they started to relax more. But if they wanted to go back to mocking Percy, so be it, thankfully Tyson is too innocent to pick up on it.

As long as Tyson was happy and safe just like Sally Jackson, Percy could live through it. And if they threaten that happiness?

Percy gritted his teeth and grabbed Tyson’s hand as he thought about Tyson being reduced to tears again.

What most people don’t know is that Percy didn’t just inherit his face from Poseidon, but he also inherited the god protective nature of those he considers family, a personal loyalty of his.

The same protective loyalty that cursed a Greek hero to spend 10 years at sea, being hunted by gods and monsters alike instead of back with his family.

Chapter Text

Percy never understood the phrase ‘god please give me patience’, he heard his mom, and a few adults say it every now and again. But he just never understood it, cause to him you either had patience or you didn’t.

He very much understood the saying now, as being back to camp had caused the boy to pray to his father, either patience or whatever bail money he would need when eventually snaps and kills a person.

Every day someone was either saying something snarky to him or shooting daggers at him. Normally he could go to Chiron, but Tantalus is a butt and Mr. D has decided he hates Tyson on principle, constantly telling Percy he needed to move back to his cabin and let the monster have Poseidon cabin. Each time Percy replied ‘no’ it just seemed to tick off the god more. Hell, the only people that seemed to like or somewhat tolerate Tyson was the Hephaestus cabin who were so excited to work with a cyclops, Clarisse who just didn’t care as long as he was helping the border patrol and Annabeth, who made it clear she just tolerated Tyson for Percy’s sake.

Percy could remember the fight so well, it started with Annabeth trying to comfort Percy for all the crap he was getting.

“I’m sorry Percy, I didn’t think Poseidon would claim him. Cyclopes are the most deceitful-” Annabeth started to say.

“Tyson is not, what is the problem you have with Cyclopes anyway?” Percy asked.

“Just forget it-” Annabeth started to say.

“You're treating him like he’s a horrible thing, he saved my life!” Percy countered.

“Then maybe you should work on the stupid chariot with him!” Annabeth said, throwing down her pencil in frustration.

“Maybe I will.” Percy replied.

And that was the last time Percy had talked to Annabeth, and that was a good two days ago.

Add into the fact his nightmares were seemingly coming back with a vengeance, vision of Grover, Kronos mocking him in his dreams and the girl Thalia getting weaker and weaker. Percy always seemed to wake up pissed, even his normal drawing or sword training did nothing to stop his anger.

So of course, when Tyson ran into the cabin crying with an arrow through his shoulder, Percy could barely hold back his rage. Now he didn’t want Tyson to think he was angry at him, so he brought the cyclops to the lake. Percy had been practicing and moving the water up to Tyson’s shoulder in a snake form, enveloping the wound when he quickly pulled out the arrow.

“What happened Tyson?” Percy asked, washing as the water slowly healed Tyson’s wound.

“Don’t know.” Tyson replied through tears. “Wanted to see how shield’s work, then pain.”

Percy began to fill in the gaps, Beckendorf had told Percy that despite working on the chariot, Tyson had been fascinated with the shields and had expressly wanted to make one. He likely sent the cyclopes to go watch training to see the shape of the shields and how they were used. And one person decided they didn’t like him there, oh that definitely didn’t help Percy anger.

“Come on, let’s head inside.” Percy said, ushering the boy back to the cabin.

Once the boy was inside, he leaded by the fountain wiping away tears; however, once Percy made a move away, the cyclopes arm shot out, grabbing Percy in a vice-like grip.

“Brother.” Tyson said the tears were coming back. “You mad?”

“What, no, no no no.” Percy replied back unsure why Tyson thought he was mad.

“Leaving?” Tyson asked.

“Just for a minute, I have to have a talk with that bully.” Percy explained.

Tyson looked for a minute as if trying to figure out what to say, Percy knew Tyson was smart enough to pick up on things, he knew what that saying likely meant.

“Don’t want you in trouble.” Tyson muttered as he let go of Percy's hand.

Percy just smiled, he grabbed his sketchbook, the waterproof one with grapes on the front. “Here, why don’t you draw me something?”

Tyson took the book as if it would bite him, Percy knew why, he had been protective of that sketchbook, he allowed Tyson to draw in any of the others but had yanked it out of the boy’s grip last time he grabbed it. Percy was only protective because this was the sketchbook that held his nightmares, the weird drawings of Greek heroes, the seemingly formless beings haunting his dreams, possibly and hopefully wrong drawings of what’s to come. This was the sketchbook he would draw in if he woke up from nightmares and didn’t feel swing around his sword or Sickle. And now he was handing it to Tyson.

“You sure?” Tyson questioned.

“I’m sure. Why don’t you draw? Or maybe try to translate this? It’s been annoying Annabeth.” Percy said as he went to a random page and pointed to some weird writing.

Percy could understand it, his best guess is it’s a mix of Ancient Greek and something older written upside down or backwards, at least he had started doing that when notes in English, so it made sense. Either way, it was something to distract Tyson for the time being.

“You come back?” Tyson asked.

“I promise.” Percy said, taking off his necklace, another thing he was highly protective of and placing it around Tyson’s neck. “Look after this while I’m gone.”

Tyson looked down at the necklace, touching it slowly as if it would burn him. Also holding the sketchbook as if it would explode. Percy quickly gave the boy a ‘stay put and be good’ before leaving the cabin.

Percy gripped the arrow to it to point it nearly snapped, ready to give its owner a taste of Tyson’s fear.

It was almost laughable how easily Percy figured out who it was, maybe the rumors about last year weren’t as widespread as he thought or maybe he assumes that both were Ares’s kids had deserved it. Percy wandered back to the training ground with a confused expression on his face, saying he had found an arrow on the ground and wondered who it belonged to.

The Apollo kid, Percy didn’t know his name, asked if he had seen Tyson to which Percy lied and said no.

The kid let out a breath before saying it was his, allowing Percy to walk up. The Apollo kid set his hand on one of the tables, opening it ready for Percy to hand him the arrow so he could examine it.

Percy then proceeds to stab the arrowhead through the kid’s hand.

It was strange, watching as the kid struggled in pain as Percy refused to move, keeping the arrow firmly in the wound. Percy very rarely likes seeing people hurt, even reality shows where his mom assures him it was all fake always made him feel off, sure he would hurt those who tried to hurt him or his friends. That was his anger, but he never delighted in seeing people suffer, that just wasn’t him.

Yet, some part of him wanted to smile as he watched the Apollo kid squirm as he told him exactly where he found the arrow.

The kid argued back of course, Percy not really caring, he just wanted to know why, and he wanted an apology for Tyson, however a few lines still played in his ears.

“He’s a monster!” The kid screamed out trying to pry Percy’s hand away.

“And what does that make me?” Percy replied.

“Huh?” the kid muttered.

“I mean Poseidon, all he has is monsters, right? The ‘Father of Monsters’ name is also credited to him at times. And Tyson doesn’t hurt anyone? But me?” Percy said before twisting the arrow causing the boy to scream. “Wouldn’t my track record make me a monster?”

The Apollo kid looked at Percy, trying to figure out the correct answer before nodding a yes. Which Percy nodded in agreement.

Eventually through tears the kid agreed to apologize to Tyson. Percy finally stopped tormenting the boy and let him go. There was a chance he could go to Tantalus and complain but whatever. He later learned the boy didn’t do that, maybe for the sake of pride or risking Percy’s wrath again and just let it go, claiming he got it by not paying attention.

Walking back to the cabin, Percy hears footsteps behind him. He looked back seeing nothing, but nearly being kidnapped by Luke and knowing his friend, he knew he wasn’t alone.

“Come on, Wise girl, let’s talk.” Percy said. Annabeth quickly appeared, taking off her hat.

“Why did you do that?” Annabeth asked.

“Do what?” Percy responded.

“Don’t play with me Percy, you stabbed a kid, he could go to Tantalus.” Annabeth said.

“You're right, but I’ve stabbed others for less so whatever.” Percy said with a shrug.

“Percy this is serious, Tantalus could expel you, you could never be allowed back.” Annabeth stated. “Why would you risk that?”

“Because he hurt Tyson, I would have done the same if he shot you or Grover with an arrow.” Percy replied.

“He’s a cyclops, he doesn’t need protecting.” Annabeth argued.

“Yes, he does Annabeth.” Percy responded. “He’s a child, one who has been all alone on the streets and by the scars on him I would say he was just as a target of monsters as we are and he had no one, no one around to protect him…. not even my dad. You can’t expect me to not protect him, Annie.”

Annabeth froze at the words, in her head Luke was talking to Thalia.

‘You can’t expect me to not protect her, Thalia.’ Luke’s voice ranges out.

“It’s just…if you get thrown out, I’ll be all alone, Grover is gone, Luke is….” Annabeth muttered.

Percy let out a sigh walking over to hug the girl. “I know, I’m sorry, I am just now raising a baby cyclops because dad can’t be bothered.”

Annabeth let out a snort of laughter. The two pulled back, Percy’s normal happy smile was on his face, instead of the angry glare he had on when Annabeth followed him. He looked and acted like Percy, even if the air around him made Annabeth want to cower, not that her pride would ever let her.

The boy offered Annabeth to go back to his cabin, but Annabeth refused, the Athena cabin still had some work to do on their chariot. Thankfully the two were now somewhat on speaking terms again.

Percy went back to the cabin, completely ignoring the schedule he had for the day and spent it with Tyson, drawing or using wooden weapons trying to teach the younger boy how to fight. The cyclops went back to the Hephaestus cabin, to show Percy the shield he was working on. The only real change was Clarisse who demanded Percy take on an extra patrol for the Apollo kid he put out of commission, which the boy did without complaint.

By the time dinner came around Percy figured Mr. D knew what had happened as he grumbled about Tyson being a bad influence on Percy. Castor and Pollux came over and tried their best to convince Percy to come back to their cabin, all of which fell on deaf ears. Percy just ate his dinner, watching Tantalus chase his food around which was a great show.

Dinner ended, they weren’t sent back to their cabins, Percy did another patrol before both got ready for bed.

“Necklace?” Tyson asked, touching Percy’s necklace which he still had on.

“You can keep it on tonight, Tyson, I’ll take it back in the morning.” Percy said as he adjusted the blanket on his bed, knowing his tendency to kick to the ground in his sleep, if he wanted it on it needed to be tucked.

“I’m sorry.” Tyson muttered from his bed, just loud enough for Percy to hear.

Percy looked over grabbing his pillow before sitting down next to Tyson on his bed. Concern filled his voice. “What’s the matter, big guy? What are you sorry for?”

“I’m a monster, scare away my brother's friends.” Tyson said, Percy could hear the tears that were threatening to fall. Likely thinking of the twins from dinner.

Percy immediately wrapped his arms around Tyson, it was hard considering how much taller the boy was, thankfully Tyson leaded into the touch, resting his head on top of Percy’s.

“You're not a monster Tyson.” Percy stated.

“I’m not?” Tyson replied, making Percy wonder just how much the boy was overhearing.

“If anyone is a monster here, it would be me.” Percy said with a bitter chuckle. “Do you think I’m a monster?”

“No! Not a monster!” Tyson said rather offended as he wrapped his arms around Percy in a tight hug causing Percy to laugh.

“Thank you, big guy.” Percy replied through his laughs, hugging the cyclops.

Percy honestly hadn’t expected to fall asleep in Tyson's bed, he had just planned to stay and comfort his brother, sneak back to his bed once he was sure the other was asleep. But Percy fell asleep, but even with the comforting presence of Tyson the nightmares still took hold.

It was a field, the grass was yelled and dead, Percy reached down and pulled at a few blades watching them crumple into dust. A loud coughing was heard, grabbing the boy’s attention. He eventually came to a girl on the ground coughing by an old dead tree. He reached over to help her before she grabbed his arm in a death grip.

The girl, Thalia, looked up and she looked worse than Tantalus if Percy was honest. She was skinny, deathly skinny, her veins looked purplish and green as the poison pumped through her. She looked up with her electric blue eyes, fear filling them.

‘HELP ME!’ Thalia screamed.

Percy’s eyes shot open, his heart nearly skipping a beat. He took some deep breaths as his eyes adjusted to the darkness; he glanced over to Tyson who was still sleeping. Percy anxiety spiked for a moment; Thalia’s screamed still haunted him.

Percy got up, Tyson still thankfully sleeping like a rock, as he got on his shoes. Percy knows his nightmares and he knows he will not get back to sleep until he checks on Thalia’s tree. It was a lot like the nightmare he had of his mom’s kidnapping, he often couldn’t sleep until he sneaked a glance into his mom’s room confirming she was still there.

Percy walked out of his cabin with a flashlight, he’s sure the harpies knew but had seen practice with weapons at night when he couldn’t sleep after nightmares. They typically left him alone, mainly because he wasn’t a prankster, but the second reason is Percy had proven he would swing at them just as well as he would any monster, he also thinks it because they hate Tantalus too. So, no one stopped Percy as he walked towards the border, silently keeping his grip on his pen riptide, just in case something went wrong.

Of course something did go wrong, but it wasn’t a random monster attack.

No, it was the fact that once the light landed on Thalia’s tree, Percy thought it was dead.

Percy stumbled for a second as he ran towards the tree, nearly stumbling along the way. He dropped the flashlight when he finally reached the tree falling to his knees. He placed his hand on the bark watching it fall off the tree. Percy glanced down at the face in the roots, he swore her face was twisted in pain.

‘Was she suffering? Why? Why was it this far along?!’ Percy’s mind raced with questions. Everyone, even Dionysus swore the tree had at least a month or so before it fully died. The Satyrs and wood nymphs were also delaying the process with healing songs?! Where were they?

Percy glanced up to see the leaves, there were only a handful left on the tree. It was clear to Percy that the tree only had about three days at the most left. Thalia was dying again, and with her all of camp half-blood would die.

Percy placed his hands on the tree before leaning his head against them. Tears began to fall, he didn’t know her, but Annabeth did. Annabeth's stories of Thalia were always told with a smile, a girl who can channel lightning and once she had gotten close to Annabeth, she protected Annabeth like she held the world in her hands. He remembers the fun facts from his friend, Thalia's punk style even during the hot summers, the girl requesting Annabeth read stories to her. He remembers the tears on Annabeth’s face when she learned the tree was dying.

He wanted to help the girl he never got a chance to meet, he wanted to help Annabeth, he didn’t want to see her sad. Grover….gods Grover didn’t even know what was happening, he hadn't seen the Satyr sense he was last at camp.

Percy gripped the bark, breaking it off in the process. He prayed at first, to any god that might be willing to listen, begging them to have some sort of mercy and spare her. Yet he was greeted to silence.

Percy felt like his heart was gripped as he closed his eyes and just hoped the best he could. He wanted to do something, yet he couldn’t, he was just a demigod with no ability to help Thalia’s tree, he wasn’t a son of Demeter or of Apollo. But oh, how desperate he wanted to be, he would do anything if it meant saving camp, if it meant to keep the ones he cares about safe, he would do anything.

Finally, the gripping at his heart stopped and the tears stopped, it dawned on him how stupid he was being out here alone and unprotected as it wouldn't help Thalia's tree. Percy looked up, maybe to count how many leaves were left maybe as proof the tree was still alive...huh he swore there was more leaves than before.

Percy something warm went down his nose when he looked back up, causing him to touch his face and pull back, his fingertips bringing back blood. Why was he getting nose bleeds all of a sudden? Did he have more when he was younger?

“Brother?” Tyson’s voice called out.

“Damn you brat! Why are you out of your cabin?!” Dionysus yelled out. “Are you trying to get kidnapped?”

Percy let out a breath and turned to stand up, ready to face whatever lecture or whatever Dionysus would do.

Yet when Percy stood up all the strength was sapped from him and he fell right to the ground.

“Percy!” Tyson called out in a panic.

“Shit! Kid what did you do!” the god screamed out.

It’s not like Percy could really hear them, they sounded like they were buried under the water or sand. Darkness creeped at the edge of his vision, he heard something else before the darkness took over dragging Percy back into his dreams.

There was nothing at first, just endless darkness that just felt comforting. Eventually stars began to peak through the darkness, all around Percy. The dark water that had surrounded the boy slowly pulled away, leaving him on the marble floors, looking up at a galaxy of creation. The boy slowly tried to name the constellation he could see.

“Do you know how time flows in space?” Kronos’s voice asked, causing Percy to jump immediately to his feet. The titan had taken on his youngest form just about Percy’s age, clothed in a light blue tunic as he stared up at the sky. “As much as I hated my father, I still admired him in ways, having access to the wonder behind his skies. Access to a place outside of time.”

Percy wasn’t in the mood to hit around and listen to the old Titan wax on about some random bs. He knew it was a dream but he didn’t care. This man caused the poisoning to Thalia’s tree and the least he could do is get revenge. Percy pulled out riptide and made a dash at Kronos who was still staring up as the sky slowly disappeared into marble.

It only took half a second for Kronos to side step the blade, grabbing it and pulling, using Percy force to slam him face first into one of the many pillars. Percy immediately covered his mouth, spitting out some blood as he coughed.

“As adorable as your little attempt was, like last time I am not here to fight you.” Kronos said his form shifted to an adult. “I am simply here to get you to see reason.”

“I am not listening to a cannibal.” Percy growled out as he got to his feet, trying to swing his sword at Kronos who just disappeared into sand and reformed.

“It would do you well to listen to me, it might be the only thing to save for life.” Kronos replied as if he was scolding a child. “The cycle will insure Zeus will want you dead.”

“Cycle?” Percy questioned before trying to hit the Titan again.

“Yes cycle, it is cruel, yes.” Kronos said before a smile spread across his face. “But being a part of it means the world is yours by birthright.”

Percy didn’t reply once again trying to attack Kronos which just went through the Titan, causing Percy to tumble and the immortal to just chuckle. A small wave of his hand and riptide turned to dust. Percy didn’t back down, just glaring up at the Titan.

“You are so much like me.” Kronos said through laughs. “It is like looking into a mirror.”

“I am nothing like you!” Percy practically growled. “Everything I get is from my mom and dad.”

“Hmm, and where do you think your father gets it from? He gets it from me and you get it from him.” Krono asked. “Poseidon takes the most after me, our domains are so similar. Time and the seas, both seemingly never ending, all consuming, relentless. He would have made a wonderful king, and he was long before Ancient Greece when Zeus was still chasing some skirts, but the sky child called that stupid life debt.”

“So what?” Percy snarled. “I’m like my dad, yes, and the only thing I got from you is my stupid cursed eye.”

Kronos smirked, shifting to his smaller form to walk around the demigod. “Are you so sure? What about the satisfaction of the fear you struck into Apollo's little brat?”

“How did you-?” Percy took a step away from the Titan before reaching up to his eye. “Whatever. No, I was just making sure he would hurt Tyson again.”

“You think I didn’t do the same, I cut up my father to make sure he could never hurt my mother again.” Kronos said his eyes were practically glowing with hot molten gold. “I protected my family and took on a curse because of said protection.”

“That doesn’t prove anything, even horrible people can do a good thing once in a while.” Percy replied.

“Yes, I suppose Zeus is a good example of that.” Kronos said. “Then how about your prophetic abilities?”

“They are from…” Percy said trailing off.

“Apollo? Poseidon? Even if their domain is not accurate, there's always room for interpretation,” Kronos said. “But your drawings, so many details that come to be, not even an oracle could be that accurate.”

“That means nothing!” Percy said.

“Really?” Kronos said. “You know exactly what it means, the sooner you admit it, the sooner I can help you.”

“I HATE YOU!” Percy screamed out. “Get out of my dreams! Leave me alone!”

As Percy screamed his eyes glowed gold just for a split second, but they stopped as quickly as his words did as a bloody cough overtook his small form. Percy's form shook as red slipped between his fingertips.

“I would pace yourself little godling, it would do you no good to hatch too early.” Kronos said in a slightly scolding tone.

“What?” Percy muttered as the room around him began to fade.

“Our times up for now, godling, try now to die.” Kronos said as his teeth became sharper. “I expect much from you.”

Percy fell once again.

Chapter Text

Percy fell once again.

Percy found himself in a cave, not in the dark marble that typically surrounded him when he was around Kronos. No this was a cave, there were sheep, hides of animals that decorated the place. And in the middle, there was Grover, wearing a wedding dress, now slightly stained with mud. He was panicking as he tried to weave what looked like a veil.

“Grover?” Percy asked.

“Percy, are you there?” Grover asked, looking at the boy but not really focusing on him.

“Oh honey! Who are you talking to?” A voice called out.

“Just talking to myself, darling!” Grover yelled back before he began to whisper. “Percy, you have to help me, I’m trapped on an island in the sea.”

“Where?” Percy asked, Grover thankfully could hear him.

“I don’t know, I went to Florida and turned left.” Grover replied. “Listen, it’s a trap, it's the reason no satyr makes it back from their quest. It's nature magic so powerful just like the great god pan. Satyr comes here thinking they found Pan and they get eaten by Polyphemus!”

“Polyphemus..the cyclops from the Odyssey.” Percy muttered. “Wait, that means you're in the sea of monsters?”

“Yes, please Percy help me!” Grover pleaded.

“I will, What is it? What’s causing Satyr to go there?” Percy asked.

“It’s gol-”

The world began to fade around the Satyr, as a monster with one eye began to march over towards his friend.

….

“Grover!” Percy yelled out as his eyes flew open. That had been a bad idea as immediately hit with a wave of pain. Honestly it felt like he was hit by a truck.

Percy groaned as he brought a hand to clutched his heart, it suddenly felt like he had gotten heartburn. He turned his head to see a glass of nectar, and he went to reach it.

“Nope.” Dionysus said as he swiped the glass, before throwing it back like it was a shot. Percy didn’t even try to hide his annoyed expression, to hurt to care.

“Punishment?” Percy asked.

“For not caring for your own safety and trying to get yourself kidnapped and/or killed.” Dionysus growled out. “Also scaring that cyclops as it’s been throwing a fit since you’ve passed out.”

“He.” Percy replied, trying to pull himself up. “I don’t think my safety should’ve mattered considering Thalia’s tree is nearly dead. You lied.”

“I lied? Watch your words brat.” Dionysus replied.

“The tree was nearly dead, a day or two left tops! You all told us we have at least a week.” Percy hissed back.

“It’s true the tree was dying at a faster rate, but I had a back up plan. However you have seemed to delay that.” Dionysus stated. “What did you do?”

“Huh?”

“According to you, the tree was nearly dead. Now it seems some of the poisoning effects are gone, there's even some green on the leaves. The poisoning is not gone but you bought the camp about a month.” The god said, his eyes shined. “So again, Percy, What did you do?”

“But I didn’t-” Percy tried to say.

“Listen brat! Now isn’t the time to be humble or whatever you humans call it!” Dionysus said grabbing Percy’s arm in a death grip, horns began to sprout from his head. “Whatever you did overpower your god side to the point it tried to absorb your human side, you would have died if not for you passing out! So. What. Did. You. Do?!”

“I don’t know, I swear I don’t know!” Percy said in a panic, his brain now in fight or flight that he was around a being that could easily snap and send him to Hades if he wanted.

The god stared into Percy’s eyes, maybe to see if he was lying or trying to induce madness in the boy before he let out a sigh and let him go. Percy immediately got as far away from the god as he could on the small bed. Dionysus pushed his hair back, the horns disappearing. “Avoid nectar and ambrosia for the time being, the last thing is we need a repeat of this.”

Percy nodded, knowing better than to argue with a god who currently has a hair trigger.

“You're out of the Chariot race, you're hurt and the last thing we need is for you to die and old barnacle beard to flood camp.” Dionysus stated.

Percy didn’t bother to argue, again fearing for his safety. The god allowed Tyson to come see Percy, the cyclops immediately burst into tears, claiming he took the necklace that protected his brother and that’s why he’s hurt. It took a few minutes to get Tyson to stop crying, and it was only when Percy took back his necklace did Tyson’s sobs lesson. Annabeth also came by to visit around lunch time before the chariot race to check on Percy.

Percy immediately told Annabeth about the dream of Grover, panic clear on his face. Annabeth originally was trying to focus on the race, however she took a moment explaining that likely what was driving Satyrs towards the cyclops was the golden fleece. She was pulled away by the Chariot race about the start but promised to talk after.

Percy was sure that once this chariot race is over, they can find a way to help the camp, after all the only thing that could go wrong is a chariot flipping over right?

Nope, they dealt metal zombie pigeons. Well Annabeth called them ‘Stymphalian birds’ and warned everyone from her Chariot that they would ‘strip them down to the bone’. Annabeth screamed that they needed sound, which caused Percy to run to the big house, he saw Chiron had left his music collection when he was in the infirmary. Tyson ran behind him and helped Percy grab the old boom box that Chiron kept.

The two ran back, cranking the sound all the way up to 11, and blasted the music. The birds immediately freaked out, taking to the sky, to which the Apollo cabin and others began to launch arrows at the birds, taking them down. Eventually all the demon birds were dead, leaving the camp alive but scared.

“And we have our first winner!” Tantalus announced like they weren’t just fighting for their lives a second ago. “Clarisse!”

There wasn’t a wave of cheers that should have happened, everyone was still too stressed.

“Now, what to do with you three trouble makers.” Tantalus said as he glanced over to Percy, Tyson and Annabeth.

Tantalus wanted to blame what happened on the three, claiming they had somehow disturbed the birds. He would have assigned a punishment to them yet Dionysus threatened to get Poseidon if he dared make the injured demigod work. The man, still terrified from when he served the god of the sea, thankfully didn’t try anything. Well not anything, they weren’t allowed the special victory dinner of fried bird and were sent to eat dinner away from the others. It worked in their favor and allowed Annabeth and Percy to talk as Tyson played with his food before eating it.

Going over everything they realize that Grover was trapped with Polyphemus who also had golden fleece, which could be used to heal Thalia’s tree. Percy realized that the numbers he got from the gray sister were likely coordinates, leading to Grover. Annabeth did counter that it could all be a trap from Luke.

That part did make Percy freeze for a moment, despite the vision from Kronos he always knew he was somewhat physically safe, yet the nightmares about his near kidnapping? Those kept him up at night, someone he looked up too, ready to throw him into the arms of a monster.

Still Percy insisted they needed to do something, not only for the sake of the camp but Grover, grover was a sitting duck in a cave counting down the days to his death. Deep down in his soul Percy couldn’t live with himself if he did nothing and told Annabeth he was going, whether she joined him or not. Annabeth agreed to help but then expressed her worry about Tyson. Mainly because he was a cyclops but it shifted to his safety, something she knew Percy cared about. Percy somewhat nodded in agreement, but didn’t know what to think since camp half-blood made it clear they didn’t like Tyson.

Eventually they were allowed back around the campfire for s'mores and Percy spoke up.

“I know a way to save the camp.” Percy spoke up.

That had gotten the camp's attention and before Tantalus could speak over him, Percy began to describe the dreams about Grover. Annabeth thankfully spoke up, explaining about the golden fleece probably in better words then Percy could. Percy then added the coordinates they needed to find the fleece. Tantalus tried to brush it off at first but eventually many campers were chanting ‘quest! Quest!’ and he promised to give a quest to get them to shut up.

Tantalus selected Clarisse as the camper to go on the quest, Ares cabin cheered while Athena’s cabin booed. Percy did try to protest, he knew Clarisse would be focused on the quest which was all fine and good, but he knew deep down if it came to saving Grover or getting the fleece, she would pick the fleece. Clarisse happily accepted the quest and was sent to the big house to get a prophecy from the oracle. And Tantalus canceled the campfire stories because the other campers kept arguing about who was selected.

Tantalus warned that his word was final and that if any student decided to leave or hijack the quest would be expelled, never allowed back to camp. That caused most of the students to stop arguing and grumbled in acceptance.

Dionysus must have been able to read Percy’s mind as he pulled the boy to the side before he headed his cabin.

“Don't even think about it kid.” Dionysus warned. “You’ve already been hurt, let Clarisse handle it.”

Percy nodded in agreement, knowing if he protested he would probably be sent to the Dionysus cabin, where the twins would keep eyes on him. The god didn’t seem to believe him but let him go back to Poseidon cabin with Tyson, maybe figuring the demigod wouldn’t go after if Tyson was left to the mercy of camp.

Getting back into the cabin, Percy couldn’t really explain it well to Tyson but Tyson had overheard Percy and Annabeth conversation about the quest they wanted to go on. So as the two got ready for bed, Tyson spoke up.

“You will go anyway?” Tyson asked, he knew his brother didn’t like the word no unless it came from Annabeth.

“I’m not sure.” Percy admitted to the boy. “It would be really hard.”

“I can help.”

“I couldn’t ask that of you big guy, it’s too dangerous.” Percy said as his eyes drifted to Tyson scars. “You’ve been through enough, camp half-blood is the safest for you.”

“I’m safest with my brother.” Tyson said before tears prick at his eyes. “No one wants me here.”

“No, Tyson, please don’t say that.” Percy said, hugging his brother.

“Daddy cared for me..” Tyson said through sniffs. “Now…..I should not have been born.”

“Tyson, hey! Look at me!” Percy said, grabbing the cyclops face and making the boy stare at Percy. “You are a gift to me! My little brother, I can’t imagine not having you around so don’t you dare say that.”

Tyson reached up to Percy’s hand before the sorrow expression melted shifting into tears of joy as he grabbed his brother for a hug. Percy didn’t bother to fight against the hug, eventually Tyson loosen his grip and fell sound asleep with snores.

However while Tyson fell asleep easily, sleep didn’t come quickly to Percy. The boy tried to lay in bed, listening to the sounds of the fountain yet they offered no help. He tried taking out his sketchbook but for once he couldn’t get his body to draw anything. Eventually with all his racing thought he let out a sigh and grabbed his bag, placing his beach towel, his sickle and his sketchbook and supplies in there. Hopefully listening to the waves and looking at the stars will clear his thoughts.

In the dark night, Percy sat down on the towel and looked up at the stars. It was a beautiful sky, varying stars were visible, all little pinpricks of whites, blues, yellows and reds. Percy looked up trying to find the constellations that were always lost due to New York's light pollution.

“Beautiful, aren’t they?” A voice said.

Percy jumped up, yanking the sickle of the bag and pointing it at the man. The familiar man with mischief eyes held up his hands, looking so much like Luke until his hair began to take on a more salt and pepper look. He wore an outfit that reminded the boy of the postal service.

“Hey, just here for a visit. Not going to pull any fast ones like my brother.” The man said, withh his hands in a surrender motion. “Was just hoping to take a load off.”

“Lord Hermes…? You're Luke’s father right?” Percy asked.

“Luke’s father? Not how I’m normally addressed.” Hermes said. “God of thieves normally, god of travelers and messages if they're being nicer. And didn’t I tell you to drop the lord part.”

Hermes sat down on the towel, Percy put his weapon back in the bag and sat next to him, joining him in looking at the stars.

“Any constellation your favorite?” Hermes asked.

“Hercules.” Percy quickly answered.

“Why? Love the strength and the fame of being a hero.” Hermes asked.

“No, it’s…just nice to know there was someone out there with luck more rotten than mine.” Percy replied, causing Hermes to laugh.

A few minutes of silence was shared between the two.

“...what do you think about Luke?” Hermes eventually asked.

Percy had a feeling this was coming, he was silent for a minute, trying to think of how he truly thought about Luke.

“He was so nice, someone who I would have felt safe with looking after me…but…” Percy muttered. “He’s…he’s listening to something very dark, he can’t be trusted because he’s broken.”

“Broken?” Hermes repeated.

“Hopeless…loss...something, made him think that what he's doing is the only option.” Percy continued.

Hermes was silent as if taking in Percy words before he finally spoke up. “I have a few packages for you.”

Hermes dug into the bag before pulling out a thermos and handing it to Percy. Percy immediately tried to open it to see what was inside but Hermes quickly grabbed and sealed the lid back on tight, telling him it would act as a compass but also held the winds in, just in case they needed some help. The next was a bottle filled with gummies of varying shapes, he noticed the minotaur maybe a fury as well? Hermes quickly gave over the ‘elevator pitch’ of the gummies and warned him to only take them if really needed.

“Um thank you Hermes, but why are you giving me all of this?” Percy asked.

“Perhaps I was hoping, if you had the chance to save more people on your quest, not just Grover.” Hermes said sadly.

“...You mean Luke” Percy muttered.

“Percy, your father isn’t the only one like that. We gods are selfish beings, we like to keep things that we consider our close to us. Even as others fade, we hold on because you can’t give up on family, no matter how tempting it is.” Hermes said. “It was that selfishness that led to the path Luke is on.”

“How?” Percy found himself asking.

“Did Luke or anyone ever tell him about the quest he was sent on?” Hermes asked before Percy responded with a no, so the god continued. “I asked Luke to retrieve an apple from the garden of the Hesperides.”

Percy thought for a moment before replying. “That was one of Hercules' tasks wasn’t it? And he had to get help.”

“You're right, I made him do a quest that was already done in hopes of getting Hera’s golden apples.” Hermes said.

“Why?” Percy asked.

“Because those apples grant immortality…..a way to protect my son from his fate.” Hermes admitted. “His mother saw something horrible for his future and my father would never allow me to make one of my children immortal without proper reason. But if he took an apple for a quest, and I gave it to him as a reward for finishing it.”

“It would be a loophole.” Percy realized.

“Yes, but he failed, returning with that scar and that anger like Hercules.” Hermes admitted. “Please, will you just try. Even if you fail?”

“Yes, for the sake of Luke as my friend.” Percy agreed. “I’ll try to make him see reason.”

“Thank you Percy.” Hermes said standing up, causing Percy to follow suit. “I should get going, and you should too. You friends should be coming right about…now.”

Of course, as soon ‘now’ Percy heard the voice of Annabeth and Tyson call out for him.

“I hope I pack well enough for you; I have some experience with traveling.” Hermes said as he snapped his fingers, three yellow duffle bags appeared by Percy’s feet. “Waterproof of course, and consider asking your father to help you reach the ship.”

“Ship?” Percy asked.

Hermes pointed to the dark sea, sure enough there was a giant cruise ship, only visible because of its size and the lights the glow compared to the dark water.

“Wait, I never said I would go on the quest.” Percy stated.

Hermes let out a laugh. “Kid, we both know what you will pick, I hope you don’t get cold feet. If little brother finds out here, well he might actually consider turning you into an animal.”

As Hermes finished his warning, he quickly shimmered and disappeared, leaving Percy all alone on the beach. Thankfully it wasn’t long before Annabeth and Tyson ran up to the son of Poseidon.

“Percy, I heard you calling for help.” Annabeth said. “What happened?”

“Me too!” Tyson said. “Heard you tell ‘bad things are happening’.”

“I’m fine but I didn’t call you guys.” Percy said.

“But who-” Annabeth said looking down at the bags.

“Hermes pretty much came by and told me to go find Grover. He gave me some supplies and pointed me in the direction of a boat.” Percy replied.

“Percy, it's dangerous. You could be expelled.” Annabeth protested.

“Trust me, I know all about being expelled.” Percy said remembering how many times he had been pulled out of school before he would be expelled for beating up a bully.

“I promise Chiron to keep you out of danger.” Annabeth said before letting out a sigh. “And knowing you, you will do it anyway. I guess I’m going with you to keep you out of danger. Tyson you should go b-”

“No, want to go.” Tyson quickly interrupts. “Want to help.

“Percy, he can't go with us.” Annabeth protested.

“If we leave him here, Tantalus will punish him for the fact we’re missing.” Percy countered.

“He wouldn’t dare do anything to piss off your father.” Annabeth replied.

“He’s coming because it’s my responsibility to look after him, I’m not going to come back to find him gone.” Percy said, making it clear the argument was over.

“Fine, how are we going to get onto the boat? We all can’t swim that far, not with our bags.” Annabeth asked.

Percy was silently bending down and placing a hand in the water.

‘Dad please, If you listen we need help getting to the boat.’ Percy thought.

It was all quiet for a second, and Percy wondered if Poseidon even heard him before a smell of sea salt, stronger than before washed over him. Three creatures broke the surface of the water. They had horse-like heads and bodies while their back ends had that of fish tails, all covered in finds and beautiful rainbow scales.

“Fish ponies!” Tyson yelled out in excitement.

“Hippocampi, they’re beautiful!” Annabeth said.

Percy felt a shiver go up his spine, one he felt earlier when he woke up. He immediately spoke up. “We’ll admire later, they know we’re gone, we've got to move!”

The three immediately jumped onto the hippocampus and were off like they were on a speed boat. Soon the shore was nothing more than a small piece of land in the distance, though Percy swore he could hear Mr. D from there, swearing in Ancient Greek. They still had a way to go, but with the speed of the beast they were soon at the boat.

Now closer Percy actually got a good look at it. It was a massive cruise ship, the ones he would see ads for that were more close to floating islands. It was easily over ten stories tall and as they circled the ship looking for a way to get on, he spotted the name ‘Princess Andromeda’. Followed by a carving to the mast which he assumed to share the same name, a beautiful woman with dark hair but a terrified expression on her face.

Percy froze for a moment, princess Andromeda was considered a bane to his father, her family insulted his wife so he sent a sea monster after them, unless they gave up the daughter they were so proud of. The original Persues, his namesake slade the beast, but still. It felt like the only reason someone would name a ship after her was to either piss off his father or get said ship sunk by his father.

Eventually they found a service ladder, a way onto the ship. Annabeth went first with her duffle back. Tyson didn’t want to leave ‘Rainbow’ behind, the hippocampus he rode and grew found off. Thankfully Percy was able to convince him that they would Rainbow again and got Tyson up the ladder.

As soon as Percy's feet hit the deck he felt something off, like part of him was screaming at him that this place was unsafe, yet another part seemed welcome by it.

“Somethings wrong…” Percy muttered. “I don’t think we should stay here.”

“We can’t be riding all night seaweed brain, plus Hermes pointed it out so we should check it out.” Annabeth countered.

Percy didn’t argue anymore as Annabeth opened some locked doors. The three slowly made their way through the ship, it looked like a normal cruise ship but there was one big difference.

Where were all the people?

He knows some ships have hours and stuff closes down, but workers should still be out, cleaning stuff and other maintenance stuff yet there was nothing, just the sounds of the sea.

“Is this a ghost ship?” Percy muttered.

“Don’t like it. It smells bad.” Tyson said.

“Like monster bad?” Percy asked.

“No time, we probably need to rest for the night, we’ll deal with it in the morning.” Annabeth interrupted.

Percy wanted to argue but he knew deep down Annabeth wouldn’t be insisting if they were truly in danger. And likely being out at sea half awake with no ship would just draw monsters to them. Annabeth eventually found a way to get into two of the rooms of the ship, they were definitely passenger rooms, with the standard ‘enjoy your vacation’ card on the table. Annabeth went to her own room which did worry Percy a bit but he didn’t say anything as he figured Annabeth would throw a fit if she had to share a room with Tyson, she was getting used to the cyclops but not that much.

Tyson fell onto the bed, falling asleep right away. Percy laid on the opposite bed, he didn’t feel 100% safe so he took out the Sickle, placing it right by the bed, something he could grab and immediately use, in case he couldn’t uncap Riptide in time.

As some of his anxieties were gone now with that and his tiredness overtook the boy. Percy fell asleep.

Chapter Text

Percy dreamed about a cave, with brown rocks and different furs though many of them look like sheep wool. Grover sat by the weaving loom, still in the wedding dress and the Satyr was currently trying to unweave what was in pieces.

“Honeypie!” A monster screamed behind a rock.

Panic set onto Grovers face as he quickly began to try to go back to weaving.

The rock moved out of the way and a cyclops stomped in. It finally dawned on Percy what Annabeth meant by calling Tyson a baby, this guy was huge, possibly the size of a small house. He wore very human looking clothes, t-shirt and jeans, but his eye is what stood out to Percy, it was milky and scarred, not completely blind but close.

“What are you doing?” The monster demanded.

“Nothing.” Grover said, pulling on a high pitched voice. “Just working on the bridal train.”

The monster pawned at the piece of fabric before growling out. “It hasn’t gotten any longer!”

“But it has dearest, I’ve added at least an inch.” Grover replied.

“Too many delays.” The cyclops growled out. “You smell good, like goats.”

“Oh, do you like it? I wore it just for you.” Grover said, his voice shaking slightly.

The cyclops and Grover went back and forth, Polyphemus wanted to have the wedding right away but Grover wanted to finish the piece first. Thankfully Grover was able to use Polyphemus' lack of intelligence and instead of it being 5 days he earned himself a weak. The cyclops wasn’t happy as walked out of the room and rolled the boulder back locking Grover in.

Grover let out a shaking breath before muttering. “Hurry Percy, please please please.”

Percy was about to scream out for Grover, letting him know that he was coming to save him, however his dream quickly shifted the cave turning into sand that quickly was swept up by a breeze. The room turned into a familiar black marble that could only mean one thing.

“If it isn’t the young hero, on his way to another great victory.” Kronos’s voice mocked.

“Don’t you have anything better to do?” Percy replied.

“Hmm still that attitude, it's a wonder my youngerest hasn’t killed you yet.” Krono said, appearing close by. He was in an adult form but older than the last. Hair longer, hints of a beard forming….golden blood staining his mouth. “You should watch your words, after all it was my power that helped you with the tree.”

“Your power? Did you have some weed or the god equivalent of it?” Percy snarked back. “I didn’t use any of your power, I don’t have an-!”

Percy replied was cut off when Kronos grabbed his arm in a tight grip, panic filled the boy, in all his dreams this monster has never been able to grab him.

“You know nothing about what you’ve done! You're still slaving away for the gods.” Kronos growled out. “We’ll have to fix that!”

Kronos began to drag the boy towards what he assumed to be some sort of dungeon.

“No, NO! Let me go!” Percy screamed out.

Percy immediately jumped up to sit on the bed, immediately clenching his heart as it felt like there was a chain around it. He took a few deep breaths, getting his heartbeat down to a safe level. After that Percy looked over to Tyson wondering if try waking up the cyclops.

Percy apparently didn’t need to decide as the boat whistle echoed and shocked everything before a voice came on to give announcements. Percy was originally ignoring the man however the ‘disemboweling practice’ definitely made him pause.

“What did he say?” Percy asked.

Tyson slowly rose from his bed, rubbing the sleepiness from his eye. “Bowling practice?”

Percy could only hope he had heard wrong, however a quick knocking at the door brought him out of his thoughts. Annabeth stood there, clothes slighting wrinkled before muttering “disemboweling?”

The group quickly got dressed and began to explore the ship. There were many people wandering around, including staff in white uniforms. However none of them seemingly stopped the three stowaways that no one checked in. It became very evident when they got closer, as a look at their eyes he could see they glazed over with expressions.

“Good morning. Enjoy your stay on the Princess Andromeda.” One of the staffers with glazed eyes, despite the seemingly joyful tone, his face stayed blank.

“They're like zombies.” Percy muttered.

“They’ll all in some kind of trance.” Annabeth replied, as the group continued to walk away.

They encountered their first monster when they walked by the cafeteria, a black mastiff dog with glowing red eyes, surely giving off the same energy as Cerberus in the underworld. Annabeth quickly confirmed that it was a hellhound, a young one but still. Another thing was the people didn’t notice the obvious dog from the underworld that was right in front of them, just patiently waiting for their food.

When they heard more monsters coming the three quickly hid, it was two snake ladies, they were talking about people joining them with a laugh as they slithered by.

“We need to get off this ship.” Annabeth said her voice was laced with fear.

“Yes, bad smell.” Tyson muttered. “Let’s leave.”

Percy was surprised considering both Annabeth and Tyson was a once in a blue moon moment, and was about to nod in agreement when another voice chilled him to the bone.

“-only a matter of time. Don’t push me, Agrius!” Luke's voice range out. Percy and Annabeth gave each other a knowing look.

“I’m not pushing you!” The other voice snarled back. “I’m just saying if this gamble doesn’t pay off-”

“It’ll pay off!” Luke snapped. “They’ll take the bait, they have to. Plus he told me he would be here. Come on, we need to go to the admirably suite and check on the casket.”

The two voices began to fade down the hall before Tyson whispered out. “Leave now?”

Percy and Annabeth shared a look before Percy turned and comforted the taller boy. “We can’t, big guy.”

“We have to find out what Luke is up to.” Annabeth said. “And possibly drag him to Mount Olympus.”

Annabeth immediately wanted to put on her hat and follow the two alone, but Percy immediately shot that down, worried Luke might notice and Annabeth would be in danger and they would have no idea. Percy eventually put his foot down saying they would all go or none of them would go to which Tyson immediately said, ‘nobody please’.

Eventually Annabeth gave up and they began to walk down the hall, Percy held Tyson’s hand as the younger cyclops was terrified. They followed the signs, noticing the many you are here and trying to find their way to the suite. They eventually got to the tallest floor, where the admirably suite should be.

Something sent a shiver down Percy’s spine before Annabeth hissed out a “Hide!”

Percy and Tyson were quickly shoved into the closet, Annabeth didn’t follow, just putting on her hat turning her invisible. She closed the door only allowing a crack so the other could see who was passing down the hall.

Two people passed by the hall laughing, however they quickly made it clear that they were part of Percy’s world by the subject matter.

“You see the Aethiopian drakon in the cargo hold?” One said.

“Yeah it’s awesome.” The other replied.

“I heard they got two more coming in.” A familiar voice said. “If they keep coming at this rate, oh man - there will be no contest!”

The three quickly disappeared down the hall causing Annabeth to take off her hat and opening the door in a quick panic.

“That was Chris Rodriguez!” Annabeth explained. “From cabin 11 at camp.”

Percy thought for a minute, he remembered Chris, as the camper loves to make jokes about Percy’s black hole of a stomach. He seemed like a good kid but what is he doing here?

“What’s a half blood doing here?” Percy asked.

Annabeth shook her head before they went on trying to find their way to where Luke was at. They did see the disemboweling practice that was on the announcement, as they saw a half blood surrounded by monsters, who cheered when they destroyed the dummy wearing a ‘camp half-blood shirt’.

They quickly rushed past, trying to focus on the task at hand. They walk down the hallway, seeing a pair of double oak doors, very important looking. They were going to get closer but they stopped about thirty feet away when Tyson said. “Voices inside.”

“You can hear that far?” Percy asked.

Tyson closed his eyes as if listening before speaking in Luke’s familiar voice. “-the prophecy ourselves. The fools won’t know which way to turn.”

Tyson's voice shifted again, as if mimicking the other person in the room. “You really think the old horseman is gone for good?”

Tyson shifted back to Luke’s. “They can’t trust him, not with the skeletons in his closet, the tree was just the last straw.”

“Stop Tyson, it’s creepy.” Annabeth muttered.

“Just listening.” Tyson said before his voice shifted “Are you sure? Yes right outside.”

“Crap, run!” Percy said.

However as they turned around they were greeted by a group of monsters, some giants and a few of the snake monsters. The monsters immediately grabbed the three but each arm, making it hard for them to move. The big open door and two big bear men walked out with Luke walking in the middle.

“Well, well.” Luke said with a warm smile that made Percy skin crawl. “If it isn’t my favorite cousins. Come in, bring them in.”

They all were dragged into the suite, it looked beautiful, large windows to take in the sea and sky, a bed looking big enough for 6 to 7 people, a Persian rug, many sofas and some chairs and a table backed with mouthwatering food. None of this would be bad…except for the casket.

The casket was easily ten feet long, pushed closer to one of the walls considering how much space it took. The sarcophagus was decorated but Percy noticed how old it looked, the markings of the side looked like stories but older ones, much older than the other Greek artifacts he saw at the museum. And something about the thing seemed to suck all the warmth out of the room.

Percy's mind immediately wondered, a person screamed out for his family to stop, the pain of getting carved up. And then a soul, locked away to nothing but darkness.

Percy’s eyes flashed gold before his instincts kicked into overdrive, trying to squirm, fight and kick just to get away from that…thing!

Luke noticed the boy struggling before he smirked before ordering. “Tie our guests to the chairs, it would be a shame if they broke something.”

Annabeth's hands were quickly bound before she was plopped into a chair, Tyson didn’t get the same treatment, just held back by two of the monsters. The two bear men grabbed Percy’s arm and held them to the arms of the chair, one of them taking a belt and tying it to the point Percy was sure they were cutting off circulation. One of them grabbed Percy’s face, maybe to growl or threaten him.

“Wait be careful he-!” Luke tried to warn.

Percy bit the monster's three fingers clean off, producing a scream from the bear man.

“Bites.” Luke finished.

Percy spit out the digits and did his best to glare at the older boy, his fear was still present, clearly so as his hands dug into the chair.

“Well, shall I introduce my assistance, Agrius and the one you bit the fingers off, Oreius.” Luke said. “They are just another explain of the god abusing their powers-”

“You poisoned Thalia’s tree.” Percy interrupted.

“Straight to the point I see.” Luke muttered before dawning an indifference mask. “So what?”

“How could you?!” Annabeth screamed out; Percy half expected flames to shoot out of her mouth. “Thalia saved your life! She was my sister! How could you dishonor her-!”

“I didn’t dishonor her!” Luke snapped back just as angry. “The gods dishonored her by doing nothing, by letting her die! If she was here, she would be on my side!”

“Liar!” Annabeth screamed out. “You want to destroy the camp, you're a monster!”

“The gods have blinded you Annie, can’t you imagine it, a world without the gods? No more quests? No more monsters? You would be recognized for your brilliance all on your own and not just being Athena’s daughter.” Luke said. “Come on Annabeth, it would be better for you, your skills would be valued here, you wouldn’t be on a losing team. You really are ok being around that?”

At the last question, Luke gestured to Tyson producing a “hey” from Tyson and Percy.

“Traveling with a cyclops, you're dishonoring Thalia’s memory!” Luke screamed out.

Annabeth began to cry, Luke moved out of the way, just barely avoiding a hard kick from Percy.

“Leave her alone! And leave Tyson out of this!” Percy yelled, his teeth bared as if wishing Luke was close so he could take another finger.

“And you Percy.” Luke said, turning to the small boy. “Poseidon claimed him, it must have embarrassed you. The gods are using you, keeping things from you. Have they told you about your sixteenth birthday? Or about the cycle?”

“Cycle?” Annabeth muttered. “What? And don’t you dare tell him about the prophecy.”

“This is so much bigger than the prophecy, Annie.” Luke said.

Luke reaches past Percy digging into his bag before pulling out the sketchbook the boy held dear. Tyson immediately got angry but was held back by the two monsters.

“Hey, that’s mine!” Percy yelled out but Luke ignored him.

Luke began to flip through the sketchbook, ignoring any and all protest from the three captured ‘guests’. Percy tried his best to keep up a glare but found his eyes drifting over to the coffin, the uneasiness filled his stomach. He swore he could hear a faint heartbeat, but he hoped it’s just his own. Annabeth must have noticed to sense she began looking, catching Luke’s attention.

“Do you want to know what’s in there?” Luke said before turning to Percy with a sharp tooth grin. “I’m sure you already know what’s in there.”

Luke held out the journal, where the coffin rested on the page, the date of the drawing was dated back to when Percy was at school.

“What’s he talking about? What’s in there?” Annabeth asked.

Percy swallowed down his fear. “It’s his heart..”

“Heart?” Annabeth mimicked.

“Our savior heart is in there.” Luke said. “Kronos.”

Annabeth's face turned to a horrified expression before looking back at the coffin. Luke causally flipped through the sketchbook.

“They put his heart in there, so he couldn’t reform.” Percy said. “It should be in the pit.”

“And how do you know that?” Luke asked but Percy refused to answer. Luke just smiled and continued on. “He’s right, this casket was his prison in Tartarus so he couldn’t reform. However it’s amazing what a simple spell can do. He’s reforming little by little…at least until someone finally accepts their fate and completes the cycle.”

Luke stared down at Percy, yet the boy bit his lip and refused to say anything.

“What cycle are you talking about?” Annabeth nearly snarled out.

“The cycle of succession, the one that the gods fear so much.” Luke explained. “It’s a cursed bloodline, as time passes, the successor would be born with the face of who they betrayed. Zeus was born with the face of Uranus to go against Kronos, it’s about time someone was born with the face of Kronos.”

“I look like my dad.” Percy nearly hissed out.

“And Zeus' meddling made the curse jump to the next brother.” Luke stated. “That golden eye-”

“Your boss cursed my eye! Nothing more!” Percy screamed out.

Luke was silent, just staring at Percy as if waiting for something. The boy quickly got the answer, when he felt something cold grip his heart producing a shriek from Percy. Annabeth watched as a flash of gold seemingly ran through Percy’s veins.

“Percy?” Annabeth asked, panic clear her voice.

“As I was saying, the golden eye is a sign.” Luke stated as he got closer to Percy. “You're inheriting his power, just like Zeus did. Problem is Kronos is still alive, so his power doesn’t know where to go, to the coffin or you…”

Luke held out Percy's sketchbook, the page had the coffin however it was now open, and a young boy’s body rested inside, which bore a resemblance to Percy.

“You know what’s coming don’t you?” Luke asked, as he placed the sketchbook back in the back. “Join me, both of you. Annabeth you can build the monuments you’ve always wanted. Percy, your mom wouldn’t have to work. Kronos, he can help you, carved out your path for your rightful place.”

“Fall into Tartarus.” Annabeth snarled out, yet Percy didn’t say anything right away.

Percy was still trying to recover from the icy feeling in his chest before he spoke up again. “Luke, your father sent us.”

“Don’t. Even speak of him.” Luke hissed.

“It isn’t too late.” Percy tried. “Hermes wants to see you, you can come back, just let them know Kronos is influencin-”

“I want nothing to do with the gods! He abandoned me! I want to see Olympus burn.” Luke replied.

“You asshole! He was trying to sav-!” Percy's scream was cut off when Luke backhanded him.

Everyone was silent, Luke looked stunned with himself, same with the monsters. Percy swore he felt the coffin hum with disapproval. Eventually Luke calmed down before he spoke again.

“Take Annabeth and the cyclops down to the brig, we may have use for them in the future.” Luke said before turning glancing at Percy. “Take him to the lower rooms, eventually Kronos will break him and he will join us.”

The three began to protest as the monster outside the door came in gathering the prisoners. Percy was dragged away first, he looked over his shoulder to see Annabeth and Tyson being dragged down a different hallway. The two giants that were dragging Percy apparently didn’t think to hold the boy’s bag away from him, allowing him to sneakily grab the sickle. It took a quick jerk to get free enough to swing it, but the two giants were quickly reduced to dust.

Percy quickly ran back down the hallway, where they had taken Annabeth and Tyson. Following the path eventually they found them, the two bear men walking behind Annabeth and the cyclops, they were close by the lifeboats.

“Tyson!” Percy screamed out. At the very least it got the bear man's attention. “Now!”

Tyson, realizing the bad man's attention wasn’t on him, he quickly pushed one of the brothers back, causing him to knock into the twin causing them both to land into the pool. The zombie guest screamed out, causing one of the workers to hit a button which caused sirens to start wailing and red lights flashing.

“Lifeboats!” Annabeth screamed out.

All three of them jumped into the lifeboat, however despite them trying to use the pulleys, nothing seemed to make the boat move.

“Don’t let him escape.” Luke’s voice screamed out.

“Hang on!” Percy screamed out.

Percy cut the rope, dropping the lifeboat into the sea.

Chapter Text

Percy cut the rope, dropping the lifeboat into the sea.

They hit the water with a splash, Percy could hear Luke’s voice screaming for spears, arrows and rope.

“Thermos!” Percy screamed out.

“What?” Annabeth replied.

Percy didn’t have time as he yanked the thermos out of the bag, telling the two to hang on before opening it. The winds seemed to laugh as they escaped, pushing the lifeboat away from the cruise ship like it was a speedboat. It wasn’t long before Luke’s ship was nothing more than a dot in the distance.

Annabeth tried to use an Iris message and went to talk to Chiron. They were able to contact him however considering he was at a party; it was hard to understand him. It basically ended up in a scolding for leaving camp before the message finally failed. Percy began to move the water, trying to get them closer to a shoreline, so they weren’t floating in open water.

It was fascinating to Percy, he could practically feel where he was at in the water, where the shore, all the creatures hiding under the surface. Soon a shore came into view, causing Annabeth to scream out they were close to the Virginia Beach, and she began to point Percy in a certain direction.

Percy moved the water, while Tyson tried to help, paddling the water with his hands.

“Keep going into Chesapeake Bay, if others notice us…” Annabeth ordered her voice drifting off. Percy didn’t argue, he didn’t feel like being picked up and questioned by police. “There, past the Sandbar.”

The boat veered towards a swampy marsh area, causing Percy to beach the boat on the shore.

“Come on.” Annabeth ordered as she grabbed the bag.

“Where are we going?” Percy questions as he followed behind Annabeth, Tyson behind him like a little baby ducky.

“Here.” Annabeth said as she pushed some branches aside, revealing a small hideout, it looked big enough to hold all of them, including Tyson. There looked to be sleeping bags, some ambrosia, some spare weapons, bandages, everything you could possibly want when on the run. However, it had a musty smell, as if no one had been in it recently.

“Wow.” Tyson muttered.

“A hideout? Did you make this place?” Percy asked. It felt so surreal, he knew Annabeth was smart and on the streets for some time, but this… he couldn’t even imagine pulling something like this off.

“Thalia and I,” Annabeth replied before she got quiet. “And Luke.”

“Oh..” Percy muttered. He tried to push down his feelings, it was such a weird mix, he knew the three had been on the run together, they had all grown close before Thalia was killed. But he could help but feel…uncomfortable…jealous maybe? Annabeth was the only one who knew about his face and his fears besides Grover. Annabeth was his person, like he was Tysons. Then there was Luke's betrayal and the bitterness that came with that. “You don’t think Luke will find us here?”

Annabeth just shook her head. “We made multiple of these safehouses, I doubt he will remember. Or care.”

Annabeth quickly sat down looking through her supplies, Percy had gotten better at reading the girl and knew she was upset. He asked Tyson to go looking for some food and once the baby cyclops was off, Percy sat across from Annabeth.

“Hey, I’m sorry about Luke.” Percy tried.

“It’s not your fault.” Annabeth said almost robotically as she cleaned her knife.

“But it feels like it is.” Percy said as he grabbed Annabeth’s hand, taking her attention away from the knife. “I could have told the gods about him being in my dreams, If I had maybe, maybe they would have paid more attention, maybe they would have notic-”

Annabeth squeezed Percy’s hand causing him to pause. “Calm down, Seaweed Brain, you couldn’t have known. You wouldn’t know how the gods would have reacted to the news as well. The best thing we can do is stop Luke’s plan, maybe we can break his connection and plead his case if we can get through to him.”

“...he let us go too easily...” Percy muttered.

Annabeth nodded in agreement. “I was thinking the same thing, he said something about ‘they’ll take the bait’...you think it was about us?”

“Do you think it’s the Fleece? Or Grover?” Percy asked.

“I don’t know Percy, maybe he wants the Fleece himself...maybe he wants to steal it…” Annabeth said as he tried to whip away the forming tears. “I just can’t believe he would poison the tree.”

“What did he mean, that Thalia would be on his side?” Percy asked.

“He’s wrong.” Annabeth practically snarled out, tightening her grip on his hand.

“Are you trying to convince me or yourself?” Percy asked.

“Percy, you know who you remind me of the most? Thalia. You are so alike; I can’t decide if you would be best friends or at each other's throats.” Annabeth laughed through tears.

“Let’s hope for best friends.” Percy replied.

“So, Percy, you have some problems with your dad, would you turn against Olympus because of that?” Annabeth asked.

“No.” Percy replied right away.

“Okay, then neither would Thalia.” Annabeth replied.

“Do…do you know anything about the cycle Luke was talking about? I know you won’t tell me about the prophecy but if you know anything about the cycle, could you tell me?” Percy asked.

“Sorry, I don’t know.” Annabeth replied. “I wish I could tell you, but I honestly have no idea, but I don’t think Luke was telling us the full truth.”

Percy nodded. “What did Luke mean about Cyclops? He said-”

“I know what he said.” Annabeth snapped. “He was talking about the real reason Thalia died.”

“Wha-?”

“I got Powdered Donuts!” Tyson screamed out.

“Donuts? Where on earth did Tyson get donuts?” Annabeth asked.

“Fifty feet, monster donuts,” Tyson said, pointing in the general direction.

“This is bad.” Annabeth muttered.

It was a hydra! A god damned hydra?! Like of all monsters they could possibly run into, it had to be a giant poisonous dragon that was seemingly super pissed to see them. And Percy knew he couldn’t take off the heads because more would grow back, so his main fighting style was out the window. Annabeth screamed that they needed fire to kill it, however they were in the middle of a marsh so there was no fire in sight, and fire wasn’t exactly in the son of Poseidon’s power set.

As they ran, a new sound joined the chaos, originally Percy thought it was his heartbeat however the ground quickly began to shake as well.

“Steam engine.” Tyson muttered.

“What?” Percy asked.

“Fire at will!” A familiar female voice screams out.

Suddenly there was a loud boom, and Annabeth launched herself at the boys, tackling Percy and Tyson to the ground. The hydra splattered into green guts, killing the monster. The three got up looking down the river, a boat chugged along, it sailed low in the water almost like a submarine, a flag with a boar head and spears flew high above the ship. On deck were the same skeleton monsters that acted as servants in Hades’s palace. It took a while for the letters to stop moving before Percy could finally make out ‘CSS Birmingham’.

“Losers.” The female voice said, it was Clarisse wearing full Greek armor. “But I suppose I need to rescue you. Come one.”

Clarisse quickly dragged them on board and quickly gave them a tour. It was slightly unnerving, being on a ship with undead confederates' soldiers however they dared not say anything to Annabeth and considering a few were missing their bottom jaws Percy was sure Clarisse made sure to correct their comments. They also learned where she had gotten the ship from, apparently all the spirits that died on the losing side belong to Ares. Annabeth and Percy tried to tell Clarrise what they learned, about the possibility that Luke might be trying to get the Fleece, yet Clarisse refused to listen claiming that this was her quest.

Clarisse eventually stopped arguing, implying to the soldiers that the three were guests unless they became too much of a problem.

That's how they ended up here, in a small room, Tyson slept on the floor since the hammock wouldn’t hold his weight, snoring to the point you couldn’t hear the engine. Yet Percy was still awake, along with Annabeth, his eyes just staring into nothingness, the golden color engulfing both of them.

“What’s wrong?” Annabeth asked.

“Nothing.” Percy quickly replied.

“Seaweed brain, don’t lie to me.” Annabeth said her tone slightly scolding.

“...what if…” Percy began to mutter. “What if Luke was right about me? And this cycle? Who’s to say I won’t grow up to be just like him, or that his influence won’t take a hold on me? What if I’m fated to bring ruin?”

Annabeth was quiet for a moment, as if taking in Percy words which did nothing for the poor boy’s anxiety, before she finally spoke up. “Maybe we should get rid of Tyson.”

“What?” Percy nearly screamed, the green color coming back to his eye.

“I mean, Tyson is a monster, maybe being aroun-” Annabeth tried to say.

“No Annabeth, Tyson isn’t like that, he isn’t a bad influence. You said it yourself, he’s just a baby, you truly can’t believe a baby would-” Percy rant was cut off when Annabeth started to laugh. “What’s so funny?”

“That, that is the reason you’ll never be Kronos.” Annabeth said through laughs.

“Huh?” Percy muttered.

“Kronos wanted to keep power, he killed, he swallowed his kids, he did anything to get rid of things that posed a threat to his power.” Annabeth explained. “But you Percy, you could argue that Tyson would be a threat to your states as a son of Poseidon, you have every right to want to get rid of the cyclops to keep your power. But you would never do that, even the thought of hurting Tyson gets you riled up. That is the main difference between you and Kronos and why you will never be like Kronos.”

Percy thoughts for a minute before replying with an “Oh”.

“Go to bed, Seaweed brain.” Annabeth said, giving a flick to Percy's nose. “You need sleep.”

Annabeth got up and rested in one of the hammocks, going to sleep but Percy didn’t know how successful that was considering Tyson’s snoring. Percy thought for a moment before deciding to lay down next to Tyson, using the cyclops sprawled out arm as a pillow. He didn’t know if he was doing it for Tyson’s comfort or his own.

Despite the snoring and the roar of the engine, sleep engulfed Percy faster than it would at camp. As his dreams begin to shift around him to a familiar cave, a panicked Grover in a wedding dress and an angry almost blind cyclops over him.

“Thing’s been unrevealing.” The cyclops growled out before he grabbed Grover’s arm.

Percy slightly panics, thinking he was about to see his friend's death however the seemingly normal smile on Polyphemus' face said otherwise. The giant cyclops lead Grover outside showing him a flock of sheep, along with the fleece laughing about how he got it and the fact it brings Satyrs to him. The cyclops quickly sheared one of his sheeps, letting Grover know the magic wouldn’t make it unravel. Grover tried his best to play his part, but Percy knew he was upset, so close was freedom yet so far. Polyphemus boasted about his pets keeping Grover safe and himself, likely assuming Grover was more so scared about them being found before leading the Satyr back into the cave.

Percy was woken up by alarm bells, looking around the room to see he was all alone. The door was suddenly opened up by one of the undead soldiers.

“Get up you Yankee, your friends are already up. We are approaching the entrance.” The soldier barked out.

“The entrance to what?” Percy replied.

The soldier gave an unnerving smile. “The Sea of Monsters, of course.”

As the Soldier left, Percy quickly gathered his stuff, the Sea of Monsters was where his dad had driven Odysseus in the Odyssey, he didn’t want anything important to be away from him in a palace like this.

The boy slowly climbs the stairs, looking around to try and find Tyson and Annabeth. Percy suddenly felt an angry bubble in him, an uncomfortable anger that drew him closer to a door that was open ajar.

“Are you insane?” Ares snarled to Clarisse who looked down at the floor. “Alone in the sea, with no back up.”

“But-” Clarisse tried to say.

“No buts! You are enemy territory, and you are alone! What were you thinking?!” Ares yelled. “I should have given this quest to one of my sons.”

“I’ll succeed!” Clarisse yelled out. “I’ll make you proud!”

“That’s not the point!!” Ares screamed out causing Clarisse to jump back. The god of war brought a hand up to rub his eyes, before he glared down at his daughter. “Your recklessness is a problem even for one of my daughters, if you fail this quest, you will be sent to the Amazons.”

“What! No!” Clarisse sputtered. “No, I won't fail! Just not the Amazons! Please!”

“My word is final Clarisse!” Ares growled out. “If you insist on putting yourself in danger, this is the only option.”

With a flash of light Ares was gone, leaving Clarisse alone. Percy saw her hands shake, what he thought was angry at first until a broken sob escaped her mouth.

Percy didn’t know why but he opened the door, producing a squeak from it causing Clarisse to turn around and glare at him with red eyes from her tears.

“You, this is all your and your friends' fault!” Clarisse snarled. “If you didn’t try to hijack my quest-”

“I’m not hijacking your quest Clarisse.” Percy tried.

“Shut it, Prissy! You, if you hadn’t shown up, Father wouldn’t...” Clarisse's anger fizzled into something different, was she scared? Sad? “Now, he thinks I’m weak, He’ll send me to the Amazons.”

“Weak? Amazons throughout history have been some of the bloodiest and brutal of Ares warriors. Why would him sending you to them mean you're weak?” Percy questioned.

“Why didn’t you take a swim when you first arrived at camp?” Clarisse snarled back.

Percy’s eyes got wide for a second before it dawned on him. “Oh, he’s like my dad.”

There was silent understanding between the two.

“Father says the world is not kind to his female children, that we should stay in a group away from the prying eyes of gods and men alike. A way of protector he says, just another way of saying we’re weak.” Clarisse said. “He’ll rip me away from the family I know for the sake of safety.”

“Yeah, that sounds familiar.” Percy replied. “I guess that means you have a Fleece to get, Boar breath.”

There was a pause like Clarisse wanted to say more but another alarm went off, so she just quickly threatened. “Tell anyone about this and your dead Prissy.”

Clarisse marched away, Percy following after her. They finally got to the top deck, Percy followed meeting up with Annabeth and Tyson as Clarisse took binoculars looking through them before ordering them ahead. The increased the speed of the ship, causing the engine to groan.

“Too much strain on the pistons, not meant for this water.” Tyson muttered nervously.

The dark spots in the distance began to become clearer. It looks like there was a cliff of jagged rocks off to one side and a storm was brewing creating a roaring mass.

“Hurricane?” Annabeth asked.

“No.” Clarisse said. “Charybdis.”

“Are you crazy?” Annabeth nearly screamed.

“Only way into the Sea of Monsters. Straight between Charybdis and her sister Scylla.” Clarisse informed.

“What do you mean?” Percy asked.

“What about the Clashing Rocks? That’s another gateway, Jason used it!” Annabeth offered.

“I can’t blow apart rocks with my cannons, Monsters on the hand…” Clarisse said.

“You are crazy.” Annabeth yelled.

“Charybdis sucks up the sea and spits it back out again, and Scylla will start plucking off sailors if we get too close.” Clarisse explained

“Then let’s pick Scylla, I can move the boat, and everyone can go under the deck.” Percy tried.

“No!” Clarisse yelled. “If Scylla doesn’t get her pay, she’ll just pick up the whole ship. Plus, she’s too high up to hit, Charybdis is a sitting target on the other hand.”

Clarisse began her path straight towards the giant whirlpool. Percy and Annabeth began to talk and make a plan when things hit the fan. And of course it did, not that Clarisse listened to them, maybe it was due to her fear of failing but Percy still wanted to hit her. She ordered the ship to get closer to the screaming monster.

A soldier came running up from the lower deck, his head was on fire.

“The boiler room is overheating! She’s going to blow!!” The soldier screamed.

“Well fix it!” Clarisse screamed.

“Can’t! We’re vaporizing in the heat!” The soldier replied.

“I can fix it!” Tyson volunteered.

“You?” Clarisse asked.

“He’s a Cyclops, he's immune to fire.” Annabeth yelled.

“Go!” Clarisse barked out.

“Tyson no, it’s too dangerous!” Percy screamed out.

“I got this.” Tyson said in a determined voice.

Percy let him go below deck, yet it did nothing for Percy’s anxiety. Of course, Clarisse didn’t listen, getting closer to the giant whirlpool and launching cannonballs into her, which Charybdis promptly spit back at them. Percy did his best to keep the boat from capsizing while the soldier kept screaming in panic about the engine. And then they realize they had drifted too far when one of the soldiers was snatched by Scylla.

Clarisse and Annabeth scramble to the lifeboats with the thermos of winds. Percy however stubbornly refused to, not without Tyson. Of course, Scylla tried to eat him, however a quick swipe of his sword caused the monster to let him go.

The ship exploded under him. He could see many of the lifeboats now out of Scylla reach as he was flung through the air. But he knew deep down, Tyson wouldn’t have survived that.

Percy landed hard in the water; he could feel his broken bones knitting back together. He could make out a dark figure swimming closer to him.

Static fuzzes appeared at the edge of Percy’s vision as he began to close his eyes. As his mind drifted into familiar sleep, he hoped he would drown.

—

The gods were monsters.

Any immortal that tried to deny it was either ignorant or outright in denial. Even back to Chaos and Gaia, they have always been unimaginably monstrous, as they gain domains, they become more and more unrecognizable to the little sparks of energy their souls were. Humans love to claim that gods made them in the god’s image but that was never the case.

However most never know this, the younger Olympians don’t know the true extent, their true forms always having more key human characteristics always present.

That wasn’t the case for the oldest six.

The six children of Kronos and Rhea only talked about their true forms around each other, early in their existence they sadly learn that even immortals or weak gods could be driven mad by seeing their true form. They had all seen their true form of their father, and what if did to their allies during the war.

So, with heavy hearts most never took their true form, at least not in its fullest. Zeus never revealed his wings to the sky again, it was only Hermes being born with wings on his feet that proved the trait was still there. The natural diadem that formed right about Hera’s horns was never seen, even the smell of lotus flowers lost its strength. Even Demeter didn’t allow all of her flowers to grow on her head, she went as far as removing part of herself to make serpents that pulled her chariot. Hades sometimes took his true form in the underworld, the other Chthonic gods have more exposure considering their ties to Chaos, yet it wasn’t a form he took often.

Poseidon spent the most time in his true form.

Sometimes his siblings speculate, maybe it was because the immortals of the seas could handle seeing his true form more than the others. Maybe it was because Posideon's true form didn’t look as much like Kronos’s true form, unlike their human forms which were nearly identical. Maybe it was because he found the human form too restricting?

Either way, Poseidon moved around his domain in his true form, the multiple arms, his dark tangled hair that became the dangerous currents in the water, his face cracked revealing the same rows of jagged sharp teeth that Charybdis inherited from him. That was his true form: the danger of the ocean, he is the ocean, every drop of water was like a cell in his body.

So, of course Poseidon felt when his son fell into the sea, his water immediately helped knit the boys back together. The god immediately appeared, quick enough to see his son’s eyes close as sleep took him.

Percy floated down, landing in a pair of Poseidon’s hands under the water, The god's horse-like hooves making deep marks in the sand as he stopped himself from moving. Poseidon was still for a moment, bringing another hand to touch Percy's chest, making sure it was moving.

The god gave a sharp tooth smile, he almost couldn’t believe his luck, his son was in the water, he had been somewhat hurt. Not enough to threaten his life but enough that Poseidon had an excuse to take him to Atlantis, to keep him safe, maybe that Fates were sm-.

“PERCY!” A female voice screamed out from the surface of the water.

Poseidon just had to take a glance to know it was one of Athena’s spawns, he growled, he hated when her children dare disgrace his seas. Either way, she didn’t matter, his main focus was getting Percy home and convincing him to stay.

‘He will hate you…’ A voice creeped into his mind.

“No, he won't,” Poseidon muttered to himself.

‘Oh, but he will.’ the Fates said in his mind, he hadn’t heard from them since he had given up the domain of prophecy. ‘He will grow to resent, to hate you. Just like Kymopoleia, he will fight against you, and you will be his downfall…do you want to kill another child?’

Poseidon looked down at his sleeping son form, tears flowing out of his eyes adding more rivers to the world.

‘Let him go, son of Kronos.’

“Chaos damn you!” Posideon cursed to the Fates, a storm brewing somewhere. This was his chance but if the Fates were stopping him, then keeping Percy with him would have horrible results.

For now Posideon allowed this defeat for now and swam for the surface, shifting into his more human-like form.

Poseidon broke the surface, causing Annabeth to jump back with a gasp. The god didn’t say anything, just slowly lowering his hand and placing his son on the lifeboat. Annabeth quickly ran to Percy’s side checking his pulse and making sure he was breathing. It was slightly warming to see a child of Athena seemingly care about his child, but Posideon had to bury one too many to accept she was trustworthy.

“I leave my son with you, Child of Athena.” Poseidon said, slowly allowing more of his true form to leak out, revealing sharper teeth and claws. “Should anything happen to him, there will be nothing left of you for my brother to judge.”

Annabeth only looked at the god before turning her attention back to Percy.

Poseidon turned and disappeared back into the water, silently praying to the Fates to look after his son and that one day he will be able to keep him safe.

Chapter Text

Percy felt….cold, he felt cold as he pried his eyes open. He felt the hardness on his back, of sharp rocks stabbing him. He slowly pulled himself up off the ground, his body glancing at his hands, seeing golden blood staining a familiar sickle. Percy couldn’t help but feel…sorrow?

“-nos!” A voice yelled out, causing the body to look in the direction of the sound. “Kronos!”

Finally, the figure came closer into view, Percy swore he had seen him before, his hair looked just like flowing waves, he’s sure he would remember that. The older boy immediately fell to the ground, grabbing up Percy in a big hug as he cried.

“I’m sorry…I’m so sorry.” The older boy said through tears as he held the boy closer. “It was supposed to be my fate, I’m the oldest. It was supposed to be me…I’m sorry.”

“You're a coward, Oceanus.” The words escaped Percy, sounding cold and sharp.

The boy pulled back to look Percy in the eyes, hurt edged on his face before the boy, Oceanus spoke up. “I am, I’m sorry Kronos. I’ll be with you from now on, you won’t have to fight on your own.”

Percy was silent for a second before he spoke up. “No, you won’t.”

“What?..”

Percy felt his body move, slashing the boy with the sickle, nearly scarring the older boy.

-

Percy's eyes flew open as he jumped up, thinking he wasn’t alone as a familiar girl with brown to blond hair grabbed him into a hug.

“Percy, it's ok, just breath.” Annabeth ordered.

“Annabeth, what?” Percy words scrambled. “Where, where’s Tyson?”

Annabeth didn’t say anything, she didn’t have too, as soon as the words left his mouth Percy remembered. He didn’t even say anything, just closed his eyes and began to cry. Annabeth held the boy trying to comfort him, telling him that Poseidon had saved him, and he would save Tyson if he needed it, so the cyclops was likely still alive. However, it did nothing to help Percy, eventually the tears dried on their own.

The two looked over their supplies, they have the items Hermes gave them, including a now empty thermos. His weapon and sketchbook were still there, Percy dared not open it, the idea that Tyson wouldn’t appear in the pages scared him more than the confirmation he would appear again. There was some food, something Percy would normally eat all in one sitting, yet he didn’t have an appetite. As the sun beamed down on them, Annabeth nibbled on the protein bar while Percy took sips of the Dr. Pepper they still had.

Percy didn’t know how much time had passed before an island came into view, it looked lush and beautiful, many pristine boats docked by the shore. The two quickly look over this five star resort as the waves carry them close, a woman in a flight attendant-like outfit smiles at them before inviting them inside.

A woman began to talk to Annabeth, as Percy wandered around the lobby, honestly all he wanted was some food and rest for a moment, so he wasn’t really paying attention to her.

“Your first time at the spa, let’s see…” The front desk lady said looking over the two children. “An herbal wrap for the young lady and of course, a complete makeover for the gentleman.”

“A what?” Percy asked, only now paying attention. The women didn’t care, just writing down notes.

“Right,” The woman said with a smile. “We’ll I’m sure C.C will want to speak with you personally before getting started, come on.”

The woman, not really caring about the two thoughts, grabbed their arms and began leading them down the hallway, it wasn’t a strong grip something Percy could easily break out of, so it didn’t feel like there was any danger. Even looking around and through the windows, everything was just high end beautifully crafted. Looking out at the pool you could see young women relaxing, animals by the side enjoying the sun.

As they went up a stairwell Percy began to hear singing, it only got louder as they got closer to the door, it was soft and calm, it had to be a lullaby. But even as the women opened the door, Percy still couldn’t make out the language.

There were two large wall mirrors that made it feel like the room went on forever. There was expensive white furniture that Percy dared not touch and a wire pet cage in the corner for some reason. By one of the walls was the woman, still singing the soft lullaby, in front of her was a loom about the size of a big screen TV. As she sang, she wove colorful thread back and forth with amazing skill, the tapestry almost looking alive.

Annabeth was in awe, just watching as the women worked. Yet Percy’s brain wasn’t focused on that, he could slowly hear the words of the lullaby the woman was singing, it sounded so familiar. He knew the words; he knew what was coming next and before Percy could stop himself, he opened his mouth.

“Let Mother Earth sing you to sleep.”

Percy quickly shut his mouth, as the women’s hands stopped weaving. She turned to look at the pair. Her expression was unreadable as her piercing green eyes stared through them.

Percy immediately drops his eyes to the floor before saying. “Sorry ma’am.”

“I’m sorry about him, Percy…” Annabeth quickly gave the boy a slight hit. “Sometimes he doesn't think when he speaks, your tapestry is so beautiful.”

The woman turned to look at Annabeth, a smile spreading across her features as she spoke. “Do you like my weaving?”

“Oh yes, it’s wonderful.” Annabeth said.

“You have good taste my dear, I’m glad you stopped by my name is C.C.” The woman, C.C. said before turning to the other worker. “Hylla, take Annabeth on a tour, will you? And also get her a change of clothes as well as help her with her hair.”

“What’s wrong with my hair?” Annabeth.

“My darling you are lovely, but you're not showing yourself and your talents off, such wasted potential!” C.C. said before turning back to the boy who was refusing to make eye contact. “I need to ask Percy some questions here, as well, you know our policy on boys right Hylla?”

It was a seemingly a scramble, Hylla quickly ushered Annabeth out of the room, leaving Percy alone with C.C., only the squeaks of the little guinea pigs could be heard.

“I’m sorry,” Percy muttered still looking at his feet, he left like he was back in school, in the principal's office. “I didn’t mean to interrupt you.”

“How did you know that language?” C.C. asked her tone sharp, causing Percy to flinch.

“I don’t know.” Percy muttered, “I’m sorry, I’ll go, I’ll wait for Annabeth outside if needed. I didn't mean to bother anyone.”

Percy didn’t realize it but as he muttered C.C. began to pull some of the dark curls away from Percy’s eyes. The boy hadn’t admitted it to anyone, but he had grown his hair out over the summer, specifically trying to hide the golden eye that would stare back at him. He saw C. C’s green eyes through both eyes causing the boy to jump back, immediately trying to cover his eye with his hands.

“Oh, dear you do need my help. You know the first step to change is admitting you're not happy with yourself.” C.C. said as she grabbed Percy’s shoulders slowly leading him over to one of the many mirrors. “Now I want to imagine yourself, what you truly want to look like.”

C.C let the boy go before draping a piece of blue fabric on the mirror, it was sheer so Percy could still see his reflection through it. He was about to say something before he saw his reflection change.

Percy watched as his appearance changed, he grew a bit taller, he looked as if he had gained more muscle. His eyes went back to their green color and a bright smile stared back at him. The boy slowly reached up to where his golden eye was at. His thoughts began to drift about how nice it would be if he truly looked like that.

Suddenly the reflection smile got sharper, the golden color came flooding back as the green color was consumed. Cuts littered the boy's body starting to bleed before the mirror suddenly shattered, Percy immediately pulled back, covering his face as he tried to control his breathing, he was going to have a panic attack.

“Oh dear.” C.C. said in a panic, grabbing a glass before leading Percy to the coach. “Here drink this sweetheart, it should help you calm down.”

Percy shakingly took the pink drink and began to gulp it down, it tasted like a strawberry milkshake. He took some deep breaths trying his best to calm down, clutching at his heart that was currently trying to fly out of his chest, yet it wasn’t helping much.

“Ma’am, I don’t think it’s working.” Percy muttered through deep breaths.

“You're right.” C.C. said. “You’re still human.”

“.... what?” Percy said as he looked up seeing C.C.’s green eyes staring down at him.

“You're not a god, yet you're not really human. Any true human would have shed their disguise and become the beast they truly are.” C.C. said.

Percy was about to say something before a few squeaks got his attention, and then it finally dawned on him, a woman that turns people into animals.

“Circe.” Percy said as he tried to reach for his pen.

“Freeze!” The woman said and every muscle in Percy’s body seemed to stop working. Percy could move his eyes, as he tried everything to move, trying to tighten his hand around the pen that just slipped through his fingers. Circe spoke up again. “I would stop trying to fight against it, unless you wish to snap your muscle off your bones. It wouldn’t do me any good if my beasts tried to bite me.”

Percy tried to open his mouth, to say something, maybe scream at the goddess yet he couldn’t move his jaw. Circe walked up before sitting down next to the boy, as she grabbed his face.

“How strange, my potion only affected you part way, yet you still keep that form on, unless there's more.” Circe said, glancing into Percy’s eyes. “Maybe I’ll keep you around as an experiment? The first man who avoided my spell without any help.”

Circe stood up and walked up towards the bar where she pulled the potion from, checking the glass she took from Percy as if seeing if there was something wrong with the potion. Percy didn’t know how long it was before Hylla came in with Annabeth.

Annabeth looked amazing, she was now wearing a white dress with a bag now to her side, which likely held her old clothes. Her beautiful hair was now pulled back into a ponytail, golden jewelry was added to her locs.

“Oh, C.C. Your library is absolutely amazing.” Annabeth said with a smile.

“Oh, you like it?” C.C said with a smile. “I have books on many different cultures, scientists, magic-”

As C.C. talked, Annabeth looked at Percy expecting him to have a bright smile or to join in the conversation, but Percy sat planted on the coach, his eyes flickering to the squeaking guinea pigs and back to C.C. who just kept talking. Annabeth’s gray eyes seemed to glow for a moment as everything fell into place. She reached inside her bag grabbing a familiar bottle pulling out gummies.

“Percy, don’t you like my hair.” Annabeth said quickly, slowly twirling her hair. Yet Percy didn’t reply, Annabeth could see his jaw clenching.

“Come on Percy, what do you think of Annabeth’s hair?” C.C. said her voice was laced with magic.

“It looks wonderful, Annabeth.” Percy said.

Annabeth walked closer to Percy leaning down before asking. “Wanna touch the clasps?”

Percy nodded and reached up to touch one of the golden clasps, Annabeth quickly placed one of the gummies in Percy’s hand before pulling away to turn to face C.C. As the witch was preoccupied with Annabeth, Percy slipped the multivitamin in his mouth. 

“Ah you have the makings of the great sorceress; he’s already wrapped around your little finger.” Circe said. “Stay with me here, I’ll even do you a favor and won’t turn him into an animal.”

“And If I saw no, Lady Circe?” Annabeth asked, causing Circe to smile brightly.

“I’m sure a few years as a house pet would warm you up to the idea.” Circe said as magic glowing around her hands.

“I guess I don’t have much of a choice, do I?” Annabeth said sadly.

Circe smiled warmly as she watched Annabeth walked closer to the cage. Circe's smile quickly faded as riptide came flying towards her, taking off a few strands of hair. She turned to see Percy standing up, her magic was nowhere to be seen.

“You, how?!” Circe screamed out before she looked back to Annabeth dumping the bottle of gummies into the cage. “No! You don’t understand! Those are the worst ones!!”

Suddenly magic swirled around the guinea pigs and the cage broke with a crack. Many men appeared, now back to their true forms. Percy notices a few dressed like pirates.

“I recognize you, Edward Teach, Son of Ares.” Annabeth said.

“Aye lass, though most call me Blackbeard!” The man said before turning to see Circe. “And there's the damned sorceress that captured us lads! Run her through!”

The pirates began to undrawn their swords and began to chase after the Crice and her workers. Part of Percy wanted to help the girls, with how Circe acted who said they even had a choice in staying there, but Annabeth quickly pulled him back, telling him they needed to escape now.

The two ran out of the spa, now clearly on fire as pirates began to chase around the workers.

“Look at the boats Percy, any of them you can sail?” Annabeth asked.

Percy looked around, there were many different types of vehicles from subs to yates. Percy knew deep down he would know how to pilot any of them, but he could feel that they needed more people on board. They wouldn’t listen to him alone, except for one.

“That one.” Percy said as he pointed to an older sailing boat.

“That one?” Annabeth asked but Percy didn’t bother to answer just grabbing her hand and pulling her towards the boat, its name slowly deciphering to Queen Anne’s Revenge.

The two got onto the boat, now on deck Percy was doing his best to get the boat to actually move. Annabeth let out a squeak as she saw a group of pirates approach, holding swords and torches they likely took to light things on fire. Percy focused, he focused on the water currents below him, the wind blowing around him every creak of the boat.

“Mizzenmast!” Percy yelled out.

The ropes open, canvas unfurling and the wooden pulleys creaking. The Ship came alive, lurching away from the dock and all the angry pirates.

“Percy how…” Annabeth muttered in wonder.

Percy didn’t reply, just taking a deep breath and feeling as the old ship turned, it began to set sail deeper into the Sea of Monsters, leaving behind the pirates on the burning island.

As the island got further and further away in the distance. Percy felt at peace as the sun slowly set below the horizon. However, as they sailed away from danger, worry began to set in, for Grover who they knew was currently sitting with a very hungry Cyclops and trying to stall for time. Percy could only think about Tyson, was he truly gone, would he have been attacked back at Circe’s or would he have sneaked by and grabbed a boat. Would he try to cheer them up? Or would he be shaking in his shoes.

Percy had a lot of time to think, as the sky grew dark, Annabeth tried to stay on looking but after her face turned green, she decided it would be best for both of them if she went to rest.

So, Percy was left alone with his thoughts, sometimes he would sing out into the night, sometimes he could see Nereids following after his boat but when Percy would stop singing, to wave at them, they would disappear under the water and never come back up. Sometime after midnight, Annabeth came back up from her rest. She immediately took notice they were by one of Hephaestus’s forges and order Percy to move away from it, less they deal with his workers.

“Soo…The reason you hate Cyclops so much…how Thalia really died.” Percy said. “What happened?”

“I guess you deserve to know.” Annabeth said with a heavy sign. “You know when Grover was leading us back to camp he took many wrong turns, we got lost. He told you that?”

Percy nodded; he had heard Grover muttered about it before.

“Well, the worst wrong turn was a Cyclops’s lair in Brooklyn.” Annabeth said.

“Cyclops’s lair?” Percy muttered.

“Yes, you know how Tyson mimicked the voices he heard on the boat, it’s a trait they all share. We were separated, Thalia thought she heard Luke scream, Luke heard me screaming out. When I finally found them, they were hung up like pieces of meat over a fire. And when he heard me moving…” Annabeth said. “...he spoke in my dad’s voice.”

“Oh, Annabeth.” Percy sadly muttered as he slowly grabbed her hand. She didn’t make a comment on it, just giving her friend’s hand a squeezed.

“I stabbed him in the foot.” Annabeth said.

“You stabbed a cyclops in the foot. As a seven-year-old?” Percy said through a laugh. “That’s extremely brave Annabeth.”

“We barely made it out alive, and all that time allowed the other monsters that were chasing us to catch up. If I had been faster, if he hadn’t spoken in my father’s voice…Thalia would still be here.” Annabeth admitted.

“You were seven Annabeth.” Percy replied. “It’s not your fault. You know that right?”

Annabeth didn’t reply to Percy, instead just opting to order him. “You need to get to bed, Seaweed brain. Go before I stab you.”

With a small push Percy slowly went below deck to try and get some sleep, knowing that if he tried to stay up, Annabeth would make good on her threat. So Percy crawled into the hammock and allowed the sea to slowly rock him to sleep.

Percy didn’t dream about Grover; he wished he did.

Percy was deep in a dark place, it slightly swayed with the ocean. He looked at Kronos's glowing coffin, sealed but something was breathing inside the sarcophagus.

‘You don’t have the guts little godling…’ Kronos’s voice whispered in his ear.

Percy took out Riptide, yet many little ghosts appeared, screaming at Percy blocking his path towards the coffin. Percy wanted to move, wanted to take his sword and drive it into the coffin, just to free his mind from Kronos torment.

“Well, Seaweed brain?” A girl's voice said.

Percy turned expecting to see Annabeth but instead he saw another girl. She looked older, wearing punk clothing and beneath a mob of grayish black hair was bright electric blue that Percy had only seen on one other person, Zeus. This was Thalia, the girl from his nightmares from the poison dream.

“Well, are we going to stop him or not?” Thalia asked. However, Percy could get his mouth to move, as if he was under Circe's spell again, causing the girl to roll her eyes. “Fine, leave it to me and Aegis.”

The girl pulled out a sword and shield, the shield having a monstrous face of medusa on it as she walked forward, the many ghosts flew away from her as she got closer and closer to the sarcophagus. Thalia marched forward, yanking the lid off the tomb, she stumbled back in shock at what she saw before a golden light threw her back.

Percy could feel himself once again, and ran towards the coffin, Riptide in hand. He tried to bring the sword down on the figure, but a hand caught his wrist, another hand sprang out and grabbed the boy’s neck. The figure cracked as it broke and bent its bones to look at him.

It was Percy, a twisted version of him, the clearest difference was his teeth and eyes, his teeth were sharp like a shark, and his eyes they had become golden, and the once white sclera had become as black as the night sky.

‘Give up Percy, they will kill you .... join me, I can keep you safe, make sure they can never harm you…little one’ Kronos said.

“Shut up!” Percy snarled, trying to free his wrist from Kronos’s iron grip. “They wouldn’t hurt me! My dad will protect me, you are just an old coward trying to get his crown back.”

Kronos’s face contorted into a frown as he released the boy only to grab the boy’s head, his fingers digging into his scalp. ‘You think family will protect you? Let me show you, boy, just exactly what family can do to you…’

Percy was thrown into darkness once again. His heart was beating fast in his chest, he was trying to remind himself that this was just a dream. He just had to wake up so ‘dear old grandpa’ won’t be able to mess with his dreams anymore. Come on Percy, just wake up…

…just wake up…

..
.
He was in pain! It felt like someone was taking a blade to his arms. It hurts! He wants it to stop!

“It hurts!” Percy screamed out as his eyes flew open.

Percy half expected to be greeted to the wooden floor of the Queen Anne’s Revenge but instead he was greeted to a stone ground, five demigods surrounding him .... all with celestial bronze weapons.

Percy recognized Thalia, her blue eyes were unlike no other, but he didn’t recognize the blond hair boy that held a small dagger next to her, holding Percy’s arm. The boy had the same blue eyes as Thalia, even the same nose.

The other three were harder, he swore he had seen the two paler kids with the dark hair, maybe in passing. The boy was obviously the younger, his eyes were deep abyss of dark green and a face that boarded on gaunt. No, he had seen that face, it was Hades’s face, missing a few centuries. The girl, probably his sister considering her colorization matches that of the boy, thought she didn’t share many facial features. The other girl was of African descent, she had the same eyes of the gaunt boy and girl, yet her hair was a bright fire of red curls.

“The potion didn’t work?” the girl with red curls asked.

“He should be dead.” The blond boy hissed out.

Percy remembered the danger and began to struggle trying to get away, pull his arms, kicking at the demigods holding his legs. He made pleas, begging the other to let him go, that he’ll give up for whatever the reason they are fighting about just to make the pain stop.

The struggle didn’t get Percy anywhere, as Thalia quickly shoved him back to the ground, covering his mouth so all he could do was cry and let out muffle screams. The other four held down the boy's limbs as he still tried to struggle free.

“You can’t hesitate Thalia, kill him!” The blond-haired boy yelled.

Thalia let go of Percy’s mouth to reach for the sickle, the one Percy had gotten at medusas. The black-haired girl raised the weapon over her head, ready to bring it down on Percy’s head.

“Thalia, please! NO!” Percy screamed out as the blade hit his skull.

…

..

.

“Percy! Wake up!!”

Chapter Text

“Thalia, please! NO!” Percy screamed out as the blade hit his skull.

…

..

.

“Percy! Wake up!!”

Percy shot up from the floor with a scream, Annabeth arms wrapped around the boy, trying to get him to calm down. It took a few deep breaths, his hands gripping Annabeth arms nearly hard enough to draw blood as he reminded himself that he was safe. Finally, the dream fully faded, bringing him back to reality.

“Percy, are you ok?” Annabeth asked, worry still clear on her face.

“I’m fine, I’ll be fine.” Percy said, breaking away from the girl’s grip. “What’s wrong, why did you wake me up? You couldn’t have heard me scream.”

“I…We’re approaching sirens…” Annabeth said.

At Annabeth’s word’s Percy stood up and they both began to make their way to the top deck. The boy could just barely make out the dark spot of the island through the mist.

“I want you to do me a favor, we’ll be in range of their singing soon.” Annabeth stated.

“No problem.” Percy said as he remembered all the stories about sirens. “I saw a giant of candle wax below-”

“I want to hear them.” Annabeth interrupted.

Percy stared at Annabeth, his eyes flashing gold before asking “Why?”

“They say the Sirens sing the truth about what you desire, it tells you things about yourself. If you survive you become wiser, I want to hear them, how often will I get this chance.” Annabeth explained.

“I don’t know, it just…seems like something could go wrong. Like what if I try to stop you from going over the boat and you start attacking me?” Percy counted.

“Tie me to the boat, please Percy, I can’t miss this opportunity.” Annabeth practically pleaded.

Some part of Percy wanted to argue that something could go wrong, it always goes wrong. But another part spoke up, he knew Annabeth, She would tie herself up to hear the singing if Percy didn’t help.

“Ok, I’ll help.” Percy replied.

Percy ordered the ship to tie Annabeth to the mass, of course Percy didn’t trust it was tight enough and quickly added another rope, to the point the poor girl looked like she was a prisoner on the ship.

“Isn’t this a little tight?” Annabeth asked.

“Either this or earplugs.” Percy replied, causing Annabeth's face to twist into a frown.

“Fine, just don’t untie me. No matter how much I beg and plead, or else I’ll just jump straight into the water and drown myself.” Annabeth warned.

“Are you trying to tempt me?” Percy asked with a smirk, causing Annabeth to let out a dry ‘Ha, ha’.

Percy quickly stuffs the candle wax into his ears as the fog got heavier and a chill went down his spine. It was like even the ocean was trying to warn him about the danger of this place. Jagged rocks and remnants of ships began to emerge from the fog, Percy willed the Queen Annie’s Revenge to avoid them.

He took a quick glance at Annabeth, she clearly was hearing something as she leaned against the ropes, she turned to Percy, her mouth forming pleads he couldn’t hear.

For one second Percy was almost too tempted to listen as well, unknowingly bringing up one of his hands to the earplugs.

‘Their singing is nothing...’ A voice whispered in his ear.

“Huh?” Percy said out loud, getting Annabeth’s attention as she seemingly thought she finally got him to listen.

Percy's eyes flickered gold as he swore his environment changes, stone walls, dark onyx colored stone, he swore he heard singing…...He saw a young adventure, no it was a young god, he was bleeding gold, running in as his eyes glazed over. Suddenly the singing stopped, and a familiar laugh was heard, the glaze disappeared, and the young god looked around in a panic.

The door behind the god closed, and glowing eyes appeared in the darkness as a monster smiled revealing the golden ichor stains its teeth.

Suddenly Percy was back on the ship, he looked at Annabeth, she was looking worse for wear, she was struggling against the rope, probably leaving some rope burns behind in the process. She looked at him with a tear-stained face, the words ‘why do you hate me?!’ and ‘I hate you!’ forming on her mouth.

Percy forces himself to look away, if only for a few minutes. He knew deep down she didn’t mean it, but still, it hurt him. It was only for a few minutes, just long enough to gather his emotions.

And yet when Percy looked back, all he saw was a pile of ropes and no Annabeth.

Crap, he completely forgot her knife!

Percy ran towards the side of the boat, spotting Annabeth paddling through the water.

“Annabeth!!” Percy screamed out but the girl didn't listen, causing the boy to turn and ordered the boat to “Stay!”

Percy leaped over the side of the boat, thankfully landing perfect in the water and not on any rocks. Annabeth was thankfully a strong swimmer but so was Percy and having the ocean on his side helped out a lot.

The Sirens came into view, vulture-like creatures, mostly birds with human heads, they were shifting, from his mom, to Grover, to Tyson, anyone Percy would like to see. Yet their mouths still remained bloodstained. Percy shook off his fear, swimming forward and grabbing Annabeth, causing the girl to thrash and scream.

Percy could see what Annabeth did. A city that looked amazing, better than Olympus made with beautiful dazzling metals and green plants that bloomed over the city. A few were having a picnic, Percy recognized Athena as well as Annabeth, Annabeth’s father was also there, looking happy as he sat down next to Athena. And then there was a blond boy…it was Luke.

Suddenly Percy was out of the vision, he was greeted to the sound of horrible off-key singing. He kept his grip on Annabeth as she just kept fighting, and the Sirens just continued their horrible singing.

“SHUT UP!” Percy screamed out, giving a swing with his free hand.

The ocean reacted to his command, the water shot out before freezing into sharp spikes, impaling some of the Sirens and causing the rest to fly away in fear.

The singing stopped as the alive Sirens fled in fear, as soon as the music stopped so did Annabeth fighting. She turned back to see Percy, holding her tightly as he tried to wield the water to move them back to the ship. She let out a heartbreaking sob, the horrible gut-wrenching kind as she gripped Percy tighter, putting her head onto his shoulder.

Percy allowed the girl to cry, and he swam them both back to the ship, eventually her sobs disappeared when they got back to the safety of the deck. Percy went looking and found a blanket for Annabeth, since she was still soaking wet. As he wrapped the blanket around her, he asked “Are you ok?”

As soon as the words left his mouth, Percy wanted to kick himself.

“I didn’t realize.” Annabeth muttered.

“What?”

“I didn’t realize how powerful the temptation would be.” Annabeth repeated as she looked down at the floor.

Percy didn’t say anything at first before sitting down next to her, wrapping his arms around her before he spoke. “It doesn't matter, what matters is your safe now.”

Annabeth didn’t say anything, just leaning into the touch.

“...I think you should know. I saw the way you rebuilt Manhattan, and Luke and your parents.” Percy admitted.

“You saw that?” Annabeth asked as she buried her face into her hands.

“Yeah sadly, but it looked amazing Annabeth, I can see why you chased after it.” Percy replied. Annabeth slowly placed down her hands; she didn’t share Percy’s warm expression.

“My fatal flaw, that’s what the Sirens showed me. My fatal flaw is hubris.” Annabeth admitted.

“Hubris .... deadly pride.” Percy replied.

“Thinking you can do things better than anyone else, even the gods.” Annabeth added, looking away.

“You feel that way?”

“Don’t you ever feel like the world is really messed up and what if we could all do it over again? Don’t you ever feel that way? Like you could do a better job if you ran the world?” Annabeth asked.

“Um ... .no, that actually sounds like a nightmare come to life.” Percy admitted.

“You're lucky then. Hubris isn’t your fatal flaw then.” Annabeth said solemnly.

“I kind of wish I knew what mine is.” Percy said.

“You need to learn what it is; every hero has one. And you need to learn to control it…because if you don’t…. well, they're not called fatal for nothing.” Annabeth explained as she brought her knees up so she could hug them.

They stayed like that for a while just hugging each other before Annabeth spoke up again.

“When did your ear plugs fall out?” Annabeth asked.

“In the water, I think you knock them out with one of your punches.” Percy said with a slight laugh as he tried to make light of the situation.

“But…the Sirens were still singing.” Annabeth said.

“Yes, they were.” Percy admitted, Annabeth opened her mouth to say something, but Percy spoke again. “I don't know why it didn’t affect me, it just sounded like really bad off-key singing, maybe .... maybe….”

Percy began to mutter as he tightened his fist before Annabeth’s hands closed over his.

“I know what you're thinking, Seaweed brain, last time I checked monsters don’t have red blood.” Annabeth said, causing Percy to look down at his hands, seeing the slight bleeding from digging his nails into his skin. “No matter what we can figure it out together…. Percy.”

Percy looked up the panic in Annabeth’s voice startling him, seeing a familiar looking island, the one from his dreams.

The home of his half-brother, Polyphemus.

Chapter Text

You know for the home of an evil cyclops; Percy had expected something. Bones littering the beach, bloodstains, a giant neon sight that just screams ‘something evil lives here’. Sure there was a rope bridge and a big drop, but that could be explained away as trying to navigate the island.
Honestly the island looked like it was taken straight out of a travel brochure, the kind people wished they washed up on in shipwrecks.

“It’s the Fleece.” Annabeth said, practically reading Percy’s thoughts. He nodded slightly and he could feel some sort of energy, unnatural, belonging to the mythical world.

“If we take the fleece away, what will happen to the island?” Percy asked.

“It'll fade. Turn back to what it was before the Fleece.” Annabeth admitted.

Percy felt a bit of guilt run through him, taking away this Fleece would destroy this island. But then he thought about Thalia, her spirit by the tree hacking up poison as she tried to cling to life. He thought about Tyson, his smile, his little brother was now gone because of this stupid quest.

The two began to walk around the island, it didn’t take long before they spotted a clearing, tall trees, a meadow with big sheep and glittering fur dangling on one of the branches. Of course it seemed too easy and that was quickly proven when a deer came out of the woods and the sheep with sharp jagged teeth reduced it to bones.

Annabeth tried to argue that she could just put on her hat and steal the golden fleece but Percy argued something could go wrong, either the sheep might smell Annabeth or just something. After some arguing the two eventually just decided to go deeper into the island, mainly to find Grover.

The two went deeper into the island, there was some difficulty when it came to climbing and Percy learned what Annabeth shoe tasted like, eventually they got to the top of the mountain. Completely out of energy. Percy was about to say something about the bs of their situation before Annabeth hand clamped over his mouth and she pointed over the edge.

There were voices coming from it.

The two secretly made their way over and looked over the ledged.

Good news was that Clarisse was still alive, bad new Polyphemus had captured her. Thankfully Grover had begun to talk the cyclops out of eating her sense it was their wedding night and they should have her as a feast. Of course Clarisse couldn’t keep her big mouth shut.

Second problem. Bad news, Clarisse just outed that Grover wasn’t a cyclops and Polyphemus was mad. Good news, Grover quick thinking quickly got the monster to hold off on trying to eat him right now and slow cook him with some ingredients.

Eventually Polyphemus settled on the bright idea he was going to marry Clarisse and eat Grover later after he tended to his flock. Things could have been that simple, he couldn’t have tied up the two and Annabeth and Percy could have sneaked in to free them. But noooo he had to move a giant freaking boulder in the way of the cave entrance.

The two tried for what felt like hours to move the stupid boulder but it was no use, the two were stuck watching the figure of the cyclops tend to his animals.

“Trickery, we can’t beat him with force, we will have to use trickery.” Annabeth stated matter of factly.

“Ok, what type of trickery.” Percy asked.

“I haven’t gotten that far yet.” Annabeth admitted.

“Great.” Percy replied, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

“Polyphemus will have to be the one to move the boulder to let his sheep in-.” Annabeth stated.

“At sunset when he plans to marry Clarisse and eat Grover.” Percy interrupted.

“I could get in with my hat.” Annabeth offered.

“What about me?” Percy asked, causing Annabeth to take a pause before her face got an expression that made Percy feel dread.

“The sheep!” Annabeth stated.

“The what?” Percy replied.

Annabeth somehow convinces Percy to grip and hide under one of the sheeps, hiding in its wool and using the animal like a taxi. The boy silently grumbled as the animals began to move as the cyclops called them back to the cave, only making a notice of some of them looking bigger.

When the last sleep came into the cave, Polyphemus began to make his way towards the boulder, likely to move it again.

“Hey, ugly!” Annabeth's voice yelled out causing Polyphemus to stop moving.

“Who said that!” Polyphemus yelled back.

“Nobody!” Annabeth said with a cackle.

That got the reaction that Annabeth hoped for, his face turning red as it twisted with anger. “Nobody! I remember you!”

“You're too stupid to remember anyone, much less nobody!” Annabeth replied.

Ployphemus began to chase after the voice throwing rocks at Annabeth, thankfully she was smart enough to constantly be moving. As the cyclops was distracted Percy quickly dropped from the sheep and began to search for Clarisse and Grover. He found Clarisse and Grover in one of the rooms, tied up in ropes. Grover was trying his best to see through the rope even though Clarisse told him to stop wasting his energy before she spotted Percy.

“Percy, you're supposed to be dead.” Clarisse said with her normal snarl.

“Good to see you too Clarisse. Now hold still.” Percy said, uncapping Riptide and striking off the ropes.

“Percy! You heard me, you came!” Grover said through tears.

“Of course I did, buddy.” Percy replied quickly, getting rid of the ropes that bound Grover, before turning back to Clarisse. “Is there anyone else on your lifeboat?”

Clarisse was quiet for a second as she stared into Percy’s eyes before replying “He isn’t with me, I was the only one who made it off the boat.”

“Oh.” Percy replied, any hope he had was yanked away, he tried to fight back tears. “Okay we’ll-”

A scream echoed throughout the cave, it was Annabeth’s voice, it was Annabeth screaming out in fear.

Percy went running towards the entrance, only stopping when Grover grabbed him to keep him behind a wall, making sure he wasn’t seen.

“I got Nobody!” Polyphemus gloated in delight as he shook his fist. The movement caused the hat to fall off, revealing Annabeth who was dangling by her leg. “Nasty invisible girl!”

“I’ll distract him, you two make it back to the shi-” Percy started to order.

“No.” Both Grover and Clarisse said at the same time.

“You're not fighting him alone.” Clarisse all but ordered.

Percy knew that arguing was pointless so he got the others to agree that he would be the bait. It was almost laughable easy to get Polyphemus' attention, he called the cyclops stupid for ever thinking that girl was nobody. Thankfully he dropped Annabeth to charge at Percy, however Annabeth fell like a ragdoll on some rocks and was not moving so that caused for panic, but Percy currently had a very pissed cyclops after him so one threat at a time.

Percy was able to draw Polyphemus away, getting in a few good hits revealing a sickly orange blood, the blood of monsters if the wound wasn’t bad enough to reduce them to dust. Grover had the foresight to grab Annabeth and her cap and the group decided to cut their losses. Percy reminded them there was a rope bridge that could give them some time. The cyclops barreled after them, throwing boulders that were way off the mark.

As everyone crossed, Percy took out the sickle and sliced the ropes of the bridge. Expecting Polyphemus to fall below, yet the cyclops was right next to him, laughing to himself.

Percy could see the fear on Grover’s face as he held Annabeth close, Clarisse tried to keep the worry off her face as she placed herself between the cyclops and the satyr.

Percy felt rage filled him, this stupid quest, he lost Tyson, Annabeth is dying.

All it took was a few good swings from his sickle and Polyphemus was lying on his back, his hands now up to cover his face and half blind eye. Percy was above him, gripping his shirt, his sickle was right at a gap, inches away from the cyclops, cloudy eye.

“Whoa, Percy how did you-?” Grover started to ask.

“Please noooo” Polyphemus started to sob out. “Brother? You smell like father. Please was only trying to protect my sheepies! They need me! Why are you hurting me?”

“Kill him!” Clarisse screamed out. “What are you waiting for!”

It would be so easy for Percy to kill the cyclops, one swing and he would be reduced to gold dust. But it felt like his arm was made of stone, as the cyclops cried he could practically hear Tyson. The many nights at school when his little brother cried in his arms.

“He’s a cyclops! Don’t trust him!” Grover yelled out. Annabeth would too if she wasn’t currently just clinging to life.

“We just want the Fleece.” Percy said, his tone cold like ice. “Let us take it and we’ll leave.

“No, Kill him!” Clarisse screamed out.

“My beautiful Fleece, take it cruel brother, take it and go in peace.” Polyphemus said between sobs.

“Alright, I’m slowly going to walk away.” Percy stated.

The boy only got off the cyclops chest before Polyphemus, as fast as a cobra, grabbed Percy. The cyclops laughed at his foolish brother as the others panicked at the monster's feet.

Polyphemus didn’t get a lot of time to gloat, as a rock, probably a little bigger than Percy, flew past hitting him in the head. The cyclops staggered a bit but was steady despite the blow to his head. However he didn’t notice he had loosen his grip on the demigod in his hand, allowing Percy to slip out.

The rage was back and this time it consumed Percy.

It was Grover’s screams of “PERCY!” that brought him back. Looking down he saw Polyphemus or what was left of him. Pieces of the monster were cut off, tendons ripped out so he couldn’t move, his glassy eye gouged out. But he didn’t disappear into dust, no, all the hits just left the cyclops whimpering on the ground unable to move. Percy looked to see his hands covered in the orange blood, the sickle drenched it in.

“Damn.” Clarisse muttered.

“Percy, what was that?” Grover asked.

“I-” Percy started to say.

“Brother!” A familiar voice called out. “Did you get rid of the big bully?!”

Percy turned towards the voice, it was Tyson he was alive. He was currently standing in a field surrounded by man eating sheep but they didn’t seem to mind him.

“Tyson!” Percy yelled out. “Thank the gods you're ok!”

“Can you get the fleece!” Grover asked the tiny cyclops.

“Um, which one?” Tyson said, looking around as he picked up the man eating sheep.

“The golden one.” Percy yelled out. “In the tree.”

“Ooo pretty!” Tyson said as he climbed up the tree, picking up the piece of golden fur. He tried to get closer however the sheep kept getting in his way.

“No time, just throw it!” Percy yelled out.

Tyson threw the fleece like it was a frisbee, Percy caught it but barely stayed on his feet, he did not expect the thing to weigh so much. He quickly laid the fleece across Annabeth, he slightly pleaded and prayed to any god he could remember the name of.

The cuts on Annabeth slowly healed and she opened her eyes, she saw Grover and weakly asked. “You’re not…married?”

“No, my friends talked me out of it.” Grover said with a grin.

“Annabeth, lay down.” Percy said as the girl tried to sit up, eventually she won and shoved Percy away.

“Brother!” Tyson's voice called out. Percy turned to look, the sheep were still blocked from them, it seems Polyphemus had built a sort of makeshift fence out of stone. Tyson had quickly jumped over it and rushed to Percy’s side. “Are you ok?”

Tyson quickly ran a hand over Percy’s cheek pulling back not only orange monster blood but red human blood as well. Percy didn’t realize he got hurt in the struggle.

“I’ll be around, I’m going to take a dip in the water, please look after Annie.” Percy asked.

Percy quickly went to the sea, a quick dive in the ocean healed the cut and quickly washed away the blood. The others quickly joined on the beach, Tyson was carrying Annabeth who was still draped in the Fleece, Grover was seemingly nervous around Tyson but Clarisse being at ease likely helped the Satyr from freaking out. Percy tried to call to the Queen Annie’s Revenge, yet the ship didn’t come, it was only when he saw a few pieces of wood floated by that Percy put the pieces together. When Polyphemus was trying to catch them and throwing boulder’s one of them hit and destroyed the ship.

“Are you kidding me? He sank the ship.” Percy growled out.

“How are we supposed to get back now?” Clarisse asked.

“Rainbow!” Tyson called out to the water.

Three hippocampi appeared in the water, their words sounded strange, but Percy could make out that they were happy to help him and his friends. Tyson got on rainbow, Clarisse road with him sense he was the biggest out of all the three. Annabeth rode on Percy's hippocampus with him. Percy really needed to ask the hippocampus what her name was, as she chatted to him. Grover got his own, of course holding on for dear life.

Percy soon drifted into sleep. It was a dreamless sleep, everything was dark besides a familiar laugh, one that belonged to a figure in a coffin.

“Percy, wake up!” Annabeth's voice said followed by a splash of water.

Percy opened his eyes, he saw a beautiful beach and many fancy looking buildings. The only thing that was off there wasn’t a lot of people around. Grover was trying to get the hippocampus to get closer to the shore but they refused to listen, Percy quickly translated and the group realized this is as far as they were going by sea. The group got off the ‘sea ponies’ as Tyson lovingly called them, walking onto the beach. Clarisse picked up a discarded paper before freaking out.

“We’re been away from camp for too long! Mr. D said the tree had 13 days at the most, it’s been 12!”

“Thalia’s tree must almost be dead! We need to get the Fleece back tonight!” Grover said his voice filled with fear.

“How are we supposed to do that! We’re hundreds miles away.” Clarisse said, trying her best to not sob. “This is all your fault Jackso-”

“Percy’s fault? Clarisse didn’t Percy save you be-” Annabeth yelled out.

“Stop it!” Percy screamed before he took a deep breath. “Clarisse, what did the Oracle tell you exactly?”

Clarisse took in a deep breath as if she was getting ready to yell at Percy but soon she began to recite the words.

‘You shall sail the iron ship with warriors of bone,
You shall find what you seek and make it your own,
But despair for your life entombed within stone,
And fail without friends, to fly home alone.’

“Ooof” Grover added.

“Wait. wait a minute.” Percy said as his eyes lit up. “I’ve got it, does anyone have any cash?”

The group began to dig into their pockets, most pulling out nothing or drachmas.

“Cash? Like….green paper?” Tyson asked. “Like this?”

Tyson pulled the bag that Hermes had given Percy, producing a plastic bag filled with regular mortal money.

“Tyson, you're a lifesaver!” Percy said grabbing the bag and quickly counting through it, more than enough to get a taxi ride and an airplane ticket. However there's now way it was enough for all of them.

Percy saw a family on the far end get out of a taxi, the driver pulled out a cigarette for a moment of peace, everything was coming together.

“Annabeth give Clarisse the Fleece. Clarisse, you're going to the airport.” Percy ordered, causing both girls to look at the boy with a stunned expression. They didn’t move so Percy took the Fleece off Annabeth’s shoulders and shoved it into Clarisse’s arms along with the money.

“You’d let me-” Clarisse started to say.

“It was your quest to begin with.” Percy said. “We don’t have enough money for all of us to go, even if we did, I don’t feel like testing my uncle's good will. Besides it’s what the prophecy meant. Fail without friends, you need our help, to fly home alone, you have to head back to camp alone Clarisse, for the good of everyone, for Thalia.”

“I got it, I won’t fail.” Clarisse said, rushing towards the taxi.

“Tell your dad to stop being such an overprotective ahole when you get to camp.” Percy yelled out as the taxi sped away.

“Percy that was-” Annabeth started to say.

“Generous.” Grover offered.

“Insane.” Annabeth scolded. “How can we be so sure she’ll get to camp on time, you're betting everyone’s lives on that.”

“I’m sure everything will be alright.” Percy said as he began to walk, he, no they needed to get off the beach. “Come on.”

“Big brother is nice.” Tyson said.

“Percy why are you rushing, shouldn’t we take a moment to rest.” Grover offered.

“No, something bad will happen if we stay.” Percy said in a panic voice.

“Always the fortune teller aren’t you, cus?”

Monsters appeared, grabbing Annabeth and Grover by the back of their clothing like they were feral cats. One of the bear monsters grabbed Tyson pinning his arms to his side, Tyson screamed and kicked but it didn’t do any good. Percy was about to help but one hand grabbed the wrist around his pen and the other held a blade right to his neck.

“Welcome back to the States.” Luke said with a smile.

“What do you want, Luke?” Percy growled out, however all that accomplished was Luke pushing the blade closer, just enough to let out a pinprick of blood.

Luke just smiled giving a small gesture with his head towards the ships docked, of course there was the Princess Andromeda. Luke's expression shifted to a fake pout, “why Percy, I just want to expand my hospitality of course.”

Chapter Text

Luke led his four ‘guests’ into the Princess Andromeda by a monster or by sword point. Percy was thrown into the middle, considering they still had Annabeth, Grover and Tyson captured and Percy wouldn’t do anything without them. Besides they had an army of monsters, demigods and other goons Luke had surrounded them, not like they could go anywhere. Percy did have to suppress a smile when the monsters gasped and took a step back or when the demigods practically shivered looking at him.

“So, the Fleece, where is it?” Luke asked as he got closer to Percy, poking at the boy's jacket with the tip of his sword, maybe to see if the Mist was messing with his eyes.

When Percy didn’t reply Luke went over to Grover, poking specifically at his pants. Grover quickly swatted the sword away telling his ex-friend that the only fur he had on him was his goat fur.

“Maybe you didn’t hear me, where. Is. the. Fleece!” Luke growled out, coming back to point his sword at Percy.

“Not here.” Percy stated coldly.

“What?!"

Percy let out a laugh that caused a shiver to most of the monsters. “We sent it ahead, you messed up, Luke.”

“You’re lying, there’s no way….Clarisse…You trusted, you gave…” Luke muttered before his expression turned anger as he turned towards one of the bear men. “Agrius! Get below and prepare my steed, I need to get to Miami Airport, fast!”

“But boss-!” The bear man tried to say.

“Now! Or I’ll feed you to the drakon!” Luke screamed.

As Agrius disappeared below deck, Luke began to pace around like a caged animal, curing under his breath, rage practically seeping off of him. Percy looked around seeing how uneasy many of the monsters were, apparently this is a side of their boss they don’t see a lot. The boy began to think he needed Luke to confess, otherwise everyone would blame Chiron for what Luke clearly did, plus he needed a way to keep Luke there long enough that Clarisse would be in the air before Luke got to the airport.

Percy glanced at the fountain, the sun and water hitting right at the same time producing a rainbow…. he got an idea as he felt a drachma in his pocket.

“You’ve been toying with us!” Percy exclaimed in anger. “You had us doing your dirty work, you traitor!”

“Of course, I did but you just had to mess everything up.” Luke said before muttering under his breath.

“TRAITOR!” Percy screamed, throwing the drachma. Luke just easily dodges it, which is what Percy wanted as the coin hit the rainbow, the boy sent a silent prayer to Iris before he continued his anger. “You tricked us all, even Dionysus at Camp Half-Blood!”

Percy saw the rainbow shimmering, showing it was working but he needed to make sure others weren’t paying attention. The boy quickly pulled out Riptide, it was the closest thing to grab considering Tyson had the bag with his sickle.

“Put the blade away Percy, I don’t have time for a tantrum.” Luke practically spats out.

“Who poisoned Thalia’s tree, Luke?” Percy asked with venom in his voice.

“I did, you know this. I used elder python venom.” Luke said like he was talking to a stupid child.

“So, Chiron had nothing to do with this?” Percy asked.

“HA! You know he would never even dream of doing this, old fool doesn’t have the guts.” Luke laughed out.

“Guts? You betrayed your friends, put the camp in danger!” Percy hissed out.

“You don’t understand Percy!” Luke practically screamed as he rubbed his face in his hands before looking at the boy. “I would have given you the Fleece…once I was done with it. It would be for your own good.”

Luke muttered the last part, but Percy picked up on and anger filled up.

“You were going to use the Fleece to heal Kronos!” Percy exclaimed. “How would that have helped me?!”

“It would have sped up his healing by tenfold, and now you’ve caused a hiccup, a slight delay but I’ll make it work.” Luke said.

“So, you poisoned Thalia’s tree, betrayed her, framed Chiron, set us all up! Just to help Kronos’s overthrow the gods?!” Percy screamed out. “All under the guise of helping me, how does this help me?”

“Yes! Because you don’t know what he plans to do to you Percy!” Luke cried out. “I’m trying to protect you!”

“Ha, there's a phrase I know all too well.” An older, familiar voice laughed out.

Luke and the goons turned towards the source of the sound with a gasp. In the iris message, there was everything, Dionysus, the current replacement for Chiron Percy dubbed Kronos 0.2, and all the campers, who were eating dinner looking at the scene in silence.

“It’s not every night you get dinner and a show.” Dionysus said matter of factly, his eye glowing to the point it almost looks like he could walk through the message. The god was currently not very amused.

“Mr. D you heard him; you all heard him. The poisoning of Thalia’s tree wasn’t Chiron’s fault.” Percy spoke to the Iris ' message.

“I suppose you're right, I guess that means Chiron should get his job back.” Mr. D said as his eyes glowed, Tantalus was soon wrapped in vines and yanked into the air. “Who’s up for a little weapons practice?”

The other campers cheered, causing Percy to wonder just what the man did while the group was away to earn that reaction. Percy did hate the man, everyone knew that, but he always thought the rest of camp tolerated him. Percy was starting to realize he sucked at reading others.

“And before I go.” Dionysus said before turning back to the message. “I’m sure your father would love to hear your out at sea, Percy, considering your protection is up.”

The Iris message faded but it was clear how the god practically growled out the word father, the boat wasn’t safe, Dionysus was about to sic one of the most temperamental gods on them.

Any good feeling from Percy began to fade with the god's words and they completely disappeared when Luke turned and gave the boy a murderous look.

“I don’t know what Kronos sees in you! You’re an unreliable weapon!” Luke said as he swung his sword nearly hitting Percy. “You’re not leaving this boat alive!”

Agrius appeared pulling a black Pegasus that was currently fighting and cursing that would probably get Percy’s mouth washed out with soap if he ever uttered those words. Agrius called for Luke and the teen turned his attention towards the monster and Pegasus, allowing Percy to get some space to speak.

“One on one combat Luke.” Percy challenged. “What are you afraid of?”

“You can’t bait me into a fight, Percy.” Luke said before turning to one of the monsters. “Tie them u-”

“And you still keep avoiding the fights. Why?” Percy spoke, raising his voice. “Scared your warriors will see you get whipped? That your precious boss chose wrong?”

The silence that followed was practically deafening, Luke was silent, and Percy could practically see the gears turning in his head. If Luke didn’t fight Percy, he would look weak and the whispering monsters would start to question his authority, but if Luke did fight Percy, then he would be wasting time he could be using to stop Clarisse from getting on the plane. Luke was stuck between a rock and a hard place. Percy however knew this was a gamble, he needed Clarisse to get to camp no matter what, but Percy wasn’t sure he could beat Luke in a one-on-one fight, the teen had age and experience. Plus, even if he won, who’s to say a monster wouldn’t jump in to try to kill him, or they drag him to that coffin to figure out what to do next. Either way he could only hope Annabeth could do something while he distracted Luke and the monsters.

“Fine, I’ll kill you quickly.” Luke said before he muttered something and turned to the monster barking out orders.

The monster began to scramble grabbing a shield and armor before handing it to Luke, Percy picked up his sword however when he went to grab an abandoned shield he was shoved back by the monsters. Annabeth yelled at Luke to give Percy some shield and some armor for it to be a fair fight, but Luke more so snarked back about ‘bring your own weapon’.

Luke didn’t even announce when the fight started, he just lunged at Percy, the boy thankfully was able to move before he was nearly impaled by a sword. Percy quickly tried to swing his sword, Riptide however felt so much heavier it was harder to swing, his movements were sluggish.

It was a completely unfair fight.

Percy was knocked down by Luke’s shield, falling flat on his back, Luke kicking Riptide away from the boy before placing his foot on the boy’s stomach. Luke looked down at Percy, pity filling his eyes.

“I’m sorry Percy, I promise you, this is a mercy.” Luke said as he raised up his blade, ready to strike it through the young boy’s heart.

Panic began to fill Percy’s heart; he was going to die…he was going to die!!

Suddenly a giant wave hit the side of the boat, knocking Luke off balance.

Chapter Text

Suddenly a giant wave hit the side of the boat, knocking Luke off balance.

Luke quickly tried to regain his footing but as he finally got some semblance of balance, an arrow with a comical large boxing glove on the end flew and hit the teen in the face, knocking him back down. Percy looked up, to see many centaurs jumping over the side of the boat, they were armed with weapons that seemed more in place with a cartoon, boxing gloves, glitter cannons, nothing that would really do any permanent harm.

Another lurch of the boat made Percy practically grip the floor, these centaurs won’t need to do any killing if his father keeps this up.

“Perseus! Child! We must go!” Chiron's familiar voice screamed out over the chaos.

“But we need to destr-” Percy tried to say before the boat lurched again, he needed to tell him about the coffin, about the monster sleeping below.

“No time!” Chiron said, grabbing Percy.

In a whirl of wind Chiron and the many centaurs that had joined him leaped over the side of the boats, Percy, Annabeth and Tyson firmly in the grips as they ran onto shore. The boat got smaller in Percy’s sight as tall unnatural waves rammed into the side of it. If it somehow didn’t sink to the bottom of the ocean floor it would be a miracle. They ran until the coast line looking nothing more like a blip on the horizon, only then did Chiron stop the running and slowed down the pace.

“We shouldn’t have left, we should have made sure that boat sank to the botto-” Percy started to ramble.

“We should just settle on a draw, somethings are just too powerful to face alone.” Chiron said wisely, as they walked.

Percy frowned as the bit settled in his stomach, the idea of that coffin…the idea of being trapped in it made him want to pull his skin off. However, he swallowed those feelings as a question that’s been bugging him since the start of this quest came to his mind.

“I have a question.” Percy said, getting a hum from Chiron showing that he was listening. “The gods must have thought you had something to do with the tree, it’s why I had to get Luke to admit what he did. But why? Why would they think you poisoned the tree?”

Chiron paused for a moment before he continued walking, ignoring the other centaurs hoots and laughing as Annabeth tried to talk over, making sure Tyson wasn’t picking up on any bad words.

“Percy, do you know who exactly are my parents?” Chiron asked, sorrow hinting at his voice.

Percy was quiet for a minute, his mind going through the many myths he would read in his boredom. Yet every single time he thought of the name Chiron, it just went to him training a hero, never how he came to be.

Percy let out a sound of frustration, before he admitted. “Sorry, I don’t.”

Chiron stopped walking, and turned to look at Percy.

“Percy, Kronos is my father.” Chiron admitted.

“Oh…” was all Percy managed to say.

“That’s why they thought I poisoned the tree. I am the only one with ties to him that is not a god, it would be the most logic-” Chiron started to say.

“I’m so sorry.” Percy said as he looked down, avoiding the centaur's eyes.

“Percy, you are not to blame, it is-” Chiron starts to say.

“No, I'm sorry you have to look at me.” Percy said as he allowed some tears to fall.

“Percy, no. Wh-“ Chiron tried to interrupted.

“Please Chiron, don’t treat me like I’m stupid…” Percy said before he lowered his head, opting to look at the passing grass. “I know who I look like.”

Any possibility of conversation died after that, there was just silence that stretched between the two as they headed back to camp half-blood. Percy could hear the other centaurs talking and laughing, Tyson trying to mimic what they said, and Annabeth quickly talking over them so Tyson wouldn’t learn any bad words.

It passed by in a blur, till they were at camp. Percy half expected Dionysus to appear to yell at him for doing something so stupid, but thankfully the centaurs were really big fans of the party god, quickly rushing over to talk to him. Percy could see that the golden fleece was laid on the roots of Thalia’s tree, the once brown leaves gaining the green coloring back. He could see Clarisse, being hailed around on the shoulder of campers, wearing a laurel wreath. If Percy was a bit more petty he might have been angry that all the attention and reward went to the daughter of Ares. But Percy knew just how much this meant to her, and honestly he didn’t want anyone to acknowledge he existed for a few hours. He just wanted to sleep.

The few days at camp pass fast compared to their adventure. Of course eventually Mr. D cornered Percy to yell at him for doing something so stupid, though Chiron was able to get the god to stop. The tree was healing very well, though it was guarded 24/7 now even with the barrier, the golden fleece is a tempting prize. Despite no one stating it, Percy had a feeling they meant Luke. The centaurs, or party ponies as most of the campers had dubbed them, had decided to head back home, but had promised to visit often to throw parties and just liven up camp, something Percy was sure both Mr. D and Chiron didn’t want to deal with.

Now that things were settled down and they didn’t have to fear the barrier breaking, Mr. D allowed the children to have the chariot race that Kronos 2.0 promised them. It went well, no death or maiming, Annabeth and her cabin won, which was good for them.

Percy also got a quick visit from Hermes, he tried to apologize to the god, about failing to convince Luke but the god of travelers just gave a tired smile before offering Percy a letter before taking off yet again. It was from Poseidon, simple, asking to see both of his sons by the lake around 12 tomorrow.

Normally Percy would never meet Poseidon without his mom or Mr. D, however after the hell he had been through, Percy didn’t care. He wanted to run to his dad and spill everything that happened, to get him to sink that boat and maybe stop the nightmare of that coffin.

The side of the lake was peaceful, Percy sat on the shore, Tyson was currently poking a frog who would croak and then jump, causing Tyson to follow with small steps. Percy closes his eyes, trying to control his emotions.

When Percy opened his eyes, there was Poseidon, tan skin, a cheesy Hawaiian printed shirt, sea green eyes. The man walked out of the water, a flurry of emotions on his face, as if different parts of him were fighting on what to do, to sweep his children into his arms or to stay in the water.

“DAD!” Tyson screamed with excitement, as he rushed forward and plowed into the god of the seas with a hug. Poseidon let out a laugh, as he easily picked up the cyclops before setting him down, he slowly walked close to Percy, the boy took the hint and finally got to his feet.

“Percy, how are you?” Poseidon said awkwardly. “Are you hurt?”

“I am fine….dad.” Percy said, the word dad was still odd to him.

Poseidon didn’t say anything at first, just reaching over to move the dark hair in front of Percy’s golden eye, but the boy quickly moved, causing Poseidon to tighten his hand into a fist.

“I came here to take Tyson to the underwater forge, it’s safer for him down there instead of on the streets.” Poseidon said matter of factly.

Percy opened his mouth to protest but it soon died in his throat, his dad was right. Tyson would be safer with Poseidon, away from demigods who might kill him without a second thought, away from other monsters who would see him as an easy target….away from Percy who just brings chaos.

“I understand, he really likes pastries, I don’t know if you can make them under the sea but ma-” Percy started to say, however he was cut off when Poseidon spoke again.

“Oh, chaos, what has he done to you?” Poseidon muttered, Percy only then realized as his thoughts raced, he had pushed his hair back, revealing the golden eye. Poseidon’s magic quickly rushed over the boy, adding a familiar spell as well, hiding the golden eye from everyone who could see it. The sea god knelt down to his son and spoke softly. “If you want, you could join Tyson in Atlantis. I could keep you safe, no nightmare, no golden eyes watching you.”

A cough from the side caused heads to turn, Dionysus stood there, his purple eyes glowing practically trying to induce madness into the god.

“I think that’s enough barnacle beard, your time is up.” Mr. D said, obviously not happy about Poseidon being there.

“I understand.” Poseidon said standing up. “Thank you for looking after my child.”

Poseidon gave a smile of surrender, obviously not wanting a fight. He stood up, quickly gave a goodbye wave to Percy before disappearing into the water with Tyson leaving Percy alone.

If Dionysus wanted to scold Percy, he didn’t, maybe it was the boy’s expression, having just lost his brother or maybe it was just everything he went through but the god just ordered the boy to go back to his cabin and get some rest.

After a nap, Percy meets up with Grover, who explains he was stopping his quest to look for Pan, at least just temporarily. The boy didn’t blame his friend, if he had to pretend to be a bride for a cyclope, he would probably just sleep for a few weeks. Percy immediately tried to catch Grover up with everything that had happened over the school year, explaining how he met Tyson; however screams and panic from the campers drew his attention away.

Percy reacted first, quickly running towards where most campers were pointing and screaming, which happened to be Thalia’s tree. The boy expected something bad, a dragon, or maybe a monster had broken through after the fleece, hell he would believe Luke would pop up out of nowhere to make a grab for it. He spotted Annabeth’s golden braids in the crowd and quickly rushed to her side.

“Annabeth, what’s going on? Is it a monster?!” Percy asked, hand gripped tight around his pen. He looked around, everyone was looking in stunned silence, even Grover who had followed him stared in horror. Eventually after not getting a reply, Percy followed Annabeth’s eyes towards the tree.

There was a girl tangled in its roots.

Percy reacted first, quickly rushing towards the roots, tearing them away from the girl, no one stopped him. He didn’t know why, just something in him screamed to try and help her.

“Come on, we need to get her to the infirmary!” Percy said as he untangled her from the roots, yet no one dared move.

The girl let out a gasp as she opened her eyes, electric blue…ones he had seen before. She began to cough, spitting out dirt and what was likely poison as Percy helped the girl to her feet.

“Where am I?....what…?...Felt like…I was dying…” The girl muttered.

“Hey, you're ok. You’re safe now.” Percy said as he grabbed her hands, allowing her to lead on him for support.

Percy knew exactly who this was, anyone at camp half-blood could tell. Her skin had a slight tan to it, but considerably pale compared to the rest of the campers. Her hair was a dark brown, almost bordering on black if not for the little strains of silver that seemingly brought life back to the abyss. Her outfit didn’t look anything like a normal camper, a mix of gothic design and punk rock, tied together with a leather jacket. However Percy knew her because of the electric blue eyes, the ones that study him on mount olympus, the ones that seemingly crackled with glee when making his brother's life harder.

“I know you…you helped me, heard my screaming.” The girl said.

“What’s your name?” Percy asked.

“I am Thalia.” The girl admitted. “Daughter of Zeus.”