Chapter Text
Percy found himself in the familiar position he unfortunately has grown accustomed to, just a week ago he was being chased by cannabiles, then dealing with the newest camp director, meeting a god that wasn’t his dad, his brother blowing up, burning down an island while escorting the inhabitants from a battle between the god of magic and Blackbeared, saving Annabeth from her pride, saving Grover, finding his brother that’s very much a alive, grabbing the Golden Fleece, and now with Clarisse gone with the Fleece and letting the island girls Reyna and Hylla take the boat and garenteening them safe passage to where evere they desire across the ocean as amends for burning down the place.
Now he stood face to face with Luke, giving him a shit-eating grin as he just tricked him into spilling his plan thanks to the help of Grover. “You know, Luke, I thought you were smarter than to monologue like a villain from a movie.” Percy said, holding a laugh. Luke then swung his sword at Percy, commanding his monsters to attack them. Percy quickly brought up his sword swing-up at the demigod, whom he considered a friend. As their blades meet there was a sickening screech as the steel and bronze collided. Luke, being older and stronger, quickly pressed forward. Percy, feeling the sudden pressure, disengaged and rolled past Luke. The two turned to face each other, slashing and stabbing as the boat rocked back and forth, neither one giving an inch.
Just as soon as the battle kicked off, there was a volley of boxing gloves and arrows that darkened the sky. Percy was used to getting punched in the face, so he quickly recovered. He looked to the other side of the ship to see a hippocampus there, led by Chiron. Percy let out a half-laugh and sigh, seeing the camp director. Chiron galloped up to him, extending his hand. “Come on, Percy, we must hurry. The party ponies won’t be able to hold off the monster forever.” Chiron said, making the sentence sound as though it were a lesson he taught him back in Latin class. “Hold on.” Percy said as he darted to the middle of the battle, where the floor kept bouncing up and down. Percy cut the lock, and out flew a herd of Pegasi. They quickly thanked the boy before joining in on the chaos. As Percy was running back to Chiron, he saw an exchange between Annabeth and Luke.
Worried she might be in trouble, he ran to her. As he got closer, he noticed she was giving him nectar for a stray arrow that had hit the boy in the side. “Annabeth, what are you doing?” Percy asked, confused. She eased Luke to the ground, her dagger in hand, and she calmly walked up to Percy. “Percy, I haven’t been honest with you. I knew Ares had the bolt last summer, and I purposefully got us trapped in the Lotus hotel. But you made me change my mind, and I tried to be mortal. I tried to trust the gods again, but it was a horrible mistake between my father becoming neglectful and my stepmother's abuse. I couldn’t take it, and well, I talked with Luke over the summer. He told me his plan with Thailia’s tree and how the gods would punish Chiron. I mean, for gods sake, Percy, they put Tantulas in charge of training us. They don’t want heroes, they want mindless slaves who’ll do as they command.” Annabeth cried out as tears streamed down her face.
“Please, Percy, join us. You, me, Luke, and Thaila can become a family. We’d welcome you. We will be the new council of gods and replace those on Olympus.” She said, "Percy, look into my eyes. They swirled with so much emotion he couldn’t pin down how she felt." “Peter Johnson, might wanna duck!” A familiar voice said. He listed, and it was a Cyclops that tried to take his head. Annabeth was pulled back by Luke. I turned and saw that Mr. D was watching through the Iris Message; it somehow hadn’t been destroyed in all this chaos. The whole camp was watching. Percy stood there, stunned, still processing what just happened, when Chiron ran by picking the boy up and jumping off the ship, followed by the rest of the party ponies. Percy, gaining his senses again, gripped tight onto Chiron as he cried softly. Not just one, but now one of his best friends, this time someone even closer than Luke, and someone he might have feelings for. Percy quickly wiped his tears. He, Grover, and Tyson soon found their way back to camp, where the Ares cabin was running amok between celebrating Clarisse’s successful mission and the Herm’s an Athena cabin becoming the irritation of the camp.
No one noticed as Percy and the others returned. Percy walked up to the tree where Clarisse was placing the Fleece on Thalia’s tree. Percy, at this point, couldn’t even bother to be surprised anymore. Looking down, he saw a girl with hair a mix of Afro and mohawk, dark chocolate skin, wearing a black leather jacket over a punk band T-shirt, black leather pants, and black combat boots. Percy knew who this was. He saw him walk over and kneel down, assisting the girl in consuming the nectar and Ambrosia. “Welcome back.” Percy said as he helped her up. “Who, What, Where, and Why the fuck am I alive?” Thaila said, struggling to her feet. “We’ll explain tomorrow, get some rest. My name's Percy, by the way, I’m a son of Poseidon.” Percy said, trying his best not to let the sadness of what happened earlier get the best of him. Quickly, the head of the Apollo cabin came and took her away on a stretcher as they made their way to the Big House. As Percy looked off in the distance at the ocean, a figure walked up beside him and put their hand on his shoulder. Percy looked to see it was Clarisse with everyone now gone to the campfire to continue the celebration. “Uh, thanks for the help, and I appreciate the apology. You should know I would have taken you, but Annabeth said something, and basically I just want to let you know you helped me out, and if you think about making anymore friends, I will kill you.” Clarisse said sternly, but in her eyes, Percy could see this was her attempt at being nice. He flashed her a smile. “No problem, I mean, I can only imagine what you would’ve done if just you and Chris on that boat,” Percy said. He didn’t get a chance to laugh as Clarisse punched him in the gut. “Shut it, Jackson, this is why no one likes you.” She said as she marched down with her face flushed with embarrassment. Percy smiled as he started to make his way to the Big House.
Bounes:
The gods all flashed into the council room, “I have called you here because it seems every day we lose more of our childeren what are we to do at this rate? Kronos will turn them all to his side.” Athena said, with her usual calm and composure. “HAHAHA! Niece, you speak like it wasn’t your child that has betrayed my son, who went on a mission that he was destined to go on, but was held back unnecessarily by not only your daughter but my brothers idotic pride. Tell me what point is there to us being a council if you're just gonna allow your paranoia to make all the decisions.” Posidoded said with deep resentment, still angry after last year when Zeus tried to murder his child for no reason. Athena didn’t falter, but her eyes flashed with sorrow and anger. Hermes, who had been quite overlooked, gave her a nod. He understood what she might feel. But Zeus doubled down. “I AM ONLY DOING WHAT A KING SHOULD, AND BESIDES, MY DAUGHTER WON’T BETRAY ME. I SAVED HER LIFE!” Zeus' eye is becoming literally tiny thunderclouds. Hera grabbed his hand, softly stroked it, hoping to calm him down. “Regardless, though I find it annoying, at least that kid of yours is showing some measure of common sense. He looks to befriend not only my daughter but my sister as well.” Ares said, cleaning a disassembled M-16. The council looked at Ares with confusion and disbelief. “I thought you were the leader of my son’s slander campaign. Why the sudden change? Posiden asked calming down. The rest of the council all nodded, agreeing that after last year, Ares had become even more unpopular. “Look, I hate the kid a little less now because I thought him soft, but I respect combat ability, and he did have a hand in my daughters succsess on the mission.” Ares then looked up from his cleaning. “And since we inch closer each year to my domain, I rather like our chance of winning if we can get the strongest and smartest of our little cluster fuckes down there to get along. An army needs a leader, a fleet a Captain, a strategist in the backline making decisions, an engineering corps to make tanks, tactical bridges, and camps, and every pilot needs a wingman. So what I’m saying is Athena is right. I’m sure there's gonna be another quest coming up. I suggest we don’t go and make things harder on them. What Poisdon and Hermes did is what we should all do if we’re able. I have already undone my curses on your son. I would rather not have a boy who can beat a god turned against us.” Ares spoke like the natural leader we were born to be. This brought a temporary halt to the arguing. The Gods and Goddesses looked at each other. Hermes and Athena stood and second Ares proposale. “ Okay, this is closer to your domain, and now with two Children of Prophecy, it’s probably best we don’t give them even more reason to hate us. Brother Zeus, I swear not to cause your daughter harm. Let us try to put our problems aside for the sake of Olympus.” Posiden said, giving a curt nod over to his brother. “Yes, brother lets.” Zeus said and then disappeared in a flash of lightning. The entire council rolled their eyes, and they all quickly left.