Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

As promised, the first chapter of my magnum opus…again. Veterans of my fanbase may recall years ago when I tried to start the Chaos War for the first time, and it didn’t go very well. The general consensus was that the other stories needed to be finished first.

Well, all the stories have been finished, one way or the other.

There will be changes to this compared to the first time. For example, the continuity herein takes place in the timeline established in Piper’s Untold Story because it fits extremely well. If you haven’t read the Piper story, please go read it. If you don’t want to read it, you’ll make me sad.

You might also be slightly lost as to some of the characterization herein, as well.

Another way this story will be different is that the other Percy’s will not be getting huge expositional blurbs on their backstories. You’ve either read their stories, will go read their stories, or will just roll with the flow. Other than that, the premise is still the same. All the bad guys team up to defeat the good guys, Chaos brings in outside help, overarching themes of power and responsibility still abound, and the main characters face the consequences of their actions in ways that may be considered unfair.

In short, this story is still what I always intended it to be. My way of ending the story of Percy Jackson.

Obviously, this story is an AU post-TSATS, but the divergence starts post-ToA in ways beyond just Piper’s Untold Story.

Let us begin.

Disclaimer: I don’t own Percy Jackson and the Olympians

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

“We’ve got a lot to talk about,” Piper said to her old friends through the Iris Message.

It was a summer evening after Apollo teleported in on her and Shel having their moment on the roof, but before the end of summer when Nico and Will embarked on their quest down into Tartarus. In attendance of this Iris Message was Piper in her ancestral farmhouse in Tahlequah, Percy, Annabeth, Frank, and Hazel in the praetor’s barracks in Camp Jupiter, Leo and Calypso in Leo’s room in the Waystation, and Thalia and Reyna in their tent within the Hunter’s encampment.

Piper didn’t know how long she spoke for, but she covered mostly everything from how she fell out of love with Jason and eventually broke up with him, the rough patch they went through because of her emotional turmoil, his final moments against Caligula, her reception in Tahlequah, meeting Billy, the nightmares she started having of Jason, meeting Shel, meeting Jisdu, and everything else after. Piper revealed her new powers, piquing Frank’s interest with her animal shapeshifting, awing everybody with her Tlanuwa armor; she talked about how she and Shel became girlfriends, her battles with Incognito and the Asgina, and how her talks with Jisdu and Billy had led to her converting to Christianity and adopting the firm belief that she had a responsibility to use her powers for greater purposes—and they shared that same responsibility.

Finally, after so much talking and answering questions, there was silence as Piper concluded her story with her bold declaration.

Obviously, she kept some things to herself, such as how she was millionaire thanks to Billy’s will, that Jason was still alive, and the strange lawyer she met in Texas.

In truth, Piper didn’t know what she was expecting, or hoping for. Maybe for all of them to nod in agreement and join forces as another team of passionate, superpowered teenagers, and go off to fight the forces of evil men. Maybe for at least a few of them to agree with her. That being said, Piper was unsurprised when all of them just looked like kicked puppies.

But of course they did, and Piper didn’t blame them. They’d all been through so much already, seen so many horrible things already, why should they have to subject themselves to more? Force themselves to fight more? To have to travel more, instead of finally being able to settle down and enjoy the peaceful lives they’d earned? Well, at least in everyone’s cases except Thalia and Reyna, as they were constantly on the move anyway, being Hunters of Artemis.

But as Piper had already been told, and as she had already told them and come to firmly believe herself, none of them had that choice. Not in the sense that they needed to completely sacrifice their personal lives for the pursuit of justice, but they couldn’t just completely abstain from fighting the good fight, using their powers to go above and beyond just gods and monsters. Efforts needed to be made. There were people out there they could be helping with the powers they had, people that they needed to help because they could help.

Piper could see it on their faces, the cognitive dissonance that was tearing them all apart. Piper could see that they all felt that she was right, that they really did need to step up in world affairs and do what they could to make the world a better place after they’d all fought so hard to save it, but that selflessness was running smack into their innate selfishness, running head-on into the personal belief that they’d done enough, and that they’d earned their retirement, earned the right to leave the life behind and say, “I’m done. It’s someone else’s turn.”

Piper found it ironic that Thalia and Reyna would be having this quandary given that they were nomads, not bound by school or society, and were therefore in the perfect position to be jumping right on board Piper’s ideological train of using their powers to fight the bad guys, especially because the Hunters of Artemis were literally equipped to be the greatest vigilante team in the world, what with all the powers and skills the Hunters had developed and honed from their decades, centuries, and millennia of life, and a goddess that could teleport them across the continent in the blink of an eye. Perhaps, then, it wasn’t that Thalia and Reyna were on the fence about this, but that they were feeling guilty that they and the Hunters weren’t already doing that, using their powers to fight the forces of evil—cartels, gangs, sex traffickers, drug dealers, etc., something that should’ve been right up the Hunters’ alley given that most of the perpetrators of the crimes listed above were men—or were feeling nervous about trying to convince the Hunt of Piper’s ideas, and the rebuttal they would receive.

Whatever the case, Piper did her best to put an end to her friends’ mental and emotional suffering.

“Guys, relax. I didn’t tell you my story in order to convince you to come join me on my crusade against darkness or whatever. I told you my story so that all of you would know what happened between me and Jason, know what happened to me in Tahlequah, and know where I came from when I told you what I was going to do with my life. I’m not saying you have to join me, I’m not saying you have to sit there and just completely ignore everything that’s happening in our world. What I am saying is that after everything we went through, we have to be active in our communities, using our powers however we can to help whoever we can. We can’t just sit by and do nothing while we can be doing something.”

“Like what, Piper?” Percy asked quietly. “What are we supposed to do that either won’t make a bad situation worse, or bring a bunch of unwanted attention to us? We can only stretch the Mist so much, and none of us want the mutant treatment, where the government is hunting us down either to kill us, or capture us and take us to a secret base so they can experiment on us.”

“Aww, dude,” Leo sighed. “Now I’m going to be having nightmares about that exact situation for a week.”

Calypso grabbed his hand reassuringly.

“That’s what it’s up to us to figure out,” Piper answered Percy’s question. “There isn’t a clear, definitive answer I can give any of you on what the best course of action is. It’ll always vary depending on the exact situation. We’ll have to be smart about what we do, and how we do it.”

“And what if the best course of action is no action?” Frank asked. “What if the best thing we can do, in order to avoid making something go from bad to worse like Percy said, is to do nothing?”

“Then we do nothing,” Piper shrugged. “If that really is the best we can do for someone, then so be it. The whole point of this is to make things better, not worse.”

“I’ll talk with Lady Artemis and the other Hunters,” Thalia said. “This isn’t the first time a conversation like this has come up. Other Hunters have gone out to do what you’re talking about in the past. I’ll see what Artemis says.”

Piper nodded. “Thanks.” She cleared her throat. “Okay, enough doom and gloom. How are all of you guys doing? Reyna, I see you joined the Hunt—how’s that going?”

The mood lightened considerably as Piper moved the conversation away from the uncomfortable topic of power and responsibility.

Reyna brightened considerably. “It’s been great! A huge breath of fresh air being able to travel, see things, and explore who I am without the constant pressure of having to be the praetor. No offense, Frank and Hazel.”

The current praetors of Camp Jupiter laughed a tired laugh, but there was something wrong with it. It wasn’t tired as if they were fatigued and exhausted after a long day of work; it was tired as if they were emotionally beaten and worn down, ready to give up on something and admit defeat but refused to do so out of principle. What didn’t help the sudden mounting tension were the pensive expressions that appeared on Percy and Annabeth’s faces, and the angry shadows that darkened their eyes.

Piper, Leo, Calypso, Thalia, and Reyna were all instantly alert.

“What’s going on over there?” Reyna demanded, her back straight and her voice full of authority as she slipped into her old praetor mode.

“Nothing you need to worry about,” Frank dismissed. “We’ve got it handled.”

Annabeth smashed her fist upon the ground, startling everyone. She looked at Frank with so much anger in her eyes it was scary, especially because her eyes were growing red and watery. Annabeth glared at Frank, and when Percy put his hand on her shoulder, she glared at him, too.

“Anna-­”

“No!” she snapped at him. Her lower lip trembled as emotion threatened to overwhelm her, but she kept herself contained, if only barely.

Frank and Hazel looked away, and Percy stared at the boardgame of Life between the four of them.

Annabeth looked back at the Iris Message window. “There is a situation we got through. I’m sorry that we were heading into a good mood and about to tell fun stories, but this story is anything but fun. And all of you need to hear it, just like we all needed to hear Piper’s….”

Piper felt a cold cannonball of dread settle within her stomach. She could tell from Annabeth’s expression and tone of voice that what she was about to share was not going to be pleasant.

Sure enough, it wasn’t.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

On the warm night of April 8, the birthday of Lester Papadopoulos, the night that Caligula, Commodus, and Tarquin marched on New Rome, Percy and Annabeth were going on a pleasant date to the opera because Annabeth wanted to, and Percy, being the good boyfriend he was, did not offer any opposition.

Almost completely heedless of the impending slaughter on the other side of the continent, the power couple of the millennium eventually were able to take their seats. They weren’t at all in the expensive suites, but they weren’t in the nosebleed section, either. Frederick was more than capable of sending his daughter some money.

He kind of had to, really, because Annabeth’s boarding school wasn’t supplying her with anything, and the Blofis family wasn’t exactly drowning in cash, either, since Sally didn’t work and the sales from her book only brought in so much, and Paul was a high school teacher.

Anyway.

Percy and Annabeth were seated next to each other, the opera set to begin in a few minutes. Despite the occasion of the night, just the two of them, with nothing else to (hopefully) worry about, there was still a look on Annabeth’s face. A certain light in her grey eyes, one that Percy knew all too well.

“What’s going through that head of yours, Wise Girl?” Percy asked after leaning close to her ear.

Annabeth sighed. After so many years, she knew that deflecting or dodging was pointless.

“The same thing that’s been running through my head since we first helped Magnus: are doing the right thing? We know that there are at least three emperors currently waging war on demigods, with one of them right here in our city—or at least, there’s a building in the city with Triumvirate Holdings slapped on the side of it—but we’re not doing…well…anything about any of this. I’m not saying we need to grab our gear and try to cross the continent to get to New Rome, Hey, guys. Y’all okay? Need any help? No? Great! Well, we’ll be on our way now, but we haven’t done anything to so much as try to help.

“We—you, actually—haven’t spoken to Chiron, Mr. D, or Nico since robot incident, I haven’t spoken to them at all since the robot incident, so we’re not at all in the loop on whatever Camp Half-Blood is doing about the crisis going on, and we’re definitely not in the loop with anything New Rome is doing because of the communication jam—and that’s the big thing. We could be doing something about the jam. There’re several things we could’ve tried—could try.

“Magnus and his Valhalla ravens. Carter and Sadie with their Duat-travel. The Door of Orpheus in Central Park that goes straight to the Underworld. We could try to get a hold of Nico and see if he’s open to that idea. There’s also the fish idea, where you use your authority as the son of Poseidon to get an aquatic communication network of your own going between the fish and maybe some water spirits, like the naiads and nereids. Then there’s-”

Percy gripped Annabeth’s hand. “Stop.”

His tone was hard, pointed, and brokered no room for argument. It was his scary Now I am serious, and I am in command voice that he almost never used, but when he did use it, even the mouthy Annabeth Chase, famed for her hubris and “control” she had over her boyfriend, went quiet. However, despite how seemingly commanding Percy was when using this tone, the light in his eyes belayed something else:

A frantic desperation for Annabeth to stop making sense, and stop putting them on the spot for sitting out the crisis.

“We have done enough,” Percy said heavily. “We went to the Underworld and back to get the Lightning Bolt, therefore averting World War Three. We went into the Sea of Monsters and brought back the Golden Fleece, saving camp. You held up the sky, and I traveled across the country to also hold up the sky. We navigated the Labyrinth and fought in a battle in which we had to burn a bunch of dead kids. Then we saved the world from the Titans and burned a lot more dead kids, some of them dead by o-our own hand.”

Percy’s voice warbled ever so slightly as he mentioned the Battle of Manhattan, in which he’d been pitted against Titan-supporting demigods and the field of battle, and did what he had to do.

Annabeth’s mouth set into a thin line with that one. It was all but confirmed that Percy had killed demigods during the battle, demigods that were only his age or close to it. So, teenagers. Kids by anyone’s standards. Naturally, Percy refused to talk about it or confirm if he had killed anyone, like most veterans of war didn’t like talking about what they had to do to come home, and no one pressed him on it, not even Annabeth.

“That should have been more than enough for us,” Percy continued. There was a rising edge in his voice now, that commanding tone giving way to frustration, anger, and something almost akin to madness. “But no. We got dragged into the Giant War more or less against our wills. Me definitely, you…kind of but not really. Then there was everything involved in the Giant War, with you helping build the Argo II, me being in a coma then going on a quest, then the entire voyage to Old Rome, then…T-Tartarus-” Annabeth shivered along with her boyfriend at the mention of the pit and its corresponding dark god “-then the rest of the Giant War after that point, followed immediately by all of that recommendation letter bullshit. Annabeth, we have done enough.

“We’ve earned our ‘retirement,’ or whatever you want to call it. We’ve earned the right to finally sit on the sidelines and let someone else handle the situation. And it’s not like there isn’t anyone we can’t pass the torch to. Nico’s gotten a lot stronger, Leo’s back, Piper’s no slouch, and Frank and Hazel have earned their ranks. And Jason and Reyna are veterans like us. New Rome is fine. We don’t need to worry about them. Camp Half-Blood is also fine, because it’s been over two months since the robot attack, and Nero hasn’t done anything else. If he had, Chiron would’ve found a way to tell us.”

Percy gave Annabeth’s hand a comforting squeeze, and he smiled a reassuring smile.

“Okay? New Rome is fine. They’ve got plenty of strong leaders and strong demigods. Camp Half-Blood is in great hands, too. It’s not like we’re just abandoning our friends. We’re having faith and confidence in their abilities and powers to handle themselves while we finally relax and enjoy our lives. Besides, we can’t always be there to drop everything that we’re doing and go save the day at the drop of a hat. We have our own lives, too.”

“I guess,” Annabeth sighed. “It’s just…I feel like there could be some small thing we could—should—be doing. Like, the retirement thing makes tons of sense and I’m totally onboard with finally doing our own thing and not having to deal with any more major mythological meltdowns, but…but that we still have one last job in us, if that makes sense? Like, one last hurrah? One last helping hand to our friends to let them know we’ll always be ready and willing to give them a hand, no matter how small?”

“Trust me,” Percy said, smiling, “they know we would always help them, just like they know they can handle these emperor chumps, no problem. They’re all big boys and girls. They can tie their shoes, brush their teeth, and go potty all by themselves.”

Annabeth rolled her eyes. “I would hope so, given that they’re all teenagers.”

“Powerful teenagers,” Percy clarified. “So, they’re fine. They’ll be fine. We’ll be fine. Now would you please just relax and enjoy the opera? This was your idea in the first place to take our minds off things and just enjoy life for a night, so relax and enjoy life.”

Annabeth closed her eyes and took a deep breath, not to launch a counterargument to Percy’s stances, but to focus and center herself. Her boarding school offered free counseling, and she had actually been to see the counselor a few times due to the stress she’d been feeling between studying for exams, keeping up with her homework and internship, the future in general, and the thing she couldn’t talk about: the ongoing crisis with Apollo and the emperors. She’d been taught some meditative techniques on how to destress and let her worries go, and so she put a breathing and mental imagery exercise into play.

After a few seconds of doing this, and she felt better.

Annabeth squeezed Percy’s hand and looked at him. “Okay. I’m good.”

Just then, the lights of the theatre dimmed, and the volume of the audience fell into almost complete silence.

“Just in time,” Percy murmured with a grin as the curtains were lifted.

Tonight’s feature was an abridged telling of the Divine Comedy.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It was all quiet through the Iris Message feed after Percy and Annabeth finished the first part of their own grand story, the explanation of what they were doing during the Imperial War, or rather, what they weren’t doing, and why they weren’t doing anything.

Piper saw that Frank, Hazel, Reyna, and Thalia all had hollow looks in their eyes, because they knew exactly what happened during the Battle of San Francisco Bay. Piper knew what happened, too, thanks to that mysterious lawyer on the day of Billy’s funeral back at the beginning of June, coming up on three months ago. The lawyer had told Piper about Annabeth and Percy’s shortcomings regarding the Imperial War, along with many other choice observations.

As for the three Romans, Piper could both see and feel the conflict in them regarding Percy and Annabeth. One part of them felt angry, bitter, resentful, prejudiced, and judgmental—like, Yeah, you’re both goddamn right you should’ve been doing something to help us, or at least help Camp Half-Blood, but you did nothing! You didn’t even do anything to protect Sally, Paul, and baby Estelle! You just up and left!—while the other part of them was understanding, accepting, and empathetic—like, We know you two were tired and just wanted to finally live your own lives, and that’s a right that the two of you earned. We can’t blame you for not participating in the Imperial War. We know that if you truly knew what was coming for us, you would’ve dropped everything to help us. It was a classic example of how the Roman principles of duty, honor, loyalty, camaraderie, discipline, and sacrifice—always putting the pack before yourself, always willing to die for the pack, and live for the pack—clashed with the personal connections of friends and family.

The Roman parts of Frank, Hazel, and Reyna all told them that Percy and Annabeth were at fault, but the human part of them said that Percy and Annabeth weren’t at all to blame for anything, and that blaming them wasn’t just wrong, but stupid.

As for Leo, he hesitantly raised his hand. “Er…so…what happened with the Caligula and Commodus? The most up-to-date info I have is that they, uh, killed Jason, and were sailing for New Rome.”

Reyna was the one that cleared her throat. “There was a big battle. The emperors attacked from the San Francisco Bay. Another undead Roman monarch, King Tarquin, launched his own assault from underneath the city. We survived thanks to Apollo correctly pulling off the Sibylline Summon and bringing in Lady Diana. She killed off Tarquin’s forces, and it was through Frank’s and Apollo’s efforts that Caligula and Commodus were destroyed. We won the battle, but the cost was steep. We once had 568 between the legion and New Rome, but after we counted the dead, there were only 87 still alive.”

Leo and Calypso blanched.

Percy and Annabeth looked even more haunted.

Piper spoke up. “It’s done and over with. There’s nothing we can do for the dead except honor their memories, and make sure that if another situation like this arises, we don’t make the same mistakes. I’m not free of blame, either. Even though I knew at least Caligula was powerful enough to kill someone as strong as Jason, and he had Commodus and a fleet with him sailing for New Rome, I still turned tail and ran away for Tahlequah.”

“Hey,” Leo was able to speak first as everyone opened their mouth to protest Piper’s statement, “that was a special circumstance. Jason, what happened to you and your dad-”

“Excuses,” Piper interrupted in the same flat, unamused tone that the lawyer had used on her back in early June. “I could’ve been angry, vengeful, on fire for a fight, and I could’ve accompanied Meg and Apollo to New Rome to protect Jason’s body, and then fight side by side with you guys. I could’ve convinced you to come with me,” she looked at Leo, “and we could’ve figured something out with my dad. In short, where there’s a will, there’s a way. The bottom line is that I actually did know what was heading for New Rome, and I still went the other way. Once could say I’m the most villainous of all, because I was Jason’s girlfriend. I was his girlfriend, but I couldn’t even watch over his body and attend his funeral.”

More silence.

Until Leo spoke, “Well, by that logic, I’m guilty too.”

Piper shook her head. “No. None of us are guilty. We all did what we felt was right for our reasons, and we’ll have to live with the consequences of our actions. The only thing we can do now is not make those same mistakes again. The next time some big threat emerges from the darkness, we’ll know we need to go out and stop it—and I’m talking about something divine. Not what I’m going to do with organized crime and stuff.”

Annabeth sighed. “We’re living with the consequences of our actions, alright.”

With that statement, she moved to the second part of hers and Percy’s story.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The original trio that started it all were steadily making their way through California traffic to get to the Caldecott Tunnel so they could take the secret exit to New Rome. Because they knew him so well, Percy and Annabeth both knew that Grover wasn’t just nervous, but that something truly awful was devouring him alive.

“Grover,” Percy said evenly, looking at Grover’s reflection in the rearview mirror. Annabeth even turned around in her seat to look at the satyr. “The closer we get to New Rome, the more you start to look like how you did when you were making dinner for Polyphemus: terrified for your life. You told us you’ve been out here in SoCal fighting the wildfires, and that Apollo, Piper, Meg, and you were able to free the oracle there and basically put Hyperion back to sleep. We figured there was an emperor out here since Camp Jupiter is out here, and Nero is out by Camp Half-Blood. So, you mind telling us what has you so freaked out right now?”

Grover was literally sweating with trepidation as Percy continued talking, and by the time he finished his question, Grover was pale as a sheet and shaking like a leaf.

But why wouldn’t he be? After all, for the duration of this entire trip, from Manhattan to Berkeley, he hadn’t told them about Piper breaking up with Jason, or Jason’s death, or about Piper’s destroyed financial situation because of the Triumvirate and how she was forced to move back to Tahlequah with her ruined dad, or about how when Grover had left SoCal, Caligula was happily taking his invasion fleet up to Camp Jupiter. In short, Grover had been lying to Percy and Annabeth this entire time.

That was only part of the reason for his being a nervous wreck right now, though. Harpocrates may have faded, and with him the communication jam, but it was still a slow-going process to get magic working again. Because of this, Grover truthfully did not know whether New Rome was even still standing right now. Was it a huge pile of rubble? Had it been overrun by the emperors? Grover did not know if he was leading his best friends either into ruins or into a death trap.

Take the fact that he knew he was lying by way of omission and combine it with the uncertainty of New Rome’s status, and you could understand why Grover was sweating bullets. What were Percy and Annabeth going to say now that they were basically on the doorstep of their destination?

It couldn’t be avoided any longer.

Grover swallowed and took a deep breath.

“Grover…?” Percy asked, seeing the signs of something very bad coming his way.

“The three of us…” Grover started, before he choked and tried again. “You know the three of us are best friends, right?”

“Grover…” Annabeth said, her eyes narrowing.

“And that we would never do anything to intentionally hurt each other, right?”

“G-Man, c’mon!” Percy said loudly. “What’s happened?”

Tears started welling up in Annabeth’s eyes as the sheer possibilities of what she was about to hear threatened to overwhelm her emotions.

Grover couldn’t bear to look at them as he answered.

“Commodus was the emperor in Indianapolis. The emperor here in the West was Caligula. Medea was with Caligula, and she used the Triumvirate’s resources to exact her revenge on Piper for what happened last year in Chicago. Medea went after Tristan’s finances and successfully got him convicted of tax fraud and tax evasion. The banks swooped in and took everything he owned, and every penny he had, and Tristan’s life and reputation as an actor have been destroyed.”

Percy and Annabeth both gasped.

“What about Piper and Jason-” Annabeth started.

“Piper broke up with Jason,” Grover said quietly. “I don’t know why.”

Percy slammed the break and laid on the horn as someone cut him off.

Annabeth’s hands flew to her mouth as her breath left her, her eyes going wide as plates.

After that episode, Percy rounded Grover. “What do you mean Piper broke up with Jason!? Piper was the one who wanted to be his girlfriend in the first place, and after everything they went through together during the Giant War-!”

“I said I don’t know!” Grover shouted back.

A horn sounded from behind them, prompting Percy to put his eyes back on the road, seeing that there were now at least four car lengths ahead due to how traffic had moved.

Annabeth was trying to hold back her sobs, and Percy was openly crying angry tears.

How could Piper do that to Jason?

It was impossible! At least, it seemed impossible to Percy.

“A-Are you sure that Piper actually broke up with Jason?” the son of Poseidon grasped at straws to ease his own rising emotions. “You said that Medea used the Triumvirate to mess with Tristan’s finances—could Medea have used magic or something to get inside of Piper’s head and-”

“I said I don’t know, Percy,” Grover answered tautly. “When I first met Piper, it was with Apollo and Meg. We were all shocked that Piper had broken up with Jason. I think she found the time to talk to Apollo about it, but she didn’t tell me anything, nor did Apollo. You’ll have to ask either of them when you next see them what happened.”

Percy was having to consciously measure his strength so he didn’t grip the steering wheel so hard that it imploded.

Annabeth tried to ask something, but her voice cracked on the first syllable.

Percy pulled onto the secret exit ramp that led to New Rome, his eyes bloodshot, twin tears running down his face. The drive down the tunnel was tense, the electric lights at some point turning into magic torches.

“Stop,” Grover said before they reached the exit. “It might be a trap.”

Percy slammed the break. “What do you mean it might be a trap? What the hell happened here!?”

Grover just jumped into it and didn’t stop.

“Piper broke up with Jason sometime around December or January. The Triumvirate destroyed Tristan’s career and reputation. Piper and Jason kept working together on small quests and kind of fighting the Triumvirate, but they never reached closure and really worked together. In March, Jason managed to navigate the Burning Maze until he found the Oracle, where she gave him the prophecy that if he and Piper continued pursuing the Triumvirate, one of them was going to die.

“Jason took that prophecy on himself. He didn’t tell Piper about it because she and her dad were about to leave Malibu for Tahlequah. Despite how she broke up with him, he still loved her enough to die for her. And…yeah. He, Piper, Apollo, and Meg found Caligula’s fleet, and they tried for a sneak attack, it failed, and the reason for the latter three still being alive is because Jason isn’t. He’s dead. Unless something happened to her, Piper should be in Tahlequah right now. As for Caligula’s fleet, they were due to attack New Rome on April 8. I don’t know if they succeeded in their attack or not, so I don’t know if we’re walking into a trap.”

Percy and Annabeth both stared at Grover with horrified, shocked, heartbroken, colorless expressions. There was total silence in the vehicle for a grand total of three seconds before the incomprehensible shouting started.

Grover shut his eyes and took the verbal abuse, letting the righteous fury of his best friends cascade upon him like torrential rain. He deserved it. He’d lied to them this whole trip, withholding crucial information from them about current events. All in the name of:

“I just wanted you to be happy!” Grover shouted at the absolute top of his lungs, bringing silence back to the car. He continued, “I just wanted you two to be happy. Everything you’ve already been through, all the bullshit you’ve put up with—I just wanted the two of you to finally be happy. I didn’t tell you about Jason and Piper and the attack because I knew you would hate yourselves for not doing anything more about the Imperial War, you wouldn’t want to leave Manhattan until you were certain Nero was defeated….I-I just…I just wanted the two of you to finally be happy, finally be able to live your own lives, not worry about anyone but yourselves for a change, and just be able to look forward to a better future…”

“A better future,” Percy echoed hollowly. “Jason died on some ancient Roman battleship-”

“Caligula’s fleet was actually made up of pleasure yachts,” Grover coughed. “50 of them.”

“50 pleasure yachts…” Percy said, staring a thousand yards into the distance. “Jason died on a pleasure yacht…on the water…on April 8^th?”

“No. Jason d-died the morning of April 1^st,” Grover confirmed in a shaky voice. “Their sneak attack was the night of March 31^st. April 8^th was the scheduled day for the attack on Camp Jupiter.”

“The night we were at the opera,” Annabeth choked back a sob. “The night we were enjoying ourselves, just the two of us, and Jason was already—he was already—he had-” Annabeth stopped to take a breath. “And Piper’s life had been turned upside down, and our friends here were under attack. And we were having that argument about whether we were doing the right thing or not.”

Percy slumped in his seat. “Fuck,” he muttered. “Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, FUCK!”

Grover winced at the volume of the last explicative.

“Fucking figures!” Percy continued to lament. “The one time—the one fucking time that we actually have the choice on whether or not go rushing out there to save the day, and we choose not to do that, we choose to put ourselves before others—just this one time—and everything goes to hell! Jason’s dead, Piper’s life’s been destroyed, and we don’t know about Frank, Hazel, Reyna or Le-” Percy turned around in his seat, his crying, bloodshot eyes wide with panic. “What happened to Leo? Do you know what happened to Leo?”

Grover’s voice cracked. “L-Leo’s—ahem—Leo’s alive. After Indianapolis, he flew straight to New Rome to warn them of a vanguard we learned about from a prophecy we got. He was able to get there in time and minimalize the casualties of the initial assault before he flew south to Malibu. He got there just as we were all about to part ways, Meg and Apollo taking Jason to New Rome, Piper about to leave for Tahlequah. They told him what happened, and Leo left with Piper. That’s all I know from there.”

“Terrific,” Percy grumbled. “Piper and Leo survived the emperors, but on their way to Tahlequah, they got jumped either by monsters or mortals, and now they’re in Elysium too.”

Annabeth smacked his side. “Don’t say that! Don’t even think that!”

Percy didn’t say anything. He just kept staring into the distance, the odd tear running down his cheek. Annabeth fell into silence, and Grover dared not say anything. The whole cabin was thick with a typhoon of emotions, all three on a thin line between control and nuclear meltdown.

Eventually, Annabeth turned around to look at Grover. In as soft a voice as she could manage, she said, “Thank you for considering us, Grover. I appreciate it.”

“I feel like you’re about to say, But you should have told us about this when you got to Manhattan,” Grover said, which triggered Percy.

The son of Poseidon whipped around. “You’re goddamn right you should’ve-!”

Annabeth set her hand on his knee. In that moment, she demonstrated her true power, and what an awesome power it was: the power to calm the storm.

Percy noticeably simmered down at the mere touch of his beloved. “That was definitely something you should’ve told us. Now I’m internally freaking out over Mom and Paul and Estelle, who we left behind in Manhattan, having not told them at all about the emperors ironically for the same reason Grover didn’t tell us about Jason and Piper, that being so they didn’t worry about anything.”

Grover shifted in the backseat. “I, er, had a talk with the local nature spirits about that. They’re watching over your family, Percy. From a distance. I told them to be discreet.”

Percy looked at Grover from the rearview mirror, his eyes alight with a dozen different emotions. He shut his eyes, took a deep breath, and nodded stiffly, saying, “Thank you, Grover.”

Annabeth turned back around to face the satyr. She nodded gratefully, then she said, “I was going to say something about shoulda, woulda, and coulda. Not just you, but the two of us. We should have been more active in the Imperial War, we would have been more active if we knew what the emperors were really capable of—I mean, killing Jason, a whole fleet of yachts—and we could have been more active if…if…”

“If we weren’t burnt out and tired of being heroes and just wanted to live our own lives for once?” Percy supplied.

Annabeth didn’t lie or argue the sentiment. “Y-Yeah,” she let out a shaky breath, “that.”

Grover swallowed. “Guys, I’m so sor-”

“Shhh!” Percy cut him off, punctuating the syllable with a flail of his arm. “Do not say that word right now.” He put the car back in gear and started heading down the tunnel. “I really hope that the emperors didn’t capture New Rome. If they did, I’ll probably destroy the whole place myself.”

Grover gulped, appreciating the fact that he had basically pushed Percy so close to the edge that his best friend was seriously contemplating mass destruction.

Annabeth was reminded of when they were down in Tartarus, and Percy had broken the boundaries of his domain, presumably because they were so close to Primordial Chaos and things got weird around those parts of creation, and nearly killed a Primordial goddess with her own tears and poison. Percy had that kind of energy about him right now. He had that same detached, cold, murderous look in his eyes.

Annabeth couldn’t blame him. She couldn’t even say that if they got to New Rome and found it overtaken, that she would stop him from bringing about total annihilation of the whole valley.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

“Obviously, the emperors didn’t win,” Percy said, his eyes having gone a little red and watery from the recollection, same with Annabeth.

Piper’s own eyes had gone misty.

How she wished she could tell them all right now that Jason was alive and well, and that she strongly suspected he was now an einherjar in Odin’s Valhalla army—or something like that. Jason had shown her the nine-branched tree sigil on his shield the night she fought Incognito, and after a simple Google search when she had the time, the first thing that popped up was Yggdrasil. Piper put two and two together to equal Jason might’ve been scooped up by a Valkyrie because he died honorably while fighting, and then carried to Valhalla.

Whatever the case, Piper knew Jason was alive, but she was sworn to secrecy.

Back to the current situation, it was a classic Greek tragedy. The reluctant heroes, forced at almost every turn in their lives to be on the frontlines, fighting, fighting, fighting, watching their friends and allies die left and right, and then when they finally get to a point where they actually have the choice about whether to and fight some more, they choose not to fight, and everything gets fucked as a result. Of course, this all hinged on the idea that the presence of Percy and Annabeth would’ve completely changed the tide of battle, pun intended. After all, if Percy been there, either for Jason’s final battle or the Battle of San Francisco Bay, he could’ve sunk the whole fleet and saved everyone’s lives.

At least, in theory.

It was a two-fold tragedy in that the one time Percy and Annabeth said, “Naw,” to getting involved with a major mythological conflict, almost everyone died, and that they died during an assault in which water was a huge factor. Jason died at sea, and the emperors had to launch their ground forces from their yachts across the bay, hence that battle’s name.

But like Annabeth had said: shoulda, woulda, and coulda.

There was almost something like fear in Thalia’s voice when she asked, “Is that all that happened, then?”

A mirthless smirk crossed Frank’s face, accompanied by a derisive snort. “Nope. Percy got court-martialed.”

Everyone sat up a little straighter, with Reyna being the most alert.

“Court-martialed?” she demanded. “Why wasn’t I notified of this?”

“You aren’t the praetor anymore,” Hazel said.

“But I was his praetor when he joined the legion! By right-”

“Reyna,” Frank cut in firmly. “You know how it goes with praetors. Once you’re gone, you’re gone. Yes, people will still respect you, and you might still have some influence, but you aren’t the praetor anymore. You’d be given courtesy, but no special treatment. You’re a citizen now, not a legionary. And you’re technically not even a citizen. You’re a Hunter of Diana.”

Reyna almost pouted. “I still should’ve been there.”

Annabeth palmed her face. “For fuck’s sake,” she cursed, throwing almost everyone for a loop since it was her that was cursing, “this whole thing is boiling down to a whole bunch of should have, would have, could have statements, and it’s getting annoying at this point. I guess we all, in some form or fashion, from some point of view, epically screwed up with the Imperial War. Let’s please just move on. Frank, please make it fast.”

Frank nodded. “Grief was still running high enough in some that when Percy and Annabeth made it in, those people had some choice words to say about them not being there during our time of need. Things escalated, and the people in question went through the legal procedures to have Percy court-martialed on the grounds of being AWOL, and they also filed suit against you and me-” Frank looked at Reyna “-giving Percy and Annabeth permission to attend college at NRU and live in the city despite not having given their ten years of service, or even being Roman demigods.”

Reyna looked ready to blow a gasket, and even Piper and Leo were ready to get mad with that one.

Hazel picked up the story. “The trial didn’t really go anywhere. The people who had a bone to pick with Percy and Annabeth were a minority group. They got hit really hard during the battle and just wanted somewhere to take out their emotions. Anyway, Percy explained what he and Annabeth already said, and the tribunal ruled that Percy was a unique circumstance. He was acquitted of being AWOL on the grounds that he was a retired praetor and therefore had been honorably discharged from the legion, and the tribunal also ruled that Frank and Reyna were well within their rights as praetors to give special permission to Percy and Annabeth to stay in the city and attend college, on the grounds that it was a great showing of good faith, two camp leaders to the others. And also because of everything that Percy and Annabeth already went through during their careers as demigods, they had more than earned the right to stay in New Rome.”

Finally, some good news in this story.

However, Piper could tell, just like she could tell that everyone else could tell, that there was still something bad coming up.

“But,” Annabeth finished, a rueful smile on her face, “due to the heavy losses sustained during the battle, only 87 souls still alive between the legion and the citizenry, New Rome University will not be opening this schoolyear due to not having enough students or staff left alive. As such, Percy and I will be commuting to UC Berkeley for our freshman year.”

The bittersweetness of this hit everyone on the same level.

Percy and Annabeth finally got to stay in New Rome, but it was practically a ghost town. They finally got to go to college, but it wasn’t the college they were hoping for. They finally got the chance to choose what to do with themselves, and they were suffering the consequences of their actions in a way that wasn’t the worst imaginable, but it definitely wasn’t ideal.

“And Grover?” Thalia asked. “Is he okay?”

Percy nodded. “We made up. Went to dinner, big group hug, no hard feelings, and he went back to CHB to be with Juniper.”

“We also ran into Apollo the last week of June,” Annabeth said. “he came in to check in on us, but that was, er, after we’d processed our grief over Jason and were still excited for college but before the trial and we were told the college wouldn’t even be open.”

There was a round of everyone briefly recounting their own visit with Apollo after he regained godhood.

“Anyway,” Annabeth said, forcing herself to be chipper, “that’s enough about us, and we have Piper’s big story, so who’s next?”

“Well,” Thalia started, “we finally caught the Teumessian Fox. We’ve been chasing that damn thing since early February.”

“You caught the fox that can’t be caught?” Piper asked with an eager tone, excited for the story.

Thalia clapped Reyna on the shoulder. “We had the idea for a while of repeating history by getting Laelaps, the dog that always catches its prey, and sending her after the Fox, but it was Reyna that finally pulled it off. She and I went on a quest to return Laelaps to earth, and when we did and sent Laelaps after the Fox, they both turned to stone again.”

Reyna blushed. “It wasn’t that much of a quest.”

Thalia jostled her shoulder. “Ah, quit being modest.” The daughter of Zeus looked back at the Iris Messages, looking every bit the excited and supportive big sister that she technically was as Reyna’s senior in the Hunt. “So, here’s how it happened…”

As Thalia launched into the epic tale of how she and Reyna were able to free Laelaps, Piper’s mind started to wander.

She couldn’t help but feel that this was only the beginning. The misfortune Percy and Annabeth experienced, her own ordeal with Incognito, the Hunt’s prolonged nightmare chasing down the Teumessian Fox, and just the whole pattern that had been developing. First the Titans, then the Giants only a few months later, and then the first encounter with the emperors barely six months after the Giants. There was the lawyer’s dire warning about a dark future, reinforced by Jason’s own words of a coming calamity.

Piper had asked if it was going to be in her lifetime, and Jason said he didn’t know.

Now there was a growing little fear in Piper, the fear that they weren’t going to be ready, that, in the words of Bane, peace was going to cost them their strength, victory was going to defeat them. Maybe not so much for Reyna and Thalia, Hunters, but Leo, Annabeth, and Percy? Maybe even Frank and Hazel depending on how they decide to live?

Piper was broken from her foreboding thoughts when Leo called her out.

“Pipes, you okay? You have a look on your face.”

Piper thought about her words and how to step around what she knew she couldn’t talk about. “Just…worried about the pattern. You know? First it was the Titans, then the Giants popped up, and then the emperors popped up—so what’s next? Like, three months from now, are we once again going to be fighting for our lives against some major mythological threat? Maybe not even mythological, but World War Three actually starts and now we have to worry about nukes…” Piper shook her head.

“No, enough about that. I didn’t call you guys to talk about doom and gloom. This is a happy moment for us. All of us kind of together again to share stories and make some more good memories, and-” Piper’s ear twitched as she heard the telltale creek of the old gate to her gravel driveway. She sighed. “Dad’s home.”

There were nods and understanding hums from the heroes. They all knew that Tristan was one of those kinds of humans that couldn’t handle the world of gods and monsters, and so him walking in on Piper, asking who she was talking to, and seeing a bunch of Iris Messages, would not be good for his sanity. Granted, they all knew Piper could just say she was on the phone with friends, and if Tristan did pop his head into her room, maybe the Mist would make it look like she was on a Zoom meeting on her computer, but there was also a certain feeling of “done” to tonight’s meeting.

A certain feeling of, “We’ve talked about a lot of heavy stuff today, and we’ve got a lot to think about. We should call it now.”

“It was great talking to all of you again,” Piper said. “I have Fall break scheduled for the Thursday and Friday of the third week in October.”

Leo perked up. “Hey, that’s when my Fall break is! But I get the whole week, ha!”

Piper stuck her tongue out at him.

Frank and Hazel blushed. “The legion doesn’t get a Fall break…” Frank said dejectedly.

“We can change that, though,” Hazel said.

Percy nudged Annabeth with a grin. “Listen to all these babies talking about going to high school.”

Annabeth grinned back. “Maybe one day they’ll be big kids like us, and go to college.”

Thalia nudged Reyna with a grin of her own. “Listen to all these nerds talking about college and school.”

Reyna adopted the same grin. “I know. Maybe one day they’ll free themselves from the shackles of society like us.”

There was laughter and chuckles all around until Piper heard the honking of the jeep as her dad locked it.

“I love you guys. I can’t wait to see you all in person again. I’ll be in touch!”

They all bid their farewells, and Piper swiped through the messages, bringing an end to the conversation. She heard the front door open and shut, the footsteps of her father coming closer, and then a knock on her door.

“Come in!”

Tristan entered. He was definitely tired, but he looked satisfied.

Piper stood up and gave him a big hug. “Hey, Dad. Welcome home.”

“Good to be home, Pipes. Did you have a good evening?”

“I had a great evening.”

“Good, good. Well, I’m going to shower and head to bed.”

Piper giggled. “All right, Dad. Osda usvi. Gvgeyui.”

Tristan smiled. “Good night, Piper. I love you, too.”

They’d been practicing their Cherokee language together as they deepened their connections to their culture.

Tristan shut the door on his way out, and with nothing better to do, Piper crawled under her covers, shut her lamp off, and went to sleep.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Days later, as Nico, Will, Bob the Titan, Small Bob the Skeleton Sabretooth, and the host of cacodemons that Nyx produced, were all piled into a large enough rowboat on the River Acheron and gently sailing upstream on their way out of the pit of evil, they were completely and totally heedless and unaware of the gigantic iron boots standing upon a cliff above the river, and the dreadful menace that was wearing those boots.

The dark god Tartarus, in the humanoid form he had assumed over a year ago when he decided to squash Percy and Annabeth with his bear hands, stood alone, silently watching as the host left his domain by his will alone. It was an amusing thought to him that at any moment he so desired, he could vaporize the whole lot of them with nothing more than a thought. They were in his domain, after all, since this whole miniature continent was his body, and he could destroy them as easily as he destroyed Krios and Hyperion. He could’ve just as easily destroyed Iapetus and Damasen in like manner, but chose fisticuffs for the hell of it. Despite being thousands of years out of practice in terms of melee, Tartarus had gotten his groove back within seconds, and easily defeated his son and his nephew, both of whom were still fresh in the ways of combat.

A pillar of darkness grew behind Tartarus and solidified into the form of Nyx. The goddess of night looked no worse for wear than she did a few hours ago before her “battle.”

Stunning performance, Tartarus said in his disembodied voice.

Nyx scoffed, disgusted with herself. “Feigning all of that concern over a mere demigod infant, throwing a battle to my own ornery children, and then pretending that river had any affect on me, Night itself—this ruse had better be worth it.”

Have the cacodemons been accepted?

“Yes. The little fool actually believes they are the product of my efforts and his own worst memories. He has no inkling of an idea as to who their true father is.”

Nyx smirked, setting her hand upon her brother’s armored shoulder.

Tartarus hummed, the glowing lights in the depths of his helmet shining with satisfaction. Then the ruse is worth it. Our children will wait for my command, and then they will strike.

A third deity joined the pair. “A day I look forward to most eagerly.”

Akhlys, Tartarus greeted formally. Welcome.

The goddess of misery hissed. “When I get my hands on those two…”

“Patience, daughter,” Nyx said. “Eternity is eternal. We will kill Percy and Annabeth, and their immortal souls will be our playthings until we get bored or manage to produce some form of sympathy and toss them into our father over there.”

Nyx waved in the general direction of the nearest edge of the landscape where it dropped off into the void of Chaos.

Have you located the other two that I seek? Tartarus asked the goddess of misery.

“Setne is currently trapped within a snow globe upon the desk of Carter Kane in his office in the Brooklyn House, and the Aesir were truly stupid enough to place Loki’s new prison in our realm. Upon the North side of Mt. Everest, in fact.”

Tartarus made a sound akin to a derisive snort. How amusing.

Nyx practically shuddered with excitement, showing she was just as antsy as her daughter, but with a small degree of greater control over herself. “This will be glorious. All of us-”

This will be short and quick, Tartarus interrupted his sister. I have no interest in occasion, or important dates, or revenge, or any other silly concepts. It has happened that I now have enough iotas of care in me to make my own attempt at ‘world domination,’ and I will do it according to my vision. There will be no grand ceremony, or a sequence of rising events concluding in an epic climactic battle. There will be one, swift, coordinated, crushing attack at my order, making sure that the major powers that would oppose us are caught off-guard, and are summarily destroyed. Once our enemies have been defeated, then we may revel. But not a moment sooner.

Nyx nodded. “Understood, Brother.”

“Agreed,” Akhlys inclined her head.

We are immortal. There is no reason for us to get ahead of ourselves. Tartarus looked at Akhlys. Free Setne and Loki. But do it discreetly. I do not want there to be any inkling of evidence left behind. Right now, anonymity is our ally. The deeper our enemies are lulled into a state of peace and false sense of security, the easier they will be to annihilate.

His piece said to the primordial of poison, he looked at Night.

The same goes for you. Let your errant offspring believe in your defeat. Thousands of years of being what amounts to wild teenagers has made them crafty. Even if you were to somehow imprison them for their insolence, I have no doubt they would find a way to warn their siblings of our plans, and they may warn the Olympians, which could make an easy task much harder.

Tartarus looked out over his body.

As for me, I will continue to build our army. I will make tens of thousands of monsters, perhaps even hundreds. I will accelerate the regeneration of my children, and even make new ones if I feel like it. Once I am satisfied with the size of the army, and have determined that our enemies have become complacent and weak, then we will crush them.

The goddesses nodded.

The physical form of Tartarus dissolved into dark particles as the spirit resumed his work on industrializing monster regeneration.

Nyx teleported back to her mansion, mindful of keeping a weak and frail appearance on the odd chance one of her children decided to pop in for a visit.

Akhlys teleported herself right inside of Carter’s office in the Brooklyn House, her power as an ancient, eldritch Primordial deity allowing her to not only easily bypass the magic protecting the House, but also all the alarms within.

Misery stood above the snow globe upon the desk that housed the old magician, his tiny form looking up at her with true, genuine fear on his face, because he knew that there was no swindling the likes of her like he could swindle the Kane children, their father Julian/Osiris, or anyone else, really.

“Hello, Setne,” Akhlys said. “I have a proposition for you…”

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

“I have an interesting development to report,” Nyx said with a tinge of sarcasm in her voice.

Oh? Tartarus asked.

Obviously, they were down in the pit, the goddess of night having called her brother to her mansion because she didn’t feel like putting forth the miniscule effort of manifesting a physical presence elsewhere upon the landscape.

“Do you recall Triumvirate Holdings?”

The puny mortal monarchs that tried to take control of the oracles so they could manipulate Fate itself. I recall you were quite amused by their attempt at usurping your daughters.

“Yes, quite humorous, even a year later. Even more humorous is that the company they founded is still thriving despite their founders having been destroyed. Whomever would have thought that an ‘evil’ organization that existed for two millennia would have a chain of command in place, and successors lined up to take over in the event the emperors were defeated.”

Planning ahead? Perish the thought, Sister. I take it the new generation has reached out to you?

“Yes and no. There is only one true ruler, with the other two subservient to him. He beseeched me yesternight with a proposal that I admittedly find to be very amusing.”

So amusing that you have deigned to bring it to my attention. Very well. I am interested.

“He wanted to speak to me personally.”

The dark god paused. How presumptuous. Yet bold. Fine, then. Bring him here.

Nyx waved her hand, and she did something truly terrifying: from the depths of the evil pit, she teleported the current leader of Triumvirate Holdings from his Manhattan office to the throne room of the Mansion of Night to stand between her and her brother. Obviously, the implications of this were horrific.

The new emperor was a most unassuming man. 5’9, dark blonde hair, fair skin, skinny frame, clean-shaven, and bluish-grey eyes. He wore a simple black business suit with a white shirt and a purple tie. However, despite his average appearance, he quickly displayed that there was something very wrong with him. He looked at the 40-foot-tall form of Nyx on her throne, and then he turned around to look at the 40-foot-tall form of Tartarus.

“Are you expecting pleasantries, or do you want me to get to the point?”

Tartarus’s nonexistent lips quirked up. To the point.

“I would like your help for something I think would be hilarious.”

And that would be?

“The demise of the teenagers with attitude and their moronic parents. On both sides of the family. I’m already working on something of my own design, but I had an idea that involved your resources that would make things delectably sweeter.”

Really now? And what is your own design for the demigods?

The new emperor smiled like a snake.

“Triumvirate Holdings has been in business for two thousand years. With our wealth and powers, we have been a major unseen influence in most world affairs. I’ll skip the details, but I will say that we created the CIA, FBI, and NSA. In addition to having the most exhaustive mortal spy network on this planet, we also own the IRS, and have many skilled immortal demigods on our payroll that have had centuries to develop and hone their skills. In short, the demigods fought and died so valiantly to defend mankind, and I will use mankind to destroy them. I already have the mortal agencies watching all the demigods in the United States—Percy Jackson, Annabeth Chase, Piper McLean, Leo Valdez, Clarisse La Rue, Travis and Connor Stoll, Katie and Miranda Gardiner, Billie Ng, all the adult Romans in the world, all the children who don’t even know they’re demigods, all the children who were only introduced to our world this summer, even the Egyptian children Carter and Sadie Kane, Walt Stone, Zia Rashid, and the rest of them. All of those that live amongst the mortals in some way are under 24/7 surveillance on the grounds of national security, suspected of domestic terrorism. With a phone call, I can have all the demigods arrested, and if they resist, executed on the on spot, and if they escape, hunted down and killed. And I can have their camps bombed to oblivion. The American military is practically under my control with how many generals and JAGs are on my payroll.”

“Certainly impressive for what it is,” Nyx said. “I do enjoy the irony of using the humans to destroy the demigods.”

Yes, quite delectable. What is it that you wanted of us?

“Hecate,” the emperor chirped.

The Primordials paused.

“Explain,” Nyx said.

“My predecessors were able to weaponize the god of silence Harpocrates by amplifying his powers in such a wat and to such a degree that they created a nationwide magic communication jam. In the same way, I can weaponize Hecate to warp the Mist on a planetary scale. The implications are practically infinite, but my immediate idea is simply global mind control. The emperors became gods because they got enough people to believe they were gods, and gods can fade because no one remembers them. In short, by harnessing the power of the human mind, we can give ourselves gigantic boosts in power by making the humans think something along the lines of Tartarus and Nyx are invincible, and we can also take power from the Olympians and other gods by the same principle by having the mortals think Zeus and his ilk are pathetically weak.”

Tartarus chuckled, a low, rumbling sound like the sound a boulder tumbling down the side of a mountain would make if the sound moved in slow motion. And then you can turn the mortals against us and make yourself the most powerful being in the universe.

The emperor chuckled too. “Oh, no. I have no desire to rule. I have no interest in empires. I am only in this game for my own personal amusement. That’s the only reason I even bothered with setting up the mortal organizations in the first place, and why I beseeched Nyx for her help. Why I plan is funny, but it could be funnier.”

Indeed. Now, what would you do if I said I have a plan of my own for the demigods?

“I would ask what it is, and either propose a blending of the plans, or retract mine entirely.”

I am building an army. A massive one. I am also accelerating the regeneration of my children the Giants, and arranging an alliance with Loki the Jotun and Setne the Egyptian magician. I intend not a war, but a single, overwhelming strike. My army, the forces of Ragnarök, and Isfet. I will destroy the demigods, the gods, and lay waste to this world. And then the spoils can be divvied among those who care, Tartarus finished dismissively.

The emperor looked positively delighted. “Beautiful….Might I still suggest my plan? I can use the humans to break the demigods, empower your forces, and depower the enemy, making your smashing victory all the easier.”

Tartarus looked at Nyx, and the goddess nodded.

You may have Hecate. Squeeze the demigods with the very people they saved. Have your fun with the Mist. The lights in Tartarus’s helmet glowed brighter as gravity increased in the Mansion of Night. And do not cross us.

“Like I said, I have no dreams of grandeur or aspirations of power. I’m just here to have a good time.”

We shall see.

Nyx sat up in her throne. “What is your name, immortal emperor?”

He bowed in a cordial manner. “My name is Gregorio Uberti. I am a human born during the Renaissance and made immortal by Nero in 1527.”

“The year that Rome was sacked,” Nyx observed.

Uberti smiled. “I opened the gate. My initiation into the Triumvirate.”

Nyx sat back, a small smirk on her face. “I see. I will send you Hecate when you have your contraption ready for her.”

“Thank you.”

Nyx waved her hand and sent the emperor back to his office.

A human after my own heart, Tartarus said, pleased. I, too, am only doing this because it amuses me. I will leave the rubble to whoever wants it after I’m done.

And that was truly what made Tartarus the most dangerous threat currently on record for the demigods.

Kronos seduced demigods with promises of revenge and justice, but his whole aim was power and his own revenge, with zero regard for those that followed him. Gaea and her Giants, once again, were motivated by revenge, the Giants desiring another shot at the gods, Gaea wanting to overthrow the gods that had stood there in complacency while her body was destroyed by the mortals. Apophis was the embodiment of hate and had a fervent desire to just destroy everything. Loki came within a hair’s breadth of victory, and may very well have won, if not for the bullshit power of friendship expressed during the flyting with Magnus. Finally, when it came to the Triumvirate, the reason they failed was simply because they sucked.

And also because these were children’s stories at the end of the day, and having the villains defeat the teenage heroes was taboo.

Tartarus was not committing to his own plan of world domination in the name of revenge against Percy and Annabeth because they escaped him, nor was he doing this in the name of his sister Gaea, nor was he disgruntled with how the Olympians had been handling their responsibilities. He didn’t hate all of creation and harbored a burning desire to destroy everything. He didn’t have a desire to cheat fate, nor did he have a desire to rule the world.

In one respect, Tartarus was only doing this for shits and giggles.

It was just that he was putting forth true effort into it.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Oh, yeah. It’s all falling apart.

At over 11k words, I feel this opening chapter is long enough. It would’ve been out sooner, but climbing 250-foot-tall, and higher, towers is very physically demanding work, and leaves one quite exhausted after the day is over.

But anyway.

I hope you enjoyed the set up of things to come. Picking up right where Piper’s Untold Story left off, with Piper telling the gang about her adventures and her new ideology, and then injecting some of my headcanons.

I firmly believe that at some point Percy and Annabeth had the quandary about whether they were exercising an appropriate amount of involvement during the Imperial War, and justifying their nonparticipation with the “they’ve done enough” argument. Further, in accordance with the dialogue on page 386 of Tower of Nero, Percy reveals “‘We found out [that Jason died and New Rome was nearly overrun] as soon as we arrived,’” and knowing that Grover was with them on their road trip, this inarguably means that Grover was lying to them the entire ride. Now, it is unclear when Grover left them as he does not feature in ToN, but as far as this story goes, he was with them all the way to the front door, and only finally told them about what they were driving into.

I hope the dialogue and the portrayals were believable and true to their characters.

Finally, one of my favorite headcanons, calling back to the first iteration of the Chaos War, very angry Romans. The situation herein was basically the same as it was the first time, which is why I didn’t go into detail with it. Angry, bitter, grieving Romans take Percy to court over not being there during the Battle of San Francisco Bay, the court rules in Percy’s favor, but it’s a hollow victory because NRU is still closed on account of there not being enough people left alive to even open the college. If you want to know what math I did to arrive at the number of survivors I did, it’s in my Essays and Other Drabbles on my Ao3, in my ToA essay.

Jumping into the villains, it’s still the classic “all the bad guys team up” scenario that’s since become cliché in the fandom when it comes to “Chaos fics,” but now it’s got my special twist on it. It’s also really fun for me to write the cacodemons as the children of Nyx and Tartarus instead of Nico, because the idea that the monsters are secret sleeper nightmares is so much more gripping and lore-accurate compared to the shit show that was TSatS, with Nyx saying that the cacodemons are hers and Nico’s created from his bad memories.

Finally, the New Triumvirate. Last time, I just brought back the old ones, but here I’m doing something different. Another of my favorite headcanons is that the Triumvirate is basically your standard long-running secret evil organization. You know, the kind that’s “manipulated global events from the shadows for centuries,” and “they control every government on the planet,” and “they rig all elections,” and “they have multiple monopolies on everything,” etc. Following this, especially because of magic, it makes perfect sense that the emperors would definitely have successors lined up, or at least there would be high-enough ranking members that would step up and take over in the event of their demises, and that they would definitely have a hand in most global affairs because of how old, wealthy, and powerful they are.

Hence Gregorio Uberti revealing how the Triumvirate created the worst alphabet organizations in the world, and how he can use them to hurt the demigods in ways no monster or a god could ever do. Well, technically speaking. It’s less that a monster or a god couldn’t have demigods publicly arrested for domestic terrorism, and more that they wouldn’t bother. They’d just kill the demigod and be done with it.

In the end, the build-up to the beginning of the Chaos War is still not over. Things will really ramp up next chapter, and it will most likely be a cliffhanger ending in their arrivals.

You already know who’s coming to the party.

In the meantime, please Fav, Follow, and Review the first chapter of the biggest, grandest, most epic fanfic I will most like ever write!

Chapter Text

Ah, the glory days are certainly behind us, my old friends. An opening weekend of four Reviews, fourteen Follows, and nine Favs. The nostalgia is getting to me as I recall the openings for the other stories after Leviathan, with Reviews climbing into the 20s and 30s, Favs and Follows going even higher than that sometimes.

Such is life, though.

Thank you to everyone that’s still here, and welcome to anyone that’s only just now getting here!

The rising action continues herein, though there’s more focus on the heroes this time as they get a wonderful taste of the world they saved. Well, more so Percy and Annabeth because they decided to live in the shithole known as California, and go to college at UC Berkeley.

Disclaimer: I don’t own PJO or any other crossover

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“Sorry. No white people allowed on Saturdays.”

Riordan saying that “Percy Jackson always takes place ‘now’” is really a cursed statement. It opens the door for current relevant pop culture references, like Frank deciding to do the “Wakanda thing” back in 2019 during the final battle in the Tyrant’s Tomb, referencing Avengers: Endgame, and gives Riordan grounds to bring up relevant social situations, such as his 2020 book Un Natale Mezzosangue, which is set during the COVID pandemic of 2020, and Percy and Nico are wearing masks as they travel around Florence to find Annabeth the perfect Christmas gift (and there’s an interesting statement in the book that demigods can’t actually get sick from the virus, but they can spread it, hence the masks, begging the interesting question as to how a demigod’s immune system actually works). On the flip side of things, the PJO timeline always being concurrent to “now” also means that everything that happens in our day to day lives up to the very day you are reading this happens in Percy’s “world,” which includes this very ironic and morbidly humorous stink from UC Berkeley back in April of 2024.

The Gill Tract Community Farm, an agriculture research site launched in 2013 by the university and the public, came under fire for text messages from a manager of the farm claiming that “Saturdays are exclusively BIPOC,” with BIPOC not actually being some kind of disease but an acronym for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. Now, as to whether there were actually any instances of white people being banned from the farm, or if there were guards posted about ready to tell white people off, was actually a great question, but the drama of this present fictional situation is perfect for the main idea of this scene.

Holding hands at the main entrance to the farm, Percy and Annabeth both nearly came unglued as this group of black and brown people stood almost in a wall to prevent them from simply walking in and seeing the farm for themselves.

“Excuse me?” Annabeth demanded. “What do you mean no white people on Saturdays? You literally can’t do that!”

“Yes, we can. You white people are the main causes of violences and discrimination today, and so we can definitely set aside one day of the week for all of us BIPOC to be free from you.”

Annabeth actually stepped forward, ready to put that claim about white people and violence into action. This event was anachronistic to the last chapter, the ending scene of which with Uberti taking place a year after Piper’s IM party with the others. This current event was in the early Fall of Percabeth’s first college semester, as freshman, and so the sting of Jason’s death, the trial, NRU being closed, and their own emotional and psychological turmoil were all still very fresh, meaning Annabeth was operating on a very short fuse.

Her tolerance for bullshit was at an all-time low, and had just been exceeded.

However, before Annabeth could do something really dumb, like turning these racists into fertilizer with her bear hands, Percy pulled her back. He glowered at the racists with the same wolf stare that he once used on the street vermin he encountered with Hazel and Frank on their quest together, the same wolf stare that made even hardened gangbangers shy away in fear. It had the same effect today, with the racists breaking out into sweats as they all stepped backwards.

“We will be taking this up with the president,” Percy vowed in a voice barely above a guttural growl.

They left the farm without looking back. When they got back to the car, Annabeth finally released her enraged scream.

Percy wasn’t about to scream, but he was definitely fuming.

Annabeth eventually ran out of breath and started panting until her breathing evened back out. “Is that what Hazel felt like back in the 40s?”

“Probably not,” Percy said logically. “She was just a kid that didn’t know who she was. We do. We know that we could’ve slaughtered those assholes. We know that we put our lives on the line for everyone in this world at least twice, meaning we fought to save those assholes, meaning our friends died to save those assholes, and now here we are.”

Annabeth chuckled mirthlessly with a sardonic smile. “Then I guess this is how Jesus feels. Died for everyone so they could have eternal life, only for just about everyone to spit in his face and use his name as a curse phrase.” She looked at Percy with a borderline crazed look in her eye. “Maybe we should drop this whole college thing and go join Piper on her crusade against the forces of evil. Go kill the bad guys and make the world a safer place by spilling an ocean of blood and stacking a mountain of corpses.”

Percy grabbed her hand in both of his. “Annabeth,” he said soothingly.

She leaned onto his shoulder and started crying.

He set his chin upon her head and maneuvered his arm around her to start rubbing her back under her bra. “It’s okay,” he whispered, “we’re okay, we’re okay.”

Annabeth cried until Percy’s shirt was drenched with her tears before her cries became sniffles, and her sniffles became hiccups, and then she was finally calm enough to speak coherently again.

“I guess we shouldn’t be surprised,” she said. “Our entire lives have been one struggle after another. One more battle. One more foe. One more quest. I guess we were stupid to think we were finally going to get a break and things were going to get better once we reached college. Naiveté, I suppose.” Annabeth pinched the bridge of her nose as she let out a long, heavy sigh. “This is going to be the rest of our lives, isn’t it? Maybe the gods and the monsters will finally leave us alone, but now we face another horror: normal life. Now we get to live in the world we saved. Now we get to deal with all the racism, the inequality, the injustice, the politics, the taxes, the crime—and just the general unfairness that’s commonplace in the ‘real’ world. Maybe we really should take a page from Piper’s book, and start figuring out ways to make the world a better place.”

Percy was once again staring a thousand yards into the distance, not at all liking the implications of this debacle, or the implications of anything Annabeth had said regarding their potential future of struggle, strife, and hardship out here in the real world, the world away from all the quests, and gods, and monsters, nor did he like the implications of what “getting involved” would look like in regards to making the world a better place. Percy could only envision something like the Punisher, where they became brutal, bloody mercenaries that, like Annabeth only halfway joked, killed a lot of people, or they became like the Justice Lords from those episodes of Justice League, forcefully taking over the planet with their powers, and then using their powers to enforce order around the globe.

Percy couldn’t help but gulp at a sudden thought that popped into his head. “We’re about to become Luke.”

Annabeth looked at him. “Huh?”

“We’re about to become like Luke,” percy clarified. “Obsessed with revenge and justice, punishing the wicked and all that, and we’re going to lose ourselves. You know, become the very thing we swore to destroy, or live long enough to become the villains instead of dying as heroes.”

Annabeth’s mouth set into a thin line. “We need to keep in touch with Piper. If she’s really going to do that crusader stuff, we need to keep her grounded.”

“Yeah,” Percy agreed.

The two sat in silence for a few minutes, thinking, contemplating their life choices, before Percy looked at Annabeth. “Wanna go to the park?”

“I would love to go to the park.”

They went to the nearby Cesar Chavez Park located on a small peninsula. They parked, got out, went down the trail a little bit while holding hands, and then jumped into the water. Holding on to each other, warm and cozy and clean despite the bay’s temperature and general filthiness thanks to Percy’s powers, all their woes and worries melted away for a short while.

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Many months later, in the middle of March, coming up on the one-year anniversary of Jason’s death, Annabeth was in one of the many student lounges of the university, alone save for one other guy whose name she didn’t know. Percy was currently in a class, much to her endless chagrin. She hated being away from her boyfriend for any extended amount of time these days.

She especially hated it right now because she really needed a shoulder to cry on.

“But why?” she demanded rhetorically to the email on the laptop in front of her. Yet another rejection letter from a do-not-reply sender telling her that the company appreciated the time she took to apply, but they were moving on with other candidates. Followed but by an “encouraging” message to keep applying within the company, and to not be discouraged.

“Why what?” the stranger asked.

Annabeth looked over at him. He looked tall, but he was sitting down. Shaggy brown hair parted in the middle, stubble along his cheeks, chin, and under his nose, lanky, hairy arms, brown eyes, wearing khaki pants, a leather belt, dress shoes, and a school polo. He looked ready to go to the office.

“Sorry,” he said. “I heard you scream at the computer and curiosity got the better of me.”

Annabeth shook her head with a sigh. “No, it’s okay. Just—I’ve been applying for summer internships since November, and here it is the middle of March, and I’m still getting rejected from everywhere I apply to, but I don’t know why. No one is telling me why. I mean, I’ve got a 4.0 GPA, I have relevant intern experience from high school back in Manhattan, and I have recommendation letters from my old boss and my professors here—just what the heck am I missing!?”

“Well, I was going to say it’s an experience thing, that you’re just a freshman in college and these people are looking for juniors and seniors, but if you already internship experience…” he trailed off, glancing at Annabeth, gauging her, and then going back to his own computer.

“What?” she said. “What do you think it is?”

“I don’t know you enough to know how you’ll react, and I’d rather not get expelled because you went and told someone that I said a thing.”

“I’m an open mind.”

The young man shrugged. “M’kay….On your screening questions, the ones where they ask you your gender, race, and ethnic background, what are you putting?”

And just like that, Annabeth knew exactly where this was going, and she appreciated why this guy was hesitant to present his theory. In short, UC Berkeley was a largely liberal college, and Annabeth had to be extremely careful in who she talked to, and what she said in general. It wasn’t that she was a hard conservative and bled Republican red—she was actually what would be considered to be a political moderate, neither expressly liberal nor expressly conservative—it was that holding any kind of counter views could be a social death sentence.

A brief example of when Annabeth had to choose her words carefully was when reparations were brought up one day in class. It was the standard rhetoric: white people needed to give black people their money because of slavery and Jim Crow and racism, etc., and Annabeth had to stop her ADHD from blurting out the standard counterarguments: slavery was 150 years ago, most of you can’t even prove where, if anywhere, in your family tree there were slaves, everyone was slighted by someone in the course of history, so, by your logic, everyone should be giving everyone reparations, black people are responsible for killing the most black people, and black people commit the most violence against black people, and so on and so forth.

This was only one example of where Annabeth had to tread carefully. There were many other instances in which she had to keep a tight lid on her tongue, lest she turn a neutral situation into a hostile one. As for Percy, whenever he encountered these situations, he wisely walked away, his chief reason being Annabeth’s secondary reason, that being he personally knew a black girl from the 1940s and he personally knew a Native Cherokee.

When the demigods had their big reunion last Fall per Piper and Leo’s Fall Breaks, the conversation did get political as Piper pushed her agenda/plan/worldview/whatever you wanted to call it one more time, mostly just trying to pick Annabeth’s brain as she searched for guidance on the harder, more sensitive problems plaguing planet Earth. As in, dealing with the likes of the cartels, gangs, human traffickers, and pedophiles was easy, but what was the best way to handle touchy political topics like illegal immigration, taxes, centralized banking, gay and transgender rights, as just a few examples.

Of course, asking for opinions on politics always led to discussions on politics, and it was a testament to the friendship of the demigods that even after a discussion like that, that they were all still good friends. Though it did help that they were all on the same page, anyway.

As someone who wanted to let the past remain in the past, Hazel was quite appalled with the notion of reparations, and also offended by the notion that black people today were so apparently incapable of providing for themselves that they were demanding white people do it for them.

Piper was quite bemused by the idea of reparations, finding it ironic that such an argument was almost always centered around black people and slavery, and never around Native Americans and the literal genocides they faced at the hands of Americans. Not to downplay slavery, of course, but to up-play the heinous things that happened to Natives, which tied back to the standard counterargument about how everyone deserved reparations.

“Even in a world full of racial bias, there’s still racial bias,” Piper had said. “Every time something about racism comes up in the news, it’s always about black people. Sometimes it’s about Hispanics. When was the last time any of you ever saw something on the news about how the Natives are mistreated? Or even Asians, for that matter? It’s always about black people.”

“Squeaky wheel?” Leo suggested.

“And the idea that Native Americans ‘lost’ so therefore they don’t have the right to say anything about anything?” Calypso added, drawing upon what rudimentary knowledge she had of US history from her remedial lessons. “They just need to be quiet and stay in their reservations, thankful that they’re even allowed to live and have a reservation?”

Piper pointed at her with an affirmative nod. “There are people that legitimately think that way, yeah.”

“Just like there are people that argue that Native Americans get a ton of handouts in the form of scholarships and tax breaks, and so they need to stop complaining,” Annabeth said with a twisted smirk as she played a little bit of devil’s advocate.

Piper nodded at that notion, too. “In short, it’s a mess. Any suggestions on how to clean it up?”

Leo snorted, mouth working up into a mean smile. “Kill everyone and start over?”

Piper snorted too, lips curling into a smirk. “We’ll keep it on the table.”

After that, there was an uncomfortable silence as everyone started swaying to Piper’s mindset. The power and responsibility thing, the “we saved the world, now we have to make it a better place” idea, which smacked straight into the “I just want to live my life and be done with this hero stuff” mentality. It was a yucky feeling, the conflicting mindsets warring against each other.

And now, back in the present, in the student lounge with this guy she’d only ever interacted with today, Annabeth was once again finding herself embroiled with racial discrimination.

“You think companies are turning me down because I’m checking off ‘white’?”

The young man looked at her. “I created a fake profile with a fake resume as a black man with a worse GPA than I actually have, and the only job experience I put on there is Popeye’s Chicken.” Annabeth couldn’t stop the derisive rush of air that left her nose. “I performed a little social experiment by applying to the same companies I applied to with my main resume, and where my white profile got rejection letters, my fake black one got the acceptance letters. ‘Congratulations! After careful consideration, our hiring team would like to schedule a phone screening with you! What’s a good day and time?’”

Annabeth was utterly appalled. “You’re kidding.”

He moved his laptop to show her his emails. He switched the tab back and forth between his main email, and the fake one he had created. Sure enough, the same companies that rejected his main profile were sending interview request emails to his fake one.

“It’s been said that money cannot buy votes just like race has no effect on hiring…except that money can buy votes,” the young man said sardonically. “Companies have to reach those diversity quotas. HR did a demographic survey and found out the white percentage is too high, and so they made the decree to give greater consideration to non-white people.” He shrugged dispassionately. “Shit’s fucked.”

“Do you know this for a fact, or are you just speculating?”

“My uncle is a hiring manager. What I told you is literally what HR told him to do, and for the sake of his job, he does just that. However, he gets his revenge on that bullshit by standing there and watching as the diversity hires break stuff and cost the company millions every year.”

Annabeth stared at him, mouth slightly agape, and then she closed her eyes and chuckled mirthlessly. “Well, damn. Heh. So what are we supposed to do?”

“Leave this shithole state,” he said seriously. “I’m only here because of my uncle. He was able to pay for everything. After I graduate this May, I’m moving back to Louisiana.”

Annabeth’s mouth set into a thin line. “I can’t do something like that. My boyfriend and I…we wanted to move out here for a reason. We’re from Manhattan.”

“An equally disgusting place.”

“It’s not that bad.”

“Sure. So long as you ignore the enormous cost of living, the squatters, the general crime rate, and the gigantic influx of illegals that’s going to cost the city twelve billion dollars to handle them all, it’s absolutely a great place to live.”

Annabeth swallowed heavily. It was something she and Percy didn’t like to think about, the wellbeing of Sally, Paul, and Estelle on the other side of the continent given the observable decline of the city.

“Anyway, I need to go.” The young man shut his laptop, packed up, and bid farewell. “Have a nice day.”

“Yeah. Thanks. You too.”

Annabeth sat back down, a fresh wave of despair threatening to send her into another crying fit. Jason was dead, New Rome was still almost a ghost town, NRU was still closed and was currently being projected to still be closed in the Fall and possibly even the Spring of next year, and now this. Now she and Percy wouldn’t even be able to make a living in this city because of their skin.

They fought tooth and nail to save the world, watched as their friends died to save the world, and this was the reward the world gave them: just more pain and suffering.

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Anyone that knew Leo knew that he just wasn’t cut out for the standardized education system. His ADHD made him too hyper for the classroom, and when he did try to take meds to curb it, his immune system completely demolished the chemicals. It wasn’t as if this was some kind of bad thing, however. It was just a fact of life that there were many kids that didn’t fit within the system, and there were plenty of alternatives to public school, anyway.

As such, when Leo turned eighteen, two years after the summer of the Imperial War in which he was sixteen, being fifteen during the summer of the Giant War, he dropped out in his senior year, was able to get his GED, and went straight to work as a local mechanic. Day One was all Leo needed to establish himself as a near-godlike machine expert—because he was. Once upon a time, he merely touched a helicopter, and the influx of mechanical knowledge enabled him to sufficiently operate the machine. Also once upon a time, he designed and built a Greek trireme outfitted with plenty of techno-sorcery, and secretly built a dragon into the frame.

As a fifteen-year-old.

Leo had only gotten better with time.

His ability to simply touch a vehicle and learn everything about made him unparalleled in his field. There was no speculation, no guessing, no inferencing—Leo knew exactly what was wrong with a vehicle, and knew exactly how to fix it.

His reputation as a top-notch mechanic quickly grew thanks to so many people on social media praising his skills, and thanks to that, more and more people started bringing their business to the shop Leo worked for. Business meant money, of course, and we all know, the love of money is the root of all evil. Leo’s boss was a good man until he started seeing dollar signs, and soon Leo found himself being put on the schedule for ten, sometimes even twelve-hour shifts, six days a week, and sometimes even seven days. In short, Leo was being overworked.

It was hardly as if that was a big deal, though. You didn’t spend two years living with a daughter of Hecate and not learn how to use the Mist. One day, Leo simply marched up to his greedy boss and snapped his fingers.

Schedule fixed.

And early retirement, too.

Leo sent the greedy man on his way, using the Mist to have him tender his resignation and leave Leo in charge of the shop. No one complained, because everyone loved Leo. He showed up on time, showed out, got along with everyone, knew how to do his job, and his girlfriend not only was great eye candy, but could make some mean tamales.

Now the owner of the shop, Leo got to experience the horrors of management. He suddenly had to be responsible for other people and their mishaps, and actually had to enforce discipline in the shop—making sure people showed up, they stayed their entire shift, they didn’t break anything, they didn’t take anything—and he had to make schedules, manage schedule conflicts, keep track of PTO, find coverage on the days that too many people wanted off and there weren’t enough people available for work, and even send people home on the weird days that there wasn’t enough business and the shop wasn’t making enough money to afford the hours.

He also had to manage the finances of the building. The building needed electricity, water, and gas to heat up the water, and so all of those were billed from the city. There was also the insurance that covered the building, and the insurance that covered the equipment inside the building. The paychecks to all the workers was another expense that needed to be maintained down to the second, though luckily there was a computer for that. Of course, there were also all the taxes that were tied to owning and operating a small business within the city limits.

Then all of these bills had to be weighed against how much profit the store was making from service.

Finally, on top of managing his employees, and managing finances, Leo also had to manage customers. Just like it was different with his coworkers now that he was the boss, it was different with the customers, too. The expectations were different, being that since Leo was now in charge, everyone was going to be able to perform like Leo, and it just wasn’t the case. The mistakes made by his employees now reflected on him, and the negative reviews left by disgruntled people quickly circulated around the internet, and Leo could track a noticeable drop in revenue during the course of his management.

A classic example of when a dream became reality, and reality wasn’t as kind as you had hoped.

Leo’s dream literally went up in flames when he had to fire somebody on the grounds of time theft, and they retaliated by breaking into the shop in the middle of the night, and starting a fire that burned the place down. It took Leo three months to become manager, and four months to lose the shop.

A poetic seven.

What prevented Leo from committing suicide out of despair was A) the love and support of Calypso, B) the love and support of his official adoptive mothers, Emmie and Jo, C) the love and support of the other denizens of the Waystation, D) the support of the people of Indianapolis, whom had come to see Leo as something of a hometown hero, E) the fat insurance check, and F) the fact that Leo couldn’t bear it to face Jason in Elysium (assuming Leo achieved Elysium on account of his heroic deeds being weighed against suicide) and upon being asked, “Why are you here so soon?”, the answer not being “I died in battle defending those I loved,” but instead, “Life hit me hard and I couldn’t stand it anymore.”

Of course, while Leo was surrounded by a spectacular support group, and he did receive an insurance check for the property, the check was only so much, and only for so much. The previous owner didn’t have what was called “business interruption” insurance, and Leo didn’t even know it existed, and what that meant was that Leo didn’t get any insurance money to cover income, meaning no money to cover the equivalent in the bills, property taxes, and payroll. He had to let everyone go, and the promise of “I’ll come back when you get the shop rebuilt” only meant so much.

Another dose of salt in the wound was that the arsonist, while charged with a level four arson felony, was only sentenced by the court to three years in prison and a fine of three thousand dollars due to the arsonist’s young age of 20 and his spectacular waterworks performance in court. This asshole burned down Leo’s dream job, and only got three years in prison for it, and a fine that was barely a slap to the wrist. Of course, the recurring “three” didn’t help Leo’s emotional state, given how important that number had been in his life.

Anyway, Leo took to freelance, self-employed mechanic work, using Festus as his means of transportation and his tool box, setting up a small website and a phone number, both of which were operated by Calypso. They used the insurance to money to start rebuilding the shop, and used the money they made from Leo’s self-employed job to start saving up while the construction crew cleared the debris and rebuilt everything.

It wasn’t much, but it was the beginning of their old hope to have their very own place with their own name on it.

Leo did not tell his friends about his ordeal, desiring not to bother them with his problems, and also desiring to handle it himself.

Unfortunately, Leo and Calypso would never get the chance to own and operate their own shop.

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At the two-year mark for everyone else after the Imperial War, where Leo was now self-employed, things were okay. Percy and Annabeth were gearing up for their junior year of college at UCB, Frank and Hazel were still praetors of the legion, the legion having grown back to full strength at 250 legionaries, but they were mostly young, only eleven, twelve, or thirteen, so nowhere the impressive showing of nineteen, twenty, and twenty-one-year-olds—some even older depending on when they started their service—that it was before the Battle of San Fransisco Bay. New Rome was completely rebuilt, though the college still remained closed on account of still not having enough staff and students to open.

Sad as it was, Percy and Annabeth would never get to attend NRU. They were forever stuck at UCB for their college career.

Thalia and Reyna had talked with Artemis about getting some Hunters together, and striking out into the world to fight the evils of mankind. Artemis agreed, but she gave them the dire warning that if they wanted to pursue that course, they were going to see the most horrible things their minds couldn’t didn’t even know were possible. Artemis warned them that there was a reason that the Hunt stuck to monsters and animals, instead of going after the bad guys, and that was because the Hunters that did either ended up losing their minds and getting corrupted by the psychological trauma of the things they saw, or they gave up on mankind entirely and just wished death upon the whole species.

Thalia and Reyna took that warning to heart, and struck out with a small band of older, far more experienced Hunters, ones that had tasted the horrors of the world, and jumped out before they became too damaged. All of them were handpicked by Artemis specifically for the task at hand, of course, for the sake of the youngest girls in the Hunt.

For six months, they were going strong. Using magic to see across time and space—specifically the technique of essence projection, wherein a demigod could take control of their dreams and send their conscious into the past and future, and see all over the world in the present—and teleportation magic, the girls were all over the place, fighting evil and saving the day in that ideal fashion you expected superheroes to operate. Or at least, superheroes that were willing to kill.

Oh, yes. The older Hunters made it expressly clear that they were not Batmen. They were Punishers and Red Hoods. Not that Reyna had problems with that. She’d killed enemy demigods during the Battle of Mt. Othrys, killed pirates aboard the Queen Anne’s Revenge because 300 years as a guinea pig left them starved for attention, shall we say, and they did not care that Reyna was only twelve, and Reyna had even been willing to execute legionaries when she was praetor, Bryce Lawrence being a prime example.

Reyna was no stranger to shedding blood.

Thalia, who had seen plenty of gore, needed a little bit of time to get used to killing, though it helped when the people she killed objectively deserved death. Rapists, pedophiles, and murderers being prime examples. You know, the standard filth.

It was just that the standard filth was everywhere, and did not end, and was spirit-crushingly stereotypical. The Hunters went after many sects of the cartels in the Southwest, and laid waste to probably hundreds of Hispanics. Taking on the gangs in the big cities meant putting a noticeable dent in the black population, something that was morbidly ironic given that one of the Hunters was a black girl rescued from a plantation back in 1713.

“I watched my people die in the name of freedom and equality for three centuries, and all they do with freedom today is kill each other, do drugs, start fights in schools, steal things from stores, and the men dodge responsibility by running out on the women they impregnate, and the women kill their babies before they’re even born, and they all point their finger at the white man and demand that he come and fix all their problems,” the Hunter practically snarled one night around a camp fire.

The older Hunters were unphased and nonplussed, while Thalia and Reyna were too uncomfortable to do anything but nod.

Together, they busted up drug running operations, destroyed stockpiles of guns and ammo used by cartels, gangs, and other ilk; they put an end to human trafficking operations, rescuing hundreds of women, girls, and boys, getting them to hospitals with Mist-warped memories to keep the Hunters anonymous; looking into the future, they prevented as many rapes as they could, as many school shootings as they could, and rescued as many abused kids as they could; and never, ever was it anywhere close to enough. There was always another cartel, another gang, another rape, another murder, another shooting, another supplier of guns—the never-ending war.

And that was just the violent crime stuff in the United States. Never mind the cartel activity in Mexico and further South. Never mind the upheaval in Ukraine and Israel as of the time of this story. Never mind the apparent Muslim invasion of Europe. Never mind politics and corporations and society as a whole. Never mind other injustices like the way the credit system worked, the systems of usury employed by the banks, insurance and absurd hospital bills, and the price of EpiPens.

For all the bloodshed, there was always more. A never-ending river of wasted life.

True to the word of Artemis, it weighed on Thalia and Reyna’s souls, seeing with their own eyes the depths of human depravity. The things the cartels did to people, the things rich people did to sex slaves, the things parents did to their own children—there were some nights where Thalia and Reyna really wished they had let Gaea win, because at least she would’ve wiped out all of this evil filth.

It came to pass, only ten months into their own crusade, that Thalia and Reyna had enough when they were too late to stop a madwoman from using a curling iron on her five-year-old son to melt his genitals off. Reyna literally tore the woman apart, ripping her arms and legs from their sockets with her demigod strength that was buffed from the blessing of Artemis, and then crushing the woman’s skull between her hands for good measure. The poor boy died from the injury, and Thalia didn’t so much as pray to her uncle so much as she bellowed at him from the overworld.

Hades personally arrived on the scene, rising from the twisting shadows in dramatic fashion. There was no sneer on his face, no glare nor glower at his niece shouting at him. Only pain. The face of a weary soul.

It was no wonder that Thalia was in hysterics over this particular child, given his blonde hair and lifeless blue eyes.

“I will take him to Elysium,” Hades said softly.

Thalia was so emotionally broken that she flung herself at her uncle, sobbing into his robes.

Reyna stood off to the side, her arms, chest, and face a bloody mess from her recent dismemberment operation. She looked at Hades. “Death comes for everyone regardless of everything, and death brings them all to you, and you’ve been doing this for over four-thousand years…” Reyna paused to swallow, her lower lip trembling as her eyes watered. “How-How m-many-”

“Too many,” Hades said with all the weight of a mountain range.

Reyna couldn’t take it anymore. She fell to her knees and wept, ten months of endless pain and suffering finally, officially, totally overwhelming her.

Hades extended a shadow and brought Reyna to him and Thalia, and the cold god of the Underworld just silently held them as their souls bled out, tortured and anguished by the atrocities they’d seen, atrocities that were only commonplace for the lord of the dead.

When the girls had calmed down enough to be coherent again, Hades said quietly, “I can erase your memories. Or alter them. That way you don’t have to carry them with you.”

Thalia wiped her eyes. “No. I-I need them. I-I can’t just…f-forget.”

Hades nodded and looked at Reyna.

She shook her head. “I need to keep them, too.”

Hades nodded again.

“How have you done it?” Thalia asked. “To have seen this shit for thousands of years, and still be…sane?”

“I have a wife,” Hades said. “A confidant, my shoulder to lean on, a person that I can bear my heart out to, someone who will always be there to listen—six months out of the year, anyway. And I take breaks. Small vacations from my work to get away and breathe for a moment.”

“Breaks,” Thalia mumbled. “I don’t want to ever go back and do this again.”

“I understand.”

“Does that make me a bad person? That I tried to do it, and after ten months, I don’t want to do it anymore, like, ever? I just want to spend the rest of my days being happy with the Hunters at this point.”

“Do not underestimate the good things you have done, niece,” Hades said sagely. “You have saved many lives, even if it doesn’t feel like it. You will yet save many more. Give it time, maybe a year or two, or two hundred, but do not give up.”

“O-Okay,” Thalia choked before clearing her throat. “Okay.”

Hades looked at Reyna. “Yes, sir,” she said.

The god gently picked up the mangled, naked corpse of the poor boy, but before he left, Thalia had another question for him.

“Why did you come up here? To us? Let us…you know…cry on you? You’re Hades. You don’t…do…that kind of stuff.”

“It’s late spring,” Hades answered. “Persephone is with her mother right now.”

Thalia and Reyna understood. His shoulder to lean on was gone from him. Today, he needed them as much as they needed him. Or rather, they just needed someone right then and there.

Following this incident, the girls were quick to reach out to Piper, at least to tell her that they tried, and what they did, and what it did to them, and then it became their desperate plea for Piper to give up on her crusade, or at least wait several more years and get some happy memories of life stored in her head. Piper only stared at them in silence for a time through the Iris Message, her eyes dark and sunken in, her expression neutral.

Thalia and Reyna both understood that in the ten months since their last conversation, Piper had already started. She had already seen some of the horrors of mankind through her controlled dreams, and had either fought them herself, or dispatched one of the Native American spirits that now followed her to take care of it.

“I know,” Piper said.

With those simple words, Thalia and Reyna both knew that she would not be swayed nor deterred. She already knew what she was getting into, and she was resolute, her resolve unshaken.

The two Hunters were both grieved by this.

“Just…” Reyna started, but stopped as she struggled to find the right words. “Just don’t lose yourself.”

“If you need us, call,” Thalia said. “We’ll help.”

Piper nodded. “Thank you.”

They ended the Iris Message.

Speaking of Piper, two years after the summer of the Imperial War, she was done with her senior year of high school. On her mind was what she was going to do with her life now that she was graduated, how she was going to manage that work-life balance of the crusade and friends and family. In those two years, in accordance with her words to Thalia and Reyna, she had already been quite active with her powers.

Using essence projection in the same way the Hunters did, Piper was able to look across the town, the state, and the country itself, the extent of her concern for now. With the majority of the Native spirits looking to her for leadership following her victory over Incognito, Piper had access to a veritable army of supernatural beings. For her, it was easy to see things in her dreams, and then coordinate with Jisdu to deploy the spirits across the states. Given the spirits’ negative disposition towards mankind in general, they had no problem with Piper sending them after criminal scum with lethal intent.

Of course, that meant that Piper was making herself bear witness to one horror after the other, and if it wasn’t for the support of Jisdu, her dad, her cousin Tsula, and Shel, Piper would be in the same boat as Thalia and Reyna: depressed, their hopes ruined and crushed, dabbling in misanthropy, with no hope for humanity and a desire to have nothing to do with the species. Just go off and do their own thing.

At this two-year mark, Piper hadn’t told her dad what she was doing, but Shel and Tsula knew, the former because Billy told her who Piper really was and Piper confirmed it, and the latter because Piper told her everything and Jisdu brought her into the fold during the height of the Incognito incident. Having two people in her life that knew what she was doing and had her back really helped keep her mental state in check.

Make no mistake: Piper, Thalia, and Reyna had seen some fucked up shit.

Piper’s two years in high school were a blur. Given who she was and what she did, she didn’t have the time to get involved in school stuff. No extracurriculars like cheerleading, basketball, softball, or volleyball, no after-school clubs, no school functions like plays or concerts, and the one time Piper and Shel were underneath the Friday night lights together, Piper had to go fight a rogue rattlesnake spirt that was long as a football field before it slithered onto the actual football field.

It made Piper sad, but that was the price of her chosen life. She didn’t get to experience the joys of high school that most everyone else did, like the glory of winning a state championship, or being picked for the leading role in the play, or achieving the distinction of being in the top ten percent of her class, nor did Piper do all the bad girl teenage stuff like skip school for the day, or skip in the middle of the day, or do drugs in the restroom.

Nope, Piper was basically a nobody. She mostly made B’s while pulling a few C’s and some A’s, and she kept her head down and out of the spotlight. Other than fighting rogue spirits and the odd monster that somehow found Piper in the sea of teenage hormones, the wildest thing Piper ever did in high school was make out with Shel in the library bathroom, which led to a fingering session, which luckily concluded with the final bell ringing, allowing them to legally leave campus and not have to spend the rest of the school day in wet panties.

That being said, Piper did experience at least one common joy in high school, that being losing her virginity. It was the summer of Piper’s eighteenth birthday, prior to her senior year, one year after dating Shel. Shel had asked Piper in advance if, after a year of dating and being on third base for six months by that point, she wanted to finally go all the way, with tongues and toys, and Piper had said yes. So, Shel and Piper went off camping, everyone with half a brain figuring what they were really going to do, something that took Tristan a moment to accept, the fact that his baby girl was an adult now, and could do adult things like have sex, and the sex in question being with another girl, and that was exactly what Shel and Piper did during their night out after getting their tent set up.

To put it in simple, vulgar terms: Shel railed Piper like a train with her strap.

Piper’s limp after her first time being penetrated all the way was short-lived, but her glow lasted all week.

Moving on, when graduation finally arrived, it was all but superficial for Piper. For just about everyone, graduation meant either a few months of a break before going to college, or the beginning of going full-time at whatever job they already have. There were outliers, of course, like those deadbeat kids that didn’t want to go to college nor did they have a job, and just wanted to spend their days sleeping in and playing video games, possibly smoking weed while they were at it. To that point, Piper was an outlier as well, because she hadn’t committed to college, nor did she have a job anymore.

She had quit working at the Cherokee giftshop some time ago in order to better manage her time between school, training, her girlfriend, family, and her hero work.

What Piper was facing was just how much commitment was “required” from her. She graduated. She was no longer bound by state and federal law to spend eight hours a day at school. She was free now. She could truly dedicate her life to the cause, striking out into the world to get her hands dirty instead of deploying the spirits to do it for her, or she could continue what she was doing, training, dreaming, and delegating, while going to college with Shel at Northeastern State University, pursuing a political science degree with her girlfriend to get into a career of politics.

Quite poetic, fighting for the rights of the people by day, killing to protect the people by night.

The danger Piper saw in such a career, though, was her own human nature.

“What, exactly, are the ethics of using my charmspeak against political opponents?” Piper asked Jisdu one summer night after graduation with a sideways smile.

The trickster rabbit returned that sideways smile, a gleam in his eye.

“I would say that depends exclusively on what they’re opposing you on, their reasoning for opposing you, and how much you care for the person opposing you. Now, if we want to get to the question you’re really asking, that being using your charmspeak on corrupt politicians to either make them actually do their job and uphold their oath of office, or confess their crimes and have them removed, then hell yeah, go for it. Because what’s the alternative? Stand by and let them abuse their power, getting rich on bribes and embezzlement, deliberately causing harm to the people they’re supposed to represent? Or try to acquire evidence of their crimes, and then go through the headache of due process, with lawyers, judges, juries, potential corruption and foul play, all with no guarantee of conviction in the first place, and then they still get reelected anyway, rendering all that effort null and void.”

Piper’s sideways smile got a little bigger as she appreciated the over convoluted and broken justice system currently at work in the United States. Also her personal experience with said system a few months ago when she tried to play anonymous informant for a local investigation into a triple homicide, only for the suspect—who did kill the kids, Piper confirmed that with an essence projection into the past, thus demonstrating the unstoppable detective power of essence projection—to get acquitted because the defense attorney convinced the judge that the evidence was illegally acquired and fake.

An anonymous tipper telling the police exactly where to go get all of the evidence they needed was considered questionable enough to throw the case.

So Piper went and killed the man herself. Tossed a brick through a window, flew inside his house as a bird, transformed back into a human, partially turned her hand into a bear’s claw, and obliterated the man’s lower jaw and throat with a single swipe, sending blood, chunks of skin and muscle, and teeth and bone fragments flying everywhere. Piper took her brick, put it back through the window, flew back out, then collected her brick and left. Absolutely baffled the police with that one, because where forced entry was obvious, the tool used was missing, and it was obvious no human had killed the murderer given the damage to his face.

Oh, well.

“So,” Jisdu chirped, bringing Piper back from memory lane, “my opinion on the morality and ethics behind using your charmspeak on those pesky corrupt politicians? Fuckin’ send it, girl. Be the divine force you halfway are, rendering judgement and bringing about justice.”

Piper snorted.

“Now, using charmspeak on someone just because they disagree with you politically is a bit petty, but no less funny,” Jisdu continued, getting serious. “I support the idea of using your powers on those who deserve it, those who deserve it being those who have committed acts of evil, acts of evil being the standard stuff, like senseless murder, rape, theft, infidelity, extortion, blackmail, not coming to a complete stop at the stop sign, and so on and so forth—doesn’t require that much thought, really—but I do not support the idea of using your powers against those who mildly irritate you…for the most part. Maybe like a small prank or something-”

“Jisdu.”

“Do not become the very thing we’ve sworn to destroy,” said the spirit in a grave voice despite quoting a meme.

“Do you think there’s any truth in that other movie quote? You either die a hero, or live long enough to become the villain.”

And in that moment, Jisdu wasn’t a trickster spirit that enjoyed pranks and jokes. He was an ancient being that had walked the face of this Earth for thousands of years, and seen a great, great many things. He looked at Piper with old eyes, heavy eyes, wise eyes.

“I’ll be with you every step of the way, my friend. I will give you counsel, advice, and anything you ask of me that is within reason. Between me and the Holy Spirit within you, you will never be without guidance.”

Piper stared at Jisdu, then she nodded. “Thank you. I think I know what I need to do now.”

“Then let’s get to it.”

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

“Dad, we need to have a talk.”

About two hours later, Tristan was left staring at the table. He sipped his cranberry juice. “It’s funny. I think…that some part of me always knew that something was up. Something was different about your mother, about you, about that Delphi Private School and that whole…backpacking across Europe thing that you did that year, and the way you’ve been behaving these past two years, like there’s always something on your mind that you feel like you can’t talk to me about….Now I know why.”

“Dad-”

“Does anyone else know?”

“I told Billy. That night he kicked me in the face and convinced me to accept Christ, I told him everything. Then he told Shel, and I confirmed it all with her. Tsula knows. She’s known the longest, actually. She was going to be Jisdu’s next recruit for the powers before he ran into me the day of the bear attack at One Fire Field. She’s got a little bit of spiritual attunement and was able to see the Asgina for what they were. She confronted me about it, and I decided to bring her in. She’s actually killed a few Asgina herself with some magic darts and her blowgun.”

Tristan nodded stiffly. “Anyone else?”

“No,” Piper said.

Tristan finished his cranberry juice. “You know how you used to say that you were in process?”

“Yeah.”

“Now I’m in process.”

“Dad-”

Tristan held up his hand. “Are you going to college, and I guess keep doing that double life thing where you go to school during the day, and fight evil during the night, and have to go running out of class because, er, monsters attack in the middle of the day?”

Piper shook her head. “No, I’m not going to do that.”

Tristan looked at his precious little one. “You’re going to go out there yourself.”

“Yeah.”

Tristan stared at her, eyes slightly wide. He went to drink some cranberry juice, but it was already all gone. He sighed. “I forbid you,” he said, though it wasn’t even close to half-hearted. Just defeated and resigned. He knew he couldn’t stop her. “You don’t have my blessing. Uh, you’re grounded for life. You don’t get to leave your room unless I say you can. Er, no cell phone, computer, video games-”

“Dad.”

Tristan stood up so fast he threw the chair backwards, and he fully engulfed Piper in his arms, holding onto her with unbridled and unrivaled intensity. Tears were spilling down his face as he shook and did his best to keep himself together.

Piper hugged him back tightly and with so much love it hurt.

Tristan’s shuddering breaths turned into chortles, and then laughs. “Oh-ho, man,” he breathed. “Oh, man.”

“What?” Piper asked, stepping away.

“Just…appreciating how wild it is being your dad. Just…the memories I have of you when you were little, the silly things, and just…here we are. My baby girl is all grown up, a superhero, a demigod, and she’s graduated high school, and she’s…she’s going out there! She’s gonna fight the bad guys! She’s gonna make the world a better place.”

Tristan released another long, shuddering breath.

“Just…wow.” He sat back down, his expression wistful, his eyes glimmering with memories. “I remember when you were three years old. You were still getting the hang of wiping by yourself. Before we left to go to the store, you sat on the potty—on that special little seat I put on the big toilet seat so you didn’t fall in.”

Piper didn’t blush in embarrassment. She remembered that little seat because it had Pocahontas on it. She remembered being beyond thrilled whenever she had to potty and got to sit on it, and hated using public toilets and the toilet at the daycare because she didn’t have her Pocahontas seat with her. She sat down at the table, listening intensely as her dad recalled those moments that were priceless to him.

“And you sat on it, and you pooped, and you insisted on wiping by yourself. You were a big girl now, and wore big girl undies, and you didn’t need Daddy’s help to wipe. So I let you, standing on the other side of the door because I wanted to start teaching you about privacy, and you used your little stool to reach the sink to wash your hands, and it was all good. Then we went to the store, and you started scratching your butt, complaining it was itchy.”

Now Piper blushed. “Oh, no.”

Tristan grinned, looking down at his clasped hands on the table. “So I took you to the family restroom and pulled your pants down, and was like, Yep, that would be why your butt’s itchy, because you had this gigantic poop mark in your underwear.”

“Dad~!” Piper whined, smiling. “Gross!”

“You’re gross!” Tristan laughed. “I asked you, So, did you wipe?, and you said, Yeah, and then I asked, How many times?, and you said, Once, and then I had to explain to you how you had to wipe multiple times until the potty paper was all clean after you wiped.”

Piper giggled. “The potty paper?”

“That’s what you used to call it, yeah. And you were just absolutely baffled by the concept that you had to wipe multiple times. And then you broke down in tears and cried into my shoulder, saying that wiping so many times was too hard and that you never wanted to poop again.”

Piper couldn’t help but laugh at her younger self. “Those were the days. The greatest difficulty in life being having to wipe after I pooped.”

Tristan snorted. “Anyway, I cleaned you up and had to change your underwear because I was not letting you wear that nasty pair anymore. Being three and still in that accident range, I always packed a bag with extra clothes just in case. Good thing on that day.”

“Well, big thanks for teaching me how to wipe my butt,” Piper said with a grin.

“A most horrific experience, to be sure.” Tristan’s eyes swam with another memory. “Then there was that day when you were seven, and went a full ten days without wetting your bed, and you came running into my room, jumping on my bed, standing over me with this huge grin on your face, lifting your nightgown up to me your pull-up. See, Daddy? I’m dry! You were officially no longer a bedwetter, and we had ice cream for breakfast.”

“I remember that day,” Piper said wistfully.

Oh, how simple times really used to be. Back when her greatest obstacle was wiping, and her biggest accomplishment was being a dry sleeper that finally didn’t need pull-ups at night anymore.

“And now here we are,” Tristan said, his smile gone and his tone heavy with finality. “My beautiful, irreplaceable daughter, the greatest thing that ever happened to me, the most precious and invaluable person in my life…my baby girl…all grown up…”

Once a toddler that needed help going potty, now a young woman ready to fight the army of darkness.

Tristan cleared his throat and stood up. “Do you need help packing? Do you even need to pack? Er, were you about to leave, like, right now, or were you going to stick around for a few days?”

“Right now,” Piper said evenly. “There’s a cartel I’ve got my eye on. I’m going to deal with them first.”

“Going to deal with a cartel,” Tristan said quietly. “Uh, well, okay, then. Uh, be careful. The door’s always open. Don’t ever think you can’t come back-”

Piper blinked. “Uh, what I was aiming for right now, just starting out or however you want to think about it, was just, like, weeklong expeditions, and then be back here for the weekend. You know, take breaks. Work-life balance and all that.”

Tristan blinked, his mood instantly brightening. “O-Oh! I thought—well, I thought this was goodbye for pretty much—well, I thought you were going to go out there, and then I wouldn’t see or hear from you for months at a time. Like this was going to be a big, 24/7 operation for you, with you traveling all over the country nonstop.”

“Gods, no!” Piper exclaimed. “I’ve kind of been doing this for two years already, and I have seen…things. I’m going out there to get my hands dirty, I’m going to need you. I’m going to need to come back to my Dad so I can rest, detox, unwind, get ready to go back out there again, and probably use you as a free therapist.”

Tristan swallowed. “I’ll always be there for you. You can stay as long as you need.”

Piper hugged him again. “I love you, Dad. I’ll let you know when I’m on my way back home. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go tell my girlfriend about how I’m going to handle my job. Come on, I want to show you something I can do.”

Piper led her dad outside. It was still nighttime, the stars out by the million, with some lightning bugs flying around here and there. In the porch light, Piper activated her Tlanuwa armor, encasing her body in the sleek, formfitting, magic metal with the feather motif and the falcon head with glowing pink eyes.

Tristan stumbled a little. “Woah!”

Piper dazzled him even further when she deployed her wings. With a flap, she took to the skies, moving so fast her eyes left streaks of light in her wake. With another flap, she was off to tell Shel goodbye for now, and then tell Tsula the same.

Given that they already knew what Piper was up to and what she was going to be doing, neither were surprised.

Shel sighed. “I figured. But you’re going to be home every weekend?”

“That’s the plan, yeah.”

“Saturday is guaranteed to be date night, then.”

“Oh, yeah.”

“And sex.”

Piper blushed. “Shel!”

“Aren’t we, though? If we don’t see each other for a week.”

“I mean…probably…” Truth be told, Piper would most likely need the relief.

Shel nodded. “I’ll have everything ready. Music, candles, and I’ll get Mom to get us some alcohol.”

Piper rolled her eyes. “Horndog.”

“Yeah, but you love it.” Shel hugged her girlfriend. “I’m just glad this isn’t us breaking up.”

Piper hugged her back. “Why would this be us breaking up?”

“Breaking up as in you were going off to save the world, and you wouldn’t have the time to ever be back here hardly ever again, and so you were breaking up with me to release us, or something sappy like that, so I could go find another girlfriend and not be alone.”

“What is it with everyone thinking that me going out to fight the forces of evil involves me not coming back home for huge lengths of time?”

“To be fair, the forces of evil are all over the place, so it’s reasonable to assume you would be so dedicated to the cause that you’d be gone practically forever.”

“Hell no. I’m going to need to come back here to rest, recharge, and get ready to go again.”

“And unless something happens, I’ll be right here at home. Ready and waiting for my beautiful girlfriend to come back.”

The girls touched their foreheads, looking deep into each other’s eyes, and then they kissed. Nothing vulgar was involved in this kiss, no tongue, no reaching below the belt to grab some ass, or reaching between the legs to start rubbing some crotch. Just a kiss. Loving, passionate, and the last one for a long time.

The best laid plans, after all.

Piper departed from her girlfriend, said her goodbyes to Tsula, and took flight for the South.

All of this took place under the ever-watchful gaze of Night.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

And at over 10k words, that’s the end of this chapter, aptly named Unfairness for what Percy, Annabeth, Leo, Thalia, and Reyna went through. Piper’s gonna be feeling it bigtime next chapter.

I did the thing with the Hunters! And threw in a heavy dosage of reality. That such an undertaking is gruesome, disgusting, heart-wrenching, and soul-crushing. Thalia and Reyna gave it an honest to God shot, and they couldn’t handle it. They were overwhelmed. But, hey: they gave it a shot, so there’s that.

Next chapter is the third chapter, and what a fitting number for this lengthy prologue to end upon, and the real story to finally begin.

Fair warning, it’s basically going to be the nightmare of every Percy Jackson fan, because I will be holding nothing (well, mostly nothing) back. There will be tears next chapter.

In the meantime, please Fav, Follow, and Review!

Oh, and my novel is still available for purchase on the Kindle Store. Please give it a read. It’d mean a lot to me if you did.

Chapter Text

And so it finally begins. The real story. One last dose of cold reality for our beloved heroes, and then the war begins.

The title of this chapter is not a made-up word. It actually has a rather fun story to it. I was watching Scrubs clips on YouTube recently, and one of them was a scene where the janitor was giving Dorian the evil eye. Ominous, dramatic music was playing over the scene, a single word being sung, which was the title. After some searching, the word is actually the name of a movie, and the word is the title of the movie’s main theme. The word comes from the Hopi language, meaning in various ways the same thing: crazy life, life in turmoil, life disintegrating, life out of balance, and a state of life that calls for another way of living.

You can find the soundtrack for yourself.

Given all these translations, and the tone of the music, I found it to be perfect for this chapter.

Let us begin.

Disclaimer: I don’t own PJO or any other crossovers featured herein

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

20-year-old Leo Valdez had let his beard grow out to the point where he wasn’t carded when ordering or buying alcohol. However, even if he didn’t have a beard and mustache, the tired, defeated look in his eyes, and the weariness of his face, and the way his shoulders slumped would’ve convinced anyone that he was easily old enough to drink, because he had all the aura of a beaten down man in his late 30s.

Two years since the shop burned down, and four years in total since the summer of the Imperial War, and Leo was nowhere near the amount of money he needed to repair the old shop, much less buy the property to build his own, much much less to buy the property, build upon it, fully equip it, and then staff it. The glaring, harsh reality staring Leo in the face was that he was never going to own his shop after all. That his dream was forever going to remain just that, a dream.

Sometimes he wondered if he was being punished for something. Like, he was meant to go follow in Piper’s footsteps and use his powers for the greater good, and because he wasn’t doing that, because he was trying to be a mechanic, currently spending his days as a traveling mechanic, fixing everything from weed eaters to recreational airplanes, that some divine agent was punishing him. Maybe the Fates, maybe God Almighty, or maybe this was some curse from some enemy Leo had made back in his questing days. However, even if Leo’s misery was the result of his negligence in being a superhero, it still wasn’t enough to convince him to try and find Piper, ask her if it wasn’t too late for him to help her.

Oh, Piper…

Leo hadn’t heard from her in a year. Not since she was a year into her crusade and personally came to him to plead her case to get him to help her, because, in her own desperate words, things were bad. At the time, Leo had denied her. He just couldn’t bring himself to do it. Piper had been hurt, betrayed, and even furious in a broken sort of way, but she had left him to his devices.

Leo hadn’t seen or heard from her since, but he could certainly track her progress. The news these days was almost rife with stories of slaughtered criminals—cartels, gangs, illegals, human traffickers, drug dealers, and more—and stories of politicians, corporate executives, and celebrities having evidence brought against them of heinous misdeeds, and then being found murdered in gruesome fashion. Piper was certainly on the move, and she was certainly getting results.

Crime was at the lowest it had ever been since the government started keeping records of criminal activity. Workers across the nation were reporting that they were being treated in the best, fairest ways they had ever been treated. The economy was setting record highs given that the government had basically been cleansed in a bloodbath, and the politicians that were in power were actually acting on behalf of the people they represented. Mostly out of fear of being torn apart by some malevolent force in the darkness, but hey.

Positive results were positive results.

Though, obviously, the world still wasn’t perfect, as Leo could personally attest.

The young man that once fought tooth and nail to save the shithole world he lived in downed another glass of vodka. He reached for the bottle on the table, and was quite unhappy to find that he had emptied it. Along with the other bottle he already bought. Leo pinched the bridge of his nose.

His demigod body gave him a great immune system, and also a great liver. He could get drunk, but it was really hard for that to happen given how fast his body could flush the alcohol through his system. A great example being right now.

Leo left the table, barely buzzed after two bottles of vodka, and made his way to the restroom. A remarkably clean place given the setting, to be fair. The son of Hephaestus got his pants and underwear out of the way enough to be able to aim without making a mess, and relaxed his sphincter.

The golden fluid caused a lightbulb to go off in Leo’s head.

Gold.

He had an old friend that was great with gold.

The next instant Leo had access to a rainbow, he tossed in a drachma and asked Iris for Hazel.

Luckily, she and Frank were on a stroll together, which, while somewhat not cool to interrupt their moment together, was a lot better than having caught Hazel in the shower, or on the toilet, or in the middle of making love. Four years after the Imperial, and the wholesome couple was looking fantastic. 20-year-old Frank was a mountain of cut, lean mass, his body having finally evened out, and 18-year-old Hazel was a beauty, puberty and her physical demanding lifestyle having worked well together to craft the ideal female physique.

This would be the first time the three of them had talked in almost a year.

Life had really done to the Seven what life does to everyone: slowly pull them apart.

“Uh, h-hey,” Leo stuttered, nerves frayed and emotions running high.

Frank and Hazel both jumped, drawing weapons, but they almost dropped them at seeing Leo.

“Leo!” Hazel shouted, excited then horrified to see how worn out Leo was.

“Dude,” Frank breathed.

“Y-Yep,” Leo tried for a smile. “Life’s, uh…life’s kicking me pretty hard right now. Still can’t get enough money raised for the shop, Calypso and I aren’t talking right now…we’re taking a break…and, uh…”

Leo struggled to make himself say it. His bright idea suddenly seemed horrible. His sense of pride had finally come back to him. How could he do this? How could he have sunk so low? Begging for money? Really? Asking Hazel if she could send him some gold and jewels now that her curse was lifted so he could use them for the shop? It wasn’t like Hazel was going to say no, she would definitely say yes, and Leo supposed that was the problem.

Taking advantage of his best friend’s generosity.

“Never mind,” Leo said. He waved his hand through the Iris Message, ignoring their cries of wait.

He sighed heavily, and then nearly pissed his pants when Hazel and Frank burst from the shadows of his bedroom in the Waystation.

“¡¿Qué diablos?!” Leo shrieked.

Hazel stared at him. “I’ve been practicing with magic. I was able to trace the magic signal through the IM, and I’ve gotten a lot better with shadow-travel.”

Leo swallowed. “I can see that.”

“What’s going on, Leo?” Frank asked. His voice had gotten a lot deeper.

Considering that they were just right here, the three of them actually together again—just the three of them, the two that Leo had trusted with his life so many years ago—Leo’s previous reservations, mere seconds old, evaporated. His emotional wall came tumbling down like Jericho, and he told his old friends everything that had happened since graduation.

After everything was said and done, Hazel already had gold nuggets and uncut gemstones in her hands.

Caught up in the hope and euphoria of the moment, the three of them completely lost their rational minds. Frank and Hazel shadow-traveled back to New Rome, and Leo took his newfound treasure to a jewelry store. Things spiraled out of control from there because the police showed up.

“Sir, can you please explain where you got your hands on all this stuff?”

“Er…”

Leo drew a complete blank, and so he snapped his fingers, warping the Mist with the skills he’d learned under Jo. One problem: the Mist didn’t warp.

The officers stared at Leo, their eyes narrowing. “What was that supposed to be?” the lead of the two asked.

Leo’s pulse skyrocketed. If the Mist was on the fritz, and he couldn’t magic his way out of this scot-free, then that meant—oh, gods, what did that mean? Why was the Mist broken? How was he supposed to explain this pile of riches and not go to jail for theft or something?

Leo didn’t know, but he did know that he had only ever had sour experiences with police, and though the better part of him said that not all police were scum, and that the media was prone to lying about the behavior of the police, it was the bad part of Leo that was speaking loudest. Bad Leo was saying run!

And so Leo bolted. In a grand display of what a fully realized demigod could do, Leo went from standing still to moving at over 30mph. He bowled through the officers, knocking them flat on their backs so hard they lost their wind, gasping like fish on the dock, and rammed the front doors in such a way that while they didn’t shatter on impact and flay him alive with all the broken glass, they did get torn off the hinges and explode on contact with the walls.

Leo was sprinting down the street, outpacing the evening traffic (yes, this whole episode had only taken place from afternoon to evening). With the click of a button to the watch on his wrist, Festus was soaring to his location. With a big boy jump, Leo was ascending well over a three-story building, and the bronze dragon scooped him up midair.

It would be three hours before Leo returned to the Waystation after flying outside the city, the sun gone from the sky, replaced with the moon, but it didn’t matter. His was face all over the Indianapolis evening news.

The real concern, however, was why the Mist wasn’t working.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

In New Rome, things were arguably even more depressing. Living in the city—city being used loosely to describe a community that once boasted a population of 318, but was now barely scraping 120—was not free. Taxes and bills were still a thing, and though Percy and Annabeth were able to live in their apartment for free given that they were college students—sadly, NRU never reopened during their collegiate career, and so they were stuck at UCB the whole time—graduating college with their bachelor’s degrees meant their special status was null and void.

They had to pay bills now, had to pay taxes, and had to endure the job hunt. A great mouthful of that normal life away from gods and monsters that they so desperately craved and had fought to earn. They could’ve just asked Hazel to spot them some money, but like all decent people, they weren’t about that life. Though, considering Annabeth got her degree in architecture and Percy got his degree in marine biology, enjoying a similar power to Leo with machines but with aquatic creatures, it should have been easy to find a job.

But this was California.

And the modern economy of Fall 2024 as of this chapter.

22-year-old Percy Jackson walked into the apartment, his shift over for the day, his high-viz long-sleeve shirt covered in dirt, his jeans equally dirty, his hair matted from his hardhat, and his face also covered in dirt. With his degree in marine biology, Percy ended up being a construction worker making $22 an hour. Not the worst job, and he had already established himself as indispensable, what with the fact that he was always at the job site early, was willing to stay late to get the job done, and with his greater strength and stamina due to being a seasoned demigod, he could work more and work harder than his coworkers and not get exhausted.

Water bottles also were a big help.

“Hey, Annabeth,” Percy greeted, not tired in the physical sense, but emotionally and mentally.

He hadn’t gone to college after fighting hundreds of monsters, achieved a degree in marine biology, just to end up working his ass off in construction. Call it the sin of pride, or maybe call it a sense of self-worth, but Percy felt cheated and slighted. He was worth more than mere construction, at the mercy of the clock. He was deserving of more. He had earned more.

Though, as disgruntled as Percy was with having to work a fulltime blue-collar job, he was nowhere near as almost clinically depressed as Annabeth was.

Annabeth looked up from her laptop, her eyes sunken and red. She’d been crying again.

“More rejections?” Percy asked solemnly.

Annabeth nodded. “I just…I don’t understand it. I graduated summa cum laude. I have relevant internship experience with an architecture firm. I have letters of recommendation from my old boss and all of my professors. I am officially certified in AutoCAD, ArchiCAD, Inventor, Revit, and SolidWorks. In my portfolio are the blueprints and 3D models I made of the gods’ temples on Olympus, all of which were highly praised by my professors for their detail, documentation, and complexity, and my resumé was reviewed by said professors and my old boss, so it was fine-tuned by several experienced professionals—why the fuck can’t I get a job in architecture!?”

Annabeth was breathing heavily, her rant turning into a shout, and then she kept going, letting it all flow out of her.

“It’s supposed to be easy now! All the quests, the wars, the death, school—everything we went through—it’s supposed to mean that everything falls into place! No more monsters hunting us, no more gods coming to bother us with menial tasks, no more quests—just-” she choked and tried again “-just the two of us, finally getting to live our lives…normal lives…like normal people…”

Annabeth released a mirthless chuckle. “I guess this is normal life. Normal human life, anyway. Getting cheated, screwed over, dealing with injustice, unfairness, and general bullshit day in and day out. Got college degrees, and they’re not doing a damn thing to get us hired and start careers in the things we went to college for…just…fuck.”

Annabeth looked at Percy, her eyes reflecting her broken soul. “Are we being punished? Like, is this a punishment? That we’re stuck in this depressing nightmare instead of living the good life we were expecting and hoping for, because we’re not out there helping Piper drastically reduce the world population? Is the Fates rendering judgement upon us for not adhering to that whole power and responsibility thing? Is this Zeus and/or Hera still messing with us? You know, I haven’t actually stepped in manure since we started college, but this is way worse. I-I mean…should we call Piper? Ask if she’s got, like, openings or something?”

Annabeth looked down. “I guess we were naïve fools. Hardly anything in our lives ever went right, so why would things start going right for us now? It only makes sense that things would forever continue going wrong for us. We’re just doomed to life of constant misery, aren’t we?”

Percy winced. His heart absolutely ached in his chest for his beloved, and he hated himself for not being able to do anything for her.

What made it so much worse were the words of Piper from a year ago.

“I’m begging you two! I’ve seen part of what’s going to happen, and if you don’t come with me now, the only thing that’s going to happen to you two is more pain and suffering. We’re not meant to ‘fade away into obscurity’ or whatever. We need to be doing more, and I need your help.”

“I’m sorry, Piper,” Annabeth said resolutely, “but no. Percy and I have been thinking and talking about it ourselves, and we…just don’t want to do that stuff. We just want to go to college, get jobs, eventually start our own family, and just live.”

Percy, standing next to Annabeth, nodded in agreement with everything she said.

Piper stepped away from the door, her eyes heavy, embittered, and angry. “I don’t mean this as your enemy, but I can promise you will regret this.”

Annabeth’s mouth set into a thin line. “I’m sorry,” she said again. “Good luck.”

Piper left, and that was the last time they’d heard or seen her.

Percy and Annabeth couldn’t say for certain that they’d be happier if they were running with Piper, but they knew for certain that they weren’t happy now.

The alarm on Annabeth’s phone went off, telling her she had an hour before she needed to be at work for her evening-into-closing shift. The simple chime brought fresh tears to her eyes, and Percy was bringing her into his arms as quick as he could.

“It’ll get better,” he tried to promise.

Annabeth nodded against his chest, and then disengaged to put on her uniform. She emerged a few minutes later, wearing black pants, a bright red polo with golden trim, and her curly blonde hair was pulled into a ponytail through her black ball cap, the center of which was emblazoned with one of the most iconic restaurant symbols of all time.

Annabeth looked absolutely miserable.

“Architect of the Gods,” she mumbled. “Veteran of the Titan and Giant Wars. Hero of Olympus.”

Percy hugged Annabeth, and it was clear from the way she hugged him back that she wanted nothing more than to never leave his side again. They had bills to pay, though, and at least this job provided a paycheck.

About an hour later, Annabeth was standing in front of her computer screen, talking into her headset, summoning every iota of willpower she had in order to sound peppy.

“Welcome to McDonald’s! I can take your order whenever you’re ready.”

The sun steadily dipped ever closer to the horizon, night rapidly approaching.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Not everyone was stuck in a situation as if they were being punished for the sin of standing on the sidelines while people were suffering.

As stated, Frank and Hazel were doing pretty well for themselves. They were still a couple, still praetors, having done a great job in the past four years of rebuilding the legion and getting the demigods trained, and were looking forward to one day retiring from the legion and starting their own family. They hadn’t done their ten years of service, still had six to go, and while it had happened many times in the history of New Rome’s existence that the praetors had married and had kids, history had proven that trying to be parents while also managing the legion was a massive hassle.

On the responsibility side of things, Hazel was pulling more weight than Frank was, but mostly because Frank’s specific skill set didn’t enable him to do much besides kill and spy on people. Hazel had become an expert at turning the gems and precious metals she could summon into spendable money, since there were actually some hoops to go through in turning uncut diamonds and raw gold nuggets into cash without getting in trouble with the law, as Leo found out the hard way because all three of them got stupid and didn’t think for a second.

As such, Hazel had been spending her wealth by way of anonymous donations to causes that she thoroughly researched and decided to support. She was basically the richest person on this planet, since she had developed her powers well enough to the point that she could summon diamonds straight out of volcanos on the other side of the planet. No, that was not a stretch of plausibility, because when Hazel was much younger, back when she was fresh from the Underworld, back when she and Nico were having one of their moments when he was still a mystery to her, her raw power had managed to yank a gold bar straight from Fort Knox in Kentucky.

That was a stretch of plausibility. Thirteen-year-old Hazel with no formal training managed to summon gold from a military fort over 2000 miles away.

Still, it was fact that she could it because she did it, and so, following this, was it really too hard to believe that a “fully realized” Hazel could summon to her hands the riches of the earth from anywhere in the earth?

As far as this story went, not at all.

Anyway, Frank and Hazel were doing good for themselves, and on the other side of the continent, so were Nico and Will.

Four years after the Imperial War, the young men were both nineteen years old. They had become co-directors of Camp Half-Blood with Chiron and Mr. D, deciding to dedicate their natural lives to the teaching and mentoring of demigods, though in this current day, Will was sparingly at camp on account of his pursuit of med school following his graduation from high school. Not like the distance really mattered, since Nico could shadow-travel to Will’s location regardless of where he was.

Nico had also grown extremely adept with his powers in four years.

Piper hadn’t come for them like she had come for the others on the grounds that Piper had the weakest connection to Nico. Sure, there were those couple of weeks Nico was on the Argo II following his rescue from the jar, but he was mostly with Hazel, typically in the infirmary, and had sparing contact with Piper. The late August after the Imperial War, when Nico had IM’d her just before she went out hiking with Shel the last week before high school started, sure they had that two-fold connection with Jason and both of them being gay, and Piper had told Nico to feel free to call her whenever he needed, but that hadn’t gone anywhere.

It was nothing personal. It was just the life thing where you told someone, “Yeah, just reach out to me,” and the person never did simply because they never did.

As such, Nico and Will were spared from Piper’s call to the crusade, but at least they were somewhat active and responsible. Nico was a permanent counselor and trainer of heroes, and Will was studying to be a doctor, technically cheating in his profession the same way Leo could with machines and Percy with sea life. But that didn’t mean that everything wasn’t about to come falling apart on them.

Tonight was a special night, the last night before Will returned to med school tomorrow, and as such, he and Nico were making it a memorable night. Without going into detail, their night involved putting the cacodemons in a special room in the Hades cabin for the sake of privacy, cleaning out their respective colons, and lube.  

After their evening of fun left them sweaty and tired, they took a groggy shower together, dried each other off, cuddled and watched some TV, then turned it off and went to sleep, the moon high in the night sky.

Not that they would have known about it even if they were awake, but the cacodemons, after four years of waiting, were finally given the order to deploy.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

In a place that was almost extradimensional to Earth, the place where Niflheim bordered Jotunheim on the plane of Midgard, the nail ship Naglfar was stilled moored. Hrym was still captain, and he still had his big axe slung over his shoulder.

Things were slow and boring these days, what with Loki being reimprisoned and Ragnarök once again being postponed. Still, Hrym made sure that his ship was kept in great shape.

Good thing for that, too.

“Greetings, Hrym!”

The Jotun spat out his mead after choking on it, turning to see none other than Loki walking across the gangway. The wights and other monsters all gathered along the railing to see the approaching god of mischief, and all were unnerved. Loki always had a gleam in his eyes, always had a smirk, but today, right now, he seemed especially…dangerous.

Hrym stood up from his chair and made his way down the companionway from the helm, eyeing the mischief god warily. “I did not expect you to be free so soon.”

“Neither did I, old friend, but I made some new friends, ones that share our goal of almost-total destruction. Do the names Tartarus, Nyx, and Akhlys ring any bells?”

The monsters muttered and Hrym stiffened. “The Greek Primordials?”

Loki stood in front of the Jotun, one step away from boarding Naglfar. “Yes, them. They’re giving world domination their own shot, we could say. Or rather, Tartarus is. He’s got a wonderful plan of attack of simply throwing everything at those pesky heroes that once bested us, including the kitchen sink. He’s asked me to bring Ragnarok to the table again, and he’s got Setne bringing back Apophis, the Egyptian chaos-”

“I know who Apophis is,” Hrym interrupted. He shifted his axe. “So…we are to join with them, then? Naglfar is to sail once more?”

“Indeed, but not quite.” Loki’s smile was decidedly venomous. “You see, Tartarus’s plan is simple: just attack. A single, overwhelming offensive on multiple fronts, taking the heroes totally by surprise, and hitting them so hard they can’t escape. No important dates like the 4^th of July, no grand ceremony with rituals and sacrifices and what not…no…flytings…and certainly not with the power of friendship, am I right, fellas?”

Loki started laughing, and the monsters started laughing uneasily. Hrym tried for a chuckle, but it came out as an uneasy grimace.

Loki laughed so hard he doubled over and had to rest his hand on Hrym’s shoulder in order to keep his balance, and though the Jotun tightened his grip on his axe, it didn’t do him any good.

Quicker than the snake that once poured its venom upon his face, Loki ripped the battleaxe from Hrym’s grasp and chopped the captain’s head off in one fluid motion. The monsters all shut up, Loki kicked the head and body into the frigid waters, and finally boarded the Ship of the Dead.

He addressed his new crew, smile gone, gleam gone, and boiling with impotent rage.

“Get this ship moving!”

And so the crew got Naglfar moving as Loki departed to free his son Fenrir, and wake his other son Jormungand.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Standing upon the shores of the Sea of Chaos, deep within the Duat, Setne stood with the Book of Thoth in his hand, and the Crown of Ptolemy upon his pompadour. The House of Life was presently on high alert considering the Crown had been locked inside of Amos’s vault, and it obviously took some considerable power to break in. Power like an ancient, primeval misery goddess would possess, for instance.

Brooklyn House had been informed, and Carter and Sadie were in a panic. They had been the ones to lose Setne four years ago, after all, and now it seemed he was making his move. Which he was, though this time he had benefactors whose only stipulation for their assistance was to go all out and hold nothing back. After the dust settled, he could fight over whatever he wanted with whomever wanted to stop him from having it, but he was not stupid enough to try for the domain of Tartarus. Setne possessed at least a tiny enough shred of honor to not bite the extremely generous hand that freed him and delivered his desires right into his hands, and he also wasn’t sure of his chances to begin with against the embodiment of the Greek hell.

“Oh, my dearest Carter and Sadie,” the malevolent ghost said to himself with a wild grin, “Thoth devised a spell to banish one’s sheut; did you not ever pause to think that he did not devise a spell to bring it back? Granted, it’s a rather hefty and demanding spell, but now that I’m a full-blown god thanks to the Crown, it’ll be no trouble.”

Setne began chanting from the Book of Thoth, and the Sea of Chaos began to writhe and bubble. Rising from the tumultuous waters was a gigantic obelisk, at first casting no shadow, but as Setne continued his chant, a tendril of black began to form at the base. The tendril grew longer, wider, more powerful, slithering towards Setne, taking on the form of a huge cobra.

“I return you from the void,” Setne intoned as he finished the incantation. “You are mine.”

An angry, scarlet energy erupted from the shadow, and the shadow upon the Sea of Chaos vanished into the energy as it flew around the Duat, taking the obelisk with it. The energy formed a huge cobra, and with a command, it came roaring down upon Setne. The new god screamed as his every atom screeched in pain, the bonds becoming so juiced they threatened to split, and they very well might have, Setne overestimating the sheer power of Apophis, but a nifty little thing happened….

The power reached steady-state, and Setne stopped glowing like a star. He was no longer lanky and borderline emaciated, but muscular and built, with the physique of a seasoned MMA fighter. His skin was a rich caramel color, his head now devoid of hair but not the Crown, and yes, there were a number of serpentine features that now adorned Setne given he had just absorbed the Chaos Serpent. On each of his fingernails protruded the fang of a cobra, and when he smiled, he revealed the mouth of a snake: pink flesh, a pair of fangs, the tubular glottis with the forked tongue right in front of it, and a number of smaller teeth on either side of the tongue. Setne opened his eyes, revealing them to be solid red with black slits.

“And the best part is,” Setne continued speaking to himself, “no pesky ba to contend with.”

Yes, the part of the soul that reflected the personality of the individual. Their thoughts, their feelings, their will, if you will. Setne had tweaked the reverse banishment spell in such a way that he brought back all the power of Apophis, but none of the serpent’s mind. That way he didn’t have to contend with Apophis trying to take over his body or break out of him entirely.

“Now for the army,” Setne chirped.

Not like there wasn’t a generous supply of minions already available, as he was presently in the Land of Demons.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

“Mother, please-!” Hecate tried to beg, only for Nyx to lazily move her finger in a small circle.

In that very instant, using the absurd power of a Primordial, Night created a thread that punctured through Hecate’s lips in a zigzag, sewing the goddess’s mouth shut. The thing about this thread, though, was that it wasn’t coming out anytime soon. Not unless Nyx gave it her express permission.

Nyx gave her frantic, terrified daughter the side-eye. “Did you really think you could raise your hand against me, little child? Did you really think you and your siblings could harm me?”

Speaking of Hypnos and Epiales, the nonbinary demon of nightmares from Sun and the Star, they were currently spending their immortality trapped in black marble. A most generous sentence compared to what Hecate was going through.

Mortal underlings of Gregorio Uberti, the current leader of the Triumvirate, were affixing all the necessary tubes and cables into the goddess’s body to power the machine they were hooking her into, the machine that was going to amplify her Mist powers on a global scale similar to how the Triumvirate’s previous machine had amplified Harpocrates’s silence power.

“No, child,” Nyx continued. “You played your part once in successfully planting Iapetus and the cacodemons, and now you will play your part once more.”

Hecate screamed and begged, but with her mouth sewn closed, all she could manage were disturbing moans and groans as tears spilled down her cheeks.

One of the underlings brought a helmet down upon the goddess’s face, completely enclosing her head. The helmet had no eyeholes, no earholes, no opening for the mouth or the nose—almost complete sensory deprivation. Only a black cable upon the top going into the back of the machine, just like all the other cables were doing.

“That’s the last one,” Uberti said. “All we need is to turn her on.”

Nyx nodded and communed with Tartarus across time and space. After speaking, she looked at the immortal. “Do it.”

Uberti flipped the switch himself, and Hecate’s body spasmed but remained in its bounds as the machine activated, humming and glowing. The antenna array at the top of the machine hummed the loudest, visible waves of heat radiating from the dishes as the energy mounted, mounted, mounted, and then Uberti flipped another switch, and the energy discharged.

The goddess, the immortal, and the few servants didn’t actually feel anything. No tingle, no heat, their hair didn’t even stand on end.

Uberti held up a tablet. The electronic kind. “She’s active. We can now manipulate the Mist—and the Duat to some extension-”

“Setne has the Duat under control,” Nyx dismissed.

“Of course. Anyway, I am ready when you are to alter reality.”

Nyx’s lips quirked up. “Permission granted.”

Uberti typed a simple command into the tablet, then pressed the “enter” button.

“Done.”

“Send in the humans,” Nyx instructed. “And seal this place up.”

“Of course.”

Uberti nodded to the underlings, and they rolled a heavy door to close the machine, sealing Hecate inside. And then the underlings were suddenly teleported back to the Triumvirate Holdings building, and Uberti and Nyx were teleported into the pit, along with Loki and Setne, surprisingly enough. Tartarus and Akhlys were also there, everyone standing upon a narrow butte somewhere in the pit.

“What is this?” Loki demanded.

Nothing I have done, Tartarus answered.

“It’s something I have done!” a cheery voice declared.

The beings all turned to see something that only looked human. A young man, clean-shaven, with short brown hair, fair skin on the paler side, wearing a black polo, black cargo shorts, black tube socks rolled down around his ankles, and black running shoes. His eyes, though…like looking at an image of space, with swirling lights that were galaxies.

“Who are you?” Nys glowered.

“Aw, baby girl. It hurts my heart to know you don’t recognize your own father…and the father of your daughter over there.”

Akhlys went rigid, as did everyone else. “F-Father? Father Chaos?”

“Bingo, kiddo!” Chaos crowed. “The one and only!”

Why are you here, Father? Tartarus asked wearily.

“To lay down the rules,” Chaos answered with a disturbingly quick switch to calmness from wild teasing.

“What rules?” Loki demanded.

“The rules of this game,” Chaos said. “I’ve been waiting for this day since before time began, and it does bring a smile to my face that it’s finally here. The day that everything finally gets interesting again.” Chaos clasped his hands behind his back and addressed the audience before they could start shouting questions.

“Congratulations, all of you have finally garnered my personal attention. As such, I’m adding some spice to things—getting involved, if you will. Making things more entertaining for myself. Don’t worry, you will have your fun, as will I, because this will be it. This is World War III, and it will truly be the War to End All Wars. Either you will win, or you will not. As such, there will be rules. First and foremost, there will be permadeath. If you die, if any of those monsters or Giants die, if any of those demigods and so forth die, there will no coming back. If you die in the game, you die in real life.”

Chaos smirked at them all.

“Secondly, I get to play referee. I will even the playing field for my own personal amusement. Since this is going to be the last war, it will be full of spectacles and lights. Thirdly, and finally, I want all of you to understand this: the only things that will happen during this war are what I allow to happen. At any time I so choose, I can, and will, step in and do a thing. Perks of being an actual omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent being, unlike all of you.”

Chaos clapped his hands and rubbed them together, beaming.

“But don’t let any of that discourage you, kids! Now go out there and remember: the most important thing is to have fun! I know I will!”

And then Chaos was gone.

“What do we do?” Setne immediately asked. “Do we still proceed?”

Yes. Tartarus looked at Uberti. Send the humans after the demigods.

Uberti nodded, already working on the tablet to send the command to his contacts. Amazingly, he got great reception down in the pit of evil.

Tartarus looked at Loki. Ragnarök?

“Underway. Fenrir is freed and making his way to Midgard to reinforce the New Rome campaign, Jormungand is awake and heading for Camp Half-Blood, and once Naglfar is sailing, we will smash it straight into Hotel Valhalla.”

Tartarus looked at Setne.

“Ready,” said the new god.

“And it is night over America,” Nyx said.

And just like Tartarus said: there was no grand ceremony, no sacred date, nor was there an epic speech about revenge or glory or domination.

The dark god of the pit simply nodded.

Begin.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Somewhere in America, Piper McLean bolted upright, panting, covered in so much sweat that she had soaked the bed.

She stared at the dark wall of the room for two seconds before screaming at the top of her lungs. “Jisdu!”

The rabbit spirit couldn’t appear fast enough. “What’s happened!?”

“It’s begun!” Piper breathed with wide eyes.

Jisdu’s eyes went just as wide, terror gripping him, and then his eyes narrowed as shock turned to determination. “I’m on it!”

Jisdu departed, taking a page from Tarzan’s book as he tore across the country in a supernatural manner, alerting every single spirit on the continent of the catastrophe underway.

Piper herself flew to her bag, rifling through to it find a special transmitter. She hit the button as hard as she could, and all the way across dimensions, Jason Grace was alerted to the unfolding nightmare.

And what a catastrophic nightmare it was:

Just as the emperors were made gods through the power of belief, the gods were made powerless through belief. The Mist-warped minds of everyone on the planet collectively agreed that the Olympians and other important gods were simply weak and pathetic beings, and with eight billion people believing that, it became fact.

In Berkeley, police and SWAT swarmed the McDonald’s, storming the building to violently arrest Annabeth, handcuffing her and dragging her into a van. Other teams assaulted the Chase household, arresting Frederick, his wife, and their sons Matthew and Bobby in the middle of the night in their pajamas.

In Phoenix, Clarisse Rodriguez and her husband Chris had their door smashed in by more mortal forces, and a bloodbath ensued.

In Manhattan, police were swarming the apartment complex of the Blofis family, working their way through the building to their apartment.

In Boston, the Chase Space, the converted mansion that was bequeathed to Magnus through Randolf and used as a homeless shelter and rest stop for homeless kids just passing through, was firebombed with kids still inside, Magnus and Alex currently in Valhalla.

In Tahlequah, Tristan was sleeping soundly when his home was raided, and he was taken away in cuffs.

All across the country, demigods and their families were being arrested by law enforcement in the dark of the night.

As for the magical places, things were arguably worse.

The cacodemons attacked, two in New Rome, two in Camp Half-Blood, two in Indianapolis, two in Brooklyn, and the remaining seven were held in reserve as part of a new plan to combat whatever Chaos was going to throw in the way. The once cute and cuddly creatures grew into behemoth-like monsters—kaiju, essentially, and wreaked havoc.

The House of Life in Egypt was rocked when Setne ripped through the Duat with his demon army to lay waste to the magicians.

The Hunters of Artemis, fretting over their goddess who suddenly collapsed and became as if ill, were ambushed by a special forces team consisting of Orion, Lycaon, and Khione.

Across the planet, Tartarus opened portals into the world’s most populated cities, and monsters by the million poured from the pit to kill and destroy, led by the Giants. The humans had served their purpose, after all, their minds being used to depower the gods, and that was all they were needed for. Past that, they were expendable.

But hope remained.

Chaos was evening the playing field just like he promised.

They were beginning to arrive.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Oh, yeah.

It’s going down.

Fav, Follow, and Review please!

Chapter Text

The yapping is over. The story begins now.

I am a little surprised no one had anything to say about Annabeth working at McDonald’s. I was looking forward to that.

Disclaimer: I don’t own PJO or any other crossovers

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Naglfar was about to break the dimensional barrier and crash straight into Hote Valhalla’s outer wall because of the weird way dimensional barriers worked, but something crashed into Naglfar. From above.

A small object dropped right onto the deck almost at the nose, smashing through top two decks and landing upon the third with so much force that the nose dipped downward. Loki set his feet and was able to keep himself from stumbling, though most of the crew was not as fortunate.

“What the hell was that!?” the mischief god demanded.

He got his answer when the offending object’s head popped out of the hole it had made when it fell through the deck. It was a boy of the mid-teen years, with black hair and purple eyes. He crawled all the way out of the hole, a big, toothy grin on his face. He wore some old steel-toed boots that had seen better days, black jeans, no shirt, exposing his skinny, scar-littered torso, and a fur-lined, black, sleeveless denim jacket that went down to his knees, which exposed his skinny, scar-littered arms. There was a pendant hanging from his neck that depicted a triangle inscribed within a circle, and he had a ring on each thumb.

The absolute most disturbing feature of this young man was the scalpel currently plunged into the side of his neck. It appeared he had punctured an artery, based on how much blood was flowing down from the wound.

The boy grinned some more. “Well butter my ass and fuck me raw! Fresh sacrifices!”

Loki was a bit disconcerted with that one, and started freaking out when the boy yanked out the scalpel and mauled the monster closest to him.

“Get him! Get him!” Loki shouted.

One monster got in close and brought down its axe on the boy’s head, cleaving his skull open in a spray of blood.

“Ha! Got him!”

The boy casually reached up and pulled the axe out of his skull, exposing the inside of his head in gruesome fashion. The monster backed away in horror.

“That felt good.” The boy handed the axe back. “Do it again.”

The gaping wound glowed with scarlet energy, and when the energy faded, his head was completely healed.

Loki saw this from the helm, and felt his immortal blood chill in his veins. Even the playing field, Chaos had said.

This must’ve been it. Chaos’s first player.

Or at least, the player Loki had to contend with. As he hefted the huge battleaxe he took from Hrym and jumped, sailing through the air at the boy to fight him personally, Loki wondered what his comrades were facing.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Reyna growled as Orion’s huge finger, being ten feet tall and having the hand to match his size, tilted her chin up to raise her face.

“Couldn’t take me in a fair fight, and so you had to resort to an ambush with friends?”

“Oh, don’t worry,” Orion said. “We’ll have our rematch soon enough. After the dust settles, the whole Hunt will be mine to do with as I please.”

“And mine,” Lycaon stepped up.

“We’ll take turns,” Orion dismissed.

The Hunters were all down and bound. Khione had hit them with a freeze wave, and the werewolves had charged in, keeping the girls pinned while Khione had turned the Hunt into popsicles, only their heads left unfrozen per Orion’s request so he could see the fear and anger on their faces.

“And then there’s you,” Orion walked up to the weak and feeble Artemis.

“Don’t touch her!” Thalia shouted.

Lightning flashed overhead, and before anything else happened, there was a huge splash in the lake nearby, as if someone had dropped a tank in from low orbit. The Hunters had been camping on the bank, enjoying some fishing the previous day.

Everyone stared at the roiling water, illuminated by the starlight due to the cloudless sky. It was clear by the expressions on the Hunters’ faces that they didn’t know what was going on. The werewolves started shifting and growling, with Lycaon’s lips curling back into a snarl.

“Lycaon?” Khione asked.

“Something…is coming. Something that is very dangerous. Very primal. A rival.”

Khione looked at Orion, and the Giant had no idea. He pulled out his bow and knocked an arrow, aiming for the settling water, and the snow goddess readied her powers, raising her hands, snow swirling around her fingers. The Hunters also watched, their breath baited.

Sure enough, something did come walking out of the water. A translucent, almost invisible silhouette emerged, and with every step it took, arcs of electricity travelled across its body.

Reyna blinked and leaned over to Thalia. “This feels like that scene from Predator 2 when the Predator came for King Willie in the alley.”

“Uh…” Thalia’s face screwed up, wondering how Reyna was able to draw that connection at this time.

“What is that?” Khione asked Orion

“No idea. Let’s ask.”

Orion loosed the arrow, and it flew with speed comparable to a bullet, only to come to a complete, dead stop before the translucent being with a loud smack. With another flurry of arcs, the silhouette became solid as its cloaking device deactivated, revealing that she had caught Orion’s arrow by the shaft.

“What the Hades…?” Khione said to herself, but her thought was shared by everyone.

It was a girl, or perhaps young woman, really. She had no chest, but there was the distinct slit between her legs. She was tall and built like a sprinter, with lithe limbs and a slender body, a body that was an unnatural, solid black. A long, segmented, bladed tail protruded from her lower back above her glutes, and between her shoulder blades were two sets of dorsal spikes, six to a set, all angled outward. The sclera of her eyes was black, her pupils were vertical slits, and her irises were a bright, venomous green. Upon her brow was an ornate crest that went over the top crown of her head, appearing to be just that, a crown.

On her left wrist was a bracer that looked exactly like the one the Predators had, making Reyna and Thalia briefly look at each other.

The creature examined the arrow in her hand, looking at it with clear nostalgia on her face. Then her lips quirked upwards in a smirk, showing a sliver of her teeth—so pearly white they were almost see-through.

One of the werewolves couldn’t take it anymore and broke ranks, charging at the creature.

She responded by letting the arrow slide further down in her hand, and then she flung it. She flung it so hard and fast that it not only went straight through the charging werewolf with hardly any loss of speed and energy, but it also went through the stationary werewolf a hundred feet behind it, this time getting stuck and taking the beast on a flight.

Lycaon howled and led the charge himself, his pack coming with him. Orion and Khione were both disgruntled by this, as they didn’t necessarily want to wipe out the pack.

Not that the pack was going to survive anyway.

The creature intercepted Lycaon and ripped his spine from his body, his head still attached to the dripping vertebrae. Tossing both aside like they were garbage, she dove straight into the midst of the werewolves, using her claws, tail, teeth, and horrifying physical strength to tear the beasts apart in a grizzly display of combat prowess and gore.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

“How could the Mist not be working?” Calypso pondered.

In the main living room of the Waystation, she, Leo, Jo, and Emmie were gathered, the kids all having been sent to bed a long time ago.

“Something must have happened to my mother,” Jo said. “Something similar to this happened back during the witch trial days, when the witches were being persecuted. Granted, they weren’t doing themselves any favors back then, what with actually stealing babies, murdering children, spreading plagues, and so on, but anyway—when Hecate’s followers started being systematically eliminated, it affected her so badly the Mist went on the fritz.”

“But there aren’t any mass witch burnings going on today,” Leo blinked. “At least, I think there aren’t.”

Jo shook her head. “The witches got a lot better at staying hidden. If the Mist isn’t working now, then that means something really bad has happened to Hecate.”

A cold feeling settled in all their stomachs. The implications of the magic goddess potentially being targeted by some unknown enemy, and apparently having been incapacitated, were monstrously unwelcome.

Leo took a breath. “Okay. Say something has happened to Hecate. What are we supposed to do-?”

Something fell through the ceiling and crashed upon the table between the four, sending them all jumping backwards. Whatever it was stood up with an annoyed grunt.

It was a man, a big one. Tall, with the physique of a strongman. Just big, rolling muscles. He wore a black kilt made of some kind of hide—some kind of leather—with a wide, jewel-studded belt holding it in place with a huge buckle in the visage of a snarling dragon. Black boots covered his feet and legs above his ankles, dark gold grieves on his shins, and dark golden gauntlets were upon his arms, the segments upon his fingers and knuckles bearing small, serrated spikes. On his upper torso was an armor piece that Leo likened unto the piece that Bayek of Siwa wore in Assassin’s Creed—something like ancient shoulder pads that covered the upper chest and back, and of course the top of the shoulders. The armor was gold, of course, with more jewels, and attached to the back of the piece was a leather cape of the same hide as the kilt. The helmet the stranger wore was definitely the most interesting item in his ensemble, also being gold, the front being left open so his whole face was visible, with the top being fashioned in the likeness of the top half of a dragon’s maw, with glittering rubies in the eye sockets, the mouth extending slightly past his face somewhat like a baseball hat. The back of the dragon’s head flowed seamlessly into a pair of ivory tusks that curved forward, framing the stranger’s face on either side of the helmet.

Speaking of the stranger’s face, barring his mismatched eyes of left silver and right sea green, he was the spitting image of an older, stronger, manlier-

“P-Percy!?” Leo gaped.

Not-Percy looked over at Leo, and his expression curled into one of annoyance. “Ugh, it’s you. The annoying Mexican elf. Though you’re older now, which I suppose means-”

Not-Percy cut himself off, head jerking to a random direction. His expression then morphed into one of glee.

“Ahhhhh, yes. This. I was beginning to get bored, anyway.”

He stepped out of the small crater he had made when he crash landed, and started walking for the door.

Leo and Calypso scrambled to catch up to him, walking on either side of his muscular frame.

“Dude, what happened to you? What the heck are you wearing? When did you get so buff?”

Not-Percy smirked, but didn’t answer. He just kept walking at a brisk face for the door.

Calypso tried her luck. “What did you mean by this? Do you know what’s going on with the Mist?”

“Indeed.”

“What, then?”

Not-Percy opened the door to the Waystation revealing pandemonium. Two gigantic creatures, both solid black like the night sky above them but with glowing, scarlet eyes, one of them looking like a Spinosaurus but with three tails, two heads, and four huge arms, spewing flames from its mouths, and the other monster looking centaurion, but with a gorilla upper torso and a scorpion body instead of human and horse.

The monsters were wreaking untold havoc, death, and destruction, with emergency sirens blaring, the bad weather siren blaring, and the screams of tens of thousands of people splitting the night.

Leo and Calypso were beyond horrified, as were Jo and Emmie, finally having made their way over, while Not-Percy had the widest smile on his face.

“Behold,” he said, “the end of your world as you knew it. I hope it was enjoyable while it lasted.”

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

At the House of Life in Egypt, the First Nome, chaos abounded. The magicians had been caught completely flatfooted—not that it was at all their fault, as who among them could have possibly predicted that the new god Setne would just smash straight through the Duat with his demon army and invade the House?

Given that he was a literal god now, and packing thousands of years of magic experience on top of the added power of Apophis, Setne rendered the magicians effectively powerless, and dozens were effortlessly slaughtered by the demons.

Even the great Chief Lecter Amos Kane was no match for Setne, even when using the crook and flail of Ra. Setne defeated Amos personally, and it took him only a few seconds because he wanted to enjoy the moment.

Bound in magic chains, Amon could barely groan in pain from the beating he received, and the spells upon the chains setting his nerves on fire.

Setne held up the crook and flail. “Not that I really need these, but they are pretty neat. Now, just what to do with you…”

Just then, the House of Life was rocked, and it wasn’t by anything Setne or his forces did, nor was it anything Amos’s magicians managed.

“What in the-”

A wall was blasted to pieces, along with the towering columns behind it, with pieces of demons getting scattered all over amongst the rubble.

Stepping through the recent renovation to the throne room was a young man wearing an almost entirely black outfit. Black steel-toed boots, black jeans, and a black leather coat that was tight across his chest and arms, a number of buckles on the chest closing the coat, with the coat being split into two tails at the back of the waist. The coat came with a hood that was drawn up, and due to the flickering flames and the way he was holding his head, the top half of his face was shrouded in shadow.

On each of his forearms was an armored, gadget-adorned gauntlet, a belt was around his waist sporting two curved horns on either hip, and peeking over his right shoulder was the wooden stuck of an old rifle, looking 18^th century in make. In the man’s right hand was a slender straight sword with a cross guard made to vaguely resemble wings, and a pommel that resembled the abstract profile of an eagle. In his left hand was a bronze Greek sword that Setne and Amon both recognized as the legendary Riptide, sword of-

“Percy Jackson?” Setne blinked.

“Something like that,” the young man answered, which was confusing to Amon, but clued the new god into something.

Evening the playing field.

Setne decided to forgo questions, and merely attacked. With a thought, he cast a spell, causing a string of angry red hieroglyphs to go flying at Percy. The spell would’ve caused his molecules to erupt in flames, except Percy swung the eagle sword, and cut the hieroglyphs in twine, dispelling the magic.

Setne balked. “Excuse me!?”

“An Egyptian magician,” Percy mused. “It’s been quite some since I’ve run into one of you.”

Another thing that caught Amos and Setne’s attention. Setne had been there about five years ago the first time he had tried to become a god, and of course the Kane siblings had told their uncle about the incident, so they knew Percy had been involved, but the way he spoke, he sounded like a wistful old man recalling his high school adventures from several decades ago. Yet another thing that through the Egyptian’s for a loop was how casually Percy had destroyed Setne’s spell—Setne’s spell, the Setne that was a full-fledged god now, with all the power of Apophis to boot—and relegated Setne to just “an” Egyptian magician.

“Who are you?” Setne demanded. “You are not the Percy Jackson I fought on Governor’s Island.”

“Correct. I suppose you could say I’m Percy Jackson if things had been different than whatever happened in this world.”

“This world—you’re from a different dimension. A parallel Earth.”

“Correct. What that means specifically for you, right here, right now, is that you’re in a lot of trouble when it comes to fighting me.”

Setne readied the crook and flail. “And why would that be?”

Percy started advancing on the new god.

“Yae though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil, for You are with me...”

Setne paled. He was from Ancient Egypt, yes, but he was born in 1281 BC, while the Exodus happened in 1440 BC, meaning the days in which Yahweh came down and kicked Egypt’s ass were before Setne’s time. Still, even he knew the power of the Lord, and knew what happened to the magicians who had faced the Lord’s prophet so many centuries ago.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

In tandem with the arrivals, Piper’s spirit army was on the move. The demigods that found themselves under attack across the United States soon found themselves aided by creatures of shapes and sizes that brought with them a message, “I am an ally of Piper McLean. She sent me to help you.”

Annabeth was particularly beyond words when the spirits intercepted her convoy and told her that after getting her to safety.

“Now that we have that out of the way…what the fuck is going on!?” Annabeth couldn’t stop her terrified shout.

The spirit regarded her. “It’s the end of the world. Tartarus has unleashed his armies across the planet, and billions have already perished. The magician Setne has invaded the House of Life in Egypt, and the mischief god Loki is sailing Naglfar into the waters of this Midgard. The underlings of the Triumvirate have used their resources to kidnap Hecate and do to her what the original emperors did to Harpocrates: they used her as the centerpiece of a machine that amplified her powers on a global scale, and using this, the enemy caused a mass Mist warp, turning mankind into their slaves. You are not the only one under attack. However, Piper has foreseen this day coming for months, and she has mobilized us.”

Annabeth’s knees buckled, and she barely caught herself on her hands. “O-Oh….Wait, what about my parents? My dad-”

“Already handled.”

Annabeth’s eyes went wide and a new thought brought fresh terror. “What about New Rome!? If Tartarus-”

“It’s under attack right now. We must hurry.”

“P-Percy,” Annabeth whimpered.

She got to her feet and sprinted after the spirits. However, all of their vision was suddenly filled with bright light, and the next thing Annabeth knew, she was in the throne room of Olympus. Blinking in utter confusion, more and more people just popped in as she blinked.

Percy popped in, Frank and Hazel, Leo, Calypso, the other denizens of the Waystation, Clarisse, Chris, Connor, Travis, Katie, Miranda, Nyssa, Harley, Annabeth’s mortal family, Percy’s family, Tristan McLean—just about everyone from what Annabeth could see. All the demigods and their families.

But no gods.

Annabeth looked at the thrones, and saw they were empty.

Another thing she saw that was missing was the young woman that had saved her life.

Where was Piper?

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

She was clad in her Tlanuwa armor, the sleek, impenetrable metal feathers from the bird of the same name, flying through the air with her huge metal wings deployed at the breakneck speed of about Mach 3. Piper was moving. Her armored body was glowing reddish orange from the air friction, a shock cone having formed around her. Her destination was Olympus, having seen in her dreams that the floating mountain was going to be ground zero for the next invasion force.

She was making great time, until, for some reason, she got yanked straight to the ground as if gravity had suddenly increased tenfold. The sudden change of direction left Piper spiraling uncontrollably to the ground, unable to stop or right herself. She tried transforming her body, tried to turn into a cat or a mouse, but she couldn’t. It seemed that whatever had snared her midflight was also restricting her powers.

As such, Piper smashed into the dirt so hard she left a crater. The only reason the extent of her injuries was just a couple of bruises was because the Tlanuwa armor did not screw around. Piper crawled out of the crater, still armored, and was less than thrilled at what she saw.

“Medea,” Piper snarled, her voice distorted from the falcon-like helmet that was part of her armor.

Her old nemesis, the witch that had orchestrated Tristan’s financial ruin, and arguably Piper and Jason’s breakup, even if indirectly, was smirking psychotically, her hands surrounded by glowing circles of magic sigils.

“Piper, my dear, you’ve grown up. All independent in your big girl pants. No more shoplifting for you, eh?”

Piper attacked, lunging so fast there was a sonic boom. She smacked right into a wall of energy, Medea’s smug expression shifting into one of strain.

“You’re not the only one who learned some new tricks,” the sorceress grunted.

Struggling to move her arms as if trying to maneuver and awkward load, Medea managed to do something akin to wrapping Piper up like a mummy, though the bandages were invisible. Piper’s legs were bound together, and her arms and wings bound to her torso. She struggled, but couldn’t move.

However, Medea didn’t look like a spring chicken herself. Her hands were kept in grabbing motions, as if holding apples, and beads of sweat were forming above her brows. Whatever spell she was using against Piper, it was draining her quickly.

Medea canceled her spell, and Piper dropped to the ground. The thing was, she stumbled a little a fell to a knee. Her armor glowed and fell from her in a multitude of mauve-colored feathers, the lights flickering out one by one until all were gone.

Medea’s fingers twitched, and the magic circles around her hands solidified into glowing swords. She rushed forward, blades in front of her. Piper’s reflexes did not fail despite the sudden exhaustion she felt from struggling against the binding spell. She pitched forward to the ground and swiped her leg in a circle, tripping Medea.

The sorceress flipped forward, tucking her body and managing to land in a roll.

Piper got up, drawing Katoptris and her tomahawk from her belt.

The crunching of grass nearby caused the women to look over, and Piper’s breath hitched. “Y-You…”

It was the lawyer from the day of Billy’s funeral four years ago.

Medea turned to fully face him. He was certainly imposing, his black hair pushed back over his scalp in a multitude of small spikes, two actual horns growing upward from her hairline, his crimson eyes glowing ominously in the starlit night, and his outfit screamed regal. Black dress shoes and black slacks, as if he were going to the office, and a black, double-breasted coat that was open at the waist, the tails cut twice for a total of three that fell down to the back of his knees, exposing a vermillion interior that went perfect with the black outfit. Upon the left lapel of the coat was a stylized red cloud. In his right hand a sleek, black rod, and on his left ring finger was a golden band.

His eyes were locked onto Medea.

“Unless you want to die here at the very beginning, I highly recommend leaving.”

“And just who are you supposed to be?”

“I am Shin’en Yūrei, general of the army that has been summoned to oppose you.”

Medea’s grip tightened on her swords. “This is what Chaos was talking about, then…”

Piper looked at the lawyer, Shin’en, again.

“Indeed,” Shin’en intoned. “Now leave, or I will destroy you.”

Then, amazingly, Medea did just that. She opened a mortal of multicolored light and jumped through, the portal closing behind her.

Piper relaxed with a breath. She sheathed her weapons and walked up to Shin’en. She looked at him seriously.

“This is it, isn’t it? What you warned me about, what Jason warned me about—the apocalypse.”

“Yes,” Shin’en answered. “Most of my team is already here, and more will soon arrive. We will do what we can.”

Piper nodded. “I’m ready to help.”

Shin’en’s eyes narrowed slightly, and Piper met his gaze, her multicolored eyes almost completely black as she let some of her soul seep out. Writing itself on her face were her experiences these past two years. The horrific things she had seen, the hard decisions she had made, the multitude of lives she had personally ended, and more. Piper’s face became that of a hardened war veteran that had done what she had to do for the mission.

The face of a soldier.

The face of a killer.

Shin’en slightly inclined his head. “We shall see. Come, we have much to do.”

The slit on his forehead between his horns opened, revealing a third eye that was a dark emerald, green, sporting concentric rings with spinning tomoe. Piper was a little taken aback at the sight of the eye, but the next thing she knew, she was in the Olympian throne room.

As was just about everyone else.

Piper saw her old friends, Annabeth, Percy, Leo, Frank, Hazel, and Reyna bringing Thalia over from the Hunters, wincing as she saw Annabeth wearing a McDonald’s uniform, but she did not go to them. Instead, she kind of just hung out on the side, between the demigods and the lawyer.

He had friends of his own.

A tall, muscular man with golden armor and heterochromic eyes.

An unnaturally black woman with a bladed tail and other monstrous features, bringing with her what Piper was sure was Khione, only the snow goddess had something attached to her face. Was that a Facehugger from the Alien franchise?

A young man that looked exactly like Percy, only wiser and more battle-hardened, wearing a black leather coat and several weapons on his person.

Then an absolute psycho of a barely pubescent boy, dragging with him a golden bloody mess of a thing that might have been a god.

The five exchanged greetings of various enthusiasm, but Piper was broken from her observations when someone shouted her name.

“Piper!”

She looked and was relieved to see her dad running to her, tears in his eyes. She ran to him too, and they crashed in a hug.

“Oh, my God, you’re safe!” Tristan openly sobbed. “I haven’t heard anything from you in-”

“I know, I’m sorry,” Piper cried. “Just…things got busy.”

Before anything else happened, a car suddenly came speeding into the throne room from a hole in space/time, followed by a kid on a motorcycle with a gun who fired, shooting the driver through the rear windshield and headrest with a pistol. The dead driver laid on the wheel, the car whipping around to head for the five people that looked suspiciously like Percy now that Piper thought about it.

Not a single one of them moved despite the screams and cries of the demigods and other people.

When the car hit the closest one head-on, the black girl, it was as if the car smashed into a steel pole. The front end caved in completely, the door popping open, one man getting thrown out, and due to the woman’s height, flipped up and over her to go spinning end over end before landing on its top in an explosion of glass. She didn’t budge a single inch.

The motorcycle boy drove over and shot the man that had gotten thrown from the car, a man of Latin descent, and then drove over to the overturned car. Another man was trying to get out of the wreckage, and the boy shot him in the head.

“What an entrance,” the lawyer said dryly.

Motorcylce boy looked at him, then looked at the crowd as if only just now realizing they were there. His eyes widened, then they zeroed in on the space/time portal to another place, some ramshackle city, and he spun the motorcycle around and attempted to make a break for it. The portal closed, making the motorcycle boy groan in anger.

“Not this fucking shit again!”

“Unfortunately,” said the lawyer. “Now turn that off and come here.”

Kicking the stand, turning off the machine, and grumbling to himself, he did just that, carrying all the energy of a disgruntled boy being told by his father that he had to turn off the videogame and do chores.

“Hi~,” grinned the psycho boy.

Motorcycle boy leaned away and stood next to leather coat man.

“Tobi, behave,” admonished the lawyer.

“What about the triplets?” Muscle man asked.

“On their way,” said the lawyer.

“And our tech support?”

There was a loud banging at the front doors of the throne room, causing all heads to turn.

“Door’s open!” the lawyer called.

One of the doors swung open, and came rolling in a souped-up wheelchair was another young man with a clear case of psychopathy. He had big welding goggles on his eyes, short black hair, a wild grin, pale skin, and was wearing simple clothes. Black shorts that exposed the stumps of his legs, and a long-sleeved bright red shirt.

“One side people, move it!” he said as he rolled down the middle of everyone. He got to the other six and crowed, “Well, goddamn! It’s the end of the world as we know it all over again, ain’t it!”

“Something like that,” the lawyer said.

“Excuse me!”

Everyone looked, and Piper swallowed a little at seeing Annabeth go marching in front of everyone, her big mouth opening up.

Piper also saw that there were a number of raised eyebrows and slack jaws at seeing the mighty Annabeth Chase, Architect of the Gods, wearing a McDonald’s outfit, and Piper couldn’t blame them. When you thought of Annabeth, the last place you’d ever think to see her working was McDonald’s of all places. Not to bash anyone that does work at the fast-food joint, of course, but anyone that knew Annabeth knew that fast food was way beneath her skills and talents.

Piper looked at the six newcomers and saw they all had their own reactions as well.

The lawyer looked unperturbed.

The black woman and muscular man both looked disgusted to see Annabeth wearing such a uniform, as if the site was offensive.

Psycho boy and wheelchair boy both looked as if they were witnessing a comedy skit.

Motorcycle boy looked uncomfortable.

And leather coat man had a raised brow.

“Yes, Ms. Chase?” the lawyer asked calmly.

“Uh, h-hi-”

“Hello.”

Annabeth was clearly a bit taken aback by the lawyer’s calm demeanor. Piper figured Annabeth thought she was going to be lambasted for daring to come before whoever these individuals were.

“So, uh, I think I speak for everyone here when I say I would like to know what’s going on?”

“Armageddon,” the lawyer said shortly. “For the past four years, Tartarus has been amassing an army while also putting his sons and nephews back together. He also struck up an alliance with Loki-” psycho boy grinned and lightly kicked the bloody mess, making it groan, making Piper’s eyes go wide when she realized that said mess was Loki “-Setne, and the successors of the Triumvirate-”

“The Triumvirate!?” Annabeth balked, as did many others in the throne room.

Piper’s eyes narrowed.

“Yes, the Triumvirate,” the lawyer said patiently. “The organization that existed in the shadows for the better part of 2,000 years, amassing wealth and power and immortal soldiers and demigods, while having a hand in most major world events. Did you really think an organization like that would just crumble and collapse because its main leadership was defeated by teenagers?”

Annabeth gulped, and Piper could tell that a lot of people were feeling like the old “Overconfident Alcoholic” meme.

“Indeed,” continued the lawyer. “It is the end of your world. Tartarus has unleashed his army, and billions across the plant have already died. Setne almost destroyed the House of Life in Egypt but he was routed. I suspect that he is currently overtaking the Duat and subduing the gods therein. Loki made his move on Hotel Valhalla, but-”

“I fucked him up!” Psycho boy cheered.

“Quite,” agreed the lawyer. “In short, tragic terms, Ms. Chase, all of your efforts in saving the world and in retiring from demigod life in order to build a quieter, normal one, were all in vain. Evil has reared its head in a way almost unprecedented, and that’s why we’re here.”

Annabeth had tears in her eyes, her knees wobbling. Understandable, of course. Even Piper felt her heart aching in her chest, even though she knew this day was coming and had tried to do her best to prepare.

“Wh-What about the gods?” Annabeth asked.

“Useless. Nyx gave over her daughter Hecate to the current Triumvirate to use her in a manner similar to how the first Triumvirate used Harpocrates. Using Hecate, they caused a massive Mist warp that affected the entire planet. Using this warp, they manipulated the minds of all mankind to collectively think of the gods as week and worthless beings, while also thinking that Tartarus and his allies were nigh-invincible. The gods will be of no help to us.”

“Where are they, then?”

“I’d imagine they are captured. We will have to worry about them later. Right now, we have bigger concerns.”

Just then, Olympus was rocked. Light debris rained down from the ceiling, and many stumbled and staggered, with Piper having to hold onto her dad to keep him from falling.

“Ohp, here they come,” said wheelchair boy. “Time to get to work.”

He rolled forward towards the central hearth in the middle of the throne room, produced something like an ethernet cable from the arm of his wheelchair, and somehow plugged it into the ground.

Psycho boy laced his fingers together and thrust his arms forward, popping his knuckles. “I fucking love this part…!”

Annabeth looked around at all of them. “Who are you people?”

The lawyer produced a cigarette, lighting it with a spark of electricity from his finger. “I am Shin’en Yūrei. These are my associates, Asteria, Leviathan, Tobi, Virgil, Gunslinger, and Wheels. Kraken will join us soon, and I suspect that a number of others will as well. To answer your question more directly, Ms. Chase…we are the desperate measures.”

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

M’kay. This chapter is shorter than I wanted it to be, but things have happened that require my attention.

Firstly, it’s even funnier the second time! I am, of course, referring to the recent (as of this chapter) reveal of the Thalia Grace actor, Tamara Smart, who is not a white girl. Standard dissenting opinions apply: Brownwashing, erasing white representation, racist hypocrisy, double standards, how is it okay to replace white people, but a heinous crime to replace non-white people? How come people can’t criticize this without being labeled as racists who don’t support diversity, and told to shut up, but whenever the reverse happens, someone sound the alarms! How is it considered diversity when the only thing the studio did was remove a white person from the story and toss in a non-white person?

It is funny that they made sure to get a white boy to play Luke, the main villain, and they also got a white boy to play Tyson, the cyclopes that’s pretty much autistic, and I guarantee you that they will get a white boy to play Octavion. Now, will they also get a white boy to play Jason in order to more sharply contrast the different parentage of Jason and Thalia, or will they get another black boy and commit to more white erasure? If they do keep Jason white, what one earth is going to happen to the Kane story? Other than being Egyptian, the Kane’s big claim to fame is being mixed-race, but now that they could give that to Jason and Thalia, they would eliminating a great uniqueness to the Kane family story.

Even if you look at the show as a Percy Jackson fanfiction like most look at the movies as a Percy Jackson fanfiction, it’s still meh with all it’s “creative liberties.” If they’re not careful, they could literally kill the PJO franchise.

Anyway, secondly: I bought the new Senior Year book, the one with Hecate, and I will be going on a brief hiatus so I can binge read the whole thing to keep myself updated on current PJO events, and possibly include elements in this story. It also goes without saying that because this story is being written in an IRL standpoint before the Triple Goddess book was released, any new lore/information revealed therein will most likely not be considered for this story.

Thirdly, and most importantly, the Wrath of the Sun Deity is making a comeback! Years ago, he started writing a “Reading of” AC: T, then life happened, and now he’s picking it back up! Please keep an eye out for the rewrite. While you do that, you can also read his latest work currently posted on Watt Pad! I can’t paste the link here because of the way FFN works, but if you type the website name followed by dot-com, and this extension, /1477828937-hinterland-chapter-1-the-start, you should find the story. His name on WP is Mr_Goober and his pfp is a cartoon white dude with black hair.

Since it’ll be a while, please Fav, Follow, and Review!

Chapter Text

And we’re back! The war begins in earnest now, with Shin’en doling out the first assignments. Admittedly, these next few chapters may be considered boring as they will all be fights, with the Team whittling down Tartarus’s army, taking full advantage of Chaos’s new perma-death rule, though there will be some humor as Shin’en plays 20 Questions with all the demigods, particularly Annabeth.

Also, I have read the Hecate book, and my personal review is at the bottom of the chapter for anyone interested.

Disclaimer: I don’t own PJO or any other media herein

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Annabeth stared at Shin’en. “Um…okay? That…kind of…clears it up. You’re the desperate measures, this is a very desperate situation—so, er, what now?”

“Now we get to work,” Shin’en said. “Wheels, what’ve we got?”

“The easier-to-answer question is what do we not have?” Wheels smirked. With the press of a button on his wheelchair, a number of holographic displays came to life, showing live images of places across the planet, vitals of Shin’en and the rest of his present team, all of their hearts beating at different rates but still calm, spinning radar graphs corresponding to the locations, showing innumerable red blips with accurate counts of how many monsters were present in the given area. It was like the Batcomputer mixed with Tony Stark’s stuff. “We’ve got millions of monsters, the return of all the bad guys, mass genocide of the human race, magic, and more. The only thing we’re missing is a space army comprised of all the dead good guys.”

Shin’en exhaled some smoke. “Used to be a good storyline until it became overdone and cliché. How are we looking about Olympus?”

Wheels hit a button and a screen took the centerstage. “Monsters are pouring out from these locations. Palaces of various minor gods. Bet if I cross-reference the list here with a list of minor gods who supported the Titans because the Olympians were assholes, I’d find a lot of matches. Almost like making the Olympians swear an oath on the Styx to be more respectful was never going to work out, and now they’re once again taking their revenge.”

Wheels craned his neck and looked directly at Percy, his welding goggles catching the light, becoming big circles of white.

Percy’s mouth set into a thin line as his objective failure at the end of the Titan War was brought to bare before him. Yes, he had been naïve and foolish to think that making the Olympians swear a Styxian oath was going to change anything, given how he and Thalia (and also Jason, but they didn’t know about him at the time) existed despite a Styxian oath in the first place. Given the current situation, though, he really didn’t want to be reminded of his past failures.

“Focus,” Shin’en said.

“Right. On top of Olympus being flooded with monsters, we’ve also got activity in the seas below. Oceanus is bringing almost the entire human Navy to the Lower Bay. I’m tracking American vessels, British, German, French, Chinese, Russian, and a bunch of others. Say what you will about Tartarus, but he successfully unified humanity.”

“Indeed,” Shin’en intoned.

“Oh, and I’m also tracking Typhon to the West. At his current pace, he should be here in about an hour.”

Shin’en took another drag from his cigarette, exhaling another cloud of smoke from his nose. “Looks like it’s going to be a busy night.”

Annabeth stepped forward. “How can we help?”

Without even missing a beat, Shin’en turned to her and said with a straight face and a dead serious tone, “I’ll have a 20-piece McNugget with a large fry, buffalo sauce, and a large Dr. Pepper.”

Annabeth glowered at him.

Tobi raised his hand. “Can I get two Big Macs with everything on them, and a medium fry? And a Diet Coke?”

Wheel said without turning around from his holograms, “Five bacon double cheeseburgers, plain and dry, with Sprite-”

“Okay, that’s enough of this nonsense,” Leviathan cut in, visibly, genuinely irritated and angered by Annabeth basically being bullied.

Asteria didn’t look too pleased, either, really begging the question of just what Annabeth meant to them.

“Do try to disassociate,” Shin’en smirked.

“You try to disassociate,” Leviathan returned, jutting his chin at Piper.

Piper shifted, making Tristan hold her a little tighter. “Leave my daughter out of...whatever this is.”

“Of course,” Shin’en continued to smirk, before he schooled himself. “Let’s get started. Wheels, have you finished interfacing with the mountain?”

“95% of the way there. It’s a big mountain.”

Shin’en nodded. “Gunslinger, Virgil, you’re on Olympus. Get through the monsters and destroy the temples. Wheels will be able to provide backup shortly. Tobi, handle Typhon. Asteria, Leviathan, you’re in the ocean. According to that scan, Oceanus, Phorcys, Keto, and Polybotes are amongst the fleet. Don’t count on any help. I’ll reinforce each of you when resources are made available.”

“Can I have a bigger gun?” Gunslinger asked.

Shin’en nodded. “Wheels?”

The crippled young man hit a button, and from the back of his wheelchair popped out a rather big gun. An M249 LMG to be precise, with a red dot site and an underbarrel grenade launcher. Shin’en caught it and handed the weapon to the grinning boy.

“5.56mm Celestial bronze/lead alloy, capable of killing mortals and monsters. The gun is enchanted to prevent jamming and overheating, and the magazine is similarly enchanted, but also with infinite ammunition. Likewise, the grenade launcher has infinite shells. Don’t hurt yourself.”

“Fuckin’ A,” Gunslinger grinned.

Shin’en looked at Virgil.

“I’m fine,” said the Assassin.

Shin’en nodded at the throne room doors, and the partners made their way out into the field, jogging past the congregation of demigods and their families.

“Are we worried about collateral damage?” Tobi asked.

“No,” was Shin’en’s short answer.

“Yay!”

Tobi went running out into the field as well, presumably to go fight Typhon by himself.

Many people were appalled, and Annabeth was the first to voice it.

“You’re sending a kid to fight Typhon!?”

Shin’en looked at her, slightly miffed, slightly amused, while Wheels was cackling like a loon at her question.

“Tobi is not a kid, Ms. Chase, and he is more than capable of handling Typhon on his own. Look what he did to Loki.”

Annabeth and others looked down at the ravaged, mutilated mess that was the Norse god of mischief. They all shuddered at the sight of him.

“And he can do far worse,” Shin’en promised. “He will deal with Typhon.” Shin’en looked at Asteria and Leviathan, giving them the nod.

They nodded back, and then both dissolved into water.

“Woah, what was that?” Percy asked.

“Water-travel,” Shin’en answered. “The child-of-Poseidon equivalent of the Hades child’s shadow-travel.”

Percy looked perturbed. “We…I…can do that? I can’t do that.”

“Have you ever tried?”

“Well, no…”

“Did you ever try to make a hurricane?”

“No…but—hey, how do you know about that?”

“I know about everything,” Shin’en said simply, but there was a hidden weight in his words.

Percy swallowed.

“So, you never tried to make a hurricane, but you did, and you’ve never tried to travel through interconnected bodies of water like Nico with shadows, but you’re confident that you can’t do that? Percy Jackson, do you even know what your full potential is?”

“I…um…”

“I know you don’t. Ever since your life as a demigod started, you’ve let your ‘I never wanted to be a demigod’ mentality control you, and you have made great strides in not being a demigod. You have not ever tested your powers, nor have you ever pushed yourself to your limits. Percy, you have no idea what you can and cannot do.”

Percy glared at Shin’en. “And you do? You know what my full potential is?”

“Yes.”

“Oh, yeah? How? You don’t even know me.”

Shin’en laughed. “I know you far more intimately than you can possibly imagine.”

“How?” Percy demanded.

Shin’en once again adopted that sideways smirk.

Unsurprisingly, it was Annabeth who made the connection first. “There’s no way…”

Shin’en sideways smirk got a little bigger. “Oh, yes there is.”

“Wise Girl? What’s up? Who is this?”

Annabeth was staring slack-jawed at Shin’en. “You…all of you…you’re…you’re…”

“You’re Percy Jackson,” Piper finally answered, her eyes wide with realization. “From a different dimension. An alternate timeline. Multiverse theory.”

“Quite the bitch, multiverse theory,” Shin’en confirmed. “Yes, I am Percy Jackson from a world in which things were vastly different. The same is true for all of us.”

All who heard this revelation were floored.

The implications were running wild in all their minds.

Percy was pale as a sheet. “I-I’m…y-you’re…”

“And Asteria and Leviathan,” Annabeth started, struggling to get her brain on a track, “the reason they don’t like me—or at least, the reason they don’t like me…wearing this is because…because I’m still someone special to them in their own timelines?”

“In his timeline, you are Leviathan’s beloved wife, empress to his empire, and mother of his three children.”

Annabeth did not turn bright red at the mention of having birthed Percy’s children in another life, but was actually green with envy. She wanted to have kids with her own Percy, after all.

“For Asteria,” Shin’en continued, “you are her eldest daughter through adoption and genetic mutation.”

Annabeth’s feelings of baby fever evaporated. “Huh?”

“It’s an involved story,” Shin’en dismissed.

Percy shook his head. “Okay, back on track. We can talk about this…multiverse stuff…later. We have a war to win. What do you want us to do?”

“I need someone to clean up this corpse, and get that wrecked car out of here.”

The mess Gunslinger had made upon his entrance had yet to be removed.

And Loki’s mangled body was still present, as was the incapacitated Khione with the thing on her face.

Percy, Annabeth, and the closer demigods all stared at Shin’en.

“That’s…it?” Annabeth asked.

“Yes. They’ll start to stink before too much longer.”

“What about battle plans!?” Annabeth shouted. “Where do you want us? Who do we need to go fight? You said Tartarus had deployed a millions-strong army across the planet and is wiping out the human race and you’re here to stop him, so how can we help?”

“By staying out of the way,” Shin’en said, looking her dead in the eye. From his tone, he was not kidding. “You do not understand the full scope of this unfolding nightmare. If I were to deploy any of you as you currently are, you would be killed and eaten. Save only for one of you.” He looked directly at Piper. “Are you ready?”

Piper disengaged from her father. “I am.” Tristan grabbed her arm and tried to protest, but she looked at him and said one word. “Sleep.”

The charmspeak instantly took hold, and Tristan crumpled. Piper caught him and gently set him down. She stood back up and looked at Shin’en.

“He will be taken care of,” he confirmed.

Piper nodded. “What do you need me to do?”

“The Triumvirate Holdings HQ is beneath us. Scans show that one of the new emperors is present. Bring him to me. Alive. We need to find out where Hecate is being kept.”

“Yes, sir. I also have an army, if that helps.”

Shin’en nodded. “Will they only listen to you, or can command of them be given to someone else?”

“They’ll do what I tell them to do, even if that means taking orders from a different person.”

“Tell them to go into hiding. I will have need of them later.”

Piper’s brow slightly furrowed. “You don’t want to deploy them now? They could help us secure Olympus, and also take the fight to Tartarus.”

“Gunslinger and Virgil can secure Olympus by themselves, Asteria and Leviathan can secure the ocean, and Tobi can take down Typhon. Olympus will be secure in due time. No need to waste any of the spirits now.”

“But what about the rest of the world?” Piper asked, trying to keep her rising emotions in check. “They’re being slaughtered by Tartarus’s army—hundreds of millions have died, and they’re still dying.”

“Of that I am aware,” Shin’en continued in his calm and level voice. “I am also aware that Tartarus’s army far outnumbers your own by a very staggering ratio, and sending the spirits out there now would be suicide for all of them. The unfortunate fact of this matter is that mankind is, for the most part, lost to us. The only thing we can do for the species now is repel the enemy, regroup, and draw up our own plan of attack. Do not be mistaken about this situation, Ms. McLean—we are no longer fighting to save mankind. We are fighting for the future of those that yet remain. Now go. Bring me the emperor.”

Angry, sad, bitter, and with an aching, vengeful heart, Piper steeled herself and resolved to direct her fury at everything happening at this unknown emperor. She turned to leave, mounting her warpath, and her old friends moved to join her.

“No,” Piper said firmly.

“What do you mean ‘no’?” Annabeth demanded.

“No, you can’t come with me-”

“Oh, don’t even start with us,” Percy glowered. “We are not getting into this You’re too weak, I don’t want to keep having to go out of my way to keep you safe shtick.”

“It’s been a while, Beauty Queen,” Leo said, “but I think we can all still keep up with each other.”

“Doubtful,” Piper said dully.

“Hey, are you okay?” Frank asked. “I get the idea of not wanting us to be in warzone, but this doesn’t feel like you just want to keep us safe. This feels like you’re actively blowing us off and want nothing to do with us.”

And then Piper dropped a bombshell on them all. “That’s absolutely correct, Frank. I do want nothing to do with any of you.” She glared at them all, her multicolored eyes seeping into a faint red as her anger spiked. “I don’t have time to get into it right now because I have more important things to do, but I’ve got a lot to say later. Assuming we survive this night, anyway.”

Her piece said, she wasted no more time. She went running out the throne room doors, her body becoming covered in her Tlanuwa armor, throwing most that saw her for a huge loop—since when was Piper able to do that?—and she was gone. Soaring over Olympus, she dove off the edge of the mountain and descended to the skyscrapers below, her beak pointed right for the Triumvirate Holdings building.

Back in the throne room, it was just Wheels and Shin’en left of the multitude of alternate Percy’s.

It was Reyna that marched up to Shin’en, who had turned his back to everyone so he could focus on the holographic monitors. “What was that?” she demanded.

“Correct your tone and then I will speak with you,” Shin’en said without looking at her. He stood with his back straight, his shoulders square, and his hands clasped behind his back. He exuded all the energy of a general conducting battle: intent, focused, pointed, and in command.

Not at all unlike Reyna herself back when she was praetor during the Giant and Imperial Wars.

Appreciating the fact that Asteria, the one that had effortlessly slaughtered Lycaon and his werewolves, and then neutralized Khione and made Orion flee, was clearly subservient to Shin’en, Reyna did, in fact, correct her tone as she realized that there was probably a very good reason as to why Asteria obeyed Shin’en, and it most like was not mutual respect. Reyna cleared her throat and tried again. “The way Piper spoke, the way she looked at us, it’s like she hated us for something.”

“I will not go into details about Piper’s emotions,” Shin’en said. “Her personal thoughts regarding you are hers divulge when she wants to.”

Reyna frowned. “But…you know why was like that?”

“Of course I do. I will not tell you what’s going through her head, but I will point this out to you: she has spent the last two years fighting the forces of darkness. You were gallivanting through the woods with the Hunters.”

And just like that, with the insight that she had, Reyna understood exactly where Piper was coming from. “She’s jealous,” the ex-praetor said. “She was putting herself through hell, exposing herself to all of that evil, while we were sitting out and enjoying life.”

Shin’en didn’t say anything one way or another. There was no micro-reaction on his face. Nothing to indicate that Reyna’s inference was correct or not.

“But…” Reyna protested more against the universe than anyone specific, “she chose that life. No one forced her into it. She didn’t have to do that. That’s all on her.”

“You can bring this topic of conversation up with her at her convenience,” Shin’en said. His tone was dismissive, and Reyna got the hint.

This conversation was now over.

Reyna’s was, anyway, but Annabeth came back up. “You said that we didn’t understand the full scope of what was happening. So, what is happening?”

“I already told you: Tartarus has unleashed a massive army of monsters and other significant beings, including, but not limited to, many of the Giants and a number of Titans. They are also boosted in power by the current Triumvirate using Hecate in the same way the previous used Harpocrates. By harnessing human belief through the Mist, they have what remains of mankind believing that the Olympians are weak beings, and that Tartarus and his allies are nigh-unbeatable. Additionally, as it is night on this hemisphere, the enemy is currently enjoying yet another boost in power from Nyx. Also, Tartarus does not act alone. Joining forces with his are Setne, who has overtaken the Duat by using the Crown of Ptolemy and has imbued himself with the power of Apophis, and formerly Loki, who is here with us now. Finally, and most importantly, Ms. Chase…you are despairingly out of practice. Most of you are, and the ones that are yet in-shape, as it were, lack the power necessary to stand on even footing with the enemy.”

Annabeth swallowed hard. Percy, Leo, and a number of other demigods looked uncomfortable, while demigods like Hazel, Frank, Thalia, and Reyna looked miffed.

It hurt because it was true.

It had been a while since Annabeth had trained for combat, what with college life, the job hunt, and working at McDonald’s taking up her time, combined with the false feeling of freedom from the life of a demigod creating a sense of laziness in her—the idea of “I’m an adult now, which means monsters won’t be attacking me as much, which means I don’t have to keep up with my training anymore.” It showed, too, since Annabeth’s tummy was just a little bigger than it used to be, her arms and legs a little less muscular than before.

Even Percy was just barely on the pudgier side as well, since his construction job provided some physical exercise, but not a lot of true weight resistance compared to his demigod strength.

As for the ones who were on top of their training still, like Thalia and Reyna, seasoned Hunters, and Frank and Hazel, praetors of several years now, being told they weren’t strong enough to keep up in this new conflict was certainly a blow to their pride. That being said, they had seen the enemy. Thalia and Reyna were there when they were easily overrun and subdued by Lycaon, Khione, and Orion. Frank and Hazel were there when those huge, hulking monsters and the army of normal monsters demolished Camp Jupiter, and had no trouble swarming into New Rome.

That thought in particular had Hazel speaking up. “Hey, do you know what those huge monsters are?”

“The cacodemons,” Shin’en answered.

That had Nico and Will’s attention. “Excuse me, what?” the son of Hades demanded. “Those things are not my Cocoa Puffs.”

“They are,” Shin’en confirmed. “You were foolish and naïve to think Nyx was telling the truth when she told you that she created the cacodemons from her power and your memories. In truth, they are a new generation of beings. They are the children of Nyx and Tartarus, who infiltrated and assimilated in your life. In your defense, they were sleeper agents who were only recently activated by their parents.”

Nico looked like his entire worldview was shattered. He had to lean into his boyfriend for support.

Will’s eyes widened as something occurred to him. “What about Bob?”

Shin’en pressed a few buttons on the hologram keyboard. One of the screens grew larger, showing what was apparently an energy signature—well, a cluster of signatures, actually—and amongst these were names like Atlas, Prometheus, Koios, and despairingly enough, Iapetus.

“Another sleeper agent,” Shin’en said. “Nyx and Tartarus both worked on him while he was in the Pit, and they broke him, remade him, sent him off, and have turned him loose.”

Nico and Will and Percy and Annabeth all went pale and rigid.

“We have to save him,” Annabeth said.

“The chances of mounting a rescue operation are slim, but not zero.”

“Then let me handle it!” Annabeth insisted. “We can’t just let him be used as a tool! He’s our friend-!”

“A fact that means nothing to me,” Shin’en turned to stare her down. “Ms. Chase, this situation is not like the Titan War, Giant War, Imperial War, or any quest you’ve been on. This isn’t a children’s story full of sunshine and rainbows with an occasional gloomy cloud. This is serious. The enemy has been training. They are more powerful than they were in previous conflicts, while you have been slacking off. If the resources are made available to me to at least consider trying to rescue Bob, then I will, but as of right now, I have far more pressing matters that require my attention. If you insist on trying to provide me with aid, then please clean up this mess. The bodies are starting to smell.”

Annabeth glared at the man who was Percy from another life, and then she glared at the corpse left by Gunslinger, and then at the overturned car with another body inside it. She looked at Thalia and Reyna. “Either of you have one of those magic tent things?”

Reyna handed her a spare magic collapsable tent. Annabeth used it to pack away the bodies and the wrecked car, and then she tossed the tent into the flickering embers of the hearth. Thus, she cleaned up the mess.

“What about, er, them?” she hesitated in asking, referring to the bloody lump of meat that was Loki, and the incapacitated form the was Khione.

“Leave them,” Shin’en said. “They’re fine where they’re at.”

“Okay…now what?”

Shin’en hit a few buttons on the holo-keyboard, and the entire back half of the throne became a lounge area. Dozens of couches, sofas, and recliners spawned in, along with gaming systems, television setups, a miniature library, several coolers that were filled with ice and various beverages, numerous tables, many of which were stacked with pizza boxes filled with the standard three flavors of cheese, pepperoni, and hamburger, and others that were sporting boardgames galore.

“Make yourself comfortable and keep yourself occupied,” Shin’en instructed.

Annabeth stared at him. “The world is coming to an end…and you want us to have a party like it’s someone’s birthday?”

“Yes,” was Shin’en’s simple, yet pointed, answer. “I have explained at length as to why deploying you and your friends is not necessary and also suicide. There is no need for any of you to die today.”

“I’m at 99% integration with Olympus,” Wheels said.

Shin’en nodded.

“But we want to help!” Annabeth finally shouted.

Shin’en looked at her, his eyes piercing. “You want to…help?” he asked in a neutral voice.

Annabeth’s mouth set into a thin line. Her feet started moving, carrying her back over to her friends where there was strength and safety in numbers. Shin’en’s eyes followed her the whole time, his whole body eventually having to turn so he could stare at her.

“Now you want to help?” Shin’en said.

And with that statement, combined with his previous regarding his knowing of “everything,” Annabeth now understood what Shin’en was getting at. Her mouth set into an even thinner line, her subconsciously coming up to grab her opposite bicep.

“Ms. Chase, you refused to help four years ago when another war started. Even in your own words to Magnus at your lunch, you revealed there was a crisis going on. You knew the situation per Rachel’s investigation, you knew about Triumvirate Holdings, how Nero was one of the emperors, and it was even speculated that if Nero was here in the East, so close to Camp Half-Blood, then it was highly likely that one of the other emperors was based in the West, close to Camp Jupiter. Now, I will throw you a bone and say that saddling up to travel all the way to the West Coast from Manhattan would have been a tall order, but there were still several other things you could have done here at home. For example, establishing a communication system that bypassed the emperors’ jamming signal—you can’t look me in the eye and tell me that you, of all people, would have been incapable of determining a solution.

“No, ma’am, you simply did not want to. Very concerning, given the nuance behind the crisis. Communications down, no way to contact Reyna, Frank, and Hazel in New Rome, no way to send a warning to them, your friends—family, even, in your own words, Mr. Jackson—no way to make sure that the place you wanted to spend the rest of your life at would be informed of the new threat, and therefore able to prepare. Now, I can understand the jaded, cynical feelings that would arise if this had been a situation like the previous two wars, in that the Olympians were somehow to blame and you were being dragged in to clean up their mess, but the Imperial War was unique. The emperors had no interest in the gods, only the Oracles, and the one specific god that pertained to was actually on the job-”

“Where even is Apollo?” Thalia blurted.

“Most like captured with the rest of them sans Artemis over there.”

The moon goddess had been with her Hunters when they were ambushed, and therefore rescued by Asteria when she arrived. However, Artemis looked like hammered fecal material, given that she was small, thin, frail, pale, and shivering, her eyes glazed and unfocused. The effects of the Mist warp and all of collective human thought being directed to the idea that she was a weak and pathetic being, not a dignified deity.

Annabeth took this opportunity to plead her case. “But-”

And Shin’en wasn’t going to tolerate it. “But nothing, Ms. Chase. I don’t care about such sentiments as what we went through or we were tired and burned out or we earned the right to a normal life or any of that other bullshit. Your friends were in danger. Evil had once again reared its head, a new war had started, lives were on the line, and you came up with excuses to justify your nonparticipation. You didn’t even try. You completely and totally washed your hands of the situation, and to this day you are living with the guilt of your failure.”

Annabeth and Percy both flinched because Shin’en hit them both right between the eyes with that one.

“In truth, Ms. Chase, Mr. Jackson,” Shin’en continued, “I will not deploy the two of you because you aren’t really wanting to help. You are seeking redemption. You are desiring to prove yourselves and atone for what you did four years ago, and I have no need of that. I have no need of knights in shining armor, gallant warriors descending from on high to save the weak. I need soldiers. Killers. People that will follow orders. And I don’t see that in any of you.”

Percy clenched his fists. “I can’t believe that you’re supposed to be from a different world.”

Shin’en chuckled mirthlessly. “Believe me, young man, compared to other versions of you, I am actually a very nice person.”

“So, that’s it,” Annabeth said. “You’re just not going to let us help save our world.”

“Piper tried to get you to help her save your world a long time ago. You refused her then, and I refuse you now. If a situation should ever arise that I need additional help, I may consider you, but as of right now, to me, all of you are civilians to be kept off the battlefield. Now, I have a war to wage, and will no longer tolerate interruptions. Enjoy the amenities and stay out my way.”

Shin’en turned away from them, the conversation now over.

But Percy wasn’t satisfied with that. “Hey-!”

Shin’en whipped back around. “Is for livestock, young man. I have entertained all of you long enough, and now I must get to work. Do not test my patience anymore than you already have.”

“Or what?” Percy challenged, displaying clearly that all these years later since his first quest, he still had his moments where his emotions got the better of him. Though he was only 22. Not exactly the pinnacle of maturity and self-control. “You’re going to put us in timeout?”

Shin’en hit a button on the holo-keyboard, and a huge playpen comprised of towering multicolored panels materialized around Percy, Annabeth, Hazel, Frank, Leo, Calypso, Nico, Will, Thalia, and Reyna, effectively putting them all in timeout.

Leo touched one of the panels and recoiled when it shocked him.

Thalia then gave it a shot, only to be shocked as well. “What the Hades!?”

“Hey!” Nico barked.

Thalia blushed. “Sorry—but what the heck is this?”

“Timeout,” Shin’en said, his dark emerald eyes glittering with amusement. “No powers in the playpen. I’ve also got highchairs if you still want to roughhouse.”

“Dude, what the fu-” Percy tried to say, only for a bar of soap to pop into his mouth, his expression going cross-eyed both as he tried to look down at it, and at the sour taste.

“No filthy language, either,” Shin’en smirked.

Percy spat out the soap and wiped his mouth.

Frank’s hand clamped down on his shoulder. “Shut up before you make this worse for us—don’t ask how this could get worse, because I don’t want to find out. It’s bad enough that you got us placed in literal timeout.”

Percy scowled at the ground.

For the rest of the demigods and their families, they did their best to absorb themselves into something else.

“100%,” Wheels said.

Shin’en nodded. He turned around and put the heroes out of his mind. “Proceed.”

Wheels hit a button, and a mechanized female voice sounded off.

“Initiating Olympus reconfiguration.”

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

And the reason why this chapter was pure talking and no action is because it’s been two weeks since the last update, and based on how my work schedule goes, it would possibly be another two weeks before the chapter was out. Climbing multiple several-hundred-foot-tall towers in a day is very taxing on the body.

I promise there shall be carnage and action next chapter, along with the arrival of Kraken.

For those interested in my review of the Hecate book, it now follows:

Yeah, it sucks. The very opening chapter features Percy pooping in his pants—no that is not a joke, because it is written “I felt my gut dissolve into my jeans,” followed by “I needed to change my underpants”—because Hecate was ‘scary’ to him. Really? This takes place after the Giant War, meaning this is the Percy who’s a veteran of two wars, and a survivor of the pit of evil, even personally encountering the dark god himself. Then, Percy only dropped his sword, but when encountered with Hecate, he poops his pants like a preschooler?

And that’s pretty much the energy for the rest of the book.

Percy, Annabeth, and Grover make mistakes they shouldn’t be making, and get themselves into situations they should easily be able to get out of given the amount of power and experience they have at this point in their lives. Essentially, Rick writes them as if they’re still kids, but they’re not.

Given everything they’ve been through, they’re adults. Experienced, mature, capable, competent adults that should be functioning like well-seasoned special forces operatives.

Now, I will say that based on the nature of these books, that they’re just shameless cash-grabs with the backdrop of being Percabeth fluff, that they don’t need to be serious, gripping books, especially because we already know that Percy succeeds in getting into college in the first place. That being said, just because these books have the leeway of being campy, silly, funny, and whimsical, they are being too campy, silly, funny, and whimsical.

No, this trilogy does not need to feature Percy and Annabeth as jaded, cynical soldiers suffering from PTSD, jumping at their own shadows, too scared to sleep with the lights off, and stuck with separation anxiety so severe that if they’re apart from each other for more than ten seconds they start having a panic attack thinking a monster got the other, but I do say that there needs to be respect shown for everything that Percy and Annabeth have gone through up to this post-GW point in the canon.

Anyway. Thanks for reading the chapter! While we’re here, is anyone still interested in revamping Dragon Princess? Like, would anyone want another chapter of Chaos War first, or would anyone like the first chapter of the revamped Dragon Princess?

Please let me know with a Review after you’ve Followed and Fav’d!

Chapter Text

The carnage continues! Or rather, it begins.

I finally bought Hogwarts Legacy, and I have spent the past month playing it. Fun game, but you can definitely tell that most of the focus went into gameplay and setting. Your character is bland and boring with no history or personality to them at all, and the story itself is basic and passable, with the main villain being a generic bad guy with standard goals of world domination.

That being said, I can’t help but think of a PJO videogame in the same style. As in, it takes place in the past, therefore eliminating the presence of the modern MCs except for the likes of Chiron. Now, as for which time period in the past, I think the Civil War would be awesome, because that’s when the Confederate Romans and the Union Greeks really went at it.

You could have a modified musket that’s enchanted to never reload with a Celestial Bronze bayonet, or an Imperial Gold one if you decide to play as a Roman.

I’ve also thought of a Backup Plan AU in which child Shin’en goes back home with Persephone instead of staying in the Shinobi World, and it so happens that Persephone goes to Hogwarts as a foreign exchange student due to being a demigod, along with other demigods, and the story explores Shin’en getting help and therapy for his trauma, and integrating as a kid instead of a soldier/assassin. Shin’en would also be a tad OOC in this continuity, being quieter, reserved, more prone to crying due to greater emotional instability, more jittery, stronger abandonment issues to the point where he would start to get anxious if Persephone was in the bathroom for too long—basically suffering from severe PTSD to the point that he’s basically got the mind of a small child that is in desperate need for lots of hugs.

Probably never going to happen, but it’s a fun thought bunny.

Obviously, I continued with this story instead of revamping Dragon Princess. I promise that story is still on the table, but that’s not saying much considering how many other stories are still on the table. Oh, well.

Life is full of disappointments.

Disclaimer: I don’t own PJO or any other media herein

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

“Initiating Olympus reconfiguration.”

The mountain shuddered and shook as it did just that. In a showing similar to Cybertron transforming into Primus, streets were opened, certain buildings dropped into the mountain itself, platforms rose from the rock, and Olympus did indeed reconfigure from a floating mountain into a gigantic gun platform. Massive turrets and cannons, rocket launchers, missile bays, antennas, and more.

In short, Wheels’ living program just turned Mt. Olympus into something more powerful and deadly than Mongul’s War World. Even better was how there was a hologram of Olympus showing the mountain’s entire reconfiguration in real time, eventually ending on its new form: a golden city situated amongst a floating, spherical battlecruiser.

“And now for the pièce de resistance,” Wheels said with a perfect accent.

Pushing another button on the keyboard, the very thrones of the gods started to sink into the floor, sinking into new alcoves like control rods. As each throne vanished from site, getting plugged into the mountain, a feminine, computerized voice sounded off:

Program Dionysus: Online.

Program Hermes: Online.

Program Hephaestus: Online.

Program Aphrodite: Online.

Program Artemis: Online.

And so on until finally:

Program Zeus: Online.

Wheels nodded at Shin’en. “We are locked and loaded.”

“Get her fired up,” Shin’en said.

With another nod, Wheels started calling out commands. “Program Athena: Aegis Shield. Spherical shape around the mountain. Program Artemis: Lunar Charge. Direct energy to main power cells. Program Ares: Invigorate. Direct energy to main power cells. Program Dionysus: Madness Wave. Standby. Program Aphrodite: Love Wave. Standby. Program Apollo: Longshot. Monitor the skies for any airborne hostiles and eliminate them. Program Demeter: Revitalize. Remain on standby to render healing. Program Hermes: Speedster. Overlock all active programs at my signal. Program Hephaestus: System Maintenance. Constantly monitor all active programs and systema across the mountain, repair as possible, and provide constant feedback on all performance. Set Programs Zeus, Poseidon, and Hera on idle. I will assign them as needed later.”

With every command, the huge battle station obeyed.

The hologram showed a translucent sphere spreading around Olympus, huge banks of solar panels rising to catch the light of the full moon on this clear, hellish night, two omni-directional antennas lowering from the bottom of the mountain, turrets and guns gaining a slight golden sheen to them as they started moving up, down, left, and right, scanning the skies in a all directions from every point on the battle station. Snaking up around Wheels’ chair from the floor was a tube with a needle at the end, and when the tube got to his arm, the needle punctured his vein at the crook of his elbow like an IV. True enough, a lively green liquid began filling the tube from the floor up, pausing at the insertion point. Finally, another holographic screen popped up, showing performance data on all other programs.

Wheels looked at Shin’en. “All systems nominal.”

Shin’en nodded. “Bring up the monitors.”

Wheels hit a button and five more screens appeared, showing third-person live footage of Asteria, Leviathan, Virgil, Gunslinger, Tobi, and Piper, along with displaying the standard patient monitor vital data typically seen in a patient room in a hospital. In short, the displays were showing a war.

Asteria and Leviathan were engaged with Polybotes, Oceanus, Keto, and Phorcys, battling beneath the waves.

Tobi was standing suspended in the forehead of a gigantic chakra avatar—Itachi’s Perfect Susano’o—facing off against an even more gigantic tornado with a pair of massive, glowing eyes close to the top where the spinning column met the black clouds, with those eyes being situated much higher than the Susano’o.

On Olympus, Virgil and Gunslinger were fighting their way through the hordes, bullets and blasts of energy flying in all directions as the duo fought to get to the temples of the rebelling gods.

For those that knew Piper, they were all quite scared to see her with Katoptris in one hand, and a tomahawk in the other, chopping and cutting mortal men down left and right as she fought her own way to the nearby new emperor of Triumvirate Holdings.

“We’ve got incoming,” Wheels said, pointing at a radar. Indeed, a number of large red blips were periodically appearing as the pulse spun around. “It’s the cacodemons. They’re in the city.”

Yet another holographic screen popped up, this one divided into several squares, showing the cacodemons that had been razing the camps and other important locations, along with the other cacodemons that had previously been held in reserve. More unholy hybrids, of course, all of them big as the buildings they were either knocking down or squeezing past as they stomped down the streets of Manhattan on their way to the Empire State Building.

Wheels tilted his head. “How are they planning to get up here?”

“Let’s not give them the opportunity to show us,” Shin’en said. “Fire at will.”

“Firing at will!” Wheels grinned.

Grabbing hold of joysticks that popped up on the arms of his wheelchair, Wheels took control of the weapon systems of his converted mounted. He proceeded to unleash the ordinance.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Earlier

Asteria and Leviathan appeared in the skies far above the ocean before they started plummeting to the waters below. The wind howled in their ears as they fell, and they were able to bear witness to the greatest navel sight in history, because beneath them was the entire world’s navy. Though it was still pitch-black, their eyes could see the hundreds of vessels from all the countries that had them, including the submarines in the waters beneath.

There were aircraft carriers, battleships, destroyers, cruisers, the aforementioned subs, and more. All the ships of the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France, North Korea, Algeria, Iran, Pakistan, Israel, Saudi Arabia, even South Africa, and many more. Given all the divine players at work, it was clear that they literally teleported every naval vessel on the planet into the great cluster of steel below for the mightiest showing of Earth’s naval power imaginable, because it was literally all of Earth’s naval power.

It was sad, really.

Objectively speaking, Tartarus and his allies had successfully brought about world peace. All it took was a massive warping of the Mist to effectively enslave the minds of mankind.

That was why it was sad. It took the robbing of free will to finally achieve unity amongst men.

But anyway.

Asteria and Leviathan angled their bodies so they were diving headfirst. A number of ships actually turned their guns at them and opened fire, splitting the seas with terrific booms from the main batteries and smaller cannons. All of the ordinance missed, of course, not that any of it would have had any major effect on the alternate Percy’s. Still, it made for an epic show, Asteria and Leviathan plummeting to the ocean with explosions all around them.

They smashed into the roiling waves, but instead of the tsunami they had been aiming for to annihilate Earth’s armada, they instead barely splashed. If they had to guess, the four water deities had been manipulating the water in an attempt to actually make it solid in a sense, and nullify Asteria and Leviathan’s own hydrokinesis so that instead of harmlessly diving into the sea, they would’ve splattered like normal people. As that was the case, then it was a great testament to the power of their bodies that they still barely felt the impact of splashdown.

They didn’t even drop ten feet before they were attacked.

Asteria caught the center prong of Oceanus’s trident and was taken on a swim across the ocean.

Polybotes flung his huge net at Leviathan, and the Lord of the Abyss ripped right through it with his bear hands. Phorcys attacked, and he got smacked upside the head for his efforts, only to bounce right back into the fray as if someone had struck him with a plastic straw. Leviathan caught the diminutive old sea god by the throat and squeezed, intending to crush his neck, only for Phorcys to laugh.

“I’m not so easy this time!”

Referring to how canon Percy had managed to overpower his authority over water years ago in Atlanta.

Phorcys had no weapons, but that didn’t stop him from being able to stab his fingernails up to the first joint in hands into Leviathan’s forearm, through his dragon bone vambrace. Purple blood flowed from the wounds into the ocean.

Leviathan flung Phorcys away, but the old sea god righted himself and floated there, grinning. Polybotes swam up next to him, making their size difference extra apparent.

“You strike me as the type that doesn’t see his own blood often,” said the Bane of Poseidon.

“That is true,” said Leviathan, the punctures in his arm healing in seconds. “However, being able to harm me does not work in your favor the way you think it does. If someone like Phorcys was able to break through not just my armor, but also my skin, then perhaps this campaign will be worth my time after all.”

A very wide smile broke across the First Number One’s face, and his mismatched eyes both turned bright gold as his pupils became vertical slits. The sea suddenly thrummed with intense energy—Yoki aura—and both Phorcys and Polybotes felt their confidence waning.

“Ten percent,” said the smiling Leviathan. “Let’s see how that big human belief buff both of you have fares against ten percent of my power.”

With a roar that echoed across the oceans, Leviathan surged forward with so much speed that a shock cone frothing with bubbles formed around him.

Over with Asteria, she tossed the trident out of her face and stabbed at Oceanus with her tail. It would have been a lethal strike as she was aiming for his throat, only the Titan pulled a trick that was completely within the realm of possibility, but still uncool: he liquefied his body, and Asteria’s tail passed right through him just like it passed through the rest of the water.

The mother of four couldn’t help but feel a tad annoyed with that trick. Yeah, she could do it too, as could her children as they were all legacies of Poseidon, as could Shin’en—something he found endlessly amusing whenever they spared—but it was so annoying when used against her. Still, given how much experience she had in dealing with that ability, it wasn’t like she was completely helpless.

Oceanus swam past her, carried by his momentum. He used it to turn himself around and go shooting at Asteria. She went shooting up, straight for the underbelly of an aircraft carrier that was passing overhead as this battle was taking place in the middle of a huge armada, Oceanus chasing after her. She smashed into 90,000 tons of displacement so hard and with so much power that the whole ship shuddered and bounced as if it had struck a speed bump.

Oceanus came in less than a second later, and Asteria pushed off the ship with no time to spare. The Titan went rocketing through the ship, his trident going straight through the hull, and he had been carrying so much speed behind him that he went flying straight through the flight deck. Asteria would have gone tearing right up after him, except that Keto decided to grab a submarine and use it as a baseball bat.

Made for an amusing sight and good demonstration of what a sea deity could do while in the sea, but the sailors inside definitely were not happy.

As for Asteria, she clung to the hull and went racing along the length. She crossed the circumference on the backside of the sub, getting behind Keto, but as stated: a sea deity in the sea. Keto knew very well that Asteria had been coming for her, and was not at all taken by surprise. That didn’t mean she easily fended Asteria off, however, as she was put on the ropes due to the stellar combination of the Xenomorph Goddess’s usage of claws and tail.

Oceanus splashed back down and went charging back into the fray, swimming right in the midst of Asteria and Keto, forcing Asteria on the defensive as she fought against them both.

She could definitely feel how much more powerful they were compared to how they were in her own world, and how they used to be in this one. The power of human belief was nothing to scoff at, as where Asteria would have been able to easily handle Keto and Oceanus by herself, now she was having difficulty getting the upper hand.

And this was even with her being boosted by being in saltwater.

Granted, they were all in saltwater, so they were all empowered, so it kind of nullified itself, but still.

However, Asteria was only having difficulty because she was limiting herself to purely physical force. She had many more tricks up her proverbial sleeve, such as drawing on the powers of her many other children and descendants, even if they were in another dimension. Perks of being the Xenomorph Goddess with a ten billion-strong hive comprised of children born from gods across her planet.

One particularly special child having been born from Asteria’s Facehugger and the sun god Ra.

Subject 3 started to glow as she began channeling the power of the sun.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

“You got any verses of scripture that apply to a situation like this!?” Gunslinger shouted over the sounds of violence.

Gunfire, howling, shrieking monsters, grenade explosions, collapsing buildings, energy beams, body parts getting blasted off numerous creatures, and also the rumbling of Olympus as Wheels reconfigured the mountain into a battle station.

Virgil swung the Sword of Destiny, discharging an arc of golden energy that ripped through no less than three dozen monsters, their severed corpses being left strewn across the ground as opposed to dissolving into golden dust. “Yae, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me.”

Gunslinger fired off a grenade and blew up a group of monsters. “Well, amen!”

He squeezed the trigger on his machine gun, the barrel erupting with fire as it sprayed dozens of bullets that mowed down the horde.

The two continued to fight their way forward, yard after yard, leaving blood, entrails, and bodies in their wake as they marched to the first temple on their list, the Temple of Hypnos. One of the many that had been damaged by Kronos during his assault almost six years ago, then redesigned by Annabeth and rebuilt by several cyclopes.

Now it was being used as a portal to flood Olympus with the enemy.

Gunslinger and Virgil eventually bottlenecked the portal as they pushed the monsters back.

“Hey. What gives!?” shouted a wild centaur that was still in the pit as the line started going backwards.

“Aren’t we supposed to be overrunning Olympus right now!?” shouted an empousa.

The sounds of battle eventually became louder than the cacophony of monsters, bringing the cacophony to a quiet as they tried to figure out was going on. Then the backwards stampede started as the ones in the front started trying to get away.

“Think we could march in there and destroy the whole pit?” Gunslinger asked, firing a grenade through the wide-open doors blowing up a huge group of monsters.

“All things are possible through Him who strengthens me,” Virgil said with a shrug.

“So God could destroy the whole pit?”

“Yep.”

“Have you asked Him?”

“I asked Him to be with us during this fight, and here we are.”

“But you didn’t ask Him to blow up Tartarus so we can go home?”

“Oh, I did.”

“And He said no?”

“We’re still here, aren’t we?”

Gunslinger sighed. “I guess this is one of those times in which God works in mysterious ways?”

“Oh, very mysterious ways,” Virgil said.

He raised the Sword of Destiny aloft, the blade glowing and thrumming, and when he brought it down, a beam like the wrath of God Himself came down from above and blasted the Temple of Hypnos to pieces, destroying the portal to Tartarus.

Gunslinger blinked. “Is that, like, based on a range?”

“It works better when I can see what I’m trying to blow up.”

“Oh.”

“That being said…”

Virgil grabbed Gunslinger, making the boy yelp in surprise, and the two of them vanished in a burst of golden light, reconstituting not far from the next temple, this one being dedicated to Nemesis.

When Gunslinger’s eyes stopped spinning, he glowered at Virgil, who was smirking slightly under his hood.

“You could do that this whole time, couldn’t you?”

“Yep.”

“Then why-!?”

“Needed to get the blood pumping.”

“The blood-!? Dude!”

“Have you not been enjoying getting to fire a huge, magic gun?”

Gunslinger puffed his cheeks out. “Maybe…”

“Well, there we go. I’ve been facilitating your enjoyment of this operation.”

“Whatever.”

Gunslinger opened full auto on the hordes below, blowing body parts off left and right while Virgil brought down the Power of God on the pagan temple.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Clad in her hawk-like Tlanuwa Armor, Piper alit on the roof of the Triumvirate Holdings building, not smashing into the place in some epic grand entrance because A) she had no idea what was even in the building, and B) didn’t know where the emperor inside even was, or what he looked like. Thus, just blasting into the enemy fortress would have been very stupid.

Instead, Piper closed her eyes, the glowing pink lights in the helmet of her armor narrowing into thin slits. With little effort, she detached her spirit from her body—essence projection—and combed the halls of the tower, taking note of personnel, defenses, armaments, and with a small application of will, she found the emperor in the throne room of the tower.

He didn’t look like much, skinny, short, heavily balding, though his left eye was missing and his right eye was covered by a large monocle. He wore an ugly purple suit with purple alligator hide shoes, and strapped to his waist was an officer’s saber.

Though Piper had stopped time for her out-of-body experience, that didn’t stop the emperor from showing some moxie.

He turned to look at her and spoke with a French accent. “Ms. Piper McLean, it is an honor. I am Emperor Lafreniere. We have been following your exploits these past two years—very impressive…very heartbreaking. For what it is worth, I am sorry for what you’ve been through. Now, I know that this is not a social call, but you are here on business. End of the world and all that. Unfortunately, I will not be coming quietly. If you desire to bring me before Chaos’s associate, or kill me yourself, you will have to work for it. You know where to find me.”

Piper ended the dream, returned to her body without a second of real time having passed, and she proceeded to smash through the roof of the skyscraper, and then smashed through floor after floor until she crashed down into the throne room.

Lafreniere drew his saber.

Piper shot straight at him.

The French emperor did that thing the Twins did from Matrix Reloaded, in that he turned himself into an intangible, discolored specter. Piper went right through him, and then time slowed. The Cherokee warrior barely made it all the way through Lafreniere when he spun and solidified himself, bringing down his saber. Piper halted and pivoted on the ball of her foot, swinging her arm around. There was a mighty clang as the emperor’s sword connected with Piper’s armored forearm, and the sword went flying while Piper winced.

Even through her impenetrable armor, that had actually hurt. She was definitely going to have a bruise from that one, impressively enough.

Of course, while the emperor had gotten knocked back due to the transfer of forces, Piper’s arm was still going for his face. He turned back into a ghost and flew off to his sword.

Piper noted two things from this: the saber became intangible whenever Lafreniere became intangible, and the fact that he had to go get it indicated that he couldn’t just summon it to him.

Lafreniere caught his sword and settled back on the ground, demonstrating another thing: gravity resumed its normal function whenever he was solid.

“An excellent opening bout,” said the emperor. “Your reflexes and bodily control are impeccable.”

Piper didn’t say anything. Instead, she screamed. It was literally loud enough that OSHA regulations would demand hearing protection for it, and the pitch was great enough that the glass around the throne room shattered. The guards—Germani and pandai—all fell to the ground, the Germani desperately clutching their ears, while the pandai actually straight-up died, their sensitive hearing working against them, idly making Piper wonder how differently that night four years ago would have gone if someone had brought a dog whistle with them.

Kind of an irrelevant thought, since Jason was alive and well (technically speaking), and everything had kind of turned out all right…

Present circumstance notwithstanding.

Nor Billy’s death.

Nor the unholy horrors Piper had been exposed to during her crusade.

Anyway.

Her sonic attack was something she had discovered during her training with Jisdu before she set out on her own. The Tlanuwa spirit, the source of Piper’s armor, could scream extremely loudly, as it turned out, and so could Piper.

Lafreniere had collapsed with his guard detail, not at all having expected the sonic scream. Piper gave him no time to recover as she was on him before the soundwaves had been fully absorbed by the walls. She socked him across the jaw with her armored fist, and he crumpled into a heap.

The doors to the throne room were blasted off their hinges as a huge group of Germani came barreling in.

Piper popped her talons and dove into the middle of them.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Tobi eyeballed the massive tornado a few miles away. “Fucking A~,” he crowed.

His purple eyes turned red, a three-bladed black pinwheel encircling his now-red pupil. Itachi’s Mangekyou Sharingan, gained when Tobi consumed the soul of Tyler, the son of Susano’o, back during the events of his original timeline in Chapter 12. With the powers of the son of Susano’o and Itachi’s Mangekyou, Tobi produced around himself an inferno of scarlet chakra that shortly took shape as a massive Tengu warrior. Itachi’s Perfect Susano’o.

Standing at a monolithic 150 meters, Tobi’s Susano’o was 30 meters taller than Monsterverse Godzilla, who stood at about 120 meters, or 394 feet. Still, despite how big Tobi was, Typhon dwarfed him by several factors.

Coming straight from the pages of the Last Olympian, Percy’s description of Typhon’s size was that he was big enough to “use the Chrysler Building as a baseball bat.” Taking this in the most literal sense possible, the standard MLB bat is 34 inches (86.36 centimeters), and the average baseball player height according to 2023 data is 6’ 1.79 inches (187.44 centimeters). Ratioing that out, bat size to player size, and the ratio was about 2.16. Applying this to the Chrysler Building and Typhon, with the Chrysler Building standing at 319 meters, then Typhon stood at an approximate 689 meters.

Of course, this number changed based on how many decimals you wanted to use in the ration, and whether you wanted to use metric or Imperial, but the bottom line was that Typhon was hovering at 700 meters tall, or 2296.59 feet, or 765.53 yards, based on Percy’s statement that the Storm Giant was big enough to use the Chrysler Building as a baseball bat.

Thus, at 700 meters, Typhon was towering above every city in the United States by over 100 meters, with the One World Trade Center being the tallest building in the US at 541 meters. Typhon was easily dwarfing the Perfect Susano’o, and the Storm Giant could have easily turned Godzilla into a belt, Kong into a rug, and Ghidorah into a handbag just from superior size alone. The 500mph winds generating the biggest storm not seen since Typhon’s first rampage six years ago during the Second Titan War, bringing rain, dozens of smaller tornadoes, and enough voltage the power the Western Hemisphere for a hundred years definitely would have made things a cakewalk.

And also the fact that Typhon was a literal divine being in a sense, being the son of Gaea and Tartarus, and was canonically capable of walking across the continental United States while the majority of the Olympians tried to slow him down to no avail.

So, yeah.

Typhon had more than earned his ranking up there with the likes of Kronos, Gaea, Tartarus, and Apophis as one of the most powerful threats in the Riordanverse.

Tobi giggled. “I’m gonna kick your giant ass!”

The Susano’o took flight with a flap of its gigantic wings, and with another flap, charged forward into the storm. Typhon’s blazing scarlet eyes glowed brighter, and a pulse of energy was released. Tobi got absolutely blasted by the pulse, his Susano’o not only getting knocked all the way back down to the ground, but also getting cracked from the pulse’s initial impact with its face.

Typhon kept walking without having broken stride, his footfalls shaking the landscape from his massive size.

Tobi got back up, his head ringing a little bit, the cracks in his Susano’o slowly vanishing as it “healed.”

“Huh,” said the Son of Jashin. “So that’s a thing. How about this!”

This didn’t work either, as Typhon effortlessly swatted the Perfect Susano’o from the sky once again. Granted, this wasn’t base-level Typhon, either. This was the Typhon that was empowered by Nyx as it was currently nighttime, on top of being empowered by remains of the human race being brainwashed into thinking beings like Typhon were unbeatable.

The power of human belief was no joke.

Tobi lay within the forehead of the humanoid chakra construct, which in turn lay in a huge, humanoid crater, staring at the roiling black sky.

“Okay…Plan C.”

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

“Things could be going better,” Wheels grunted.

“They could also be going much worse,” Shin’en observed.

Just then, another portal opened, and dropping in with a startled yelp was yet another Percy Jackson, a younger one, about Gunslinger’s age of thirteen or fourteen. Other than clothes—the armor of a New Roman legionary, with black jeans and the purple t-shirt, though the lorica segmentata armor had been modified into an almost obscene crop top of sorts, with enough segments missing to expose the new Percy’s midriff and the small of his back—nothing about this Percy seemed anywhere near as outlandish as the others.

“Welcome,” Shin’en said simply.

The new Percy got to his feet. “What gives?”

“End of the world. Asteria, Leviathan, Virgil, Gunslinger, and Tobi are already deployed.”

“So I’m the last to show up?” New Percy whined.

“Yes,” was Shin’en’s short answer. “I will need your siblings. Kraken needs to reinforce Asteria and Leviathan in the oceans, Persia and you need to take on the armada.”

“There’s an armada!?” New Percy’s eyes lit up.

“Indeed. Now, the other two.”

Everyone that was watching then became horrified at the absolutely grotesque sight of two other people crawling out of New Percy’s midsection. It was almost like Sakon and Ukon from Naruto, but worse. It wasn’t over fast enough, but when it was over, there were two other new Percy’s, naked, clearly showing that one was a boy and the other was a girl, something that was of much consternation to many of the onlookers.

“Fresh air,” Persia breathed.

“We need to figure out how to fuse and defuse with our clothes still on,” Kraken grumbled.

Shin’en tossed the two a couple of simple, sturdy outfits, including underwear. “Get to work and don’t die.”

The triplets nodded and vanished in swirls of water vapor, making the OG Percy groan.

“Can everyone do that except me?”

Shin’en looked at him. “How do you even know you can’t do that if you’ve never tried?”

Percy decided to give it a shot, only for nothing to happen. He was about to say something when he noticed Shin’en smirking at him. Percy frowned.

“No powers in the playpen, remember?” Shin’en said.

He turned back to the holograms, now showing the vitals of the “triplets,” and how the one called Kraken dropped into the ocean to engage with Asteria and Leviathan, and how the other two, Persia and…the other Percy, dropped onto the deck of an aircraft carrier.

No one knew what these kids could do, but they got their answer when the triplets’ eyes turned black with green veins spreading from their irises to the surrounding skin, and how a multitude of slender, green and black, whip-like tentacles burst from the smalls of their back, showing why Other Percy’s armor had been altered so.

Someone in the back shouted, “They’re Ghouls!”

Many heads turned to look at the speaker, a girl with a couple of pimples.

She blushed. “Er, from Tokyo Ghoul?”

The heads turned back to the holograms.

Somewhat funnily, all of the amenities Shin’en had provided were wholly ignored in favor of what wasn’t necessarily entertainment, but rather the end of their world.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

I’m trying to work something akin to a power scale here. There wouldn’t be much story if Shin’en’s team just steamrolled everyone. As such, I’m giving everyone a boost so that there are some stakes in this conflict.

More fun to come in the coming chapters!

Fav and Follow so you don’t miss out, and let me know what you think of the story so far with a Review!

Chapter Text

Wooooow.

I pitch the idea of Percy Jackson game set during the Civil War in which you get to pick between a Greek or Roman character, and no one has anything to say about that. I also pitch the idea of a Backup Plan AU with Shin’en leaving the Naruto World to go back home with Persephone, and they attend Hogwarts together, and no one says anything about that?

Do any of you even read my author’s notes?!

Anyway, the story continues with the culmination of the Night Ops arc in this chapter. This will officially conclude the introduction of this story.

Disclaimer: I don’t own PJO or any of the other material herein

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Obviously, fighting water elementals in water was stupid. They either became one with the water and therefore basically untouchable, or they received such a grand power boost that they were nigh unbeatable. Thus, the question was raised as to how you fought a water elemental when in the water, and the answer was simple: remove them from the water.

Or in Asteria’s case, you removed the water.

Kraken dropped into the ocean and blanched at what he saw. ‘Bad time?’ he mentally thought at the glowing Asteria.

‘Extremely. Clear out.’

‘Hai.’

Kraken went flying out of the water, landing atop the aircraft carrier that his siblings were doing their best to demolish, tearing up the runway and fighting off the human soldiers.

“Asteria’s going nuclear!” he shouted.

Persia and Percy needed no further words. The triplets water-traveled away just in time for the ocean to flash boil.

No, that was not an exaggeration. Asteria’s didn’t channel the sun through her child from Ra as in she became a really powerful flashlight; she glowed because she became something tantamount to a star. The heat she generated from out of her aura became light because that was how luminosity and heat were related.

As such, Asteria generated so much heat, star-like heat, that the ocean did, indeed, instantly reach its boiling point for miles around. Of course, so much heat also affected the ships and submarines for miles around, many of which were either nuclear powered or carrying nuclear weapons. While they did explode, because they weren’t properly armed, the resulting explosion, while massive, was not as massive as it could have been.

Still, that didn’t mean it was at all gentle.

Asteria destroyed hundreds of ships in the blink of an eye, killing thousands of sailors from all countries. The massive crater left in the ocean from so much water basically instantly disappearing was quickly filled as the rest of the ocean poured back in, creating a reverse tsunami of sorts that caused even more destruction to the armada. Of course, with the destruction of the nuclear reactors and the premature detonation of so many nuclear missiles, much radiation was unleashed upon the waves and whatever vessels remained.

In a grand show of irony, Asteria, the daughter of Poseidon, more or less just destroyed the enemy armada with the power of fire.

As for Polybotes, Oceanus, Phorcys, and Keto, they were gone. Not as in destroyed, unfortunately, but teleported away as soon as Asteria evaporated the ocean.

Leviathan swam up to her, his skin slightly red but quickly returning to normal tan. “Be honest with me: would you have done that if this was your world, or did you do that only because we’re in a different one and we don’t care about collateral?”

‘This world, my world, a different one altogether—I would have done that in any situation. I don’t care about collateral in any circumstance.’

“Not even if your children were in the way?”

‘They would have been fine. They’re my children.’

“Of course.”

Just then, Shin’en buzzed in their ears. “Impressive lightshow. I need the two of you in Manhattan. The cacodemons are making their move. I’ve got the triplets back here on the mountain, reinforcing Gunslinger and Virgil.”

Asteria and Leviathan just nodded and teleported through the water, reconstituting atop one of the city’s many skyscrapers to survey the battlefield.

Leviathan grinned way too widely. “You know? It really is a good thing we don’t care about collateral, or else this would be a much more difficult endeavor.”

Asteria’s own smile showed perhaps too many teeth. ‘Indeed. It is relieving to be able to cut loose and not hold back.’

They both picked one of the hulking, kaiju-esque cacodemons, and attacked.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

In the throne room, with its many holographic screens showing the ongoing battles, no one missed Asteria blowing up the ocean in a dazzling display of light, nor did they miss the blips on the map that represented the enemy water deities vanishing from that section, and reappearing somewhere else. They obviously didn’t miss the computerized voice chiming in with a tone of urgency.

“Catastrophic solar energy detected. Massive nuclear activity detected. Kill tracker update: Asteria leads by over 1.7 million.”

For a few seconds, no one could think. That was the combined naval might of planet Earth. Every warship from ever country that had them had been concentrated in that general area of ocean when Asteria somehow went “solar,” which resulted in the chain reaction of all the nuclear vessels experiencing meltdown and/or explosion. From miles of ocean instantly being flash boiled, the nuclear activity, the heat, the radiation, the blinding light, and the ocean rushing back in to fill out the humongous “bowl” Asteria created, and all the damage that caused to what ships escaped the initial blast, the female alternate Percy Jackson had just racked up a body count greater than some countries.

There were people who were impressed, people who thought this was all an elaborate prank of some kind like they were being filmed for their reactions, people who were beyond horrified, and people who didn’t know what to think or feel about anything that was going on.

And of course, people who weren’t at all bothered or concerned about the situation at hand, but were dedicating their mental energies to figuring out what exactly Asteria did to where she glowed so brilliantly and the computer chimed in about solar activity. Asteria was the daughter of Poseidon from another world, so how could she have solar powers? Legacy of Apollo, perhaps?

Wheels and Shin’en knew, of course, that was why Shin’en hadn’t wasted any time in reassigning them to Manhattan to repel the cacodemons.

“Try not to hit them, hm?” Shin’en said to Wheels, who was still raining fire on the city as he unleashed cannons, missiles, and lasers at the kaiju.

“Puh-lease,” Wheels rolled his eyes behind his goggles. “The cacodemons are pretty tanky, so I’m pretty sure those two can shrug off the stuff I’m using. Now, the antimatter weapons that break molecules apart? Eh, maybe, but we’re not that desperate yet.”

Shin’en hummed.

There was a beep from Gunslinger, prompting Shin’en to hit a button to open the comm while also directing his eyes to the screen showing the gun-toting demigod currently going through hell.

“Yes, Gunslinger, what is it?”

“We’re encountering heavy resistance, had to dig in, and we’re being overrun! We need reinforcements-!”

A monster climbed into view, and Gunslinger took notice. He whipped around and opened fire, obliterating it. Another crawled up behind him, and spun around, slamming the butt of his machine gun into its head, knocking it to the ground. He jammed the barrel into his chest and fired.

Yet another monster came into view from behind, Gunslinger whipping around, flinging the machine gun into face on instinct. He pulled a pistol from his armpit holster, firing a few rounds into the monster’s face. Then numerous monsters came into view, with Gunslinger picking his machine gun up from the ground, holding it under one arm, letting loose a massive spray of bullets from both guns. Blood and body parts went flying everywhere as Gunslinger mowed down the enemy forces from left to right in a hail of blessed metal.

Wheels had his head cocked to the side, a screwed-up expression on his face. “He needs reinforcements?”

Shin’en ignored him. “The Ghouls triplets are on their way. They should be there in the next few seconds.”

Not even, as not even a full second later, the screen showing the movement of the triplets lined up with the screen showing Gunslinger.

Shin’en called up Virgil with a sideways smirk.

“Yeah?”

“Have fun wrangling the kids.”

“Oh, that won’t be a problem. There’s plenty of things here to keep them busy with.”

Virgil brought down another beam of light, destroying another temple, further increasing the bottleneck of entry points the monsters had available to storm Olympus from.

“Since Asteria eliminated the Atlantic Theater, and she and Leviathan are taking on the cacodemons, I can direct my attention to home defense,” Wheels said.

Shin’en nodded. “Approved.”

With a nod of his own, Wheels grabbed the joysticks and got to work on directing the weapon systems towards environmental controls instead of repelling the invasion below, giving Virgil and the “kids” more support.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Funnily enough, all Tobi needed to bring down Typhon was a single drop of the giant’s ichor. With that, Tobi could do his Jashin ritual, mutilate himself, and by what was basically hoodoo magic, mutilate Typhon. Obviously, the hard part was getting at least one drop of Typhon’s blood.

The 500mph winds surrounding the Father of Monsters provided a fantastic shield.

Tobi tried fireballs which predictably didn’t work. He tried launching his bones into the tornado, which also predictably didn’t work. Brute forcing his way into the tornado with the Perfect Susano’o had already failed. Trying to psionically inflict pain on Typhon with his mind also didn’t work because Typhon had a very big, old, powerful mind, and he was able to rebuff Tobi’s mental attacks without effort.

Tobi tried tearing up the terrain to create humongous gouges and outcroppings in the ground, doing something akin to spreading sharp glass or Legos everywhere to try and shred Typhon’s feet, but the 500mph winds spinning from head to toe around the storm giant served as a fantastic sandblaster, and Typhon merely walked on smooth ground wherever he went.

Tobi tried an altered version of the terrain idea in that he tore up the earth in order to make gigantic chasms and fissures…only for Typhon to evidently just step right over them.

See, the thing was, Tobi could not actually tell how big Typhon really was. The huge tornado blocked him from view, and though his massive eyes did glow brightly even through the raging winds, Tobi was not adept enough at math to estimate how high up those lights were in order to estimate how tall Typhon was, and therefore how big his stride was. He had a rough upbringing, you could say.

Tobi couldn’t even try to use Typhon’s footprints left in his wake because, again, raging, cyclonic winds smoothed out the dirt and erased said footprints.

Tobi even tried to use the Bracken Dance technique he got from his Dead Bone Pulse kekkei genkai from his father Jashin, which was the same thing Kimimaro had, and the technique in question was the one where Kimimaro turned the battlefield into a small forest of thousands of bone spikes, first seen when he fought Gaara and Rock Lee.

And then died.

But anyway.

Tobi tried timing his Bracken Dance to cause the bones to sprout within the tornado so that they wouldn’t be sheered smooth by the winds, and he actually succeeded in this endeavor by some miracle, it was just that it turned out that Typhon had some very durable feet, and the bones harmlessly snapped against his soles.

When that happened, Tobi actually experienced a toddler-esque meltdown. He flopped onto the dirt and rolled this way and that, kicking and screaming, shredding his body as bones uncontrollably went shooting in all directions. It was all just too much for the lil’ guy. Everything he tried, and none of it worked.

It was embarrassing!

Shin’en was going to be so disappointed in him.

Yeah, sure, Tobi could probably use his Oko Katachi and force his way into the tornado, but if his Perfect Susano’o couldn’t pull it off, why would his Rampant Form? Same thing for opening his Eight Gates. Being immortal and with billions of souls to burn though in his collection to just pass on all the physical damage he sustained, Tobi could open his Eight Gates and experience far more power than Might Guy ever did, given that Might Guy was just a normal human and Tobi was a Shinto demigod.

But Tobi tried to keep the Eight Gates in his pocket for if he just really wanted something not only dead, but utterly destroyed. Like, he had to be really mad at something to open the Eight Gates. He wasn’t that mad at Typhon.

Yet.

He was getting there, though.

“Fucking stupid fucking dirt,” Tobi cursed, though he could barely hear himself over the howling winds.

And then a random stop sign came flying around in the spiraling winds to almost decapitate the unhinged boy, in that the sharp side went slicing through his head from his temples to the back of his skull. Blood squirted everywhere, but in spite of the grizzly wound, Tobi’s face lit up.

“I’ve got it!”

Sacrificing a soul, which had the effect of healing his head in a pulse of red light, Tobi proceeded to start digging into the dirt like a mole. He didn’t have Earth chakra to do the thing Kakashi did when he swam through solid rock like a fish, but he did have insane amounts of brute strength.

Tobi burrowed his way all the to Typhon’s foot, digging under the tornado. Because magic, being inside the tornado with the storm giant was like being in the eye of a hurricane: it was completely calm, aside from the earthquake-inducing footfalls.

Tobi looked up at Typhon. The Father of Monsters was humanoid, not possessing snakes for feet, or a hundred heads, or huge wings, but the form of man. He was muscular, with blackish-green skin like a crocodile with melanism, huge, pointed toe and fingernails, a featureless head with flat ears, a flat nose like Voldemort, a flat patch where his lips were supposed to be, no hair, and his eyes had no lids and his eye sockets were slanted in such a way that his luminous orbs were also slanted, making them naturally menacing.

Tobi also giggled at the sight of Typhon’s unbelievably huge cock and balls swaying back forth as the giant took step after step.

Choosing to reserve the dick jokes for later, Tobi ran up to Typhon’s foot and stabbed it with his scalpel. No reaction, though that was because at 700 meters tall, Typhon had a very thick epidermis, and Tobi’s scalpel was comparatively small, so of course the little blade didn’t come anywhere near piercing Typhon’s foot deep enough to draw blood.

So the palm of Tobi’s hand exploded in a spray of blood when his radius bone suddenly grew to be ten feet long. Tobi thrust his bone spear into Typhon’s foot, and this time it went all the way in up to the palm of his hand.

Typhon roared so loud that Tobi literally went deaf, the decibels of the winds combined with Typhon’s vocalization being enough to shatter the boy’s eardrums. Not that Tobi really cared; tinnitus sounded cool after a while. Besides, he got what he wanted.

Typhon flung his huge leg so hard that Tobi got launched from the giant’s foot and into the tornado proper, got stuck in the cyclone, spun around the giant’s body several times before getting yeeted a mile away, where he landed in such a way that he broke his neck and went flopping across the dirt a couple of times before finally stopping.

Tobi sat up with a stupid grin, his flopping to the side in a very disturbing way. His extended radius had gotten snapped off at some point, with six inches of sharp bone protruding from his palm. That was okay, though, because he had what he needed.

Tobi brought his hand to his mouth, and he licked the golden fluid from his skin. His body turned pitch black, white markings like his skeleton showing through appearing on his face, arms, torso, pelvis, and legs, though everything from the belt down was hidden by his pants.

“Let the ritual begin…” Tobi tried to say ominously, but it came out sounding more like, “Ler eh er-oo-al eh-in,” because his neck was broken and it was impeding his oratory.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Piper only briefly wondered where Jason was at during this time of crisis. Four years ago, he had warned her that there was something huge on the way, and Shin’en, as the lawyer, had said the same thing, and now here it was. Why wasn’t Jason here, then? Why hadn’t he brought some huge army of knights in shining armor, descending from Valhalla to wage war with the forces of evil?

Well, the answer was Shin’en.

Piper only briefly wondered about Jason’s whereabouts because she figured that with the presence of the alternate Percy’s—not as mindboggling to her as one might think—Jason’s wasn’t required. Or some higher power was holding him and the einherjar of Valhalla back for some grand happening later.

Whatever the case, Piper tore through the mortal mercenaries and Germani like they were made of paper. She was too fast and too strong, and whenever the odd bullet did make contact, it harmlessly ricocheted off her Tlanuwa armor and into someone else’s face.

Long story short for Piper’s campaign, she had the easiest time with minimal difficulty.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After the seventh cacodemon went down, four to Leviathan, three for Asteria, though she was working on her fourth, Tartarus began to simmer down.

As in he had been overflowing with rage before, and was starting to mellow back out.

Fine, then, intoned the dark lord. All units return here.

With the power of a Primordial god, he spoke directly into the minds of the monsters around the world, his Giant children and Titan nieces and nephews, and his new children the remaining cacodemons. Incredibly, there was no argument. When the portals opened back to the pit, all the forces of evil went through them without question. The forces on Olympus all did an about face and went back through the portals, and the cacodemons also went back through when the portals opened for them.

When Wheels saw that, though, he didn’t let the cacodemons go without unleashing hell into hell. Dozens of missiles and rockets, innumerous shells, and plenty of sidewinding lasers. Two more of the cacodemons went down, actually, and hundreds of thousands of monsters were blown up due to the fact that Tartarus had opened the portals in such a way that they all led to a central gathering point, which in turn led to the deaths of a number of Titans and Giants.

And also the minor wounding of Tartarus himself because Wheels’ ordinance struck his physical body that was the pit.

The dark god couldn’t close the portals fast enough.

“Why did you end the assault?” Nyx asked tersely, failing to keep her annoyance out of her voice.

Because our enemy was proving to be more skilled and powerful than originally anticipated, with a plethora of abilities not yet shown, and their leader hadn’t even joined the battle yet. Yes, I could have redirected the rest of the army to Olympus, and they would have either overwhelmed the enemy, or the enemy would have shown us powers we didn’t know that had, and wiped out the army. I have decided to err on the side of caution instead of risking more losses. Besides, we have the Duat and the Olympians, and have wiped out almost all of mankind. While I was hoping for a swift, sweeping victory, this day proved to be an excellent start to the war.

Nyx grunted. “If you say so.”

“I can say I’m entertained,” Chaos said as he decided to just pop in, causing Nyx and Tartarus to flinch and assume battle stances, only to relax upon seeing that it was their father. “And what’s a war without some objectives? Tarty, I want you to organize your forces. You are to defend Camp Half-Blood, New Rome, the Waystation, and the Brooklyn House access to the Duat, and also build prisons around the world to hold the Olympians. Your objectives will be to keep these places and the Olympians from being liberated by Shin’en’s forces, and also to plan, invade, and capture Hotel Valhalla. Shin’en’s objectives will obviously be the opposite. The winner of this war will be whoever is left standing, and I, of course, will be spicing the game up as I see fit. Ta.”

And with that, Chaos left, his son silently fuming at being called Tarty.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

“Wow, they really just gave up, didn’t they?” Wheels asked rhetorically. “And all the prep that I put into this, too.”

“Truly a travesty,” Shin’en said. He opened the comms. “Everyone rendezvous in the throne room. That battle is over for tonight.”

In mere seconds, everyone did just that. The Ghoul triplets, Gunslinger, Virgil, Tobi, Leviathan, and Asteria.

Expectant looks were directed at Shin’en, and he said, “We are waiting on one more.”

And soon enough, Piper returned, New Emperor Lafreniere slung over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes. The remaining Seven and the others that knew Piper had clear looks of reservation on their faces, for they had not missed the feed from the hologram showing Piper’s activities, how she had slaughtered the emperor’s forces. It wasn’t necessarily the act of killing itself, but how brutal, ruthless, and merciless Piper had been. She hadn’t ever shown that level of ferocity, not from her first battle during the Hera quest all the way through to her final confrontation with Medea in the Burning Maze.

Piper stood amongst the loose semi-circle around Shin’en.

“Well done, team,” he said. “We repelled the enemy tonight, and took a sizeable chunk from their forces. This night was not without a heavy toll, however. Wheels did a scan of the planet, and it is confirmed: where the human population of this planet used to be in excess of eight billion, it now barely totals above five million, with approximately 97% of those belonging to various militaries. We have not won this war, and I can only imagine that the road ahead will be long and difficult. In the meantime…”

Shin’en produced a tray of shot glasses that were filled clear spring water. He passed the tray around, starting with Wheels and going all the way back to himself, with Piper hesitantly taking a glass when the tray was passed to her.

Shin’en raised his glass. “Here’s to the dead.”

Everyone else raised their glass. “And to the next man to die.”

They looked expectantly at Piper, and that was when she well and truly appreciated that she was part of this now, a member of this team. She raised her glass a little higher.

“And to the next man to die.”

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Whew. Got it out just in time for Thanksgiving of ’24.

Sorry that this was short and the ending rushed, but for some weird reason, I’m actually feeling a motivation block for this story. Like, I can perfectly see how the rest of this goes with the various campaigns and coming conversations, all the way to the ending, but when I was writing this chapter it felt a beating to get through each scene.

As such, I think I’ll be putting this one the shelf for a while. Direct my energies elsewhere. Perhaps back to that demigod novel I was writing a few months ago which is basically a retelling of Percy Jackson but it’d for young adults instead of kids. Or maybe I’ll start revamping Dragon Princess in accordance with additional lore introduced in the DLC.

Speaking of novels, please check out my own original novel that is currently published on the Kindle Store under the name “Controversiae Tamen Liber: Ligulae Monitum.”

And speaking of additional, it has apparently been confirmed that Rick is teaming up with Mark Oshiro again to write a direct sequel to Sun and Star. I thought the first one sucked, but it at least gave me the cacodemons to work with. It also goes without saying that this story disregards any new canon information that will be revealed in the third Senior Year book and this new Sun and Star book, and while I do not hold any high hopes for good stories in either book, I do hope there is more info released on the current events of our favorite demigods in the new Sun and Star book.

Maybe an official story as to how Piper ended up with Shel, not that it would be anywhere near as awesome as my own iteration, of course. Maybe the beginning of the potential triple crossover that Rick teased four years ago in Tower of Nero with Chiron revealing that he was having a meeting with Mimir and Bast.

Anyway.

Happy Thanksgiving, friends! I’m thankful for the support you’ve given me these past eight years!

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I guess I had a rush of Inspiration. I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving, and thank you to all those that went back to reread my AN, and weighed in on the Civil War Percy game.

One day, I’ll work at Disney and make it happen, lol.

This chapter will mainly be talking, with everyone getting settled into Hotel Valhalla, and Piper sitting down with her former friends to finally get some stuff off her chest. And since this story takes place in the continuity of Piper’s Untold Story, which has the unfortunate acronym of PUS, that means Jason will be making his grand entrance.

Let’s begin!

Disclaimer: I don’t own PJO or any author crossover material herein

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Shin’en barely finished collecting the shot glasses from the toast he just led when Chaos appeared with a small pop.

“Great job out there tonight, sport!”

“Thank you.”

“Here’s your objectives for the war. Complete them, and you win.” Chaos handed Shin’en a piece of paper with words on it.

Shin’en looked the paper up and down. It had a very simple layout.

OBJECTIVES:

• Capture Camp Half-Blood, Camp Jupiter/New Rome, Brooklyn House, and the Waystation
• Find and liberate the remaining Olympians
• Rescue Hecate
• Defend Hotel Valhalla
• Kill the all the bad guys and establish world peace

*This list is subject to change however I feel like

Followed by the “cool” emoji with the sunglasses.

“Have fun, kids!” Chaos chirped before vanishing with another pop.

“How bad is it?” Leviathan asked, pointing at the paper.

“Short, simple, easy to follow,” Shin’en said. “Along with a lot of pain and suffering. Wheels, pull up New Rome, Camp Half-Blood, the Waystation, and Brooklyn House.”

Wheels hit some buttons, and live overhead images of the four locations came up. Just as they did, the computerized voice chimed, “Space-time activity detected. Many portals are opening. Massive movement of monster energy detected.”

Everyone watched as millions of monsters poured into the areas on the screens, effortlessly securing and occupying them given that there was no one there to defend them in the first place.

“Divine energy signatures detected. At New Rome: Porphyrion, Otis, Ephialtes, and Clytius. At Camp Half-Blood: Polybotes, Periboia, Enceladus, and Mimas. At Brooklyn House: Thoon, Erysichthon, and Harpolykos. At the Waystation: Orion, Damasen, and Hippolytus. More signatures detected on Mt. Tamalpais: Iapetus, Koios, Krios, Hyperion, Atlas, Perses, Prometheus, and a weaker unknown energy signature that bears similarities to Kronos that is steadily getting stronger. Conclusion: Kronos is returning.”

“Of course, he is,” Shin’en said flatly.

“I suppose we’re going to have to retake these places?” Leviathan said.

“Correct.”

“What about the Duat?” Virgil asked. “Setne retreated before I could destroy him.”

“While not on the list of objectives, the Duat is certain to be a concern in the near future.”

Piper spoke up. “What about the rest of the Olympians?”

“Part of the objectives,” Shin’en answered her without missing a beat, as opposed to doing something like giving her a weird look for opening her mouth as the new girl.

To Piper, it demonstrated how he thought of her as a full member of the team, able to answer questions and put forth ideas. A showing of respect, if you will, which Piper appreciated. She had been through way too much shit in the past two years to have to deal with being treated as the rookie.

“How are we going to do that?” Piper asked.

“Currently unknown. The exact words here are Find and liberate the remaining Olympians. Obviously, we will have to look for them, and once we find them, assess the situation, and then proceed accordingly.”

Piper nodded.

Gunslinger raised his hand. “Who’re Harpolykos and Erysichthon?”

“The banes of Hera and Demeter, respectively,” Virgil answered.

“Oh, thanks.”

“When do we get started?” Kraken asked.

“In due time,” Shin’en said. “This has been a long night, and I think we have earned a moment’s rest. Besides, we need to relocate and begin planning. This location compromised, and a campaign like this requires numbers. Luckily, I know a place.”

Shin’en’s eyes briefly settled on Annabeth, and she got the message. “You don’t mean-”

“Yes.” Then Shin’en directed a look just as meaningful at Piper. “There are old friends waiting to see us.”

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

One might’ve thought that Shin’en breaching the dimensional boundary and bringing the fortress of Olympus into the general airspace of where Hotel Valhalla was located on Yggdrasil would have been hard, but no. With nothing more than an application of his Rinne-Sharingan’s Ame-no-Minaka, and the entire mountain was…right there. Of course, considering the throne room was closed, very people actually knew they were in a different dimension.

The funny thing was, barely a few seconds passed since Shin’en’s cryptic statement and the teleport. There wasn’t any reason to hang around atop the ruins of Manhattan, and the hotel itself did have admittedly wonderful amenities. Also, getting to the hotel meant Shin’en could wash his hands of all the nonessentials and instead focus on the campaign instead of dealing with a million questions.

He just had to get through a few minor obstacles first.

He stood up and looked at Virgil. “Hold down the fort while I make arrangements?”

“Always.”

Shin’en nodded, and out of the goodness of his heart, hit a button that made the ridiculous playpen surrounding the main heroes vanish, thus releasing them from their timeout, and then he looked at Wheels and Tobi. “You had both better play nice with the other kids.”

Wheels and Tobi held up their right hands with resolute expressions, while their left hands had crossed fingers behind their backs.

Shin’en’s eyes slid over to Virgil. The Assassin nodded, saying I’ve got them.

Shin’en nodded again, and then took his leave, vanishing in a swirl of water, leaving behind his team, the ruined body of Loki, the unconscious Emperor Lafreniere, and the incapacitated Khione who still had the Facehugger attached to her head.

When Shin’en was gone, Annabeth made a beeline for Piper, to finally get some answers to things, but Piper’s expression became tight, she took a step back, and Virgil was moving in front of her, angling his head in such a way that his hood hid the top half of his face.

Arguably just as imposing as Shin’en, being of similar height and physique, thought boasting many more visible weapons on his person, and the black coat with the black hood certainly created the image of a person not to be messed with, if only perhaps because of how edgy/emo he looked.

Of course, though, the large Bible currently holstered at his side was very unnerving.

“Not here,” Virgil said. “Not now.”

“Then when?” Annabeth demanded. “When can I talk to my friend?”

“Later,” Piper answered. “When I’m ready to talk to you and get some things off my chest.”

Tobi held up his scalpel with a helpful smile. “I can help you get those things off your chest!”

“Tobi!” Virgil snapped. “No.”

“Awwwww! I thought it was funny.”

Virgil shook his head and then turned to Piper. “I’m sorry about him. He had a very bad upbringing-”

“That’s putting it mildly,” Leviathan muttered.

“-and he is quite touched in the head,” Virgil finished.

Tobi nodded enthusiastically.

Piper looked upon Tobi with an expression one might wear when they were driving down the road and happened across a ran over dog that had a collar. Sadness and sympathy that was quickly replaced with a dismissive Darn, that sucks. Sorry, that happened.

Piper had seen a lot of things in the past two years during her crusade. Piper looked at Virgil. “So…do we have any kind of relationship where you’re from? Like, what’s your Piper to you…if that makes any kind of sense.”

“Technically speaking, you are my adopted grandson.”

Piper short-circuited. “Huh?”

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Being possessed of manners and professional courtesy, Shin’en knocked on the front doors instead of just reconstituting himself inside the hotel. Seconds later, the doors were opened by the manager of the hotel, Helgi, dressed in his green pinstriped suit, his beard and hair still monstrously unkempt. He looked more than a little scared to be in the presence of Shin’en Yūrei.

“M-Mr. Yūrei,” Helgi stammered. “It is an honor to meet you, sir. The Norns visited us today and informed us of your imminent arrival.”

“Excellent,” Shin’en said professionally. “Then you are aware of the situation at hand?”

“Ragnarök.”

“In a manner of speaking. Are you aware of current events?”

“Setne has taken the Duat, Loki’s assault was repelled, most of mankind has been wiped out, the remaining humans are mostly military personnel, the Olympians have been captured following the Mist warp caused by the New Triumvirate, you just routed Tartarus’s assault, and now that you are here, I am assuming you are seeking asylum for the humans and demigods you were able to rescue, along with, er, a parking spot for Olympus?”

“Along with making Hotel Valhalla my extradimensional base of operations,” Shin’en concluded.

Helgi made an ah face. “I’ll have a special room prepared for just that reason, sir.”

“No need for a special room. The Feast Hall will be fine.”

Helgi paused. “The…Feast Hall…sir?”

“Yes. A wide-open area in which many can stay and watch. I will have constant access to minds and muscles that I may deploy at my leisure. The coming campaigns will require numbers, and I am sure that the einherjar are quite eager to finally go to battle, along with the special forces division. This is what they were robbed of a peaceful afterlife for, after all. Besides, as this campaign involves everyone that’s left, everyone has a right to be informed of current events.”

“I-I…yes, sir. I understand. I’ll get to work on making arrangements in the Feast Hall.”

“That will be unnecessary. I will handle the arrangements. How many rooms have you made available?”

“As of now, 300.”

“Poetic,” Shin’en observed. “I will need 291 more rooms, however.”

“Almost 600 total between the demigods and their families,” Helgi noted.

“Yes.”

Helgi nodded. “It will be done, sir.”

Shin’en nodded as well. “How fare your gods?”

“They fare well. The Mist in Midgard has less of an affect here, and here, there are exactly 424,200 einherjar that all collectively believe the Aesir to be alive, well, and ready for battle.”

“Thank you. I imagine the einherjar are frothing at the mouth to march into battle?”

“Oh, yes, sir. Very much so. Odin himself had to bring peace to the hotel as many of the older warriors attempted to force their way into Midgard. They’ve been here so long, you see, and are ready to fight.”

Shin’en nodded. “Tell them their patience is soon to be rewarded. The enemy is numerous, and I will need numbers to most effectively combat them. Please notify me when you have the required rooms available. I intend to put the humans into a slumber so that they are not troubled by these events, and combine the Greco-Roman forces with those of Valhalla. Has anyone from the House of Life made it here?”

“Many members, yes, including the Kane family and other notable magicians.”

“Very good. Thank you for your help in these matters, Mr. Helgi. I will hold court when the rooms are ready and then address all personnel at once. Please have them gathered in the Feast Hall when you are ready. Including the special forces. I know the reason for their secrecy, but that reason is now null and void.”

Helgi nodded. “Yes, sir. Is there a specific way to contact you…?”

Shin’en pulled from his pocket a solid black smartphone. He opened it and pulled up his contacts page, hitting the “+” button. “Here.”

“…oh.” Helgi took the phone and started putting in his contact information.

“Surprised that I have a phone?” Shin’en asked, eyes glinting with amusement.

“A little, yes.” Helgi handed the phone back.

Shin’en took it and sent a quick text to Helgi’s number, causing Helgi’s own phone to buzz in his pocket. He pulled it out and looked at it. “Thank you, sir.”

“You’re welcome. Oh, and Helgi?”

“Yes?”

“I’m going to need the power of the einherjar applied to all demigods, and the respawn feature of the einherjar in the hotel to be applied to all incoming denizens of the hotel. Given the circumstances, I do predict that some situations will be best handled by simply killing somebody instead of putting up with a headache.”

Helgi understood the assignment. “I understand, sir.”

“If Odin has any problems with this, tell him to call me.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Until next time, then.”

Shin’en vanished in a swirl of water, and Helgi shut the doors, spinning on his heal while shouting for Hunding to get to work on preparing 291 more rooms.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

When Shin’en appeared back in the Olympian throne room, everything was as exactly as he had predicted: calm, peaceful, and orderly. The benefits of putting Virgil in charge.

It was by no means a slight against Asteria and Leviathan, as if they couldn’t handle this crowd. It was just that they, objectively, were not leaders. They were bosses. Asteria commanded a ten billion-strong hive of beings that never questioned her, and Leviathan led an army of beings that were either completely subservient to him, or so stupid that they died rather soon. Asteria and Leviathan weren’t the type to connect with people on the emotional level in order to get them to follow; they were the type where if they told you to jump, they expected you to ask how high.

Also, Shin’en wasn’t about to burden them with being in charge of this daycare, anyway.

As for why Virgil after those two, it was pretty obvious. Shin’en wasn’t going to put Tobi in charge of anything sans turning someone into a pile of meat; Kraken was still coming into his own as a leader, and this wasn’t the time or place for him to get practice; Gunslinger wasn’t the leader type at all, and it would be hard to get anyone to take him seriously given how he was strafing the line of being a crossdresser, what with the way his shorts, shirt, and hair were cut; and that only left Piper, who, while having four years of experience under her belt of working with the Native spirits, was too emotionally charged right now to be placed in a position of leadership over this specific congregation.

She was too volatile. Shin’en could tell her emotional dam was cracking and crumbling, and she was maybe only an hour or so from breaking down completely and laying it all out there on her friends.

Shin’en didn’t know exactly what Piper had been through in her two years as a solo, but he knew all that she had been through. The price of the crusade.

Shin’en noted that the Ghoul triplets were salivating over the body of Loki, the mischief god now slowly repairing himself after being subject to Tobi’s ritual. Shin’en also noted that Khione had given birth at some point, the Facehugger lying curled up and dried out next to her face, her chest cavity having been exploded from the inside, and the pure white Chestburster was currently wrapped around Asteria’s neck like a macabre scarf, gently nuzzling its mother’s cheek.

Asteria looked every bit the proud and loving mother at having a new baby.

And the new emperor was also still unconscious.

As for the congregation, they had broken off into groups. The main heroes and their living family members had formed a big circle, other demigods and their families had formed circles of varying sizes, and of course, his team was their own circle. Well, not really.

Asteria and Leviathan were together, Virgil was in discussion with Piper, his Bible out and open, the two of them no doubt discussing scripture, and based on the tired, haunted expression on Piper’s face, she desperately needed the power of the Word. The Ghoul triplets were being held at bay from ravaging Loki’s corpse by Tobi, obviously a territory dispute on the grounds that Loki was Tobi’s sacrifice, and Gunslinger and Wheels were making customized guns.

From the perspective of this being a military operation with little room for nonsense, it made Shin’en happy that Wheels hadn’t displayed humongous LGBT flags with the red cross-out all over the throne room just to antagonize Nico and the rest of the gays. He’d let Wheels have his fun later. They were due to make their home in Hotel Valhalla soon enough.

Shin’en’s appearance went largely unnoticed as most were focused on their devices, but Asteria and Leviathan saw him.

He came to stand by them. “Anything fun happen?”

Levithan pointed to the sentient scarf currently around Asteria’s neck.

“And who’s this adorable cutie?” Shin’en said stoically, drawing a snort from Leviathan and an eyeroll from Asteria.

The Xenomorph goddess stepped closer to her brother, and the Chestburster uncoiled enough to lean forward, gurgling and cooing, its jaw open in such a way that it appeared to be happily smiling, giving the impression of a puppy excited to meet new people. Shin’en reached out and started tickling the horrifying creature under its chin.

It started making happy noises.

“What’s the plan?” Leviathan asked.

“Helgi is getting Hunding to set up enough rooms for everyone here. Once he has accomplished that, I’m putting the humans to sleep and teleporting them to their rooms so they stay out of the way. I’ve arranged for the demigods to be given the same blessings as the einherjar. If they are to fight in this war, they will need the additional power. As for us, once the enemy has finished setting up their board, I will give assignments. Given the nature of this conflict, hopefully we will not have to be here anymore than a week.”

‘Will we require reinforcements?’ Asteria asked.

Shin’en looked at her, pausing in his attendance to his newest niece. “Hopefully not, but since this is a Chaos War, it can not be ruled out that additional support will be required.”

‘My children need the exercise.’

“Mine could also do with a good workout,” Leviathan said.

Shin’en eyed them both, grimly. “Do not forget what happens to any of us that would die here. Our survival, and theirs, is not a guarantee, especially with Chaos directly involved.”

“I am confident that my children would preform admirably in this war,” Leviathan said with a chin slightly upturned and a chest slightly puffed out.

“I hope we will not have to bear witness to their abilities,” Shin’en said.

Piper and Virgil came over.

“This is Valhalla, isn’t it?” Piper asked.

“It is,” Shin’en answered. “Jason is inside. The two of you will be reunited within the hour.”

Piper breathed. “Good.” She looked over at her old friends, then back at Shin’en with a small smirk. “What do you think they’re going to say when they see Jason again?”

“They will be angry at you for knowing he was alive this whole time and keeping that from them-”

“But I-”

“I know,” Shin’en said calmly. “You are a member of this team now, and they will have to get through me if they have any choice words.”

Piper shifted, obviously not having adjusted to these circumstances yet. “Er, thank you?”

“You’re welcome. That being said, though, I will need you to be of a clear mind for the coming campaigns. That means I need you to sit down with them and get everything off your chest that you need to. Sooner, much rather than later, please.”

“Yes, sir,” Piper said.

Virgil placed his hand on her shoulder in a reassuring manner. “We can be there if you need us to.”

Piper reached up to squeeze his hand, showing than in the scant few minutes Shin’en had been gone and the two of them had been conversing, they had already reached an emotional level of attachment.

“Thanks. I think…I’m going to need someone there. I don’t think I can connect with them like I used to.”

“You won’t,” Leviathan said simply. “You and them are now worlds away from each other. They will only barely be able to grasp who you are now.”

“Is that what happened to you in your world?” Piper asked. “Whatever happened to make you like this happened, and then when you met them again, you were a complete stranger?”

“Yes.”

Piper’s mouth set into a thin line. “How did you handle that?”

Leviathan shrugged. “I was courteous and professional for the most part, but it was clear that we were no longer friends, but colleagues working on a project together.”

Piper hummed. “Sometimes I wonder if that’s what we really were—me and the other Seven, I mean. Were we really all best friends with bonds beyond words or something sappy like that, or were we just colleagues? Friends that were only friends because we were put into a team by the teacher and had to work on the project together, and that was it.”

Asteria touched Piper’s mind. ‘You tell us.’

Piper winced a little. “That feels weird.”

‘You’ll get used to it.’

Piper gained a look of concentration as she tried to speak telepathically. ‘Testing, testing, one, two, three?’

Asteria’s lips quirked up. ‘Loud and clear.’

‘Oh, cool. So…is this just, like, an open channel for mind-to-mind talking, or can you actually read my whole mind?’

‘Just an open channel.’

‘Have you read my whole mind?’

‘Not yet, but I will if I ever feel like it.’

Piper bristled slightly. ‘Hey-’

Asteria turned to fully face her, the amusement gone from her eyes and expression. The Chestburster around her neck lowered its head, angling its face in such a way that it was a clear snarl. Asteria didn’t say anything; she didn’t have to. The look in her eyes was telling enough.

She was not a friend. She did not see Piper as an ally or a teammate. Piper was just another person to her, and Asteria didn’t care about people, their boundaries, their privacy, or anything about them. If Asteria wanted to dig through Piper’s mind and see her memories, everything from her very first clear one from when she was a toddler and tried to stuff the TV remote into the back of her diaper only for her dad to come around the corner at just the right time to catch her, to this very conversation right now.

Nothing in Piper’s mind would be hidden from Asteria if she decided to go poking through it.

Now, that wasn’t to say that Asteria would simply be able to just go about that without interruption, of course.

Virgil moved to stand slightly in front of Piper, head inclined so that his hood covered his upper face. “You will respect her privacy, Asteria, or we will have words.”

In what was a clear contradiction to how this situation would typically play out in our modern media, Piper did not get heated and get onto Virgil about how she didn’t need his protection and could stand up for herself just fine. Instead, she was quite grateful to have a friend in this new “team” she was on that was already willing to take a stand for her, especially when he was standing up to the cosmic space monster with freaky mind powers and a tendency to technically rape everyone and everything.

Yes, by all technical counts, Asteria was a serial rapist, as she forcefully inserted her genetic material into unwilling participants via the proboscis of her Facehuggers.

Asteria stared impassively at Virgil, showing neither fear of his threat, nor dismissal, but she did back down.

Piper swallowed, having to wonder just how powerful Virgil had to be in order for Asteria to concede to him. Or was it that Asteria felt it beneath her to brawl with him? Or perhaps that if it did come to blows, that Shin’en would be quick and fierce to put an end to it. Piper looked at the leader, and she saw how he was glowering at Asteria, who was pointedly ignoring him now in favor of cuddling her new baby.

Leviathan looked amused by the whole ordeal.

A faint buzzing was heard, and Shin’en pulled his phone from his pocket. “The hotel is ready for us.”

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This chapter was originally going to include Shin’en’s speech to the einherjar and also Piper’s big talk with her old friends, but I’m not sure I was going to have enough time tomorrow (this chapter being posted on 12/23/2024) to finish all of that and have the chapter out either by Christmas, or on Christmas, and so I have decided to play it safe and call it here.

So, Merry Christmas to all those readers here, new and old!

I hope this chapter was enjoyable enough to read, and that the next one is as well. The action is soon to come, as is the grit and the death. I want everyone to pay special attention to what Shin’en told Asteria and Leviathan about what would happen to them, or anyone they brought in to this current world, if they died. It’s going to be really important later.

In other news, I’m going to be building my first PC with my old college buddies in a few weeks when I get all my parts in! No, I am not technically joining the PC master race. I am only getting involved with this because I want to try out some NG+ mods for Cyberpunk 2077, and also try out the Elden Ring Convergence mod, along with some other mods, like pre-nerfed Impenetrable Thorns and Perfume Bottles.

More on my progress with that in the days to come.

In the meantime, please Fav, Follow, and Review!

And if you want to get me an extra special Christmas present, you can buy my original novel on the Kindle store. This year marks three years since it was first published!

Chapter Text

And because the last chapter was cut short and didn’t feature crucial dialogue, this will be the chapter that features the crucial dialogue.

Jason returns with several other important dead characters because of the way dying honorably works, and Piper finally has her sit down with her old friends.

After that, well…pretty much all action, really. The capture/defend campaigns, and the Olympian rescue missions.

Disclaimer: I don’t own PJO or any other crossovers featured herein

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

“The hotel is ready for us,” Shin’en said, and he didn’t waste any time.

His eyes turned red as his Sharingan flared, and using an old trick he learned so many, many years ago when he was experimenting with his eyes with Obito, Shin’en meticulously used the water droplets in the air as mirrors, reflecting the light from his eyes into the eyes of every human person in the room. In a second, Shin’en put all the parents and mortal half-siblings into a Mist-based, genjutsu-induced sleep.

In the next second, once again using Ame-no-Minaka, Shin’en teleported everyone into the Feast Hall. The sudden arrival of a few hundred people sent the murmuring einherjar and magicians into silence. Luckily, no outbreak of violence occurred as Odin and a number of the other Aesir gods were already present, along with Helgi, who was already rushing over.

As for the Greco-Roman demigods, they all felt a strange tingle in their bodies that quickly faded away. The enhanced power of an einherjar had taken hold in all of them.

“Mr. Shin’en, welcome, sir!” Helgi said, breathless and red in the face.

Odin was right behind him.

Now, those that have read the Magnus Chase books probably remember the All-Father as being a goofy, borderline idiotic joke of how he is compared to traditional Norse myth, along with all the other Norse gods because Rick was writing for kids and thought that kids needed dummy Nordic gods. Or he was trying not to directly copy the MCU in his portrayal of the Aesir. Whatever the case, that was not the case herein. This present Odin looked more like the Viking warrior god he was known for, boasting a large gold breastplate complete with armored shoulder pads and a flowing fur cape, heavy bracers, dark trousers with heavy greaves over his boots, and a big helmet sporting wings on the side and horns on the top. A gold plate was over his missing left eye, his ravens were perched on his shoulders, and his mighty spear, Gungnir, was in his right hand.

His expression was stern, focused, and professional. He approached Shin’en with all the energy of one general coming to greet a general of higher rank: they were both great figures of authority and power, but one knew who his superior was.

“Thank you, Mr. Helgi,” Shin’en said. He extended his hand to the All-Father. “Odin. A pleasure to meet you, sir.”

Odin shook Shin’en’s hand. “It is an honor to have you in my hall. The Norns have informed me of your deeds, and I watched as you repelled Tartarus’s assault.”

Shin’en nodded. “Then we already have an understanding.”

“Aye. My soldiers are yours, and mine shall fight at your side.”

“Very good. Could you do me a favor and have the humans sent to their rooms?”

Odin’s one eye briefly glowed, and all the sleeping humans were teleported straight to the beds that had been prepared for them. Sally, Paul, little Estelle, Frederick, his wife, their sons Bobby and Matthew, and all the other parents and family members of the demigods, were effectively removed from the better part of the remainder of this story.

By design because there are already so many characters to juggle as it is.

Of course, seeing their families suddenly poofed away caused a great commotion amongst the demigods before the assembled einherjar and House of Life magicians, but Shin’en was quick and fierce to restore order.

He literally brought his foot down. Only he brought it down so hard the floor splintered, the entire hotel shuddered, and there was a terrific BOOM accompanying the impact.

“Take a seat,” Shin’en said calmly, gesturing to the array of open seats close by in the stadium-esque arrangement of the Feast Hall.

With slow and careful steps, the demigods planted their butts, with Percy and Annabeth managing to catch the eyes of Carter and Sadie, who were sitting in the front row with the other magicians.

Magnus and Alex were up a lot further in the seats, along with a number of other individuals who were antsy and excited to see some familiar faces down below.

Once all the demigods had been seated, the only ones standing were Shin’en and his entourage: Leviathan, Asteria, Virgil, Tobi, Kraken and his siblings, Gunslinger, Wheels (sitting, actually), and Piper. Even Helgi had returned to the thanes table, and Odin was with his tribe of gods, Thor eyeballing Virgil because he had seen the Bible on Virgil’s belt.

The air was tense, everyone on edge, confused, trying to figure out what was happening, what had happened, where they were, who all of these people were, what happened to their families in the case of the Greco-Roman demigods, and a thousand other questions.

Shin’en stepped forward, and his voice carried throughout the entire Feast Hall.

“Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, esteemed warriors from across the ages. My name is Shin’en Yūrei, and I will be your general in this war. Behind me are my comrades, Leviathan, Asteria, Virgil, Tobi, Kraken and his siblings, Percy and Persia, Gunslinger, Wheels, and Piper McLean. We represent the leading chain of command. If any of you would like to question this, please refer to the educational material showed to you not even thirty minutes ago.

“As most of you are aware, Armageddon is currently underway. The cities of men have been mostly destroyed, and most of mankind itself has been wiped out. Billions are dead, with approximately only five million remaining, of which it is estimated 4.85 million of those are military. This was accomplished by an alliance consisting of Tartarus, Nyx, Akhlys, the New Triumvirate, Setne, and the defeated Loki, who is with us now.”

Shin’en indicated the horrific lump of golden meat.

“In response, we have made our own alliance. Us, the einherjar of Valhalla, the magicians from the Egyptian House of Life, and the demigod warriors from the Greco-Roman camps. As such, I ask the leaders of these forces to please step forward and introduce yourselves to the people you will be working with. Carter, Sadie, Amos, Thalia, Hazel, Frank, Nico, Will, and Chiron.”

Yes. Not Percy, nor Annabeth, but Nico and Will.

But of course it would be Nico and Will at this point. Percy and Annabeth hadn’t stepped foot in Camp Half-Blood in four years. They’d been living in New Rome for all that time. Objectively, they were no longer the recognized leaders of the Greek camp. Whereas, Nico and Will had been there this whole time, having become directors along with the centaur and Mr. D.

As for Percy and Annabeth not being called, they both felt mixed emotions. A small amount of relief that was overshadowed by guilt but then counteracted with rationalization. It stung a bit not being the ones to stand up there, but that was what they had wanted in the first place. A quiet life away from the madness of gods and monsters. Only they got exactly what they asked for, couldn’t say they were happy about it, and now this. Their whole lives gone up in smoke and fire before them, the world on the brink of wholesale destruction, and now they weren’t being called to task.

Maybe now they realized that their life’s mission and duty was not to retire quietly, but to continue the righteous fight against the forces of evil, including evil men.

Those called came to stand on the other side of Shin’en, as his entourage was situated to his right.

The Kane family introduced themselves as the Chief Lector, the pharaoh, and the pharaoh’s second in command, then Thalia as the daughter of Zeus and lieutenant of the Hunt, Frank and Hazel as the praetors, and Chiron, Nico, and Will introduced themselves as the directors of Camp Half-Blood.

“And Odin in the leader of the einherjar,” Shin’en concluded. “But there is one more group with us today. A special forces division within the einherjar.”

Murmurs broke out, and Piper’s heart lurched in her chest.

Shin’en’s eyes traveled to a section of high-up seats in the Feast Hall. “Jason Grace!”

Thalia, Percy, Annabeth, Frank, Hazel, Nico, Leo, Reyna, Chiron, and all the Greeks and Romans that knew Jason all went rigid.

“I am aware of the reasons behind your secrecy, but those reasons are now null and void. Please, stand, and join us here,” Shin’en said.

And without any kind of grand ceremony, Jason did exactly that. From where he sat in the stands with the other special forces einherjar, other demigods that had been scooped up by the Valkyries and brought to Hotel Valhalla to receive special powers and special training for this exact scenario, Jason stood up and took to the air, flying over everyone to come to a soft landing amongst the leaders. His appearance hadn’t changed from when he’d saved Piper during her battle with Incognito four years ago, sporting golden armor of Greek design, a purple cape that softly settled around him as he landed, and a gladius was sheathed at his side. His helmet, shield, and spear were back in his room at the moment.

Percy, Annabeth, Leo, and Reyna had been on their feet when they saw Jason flying down, and they gathered around him along with everyone else, eyes wide, unblinking, jaws agape, all of them unable to believe what they were seeing.

Thalia was the one in front of Jason first, her eyes swelling with tears. Her fingers reached out, gently brushing over her little brother’s face. “J-Jay? Is it…you’re really…?”

“I wanted more than anything to come back and tell all of you that I was okay, and warn you that you all needed to prepare for something huge coming, but because of the rules I was under, I couldn’t,” Jason said stoically, voice calm and level, eyes serious and devoid of any mirthful sparkles.

He was in Roman mode, if you will. The no-nonsense attitude he had adopted whenever he had to be the praetor of the legion, the leader. Because of that, he managed to quell most of the emotional response from his old friends. They were, after all standing before a congregation of over 424,000 warriors, and they were in the middle of what was basically World War Three. In short, business now, tearful reunion later.

Jason fell into line next to his big sister, who had a firm death grip on his hand. The other demigods wisely made their way back to their seats, and once they were planted, Shin’en moved things along.

“This is Jason Grace, the son of Jupiter. He is also an einherjar, along with a number of other scions of the Greco-Roman gods. Their presence here was part of a plan made between the Fates and the Norns as they had foreseen the current events coming to pass, and sought to create an army powerful enough to give you an edge against the end of the world. As they are already demigods with incredible powers, being granted the enhancements of the einherji made them even stronger. They have lived and trained in secret here for many years so as to avoid any potential conflict between them and all of you, and also to be an ace in the hole in the event that the enemy managed to infiltrate these halls.”

Shin’en paused to let everyone consider this information before moving with a change of subject.

“The enemy is vast and numerous, employing destructive mortal weapons, and also staffing plenty of divine beings. Those of Camp Half-Blood and Jupiter will remember the Titans-” Wheels snorted behind Shin’en, and Shin’en ignored him- “and the Giants. Those of Valhalla will recognize what’s left of Loki, and also appreciate that there are still more threats out there than the mischief god. Surtr is still at large, as is Fenrir and Jormungand. Those from the House will remember Setne, and will be horrified to know that he has used a modified spell to summon back Apophis’s shadow in part in order to absorb the serpent’s power, but not his consciousness, and has donned the completed Crown of Ptolemy. He currently sits on the throne in the Duat, having defeated Ra and his fellows.

“Yes, our situation is grim and dire, but with cooperation and unity, we will yet be victorious. We can rebuild. We can start over. There is hope. What has been lost can be found.”

Shin’en paused once more, letting the Inspirational emotion take hold before moving on with the conclusion of his speech.

“Our objectives in this war are simple: we must take several key locations in Midgard, and then defend them from the enemy. We must find and liberate the captive Olympians, and take back the Duat. With the combined powers of Greece, Rome, Egypt, and Scandinavia, we will be able to tackle the final objective: the annihilation of the forces of evil. We must destroy Tartarus and his ilk, Surtr and all those that would stand against Midgard, and Isfet itself. Once these things have been accomplished, victory will be ours. Now, this meeting is soon to conclude, and all of you will be free to conduct yourselves as you will. By the end of the next three days, I will have organized this great army into legions and have chosen officers by which to form a chain of command. You will be notified of your assignments by raven. Any complaints you may have can be addressed to the head of our HR department, Tobi.”

Tobi happily waved his hand with a grin that showed way too many teeth.

Sadie Kane leaned over. “Uh, you have a human resources department, and it’s run by that guy?”

“No, Ms. Kane, not human resources. Human removal.”

Tobi pulled a couple of ribs from out of his chest in sprays of blood, causing cries and shouts to erupt amongst the congregation.

Gunslinger leaned away from Tobi.

Sadie turned ashen, as did a lot of people. “Er, noted.”

“Indeed,” Shin’en intoned. “It’s the end of the world, ladies and gentlemen. I don’t have time for people whining about how they didn’t get the rank they feel they deserved, or they’re underneath someone they think is inferior to them, or how they weren’t placed in the same legion as their best friend or hallmates or whatever. I’m glad we all reached this understanding. Now, thank you all for your time and attention. This meeting is now over, and all of you are dismissed.”

“Wait, what happened to our families?!” one of the demigods shouted. “They just vanished!”

“Manager Helgi will be the one to inform you of the functionality of Hotel Valhalla,” Shin’en said dismissively.

Helgi paled a little when a few hundred assorted kids, teenagers, and young adults turned their eyes to him. He looked at Odin, and the All-Father merely looked back at him like, You heard the man. Start explaining things.

Helgi sighed and stood up.

The einherjar started filing out.

Shin’en looked at Wheels, gave him the nod, and the two started getting the Feast Hall prepped for their operational needs. Shin’en also looked at Piper, giving her a nod as well, and his eyes slid to Virgil, who nodded in understanding.

Piper and Virgil joined Jason and the other important demigods.

The air grew a little tense between the Greeks and Romans as Piper and Jason stood before one another. They all knew the two had broken up—objectively shocking to everyone that heard about it, because as far as they had seen, Piper and Jason were going to go all the way like Percy and Annabeth—and they knew that Jason had died shortly after the breakup, with the two of them having not reached closure.

Or at least, that’s what they all thought because they weren’t privy to the full scope of events that took place in Tahlequah four years ago.

Piper looked at Jason.

Jason looked at Piper.

Everyone looked between them, trying to figure out how this was going to go down. The former couple stared at each other, their eyes swimming with emotions, but as the clock continued ticking, everyone started to get inklings of ideas. The way they were looking at each other wasn’t as if they were being reunited after all this time, and finally given the chance to talk things over and smooth things out. Piper didn’t have the same kind of guilty, regretful look in her eyes that Percy, Annabeth, and Leo had.

It clicked in Thalia’s head first. Her pupils dilated, the static electricity shot up so high that everyone’s hair started rising, and she glared murder at Piper. “You knew!” she shouted. “You knew he was alive this whole time and didn’t come tell me!”

Everyone looked at Piper, who calmly looked at the furious Thalia.

Jason spoke to his big sister and all his old friends. “When Piper fought the medicine man Incognito four years ago in Tahlequah, she was almost overwhelmed. I was allowed to come back and help her out, but that was it. Like I wanted to go tell all of you I was alive, but couldn’t because of the reasons Shin’en just explained, I had to make Piper swear to keep this a secret as well.”

“Don’t you think I wanted to tell you all that night I IM’d all of you?” Piper asked. “Don’t you think I wanted to tell you two years ago when I first warned all of you that this was going to happen, and you all needed to start preparing? Do you really think I would’ve kept Jason being alive from you without a really good reason?”

Virgil held up his hand. “Let there be peace between us for the moment. Jason, I take it you have quarters here?”

“Yes, sir. And they’re big enough for all of us. Come on, I can take you all there, and we can get it all out of our system.”

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Minutes later, after a quiet and tense walk and elevator ride, and a lot of people were situated in Jason’s room. Like all the einherjar suites of Hotel Valhalla, Jason’s room was the definition of opulent and comfortable, and tailormade just for him based on the life he lived. A large tree occupied the center of the room, reaching for the atrium above to support the ceiling with its branches. From there, the suite was divided into four equal sections by walls, with the first being a foyer by the door, and then clockwise from there a kitchen area, a living room area with sofas, recliners, a coffee table, and a large television sporting fancy speakers and numerous gaming consoles, and then the bedroom, with a queen-sized bed covered in royal purple blankets, soft purple carpet. A closet full of outfits and sets or armor, a dresser full of socks, underwear, and weapons, and of course of bathroom complete with sink, toilet, towel cabinet, and a bathtub that served as a tub, hot tub, and shower.

Everyone gathered in Jason’s living room. Him, Piper, Thalia, Reyna, Leo, Percy, Annabeth, Frank, Hazel, Nico, Will, and even Carter and Sadie because they were standing right there when everyone got together in the first place and it was best that they were involved because of their connection to Percy and Annabeth, and also Magnus and Alex, who had made a beeline down from where they were sitting to catch up to Percy and Annabeth as well.

And Virgil, who was off to the side.

A total of sixteen characters gathered in one location to hear Jason and Piper’s story. Their story had already been told, though, and their recounting of it was short. Piper had exhausted herself fighting the Asgina and then Incognito, Jason swooped in in the nick of time to save her and give her a boost, and together they defeated the evil medicine man, routed his army of spirits, and were finally able to have their heart to heart and make their breakup official. Jason explained what Shin’en already did, in that he and Piper needed to keep their secret because they were meant to be a surprise counterstrike team against the foreseen enemy, and they wanted to remain a surprise.

While the reason was understood, there was still some bitterness at being kept in the dark.

After Jason and Piper’s piece was said and done, the torch was then passed to Carter and Sadie, and the magicians stood up to tell their story, from their mixed-race parents Julius and Ruby, their childhood mostly separated, their adventures in the House of Life, and their tale culminated in their encounters with Setne alongside Percy and Annabeth, which then led into them having to explain why they kept their own secret regarding the Egyptian pantheon. They had all experienced the power of hybrid magic, Greek demigods utilizing the power of Egypt’s magicians, and it had been devastating in just the brief moment they had it.

If hybrid magic became a well-known and widespread thing, it could’ve spelt ruin beyond the Titans and Gaea.

A notion everyone appreciated with a strong sense of morbid irony, though there was a feeling of hope. If there was ever a time in which the demigods of Greece could use the magic of Egypt, it was definitely now. It was resolved to pitch this to Shin’en after Virgil approved of the idea.

Then it was Magnus and Alex’s turn to explain who they were. They shared their life stories, how Magnus was the cousin of Annabeth on the mortal side and the son of Frey, and how Alex was the transgender and gender fluid child of Loki, who was Alex’s mother because Loki decided to be a woman during conception. A moment had to be taken in order for Alex to explain what it meant to be trans and fluid, since being trans implied a physical transition of the body, while fluid implied an ever-changing state of mental identity, and then rationalize how it was possible to be both trans and fluid because the two seemed to offset each other based on principle.

Either Alex sucked at explaining things, or everyone in Jason’s room was stupid, because absolutely no one understood how Alex could call herself transgender and gender fluid.

But given the pressing situation of Armageddon, no one really cared about wasting the mental energy on trying to rationalize Alex Fierro.

Magnus and his significant other continued their tale, Magnus recounting the events of his first adventure, starting with dying at the fireball of Surtr, ending with his battle with Fenrir, and then Alex picked up, explaining her own death and ferrying to the hotel, and then the two of them bounced back and forth to recount the events of retrieving Thor’s hammer Mjolnir—also explaining that the “must be worthy” idea was purely a fabrication of Marvel Comics, and the truth was that Mjolnir was just so ridiculously heavy that Thor himself actually needed magic gloves in order to wield his own hammer properly, something that garnered mixed opinions from everyone—and their adventures leading up to the flyting and defeat of Loki on Naglfar, something that was clearly all for naught because Loki got free anyway, but then was neutralized by the one called Tobi, the head of Shin’en Human Removal department.

Everyone looked at Virgil for an explanation.

Virgil explained by shaking his head. “All of you will be much happier not knowing about Tobi’s life. Just don’t ever talk to him, look at him, or come within ten feet of him, especially whenever he is bored. He is a sadist and a masochist, and his idea of fun is psychologically and physically torturing people.”

“And he’s supposed to be me from another timeline?” Percy blanched.

“Yes.”

“Uh…”

“Don’t think about it,” Virgil counseled. “You’ll go mad the more thought you try to put into it.”

“Then how am I supposed to mentally categorize him?”

“Think of him as some distant cousin three times removed on your mom’s side.”

“Okay.”

And that’s when Reyna stood, glaring murder at Percy and Annabeth. She’d been holding something in since Carter and Sadie explained some of their powers, particularly Duat fast travel.

“Rey?” Thalia asked.

Reyna continued glaring at Percy and Annabeth. “All these years, and I stood by the idea that the two of you had done enough, and with communications down there was no way you could’ve known, but if you had known, you would have done everything you could have to come help us that day. And now here we are, being told that there was a way, that you knew these two-” she whipped her arm up, pointing at the magicians “-who could have traveled through a subspace dimension basically, like a wormhole, and could have been on our doorstep in seconds, able to relay information between the camps around the clock. Transport troops…and reinforcements…”

And just like that, it got extremely tense in Jason’s room.

Even Frank and Hazel were looking at Percy and Annabeth, who had the decency to look beyond ashamed and guilty.

Magnus came to their defense. Or tried to. “Hey, they said that mixing the pantheons could have resulted in huge problems because of hybridizing the magic-”

“And that justifies the slaughter of my people!?” Reyna rounded on Magnus, her pupils glowing red as a red aura, like flickering flames, began forming around her.

Thalia was on her feet. “Reyna, listen to me, I need you to bring it back.”

If Reyna heard her friend, she didn’t show it. Instead, she was coiled and ready to attack, eyes locked on Magnus. Alex stepped up, ready to fight, garrot wire between her hands.

“Most of them are here.”

Reyna snapped back to herself, pupils returning to black, aura vanishing. Her head whipped around to Jason, as did everyone’s. “What?”

“Most of the legion that died that day, and a lot of demigods from Camp Half-Blood, from the Giant and Titan Wars, are here. Even ones that fought for the Titans.” Annabeth, Thalia, and Percy lurched as they all had the exact same thought. “The Fates and Norns made sure the special forces division had a lot of manpower, and boy do we. We’ve got demigods here from as far back as the Civil War.”

Reyna lips trembled. “So…you mean…all that we lost in the battle…?”

Jason nodded. “Most were picked up by Valkyries and brought here.”

“Most?”

Jason’s expression became tight. “A stipulation from the Norns was that those brought here had to die honorably, or courageously, or valiantly, or however heroically. Because of that, not everyone that died during the battle was permitted here. Not everyone died a hero.”

A shadow came over Reyna’s face. “I…see.” She was quiet for so many seconds, and then she looked back at Percy and Annabeth, her fire having once again ignited. “But that still doesn’t excuse them! Before the Imperial War even started, the two of you knew about Carter and Sadie, and could have called on their help as soon as communications were jammed! Especially after the war began in earnest when Nero attacked Camp Half-Blood!”

“Reyna-” Thalia tried, but she was interrupted.

“Why didn’t you call us up?” Sadie asked Percy and Annabeth. “I know we talked about trying to keep our groups separate, but for something like that, we could have come up with something. Like, we’re the kids of literally any of your Greek gods, trying out an experimental travel spell.”

Percy and Annabeth looked haunted, broken, fatigued, worn out, tired, and like they wanted to be anywhere but here.

The reason why this whole conversation stung so badly was because they had even had this conversation themselves four years ago, as stated in the first chapter of this story.

Annabeth opened her mouth to try and speak, try and say something to apologize, but for once, in a rare turn of events, her fat mouth had nothing to say.

But the hostilities were brought to an end by Virgil. “Enough of this,” he said in the voice of Il Mentore, and when he used that voice, enough really did become enough.

Reyna noticeably simmered down, Percy and Annabeth relaxed a little, and bit of peace was restored.

“What’s done is done,” Virgil continued. “Lamenting over the past will bring naught but undue grief and sorrow. I’m sure Percy and Annabeth have been drowning in regret and guilt these past four years and wish nothing more than to be able to go back and do things differently, but that will not ever be accomplished due to the headaches involved in temporal anomalies.”

“Huh?” Frank blinked.

“Time travel,” Nico answered. “Alternate timelines, time loops, paradoxes, etc.”

“Oh. Right.”

“There’s nothing you can do about the dead,” Virgil continued, “and there’s nothing any of you can do to change what happened. What you can do, is move on. Don’t make the same mistakes again. Going forward from this point on, there will be no more debate or argument about the Imperial War, or about what could have been done, or should have been done, or would have been done. There will be no more animosity, and no more anger. Do I make myself clear to everyone in this room?”

There was grumbling and mumbling.

“I said: do I make myself clear!?”

This time, there was a resounding chorus of Yes, sir!

Virgil nodded. “Good. Piper, you have the floor.”

Piper stood still for a few seconds, staring at the floor, and then her eyes closed as her face broke into a mirthless smile. “Well, after a speech like that, lamenting over the past and moving on, I don’t think what I have to say has any real meaning anymore.”

“You need to get it off your chest,” Virgil said.

Piper sighed. “Yeah, I do.”

She sighed again and opened her eyes. They were cold eyes, dark eyes, eyes that burned with a cold, simmering anger for everyone and everything.

“What I’m about to say…doesn’t come from any logical place. It comes from pure, raw emotion, and jealousy, and self-loathing, and pent-up rage and frustration that hasn’t had anywhere healthy to go, and before I go any further, I want all of you to know that I don’t really mean what I’m going to say, and I’m sorry in advance. Now that we have that established…”

Piper had to take another breath, her eyes starting to glisten. She paused to take yet another breath, and then she finally exploded.

“FUCK EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU!!!”

Her furious, booming, roar came out so loud that some of them winced from the genuine pain inflicted upon their ears.

Like a breaking dam, Piper’s emotions came flooding out.

“I was out there, fighting the forces of evil, while all of you were fucking off! I have seen things the likes of which none of you can even attempt to imagine, because you haven’t been exposed to the stimulus necessary with which to even imagine it! I have seen people stick a white-hot metal rod right into a little boy’s penis, and melt it off, and then turn around and do the same to a little girl’s vagina. I’ve busted open cargo containers full of kidnapped people, and had to go throw up somewhere because of the rotten stench of BO, human waste, and actual rotting corpses because they died in transit. I’ve taken down human trafficking rings where they kidnapped boys, cut their dicks off, and then sold them as girls, and other rings where they just film the people they kidnapped being tortured to death. I’ve even torn apart true psychopaths with my bear hands, because I found them trying to recreate the fucking human centipede. I have seen…so many things…” Piper’s eyes widened and her voice lowered as her expression morphed into the exact one in the textbook next to the word “haunted.”

“I legitimately think I can’t have sex anymore,” Piper continued in that same faraway voice, “or even finger myself without a million horrific memories flooding back at once. The things I have seen people do to each other in the name of pleasure…the way men and women, and even children…have been exploited and abused. The things you only read about in books, or see in movies or on TV, things that are supposed to be fictional because there’s no way any real person would ever do such things to another person…I have seen proof otherwise. I once saw a girl beat her own little sister to death so she would be spared being raped, only for the people that kidnapped her to rape her anyway, and then throw her to the dogs, where they ate her alive and tore her apart….And the things I have seen parents do to their own children….There was this hillbilly cult over in the Wyoming mountains. Incestuous, all of them. Their thing was that they’d get their cousins and sisters pregnant, and then they’d take the baby when it was born, chop it up, and put it in a meat pie.”

Piper chuckled so darkly it made Nico grab Will’s hand.

“I tried to not ever take pleasure in killing the bad guys, that way I don’t lose myself and become a monster, too, but guys…there are some people that I relished in killing. I took my time with them. Made it slow. Made it hurt. And prayed that when Hades got a hold of them, that he put them on the express track straight to the Fields of Punishment.”

Piper fell silent again after that one, and the tension hung heavy in the air. Almost like they all knew what Piper was about to say next, and sure enough:

“And what the fuck were any of you doing!?” Piper roared, holding true to what she had said about her tirade coming from a place devoid of logic. She looked at Percy and Annabeth. “You two, with your heads so far up in each other’s assholes one could almost see your faces poking through your stomachs.” Piper looked at Leo. “And you! All your technological genius, and you went for a garage? A fucking garage!?” Piper looked at Hazel. “And you….As far as your powers go, at least you’ve been using all the money you have access to to help people in need, funding charities and stuff, but still.” Piper looked at Thalia and Reyna.

“Hey,” Thalia said, “we got the Hunters together, spoke with Artemis, and we gave it our best shot-”

“But you still gave up!” Piper shouted.

“Because it was awful!” Thalia shouted back, getting to her feet. “And look what the…the crusade…or whatever you want to call it, has done to you! You’re depressed, traumatized, bitter, angry, and’ve been carrying around all this emotional baggage for the better part of four years, and you’re finally falling apart. Us and you are the two extremes, Piper. You, the side that went balls to the wall and dedicated her life to the cause, forcing herself to face the most horrible things the world could throw at her, and I guess the rest of us, who decided to kick back and do practically nothing.

“I’ve seen this before, Piper. I’m part of a group of immortal girls that have been around for decades, centuries, and even thousands of years. What you’re preaching, I’ve heard. What you’re going through, I’ve seen. And I’m so sorry for you. I’m sorry because I know what’s really eating at you: you’re jealous. You’re wishing that you hadn’t gone so far, that you had refrained and taken a life more like ours, where, while not the greatest, is nowhere near as bad as what you went through. And you’re bitter that we weren’t all right there with you, side by side in the trenches, sifting through the human filth as we tried to make the world a better place. And on top of those two things, you hate yourself for feeling that way. You hate yourself for wanting all of us to have suffered with you. You hate yourself for wanting what we had, even thought you made the choice to live the life you did. You’re stuck in a state of back and forth arguments with yourself, like you were four years ago. Telling yourself things like we have the right to live how we want, and also telling yourself we still have a responsibility to adhere to.”

Thalia paused to take some breaths herself before continuing forward with her own speech. Tears were openly running down Piper’s cheeks as the daughter of Zeus hit every nail right on the head.

“I’m sorry, Piper. I’m sorry that none of us were motivated like you to go off and fight evil. I’m sorry that you lost yourself in the fight and never took a break to detox and relax. I’m sorry that you hate yourself for hating us because we weren’t right there with you the whole time, one big demigod superhero team changing the world for the better one day at a time. I’m sorry that life didn’t let us all stay together after the Giant War.”

Piper exhaled, her lips quirking upwards while a little gleam appeared in her now-dark eyes. “Life didn’t let us stay together, or we just didn’t make the effort? I mean, serious question, guys, were we ever really a team of closeknit friends, a big found family, or we just group project friends? Friends only because the teacher put us in a group together, and we made it work, but once the schoolyear was over, that was it. Our friendship was rooted only in the situation.”

An uncomfortable silence fell on them as they really pondered it.

Piper closed her eyes, wiped them and dried them, and exhaled. “Well, I feel a lot better now. I’ve been carrying that around for at least two years, since I graduated high school and really started to get my hands dirty. Thanks for listening and putting up with my bullshit, guys. I appreciate it. I really do.”

Percy shook his head and stood up. “No, that wasn’t bullshit. That was…something you really needed to say, and maybe exactly what we needed to hear. I don’t know, but maybe we wouldn’t be in this mess if we had been with you. Maybe if Tartarus saw that we were still a team, still kicking ass, and were actually…you know…killing people, and saw we meant business, maybe they would’ve backed off.”

“Shoulda, woulda, coulda, Percy,” Piper said stoically. “Like Virgil said, what’s done is done. At least we know that if we could go back, we definitely would do things differently.”

There was a knock at the front door, and Jason made his way through his suite to open it. It was Shin’en.

“May I come in?”

“Oh, uh, sure.”

Jason stepped aside and Shin’en entered, making his way across the suite at a purposeful pace. In his hand was a box full of keycards.

Jason shut the door and hurried behind Shin’en to join him with all the others.

“These are the keys to your rooms here,” Shin’en announced. “They are all on the same floor, and all down the hall from each other. I figured that you would want to be close together during this time of crisis.”

Shin’en passed the box out, and the demigods quickly found that each card had their name on it. Before a minute was up, everyone had their keycards.

Shin’en looked at Piper with expectations in his eyes.

She nodded. “I’m good. I got it all out.”

Jason set a comforting hand on her shoulder, smiling reassuringly.

“Do you regret it?” Shin’en asked Piper. “Taking up the life?”

“Considering all things? No. I helped people. I saved lives. I punished evil and wicked beings. I’d do it all again, but I would not do it the same way.”

“Good,” Shin’en nodded. “You have the next three days to rest. Enjoy yourself.”

“Thank you.”

Shin’en turned away, giving Virgil the nod, and Virgil walked away after him.

However, they paused when they heard Nico ask Piper a question, trying to hasten the fading tension.

“So…how’s Shel doing?”

Piper’s eyes became hollow, her mouth setting into a thin line.

Nico’s blood froze, as did everyone’s when they realized. “N-No…” Nico breathed.

Piper barely nodded. “She was on a bridge in the hills one night. Tire exploded. She lost control and smashed through the guardrail. Fell 300 feet to the valley below. Car exploded on impact. She was cremated onsite. Other than the unbridled terror of falling to her death, experts say she probably didn’t feel a thing. Less than six months after we graduated.”

Nico teared up and threw his arms around Piper. Piper hugged him back, and Jason joined, then Thalia, Percy, Annabeth, Leo, Frank, Hazel, and Will, Sadie, Carter, Magnus, and Alex found shoulders to put their hands on for the sake of morale support.

Through all the people hugging her and sobbing with her, Piper was still able to catch Shin’en’s eye.

He was heartbroken for her.

He and Virgil gave her respectful, sympathetic nods, and then they took their leave.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

And there we go. Perfect start to the New Year.

Now I ask a question: where do y’all want the story to go from here? Jump ahead to the end of the three days and begin the campaigns, or go over the three days with the characters interacting with their DI-verse counterparts? Talking and drama, and maybe some character development.

True to Virgil’s word, there will be no more Imperial War bashing. I think it’s pretty clear by now what I think of ToA and how Rick wrote the characters, and at this point I feel like I’m beating a dead horse. I mean, I did write this huge essay detailing my criticisms against ToA, so there’s that.

What’d you think of the chapter? Shin’en’s speech, Jason’s reintroduction, Piper’s big scene, etc.

In the meantime, please Fav, Follow, and Review!

Chapter Text

I actually like the idea of exploring the three days before the counteroffensive begins. Lots and lots of room for character development, especially for our titular heroes.

Before we begin, a note to some Guest Reviewers:

I killed off Shel after putting so much effort into Shel in my Piper story because I couldn’t think of anything productive for Shel to do in this story, it adds depth to Piper’s character herein, and it follows through with a very subtle theme I introduced in the Piper story.

Yes, it is difficult to keep track of so many cast members. I’ve got all the main characters from canon, on top of all the Percy’s from my own stories. The best way to handle this, I think, is to only focus on a few in a scene at a time. This was a struggle even Rick had when he was writing Heroes of Olympus, and even he chose the tactic of breaking them all up into groups at so many intervals.

All my iterations of Percy can bloodbend. After all, most of the human body is water. They can also control ice and vapor, and change the state of water at will. In theory, canon Percy can do all of this as well, we just haven’t seen him do it yet, and might possibly never do so.

Yes, the Seven really weren’t a big, happy family when you really stop and do a deep dive into their interactions and relationships. They were all friendly and got along great for the sake of the mission, but it was clear based on how they all went their separate ways after the Giant War that they were only so close. Now, that’s not inherently a bad thing, it just is what it is.

Though I will say that is it disappointing that they simply just split up after everything they went through together, but still.

I think that covers it for the Guests.

On to the chapter, featuring the return of an old villain or antihero depending on how you viewed him.

Disclaimer: I don’t own PJO or any other crossovers

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Maybe an hour later after Shin’en and Virgil left Jason’s room after Piper revealed that Shel had been dead for the past eighteen months, everyone else started to slowly file out until it was just Jason, Piper, Thalia, and Reyna in his room. However, the scene would not focus on them.

Percy and Annabeth found their suites on the hall listed on their keycards, though when Percy entered his own, finding it in the same style as Jason’s, cut into four quadrants by walls, a tree in the center, and the rooms all personalized for him, Annabeth was right behind him.

“I don’t want to be alone right now,” she said.

Percy didn’t question it. He didn’t even need an explanation as to why she was following him. He wouldn’t have cared in the slightest if she never went to her own suite and took up permanent residence in his. In fact, a part of him was somewhat surprised Shin’en had even bothered to arrange for him and Annabeth to have separate suites, as opposed to getting them one big one.

Well, bigger than this anyway, because this “suite” was bigger than a lot of houses, as it already was, but it was a suite clearly designed for Percy, not Percy and Annabeth.

“This place is bigger than our apartment,” Annabeth noted in a quiet voice.

An observation that sent a pang through both of them. Their apartment, their first place together after they had officially retired and started living their own lives, was objectively inferior to this place that was just handed to them. This place that was tied to the very life they had tried to leave behind.

Percy sat on his new bed, noting how it honestly the comfiest bed he had ever rested on. He swung his legs around to lean against the headboard, and Annabeth walked around to the other side to get comfy next to him. They held hands, staring blankly at the huge TV mounted on the opposite wall. They could vaguely see their reflections in the smooth, shiny black screen.

It was probably just the bad lighting, but they looked deader than when they had been shrouded in Death Mist five years ago in Tartarus.

Yes, the events of the Giant War were only five years ago, and the events of the end of the Imperial War were only four years ago, meaning that Percy and Annabeth were only 22 years old right now, not even the full prime of their lives. Yet they felt as if they were in their 70s. Old, worn out, tired; they’d seen so much, been through so much, and it was now clear to them that life—the Fates, the universe, God, whoever was really in charge of the universe—hadn’t been anywhere near done with them.

It was now clear that they had tried to run out of their own story, and they had paid the price for it. Terribly so.

“We fucked up,” Annabeth said.

“Yeah,” Percy answered.

“And now the world is gone, our parents have been captured, and the only hope we have to turn things back around is apparently a bunch of different you’s from alternate timelines.”

“…yeah…” Percy managed to say.

Annabeth’s brows knit together slightly. “If all those alternate you’s exist, does that mean that there are alternate versions of me that match up with them?”

“Based on my understanding of how multiverse stuff works, there are infinite alternate versions of you. Some better than others.”

“Some better than others?” Annabeth tried to go for some lighthearted teasing. “Why, Mr. Jackson, are you insinuating that I’m not perfect in all versions of myself?”

Percy shrugged dispassionately, still staring at his distant, hazy reflection in the TV. “I suppose there’s some alternate version of you that cheated on me with someone else. Maybe Jason, maybe Piper—in which you broke mine and Jason’s hearts-” Annabeth gawped at her boyfriend “-or some version of you that was a Titan spy the whole time, and you killed me during the Battle of Manhattan and went on to become Kronos’s consort or something. Maybe he was able to separate himself from Luke without killing him, and the two of you hooked up-”

“Okay, that’s enough. The multiverse sucks, I get it.” Now Annabeth felt incredibly dirty.

Depending on how this whole multiverse thing really did work, then Percy was absolutely correct in that there could very well be some alternate versions of her that were absolute filth. By that same token, though, there were also versions of Percy that were utterly despicable as well. It seemed a stroke of fortune that the alternate Percy’s that were here seemed to be “good” people.

Or good enough at least.

Shin’en, despite how much of heavy-handed asshole he was, had treated them with respect, after all. He had referred to them as Mr. and Ms., and it was only after they started to get on his nerves that he had started to refer to them as “young man” and “young lady.” Shin’en was well-mannered, conducted himself professionally, and carried an air of authority earned.

Virgil was also a good man, showing traits that aligned with that huge book he carried, but of course Percy and Annabeth had to wonder what had been going through his mind when in the presence of those like Nico, Will, Alex, Magnus, and Piper, given they were all LGBT in some way. Though, they had seen him talking earnestly with Piper earlier, while they were still on Olympus, so maybe he was one of the “good” Christians, one of the ones that didn’t go around telling everyone they were going to hell.

It was hard to get a read on the others as far as how they were as people. They knew Tobi was insane, Asteria and Leviathan had the air of people that wanted nothing to do with anyone outside their circle, Gunslinger and the Ghouls were just kids, but Wheels was definitely someone they were going to avoid. His whole personality screamed “I spend way too much time on iFunny.”

“To that point, though,” Percy said, “I suppose there are also alternate us’s out there that aren’t in this situation. They actually made it all the way, with good jobs, a nice house, a better world…kids…”

Annabeth shook her head. “We can’t think like that.”

“Yeah…”

Silence fell back upon them for so many seconds until Annabeth broke it.

“I suppose you’re not in the mood to have sex to try and take our minds off things?”

Percy shook his head. “No.”

Yes, by this point in their lives, so far into their relationship, they had had sex. Numerous times, even, but tying back to how they felt so old after everything they’d been through, sex simply wasn’t on their minds that often despite how they were only in their early 20s. They had been far more preoccupied with depression, that after they’d finally graduated high school and were set to begin their lives together, everything had fallen apart.

They had been taken to court by angry, bitter, grieving Romans, barred access to NRU because there weren’t enough people left alive to open the college, been on the receiving end of racist discrimination because they were White at Berkeley, and even after getting their degrees, they had only found shit jobs, Percy doing manual labor as a construction grunt, Annabeth flipping burgers and taking orders at McDonald’s.

With their lives like that, it was hard for them to ever be in the mood to have sex, even if sex promised a brief release from the stress.

Now they were here, wishing, just like Virgil had said, to go back and do it all differently this time.

“We fucked up,” Percy repeated what Annabeth had said earlier. “Come on,” he squeezed her hand and got back on his feet, “maybe we can talk Shin’en into giving us the chance to unfuck it.”

Annabeth nodded, already mentally reviewing her words, going over phrases, diction, tone, and tact, and preparing for all avenues of conversation with the man in charge.

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It seemed others had the same idea. Frank, Hazel, Leo, and Calypso were getting into the elevator at the end of the hall, and when the two groups saw each other, there was that awkward moment where the former held the door open while the latter ran down the hallway. Percy and Annabeth made it in, and the elevator was big enough to safely carry them all.

“What’re you guys up to?” Annabeth asked.

“Gonna see if we can talk Emo Percy into letting us help with the war effort,” Leo said.

“Emo Percy?” Percy blinked. “You mean Shin’en?”

“Yeah, him. I don’t like that name. ‘Sheen-en’? Way too edgy. So I started calling him Emo Percy.”

“Please don’t call him that when we’re talking to him,” Annabeth said.

“Don’t worry,” Calypso said, setting a hand on Leo’s shoulder. “I’ve got him.”

Leo rolled his eyes.

“I’m glad someone does,” Hazel said.

“Hey!”

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The elevator took them to a level of the hotel that contained one of the many doors to the Feast Hall, where they all kind of just assumed Shin’en would be, working with Wheels. Their assumption proved correct, as down in the center, at the base of the tree that occupied the Feast Hall, was Shin’en, having set up an array of computers, monitors, and equipment akin to the Batcave. He was in the middle of networking, it appeared, booting everything up and testing systems.

He was alone in the whole Feast Hall, no einherjar, no other animals, or gods, or even anyone on his team.

They should have been happy, because it just being Shin’en would have made their conversation easier without an audience, but instead they all suddenly felt on edge. Why was Shin’en by himself? Had he sent everyone away? Did he know this conversation was about to take place? Was it just a coincidence?

The group of Percy, Annabeth, Hazel, Frank, Leo, and Calypso made their way down all the stairs to get from their level down to the central area. When they made it, they heard the sound of a door opening above, and it came to pass that Jason, Piper, Thalia and Reyna had also come to join them.

And so the ten of them came to stand before Shin’en. Or rather, behind him, as his back was turned to them in the chair he was sitting in as he worked on the computers.

“Mr. Valdez, if you ever refer to me as ‘Emo Percy’ one more time, you will spend the rest of your life paralyzed from the neck down.”

Leo blanched. “U-Uh…how did you-? The elevators have bugs in them?”

“No,” Shin’en answered. “Your bodies are full of water. I am acutely attuned to water to the point that I can pick out individual water atoms. I was aware of everything you said in the elevator based on the movement of your mouth.”

They all went a little still at that one. If Shin’en could read lips from a distance without looking purely based on the movement of water in their mouths, what else did he know about their bodies based on the water that was inside them?

Hazel’s face screwed up. “Does that mean you can feel when we need to go to the bathroom?”

“Yes,” was Shin’en’s short, simple, to-the-point answer. “When your colon is stretched and you need to defecate, when your bladder is full and you need to urinate, any scar tissue you have on you, including your every movement in the shower and while you’re by yourself in bed.”

Shin’en turned around this time, showing that there was a little bit of Percy Jackson in him after all, because he had the same sideways smirk that Percy had, and the same mischievous glint in his eyes.

As uncomfortable as everyone became with the notion that Shin’en was Big Brother on steroids, Annabeth was the one to put that out of her mind first and get things back on track, though a thought occurred to her as soon as she opened her mouth to speak. “You already know why we’re here.”

“I do, and the answer is still no.”

Piper and Jason remained quiet, but the others started talking over each other as they voiced their opposition to this.

“By which you are all helping to reinforce my decision,” Shin’en said loudly and pointedly, his voice rising above them all as he rose to his feet. “I am general, here. Commander-in-chief. And I have given orders. Orders that all of you are attempting to violate. Why would I ever want to have the likes of you in my army when none of you obey me? You are unruly, undisciplined, wild. You think your experiences from the wars gives you some kind of grounds to stand on that you can contribute to the war, and this is false. Aside from Frank, Hazel, Reyna, and Thalia, you are out of shape and out of practice, and even you four don’t have what is necessary to not outright die-”

“But that’s not true anymore,” Annabeth bravely stated. “When we were all brought here, something happened to us. We all felt it. A rush of energy. You did something to us. Or you had Odin do something to us. When we were talking with Magnus and Alex, they told us how people that are brought here are made superhumans, given Odin’s blessing of strength so they can be einherjar. That’s the whole point of Jason and the special forces. Greco-Roman demigods that were given the einherjar power-up. And that’s what we’ve all got now, isn’t it? You arranged for Odin to give us the einherjar blessing, and now we’re all stronger. We do have the power to keep up in the war, and what you’re doing now is just a test of character.”

“All correct,” Shin’en freely admitted.

Everyone stared at him.

“What point is there in lying to any of you?” Shin’en asked.

Percy stepped up. “Okay, dude-”

“Dude?”

And Percy actually stopped, took a breath, and composed himself. Shin’en wasn’t some asshole god from Olympus descending from on high to ruin Percy’s day. In his own words, he was the General of the Army, the man in charge of organizing the einherjar and coming up with counteroffensive strategy. He was also the leader of a team of super powerful demigods, at least one of which could blow up the ocean. For the sake of trying to atone for his sins or something, even Persassius Jackson could reign it in and conduct himself like a man.

“Sir,” Percy tried again. “You arranged to give us the same powers that Jason and all the other demigods from Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter have. You want us to go fight for our world, or you wouldn’t have done that. I’m also going to go out on a limb and guess you know everything that we’ve talked about so far, so you know that we get it now: we screwed up in retiring. We should have been doing more. Well, we’re ready, now. We’re ready to do what we should have been doing. We’re ready to take back our world.”

Annabeth couldn’t have been prouder, and everyone rallied behind Percy’s speech, their chins up high and their backs straight.

Shin’en stared at Percy. “Do you truly appreciate that your survival in this is not guaranteed? And that if you die in this war, you won’t be going to the Underworld. You will die for real. Permanently. Is that really a risk you want to take with your mother, stepfather, and half-sister still alive and well? With Annabeth right there behind you?”

“Our survival was never guaranteed in the first place,” Percy said.

Shin’en hummed. “I require a test of that conviction. Ms. Chase, you are right in that you have the blessings of the einherjar. All of them.” Shin’en looked at Jason and winked, causing Jason to grow cold as he began to suspect something. “Would you please step forward. There is something I want to tell you.”

Now with her guard up, everyone now tense, Jason taking a few quiet steps backward, his hand grabbing Piper’s arm, gently pulling her back with him while speaking with his eyes, Annabeth did step forward until she passed Percy and was standing before Shin’en.

“Yes, sir?”

Shin’en smiled at her. “This might hurt.”

His hand erupted through the front of her chest, busting out of her back through her shirt and bra with her heart in his grasp.

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Shin’en lazily moved his arm to the side, dragging Annabeth’s body with it, and with a slight angling of his arm, her body went sliding off to hit the ground with a wet splat. Shin’en unceremoniously dropped her heart, too. It hit Annabeth in the face and bounced off onto the floor next to her head.

For a solid count of three, there was total silence and stillness.

Then a hurricane erupted around Percy as he released his loudest, angriest, most furious and anguished war cry ever. He charged, everyone sans Piper and Jason charging with him as much as they could given the howling winds and raging rain.

Shin’en just stood and poised right through the miniature storm, the only thing about him moving being the tails of his coat as they flapped in the wind. The furious Percy had his fist raised to punch Shin’en in the face harder than he had ever punched anyone before in his life, and Shin’en just reached up, caught said fist, squeezed and splintered every bone in Percy’s hand, and reached up with his other hand to grab Percy’s throat, and with another squeeze, splintered his vertebrae, causing him to lose all feeling in the rest of his body, and also collapsed his throat and windpipe.

The storm ended with a whoosh, leaving water everywhere, and Shin’en dropped Percy’s rapidly dying body like he was an empty water bottle.

Shin’en just went down the line after that.

Thalia and Reyna were the first ones to get to him, their Huntress speed stacking on top of their einherjar buff. Shin’en yanked Thalia’s spear from her hand, and then swung it so hard that the pole cleaved through both of their heads in an explosion of gore. That all happened so fast that by the time Thalia realized her weapon was no longer in her hand, she was already dead.

Shin’en grabbed her Aegis shield—it should have been a huge red flag to all of them right at the start that Shin’en didn’t flinch in the slightest at the sight of Medusa’s visage—and took a page from Captain America’s book, with a sentence from Sasori of the Red Sands. Attaching an invisible little chakra thread to Thalia’s shield, Shin’en flung it like a Frisby and then basically controlled it with his mind.

Frank and Hazel had been in third place behind the prior three, and in a testament to just how fast Shin’en could throw a shield, Frank’s newly enhanced reflexes could not save him from having his head obliterated. Then, in a testament to how great his chakra control was, Shin’en was able to twitch his finger and have the shield change trajectory just enough to where it chopped through the majority of Calypso’s neck, rendering her Nearly Headless Calypso.

Shin’en stepped between Thalia and Reyna’s bodies, which were falling in slow motion as far as his wildly enhanced perception of time went, and he ran Hazel through the chest into her heart with Thalia’s spear, walked past her to pull the spear out through her back, and then slowed himself down just enough to where things seemed to return to real time.

Thalia, Reyna, Frank, Hazel and Calypso’s corpses splattered into the ground with various amount of blood going everywhere depending on their injuries, and Leo was able to duck just in time to avoid having his head removed from his shoulders as the shield came flying back. Shin’en caught it and stood triumphant before the son of Hephaestus.

Thalia’s spear and shield were in his hands, both dripping with blood. More blood coated Shin’en’s entire right arm, the arm that held the spear aloft, from when he’d gored Annabeth. More blood was soaked into his black clothes from the mess he had made. The worst part was the calm smile that hadn’t dropped from his face the moment he’d killed Annabeth.

“What will you do now, Mr. Valdez?” Shin’en asked calmly.

Leo gulped. What was he supposed to say to that, after watching his uber powerful friends that survived countless monster attacks and defeated legendary foes get absolutely eviscerated by this guy? Leo didn’t say anything. Instead, he called upon his fire, and he erupted into a flaming pillar like the Human Torch.

Shin’en thrust Thalia’s spear through his fiery face before Leo could do literally anything else.

He interrupted Leo’s epic powerup moment.

The fire vanished in a similar whoosh to Percy’s hurricane, and just like that, in barely ten seconds, Shin’en had accomplished what no army of monsters, no Titan, no Giant, and no emperor save for one had managed to do: kill the main characters.

Shin’en dropped the weapons without a care, and with a motion of his hand, pulled all the filth and viscera from his person, leaving him just as clean as when he had been sitting in the chair earlier.

“What was the point of that?” Piper hissed.

Shin’en regarded her calmly. “They have experienced two things now: death, unceremonious deaths at that, and having to fight an overwhelmingly powerful foe. They now have an idea as to just what this war will be like for them, and now they can decide if they still want to participate, or remain in the safety and comfort of the hotel.”

“And they’re really going to…respawn?” Piper struggled for the right word to describe an einherjar coming back to life after being killed in the hotel.

“They will.” Shin’en held his hand out to his side, his fingers held together for a spearing or chopping motion. “Would you like to experience dying as well?”

“Hey-” Jason started, but Piper set her hand on his stomach.

Piper looked at her dead acquaintances, figured they were going to be completely beside themselves when they “woke up,” and would be lying if she said she wasn’t at least slightly curious as to what the experience would be like, dying and then coming back.

Piper looked at Jason and didn’t think about what she said next. “Have you died and come back?”

Jason stared at her.

Piper blushed. “Right. My bad. Have you ever died here and come back?”

“Several times, yes. It hurt, and then it was like I was sleeping, and then I woke up.”

“…m’kay,” Piper said. She turned to give Shin’en her answer, but he had already picked Thalia’s spear back up, and ran her through the chest.

Stabbing people through the heart was a very quick and effective way to kill somebody. Also relatively clean, as opposed to destroying the skull with blunt force.

Piper dropped, dead, and even though he knew better, Jason still felt a spike of anger run through him, and he rushed down to cradle his recently deceased ex.

Shin’en tilted his head to the side. “Have you told her you truly do still love her romantically?”

“Not yet,” Jason admitted. There was no point in lying to Shin’en. “I don’t know where her own heart is.”

“Most of it is currently on this spear.”

Jason looked up. “Dude—I mean, sir.”

Shin’en smirked before schooling himself. “Both of you most likely will not make it through this conflict. You will only be hurting yourself by keeping your feelings to yourself.”

Jason’s expression tightened. Even though he was dead and Armageddon was playing out, he was still somehow something of a teenager, scared to talk to a girl about how he felt about her, even though the girl in question used to be his girlfriend.

Granted, this was the same girlfriend that broke up with him, even though they had made up that night in Tahlequah following their battle with Incognito.

“Be a man, Jason,” Shin’en said before walking away back to his chair, leaving Thalia’s weapons on the ground.

The bodies of the heroes had already faded away, along with the mess they made.

Soon enough, Piper’s body was gone, and Jason went back to their floor by himself.

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Sometime later, Percy bolted upright in his new bed with a scream.

Annabeth had come back before him and was in his suite, right there next to him, along with Jason. They grabbed Percy and calmed him down from screaming his head off, but he was still breathing heavy.

“What happened!?” Percy shouted. “I saw him kill you! Is this a trick!?”

Annabeth hauled him all the way out of the bed so she could judo flip him over her shoulder again, and while he was on the ground, she set her knee on his chest. Thus, history repeated.

“Okay, I’m convinced,” Percy said.

After getting up, Jason explained to him what he had told Annabeth: that part of the einherjar blessing was to respawn in their suite if they died in the hotel.

“So anyone here can kill us anytime they want for any reason they want, and we just respawn?” Percy blinked.

“Yep,” Jason said. “It’s actually proven to be a really effective way at managing conflict. If you have beef with someone, you can literally fight to the death with zero consequences.”

Percy blinked again. “Clarisse is going to love this place.”

Jason nodded. “Silena’s already worried for her.”

Percy and Annabeth felt their hearts lurch.

“She’s here too?” Annabeth asked.

A different voice answered. “Her and a lot of others from the good ole days.”

And they would know that voice anywhere. They were both almost scared to turn around, but slowly did they, and they saw him with their own eyes after so many years. He looked a great deal better than the last time they saw him, healthier, more muscular, though he was literally dying that last time and here he was technically alive, though doing very well.

He arms were crossed, wearing jeans, steel-toed boots, the Hotel Valhalla green shirt, and the belt through his pants had a sheathed sword at his left hip. A watch was on his left wrist, and they both knew that with a tap, that watch would turn into a shield.

He didn’t look particularly happy to see them again, and they both knew why.

His dying wish had been for them to not let all of that death be for nothing, and Percy had done what he had thought was the right thing to do in that situation. Make the gods swear an oath on the Styx to be better, and he really thought that would stick, even though he existed despite a Styxian oath. Then Percy gave up. Washed his hands of it all after the Giant War, after having his spirit broken down in Tartarus when he saw the infiniteness of the monsters and Titans and Giants, and then washed his hands of it all again when the Imperial War started.

Percy almost couldn’t bear it to look him in the eyes, the hero who vanquished Kronos. His old teacher. His old friend.

Luke Castellan was an einherjar, deemed worthy enough to join the ranks of the special forces for his final sacrifice to destroy Kronos, an act that saved the lives of billions of people from the Titan King.

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Yup. I brought back Luke.

If you’ve followed enough of my stories, and maybe even read my essays on my Essays and Other Drabbles thing I have on Ao3, you will know that my personal opinion on Luke is that he was desperate revolutionary, one who had enough of the gods’ injustices, sought to bring them down so they could no longer hurt people, and Kronos took advantage of him, and turned him into a monster. Though Luke died redeemed in the end, bringing himself back through the power of love to sacrifice himself to be the one to ultimately destroy Kronos.

Like how Anakin was redeemed through his son’s love, and rose to destroy the Sith and bring balance to the Force. And also Boromir.

Hope you liked the chapter for Day One! Day Two will also be fun.

Please Fav, Follow, and Review!

Chapter Text

No verbal complaints about Luke being an einherjar, so far as the time as this opening author’s note, anyway, so that’s nice. Bit of a fun debate, really, as to whether Luke would be allowed into Valhalla or not given his past actions and ultimate sacrifice. After all, it is canon that the Valkyries brought in a Confederate soldier along with TJ, and Mallory was killed disarming the bombs she planted.

In this same idea, true to what he said, Luke killing himself to stop Kronos saved the lives of billions of people from the Titan, which massively outweighs the potential dozens he may have killed under Kronos’s control. So, if it’s purely a numbers game, Luke would be an einherjar, even more so with the idea being that he died with a weapon in hand after sacrificing his life to save others.

But that’s not important.

I’ve got a fun scene for this chapter planned, and then a very fun scenario later.

Disclaimer: I don’t own PJO or any other crossovers herein

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It was amazing what happened when you knew somebody, knew them real well. You could look them in the eye and have a whole conversation without a single word being shared between you. This was the situation between Annabeth and Percy, and Luke.

He looked at them, arms crossed, leaning on the wall, his eyes tired, disappointed, worn out—the eyes of an older brother who had seen what had become of his once hopeful and bright younger siblings, and had seen so many other stories that were similar. Eyes that had wished for something more, something better; eyes that had become bitter with time and experience, and yet…eyes that still held some small bit of hope.

Luke didn’t need to say anything to the young couple, and they didn’t need to say anything to him. All three of them already knew exactly how the conversation would go:

I trusted you two to fulfil my legacy and make sure the demigods were looked after so that none of them would ever have to go through what we did, or worse than we did, ever again.

We know, we’re sorry. We were naïve idiots who thought that making the gods swear an oath on the Styx would fix anything.

It’s not that you were naïve idiots, but that once you saw the gods weren’t doing anything better, you didn’t take matters into your own hands and do what needed to be done. You should have been out there, doing what needed to be done to make sure those kids were safe.

We know. We got caught up in the moment. Wanted to live our own lives-

And look where the fuck that’s gotten you!

We know. It has been beaten into our heads by this point that we fucked up, so please, for the love of God, will you people quit reminding us. You’re all starting to sound like broken records. Besides, we are trying to atone…or something like that.

And so this conversation did not come to pass. Instead, Luke slightly tilted his head up, appraising the two. He must have seen something, because he nodded ever so slightly. “Very well. Let’s go.”

“Go?” Annabeth blinked. “Where are we going?”

“To chop some trees.”

Luke removed himself from the wall and walked out.

A knowing grin spread across Jason’s face.

Percy and Annabeth both saw that.

“What does he mean by that?” Percy asked.

“You’ll see. You heard the man, let’s go.”

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The three of them followed Luke through the halls to the elevator, and rode in the car in silence to the floor he chose. Percy and Annabeth were wondering who else was here.

Zoë?

Beckendorf?

Bianca? Nico had said she chose rebirth after the Titan War, but, per this deal between the Fates and Norns, had they intercepted her and conscripted her? But…why allow her the Underworld in the first place? Unless she needed to be there to help Nico, and after that episode was passed, then her soul could have been collected. Though that would be macabre, denying Bianca rebirth just so she could fight in the apocalypse—then again…

…assuming just where Bianca had been reincarnated, she may very well be dead right now—for real, this time—due to the recent genocide of mankind.

That thought was actually so nagging to Percy and Annabeth that they started talking over themselves trying to ask Luke.

He stared at them. “One at a time, please.”

Annabeth set her hand on Percy’s stomach. “Is Bianca here, too? We know she was in the Underworld-”

“She’s here,” Luke confirmed. “Same boat as me, actually. We both went for rebirth, Fates said no, and now we’re here.”

Percy’s expression tightened. “I…I’ll need to talk to her.”

Luke shook his head. “There’s no need to talk to her. That was years ago, Percy.”

“Nico needs to talk to her,” Annabeth said.

“Also wrong. There is no need for them to talk. Nico is not an emotionally unstable infant who’ll throw a tantrum at the drop of a hat. He’s made peace with her death and her decision. Granted, he will be most surprised to see her again. You two need to realize and understand that this isn’t the place or even remotely close to the time for having heartfelt reunions. This is World War III. We can hug after we’ve won.”

“How do you know what Nico’s like?” Percy asked.

Luke and Jason looked at each other.

“You think we haven’t been keeping tabs on you guys?” Jason asked. “That’s how I knew Piper had gotten in way over her head four years ago.”

“Oh.”

“You think we’re going to win?” Annabeth asked quietly.

“Yes,” Luke said confidently. “This war’s unlike any history’s ever seen, nor will it ever see again. Hopefully. You see, in this war, there isn’t any trickery, or subterfuge, or a need for the good guys to do bad things. The enemy is clearly defined and is absolutely evil. There are no moral conflicts or ethical quandaries. There isn’t any need to for doubts or uncertainty, like, Am I killing someone’s father? Or someone’s son? Am I ruining someone’s family by killing this person?, because the majority of the enemy combatants are literal monsters-”

“What about the human personnel that are part of…er…Tartarus’s Army?” Annabeth struggled to come up with a name for the enemy belligerents. “The Legion of Doom? The Cabal? Injustice League?”

“Dude,” Jason said flatly.

“Well, we need to call them something,” Annabeth insisted.

“The Forces of Tartar Sauce,” Percy suggested.

“How about we just call them the Bad Guys?” Jason said. “Short, simple, easy to remember, doesn’t inspire any kind of fear, dread, or any negative connotation, really, and is perfectly befitting of this situation.”

“‘This situation’?” Annabeth blinked.

Luke was on Jason’s wavelength. “You can’t deny that there’s a degree of morbid comedy to what’s going on here. All the villains have teamed up to take over the world, forcing all the heroes to team up to fight them, and assisting the heroes are interdimensional copies of one of the main heroes.”

Percy blanched a little. “One of the main heroes…”

Luke looked him in the eye. “You’ve been one of the main heroes since you were twelve.”

“I know. It’s just…I know.”

Luke nodded.

The elevator dinged, and the doors opened to reveal a picturesque forest of tall trees with enough space between them to let in rays of sunlight to feed the grass growing beneath.

“This place is beautiful,” Annabeth gasped.

Luke nodded. “One of the many floors here in Valhalla that are just meant to be a place of peace of relaxation. Most days, anyway. Sometimes this floor gets used for exercise.”

“Exercise?”

“Chopping down trees,” Luke said with a grin.

Walking into the forest, he picked up a simple axe, tossed it to Percy, and came to stand next to a nearby tree that was at least two feet in diameter. Jason came to stand next to Luke, while Percy and Annabeth stood opposite, both figuring that whatever test they were about to go through involved chopping down this tree.

Or several.

Luke tapped the bark. “Here’s your test, Percy: I want you to chop down this tree with one swing.”

Percy blinked, staring at the tree. Then he looked at Jason, searching for some indication that this was a joke, but Jason was so composed and controlled that Percy couldn’t get a single read on him.

“Don’t worry about angering a dryad,” Luke said. “None of these trees are tied to any nature spirits.”

“Well, that’s also good to know,” Percy said, “but that’s not what I’m worried about. I’m strong, I guess, but that tree’s gotta be over two feet, and you want me to chop it down with one swing?”

“But it’s not just a tree. It’s the thing that you hate most in all the world. So tell me, Percy: what is it that you hate most?”

Given the most recent events in his life, Percy had a very quick and decisive answer. “Shin’en Yūrei.”

Luke gestured to the tree. “Then strike him down.”

Percy hefted the axe and stared at the tree, imagining it to be Shin’en, the man that had ridiculed him, insulted him—kind of—and most heinous of all: killed Annabeth right in front of him and then killed him. Yes, they came back to life, but still. Percy envisioned Shin’en’s coolly smirking expression, almost taunting him from within his own mind, and it was all Percy needed.

He squared his shoulders, spread his legs, and as if playing golf, shifted his weight, twisted his hips, and put his whole body into the swing.

THWACK

The axe bit maybe two inches into the bark.

Percy frowned.

Luke inclined his head ever so slightly. “Well, you clearly don’t hate him that much. Tell me, Percy: what do you hate?”

Percy didn’t have to think too much more about that. “I hate that after everything we all went through, it was all for nothing.”

He drew back the axe and swung.

THWACK

“Inadequate,” Luke said.

“I hate that I was hopeful, naïve, idiot who really thought I could change the gods with an oath on the Styx.”

THWACK

“And?” Luke asked.

“I hate that for so many years of my life, I was dragged around by the gods, forced to do their bidding without any say-so. Hera kidnapping me, the recommendation letters—and for all that I gave them, they gave me nothing in return!”

THWACK

Percy’s fury began to mount. The ground began to shake, the air pressure began to rise, a breeze started blowing, and the sun started to become hidden behind rolling clouds. Jason and Annabeth looked at each other, and Jason nodded reassuringly.

“Pathetic,” Luke said.

“Yes,” Percy breathed, before slamming the axe into the tree once more. “I hate that the one fucking time in my life that I actually had the choice about whether to get involved on a world-saving adventure, I chose not to get involved, and people died! People I could have saved!”

“You failed.”

“Yes!”

The ground was definitely shaking now, the storm getting stronger.

“To protect them,” Luke intoned.

“Yes!” Percy shouted, the axe digging deeper into the tree.

“That you gave up!”

“Yes!”

“That you…let them…die!”

With a booming roar, Percy swung the axe one more time, and the trunk exploded in a shower of splinters. With a loud groan, the tree fell over, tearing off nearby branches before landing with a mighty thud. The ground stilled and the storm began to roll away, light returning to the forest.

Percy was breathing heavy as Luke approached him, setting his hand on his shoulder. “Power, Percy—real power—doesn’t come from hate, but from truth.”

Percy nodded in understanding.

Luke gently took the axe from him and held it out to Annabeth with an expectant look. Annabeth accepted the axe and went over to square up with a tree just as thick as the one Percy vanquished. Now that she knew the gimmick behind the test, she set her feet, took a moment to think about what she hated in conjunction with the truth behind why she hated it, then twisted her body, and swung.

The tree exploded on contact.

There were no snide comments or witty remarks about Annabeth getting it on the first try because there didn’t need to be, and also because at this point in their relationship, Percy and Annabeth didn’t need to be making remarks about each other’s skills, talents, abilities, or intelligence. They were adults now, not punk kids or teenagers.

“Now the two of you know,” Luke said.

“What about the others?” Annabeth asked. “Leo, Frank, Hazel, Nico, Will, Thalia, Reyna—and whoever else, I guess.”

“They’re facing their own tests,” Luke said.

“Why all this testing?” Percy asked. “Does Shin’en really think we aren’t ready for this?”

“Yes,” Luke said flatly. “Before, if you died, you would just go to the Underworld, probably Elysium, and there was the large possibility that someone could pull some strings and get you back out. After all, Hades has a precedent for making deals to let souls return to the world of the living. Now, though…there is no more Underworld, or Duat, or any of the typical afterlife places. If you die now, you won’t be coming back, and for where you end up…well, I doubt either have you accepted Jesus Christ as your lord and savior, so I doubt you want to be dying any time soon.”

And the thing was, the way Luke said that, Jesus Christ as your lord and savior, referencing hell, he didn’t sound like he was making the stereotypical joke. He sounded serious about it.

It had been a longstanding tradition at CHB, and even CJ, to not bring up the “big three” religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, the ones that claimed that there was only one God, and all the others were fake, false, or demons in disguise. First and foremost, the idea that there was, in fact, only one true god above all was scary and uncomfortable, because that would mean that there really was objective morality, that there really was definitive good and evil, and there really was right and wrong, and what that God said was good really was good, and what that God said was bad really was bad.

For a couple of people who had so many gay friends, the notion that they were condemned to hell by the edicts of God for being gay was uncomfortable. That was why the demigods largely abstained from talking about God, because in a world where myths and legends were inherently real, the idea that God Himself was real and was going to render judgement upon them all was something none of them wanted to rationalize. Now it seemed there was finally no escaping it.

“How does it work?” Percy asked quietly.

“How all the gods and spirits fit in a world with a reigning monotheistic God who claims that He’s the only One, and that only through faith in His only begotten Son will you receive everlasting salvation? The easiest way to rationalize it all is that the gods as we know them really aren’t gods, per se, but beings with incredible powers, and the spirits…well, they’re spirits. The one and only real god, is God. Yahweh. Jesus.”

“Doesn’t Islam deny the Jesus is the Son of God?” Annabeth asked.

“Yes,” Luke said, and before he could say anything else, Annabeth was already on a roll.

“But then why is Islam considered one of the Abrahamic religions? The Transfiguration on the Mount, God said that Jesus was His Son that He loved very much, so how can Muhammad, who says he’s speaking on behalf of the same God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, turn around and say the God never had a son, and make the claim that Jesus was just another prophet?”

Jason coughed into his fist. “Well, God actually said He was well-pleased with Jesus in that verse, not that He loved Him very much, but the whole Judeo-Christian/Islam debate is a theological discussion for another time. World War III and all.”

“I mean, if we really do die, we won’t ever be able to have that discussion,” Annabeth reasoned.

“In that case, we may never have that discussion,” Luke said. “Let’s go. Shin’en wants to see you two.”

“How do you know that?” Percy asked with a raised brow.

“Asteria told me,” Luke answered.

“Huh?”

“Telepathic link.”

“Oh.”

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

In minutes, they were all gathered again, the others with their “mentors,” as it were.

Indeed, Zoë Nightshade was an einherjar, and was standing with Thalia and Reyna.

Beckendorf was standing with Leo.

Frank and Hazel were standing together, and behind them was Damian, the praetor that died during the Battle of Mt. Othrys during the Titan War.

Jason was standing next to Piper.

Will was absent, but Nico was there, and with him, of course, was Bianca. He looked like he was still trying not to explode with happiness.

They weren’t gathered in the Feat Hall this time, but an additional room on the floor Shin’en had commandeered for his team. In this room, there were no walls, and therefore the whole space was open, showing just how big the einherjar suites really were. However, this was no private abode, but something of a command center. The walls were filled with equipment and weapons, tables and benches were covered in gadgets and machines, and arranged around the center point of the room were a number of high-tech chairs.

Shin’en stood before them all in his standard pose: his legs shoulder-width apart, back straight, jaw squared, expression alert and focused, and hands clasped behind his back. He gave off the aura of a general about to address the troops, which was an entirely accurate comparison, as he was, after all, the general in command here, and Percy and co. were the ones vying for positions in the army.

Wheels was also there, and he looked uncharacteristically serious.

Shin’en said, “A final challenge remains before I will put you on the active-duty list. I assume you are all familiar with virtual reality gaming? Ready Player One, perhaps, or Sword Art Online? Maybe brain dances from Cyberpunk? Or the Matrix?”

Nods all around.

“Good.” Shin’en gestured to the chairs behind him. “These chairs function in a similar manner. When you sit in them, you will be taken to a virtual world in which I will assign you a mission. Succeed, and you will be granted a place in my army. Fail, and you can either petition for another test, or leave the war to others. Nothing will be held against you should you choose the latter option.”

“What’s the mission?” Annabeth asked.

“It will be revealed once you are logged in, should you accept the challenge.”

“Is there anything more to logging in than just sitting in one of the chairs?”

“No.”

Annabeth singled one out and was heading for it. Percy was on her heels, getting into the chair next to her, and the others, not the mentors, though, all picked chairs as well. Piper looked at Jason, and Jason had a resolute expression on his face. Piper could tell he didn’t know the specifics of this, but he had a pretty good idea what was going to happen. Funnily enough, Piper was thinking the same thing.

They took the last two chairs, and upon getting comfy, they found their vision tunneling into a white void as their bodies suddenly felt like they were hurtling forward at hundreds of miles per hour. Then it was over.

Thus, the Seven were reunited once more, with the addition of Nico, Thalia, and Reyna.

They stood in a group in a blank, white, endless space, like a videogame loading area, then Shin’en’s disembodied voice sounded from around them.

“Sound check, one, two, three.”

“Four, five six,” Piper was the first to say.

The others made it known they could hear Shin’en as well.

“Good. Wheels, load Program 10.”

And then suddenly the world started to build around them. Starting at the ground beneath their feet, white turned to the solid black of clean asphalt, then white parking lines, then tall lights—a huge parking lot formed around them, with numerous cars beginning to pop into existence as the program loaded. Smells and temperatures loaded as well, along with lighting: a sun setting in the Western sky. Then a huge stadium loaded in, Globe Life Field, the Texas Ranger stadium in Arlington.

Program 10 was apparently a baseball game.

But what did this have to do with getting Shin’en to let them join the war effort?

“Welcome to Globe Life Field,” Shin’en said. “Tonight’s game features the Rangers and the Red Sox. In attendance are over 40,000 baseball fans, and also your targets, of which there are a total of five.”

“Targets?” Hazel balked.

“Yes, Ms. Levesque, targets. As in people that you will need to kill. You are fighting in a war, after all, and the enemy is using human combatants. I need to see for myself if you have the killer instincts required to end human life, or if you will freeze up when the moment comes, and your hesitation costs you your life. I need to see if you can follow orders and complete objectives.”

“But-” Leo tried to say, but was cut off.

“I told all of you at the beginning that what I needed under my command were killers who could follow my orders. This is your chance to prove you can be that kind of person. However, if any of you want to back out, now is the time to tell me.”

“This is just a simulation, though,” Thalia said. “Not the same.”

“Is it?” Shin’en asked, and they could almost feel the grin in his voice. “Do you not smell the stadium food? Can you not hear the buzz of the crowd? Can you not feel the parking lot with your hands, or the pleasant temperature of the Spring evening? Do your eyes not hurt when you look directly at one of the light poles?”

The demigods took the time to let their senses work, and sure enough, they could smell, hear, and feel the world around them in its entirety.

“Now ask yourselves: did I lie to you? Did I really hook you all into a simulation and am currently tricking all of your senses by triggering electrical impulses? Or did I, by some means of technology and/or sorcery, send all of you to a completely different dimension?”

Piper stepped up. “It doesn’t matter. Who are the targets?”

“At ease, Piper. There is dissension amongst the ranks. Before this exercise continues, are there any among you that want to back out? I will not provide intel until you have made your decision, and if you decide to stay, you will not be permitted egress until the mission is complete. Now, once more, are there any who wish to leave?”

Piper didn’t need to think about it, nor did Jason. Thalia and Reyna needed only two seconds to make their decision as they recalled the year in which they followed in Piper’s footsteps. Percy and Annabeth, after having come this far, having accepted what they already had, made their decision as well. Hazel, Frank, Nico, and Leo were the ones who really had to think about if they were willing to spill actual blood, especially Nico, who had already killed in cold blood once before.

After so many seconds of deliberation, all decisions were made.

No one backed out.

“Very well,” Shin’en intoned. “Your targets are as follows: Christina Savanarolla, Miguel Castarolla, Thomas Hogwood, Daniel Lake, and Sophia Benitez. These five are the heads of a human smuggling operation that focuses on kidnapping children from third-world countries to use them either as slave labor or sex toys. Christina operates a front orphanage and Sophia a fake relief effort program. Miguel is an Interpol agent who sabotages investigations, and Thomas and Daniel oversee smuggling and distribution in the United States. The reason they’ve gathered here today is because they enjoy American baseball—even depraved scum have hobbies—and to discuss business.

“Your objectives, in no particular order, are to identify and locate the targets, and eliminate them. As in kill. Each of you must also kill at least two people, but don’t worry, there are plenty of private security agents in the stadium, provided you can single them out. If you fail to meet your quota, you will not be in my army. You are free to use any methods or tactics that you want. You can storm the stadium and slaughter the masses, or you can attempt a more surgical approach.

“Piper is in charge of this operation, and it is in her authority to determine the chain of command, and give assignments as she sees fit. Be warned: if you disobey her orders, not only does she also have the authority to discipline you as she sees fit, but after she’s done with you, then you will answer to me. Good luck, ladies and gentlemen. You have until the game is over to complete your mission.”

Everyone looked to Piper after Shin’en finished, and in what was a testament to the fact that she was no longer the uncertain girl struggling to find her place on the team so many years ago but was now a grown woman who was bringing experience to the table, Piper did not hesitate or become shy under the expectant weight of so many eyes.

“First things first, after me, Jason’s in charge, then Reyna, Thalia, and finally Annabeth. If something happens that there needs to be a fifth, then this whole operation is busted, and you’ll just have to do your best. Plan A is to do this surgically. We’ll find out who these sick fucks are, and where they are, and then go from there.”

“How are we going to do that, though?” Leo asked with a furrowed brow.

“You know how our dreams can take us to the past, present, and future?”

“Yeah…”

“We can control our dreams and basically astral project ourselves anywhere, anytime.”

Most of the demigods balked.

“Since when can we do that?” Percy demanded.

Piper shrugged. “Always. Just takes training and willpower.”

“But Chiron never taught us that!”

“Because Chiron didn’t want a bunch of teenagers astral projecting themselves into the showers, toilets, and/or bedrooms of other teenagers in order to get a free show.”

Cue a round of uncomfortable shifting accompanied by distinct blushing.

Reyna looked at Piper. “So you’re going to astral project into the stadium, find our targets, identify obstacles, and then get back to your body here with a plan of attack.”

“No,” Piper said. She looked at Annabeth. “You are going to astral project into the stadium and find us a good way in, whether that be some kind of secret access point, or if we can just walk in through the front door by somehow fooling security, or if it’s better if we all find our own way in.”

Piper looked at Percy. “You’re going to astral project and find out what the targets look like and where they are.”

Piper looked at Leo. “You’re going to single out the private security.”

Piper looked at the rest of them. “We’re all going to wait here in this lovely parking lot until they’re done, and then we’ll go from there.”

Percy raised his hand. “Uh, how do we do this whole astral-project-dream-control thing?”

“You dream, and then you tell your dream where to go.”

“Uh…”

Percy looked at Annabeth, but she looked just as uncertain as he did.

Piper shrugged again. “It’s not really something anyone can teach. You just have to do it.”

Reyna looked at the uncertain Percy, Annabeth, and Leo. “I was able to confine my dreams to the fountain in the Garden of Bacchus. Kind of like watching the TV. If I can do that, you three have got this.”

Reyna looked a little longer at Leo, sending supportive big sister energy his way.

“All right,” Percy said uneasily. “Let’s give it a shot.”

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

And that’s this chapter.

Points to whomever knows what movie the tree scene is from.

The mission scene currently playing out can be likened to Hitman or Assassin’s Creed, of course, and is one I’ve had running through my head for a long time now. The Seven plus others being put in that kind of a situation, where they really have to break it down and find out how to use their powers to take down evil people.

The names have no significance. I made them up on the spot.

Food for thought: on a scale of one to ten, how messed up is it that the Fates and Norns scooped Bianca up as soon as she tried to go for rebirth?

Fav, Follow, and Review, please!

Chapter Text

We’re back! I started a new job and I’m studying to take the FE exam. Between those two things, I’ve been very tired in the evenings after work. Not a lot of mental energy left to write. But here I am!

To answer a couple of the same question: yes, the Percabeth bashing is done, as is all ToA-related bashing. It has been thoroughly beaten into all of their heads that they royally and epically screwed up, but now they are going to make up for it. As for the tree scene with Luke, there’s actually some history to it.

First, that was from Abaraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. Solid movie, go check it out. Second, that was not the original scene. The way I had it go in my head for so long was that instead of Luke, it was Shin’en with Percy. Additionally, the scene in the Feast Hall where Shin’en kills all the main characters was new. The way it originally went, was that Percy confronted Shin’en with Annabeth, and he refused them, and they pushed, and then he simply killed them. When they woke up, Shin’en then took Percy for the tree thing.

I actually had the dialogue written out, too.

“Tell me, Percy, what is it that you hate most?”

Percy didn’t need to think about it. “I hate you.”

Shin’en gestured to the tree. “Then strike me down—and don’t even think of actually swinging at me. I will kill you in such a way that you’ll stay dead.”

And then it went on from there until Percy chopped down the tree.

Anyway.

Blackbox mission with the Seven plus Nico, Thalia, and Reyna!

Disclaimer: I don’t own PJO or any other crossovers herein

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Annabeth, Percy, and Leo weren’t anywhere near as skilled as Piper was at essence projection, and so they couldn’t just stand there and lose themselves in a daydream. They had to get cozy and comfortable somewhere in the parking lot and go to sleep. A slightly awkward endeavor, with Percy taking his shirt off to give to Annabeth as a makeshift pillow, Frank giving his to Percy, and Nico giving Leo his aviator jacket.

Obviously, none of the girls were about to take their shirts off and go bras-out.

The trio got as comfy as they could, closed their eyes, and did their best to fall asleep.

Truth be told, the idea that demigods could control their dreams, projecting themselves into the past, present, and future anywhere in the world at will, was probably something that Rick didn’t put a lot of thought into. After all, the implications of such a power were staggering. As Piper had said just minutes ago, a demigod could very well project their essence into the locker room, bedroom, or bathroom of the opposite sex (or the same sex, in Nico’s case), and get an anonymous, risk-free, no-cost show of a person changing clothes, sleeping, using the toilet, bathing, masturbating—anything.

Obviously a huge privacy and decency risk, so Chiron didn’t teach dream control.

Another avenue was pulling a Biff Tannen from Back to the Future. Being able to see into the future, demigods could easily get rich off of betting on sports, or seeing the winning lottery numbers, or playing the stock market, or even going backwards in time in order to find lost treasures. Yet another reason Chiron didn’t teach essence projection, because a bunch of kids and teens running around, becoming multimillionaires was a recipe for disaster.

However, not all possibilities with essence projection were rooted in personal gain. Being able to send yourself into the past, a demigod would be the greatest crime solver to have ever existed. They would be able to see all the events leading to a murder, who the murderer was and where they lived by following them home, and what they did with the murder weapon, if any. A demigod would also be able to sit in on every corporate board meeting, secret politician gathering, Satanist convention, and more. A demigod would be able to investigate all the conspiracies, like who really killed JFK, was 9/11 really an inside job, and whether COVID-19 really was deliberately manufactured and purposefully released by the Chinese into the world.

A demigod would also be able see into the future what the answers to all their standardized tests would be, and go back in time to watch Einstein lecture, Mozart conduct, and the Apollo 11 launch. Lots of educational stuff.

In short, a demigod who mastered their dreams would be beholden to unrestricted information and knowledge. A blessing and a curse. A blessing because of the financial gain such a power would afford, and a curse because of the burden of insight. A demigod could see for themselves the true events of 9/11, sure, but then what? What did the demigod do about the CIA operatives or whoever, that planted the charges? What did the demigod do about the “global elite” that helped orchestrate the pandemic?

With this kind of thinking, perhaps it was best that the concept of dream control, that dreams are “like a chariot” and you have to “drive them” and not let them “drive you,” as Luguselwa put it to Apollo in the Tower of Nero, remained unexplored, at least in the lens of a book meant for middle school children.

Not so in a story like this.

Leo, Annabeth, and Percy all did manage to drift into sleep, and all three did manage to dream, and when they did, just like Apollo with no training, just like Reyna managed to do with the Garden of Bacchus, just like Piper told them to, they all three just took control of their astral forms. Instead of getting jerked around through time and space, the three of them just hovered there, seeing everything as if they were a first-person camera in a videogame.

They couldn’t see each other of course, and so none of them had any idea that the others were pulling it off.

As far as their perceptions went, time was stopped. None of their friends were moving, a fact that worked against Thalia because her face was frozen mid-sentence, causing her expression to be quite silly. Following this, since they had pulled off the first step of preventing themselves from being yanked against their will from scene to scene, they all went on their own test drive to get a feel for essence projection.

Annabeth found she was able to “rewind time,” as it were, and she watched, in a massive timelapse video-esque format, as the stadium was deconstructed all the way down to the dirt that was once here, and then watched as it was built all the way back up again. She couldn’t help but feel cheated in so many different ways. She could have aced so many job interviews, found the perfect company to apply for, or got rich off gambling and the stock market and started her own architecture firm like she wanted to do in the first place. Even more so cheated because this power was proving to be remarkably easy to control, and she theoretically could’ve been using it several years prior.

The almighty power of shoulda, woulda, coulda.

Would she be in this situation right now if she had mastered this power? This doomsday? If she had seen this day coming, what would she have done differently?

Questions with no answers, or at least, no relevant answers. What mattered was what she was doing now, and that was looking for entry points. Annabeth suspected this was an exercise in redundancy from Piper, as there were several ways they could all get in without having to scope the place out. Hazel and Nico had shadow travel and could just take turns smuggling everyone in, Piper and Frank could turn into animals, Thalia and Reyna had their Hunter training, stealth training, so they could definitely slip in, Jason could fly to the roof and break open an access hatch or something, and Annabeth herself could undeniably find a way in for her, Percy, and Leo without having to astral project herself all over the building. In truth, this was just Piper giving Annabeth a chance to learn how to use this power.

As such, Annabeth went ahead and started doing that.

Percy and Leo had a similar experience, in which they did a thing to get a feel for how essence projection worked. Leo, of course, being Leo, found the girl’s locker room, and Percy used his power to rewind time like Annabeth had, only he rewound time to watch a baseball game he had missed once upon a time. Or at least part of it, as he felt he was on the clock and didn’t quite understand how the whole essence projection thing worked.

Doing their best to figure it all out, Annabeth cased the stadium, finding all the entrances and exits she could, Leo was able to identify and distinguish between the hired private security of the targets and stadium security, and Percy was able to locate the five targets. They were sitting up in the top row, in one of the expensive suites.

It was disturbing to Percy how they all looked like regular office workers. Like people he’d see in the parking garage heading to their car after a day at the desk. So normal, so unassuming, yet so evil.

Percy returned to his body, managing to wake up at the same time Leo and Annabeth did.

“How’d it go?” Piper asked. All three of them started talking at the same time, resulting in an indecipherable cacophony that had Piper raising her hand. “Leo first, please.”

“That was weird, trippy, but awesome! I found the private security guys. Pretty stereotypical, wearing black suits with radios in their ears. They’re all around this big suite on the top row.”

Percy nodded. “That’s where the targets are.”

“That’s nice. The top row is rather expansive. Did you narrow down which suite?”

Percy nodded. “Yeah, I did. Suite 07.”

The demigods all went a little still with that one.

“Poetic,” Piper finally said. “Annabeth?”

“Plenty of ways to get in. We’ve got maintenance access areas, the rooftop, and also the front door. We can just walk in with Mist and other magic,” Annabeth finished, looking between Hazel, Thalia, and Piper.

Piper nodded. “Entry will be easy then.” She turned her attention to Nico and Hazel. “Can you two shadow travel to that suite, and then shadow travel out with the targets?”

The siblings blinked. “Well, yeah…” Nico started.

“But aren’t we going to do some epic spy infiltration thing?” Hazel picked up, voicing everyone’s confusion.

“We were never going to do some epic spy infiltration thing,” Piper said. “Why would we bother infiltrating and trying to get to the targets when we can bring the targets to us?”

“Then what was the point of us doing the astral projection dream thingy?” Leo demanded.

“For you three to get experience with it, and also give me enough to use in the event we need a backup plan.”

“Why just us three?” Annabeth asked.

“Because I only needed three things: target identification and location, guards, and access points.”

“Why us three specifically?” Percy asked.

“You’re the three that were directly in my field of vision at the time.” Piper shrugged. “Not everything has a higher or deeper meaning to it.” She looked at Percy. “What’d they look like and where is Suite 07?”

Percy gave his description of the targets and where the suite was located in the stadium, and then Piper looked at Hazel and Nico. “Get them and bring them here,” and then looking at the group, “Percy, kill Miguel, Leo, kill Thomas, Frank, kill Daniel, Annabeth, kill Christina, and Thalia, you kill Sophia. That’ll be your one of two. After that, just keep shadow-traveling back and forth and bringing guards with you each time. There’s nine of us, so we need a total of eighteen bodies. Now go.”

Hazel and Nico dropped into their own shadows.

Percy let out a shuddering breath. “This is really going to happen—wait, hang on. How am I supposed to kill him? Riptide doesn’t kill mortals.”

“Break his neck,” Piper said.

There was no further debate, however, because the Underworld kids popped back up out of the shadows cast by the demigods’ bodies, bringing with them the five targets. In a show of devotion to the cause, Percy, Leo, Frank, Annabeth, and Thalia swooped in. Percy just grabbed Miguel’s head and twisted hard as he could, and he almost ripped the man’s head off. Leo grabbed a ten-inch wrench from his toolbelt and brained Thomas with a single blow. Frank turned into a tiger and raked Daniel’s throat out. Annabeth just did what Percy did, and snapped Christina’s neck. Thalia had the easiest kill and cleanest kill, as all she did was touch Sophia, and the woman went rigid and flopped to the ground.

“What was that?” Jason balked.

“Electricity,” Thalia said, holding up her finger. “I just sent three amps through her. All it takes is one amp to stop the heart, but I wanted to make sure.”

“Since when can you do that?” Percy demanded.

“A few years ago. After Piper IM’d all of us and Reyna and I decided to give it a shot. I learned some new things I can do with lightning, which is just really high-powered electricity. So you’d better not piss me off, or I’ll kill you with a touch,” Thalia finished with a smirk.

“If you can get close to me,” Percy countered.

“Arc flash,” Thalia countered his counter.

Percy’s eyes widened slightly. Part of his construction safety training involved various workplace hazards, including arc flashes. Dangerous stuff. Percy quickly schooled himself though. “There’s a lot of water in your body, though.”

Everyone understood the implication.

“You can bloodbend?” Reyna asked.

Percy didn’t answer, but Annabeth did. “We were once jumped by a group of thugs one night.”

Nothing else needed to be said.

“Then why didn’t you just bloodbend that guy?” Frank asked Percy. “Instead of snapping his neck.”

“Because I don’t like Bloodbending, Frank.”

“Oh. That’s fair.”

Piper looked at Nico and Hazel. “Can you get us thirteen more people?”

They nodded.

Piper nodded back. “Then let’s get this over with.”

And so it was. There was no need for some great, multistep plan, or breathtakingly masterful strategy. They had magic. Why would they not just use that, especially when Shin’en gave Piper full authority to conduct this operation her way? Saved time, and was way more efficient.

Hazle and Nico brought groups of guards, and the other demigods killed them after Piper doled out assignments. Before five minutes had passed, there were eighteen bodies, two for each demigod.

There was silence after it was done.

“Are you guys okay?” Piper asked.

“It’s been a while since we’ve killed somebody,” Thalia said distantly, lightly touching Reyna’s hand.

Nico swallowed. “I think my first kill was Bryce Lawrence. I turned him straight into a chattering ghost and sent him all the way to the Underworld.”

Other opinions were kept private.

“Do you get used to it?” Leo asked Piper.

“I did,” she said stoically.

“How did you know you were killing someone that deserved to die?”

“I got good at essence projection. In a second, I could speed through a person’s life story, and I could see why they were doing what they were doing. Sometimes I just knocked them out, others I killed.”

Leo nodded.

“Other times I didn’t bother,” Piper continued. “I just made something up, like they were a child-fucker or something.”

Leo paled. “O-Oh.”

Piper turned to address her troops. “Good work, team.” She turned her head to the encroaching darkness of the sky. “Shin’en we’re done! Now-”

The world around them erupted in white, and they all bolted upright in the chairs they had sat in previously.

Virgil was there this time, not Shin’en, his hood up. “Well done,” said the Assassin.

“Where’s Shin’en?” Percy asked.

“Something came up that required his attention.”

“So he didn’t see us fulfil the mission?” Annabeth asked.

Virgil smiled slightly. “He knew you would all follow through as soon as you walked in through the door. He told me to tell you, Welcome to the army. I’ll have your assignments ready tomorrow.”

“Where’s he at now?” Percy asked.

“No idea,” Virgil answered. “He didn’t tell me where he was going and what he was doing. He just called me and told me to congratulate all of you when you woke up. He also said that you’re all free to do as you will for the rest of the day and tomorrow, and to enjoy yourselves as much as you can, because this may be the last bit of downtime any of you will get to experience for the rest of your lives.”

With that grim statement, Virgil left the room, leaving the demigods and their respective mentors together.

“…okay,” Thalia eventually started. “Now what?”

“Let’s go hang out,” Jason offered. “This place has anything you could ever ask for, and then some. Arcades, shooting ranges for bows, guns, particle disintegrators, armories, swimming pools, restaurants, skating rinks, bowling, billiards, ice skating, skiing, skateboarding-”

“Jay!” Thalia shouted with a grin. “Let’s go hang out.”

And just like that, they all went to go hang out.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

This chapter is incredibly short and almost abrupt because it’s been over a month since the last update, and I didn’t want anyone to think I was dead or had abandoned this story.

Yes, originally, this chapter was going to be the heroes exercising their espionage skills under Piper’s directions, but then I had the thought of why bother with all the spy stuff, when Piper could simply have Nico and Hazel shadow travel the targets to them? Work smarter not harder, as they say.

I’m thinking next chapter will be Piper, Percy, and others getting to know the other Percy’s.

Hopefully it won’t be a month before that happens.

Maybe I’ll get started on Dragon Princess again.

Who knows?

Please check out my novel on Amazon if you ever have the time! It’d mean a lot to me if you took a peek at my original work.

In the meantime, please Fav, Follow, and Review!

Chapter Text

Well. It was a month after all. Darn it.

Better late than never, though, right?

This chapter sees the final moments of talking between Piper and co. and Shin’en’s crew.

Disclaimer: I don’t own PJO or any other media herein

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Just like Jason had said, there was plenty to do in Hotel Valhalla, and the big group of friends did everything they could get around to doing. It made for a surreal experience that they all ignored. Here they were, veterans of war, one of them undead, coming from a present-apocalyptic world, more war and battles looming before them like an approaching tsunami, and they were all acting like college friends on vacation.

They bowled, played pool, laser tag, went to the shooting range and all got schooled by Reyna and Thalia, went to the skatepark and showed off their demigod athletic skills by pulling off insane stunts on bikes, skateboards, and rollerblades, and to finish the rest of their second day, they went to a big restaurant in the hotel and enjoyed a dinner in which every plate would have cost over a hundred dollars, not counting all the drinks, appetizers, and desserts all the growing girls and boys ordered.

Between all ten of them, their dinner bill would have easily gone above two-thousand dollars.

Piper and Hazel both had that much money in pocket change. Hazel was rich, after all, and Piper had certainly kept the spoils of her successes. Plenty of drug lords and dictators, you see.

Dinner was interesting, though. Also there at this restaurant were other demigods from the camps. They saw Clarisse, Chris, Connor, Travis, Katie, Miranda, Silena, Beckendorf, and Michael Yew at one table. They caught each other’s eyes, the groups, but no one got up to share words. All they needed was the nod. You have your team, we have our team. We all know what’s at stake, we all know where we’ve come from and what we’ve gone through, and you have your lives and we have ours.

It wasn’t about animosity between anyone, or some kind of prestige, like the Seven were too important to be approached by the “side character,” but a mere respectful observation that there wasn’t anything that needed to be said about what was coming. Only an understanding nod.

After dinner, everyone broke off and went back to their rooms. Percy and Annabeth went together, Hazel and Frank together, Leo managed to find Calypso, Reyna and Thalia bunked up as they’d been doing for years now, Nico found Will, and Piper joined Jason in his room.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

“That girl you told me about four years ago, back when we officially broke up—I guess it didn’t work out,” Piper surmised.

Jason shook his head. “Nope. It didn’t. We tried, but after a few months, it was clear to both of us that we didn’t click after all.”

“I see. And now?”

“Now?” Jason blew some air out of his nose as he grinned lucidly. “Now I think that even though the circumstances are less than ideal, I’m grateful for this moment to be with you again so I can tell you that I still love you and want to be your boyfriend again after all this time.”

“And after all this time, after being through so much and getting to find myself, even though it might be really cheap and probably invalidates what we went through during the Burning Maze, I still love you too.”

Piper put her arms around Jason’s neck and put her lips to his. He put his arms around her waist and kissed her back. Piper pushed them both down to the bed, still kissing, and the kiss only broke when Jason moved his hand from her back to her ass, squeezing it and cupping it. Piper looked down at Jason, and he looked up at her, asking a question with his eyes.

Piper’s response was to sit up so she could take off her shirt and bra.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Come morning, Piper and Jason woke up on the couch, the bed having been rendered too soaked with fluids to be comfortable to sleep in. They showered together, another round of sex, and then, since Piper hadn’t brought any clothes with her from her suite, she happily borrowed some from Jason. Boxers, jeans, socks, a spare pair of shoes that flopped around her feet, and a baggy T-shirt. Well, baggy on her slender frame, anyway.

The whole point of that was simply so Piper didn’t have to walk from Jason’s suite to her’s wearing only a towel. Once in her suite, she got panties, a bra, and better-fitting jeans and shoes. She kept the shirt, though.

Stepping outside the bedroom part of her suite, Piper tossed Jason his things back to him, and then they walked all the way back to his suite so he could put his stuff back up.

All of this done in companionable silence and for no other reason than to simply bask in each other’s presence and enjoy the feeling of being whole and complete again. Maybe it really did cheapen the whole Burning Maze fiasco. Maybe it really did completely invalidate Piper’s entire identity crisis years ago. Maybe it really was just a horrendously bas phase brought upon by stress (or maybe there really had been a malicious component, as in maybe Medea really had messed with Piper’s mind to the point she almost brainwashed her into thinking she was gay and didn’t fit in with the Cherokee tribe being the daughter of a Greek goddess). Whatever the case, ultimately, ironically, and perhaps pointlessly as this was a fictional story of a fictional story, after all, but Piper and Jason were officially back together, and they both felt the greatest they had in these odd four years.

“What do you want to do now?” Jason asked her in his suite.

“Honestly? I want to talk to the other Percy’s. I’m curious as to where they all come from.”

“Do you think there’s other us’s out there? Like, a version of me that became Shin’en or something? Or a you that became Asteria?”

“Well, based on this whole multiverse theory thing going on, I don’t think there’s any valid counterargument to the contrary. So, yes, there’s a me and a you out there in the multiverse somewhere that walked the same path as the other Percy’s, and became someone completely different.”

Jason adopted a concerned and slightly embarrassed expression.

“What?” Piper asked.

“Well, based on that idea, where there are alternate universes where we’re all…I guess…better that what we currently are, I suppose then, by that same token, there are universes where we’re worse. Like, we have severe autism, or Down Syndrome, or some other mental handicap that makes it to where we can’t function properly, and there we are, teenagers that have to have the same constant supervision that a toddler does.”

Piper winced, already thinking up a mental image of an alternate her, laying on the couch, watching some children’s program, blank-eyed and slightly drooling on herself, her father having to roll her over enough to pull out the back of her diaper to check inside for a mess because she wasn’t mentally developed enough to use the toilet yet. The thought made Piper shudder, both at the thought itself, and the things she’d seen people use diapers for during her crusade.

Putting it shortly, the human was simultaneously God’s greatest creation, and His worst.

“I guess that puts life into perspective,” Jason said. “We don’t have the best life, but we definitely don’t have the worst, either. At least we can go use the bathroom all by ourselves.”

Piper nodded. “That is certainly true.”

And then she couldn’t help but think all the way back to her first date with Shel at the Pizza Hut in Tahlequah, when Shel was talking about her ex-girlfriends, specifically her third (whose name Piper couldn’t remember anymore without projecting her consciousness back in time), the one with the traumatic past that resulted in her having a diaper fetish, and one day she’d gotten so sick she’d soiled herself, and Shel took it upon herself to change her girlfriend’s diaper because she didn’t know where the girl’s aunt was, and was faced with the choice of either changing her girlfriend or letting her stew in her mess for however long it took for her aunt to get home, and Shel chose to get her hands dirty.

An act of devotion born from love for the girl, all ultimately for nothing because the girl ended up cheating on Shel.

The point here was that there were so many little things everyone took for granted on a daily basis that they didn’t even realize they were taking them for granted, and wouldn’t realize until said things were taken away. Such as using the toilet without assistance. Something so small and simple, turned into an embarrassing nightmare if you had to have someone helping you because you somehow ended up not being able to do it yourself.

“Let’s get going,” Piper said. “Today’s our last day, and it’s not getting any longer.”

“That it is not,” Jason agreed.

They left his suite and traversed the hotel to the floor of “The Team.”

The hallway was quiet, but not in a creepy or foreboding way. A comfortable silence, like a hotel in the good part of town after hours. They had only been here once, and that was yesterday when they were being tested. They had seen the other doors and their numbered placards, but nothing to indicate which of the Team was in which room.

Also, funnily enough, Percy and Annabeth were there, about to knock on the door closest to the elevator on the left side of the hallway.

Percy and Annabeth took one look at Jason and Piper, and they both knew. Nothing needed to be said between them.

“I guess you two were curious about the others…er…too?” Piper asked, then blushed at her choice of words.

“Well, yeah,” Percy said. “If they were all a bunch of alternate Pipers, wouldn’t you want to talk to them all and learn who they are and what their lives are like?”

“Dude, they’re not other me’s and I want to know more about them. Especially Virgil.”

“What’s special about Virgil?” Annabeth asked.

“He’s a Christian, too.”

Oh. Right. Too. Piper told them during the big Iris Message four years ago that after what happened in Tahlequah, she had converted to Christianity.

Percy and Annabeth suddenly looked slightly uncomfortable with the notion, especially Percy, meeting himself if he were a Christian.

“We were talking earlier about things, and I want to pick up where we left off,” Piper continued.

“I might be able to help with whatever you were talking about,” Jason offered. “Er, there’s actually a lot of Christians here, and after talking to so many of them, I also converted. I even got baptized here.”

Piper’s eyes widened, and it felt like a tidal wave of pure joy surged through her. She was actually so overcome with joy that she barely contained a squeal as she threw her arms around him and kissed his cheek. “That’s awesome! I’m so happy for you!”

Jason blushed. “Thanks!”

Percy and Annabeth both shifted in place, discomfort obvious on their faces.

“I guess you guys have doubts?” Piper surmised.

“That’s putting it mildly,” Annabeth muttered before changing the subject. “Anyway, we were here to find out about these other versions of my boyfriend.”

She knocked on the door.

Jason and Piper stood next to them, and all four were vaguely aware of the significance of the moment. After all, Percabeth and Jasper were the power couples of the Riordanverse, or were following the events of the Burning Maze, but now they were back together again.

The door opened to reveal the youngest and smallest member of the Team, the long-haired boy known as Gunslinger. He was shirtless, wearing only pajamas pants, showing off his toned and muscular upper body, and his multicolored hair was down. Between the fading androgyny of youth and his long hair, he looked quite girlish, actually.

He also had one of his guns in hand.

His green eyes, so much like Percy’s, slid between the four legendary demigods. He was sizing them up, and the four of them had been around enough demigods to know that the gears of his mind were working towards how to kill the four of them if he needed to. He might have also been thinking about calling for Shin’en.

“If you’re looking for Shin’en, I don’t know where he is.”

Annabeth put on her best big sister smile. “Well, we weren’t necessarily looking for Shin’en. All four of us were actually hoping to talk to all of you, the, ah, other Percy’s. Learn more about you.”

Gunslinger blinked, and then a forlorn expression came upon his face, like the kind a doctor might have when having to tell parents that their child didn’t make it. “That’s…not a good idea. None of us come from good places, and it’s really better for you to not know about where we came from. Just focus on the war and not dying.”

Percy got a little bit frustrated. “Dude, seriously? You’re supposed to be me from another dimension or something, and you don’t want to talk to me.”

“I didn’t say I didn’t want to talk to you. I said it’s not a good idea for you to learn about our pasts. You’ll be happier not knowing.”

“Okay. Now I’m really curious. What happened-”

“I was eight years old when Gabe came home drunk and wanted to have sex with my mom. She refused, he got violent, she grabbed a knife, he overpowered her, raped her, made me watch, and when he was done, he grabbed the knife and cut her throat open, and Mom’s blood sprayed all over my face and got inside my mouth. Gabe then wanted me, I ran up the stairs to his room, grabbed his gun, loaded it, and shot him in the face. Then I went on the run and was eventually rescued by Mom’s half-sister, my aunt Balalaika, who is a veteran of the Soviet Afghan War, Spetsnaz paratrooper, and after the war, she and her unit ended up joining the Russian mafia. She’s also a daughter of Athena. Happy?”

Well…Percy, Annabeth, and Jason had been beyond horrified to listen and learn about Gunslinger’s version of Gabe and Sally, and Piper, being more exposed to the horrors of the world and therefore more jaded and cynical, had been thinking to herself, Join the club, kid. They’ve got jackets, but the ending snippet about Balalaika quickly overrode the former emotions and replaced them with more curiosity.

“Spetsnaz?” Percy blinked.

“Daughter of Athena?” Annabeth balked.

“Your aunt is a mafia boss?” Piper asked.

“Yes, yes, and yes,” Gunslinger answered. “I just told you I watched my mom get raped and murdered when I was eight, and you’re hung up on how my aunt is a Russian mafia boss?”

With that friendly reminder of the conversation snippet from not even twenty seconds ago, Percy did, in fact, feel incredibly yucky. “You mean…Smelly Gabe really…”

“Yeah. Right in front of me. Her blood ended up going down my throat, and I was psychologically mute for a few years.”

“Oh, dude…I’m so sorry.”

“Thanks.”

Piper surprised everyone when she got down on a knee and hugged the gun-toting young man. Gunslinger blushed and awkwardly patted her on the back. “Erm, thanks.”

“If you ever need to talk-”

“I know. But it’s okay now. I’m okay now. Lots of time to heal, cope, and move on, you know?”

Piper stood back up. “Yeah. I know.”

Jason tried to change the subject away from horrific childhood trauma. “So, um, obviously you’re the Percy of your dimension. How do all of us fit in?”

Gunslinger looked at Annabeth. “You’re a lot older than me, and are more like my big sister.” Annabeth gaped while Gunslinger moved on to Jason. “The CIA kidnapped you before you made it to New Rome, and trained you to basically be a black-ops Captain America.” Gunslinger looked at Piper and adopted an awkward expression. “You…uh…well…”

“That bad, huh?”

“Really bad. You’re an underage whore who uses her charmspeak to seduce movie stars, directors, and producers into having sex with you and revealing inside information, then you black mail them with the fact they had sex with you, a minor, for more information and also money, and then you sell that information to people.”

Percy, Annabeth, and Jason were all horrified, while Piper took this in stride.

“That is pretty bad, yeah,” she said with a nod.

Deviating the conversation away from the awkwardness that Piper was an underage hooker in Gunslinger’s world, Annabeth asked him, “So, what do you do in your world?”

“I kill people for money,” the boy blinked, as if that should have been obvious. “Aunt Balalaika taught me how to fight and shoot, and I moved in with Lagoon Company. Dutch, Benny, Revy, and then Rock joined us a few years later, then you.”

“I joined a mercenary group?”

“You were also the one to steal the Master Bolt.”

All four of them actually had a reaction to that one.

“I did what?” Annabeth almost shouted. “What about Luke? What happened to him? Where was he at?”

“You know how I said you’re older in my world?”

Annabeth nodded.

“Well, Luke is younger. And he had cerebral palsy and couldn’t move very well. You and Thalia were both older than him, so you were basically his big sisters. When you got to Camp Half-Blood, Luke was crushed under a cyclopes’ foot, and Thalia was still turned into a tree.”

“Luke was…oh, gods…” Annabeth fell against Percy, suddenly very dizzy.

Percy wasn’t too far behind her. “Er, can we come in and sit down? And get the whole story from start to finish?”

“Uh, no. I’m busy, and we’re probably barely going to see each other ever again after today’s over. Go talk to Shin’en if you’re just that desperate to read my whole story.”

With that, Gunslinger shut his door.

“Rude brat,” Annabeth huffed.

“To be fair,” Jason said, “he said he had to watch his Sally get raped right in front of him, and then he was adopted by the Russian mob and became an actual child soldier in a mercenary band. I wouldn’t expect much from him in the way of courtesy and manners.”

“Still,” Annabeth grumbled.

“Do you think all of them are going to be like that?” Percy asked. He looked a little haunted, but who could blame him. He’d just been told that in another life, Smelly Gabe, the bald-headed jerk, had actually raped and murdered his mother.

“We’ve all met Shin’en,” Piper said. “So, no.”

“I meant more along the lines of having some horrible backstory way worse than any of ours.”

“Oh.”

“And the answer is ‘yes.’”

The four demigods jumped and settled into fighting stances at the new voice.

It was the Leviathan of all Percy’s. He had somehow managed to sneak up on all of them, something that irked Piper more than anyone else because she thought she’d honed her senses enough to where she couldn’t be snuck up on.

And it was Leviathan. He didn’t strike any of them as the stealthy type, yet here he was. He was devoid of armor, wearing a pair of black lounge pants, and so his physique was on display. He looked like he lived on protein, with a huge, barrel chest, big neck and shoulders, proportionately sized biceps, triceps, and forearms, and a solid wall of flat muscle over his abdomen underneath a pair of rolling pectorals. His pants weren’t form-fitting, but one could easily tell his legs were just as powerful as the rest of his body.

He was tall, handsome, his mis-matched eyes showing green and silver, and his hair colored like Albatross wings, white bases with black tips. He exuded alpha male energy, and his eyes gleamed when looking at Percy that Percy didn’t like. It made him feel threatened, and judged, like Leviathan was looking at him and thinking, This is how I am in this world? How pathetic. This guy looks like he can barely lift 300 pounds, while I can lift buildings.

Truth be told, though, Percy would be lying if he said all these other hims didn’t make him feel like he wasn’t measuring up to his true potential or something like that. It was an unfair view, of course, as all these other Percy’s had special powers. Well, except for Gunslinger, but even Gunslinger had that name for a reason, and Percy had never fired a gun in his life. Not to say that being a marksman was a greater accomplishment than the things Percy had done, but still. It was that human part of him—or maybe that godly part, too, or maybe exclusively that godly part—that was feeling envious.

Dude, look how powerful they all are. You need to be that powerful, too.

Uh, have you seen how freaky and weird they are? I don’t think so.

That’s basically how Percy’s thought process went.

Leviathan continued, grinning at them, “It will do none of you any good to know more about us, and how all of you fit into our lives. Stay focused on the war at hand. Survive.”

“Hey, I have a right to know-” Percy started.

“No, you fucking do not,” Leviathan laughed. “We don’t owe you anything, Percy. We aren’t family in any way, or kin, or friends, or even acquaintances. We’re strangers to you, and we don’t care to share our history with you. Besides, our histories are horrifying. Don’t want you to get secondhand trauma and spent the rest of your life hugging yourself while rocking back and forth in a padded room.”

“There’s no way it’s that bad-”

“You haven’t met Tobi,” Leviathan said flatly. “You don’t want to meet Tobi. Stay very far away from-”

One of the doors slammed open, and none other than Tobi poked his head out. “Whomst hath summoned the forbidden one?”

“Ah, shit.”

Tobi’s eyes lit up. “It’s the bitches!”

He came zooming down the hall, wearing only a pair of white boxer briefs that were almost completely bloodstained, and the reason why was evident: Tobi had flayed the skin down to the muscle off the sides of his ribcage, fully exposing not just the bones, but the inflating and deflating lungs protected therein.

“I just want all of you to know, I am a huge fucking fan of all the mental and emotional torment you guys have gone through. Of course, I’m more of a fucking fan of physical torture, like using a cheese grater on a girl’s tits to shave them off down the bone, and-”

“Jesus, Tobi, shut up and go back to your room,” Leviathan interrupted. “Or I’m going to tell Shin’en you’re being a bad boy.”

For reasons that would take way too long to explain, Tobi was genuinely horrified by this threat. “Noooo…”

“Yes.”

“Noooooo!”

“Yes.”

“Nooooo!”

“Tobi!”

Tobi bolted back to his room and slammed the door so hard the hallway shuddered.

Leviathan shook his head. “Freak.”

As for the four heroes, Annabeth had jumped into Percy’s arms, and Jason and Piper had almost tripped over each other trying to stand protectively in front of the other.

“What is that boy’s problems?” Annabeth demanded.

“Everything,” Leviathan answered flatly. “Everything is wrong with Tobi. About the only thing that goes right with him is that he can shit in the toilet instead of his pants.”

“You sound afraid of him,” Piper boldly noted.

Leviathan tilted his chin up slightly. “There are very few beings that I have encountered in my life that pose a legitimate threat to me. Tobi is one of those beings. He is very hard to fight, and impossible to kill.”

“How is he impossible to kill?”

“Where he’s from, he’s the son of the god that is also the father of the god of death. Tobi is the brother of the death god. As such, his brother can’t claim his soul. Even if you destroy Tobi’s body down to the atoms, he will quite literally just spawn back in within a day or two.”

“Oh,” Piper blinked.

“And the scars?” Jason asked.

Leviathan shook his head. “It is beyond for the better that you don’t know.”

Annabeth looked thoughtful after Percy set her down. “Huh…”

“‘Huh’ what?” Leviathan asked.

“Well…it’s just…you admitted that Tobi was a threat to you, and I guess…well…I guessed you were that macho savage type that was unbeatable and unafraid of anyone or anything, and you only ‘let’ Shin’en be in charge of things because you didn’t want to bother, like, wasting your time on leadership or something like that. Shoot, I even thought that one of these days the enemy would be on the ropes and they’d, like, offer you power or something if you went head-to-head with Shin’en and-”

Leviathan cut her off with a booming shout of a laugh. “HA! Hahaha! Offer me power? Little child, there is nothing anyone here could offer me that I do not already possess. As for going ‘head-to-head’ with Shin’en, I think not. In a true fight to the death with that great man, I assert that only a very select list of beings would be able to defeat him. Sparring is one thing, but fighting to kill is something else. I have no interest in trying to usurp him, and if you ever suggest such heresy again in my presence, you will have made an enemy of me.”

And to punctuate just how serious he was, his mismatched eyes became not mismatched, turning a burning gold with slit, vertical pupils.

With that, he spun on his wheel and walked down the hallway, vanishing into his room.

After so many seconds of silence, Annabeth spoke. “So…do we want to keep going?”

“Yes,” Percy said. “That’s three of them, kind of, technically four that we’ve really met if you include Shin’en, stretch it to six if you count Wheels and Virgil. I still want to meet the others.”

Percy approached the next closest door that wasn’t Leviathan’s or Tobi’s, raised his hand to knock politely, only for the door to swing open and everyone screamed.

It was Asteria’s child from Khione, the solid white Xenomorph, now an adult warrior. It was the traditional shape of the alien from the movies, with the elongated head, eyeless face, dorsal tubes, long, bony tail that ended with a sharp blade, the digitigrade legs, and claws hands, but also several differences. As stated, this creature was snow white instead of pitch black. Its body was also smooth, lacking all the rigids, grooves, and tubes on the movie Xenomorph, giving this creature more of a human-like appearance instead of a biomechanical one, since its body looked to be covered in skin instead of chitin. Though the pronounced ribcage, cheek-less jaws, and trembling lips were still there.

Of course, Piper was in full Tlanuwa armor, Jason and Percy both had swords drawn, and Annabeth had a dagger. The Xenomorph had opened the door, everyone went straight into battle mode due to reflexes, and they were all about to attack from sheer instinct alone.

A wall-shaking screech came booming out from the depths of what was clearly Asteria’s room. The Xenomorph hadn’t actually moved an inch after opening the door, and it didn’t move when Mom basically shouted at the other kids to behave, the other kids being the demigods, who all had to hold their heads at just how loud Asteria was from wherever she was back there.

Speaking of, with the excitement dying down, the four heroes were able to get a look at what was behind the doorman. Having seen the Alien movies, for the most part, at least, they all recognized the resin-like material coating the walls, floors, and ceiling of the entryway, shaped into a pattern like the inside of a beast’s ribcage. It was a hive, an actual, legitimate, Xenomorph hive, like straight out of Aliens on LV-426.

Now, the four of them pretty much figured Asteria had some ties to the Xenomorphs given her appearance, the Facehugger, the Chestburster, but this confirmed it. Somehow, someway, Asteria was part Xenomorph.

Their curiosity was certainly beyond peaked.

“Be careful with this one,” Piper warned. “She has telepathic powers, and she does not respect privacy.”

‘But don’t let that stop you,’ Asteria’s amused voice sounded in all of their heads, making them all flinch. ‘Follow my son and come hither. I am eager to speak to all of you as well.’

“Oh, that is so weird,” Annabeth massaged her temples.

The Albino Xenomorph turned and started heading down the hive corridor, his white body a sharp contrast to the dark décor. With a tight expression, Piper followed, hand on her tomahawk, and behind her was Jason, then Percy, and Annabeth bringing up the rear.

The door gently shut behind them with an ominous squeak.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

This needs to stop. Going a full month between chapters, and it’s all still nothing but talking. I’m sorry, it’s not on purpose, this chapter was supposed to be way longer and actually end with Shin’en giving a small speech and the einherjar charge into battle, but since it has been so long, I put this together and here you go!

I hope this ties everyone over.

In other news, my studies for the FE exam are complete. I have passed the test and am now an official Engineer in Training, or EIT, and in four years, after working under a licensed Professional Engineer and having passed my PE exam, I, too, will be a Professional Engineer. Now that I don’t have to spend so much of my evenings deep in study, perhaps now I will have more motivation and time on my hands to write.

Speaking of, though, I’m honestly thinking about putting this story up on the shelf for a while. What to work on next, I’m not sure. Restart Dragon Princess, or something else?

What’s been running through my head for a while now is making a Jason prequel story in the same style as Piper’s Untold Story. Putting my own spin on Jason’s backstory from babyhood with Thalia and Beryl, all the way up to being kidnapped by Juno and sent to the Wilderness School. Fully fleshing him out in accordance with my vision based on canon data, and fully fleshing out the operations of Camp Jupiter and New Rome. Though if I did do something like this, I would first reread the entirety of Heroes of Olympus to refresh my memory on all the little details and important snippets about Jason and NRU, so as to avoid those pesky continuity errors that seem to be plaguing Rick’s work these days.

Thoughts?

How was this chapter?

Dragon Princess or Jason’s Untold Story, or JUS?

Thanks for reading, and please Fav, Follow, and Review!

Chapter Text

All right, the Jason idea was well received. I’ll give it a shot after this chapter, I think. See what happens.

Before we get to this chapter, though, something to address:

A Guest has made it known that it feels weird that Piper and Jason got back together. I’ll address this. One, I am a staunch advocate that Piper never should have broken up with Jason in the first place, and that it was a poorly written thing from front to back. Rick has Piper saying things that don’t make sense canonically and have no logical support from the books. So, sad and pathetic as it may be, this story, and Piper’s Untold Story as a whole, are both literal cope in terms of Piper and Jason. Two, I like Jason and Piper as a couple a lot more than I do any of the others, actually, and so it makes me happy to put them back together. Three, back in-universe, the conversation between Jason and Piper following Incognito was four years ago. A lot has happened to Piper and Jason in those four years, a lot of off-screen stuff and character development, so while it could be argued as being lazy writing, I make the case that in those four years, Piper and Jason have both matured, figured themselves out, and upon being reunited, have determined that they really do love each other like that after all.

Maybe I’ll make a Piper’s Untold Story Part Two one day, exploring the four years between Incognito and now.

Anyway, to this chapter! Percy, Annabeth, Piper, and Jason meet the Xenomorph Goddess, my second story, Asteria Jackson!

Disclaimer: I don’t PJO or any other crossovers herein

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

There was an unknown source of dim light in what was basically the tunnel of the hive. Even with the door to Asteria’s “room,” if it could really be called such, closed, there was still enough illumination for the four heroes to see they were walking in what looked like the inside of a beast. It really was like stepping into the reactor of LV-426. It was humid, dank, foreboding, all with a general air of tension and unease.

The four of them were in a place they were not meant to be, a place where they were being watched and monitored by unseen eyes.

Asteria had certainly been busy with her floor plan. It appeared that she had knocked down all the walls of what was her suite, and then built up this whole cramped place. As the four followed the Albino Xenomorph, they saw corridors leading left and right, with more corridors attached that looked as if they angled up and down. They were also keeping a close eye on the walls, their heads on swivels, looking for anything that looked like a curled Xenomorph tucked into the wall.

They found nothing like that, but they did find the other most terrifying thing to find in an Alien hive: victims.

They passed one corridor, and when Piper looked down, she gasped and went running, the other three right behind her. It was Bianca. In the time between when they’d seen her at the test simulation and right now, she’d apparently been kidnapped by Asteria, cocooned into the wall just like in the movie, and if the dead Facehugger on the floor in front of her was anything to go by, impregnated with Asteria’s child.

So, in short, raped.

The four heroes stood there, wondering what to do. They had all seen the movies, they all knew what was inside Bianca, and they knew there was no easy way to get the little creature out, but they also knew this was Hotel Valhalla, knew that Bianca was an einherjar, and that einherjar had infinite respawn while in the hotel.

Percy was the one to voice that. “When that thing comes out, and kills her, is she going to come back?”

Bianca’s eyes hot wide open with a huge gasp, making them all flinch and jump away. “Oh, hell. Of all the ways I’ve died in this place—grrk!”

The telltale sound of cracking bone was heard from within her body, and her expression became pained. “Don’t just stand there—hrrn! K-Kill me before this thing—ahh!”

Piper, being the closest, just went for it. She swung her tomahawk at Bianca’s neck, lopping her head off with a single chop. The head of Nico’s big sister rolled across the floor, settling at Percy’s feet.

“Oh. My. Gods,” he said, pale as paper, recalling the last time he’d seen Bianca die.

As for the baby, it stopped trying to ram its way out of Bianca’s chest, and instead decided to slither up and out. The four demigods found their attention drawn to Bianca’s body when it started shaking, blood spurting from the stump of her neck, the red, gory tissues bulging up and out, and then, with a victorious screech, the Chestburster erupted from Bianca’s neck, covered in blood and mouth wide open, its second jaw fully extended.

And then Bianca’s body suddenly vanished, and the snake-like creature unceremoniously dropped to the floor with a splat. Poor thing looked a little lost and confused, like, Where’d my throne go? It looked up at the four heroes, gurgling, and all four of them had to restrain themselves from stepping on it.

They figured that Asteria would not be pleased if they killed her newborn.

…would it respawn if killed in the hotel?

Whatever the case, the little nightmare saw its big brother, made a happy noise, and went skittering across the floor to be scooped up and nuzzled by the Albino in a macabre display of sibling affection.

“Er, guys?” Annabeth pointed with a shaky finger.

They looked, and they all went pale and rigid at the sight of multiple dead Facehuggers on the floor, multiple alcoves in the walls where bodies used to be, and alcoves that were currently occupied with bodies that had Facehuggers presently attached.

“She’s…she’s…she’s harvesting einherjar,” Jason breathed.

Annabeth gulped. “I-I g-guess…from a-a logical standpoint…infinite respawn…i-infinite hosts…i-i-infinite army…”

“D-Did-” Percy’s voice cracked, so he tried again, “Did Shin’en authorize this? Does he even know-”

‘Of course he knows. No one in this hotel can make a bowel movement without him knowing about it. Annabeth’s logic is valid. The einherjar will respawn back in their suites, thus providing me with infinite hosts with which to make powerful children, a needed edge in this war.’

Annabeth’s eyes widened. “Powerful children—they’re all legacies, aren’t they? Every one of them, a child of you and whichever godly parent—or even god—they came out of. Legacies of Poseidon. Legacies of other gods.”

‘Correct. I do have many back in my world, but they are currently inaccessible at the moment. Dimensional bruhaha and such. Therefore, I have begun making a new hive here.’

“But this is wrong!” Percy shouted. “You can’t just kidnap the einherjar, cocoon them here, make them give birth and die, and respawn, over and over again!”

‘I quite literally can and am doing that.’

“But it’s wrong!”

‘I understand your human point of view. The ‘rape’ connotations. The human rights violations. Rest assured that I do not care. The logic is sound and inarguable. The einherjar are an invaluable resource for the war effort, both as warriors and as hosts. Their bodies have multiple excellent uses.’

Percy’s fist clenched and his teeth grit. “I don’t care about how logical it is, this is just vile and heinous and-”

A low, rumbling hiss sounded from the Albino. As terrifying as that was, sounding off throughout the rest of the hive were even more hisses.

‘And what, little boy?’ Asteria said in their heads. All four them could feel her easygoing smile. ‘How would you stop me? At the current moment, there is a wall to your backs and my son to your front. You also don’t know what else is hidden in that corridor with you that you can’t see but can see you. If you were to get past my son, then you would have the rest of my children to contend with as you either fought to escape, or fought your way to me. If you made it to me, I would simply defeat you all and harvest you. If you escaped, you would still never find refuge in the hotel. I know your minds. I know your scents. I know where your rooms are. You’d never hide from me. My children would hunt you. You’d be mine. Your one and only chance for survival is to surrender.’

“You’re a rapist monster,” Percy growled.

‘From a certain point of view.’

“How are you possibly me!?”

‘That’s the thing: I’m not you. None of us here are you. We are ‘Percy Jackson’ only through the name. Our lives are all so radically different from yours, that we bear almost no similarity to you. We might as well be completely different entities altogether, only with the name ‘Percy Jackson’ slapped onto us. Which still technically isn’t true in my case, as my name is Asteria.’

“Were you born with that name?” Jason asked. Of course, he was also wondering just what in the hell Poseidon had fucked to produce Asteria in the first place. Had the sea god really boned a Xenomorph or something?

‘No. I chose it for myself. My father also did not have sex with a Xenomorph. I was born a human demigod. A boy at that.’

They were all thrown for a loop because they had seen Asteria naked. She walked around in the nude. She was clearly a female.

“A boy?” Annabeth balked.

‘And you are my adopted daughter.’

“Excuse me?!”

‘I even wiped and diapered your bottom.’

Annabeth turned bright pink. “E-Er…”

Percy shifted uncomfortably, clearly disturbed by the thought of how, in another life, Annabeth was evidently his daughter, not his girlfriend, and he wasn’t even her father, but her mother, and she had apparently changed Annabeth’s diapers. Yuck, gross, and weird.

“What were Jason and I?” Piper asked.

‘Hosts. The way my story went, I never met either of you in person. The Titan War never started like it did here.’

“Oh?” Jason blinked. “Then what happened?”

They all felt Asteria smile in their heads. ‘I wiped out the human species, harvesting all that I could, killing the rest, even the many gods themselves. My hive back home is over ten billion strong.’

All four of them went cold, not at all doubting Asteria for a second, realizing that they were in the lair of a true, legitimate, actual creature from hell.

“If you don’t mind,” Piper said in a voice that very well hid her newfound terror in the wake of appreciating just how much of a monster Asteria was, “we’ll be going now. Lots of others to speak to before we have to go fight in the war.”

‘Oh, I think not. You desired to sit with me and learn about me, and I am happy to oblige, but in person. Not being able to see each other’s faces doesn’t have the same meaningful impact.’

“You’re really not just going to let us leave, are you?” Percy asked.

‘Not alive, no. Not unless you sit with me.’

“Would Shin’en stop you?”

‘He already knows you’re here in my hive. He told me to play nice. Besides, you are the ones who decided to go poking around us, even after Gunslinger told you not to.’

“Wait. Hang on-”

‘I’ve been monitoring you four since you made the decision to come to our suites.’

And all four felt understandably violated. Between Shin’en seemingly having constant awareness of everything they were doing in the hotel due to the water in their bodies and the water in the air, and Asteria presumably either having the same power due to also being a child of Poseidon or by using her telepathy to track their minds and their very thoughts, they felt like exposed and completely without privacy.

‘Annabeth, dear, please do take an extra moment with the toilet paper the next time you poop. I know you’re presently feeling a small itch from not having wiped as well as you thought.’

Annabeth screamed.

The other drew weapons.

“What’s going on?!” Percy shouted. “What’s she doing to you?!”

“You didn’t hear what she said?”

“No? What’d she say?”

“She—never mind. Let’s just get this over with.”

Annabeth briskly brushed past her boyfriend and old friends, face pink, refusing to look any of them in the eye.

Percy’s eyes darted between Jason and Piper, and they both shrugged.

Less than a minute later, they were all gathered in the central room. It was a breathtakingly underwhelming sight, especially because the four heroes expected Asteria to have the gigantic ovipositor connected to her crotch and strewn around the chamber, depositing the titular slimy eggs. Instead, Asteria was casually lounging in a steaming hot tub built halfway into the floor, sitting perpendicular to them.

Upon their gathered presence, Asteria rose with regal, natural elegance, stepping over the side of the tub with a flowing movement. The four noticed a small blur of color around her crotch, and the slit and mounds of her vagina were gone, replaced by flat, black skin like the rest of her body. A trick of the Mist, they realized, for the sake of decency.

Asteria was shorter than Percy, standing at 5’10 compared to his final 6’2, and her physique was so much leaner, lither, and compact. Solid, feminine muscle, though she barely had any chest to speak of, just two small bumps where her breasts were supposed to be. Her tail gently coiled around her midsection, forming the world’s heaviest, thickest belt. She had a gentle smile on her face that showed her black gums and translucent, pearly teeth. Her eyes, however, belayed on almost sadistic amusement. She found their discomfort, their anger at her with her harvesting operation, and their arguments against her, to be humorous.

What terrifying eyes she had, too. Vertical slits for pupils, like a crocodile, and irises that were of a similar, venomous green, all framed by inky black sclera, devoid of all white, giving the illusion that her eyes were being held suspended in pools of deep space. And the soul that was reflected in those eyes…inhuman. A mind in there that operated on inhuman logic, not quiet machine, but…well…alien.

If there had been any vain hopes that Asteria was anyone’s definition of “good,” they were certainly gone now. The four of them well and truly accepted that Asteria was no friend to them, and they were probably going to have to fight their way out of here.

‘No need to be so critical,’ Asteria’s voice chimed in their heads. ‘I am an excellent mother to my four children, and a faithful wife to my husband.’

“Husband!?” the four of them balked in unison, finding the concept of Asteria being married to be almost unfathomable.

‘Yes, husband. My genetic clone, Cain. Almost like Adam and Eve, in a sense, with Eve having been made from Adam’s rib, therefore his DNA.’

“Genetic clone?” Annabeth blinked.

Asteria’s smile turned into a smirk, showing her sharpened incisors. ‘Here. Let me show you.’

And then she basically projected most of her life straight into their heads. The best way the heroes could describe the experience would be to liken it to a 3D movie playing out on sped up film. They were there to witness Asteria’s horrific life as written in her story, Xenomorphic.

They saw Asteria’s formative years when she was still a little boy, Subject 3. The surgeries, the augmentations, the physical experiments, making him run, lift weights, obstacle courses, and fight to the death. Then the horrifying body transformation after he was injected with the serum that altered his DNA, his skin transmogrifying, tendrils erupting from his body, becoming a cocoon that lifted him off the ground, then his emergence as her, the macabrely adorable child version of the walking nightmare they knew and hated now.

They saw the young Asteria’s exploits, her increased strength, hunting capabilities, the other experiments done on her such as when she was strung up and the durability of her body tested by way of different calibers of guns.

They saw Asteria fighting against the Flock, the group of young recombinant bird experiments comprised of Max, Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy, and Angel, their flourishing friendship in the School. They saw Asteria be sent to Antarctica where she fought the Predators and the Xenomorph Queen in somewhat humorous accordance with the first Aliens vs Predator movie from 2004. They saw young Angel’s stupid martyrdom plan unfold in the School, with the Flock making a desperate escape attempt, only to all of them die, which led to Asteria destroying the School in a gigantic, blazing inferno.

They watched Asteria chase after the Director in those absolutely bonkers transforming jet planes, the chemical fire Asteria started somehow managing to follow her across the state of California, setting a decent swath of the state on fire in an episode of morbid IRL foreshadowing. They saw Asteria finally kill the Director, that evil bitch, by way of acid kiss, Asteria putting their lips together and then pumping acid straight into the evil woman’s mouth, melting her face and body into goo.

They saw Asteria almost commit suicide, be rescued by Poseidon, and then her therapy under the Olympians. Then they saw Asteria’s integration with Camp Half-Blood, her rocky start with Annabeth, and the eventual culmination of Asteria almost killing Annabeth for her choice words. Thing got a little weird after that, as they saw Annabeth’s “regression therapy” unfold, in which the Annabeth of Asteria’s world was stripped of her big girl privileges, so to speak, and reduced to the status of a toddler in potty training, complete with pull-ups, scheduled potty breaks, sippy cups, and more.

It was either that, or Annabeth would’ve faced Poseidon’s wrath for having insulted his daughter.

Asteria’s story continued to unfold in fast motion before the eyes of Percy, Piper, Jason, and the original Annabeth, finally culminating in Asteria starting puberty, her first period setting her on the path of a true Xenomorph: harvesting everything she could for the establishment of the hive, and killing whatever was left. They watched, genuinely horrified, as Asteria became an extinction event.

Xenomorphs of all shapes and sizes overran villages, towns, and suburbs. They scaled skyscrapers and broke through the windows. They tore through bunkers and tunnel systems. Overturned trucks and derailed trains. Swarmed upon ships in the sea, capsizing them or sinking them. Asteria even broke into the Duat of all places, after harvesting Carter and Sadie Kane in London, and she harvested as many of the Egyptian gods as she could in that retirement home, including Ra himself.

The four heroes saw Asteria’s battle with Cain, her victory over the hulking creature, and also her time spent with the girls, Amelia, Ariel, and the absolutely wild twist story of Asteria’s Annabeth being turned back into a little girl and Asteria re-raising her as her own daughter. Then there was Arcadia, Asteria and Cain’s natural born son. A morbid, macabre, happy family of genocidal demons.

Like the Addams family, but less weird and abnormal and more bloodthirsty and vicious.

When Asteria was finished uploading the main parts of her story into the heroes’ heads, they all collapsed to the knees, rendered almost unconscious by the mental assault.

‘There,’ Asteria thought flippantly in their minds. ‘You have now gotten the full story of me. For the most part anyway. Has your curiosity been satisfied?’

Piper was the first one to drag herself to her feet, after having wiped an amount of drool from her chin. “You’re a monster.”

‘Monster is a relevant term, Piper. To a canary, a cat is a monster. You are used to being the cat.’ Asteria’s lips quirked up. ‘If you would like for me to save all of you the time of talking to the others, I can also show you their stories as well.’

“N-No, thank you,” Percy got to his feet, shaking and pale. “I think I’ve had enough of you all, actually. We’ll be going now.”

He helped Annabeth get up, as she was slowest to rise, no doubt still stuck trying to process what she had seen of herself in Asteria’s world. The four of them turned to head back down into the tunnels, but two black Xenomorphs—Astermorphs, in truth—were blocking the way back. They hissed, jaws opening low, secondary mouths sliding out, saliva pouring down their chins.

Percy uncapped Riptide, Jason drew his sword, Piper drew her tomahawk and Katoptris, and Annabeth her drakon bone sword. All four of them were painfully aware of how much of a disadvantage they were in melee combat against creatures with acid for blood.

Asteria even made note of this. ‘And what do you hope to accomplish fighting my children in close quarters? You would need to strike them from a dist-’

There was a gut-wrenching crunching sound, like stepping on a large bug, but worse, and Asteria’s mental dialogue was ended. There was a heavy thump, and the four heroes whipped around to see something that was equal parts uplifting and terrifying.

Virgil was somehow here, and he was standing behind Asteria’s corpse, her head having been severed from her neck, the lengths of her tendril-like hair past the cut all scattered around the floor. A sword was in Virgil’s hand, long, slender, with a cross guard like stylized wings and a pommel like the profile of an eagle’s head. Asteria’s blood was upon the blade, but the weapon wasn’t steaming or hissing or melting. It was perfectly fine.

Even the floor around Asteria’s body was fine despite the acid blood leaking upon it, but that was primarily because the material of the hive could withstand the molecular acid.

Back to Virgil, though…just what the hell!? When and how did he get into the hive?! How did he know they were in trouble, or had he been there for an undetermined amount of time, just standing there? How did he sneak up on Asteria? From her memory movie, the heroes knew she had the seismic sensing thing that Toph had through Earthshaker powers, and her physiology allowed her to see pheromones coming off people, and she had enhanced hearing and vision, and she was a telepath! It was impossible to sneak up on her!

Or so it apparently seemed.

Then there was that sword. It had cut right through Asteria’s neck, through her bones and muscles, and that super tough skin, as if it were all a stick of bamboo. Additionally, the metal wasn’t sizzling and melting due to the acid. It was just fine. What was that sword?

Whatever the case, the fact of the matter was that Virgil was here, at just the right time, and he had actually killed Asteria by way of unseen assassination.

The Astermorphs took great exception to this, of course, and attacked. The ones in the central chambers seemed to materialize out of the walls, and yet more came rushing out of the adjacent corridors. Virgil was completely unphased. He merely held the sword aloft, the blade glowed brilliantly, and then released beams of light in targeted directions. The beams shot right through the Astermorphs, blowing huge, cauterized holes into their bodies, killing them all.

Then it was quiet and calm. Thanks to the material making up the floor of Asteria’s hive-altered suite, and the fact that the Astermorph wounds were cauterized by the light beams, there wasn’t even the acrid smell of acid melting through material, or the telltale hissing, either.

“H-How…?” Percy was the first to speak to his counterpart.

“Faith in God is a pathway to many abilities some would consider to be…unnatural,” Virgil answered in a low, menacing voice, but the corners of his mouth were twitching, showing he was trying not to smile.

“Seriously?” Annabeth deadpanned. “A Star Wars reference?”

Virgil grinned. “Yep! But in all seriousness, this sword is a great blessing, and lets me do a lot of things. Completely hide myself from all of Asteria’s sensors is one of them.”

“You followed us in here,” Jason realized.

“I shut the door behind all of you,” Virgil confirmed. He stepped around Asteria’s body, not over it as most would. He adopted a small frown. “She is an excellent, wonderful, caring, and loving mother, and a faithful wife. That is the extent of my good opinions of her.”

The heroes had varying levels of nodding. They couldn’t refute that she was a good mother or a good wife. They had seen her story. Asteria had gone from being seconds away from scooping out her Annabeth’s brains, to changing her diapers and literally re-raising her as her own daughter, along with raising Amelia and Ariel. For the wife thing, she was loyal to her mate, Cain, and didn’t cheat on him, or demean him, or treat him in any unfair way, despite how she had been the one to win their battle.

But like the Assassin said, that was about the only positive things they could say about the genocidal female Percy Jackson.

“Let’s go to my suite,” Virgil said. “I don’t like this place.”

They followed him back down the main tunnel, pausing only when he took a detour down one of the “birthing” corridors to deliver a mercy killing to the entrapped einherjar to spare them the death of the Astermorph’s birth, not caring if he killed the creature within during the process. Out in the hallway, finally free of the terror of Asteria’s miniature hive, the quintet of demigods happened upon the tail end of a conversation between perhaps the worst combination of characters.

Alex Fierro got into the masked face of Kraken—or at least, they assumed it was Kraken, since the individual was wearing blue jeans, a modified purple t-shirt, and correspondingly modified lorica segmentata armor, the same as the Ghoul Percy had been wearing, but now there was a mask added to the ensemble, a somewhat elaborate deep blue mask that looked like the face of a sea creature, with deep almond-shaped eyeholes, ridges along the top half of the mask leading up into appendages like the arms of coral reefs, and the bottom half had a multitude of little tentacle-like adornments—very angry, while Magnus was standing behind her, looking nervous.

“No, you have no idea what it’s like to live in a country full of people that despise you!” Alex shouted into the masked face.

Kraken crossed his arms. “It’s not legal for the police to kill trannies like you on sight. In my Japan, us Ghouls don’t have that protection.”

“Bullshit!” Alex insisted.

“What’s going on here?” Virgil asked as he interrupted the argument.

Alex turned to him and scowled. “Oh, great. The Christian.”

“Isn’t your sister a Muslim?” Jason asked with a raised eyebrow.

“What’s that got to do with anything?”

“You do realize that Muslims actively kill members of the LGBT in their countries, right? Like, they have actual legal protection and authorization to kill gay and transgender people.”

“Yeah, but they’re not supposed to.”

“…but they still do…or at least, they used to,” Jason added as an afterthought, appreciating that all the Muslim countries had been flattened by Tartarus.

“It’s really wild,” Piper started, “that you would give us the evil eye for being Christians, and I’m presuming for the transphobia stuff, in that we don’t support transgender ideology and tell you that boys cant be girls and girls can’t be boys, while you totally dismiss the fact that Muslims actually execute transgender people at will. I mean, the people who just tell you your lifestyle is wrong, versus the people who kill you because of your lifestyle.”

Alex offered no counter, opting to continue to scowl angrily.

After so many seconds, Magnus said, “Let’s go, Alex. We’ve only got a few more hours left before D-Day or whatever.”

“And here I was hoping you other Percy’s would be reasonable people,” Alex spat.

“We are reasonable people,” Kraken said. “We just don’t bother trying to reason with lunatics like you.”

Alex rounded on him again, only to get skewered by a number of Kraken’s tendrils.

“Mesu inu,” he said in Japanese, the words being translated as “female dog.”

With a violent yank, Kraken ripped his kagune free of Alex’s body, literally tearing the daughter of Loki to bloody, horrific pieces.

Magnus, Piper, and Jason barely winced, Virgil sighed, while Percy and Annabeth were a little greener at seeing such gore. It had been a while since the Giant War, in which they’d had to help scrape bodies together for the funeral.

“Anything you would like to say?” Kraken asked Magnus, his tendrils still splayed, dripping, and covered in slight viscera in places.

“I’m sorry about her,” Magnus said. “She can be really overbearing-”

“She’s an asshole,” Kraken said flatly. “She’s a rude, arrogant, holier than thou asshole that thinks her being trans gives her special privileges, and that she can get away with saying whatever she wants because she’s ‘suffered’ more than anyone else. Either keep her ass in line, or I will literally eat her alive.”

His piece said, he went back into his suite, pulled his kagune back into his body, and slammed the door.

Alex’s remains “despawned,” as it were, and Virgil looked at Magnus. “Wanted to learn more about us, I take it?”

Magnus nodded.

“Talked to anyone else?”

Magnus shook his head.

“Would you like to join us? I was going to share with them my story.”

“Thanks, but, er, no thanks.” Magnus’s eyes briefly glanced at the Bible holstered at Virgil’s hip.

“I understand,” said the Assassin. “Have a blessed day Magnus.”

“Thanks.”

Magnus went back down the hall by himself, not even looking at his cousin Annabeth.

“What was that about?” Percy asked.

“If I had to guess,” Virgil said, “Alex and Kraken got into an argument about socio-politics, apparently regarding who has the worst life situation, transgender individuals or Ghouls-”

“Ghouls?” Percy blinked.

“As in Tokyo Ghoul?”

Four contemplative looks.

“I think I heard some kids talking about that back in high school,” Piper said. “Something about the manga being better than the anime and the anime not following the manga at all?”

“Wouldn’t know myself,” Virgil said. “I don’t watch anime or read manga. Anyway, as far as Kraken goes, in his world, being a Ghoul marks him for death by the Japanese government. Think of him as akin to a Jew living in Nazi Europe.”

“And Alex was getting into his face about how hard trans people have it, being socially discriminated against,” Annabeth concluded.

Imagine telling someone you had a harder life than them because people called you a delusional freak while the person you were talking to was given a death sentence at birth for being born different.

Nothing else needed to be said on this topic, though curiosity had grown regarding Kraken.

“And the triplets thing?” Percy asked.

“A very long conversation that is their place to tell you. Now is hardly the time, however. He is quite angry.”

And so they followed Virgil to his suite. It was a very homely and simple place, like the ideal well-kept house of a functioning adult.

Percy had a look on his face though.

“Yes, Percy?” Virgil asked.

“There’s, like, no big crucifix or something in here. I figured you’d have some big cross with Jesus’s body on it or something, and that’s where you’d worship or something. I don’t know.”

“I don’t need a statue or a large chunk of carved wood to worship God, Percy.”

“I know, I just—I don’t know. The whole Christian demigod thing is confusing to me.”

“I may be able to clear that confusion. Please, sit.” Virgil indicated the comfy couches in the living room section. “Is there anything any of you would like to drink? My fridge has waters, sodas, tea, and fruit juice.”

All four requested waters.

Percy and Annabeth sat on one of the couches, Piper and Jason on the other, and Virgil came back with four water bottles, handing them out before occupying the recliner.

“So. The whole ‘Christian demigod’ thing. Well, in order to explain that, allow me to explain a little bit more about me.”

Virgil gave them only the quick rundown of his past six lives, Faris Ibn-La’Ahad, Virgil Cavaliere da Roma, Captain Jake Swallow, Cheyenne Nightshade, Peter/Priscilla Frye, and finally Konrad Richter, and then his own as Percy Jackson. Only the “quick” rundown, as explaining even Faris’s life in full detail would take hours, much less the life of Virgil and Jake, and all the twists and turns of Cheyenne and Peter. Even just what he said up front took almost two hours of solid talking and answering questions as they popped up.

“And through all of that,” Virgil concluded, “that is why I follow the Christian God. What holds the two of you back from giving your lives to Christ? Questions of science? The Big Bang? Evolution? Deep time? Or questions of philosophy and theology? The problem of evil, perhaps?”

Percy and Annabeth, and also Jason and Piper, were given no time to think on or process the surface level of Virgil’s story as he immediately thrust the former two on the spot.

Percy was quicker than Annabeth to answer, but still slow in his words. “I guess…well…given Olympus and the Underworld…Elysium…I guess I never really thought it was something to consider. Like, what do I need with Jesus? People tell me I saved the world, fought monsters and stuff, and I’ve been to the Underworld, I know the Judgement Pavilion exists, and I guess I always kind of thought that…after everything I’d done, I’d get Elysium and that’d be the end of it.”

“How about now?” Virgil asked.

Percy gulped.

“It’s interesting you bring up the Underworld as the final resting place for your soul. What if I told you that wasn’t true? Revelation 20:13, ‘The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and all were judged according to their works.’ Romans 14:12, ‘So, then, each of us will give an account of himself before God.’ 1 Peter 4:5, ‘They will have to give an account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.’ Elysium, and the whole Underworld, and the Duat, and even this place, this Hotel Valhalla, were and are only temporary places. All the dead that were and are here will be called before God.”

Percy swallowed again. “Okay…but…”

“But what?”

“Well, at one point, I saved the world. Twice. But now, er…”

Virgil opened his mouth to say refute that, but Piper beat him to it. “Percy, you know that’s not how that works. Uh, sorry.”

The Assassin shook his head. “No, by all means, please. Perhaps it’s best this comes from you. You know them and have been walking with Christ, while I’m a stranger to all of you.”

Percy and Annabeth turned their attention to Piper.

She said, “It’s one of the toughest pills to swallow, I know, but good works does not get you into Heaven. You do good works because God told you to do them, and because, as a Christian, being the light unto the world and the salt of the earth, the representatives of God to the nations, you show the world what God looks like through your actions. What actually gets you into Heaven is confessing that you are a sinner, flawed and imperfect, and that you need salvation because you can’t save yourself, and the one you turn to for salvation is Jesus Christ, calling upon his name, accepting Him as your King, Lord, and Savior, believing that He died in your place, His blood being shed as substitutionary payment on your behalf, and that He rose to life on the third day, thus conquering death and thereby being able to grant eternal salvation.”

Percy’s brow furrowed. “Okay, but…I guess I don’t agree with the concept. Confess you’re a sinner and accept Jesus, and you’re done? You’re not required to do anything extra? Jesus is your free ticket into Heaven? Sounds way too easy and convenient.”

“It would be if that was how it actually worked,” Jason answered. “Jesus is not your get-out-of-hell-free card. He is supposed to be looked upon as Lord and Savior, Master and King, Creator and Lord, Sovereign and Supreme. By thinking of Him as your free ticket to Heaven, you’re not coming anywhere close to how you’re really supposed to be thinking of Jesus, to the point where you’re wasting your time and breath. Big difference between ‘I call upon you, Jesus, to be my ticket out of hell and into heaven instead’ and ‘I call upon You, Jesus Christ of Nazareth, Author of Reality, Master of the Universe, and accept You as my Lord, my Savior, and my King, and believe that You are the Son of God, and God Himself in the Flesh, and that You came as a man to die a man’s death so that I may have eternal life with You in Heaven, shedding Your perfect, sinless blood as payment for my sins against You, because You loved me.’ Big difference.”

After that epic speech, there was stunned silence.

Percy and Annabeth were gaping at Jason. Piper was gaping but slowly smiling, and Virgil was already smiling.

“Amen,” he said.

After so many more seconds, Annabeth voiced her doubts. “I can see why good works…on paper…wouldn’t get you into heaven. As in, if there was a metric or something, people would just strive for that metric, hit it, be like, Well, I did all I needed to get in. Guess I’m done now, and then stop being ‘good’ or whatever. Kind of like the C’s get degrees mentality, where a person only applies themselves just enough to pass, and that’s it. I can also see the pride aspect. Don’t want people to showboat and be like, Look how great I am! I did all the things required to get into heaven!...” Annabeth trailed off, brow furrowing.

“But?” Piper prompted.

“Percy and I…and a bunch of others…aren’t like that! We didn’t fight the Titans and Giants for brownie points. We fought because it was our duty and responsibility as heroes, using our powers to stop the forces of evil and save the world—Imperial War notwithstanding, I know already, quit looking at me like that—so we didn’t do it for recognition or anything, so why would we still have to do the salvation thing? Why isn’t it that when we die, we meet Jesus, and he says, Thank you for fighting the bad guys and saving the world twice. Welcome to heaven.”

“Because fighting the bad guys and saving the world twice doesn’t forgive your sins,” Jason said.

“What sins?” Annabeth demanded. “I haven’t ever murdered, or stolen maliciously, or cheated on Percy-”

“You’ve looked down on others,” Piper started to list, “demeaned them, made fun of them, used people like pieces on a chess board, spoken ill of others, definitely taken the Lord’s name in vain, and probably the most obvious and prevalent of your sins that I know of: hubris. Literal, actual, excessive pride. The same sin the devil committed. Remember the sphinx? Arachne?”

Annabeth’s jaw clenched as she definitely remembered those two encounters, along with so many others through the years, especially in her youth.

“The way it works,” Piper continued, “is that sin must be paid for. Sin is rebellion against God, going against what He told us to do, and rebellion won’t be tolerated, and so the penalty for sin is death. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and the wages of sin are death, and just like it was in the Old Testament times, sin must be paid for with blood. Sacrifice. Life for a life. The Israelites and the Jews had their laws for animal sacrifices, but animals were never, ever going to be enough, hence Jesus. The perfect Man, the perfect Life, the perfect Sacrifice. His perfect blood paid the penalty for all sin, and so it comes down to this choice: you can either reject the blood of Jesus, therefore rejecting Him as King, Lord, Savior, Messiah, and pay for your sins with your own blood, or you can bend your knee to Jesus, admit you can’t save yourself through any means, and let His blood save you. That’s really all it ultimately boils down to: accept Jesus, or reject Jesus. There is no other way.”

Silence returned.

The seconds ticked by, Percy and Annabeth deep in thought, Piper, Jason, and Virgil studying them.

“Why do either of you not want to submit to Jesus?” Virgil asked.

A few more seconds of silence, Percy fidgeting slightly, but Annabeth smirked sardonically and a rueful smile appeared on her face.

“Well, I guess it’s like Piper said: hubris. I don’t like the way God operates. I disagree with what he says is sinful and what’s not. I don’t see any reason as to why being gay is a condemnable offense, and I don’t see any reason as to why boys can’t be girls and girls can’t be boys. Now, pedophilia? Adultery? Incest? Cold-blooded murder? Rape? Yeah, absolutely, but being gay and/or trans? I don’t see any problem with that. And I think the whole salvation system needs work. Sure, the idea of earning enough good guy points is a bad idea, but just ‘I believe that I suck and Jesus will save me’ isn’t enough. It needs to be both. You need to submit to God and have to do a whole bunch of good works, with the exact benchmark being unknown, that way everyone is locked into being good a good person for the whole rest of their life if they really want heaven that badly.”

Annabeth sighed with a self-aware smile.

“And because I disagree with God, that obviously means God is the one who’s wrong and not me. So I guess that’s it. Why don’t I just submit to God? Because I think he’s wrong about certain things, and I’m not going to bend my knee to someone I think is wrong.”

Piper’s expression was flat. “You literally have bent your knee to Hera, Zeus, Ares, and a bunch of other gods.”

Annabeth’s mouth set into a thin line. “I suppose…because I knew that if I ever went against them, I’d instantly be punished. I mean, did you guys know that I’m still under that cow patty curse Hera placed on me when I was fifteen? That was seven years ago now. Just two weeks ago I stepped in one. When it comes to God, though…disobeying him…I guess…because there were never immediate consequences, I figured he was just talk. I-”

Piper rolled her whole head instead of just her eyes. “Dude, will you shut up, already? I’m getting annoyed listening to you tell us how petty you are. This isn’t rocket science, this isn’t your college final exams. This is just straight up will you let go of your pride, humble yourself before the Lord, admit you’re a sinner, believe He died for you and rose to life, and become my sister in Him, or will you not? The debating’s over. Let go of your pride, or don’t.”

Jason slightly inclined his head. “Given the circumstances, with Elysium being destroyed, and this perma-death system now in effect, do either of you really want to take that chance? Give God the finger and spend eternity in hell because you refused to admit He’s right and you’re wrong about things, or relent, and admit to yourself that you’re wrong, and accept what He says is right? Are you really going to be so full of pride that you’d rather be in hell so you can say you’re right, instead of Heaven after saying you were wrong?”

That hit Annabeth a lot harder than it did Percy.

As for the son of Poseidon, after weighing his options for two seconds, he made his choice. “How do I do it?”

Piper snorted a little. “I mean, we already told you how. You confess that you’re a sinner, you call on the name of Jesus, accept it as fact that He is King, Lord, and Savior, and believe with your heart, mind, body, and soul that He is who He said He is, that He did for you, and rose to life on the third day.”

“That’s really it?”

“No. You have to really believe it, too.”

Percy swallowed and nodded. “Okay.” He got off the couch and took a knee, having the expression of someone who didn’t really know what he was doing, but was giving it his best shot. To Percy’s surprise, Jason, Piper, and Virgil all stood up and knelt next to him, putting their hands on him.

“We’re here, dude,” Jason said. “Go for it.”

Percy nodded once more, and went for it. “Er…I…ahem…I’m Percy Jackson. And I’m a sinner. The first thing that really comes to mind is when I chose to stay out of the Imperial War, I guess. Maybe not hold the gods accountable to their oath to be better parents—and a bunch of other stuff. Point is, I’ve sinned. And I’m sorry. And now I’m calling on your name, Jesus Christ. I do believe that you’re really God, and that you really do love me, and died for me, and that you’re king of everything.” Percy breathed. “I accept You as my Lord and Savior, the Living God that died in the name of forgiveness of sins, and rose to life on the third day. Amen.”

“Amen,” said the other three.

Jason squeezed Percy’s shoulder. “It’s good to see you again, bro.”

Percy smiled. “Y-Yeah. I actually do feel different.”

“That’s the Holy Spirit,” Piper said. “Now you’ve got the full power of God with you wherever you go.”

Percy pondered on this. “That sounds really cool, but somehow I think that’ll lead to false expectations. Like, Oh, I have the power of God now, and then I get my butt kicked.”

Jason and Piper chortled.

“There’s a lot to walking Jesus,” Piper said.

“I don’t think I’ll have a lot of time me to walk with Him. War and all.”

“Doesn’t matter,” Jason shook his head. “You’re sealed with the Holy Spirit now, so your soul is saved. When you die, you’ll have eternal life in heaven.”

“And you two will be there?”

“Yeah,” Piper confirmed.

Virgil turned around. “And you, Annabeth? What’s your decision?”

“…I definitely don’t want to go to hell, but….Ah, screw it. I need to get rid of this hubris thing, anyway. It’s the end of the world, right?”

Annabeth got down on her own knee, breathed in, breathed out, and everyone gathered around her, laying a hand on her. “I think this is the first time I’ve ever prayed to you, and it’s basically right here in the middle of Armageddon. Honestly, it feels kind of cheap, but better late than never, right? Anyway, I…I’m sorry. It honestly doesn’t make sense for me to be afraid of Hera and the other gods and not be afraid of you. I guess…just…no…nevermind. I-I confess that I am a sinner…and that I’m wrong, and that you’re the one who’s right.” Annabeth took another breath. “I call on Your name. I believe You died for me, rose again on the third day, and that You are God in the Flesh. I accept You as my Lord, my Savior, and my King. Amen.”

Piper actually squealed, throwing her arms around Annabeth and hauling her up to her feet in a huge bear hug.

Annabeth’s eyes were almost squeezed from their sockets. “Plz…hlp…”

Piper stopped trying to crush her friend’s skeleton.

“What do we do now?” Percy asked. “Like, do we have to start memorizing the Bible?”

“Oh, no,” Virgil said. “The two of you march off to war tomorrow. Far too much scripture to memorize. Instead, you both will get more than enough hands-on faith experience. Remember to pray before your operations, and you’ll be fine.”

Percy and Annabeth nodded.

“What about Frank and Hazel?” Annabeth asked. “Nico and Will? All the others? Won’t they…won’t they all be going to hell?”

“They are finding counsel of their own,” Virgil assured her.

“How do you know?”

“I asked Jesus to provide for all of you guides to Him. You two ended up in this hallway, following Jason and Piper. The rest found guides of their own. It’s all on them to make the choice.”

“I really hope they do,” Percy said.

“As do I.”

“Can we talk more about your past lives?” Annabeth asked.

“Of course we can.”

Virgil took his seat again, and everyone else got comfy on the couches.

“So, my first life, Faris….”

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

And so it was.

Three days came and went, and true to Shin’en’s word, he had organized the entirety of the einherjar, the legion, the House of Life, and the Greeks into divisions with chains of command, and notified everyone of their positions via raven. There weren’t any complaints, as no one dared to even so much as think about dealing with whatever walking nightmare Tobi was supposed to be.

In the Feast Hall, the army was assembled.

Shin’en stood next to the Team and the well-known leaders of the other factions, all of whom had been given their own assignments. The supercomputer whirred behind them all, showing magical livestreams of Camp Half-Blood, Camp Jupiter, the Waystation, and Brooklyn House, the four key objective locations as assigned by Chaos.

Shin’en took a step forward, and his voice echoed throughout the Feast Hall.

“Everyone here knows what’s stake. Everyone knows what’s out there. Everyone here knows that this is it. When you die, you won’t be coming back. This is the final war, ladies and gentlemen. The final fight for the future of the world, and mankind itself. No one here needs a peptalk, because everyone here has already made that choice and come to terms with what it means.” Shin’en looked to his friend. “Virgil. Pray for us, please.”

Virgil nodded. “Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name.”

Over half a million voices rose in unison to speak the prayer together.

“Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth, as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us for our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Thine is the kingdom, and the glory, and the power. Forever and ever. Amen.”

Then there was Tobi with his addendum. “In the name of God, all impure souls of the living dead shall be banished to eternal damnation! Amen! Now let’s fuck ‘em up!”

Shin’en nodded to Wheels.

Wheels opened the doors of Valhalla, and Odin led his einherjar into Armageddon.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Yay! New chapter! And it didn’t take me a month this time! Hope you liked it, because this might be the last one of this story for a time.

I desire to at least begin the Jason story previously mentioned. I have a solid first chapter already envisioned. That being said, in order to ensure story accuracy, I may have to reread Heroes of Olympus again to catch all those little snippets and mentions about Jason and his mysterious past, so that could definitely Delay some things.

I’ve also been heavily thinking about rebooting Dragon Princess. Especially because that story was originally published eighteen months ago. Fair warning about that one, though, and it’s the same warning that applied last time: due to all the gaps and unanswered questions regarding Elden Ring lore, a lot of the story would have to be made up by me. Which shouldn’t be an issue anyway, since it’s still a fanfiction at the end of the day, but there’s always that one person who’d be like, “This isn’t true! This obscure item clearly says bleh!”

Yeah, probably. I’ve seen a decent amount of lore videos. I have my own theories. No one has the full story, though, and we never will.

But anywho.

What’d you think of the chapter? What are your hopes and dreams for the coming chapters? How do you think this story will ultimately end? I actually teased it so many, many years ago when I first proposed the Chaos War. Any veterans still around that can remember?

In the meantime, please Fav, Follow, and Review!