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Poseidon gazed down at the slumbering child. He was a young god (only a few thousand years old) and this boy was to be the greatest secret of his eternal life, kept from all save his brothers.
The child snorted and turned over and Poseidon felt true affection for the boy.
Which made this all the more difficult.
He knelt next to the bed where the boy snored softly, drool dripping onto the small haybag that his head rested on. The sea god smiled in spite of himself and rested a hand on the boy's head, who twitched as the god's hand touched him.
"You shall be Olympus' finest warrior. Like clay will you be molded and in the furnace of war you will be forged. You will be of iron will and steely muscle. With my blade shall you be armed and with the speed of the currents shall you move." As he spoke, Poseidon allowed a portion of his very essence to take part with the child's soul. This would weaken Poseidon but would make the boy exceptionally powerful.
"You will be untouched by plagues or diseases, no sickness will blight you. You will have skill and power so that no monster can best you in battle. You are our bulwark against the terrors of the Pit. You are the guardian of mankind. You are our champion and you shall know no fear." Poseidon drew his sword, elegant in its simplicity and with a thought, it shrank into a small rod with its name engraved on the side.
Anaklusmos.
"Thank you for your service, old friend, but our time together has ended. I will see you again." The rod seemed to shine a little less, but it seemed to get a little brighter than it had been when it realized who its new guardian was.
"This sword is now yours, my boy. Protect it with your life and it will protect you in turn." Poseidon fell silent, searching for what else to say, but the words eluded him. This poor child had an eternal life of hardship before him and Poseidon felt shame overtake him, knowing the boy had no say in it.
The god heard a noise behind him and turned to see the mother of his child standing in the doorway, love and affection on her face as she watched her son sleep. Poseidon hung his head and let himself vanish, not entirely sure if the mother saw him or not.
In time immemorial, when the gods bore forth a new age, one mortal drew his blade against the monsters. His soul burned by the embers of Orthyrs and blistered by the fires of Tartarus, he was given the path of perpetual battle. In his unending hatred, he found no peace and with boiling blood, he scoured the Monstrous Plains seeking vengeance against the Titan Lords who had wronged him. He was the champion of the gods by the will of the Three Fates and the monsters that survived the bite of his blade named him The Destroyer.
Annabeth stared at the stone tablet for what seemed like the thousandth time, still lost on what it exactly was. It had a form of writing on it that looked vaguely like some dialect of Ancient Greek, but it didn't match up with any known script. She considered taking it to Chiron, but that would mean admitting that she'd taken it from the attic without permission which was very much not allowed and would very much get her punished big time.
In her defense though, it had caught her eye after she'd gotten her prophecy from the Oracle a year ago and also, who would just leave a bunch of perfectly wonderful artifacts unguarded in a camp with children of the literal goddess of wisdom?
Besides, given what happened on the most recent quest, Annabeth could use something to stimulate her brain.
The rescue mission for Artemis had succeeded in saving the goddess from the clutches of Atlas, but Zoe and Bianca had died and Thalia joined the Hunters, which Annabeth tried not to hold against her friend but aside from Annabeth, she didn't have much going for her at camp, so she understood Thalia's decision.
And then there was poor Nico. He'd fled camp out of grief and hadn't been heard from in weeks. Annabeth hoped he was okay. Life was hard already for demigods but for him? He was a son of Hades, Kronos would be hunting for him relentlessly.
For the umpteenth time, she glanced over her shoulder at the sticky note with the Great Prophecy written on it.
The Destroyer of the gods,
Shall return against all odds.
And see the world in endless sleep,
The hero's soul, the cursed blade shall reap.
A single choice shall end his days,
Olympus to preserve or to raze.
It was a puzzle cuddling with a mystery beneath a question mark of a blanket. Who was the Destroyer and why was the prophecy about him? Annabeth was able to answer the second question easily enough; the Fates were fickle and no one knew what their whole deal was.
The other looming question was who exactly the Destroyer was. Or is, since the prophecy said he'd return. And die, probably.
There was no mention of the Destroyer in any of the old myths or stories and Annabeth figured that asking the gods probably wasn't wise especially since he was possibly fated to live up to his name.
"What the Hades is your deal?" She asked, mostly to herself but partially to the stone. The stone, being a stone, did not respond.
It was a strange chunk of rock. It seemed heavier and colder than it should have been, especially after she'd carried it in the bright summer sun all the way from the Big House. The actual way the script was written was odd too. This looked almost like something unnatural had written it and a theory picked at the back of Annabeth's mind.
Still stumped, she took a sip from her water bottle a little too quickly and a few drops of water fell onto the tablet. She looked away for a second to check the damage to her t-shirt, softly cursing her clumsiness, and when she looked back at the tablet, she nearly fell over.
The back was glowing blue.
Immediately, Annabeth set the tablet down as far away from her as she could. In her experience, indecipherable, glowing stone tablets weren't good. Granted this was the first time she'd interacted with an indecipherable, glowing stone tablet but the principal still stood. Not knowing what else to do, she drew her knife and very, very carefully flipped it.
On what had once been the smooth backside was an image carved into the stone unlike anything Annabeth had seen. It depicted a man standing atop a pile of monstrous skulls and corpses, gripping an unlucky telkhine by the throat with his left hand and a xiphos in the other. More monsters were in the background in various poses and a massive figure with what seemed like a whirlpool for a face loomed over the scene.
It gave Annabeth the chills.
What really stood out was the man himself and the symbol on his chest. The man's face showed an expression of pure, unbridled rage, a fury that defied belief, and despite the fact that it was a carving, Annabeth didn't exactly want to meet him.
The symbol itself was a stylized upside-down trident, the prongs curved. This was a symbol earned out of fear and respect.
This was the Destroyer. The one in the prophecy fated to return.
Above the carving was a simple sentence, hastily written into the stone.
"I await beneath the sea."
Annabeth sprinted to the Big House.
Tempered by the flames of the River Phlegethon, his iron-clad soul remained resolute through the realm that preys upon the weak. For he alone was the Sea Wraith, the Mortal Daemon, who sought destruction in all places of dark and light, of fire and ice, in the beginning and the end, and he hunted the spawn of Tartarus with barbarous cruelty. He alone passed through the divide as none but monster had before.
Months after Annabeth's happy little accident, the entire Athena cabin had been trying to figure out where the Destroyer was. All they had to go off of was the message he had seemingly sent and that tablet. They were stumped, even if they wouldn't admit it.
They conducted the most thorough research they could short of asking the gods themselves about the Destroyer, although Annabeth had a theory that only Malcolm was privy to.
"I think Poseidon might know something," she'd said one evening. Her older brother raised an eyebrow.
"Explain."
"We know he's in the ocean somewhere. Poseidon would know everything and anything in his domain, right? So let's ask him."
Malcolm sighed in exasperation. "I highly doubt he'd be of much help. Our mother is his rival, after all. Besides, Mother would more than likely be upset with us."
Annabeth hated Malcolm's logic.
So of course, later that night, Annabeth snuck down to the beach, tablet in hand.
She walked out into the water, recoiling slightly at how frigid the water was, but soldiered on until it was halfway up her shins.
"Lord Poseidon," she began, not entirely sure how to continue. "Um, it's Annabeth Chase. Daughter of Athena. I know you and my mother aren't exactly on the best of terms, but I've encountered a problem and I need your guidance specifically."
The ocean said nothing. Stupid ocean. Annabeth felt very silly talking to waves, but she pressed on.
"Look, I know this is probably pointless and stupid, but I'm trying to figure out where the Destroyer is because-"
An overwhelming presence suddenly appeared behind her back and she whipped around, half expecting to see Athena, but no, standing on the beach clad in a Hawaiian shirt and cargo shorts was Poseidon, trident in hand and his eyes literally glowing blue with energy.
"How do you know of the Destroyer?" His voice was a low rumble. Annabeth's instincts screamed danger, but she stood her ground.
"The Great Prophecy. And this." She held out the tablet, the drawing on the back still glowing blue along with the writing. Poseidon took it and stared at the writing and engraving on the back.
"He's alive…" Poseidon said before looking back at Annabeth. "I will take this information to Olympus. Prepare your camp for a quest, Annabeth Chase."
Poseidon vanished and Annabeth stood there, staring at the space that the god had been occupying.
"Well shit," she whispered.
And in his conquest against the soulless of the Pit, his prowess was shown. In his conquest, the River Styx bestowed upon him terrible power and speed. With his might he crushed the obsidian pillars of the Unholy Temple and set forth without pity upon the beasts. Unbreakable, incorruptible, unyielding, The Destroyer sought to end the dominion of the dark god.
After a near-unanimous vote from her siblings, Annabeth finally went to Chiron to ask what the tablet said. He'd inspected it for a good long while before his eyes went wide in surprise.
"Where did you find this?"
"The attic. When I got my prophecy for the Sea of Monsters quest."
"I'm sure you are well aware that artifacts from the attic are forbidden to be removed?"
"I'm sure you'd understand that I'm Athena's daughter and I couldn't help myself."
Chiron simply chuckled before giving Annabeth the information she'd so desperately been seeking. "This is the most ancient form of Greek, the kind spoken by the gods and mortals just after the end of the First Titan War."
A ten-thousand year old language.
"What's it say?"
"I will admit that my ancient Ancient Greek is rusty, but I believe it discusses someone named the Destroyer. This does not seem to be of mortal design either."
"Do you think it's from a monster?"
"My dear, I believe this to be from the depths of Tartarus."
The mention of the Pit's name brought a chill over the camp that lifted as quickly as it had settled. Annabeth figured that Chiron was probably right, considering the properties of the tablet as well as the writing and engraving.
"What else does it say."
"The Titans banished the Sea Wraith into a cursed sarcophagus, burying him at the deepest part of the seas upon Gaea's breast. The mark of the Destroyer was burned upon his crypt, a warning to all of the Pit that the terror within must never be freed. There he lies still and forever more, in silent suffering." The writing's pronunciation was very different from the Greek Annabeth was used to. It flowed with age and power and as Chiron spoke, Annabeth could almost see intangible ghosts of Titans tossing a stone coffin bound in chains off a ship with the raging Destroyer inside.
"Deepest part of the sea…"
[][]
"You tellin' me that this Destroyer guy is at the bottom of the fuckin' Pacific?" Clarisse demanded.
Annabeth nodded. "Challenger Deep, to be exact. The lowest point on the entire earth."
"And how the fuck do you plan on getting the fuck down there, Princess?"
"We'll make a submersible."
There was a brief second of silence before snickers broke out among the assembled counselors, all except Beckendorf.
"Can you guys do it?" Annabeth asked him. He scratched his chin, probably already thinking about the engineering. It would be the most complex project undertaken by Cabin Nine but their father was the god of engineering and mechanical stuff.
Besides, Annabeth figured her siblings could pitch in and shoulder the brunt of the design process.
"It'll take some time, but we should be able to."
"Olympus falls if you don't."
[][]
The submarine that Annabeth was descending in was something, to say the least. Cabin Nine had spent the better part of the last few months working on it and she had total faith in their building skills.
That didn't mean that she enjoyed being cooped up in a metal tube underwater though.
"How exactly are we supposed to get it out to the Pacific?" She had asked a few days earlier.
"Let's just say I have a contact who works with freight trains," Beckendorf explained. His wording had a hidden meaning that Annabeth picked up on.
"Black market shipping?"
"For legal reasons, no."
That contact had turned out to be a friendly Cyclops and he'd even gone through the trouble of chartering a mortal deep sea exploration ship under the guise of exploring Challenger Deep for top secret government reasons.
A few days later, Annabeth and Beckendorf were thousands of feet below the surface of the ocean, the lights of the submersible illuminating the small particles of marine snow drifting around in front of them.
The dive took two hours, faster than mortal submarines had done it and Annabeth thanked the gods for magic. The bottom of the ocean stretched out into the darkness with the occasional deep sea creature swimming by.
Annabeth thought she saw ancient sea monsters watching them through the external cameras but it could have just as easily been her eyes playing tricks.
Then again, darkness usually doesn't blink.
"I don't like this," Beckendorf muttered from behind her.
"You think I do? We're at the mercy of the ocean and several thousand pounds of pressure down here," Annabeth responded. "Just sweep the cameras, would you? I don't want to miss anything." Beckendorf grunted and did so.
The submersible was silent for long enough that it was getting awkward and Annabeth was starting to lose hope and was about to start the rise to the surface when Beckendorf broke the silence.
"Annabeth. I got something." His voice was practically a whisper, as if he was trying to not alert something. It unnerved Annabeth. Beckendorf was never scared or weirded out. Regardless, she turned and looked at the display Beckendorf was holding.
It was a limp forearm sticking out of the mud. There seemed to be more creatures than normal circling it as if…
"They're guarding him."
Annabeth guided the sub closer and the animals scattered. "Beckendorf. The arms."
"On it."
Attached to the sub were four robotic arms. Two had grabber claws on the end, one had a small fan to move around mud and sediment, and the last had a small circular saw made of Celestial Bronze. Carefully, Annabeth guided the sub over to the arm and held it steady as Beckendorf worked.
Dust clouded the water as the fan spun until at long last, a familiar symbol glowed in the darkness, one Annabeth had seen before in the engraving of Destroyer on that tablet. That deadly looking trident.
The mark of the Destroyer.
Beckendorf began cutting into the chains wrapped around the lid.
[][]
Beneath the ancient stone, the Destroyer's eyes snapped open.
He was in a box. A stone box. Underwater. Without thinking, his fist smashed through the lid, shattering it into chunks, and he floated up into the darkness above.
A strange machine floated and whirred in front of him and he was momentarily blinded by lights. The surrounding water was silent, save for a quiet hum coming from the machine.
The Destroyer was free.
Water swirled as he shot away into the inky black, kicking up a cloud of dust and sediment as he sped through the ocean. He willed himself faster and faster, reveling in his freedom.
Angling upwards, he shot out of the surface of the water moments later and soared into the air, spreading his arms in the warm sunlight as he arced through the sky.
He had been imprisoned for millennia and now he was finally free. As he splashed back into the water, he let various sea creatures approach him, from lowly krill to a mighty shark. Excited chatter filled his mind as they recognized him for who he was.
Lord, you have awoken!
The Sea Wraith lives!
Death to the foes of Olympus! A small guppy shrieked.
The Destroyer smiled at the animals. A whale swam over his head, bellowing its song happily, heralding the return of the Champion of Olympus. Amidst the jubilation, the Destroyer frowned as he patted at the pocket in his trousers. His sword was gone.
[][]
Everything at camp was fine until the lake exploded.
The day had been peaceful enough. In the face of a war bearing down on them, the campers were as calm as they could be, even if their nerves were a bit on edge at all times. There were a few scuffles, like there always were lately, but nothing that wasn't resolved quickly.
Annabeth and her siblings had been running logistics and tactics in the event Kronos attacked the camp when the ground shook, sending pencils and papers everywhere. Yelling came from all over the camp as they scrambled for their defensive positions in the wake of the battle for the Labyrinth.
Hastily pulling on a helmet and vambrace, Annabeth drew her knife and dashed outside.
"Big ass explosion at the lake!" Sherman Yang hollered, sprinting by with his sword in his hand. "Possible bogey!"
Sure enough, the lake was empty of all water and dozens of the older campers were surrounding it, various weapons at the ready. What really got to Annabeth was the fact that there was no one there.
"Where are you?" She muttered, looking for anything that could be hiding.
"Pathetic," a voice said from behind them, making everyone whirl around. There stood a man, power rippling off him in waves, with his back to the beach and arms crossed. "I could have ripped you all apart by now if I wanted to."
"Who the fuck are you?" Clarisse demanded. "How did you get into our camp?"
"I found the beach and I walked ashore."
"Yeah, but who are you, big guy?" Sherman growled.
"I am the Destroyer, champion of Olympus and the scourge of Tartarus."
"Okay Destroyer, what brings you here?" Annabeth asked, sheathing her knife and spreading her arms in an attempt of diplomacy. The Destroyer was unfazed.
"I lost my sword. I would like it back."
"Well, we don't have it."
"Then I will look for it." He took two steps forward and the camp raised their weapons again. "None of you can stop me. I've ripped apart monsters that would be more than a match for all of you with my bare hands."
"Look, man, we don't have it. We'd have noticed a legendary sword by now," Travis Stoll said, his voice shaking ever so slightly.
"To be fair, none of us knew about the bronze dragon in the forest until Beckendorf fixed it," Jake Mason pointed out. Travis waved his hand, dismissing Jake.
"My sword is not legendary. It is just a sword," the Destroyer said. Annabeth was about to point out that wasn't what Travis meant when Clarisse snapped at him.
"And we just told you that we don't fucking have it, idiot."
"I will not ask again, godlings," the Destroyer said, uncrossing his arms and flexing his fingers as if he was preparing to charge into them, sword or not. "I have no qualms about tearing your little camp apart brick by brick until I find it."
"I'd like to see you try, tough guy," Clarisse snarled and the Destroyer raised an eyebrow.
"Step aside, girl. I will not ask again."
"Call me 'girl' one more fucking time and I swear to all the fucking gods that I will rip your motherfucking balls off and-"
"Clarisse! Enough!" Annabeth shouted. She turned to the Destroyer. "Listen, we'll help you find your sword, but you've got to work with us on finding it. Where and when did you have it last."
"It was taken when I was imprisoned. If it was laying about, it would have reappeared in my pocket."
"Which means someone has it. Do you have an idea of who?"
"Krios has a vault with artifacts."
"Okay and where is this vault?"
"Othrys." The name of the Titan's mountain sent a ripple of unease through the ranks of the demigods.
"That's to the west. It'll take you days to get there and you'll be trekking through Titan territory," Annabeth explained. "I know you're powerful and stuff, but some of the strongest monsters are out there." The Destroyer's eyes sparkled with amusement. It seemed almost unnatural and Annabeth realized how stupid it was of her to tell him that it was dangerous. If that tablet told the truth, it had taken all of the Titans to imprison him.
"I am always as strong as I need to be to kill whatever I am fighting."
The age of his vengeance was uncounted. The monsters spoke his name across millennia, and each battle etched terror in the hearts of the foul. They knew he would come, as he always had, as he always will, to spread the dust of the wicked. For he alone could draw strength from his fallen foes, and ever his power grew, swift and unrelenting. None could stand before the horde but the Destroyer. Despair spread before him like a sickness, striking fear into the shadow-dwellers, driving them deeper into the Pit.
Once he knew where he was going, the Destroyer denied any help offered to him, including multiple offers for a replacement weapon until he got his back.
In the days after Perseus (he'd mentioned to Annabeth that calling him Perseus was fine, since that was what 'Destroyer' meant in Greek) left camp, Grover received scattered reports from nature spirits about a lone demigod heading west, annihilating pockets of monsters answering Kronos' call. The demigod left no survivors.
Annabeth wondered if he'd ever return after a month with no word from him or nature spirits. His odds of coming back seemed less and less likely once Chiron had shown the counselors an Iris message of Typhon moving west from his former prison under Mount Saint Helens despite the gods' best efforts to stop him.
The end of the world approached and Camp Half-Blood prepared for war.
From the depths of the Pit, the Storm Giant was raised. A monster mightier than all who had come before and of immeasurable power and ferocity. He strode ahead and faced The Destroyer and a mighty battle was fought on the desolate plains of Tartarus. The Giant fought with the fury of the countless that had fallen at the Destroyer's hand, but there the Giant fell and in his defeat the horde was routed.
The full might of the Olympians slammed into Typhon like bugs running into a tree. Their attacks meant nothing. Zeus' master bolt, the mightiest weapon of Olympus, did little more than to stagger the Storm Giant. Ares crawled all over the skin of the giant like an overgrown spider, but Typhon simply flicked him off. Dionysus filled Typhon's mind with scenes that would drive anything mad, but his power was paltry compared to the Pit's champion.
There was nothing that could be done. Typhon would reach Olympus.
From the giant's perspective, the mortals were tiny, insignificant specks that scattered like leaves before a hurricane. It filled his mind with sadistic glee. This was the way it was meant to be before the weakling gods took over. As Typhon walked, he basked in the fear and panic of the mortals. His storms sowed terror and destruction.
As he crossed the Mississippi River, something caught his eye.
The Destroyer, his old one-time opponent from millennia past, stood before him, staring up into the giant's eyes without an ounce of fear.
Typhon roared in anger and swatted away the Olympians before surging forward and slamming his fists down into the earth around his hated foe.
The ground shook and cracked, but the Destroyer was not fazed. Typhon growled. A rematch then.
"Hello, beast."
Typhon roared and the Sea Wraith raised his sword as the maw of giant fell upon him.
[][]
When Annabeth had realized that only fifty demigods were all that was left between Kronos' army and the end of Olympus, she'd had Grover send out a call to all nature spirits. Thalia and the Hunt had also been asked to help, but the daughter of Zeus never replied.
So when the Hunt surprised the campers by showing up, along with a sizable force of nature spirits drawn from across the country, Annabeth was very much relieved. Their numbers nearly quadrupled and the entrances to the city were sealed off.
Every possible outcome was planned and accounted for.
Of course, no plan survives first contact and the demigod lines were eventually broken by none other than Hyperion himself after one day of battle.
Two tunnels were destroyed with Greek fire to free up over one hundred demigods and Hunters and the fight was pushed to Central Park's reservoir.
It seemed like this would be the push that Kronos needed to break through when the water rippled.
A huge tsunami surged above the edge of the lake and Annabeth prepared herself for the end, but it never came. She opened her eyes and saw a colossal wall of water rising above the battle, churning and seething with currents. Even from where she stood, almost a football field away, she could feel the wrath within the swirling water.
It wasn't a god's wrath, but a mortal's. It was the anger and rage from a human, born from thousands of years of imprisonment and a desire for vengeance upon those who had committed the sin of wanton slaughter of kin. It made Annabeth's skin prickle.
Within the blue waters, a green glow blinked into existence and steadily rose to the surface, getting brighter and brighter as though a star was rising.
Perseus broke the surface clad in the same tattered toga and trousers he'd worn when Annabeth and Beckendorf freed him. His feet were bare and he held his sword loosely, the blade crackling with green and blue energy.
His expression shouldn't have been readable from as far away as Annabeth was but it sent a single, clear message.
He hated these monsters with every fiber of his being. Everything he had ever done and would eventually do was to ensure the destruction of these beasts.
When Annabeth had seen the Ares cabin charge in the past, they always let loose feral bellows demanding bloodshed that seemed to invigorate themselves and other demigods near them.
When the campers leapt to battle to defend Manhattan to the bitter end, they did so with a few scattered cries of zeal mixed with desperation.
This demigod though, he surged forward with the roar of thousands of gallons of water behind him. No sound came from his lips but the sound of crashing water echoed through the city.
The wave seemed to part around the demigods but the monsters weren't so lucky. Hundreds of pounds of pressure instantly obliterated much of the weaker ones, scattering their dust through the ankle-deep water. The more powerful monsters managed to stay standing but as soon as the demigod reached them, they fell before his blade.
Perseus was like a hurricane incarnate. Unstoppable, unyielding, and by all the thrones on Olympus, he was fast. His sword was an extension of him. By his will, the monsters fell. Some tried to fight back, but they died as fast as they stood. Water churned, playing havoc with their balance or making waves that dragged them under.
If he was capable of controlling a massive lake while simultaneously wreaking havoc on an entire army without breaking a sweat, what would actual effort look like? His power shouldn't have been surprising, considering he'd taken down Typhon.
Again, apparently.
Annabeth had never heard a Cyclops scream and beg for mercy until now and it chilled her to the bone. Despite the fact that his forces were getting massacred, Hyperion stayed away, watching impassively. Within moments, the monsters had either been slaughtered or fled in a panic and only the Titan remained.
A combination of fear and respect shone in his eyes as he regarded the demigod. The water swirled away and Perseus strode forward, briefly telling Annabeth and some demigods surrounding her to stay back.
"You seek to battle me alone, Destroyer?" Hyperion asked, his bravado poorly hiding his growing fear. The Titan spun his spear and slammed it into the ground, burying the point deep. "I will be your end, fool."
Perseus simply shifted his right foot forward. "Do you know that I just killed Typhon? You mean nothing to me."
Demigods watched from what might've been a safe distance had the ensuing duel been between a normal demigod and a semi-powered Titan.
However, this duel was between a pseudo-god and a near-full power Titan.
Their first clash shook Annabeth to her core.
Each strike was like watching two bolts of lightning dance. The very air thrummed with the speed and ferocity of their weapons.
Annabeth had been impressed with Perseus when he'd wiped out the monsters but now, watching him fight Hyperion, she understood why he was aptly named "Destroyer" and why he was so feared.
Hyperion was slowing down and Perseus was getting faster, as if he was sapping Hyperion's strength. She recalled what Perseus had said just before he left to find Riptide.
"I am always as strong as I need to be to kill whatever I'm fighting."
Briefly, she wondered if he would just march up to Kronos, kill him, and end this godsforsaken war.
As the demigods looked on, Perseus gained the upper hand. He scored slash after slash, wound after wound on Hyperion, even literally cracking the Titan's golden chestplate.
Finally, Hyperion made a mistake. He fell for Perseus' feint and stabbed. A dull thunk resounded across the park as the spearhead was lodged into the ground. In the blink of an eye, Perseus pushed off the haft and stabbed.
Ichor flew everywhere as Hyperion choked on the bronze blade. Riptide was buried in the back of his mouth with nearly the full length of the blade sticking out of the back of his head.
Perseus was on him in a flash and gripped the side of Hyperion's skull and ferociously dug his thumbs into the Titan's eye sockets, drawing out an agonized wail from Hyperion, despite the sword jutting from his skull and the ichor pooling in his throat that turned his cry of pain to a weak gurgle of protest. Perseus gritted his teeth and pulled until a resounding crack echoed around the reservoir.
Hyperion's body crumbled to dust as Perseus landed on the ground, the two halves of the Titan's head stuck on his thumbs as ichor and viscera pooled onto the ground. With a quick flick, the halves fell to the ground as a grisly trophy. Perseus stared at them for a moment before smashing them with his feet.
He wiped away some of the golden blood near his mouth and regarded it on his hand before licking it. Annabeth watched him shudder and his eyes flash a brilliant gold before returning to their normal bright green. His back seemed to straighten as vitality flowed into him.
She knew that he regained strength by the blood of his enemies but hadn't expected it to be so… barbaric.
Riptide shrank as Perseus picked it up and he slid it into his pocket.
"Let's move."
[][]
As good as Perseus was, he couldn't be everywhere at once which seemed to aggravate him as much as his lack of following orders aggravated Annabeth. The guy was a loose cannon, literally, and went where he pleased, more often than not seeking out the strongest monster in a given group and swiftly dispatching them.
Apparently his battle against the Minotaur had been particularly brutal and fancied gossip flew about what had happened.
"I heard he cut off its head and threw it at a Cyclops!"
"No, you've got it wrong. He didn't even use his sword!"
"My friend in Cabin Eleven told me that he controlled the Minotaur's blood and made it dance!"
Annabeth heard an excited new camper telling that to her friend and shook her head.
"Your friend is full of shit, Sandy."
Perseus didn't help the rumors either and would just grunt whenever anyone asked him. What was really interesting was the fact that he didn't seem to tire and if he was, it was slow.
His seeming immunity to getting tired shouldn't have surprised Annabeth since he had literally been in Tartarus alone, taking on every single monster in Greek mythology for thousands of years. Malcolm brought it up during a lull in the fighting and Perseus genuinely seemed confused.
"The monsters need killing. Why would I tire of that?"
That was another quirk about Perseus that amused Annabeth. He had an astounding lack of humor and he seemingly took everything literally.
Whatever the case, his response almost convinced Annabeth to just turn him loose, but she knew that as soon as Kronos and the other Titans caught wind that Perseus had left Manhattan, they would move in full force and overwhelm the defenders. It was almost enough to make her wish for others like him.
Almost.
The one thing that aggravated her was his total inability to take orders and lack of respect for a command structure.
"Perseus! You have got to tell me where you're heading!" Annabeth yelled at him just after a skirmish wrapped up. He wiped Riptide clean of monster dust on his toga and regarded her, raising an eyebrow.
"No."
"Gods- fuck, dude! If you just run around willy nilly, Kronos is gonna send monsters to where you're not!"
"Then I will go there when he does."
"You can't be everywhere at once though! You're not a god!"
"I am aware of this." He was kind of starting to get under Annabeth's skin.
"Then stop acting like one!"
"I am not."
"Okay, so listen to me!"
"Why?"
"Because… because I'm in charge!" Gods, she sounded like a whiny brat. "My siblings and I are the only ones making tactically sound decisions and you're throwing a wrench in our plans. We have plans for defense and plans of attack and-"
"I do have a plan. My plan is to slaughter."
"That's not a plan!" She yelled as he headed to the distant sounds of battle.
[][]
The fighting followed a cycle and that was simultaneously a good thing and a bad thing. The monstrous army seemed to mostly attack at night, probably because that was when they were strongest, but it gave the demigods a good few hours during the day to rest, which everyone was grateful for.
Except for Perseus. The guy was restless and seemingly hated being cooped up in the Plaza Hotel. More often than not, he spent his time in the pool. Annabeth had asked him what he was doing exactly down there and was very much caught off guard when he told her he was meditating. How an unkillable monster slaying machine mediated, Annabeth wasn't sure, but it probably didn't involve sitting calmly with his hands resting on his knees. To be honest she wanted to see it, but she respected Perseus' boundaries and she very much didn't want to get a Riptide to the face.
Two days after Perseus killed Hyperion, Annabeth finally caught up to him during one of his patrols around Manhattan. He didn't seem entirely pleased to have company but Annabeth had a lot of questions and she told him as much.
"First off, what's your real name? Like, all the monsters and Titans call you 'Destroyer' or 'Perseus' or 'Sea Wraith', but what name did your mother give you?" It was probably too personal to ask, but Annabeth wanted to know.
Her mother was the goddess of curiosity. Sue her. That was how Perseus got involved in this mess anyway.
Perseus frowned and looked up at the sky. He seemed to be thinking but could have just as likely been asking his father to smite this annoying child next to him.
"I cannot recall. It was millennia ago."
"Makes sense. Second question, do you have the Curse of Achilles?"
"Who?"
"Achilles. His mother, Thetis, dipped him in the River Styx when he was a kid and it made him invulnerable except for his ankle. You never met him?"
"I spent much of my life down in Tartarus. This is the first time I have been in the mortal world since my descent."
"Ah. At any rate, you're invincible."
"It appears so." The dry line wasn't intended to be a joke but Annabeth still laughed a bit.
"That was a joke. You just made a joke."
"I never jest."
"You- never mind. When did you get the Styx curse though?"
"The spirit gave me her blessing."
"She what?"
"My father gave me a dream to find her and to obtain her blessing. I did so."
"Do you even have a weak spot?"
"Are you suggesting that I am weak?"
Question and answer sessions were very clearly not Perseus' forte. Annabeth put aside anything else she wanted to ask except for two nagging thoughts.
"Not at all. I have two final questions."
"You are trying my patience."
"I get that a lot. Did you ever have anyone… special?"
"My mother."
"No, I mean like a girlfriend or a wife or a boyfriend or-"
"No."
"Oookay. Last question. Can I call you Percy? It's short for Perseus and-"
"No."
[][]
Later that day, Annabeth was wandering aimlessly around the hotel when Perseus approached her.
"I am hungry."
"You eat?"
"Yes."
"What's your favorite food?"
"Olives."
"Of fucking course it is. Let's get you some real food."
Despite Perseus' insistence that olives were real food, Annabeth still dragged him to the kitchens where the children of Demeter were hard at work ensuring that the campers were all fed.
"Annabeth! Hey!" Katie greeted. "And… do I call you lord or something like that?"
"Perseus is acceptable."
"Works for me. What can I do for you guys?"
"Our resident monster killer is hungry."
"You are all monster killers," Perseus pointed out and Annabeth rolled her eyes.
"Yeah but you're good at it."
"Are you all not?"
"Gods, you do not let things go, do you?"
"I do not understand."
"Nevermind. Katie here is our best chef- oh stop blushing, you know I'm right. Here's a menu. Figure out what you want."
Besides having an absolutely atrocious sense of humor, Perseus also apparently could not make a decision that didn't involve which monster to kill for the life of him.
He spent almost an hour trying to decide on something before pointing at an appetizer under the kids' section.
"This one."
"Perseus, that's grilled cheese."
"Do I speak a language you do not? I would like it."
Ever the gracious host, Katie made the grilled cheese and slid it over on a plate. Perseus stared at it.
"This is pathetic."
Katie shrugged. "You asked for it.
"It is just bread and… what is that?"
"That's cheddar cheese."
"Who eats this?" Perseus asked incredulously, picking it up and examining it like the strange alien object it was
"Kids. Or depressed adults. Or adults in general. Anyone does, really. It's very easy to make." Annabeth explained.
Perseus frowned and set down the sandwich. "You modern mortals astound me."
"Buddy, you have no idea."
After explaining the other entrées, he finally decided that a cheeseburger sounded good.
"I enjoy this," he said after the first bite and quickly devoured the rest of it. "I would like more."
"Jesus dude. I know you can breathe water, but do you breathe food too?"
"No. I breathe air."
[][]
At one point, Annabeth was back to back with Perseus on the Williamsburg Bridge, surrounded by monsters, and she wondered if it was safer to be next to him or away from him.
His attacks were wild yet precise. There were no dazzling moves or fancy footwork, no displays of acrobatics or dazzling shows of bladework. Only brutal simplicity and oblivion for the hordes of monsters that dared to stand and fight.
Despite being the son of Poseidon and having extensive power over water, Perseus was a musician who sang songs of death and Riptide was his instrument of destruction.
When Riptide struck, a monster died. When his fist connected, dust settled onto the ground. His whole body was a weapon.
Annabeth was busy taking care of herself and had just dispatched an empousa when a chill settled over her. She recalled something her father had told her years ago.
"When you get goosebumps, someone just walked on your grave."
A searing pain pierced her side and Annabeth saw Ethan Nakamura staring back at her, his grip around a small blade. Her skin quickly turned green around the shank and she felt dizzy.
Poison.
She blinked and Perseus was in front of her, Riptide buried in Ethan's chest up to its hilt. The traitor coughed and glistening red blood coated Perseus' arm.
"Tell my uncle I say hello," Perseus snarled and pulled his blade from Ethan who collapsed limply, gasping and choking before he stopped moving, a pool of blood staining the asphalt beneath him.
A wave of nausea overtook Annabeth and she collapsed.
The last thing she remembered was Perseus destroying a bridge.
[][]
Kronos watched the Destroyer stand guard over the Athena girl, deflecting projectiles left and right, before picking her up and returning her safely behind the demigod lines. He slammed his blade into the bridge and it shook before collapsing, taking dozens of monsters with it and cutting off a route.
His frustration flared and Kronos turned, stalking back to his camp. Ethan was dead too, one of his most zealous and loyal followers.
The Destroyer's return was going to be a problem.
In his terrible crusade through the Pit, the Sea Wraith found the wretch who shall not be named, but in his heresy was loyal to his evil cause. The wretch gifted the Destroyer a mighty helm, wrought in the forges of Tartarus, impenetrable and unbreakable. With his sword of divine strength, the Destroyer set about banishing all that were left unbroken by his savagery to the void.
A white flag waved out in the park and Perseus' eyes narrowed.
"You," he whispered, his voice tight with anger. Annabeth looked through a pair of binoculars to see a party of four approaching the hotel. She was feeling a little better after she'd been stabbed and had been incredibly lucky that the Apollo cabin was at the Williamsburg Bridge.
Will Solace, the camp's premier medic, had tended to her immediately and Perseus' control over water came in handy when he extracted nearly all of the poison from the wound.
Two of the approaching were clearly not human, a Hyperborean giant and an empousa carrying a brown paper bag. One was a traitor demigod in black armor carrying a spear with the white flag and the last looked like a regular guy in a suit except for the horrendous scars marring his face.
"Who is that?" Annabeth asked.
"Prometheus," replied Perseus. "A wily snake with a silver tongue and gifted with prophecy, though he frequently lies."
"So is it possible he can't actually see the future."
"He does. He told me of my imprisonment years before it happened."
"Ah."
Thalia walked up next to Annabeth, giving her a jump when she realized Artemis' lieutenant was next to her.
"Who's asking for a truce?"
"Prometheus, apparently."
"We gonna talk with him?"
"He asks for a truce," Perseus said. "I will honor that."
"I'll go," Annabeth decided. "Perseus, Thals, Grover. You three are coming too."
"Do I have to?" Grover asked around a mouthful of enchilada.
"I wasn't giving you a choice," Annabeth replied.
[][]
When Prometheus saw Perseus, he gulped visibly but still put on a dazzling smile.
"Perseus! Old friend! How long has it been? You look well."
"I will ram my blade through your throat, snake."
"Charming as ever, I see. Do you still have that helm I gave you?"
"It is buried in the depths of Tartarus beneath a mound of your underlings' corpses, if you seek it."
Prometheus turned pale and waved away the vague threat. "Ah, no matter. It wasn't a very good gift anyway. Now then, Annabeth Chase. You are the de facto leader, yes?"
Annabeth crossed her arms, trying to not show weakness. "I might be."
"The correct answer would be 'I am.' Gift of foresight and all that," Prometheus said. He reminded Annabeth of a shifty used car salesman. "I am here to offer a gift."
"Your gifts are never in good intentions," Perseus growled, narrowing his eyes.
Behind them, the Hyperborean giant accidentally crushed a metal slide.
"Oops."
"My apologies. You'll have to forgive Grrumn over there. He is quite the simpleton but he makes up for it in his brawn."
"I don't care," Perseus said, taking a seat at the end of the picnic table. The traitor demigod flinched at the Destroyer's proximity. "They die all the same."
"Yes, you never did care much for anything except slaughter and your mother, did you, dear boy?" Perseus' eyes flashed green and he reached for his pocket. "Ah ah. Flag of truce."
The Titan gave a thumbs up to the demigod who held the spear. The poor kid couldn't have been older than fourteen and he looked absolutely terrified with Perseus sitting not more than an arm's reach away. "You're doing wonderful, Derrick."
Perseus looked Derrick up and down and Annabeth was certain he would pee himself.
"What do you want, Prometheus?" Annabeth asked, already tired of his antics.
"Ah yes, apologies. I tend to go off on tangents. My purpose for attending your… palace, if you could call it that, is to offer a gift of goodwill. Therese, if you please," Prometheus said to the empousa at his arm. The she-daemon set down the bag and pulled out a clay jar decorated with paintings of horrible events. Grover gasped.
"Is that-"
"Ah, you recognize it? Yes, my dear satyr, this is what the gods gave to my dear half-brother Epimetheus and his beloved wife Pandora.
"Why is it not a box?" Thalia asked.
"It is a pithos," Perseus said, not looking up from picking at his fingernails with Riptide. "The gods tricked Pandora into opening it and unleashed a miasma of foul spirits upon you mortals."
"Pandora's pithos also doesn't sound very good. The gods do have a wonderful PR team. At any rate, the lesson from the story of my sister-in-law is that one should always be wary of gifts, no matter how wonderful they may seem," Prometheus cut in, earning a glare from Perseus that he resolutely ignored. "Upon the opening of the jay, only one spirit remained inside. Elpis. Hope."
Annabeth stared down at the jar, feeling the blood drain from her cheeks. "So… the spirit of hope…"
"Is in the jar, yes. Should you open it and give up Hope, I will convince Kronos to give your brethren amnesty. I cannot promise such a boon for you or your close friends and confidants, especially your rather… obtuse one here., but I can promise it for your fellow demigods."
"She does not accept the gift," declared Perseus, standing up and firmly placing himself between the jar and Annabeth. "Leave."
"Ah, Perseus. So ignorant of the details between the lines. This is a gift that once given, cannot be rejected or given back," Prometheus said, an oily smile crossing his face that made Annabeth's blood boil. "The hour grows late. I will be seeing you all in the future. And a nugget of free information. Here be drakons."
As Prometheus said "drakons", a roar echoed in the distance. Perseus' eyes narrowed.
"Leave before I choke you with your flag of truce," he hissed. Prometheus backed away, still with that slippery grin across his lips.
"As you wish, Destroyer."
Perseus watched the Titan and his entourage go before turning to Annabeth.
"Keep that cursed item far away from you, girl. It will appear when you are closest to giving up hope to tempt you." Annabeth nodded, holding the pithos. She felt absolutely terrified and the aftereffects of the poison made her feel more nauseous.
"So now what?" Grover asked. "That roar sounded terrifying."
"It is the Lydian Drakon. Fated to only be killed by a child of Ares. I cannot kill it, but I can slow it down. Summon the Spartan girl."
"Clarisse?" Annabeth asked.
"Yes. Her. The drakon will get close and a monster army will follow. I will see you later," Perseus said and ran off in the direction the drakon's roar came from.
Yet as the mighty Giant fell and dread engulfed the armies of Tartarus, the Titans of Ouranous laid a trap to capture their scourge. Insatiable, even by the vanquishing of the Storm Giant, the Destroyer sought prey at the edge of Chaos itself. And blinded by his fervor, the lure drew him in. The Titans banished the Sea Wraith into a cursed sarcophagus, burying him at the deepest part of the seas upon Gaea's breast. The mark of the Destroyer was burned upon his crypt, a warning to all of the Pit that the terror within must never be freed. There he lies still and forever more, in silent suffering.
"So what happened with the drakon?" Grover asked Perseus as they ran through the lobby of the Empire State Building. The sounds of a furious battle rang outside. Hades, Nico, and the Party Ponies had arrived in the nick of time to provide the most chaotic and unlikely reinforcements possible.
"It died." Perseus replied shortly.
"Silena?" Grover asked, quietly. Perseus didn't respond and hung his head.
"A hero."
"Y'know, you're not the most talkative," Thalia said.
"Monsters rarely stop to talk."
"That was another joke," Annabeth said as she searched for the cards to get to the 600th floor. "You're getting good at that, Perseus." He grunted. "Now where is the godsdamned security card?"
"I could punch the doors open."
"That'd probably do more harm than good, big guy," Annabeth said. "Got it!"
A hastily thrown open drawer was the home of a stack of plastic cards and Annabeth grabbed one. Grover held the elevator doors open as the other three hustled into the elevator.
The doors slid shut and Annabeth quickly swiped the card. Above them, the floor number display beeped, turned orange, and the numbers began counting up. Soft muzak began playing from the speaker.
"What is that noise?" Perseus asked, looking around in confusion. Despite the severity of the situation, the other three began laughing. "Why are you laughing?"
"That… oh gods, you've never heard music?" asked Grover, barely able to contain his disbelief.
"I thought your reaction to a cheeseburger was hilarious but this? Oh man, we have like three thousand years of human history to catch you up on," Annabeth said.
"He's gonna lose it when we show him movies for the first time!" Thalia cut in.
"What is a movie?" Perseus asked which only made his companions fall over from amusement, their peals of laughter filling the elevator.
"Let's get through this and we'll teach you everything about the twenty-first century, buddy."
[][]
When the elevator doors opened, the scene that greeted them was so surreal, Annabeth thought she was dreaming a very bad dream and wasn't entirely sure if they could get out of this one.
Olympus was burning.
The godly palaces and mansions on the slopes of the peak were smoking, some entirely ablaze. Statues were knocked over and rubble littered the golden streets.
"Let's do this," Thalia said and stepped forward onto the bridge connecting Olympus to the floating elevator doors. The group made their way forward gingerly as the bridge creaked and the wind howled.
Or was that Kronos, declaring his victory over his treacherous children? Annabeth wasn't sure.
Just behind Annabeth, Grover let out a bleat of shock. She whirled around to see a hoof-sized hole in the bridge. Further back, the bridge crumbled into oblivion.
"Run!" Annabeth yelled and the other three heeded her advice, breaking for the mountain. Just ahead of her, Thalia stumbled and fell through a hole.
"Shit! Help!" She kicked her legs and scrambled for a handhold as the edge of the bridge crept closer and closer, rubble falling into the air below.
Perseus shoved Annabeth and Grover onto the saftey Olympus without a word and grabbed Thalia's arms, hauling her up and quite literally throwing her to safety.
"I had it," she muttered, standing and dusting her jacket off.
For a brief moment, Perseus stood there and the hint of a smile crept onto his face.
Then he was gone, plummeting down to the earth.
"No!" Annabeth yelled, lunging for the edge, nearly falling herself had Thalia and Grover not held her back. The trio looked over the edge and gasped.
Perseus was running and leaping from chunk to chunk, boulder to boulder, stabbing Riptide into vertical surfaces. He grabbed the last remaining edge of the bridge and hauled himself up, panting, before looking up, a wry grin making his face wrinkle.
"If I am to die, I will die fighting."
As they made their way through the streets of Olympus, Annabeth couldn't help but wonder if the various gods were okay. Bit of dented armor and broken weapons lay around, but Annabeth saw no bodies, which she took as a good sign.
Perseus took the lead and marched forward, seemingly without a care in the world.
Finally, they reached the gates to the palace itself and they stopped.
The gates had been ripped off their hinges and lay on the ground, dented beyond belief. Maniacal laughter came from deeper inside the palace.
"Kronos," Perseus snarled and charged.
"Wait!" Annabeth yelled, but he didn't stop. "Oh, for the love of the gods. Perseus, you idiot!"
When the trio caught up to Perseus, he was standing just inside the throne room as Kronos walked around the thrones, slashing them apart with his scythe. Their footsteps made him look up and he spread his arms.
"Wonderful to see you all here, at the site of my greatest victory. You weaklings have capability to fathom what I will unleash upon your kind. The world is our birthright and the gods have no place in the world. Every iota of their existence will be wiped from memory and you half-breeds will be the first to suffer," Kronos gloated.
"But let me tell you something, Destroyer. For what you did to my brethren in the pit, I will pay you back tenfold. You will beg for mercy, but there shall be none."
"The prophecy is clear. You will be stopped." Perseus said as brusquely as ever. Annabeth was impressed. She wasn't sure if she could muster that much bravado.
"Ah, but that's just it, isn't it, boy. The Great Prophecy says 'to preserve or to raze'. The choice is not yours to make." Kronos pointed his scythe at Perseus, who drew Riptide. "Do you know what my blade is named? Theristis. Reaper. Upon my defeat by that treacherous leech Zeus, the mortals reduced my standing to a mere patron of harvest and my symbol of power became a lowly farm tool."
"Someone has repressed insecurity," Grover muttered.
"But with this dawn of this new age, Theristis shall reap the very essence of the gods! I am Kronos, Lord of Time, and the Second Titanomachy shall begin!"
"Bold words for a coward with a silver tongue," Perseus said and raised Riptide. "I wonder if you fight as well as you talk."
"Insolent bastard! I'll hang you over Chaos itself!" Kronos roared and leapt at Perseus.
Celestial bronze rang loud and clear as Riptide met Theristis. The Titan King howled an unearthly shriek of rage while the Destroyer gritted his teeth as their weapons locked. A well placed kick from Perseus separated the two and they met again.
The two were a blur, each strike making the air shiver. The clashes had enough force behind them that Annabeth could see the thermal energy generating flashes of heat as sparks flew. They were equally matched, both lords of destruction.
Their duel took them all over the throne room, neither caring about their own wellbeing. At one point, Perseus was pinned against his father's throne. He placed a hand on the leg and a surge of blue and green energy sent Kronos flying backward through the air, creating a crater when he landed.
"You cannot stop fate, Perseus!" Kronos gloated as he stood, twirling Theristis with a flourish. "Olympus will die by my hand!" Perseus didn't respond and stabbed wildly with a savage yell, but the Titan simply batted away Riptide and the ringing of metal on stone sent a chill through Annabeth's spine. Kronos quickly stomped his foot and Perseus' thundering punch was slowed to a crawl. The Titan Lord approached the champion of Olympus and regarded him with distaste and intrigue.
"So much anger. So much rage. I told my brethren that sealing you in that tomb would not be enough. Perhaps my first order of ruling the world should be to have you tortured until you beg for mercy. Or perhaps I shall torture your friends."
Perseus' expression shifted from angry to furious at his predicament. Annabeth could see the extreme effort he was making to break free of Kronos' powers. A small trickle of blood crept slowly from his nose.
A very, very bad idea came to Annabeth's mind.
She threw her shoe.
It arced rather gracefully through the air and hit Kronos on the right cheek.
He stumbled back with an undignified squawk, cupping his hands around the right side of his face. A slew of curses sprang from his mouth, like how he would personally flay Annabeth alive in front of her family or how Athena was a good-for-nothing know-it-all, but it was worth it. The spell was broken.
Perseus stumbled forward, freed at last, and delivered the most beautiful and karma-filled right hook to Kronos' face. The Titan spun to the ground and Perseus was on him like a feral animal.
The first punch broke Kronos' nose. The second shattered his skull. Ichor flew everywhere and Perseus kept going. Each hit drove Kronos deeper into the floor, cracks widening, and a raw roar of rage ripped from Perseus' throat
It was a beating thousands of years in the making.
Grover threw up but the Destroyer wasn't done.
He hoisted Kronos up bodily and threw him through the wall of the palace, bricks flying free.
Nico took a step forward, but Annabeth reached out a hand, shaking her head.
With Kronos pinned against the wall of some god's palace, Perseus laid into Kronos, delivering punch after punch and kick after kick.
Finally, Perseus stopped. The entire front of his torso was covered in ichor. He reached into his pocket, drew Riptide, and ever so slowly pushed it through Kronos' stomach.
"You had my mother killed in cold blood all those millennia ago," the Destroyer hissed. "You thought it would break my spirit, that it would make me weak." He twisted Riptide and Kronos cried out in agony. "But instead, you ensured that I had nothing to lose." Perseus' hands closed around Kronos' throat. "When a man has nothing to lose, he is free. So I thank you, Lord Kronos. You freed me."
A throaty chuckle escaped Kronos' lips and Perseus narrowed his eyebrows.
"No, thank you, Destroyer. You gave me all the time I needed."
Kronos' eyes began glowing brighter than before and a gasp escaped him. A new voice came from the ruined face.
"Run." Luke Castellan begged and Perseus blinked.
"Wha-"
For the first time in his life, Perseus was stabbed. Theristis' blade jutted from his side and he was thrown back. Agony clouded his mind and he couldn't move as the cursed scythe sapped his strength. For a brief moment, Perseus wondered if this was how the monsters felt.
Annabeth saw the ancient demigod laying limply on the ground, his blood seeping into the dirt and she recalled the line from the prophecy.
The hero's soul, the cursed blade shall reap.
But what was the choice?
Kronos stepped forward, Riptide still embedded in his gut. He looked down at the blade and pulled it out, sighing in relief before tossing it aside.
"Nothing like some pain to set the mind straight," he howled as a harsh glow burned beneath his skin. Kronos gasped again and his eyes turned blue. A mortal's blue.
"Annabeth, the knife!" Luke managed to say before another yell of agony tore from his mouth. "No!" Kronos roared, gripping his head.
Annabeth's perspective of the world seemed to til as she approached Kronos. Or Luke.
Whichever.
She held out her knife and Luke managed to wrestle control from Kronos one last time as one eye glowed a brighter and brighter gold. He grabbed the knife and looked Annabeth in the eyes.
"I'm sorry. For everything."
Without a moment's hesitation, he rammed the blade into his armpit and everything exploded.
[][]
There were a lot of funerals. Each cabin lovingly created shrouds for their siblings. The dead recovered from Kronos' army were afforded the same dignity, but their shrouds were simple black sheets. No honor for the dishonorable.
Luke's was the hardest.
Once the shrouds were burned and the dead were mourned, the campers began to help rebuild Olympus.
Perseus helped out where he could and got some unwarranted attention from some minor gods and goddesses or nature spirits which he dealt with in true Perseus fashion.
"I am not interested in your pitiful advances," he said to a dryad one day as he carried a large boulder to the edge of Olympus, tossing it off. "If you seek to impress me, bring me the head of Prometheus."
"You know, you could be a little nicer," Annabeth suggested as he passed by.
"They annoy me."
"They think you're hot."
"I am not hot. I am mortal. Apollo is hot."
"Ooh, do my ears deceive me? Does the Destroyer have feelings for the god of the sun?" Annabeth teased. Perseus scowled.
"Absolutely not. He is arrogant and prideful and I dislike him."
"Yeah, definitely repressing some feelings."
"I could kill you where you stand."
"Daughter," A voice said from behind Annabeth and she whipped around. Athena stood behind Annabeth. She wore jeans and a light gray blouse, probably and attempt to make her seem more motherly to Annabeth, but the helmet in her arm ruined the look.
"Mother. Hello."
"I wish to speak with you. Alone."
"Lady Athena, greetings" Perseus greeted, bowing his head. "Annabeth, I will be over… helping clean up." The Destroyer hurried off leaving Annabeth and Athena alone.
"What do you want, Mom?"
"You did well. Your defense of Manhattan was… adequate."
"I kept a monster army from getting to the Empire State building, I'd think it was a little more than adequate," Annabeth snipped back. Athena's eyes flashed, a silent warning for Annabeth to watch her tongue.
"In thanks, the council has seen fit to offer you both immortality and a chance to redesign Olympus. Father will hold a formal meeting later with you before the council, but I am telling you now. Your decision is not needed, but know that you will be expected to have one soon."
The goddess slid on her helmet and walked past Annabeth, her outfit shimmering and turning into a long toga-dress with standard Greek hoplite armor adorning her torso, shins, and arms. Minor gods and nature spirits parted around her as she walked.
Annabeth looked back over at Perseus who was talking with Poseidon before looking around for her other friends.
Grover was conversing with some satyrs and Thalia was with three of her Hunters, helping to drag rubble around.
Immortality huh?
"So. Which is your favorite?" Annabeth asked, gesturing to the platter of various mortal fast food cheeseburgers in front of Percy.
"I can't choose. They're all delicious," he said, burying his face in his hands. "How did you decide which one you like the most?" Annabeth shrugged.
"Dunno. It's just a thing that happens."
"Why is it not happening to me!?"
"Maybe you need to have more."
"Gods, yes! How many are there?"
"A lot."
"No!"
"Percy, we have all the time in the world to get them. Chill."