Chapter Text
Sally Jackson once told her son “sometimes, the line between hero and monster is hard to see, and sometimes, it simply does not exist”, Percy never really understood, until he found himself with this second chance.
Today was supposed to be a relaxing, calm day, fishing with Tyson in the early morning, listening to Annabeth talk about a new book her mother translated in greek for her children, training with Clarisse, it was supposed to be simple.
Yet, here he was watching as his friends were getting decimated, one after the other, falling from different weapons and dangers, grover had been sliced in half by a hellhound after being cornered, Thalia was struck by an enemy spear, Annabeth died an hour earlier, at the same time as half of the camp, when Hyperion launched a fireball at them.
Percy was on his knees, praying to any gods that would hear his cries, but he knew deep down none would answer, most of them made their way to tartarus, and the one who didn’t, have been captured, like Artemis, who hold the sky again, or Hestia, who has been put to sleep and is being tortured by nightmares of her family getting killed again and again.
Luke/Kronos is standing before him, riptide under his foot, broken in half, how did it happen? It was supposed to be unbreakable. Backbiter held at his side, dripping the blood of Clarisse, or maybe is it Lee’s? It doesn’t matter. “I was told, you would be my greatest enemy, Perseus, the strongest half-blood, stronger even than Heracles,” The titan laugh sickeningly deep, like it was his best joke, “but here you are, ready to have your head chopped off.”
‘For my friends’ he told himself, repeatedly, trying to convince himself that he was ready to die. But he is not ready. “Do you have any last words, Perseus, son of a dead god?”, Percy’s eyes looked at the pool of blood, where Clarisse’s body is laying, her own eyes wide open, directed at him, a pleading look on her face, it filled him with anger, bitterness, and sadness, they never got to have a friendly duel, like they promised a few hours before the camp got attacked.
“I’m Percy Jackson, son of Sally Jackson ! ” he nearly screamed at Luke’s face, when he looked back at him, his yellow eyes disappeared for a second, showing blue, before going back to the threatening gold.
“Goodbye, Perseus, son of nobody.” Kronos lifted the sword, the words he muttered as he did, hit him before backbiter did, ‘Perseus, son of nobody’, he felt an intense pain in my chest, like his heart was impaled, then another pain, and when he looked down, blood was slowly pooling at his knees. It took him a few seconds to understand what happened, when the rest of his body hit the ground, and the noises started to fade, he finally thought loudly ‘i don’t want to die!’.
His eyelid closed when the sword was pulled out of his chest, the pain was horrible, and the darkness that came after was even more painful.
Perseus stayed in the darkness for what felt like billions of years, or maybe it was just a second, he didn’t know, everything was out of orders, he couldn’t see, hear, or feel anything at all, he knows that he was alone, and dead.
He tried to speak, but no words came out, tried to think of something else than the darkness, but nothing came to his mind.
A soft, feminine voice was suddenly audible, “Perseus- no, that is not fair on you, child” her voice is full of sadness, like she could feel the pain of everything on earth, or maybe the universe, “Percy Jackson, son of Sally Jackson and Poseidon, i heard the cries of your mother, your brother, and listened to them beg.”
Percy opened his eyes again, and instead of the darkness of eternity, was a beautiful woman, her eyes like the ever expanding universe, stars shining in them, he cant see her hair, yet he knows they are here, he watch as the right side of her mouth lift, in a kind looking smirk, ‘its my first time seeing a kind smirk’.
“My hair are made out of nothing and everything, i am Chaos, the universe itself, the primordial of creation, and destruction” The side of her mouth fell back down, and sadness took over it again, “i saw many universes, Percy, and in the ones you exist, Kronos never win-“.
Percy cut her off, his voice raw and full of bitterness, “and in this one i failed! I was too cooky and let Kronos win!”.
“It was not your fault, Kronos used a trick” her hand moved to point at a man, who was, until then, invisible, his eyes closed, and both hands holding an hourglass, inside it, was clearly visible a miniature version of the entire universe, “Chronus, my son, primordial of time.”
Percy was visibly shaken, that man looked like Luke, or Kronos. “But i am not him”, the man said, slowly, his voice sandy, rough. “i wish Kronos to be defeated, for, he tricked me into turning time.”
Chaos looked lovingly at her son, and then at her great-great-great-grandson, her eyes still full of love, it startled Percy again, for a split second, her eyes looked like his mother’s. “We have a plan, Percy, we believe in you” her voice was so soft, he nearly believed in himself too. “You will need to gather as many friends as possible, for that, Eros will offer you a power, it will merge with your own, my advice with it? never sing in the shower, when people are around” she looked a bit amused by her own words. “You will have to use your own knowledge to make them stronger, all while using your powers to make them your allies- and before you ask, no, it does not works on gods- or people who you consider your enemies”
He watched in disbelief as she clapped her hands together, and with another soft look toward Chronus, said in an ancient language, that he could barely understand a few words of, “… Chronus… start… Eros…” a high pitched laugh got to his hears as everything around him started to fade away again.