Bum dum bum dum. Hello, my lovely readers!

Point of View: Third Person

She lets go of his face and pulls him over to the campfire, deadly silent.

"So, you've never met Percy?" Nico tries awkwardly.

"You cannot meet someone who is always with you." Percy whispers and the wind whips around the fire, making it flare. Everybody but Percy jumps back. The fire starts to take shape due to the wind. It is all Percy's doing. As he tells his story, the fire makes scenes while he stares into it, seeing the memories in his head. "The night I left, the campfire I sat at, it was the day after celebrations. That night, it was absolutely depressing. Especially for me. Dark thoughts ran through my head every second. Contemplating over and over the different possibilities.

But, after I went to my cabin that night, I came to a decision. I made my decision so easily, it was disturbing how much I knew I was right. So, I left. I grabbed a weapon from the storage, returned Anaklusmos to Zoë, and went across the border with only the clothes on my back and a sword to my name, which I changed that night, thinking of Calypso.

She forgave me and I decided I would name myself after the flower that meant so much between us. Something common in the world of myth and something that wouldn't draw too much attention. I wanted to be on my own, wanted to vent on monsters.

And that's exactly what I became.

A monster.

The very thing I hunted. And that's how I got that stupid title. But I knew it was right. The Hunter, a name to be feared among the monsters of the Pit. Ever since my mother told me who and what I was when I was six, I knew something was different about me. She told me powers that I would have that Poseidon informed her of and when they should develop.

They developed earlier than they should have. Years before they should have. By the time I was almost thirteen and Grover got me to camp, I could travel by the water in the air no matter how minuscule an amount there might have been. I could go anywhere I wanted, anywhere at all, but I fell in love. Hopelessly so. Losing my heart to an Athenian child, a child of the very person my dad practically loathed the most on the council. It's a rift that's healed now.

I just got more and more powerful as days went by. Days turned into weeks, weeks into months, months into years." Percy pulls one knee to his chest and throws a stick into the fire, making it hiss. "And when I woke up after killing the Minotaur and releasing a lot of bottled up power, I knew Zeus would kill me if he even felt my real energy level. My true presence and aura. I blocked off the main part of my presence, tried to make it seem like I was normal for a son of Poseidon. But I wasn't. And it's not even because I'm Greek and Roman. It's my fatal flaw and my soul. I grew up frightened to death every day of my life since I was six.

But at some point," His voice turns dark. "I lost all fear. All save one." The fire nearly dies out, the dark closing in. "Losing Annabeth." The fire flares to life again. "So, when she died in my arms, as the light left her eyes, the fear left my soul forever. I don't have nightmares because I don't fear what happened. All they are, are memories in the past.

And I snapped.

And I killed Gaea.

I killed everything that was left, the rest of the enemies. I shoved Riptide into the roots of the gods and exploded with power, nearly killing myself at the unfamiliar use and drainage of my powers. I protected the roots of the gods.

It's why I started dying. I wasn't used to releasing so much of my power at once, not used to resorting to so much built up power. My body shut down and I had lost Annabeth. I couldn't breathe and I couldn't find anything. Poseidon kept flickering between himself and Neptune, worried to death and I lost the sky for a while.

Until Apollo brought me back from near death. I fell into that coma for a year and we had the celebrations after I woke up, still in the same condition I was in when the war ended. My trained muscles were only stiff from laying in sickbed for a year, but they weren't gone. Apollo made sure I wouldn't be weak when I awakened.

I received immortality. Something I have never ever wanted. I turned down godhood for Heaven's sake. For love. But I kept my mouth shut. Because Apollo explained it was the will of the Fates. The women who control my miserable little life.

So, when I made my decision to leave. I made my decision to leave forever and never turn back. I swore to myself I would never again show my face to the world. Never again be Perseus Jackson, Hero and Savior of Olympus." He says it with a flourish, a mocking flourish. "Twice over." He says bitterly. "I had always had this feeling in my gut something dreadful was going to happen to me. It started when I dragged Grover over Half-Blood Hill.

I had always been a quiet, resigned, little isolationist. I did it to keep myself safe. The fatal flaw would scream at me when I shouldn't get involved with a certain person. But when I saw Camp Half-Blood, it told me, you have to get involved even if it kills you. Even if it rips your heart out and shatters your soul, you have to be there.

And I was.

I stayed, no matter how bad it got. But I never stayed year round. I couldn't stand the dreadful feeling. Luke Castellan, a man I still respect, kept warning me, kept giving me little hints about the prophecy. Told me everyone but me knew and weren't going to tell me. Said I had to go through so much just to be sixteen only for something bad to happen to me in the end.

He was only half right about that prophecy. Each year, there was a quest. Each year, I had a feeling in my gut. Go on the quest, it's your destiny. No one else's. You need to go. Not just to save Grover or Annabeth, but because it was fated. Tantalus wouldn't have it but I needed to go. So I left on my own terms knowing the consequences could be detrimental. Zoë wouldn't hear of it because I was male and Dionysus let me go so easily after following me. Seeing it in my eyes.

Prophecy ruled more than just eight years of my life, it had ruled my entire life up until I killed Gaea. And now, after three hundred years, prophecy is doing it again. Ruling my life. Ruining it.

I will never be left alone.

I made my oaths to the River Styx and swore to myself, just as I crossed the border into my new life. I didn't want a thing to do with my past. I put it behind me for a reason and it seems as if the Fates mock me. Insult me. Forcing me to go back on my word to myself.

Apollo told me that the Fates, they not only wanted to make me immortal, they wanted to make me into a god. But if I had to be immortal, I refused to be a god. And I ran from it. I ran so fast and so far, I forgot who I was for the longest time. Finding myself in the shadows. I turned it down because of Annabeth, and I turned it down because I never wanted it.

My soul was more one for serenity, being alone. Always has been. I was forced to make a ton of friends and forge bonds unbreakable. So, I suppressed them when I left and I devolved into an animal. A beast. A monster.

I left the life of a puppet to be the thing that lurks in the dark. I thought about spreading the rumor that I was dead or captured or something but then thought against it. I just stayed away from anything and everything.

For three hundred years, I have been nothing but someone who hunts down prey mercilessly and without remorse. A killer, coldblooded and feral. Anything that moved was in my steel claws before they could blink. I was already powerful, but immortality disoriented me. I was growing again. I had never really stopped but I had slowed down. It was painful after a while. Until I could handle it.

Yeah, worst shot with a bow when I came to camp. People can be so stupid. Who the hell is able to accidentally fire in the opposite direction anyway? Yeah, right." He rolls his eyes. "Ha, fooled them. Zeus would have killed me for being a child of the sea alone. I didn't need to add being a child of Greece and Rome, able to wield any weapon expertly, unswerving loyalty if the enemy got me, and enhanced senses to the list of 'why should we kill Percy today?'

I limited myself, restricted whatever I grew into. The speed, I minimized it, the intelligence, I acted like a fool or the class clown, the strength, I made myself vulnerable looking, the sight, I didn't point some things out that others couldn't see, the hearing, I pretended it was a sense of being a Big Three child, the touch, I was sensitive and I concealed it, but most of all was the smell. I never indulged it and never used it in front of anybody.

I admit, I was small for my age when I started out. But I grew and grew. Immortality made it worse. I'm a giant and you can't tell how much muscle I have from the lean frame I have. Ridiculous I say.

And they want to make me a god. Makes me wonder what garbage they're eating." Percy grumbles at the end and the sky thunders loudly.

"Oh, shut up." Percy makes the fire higher.

"Um, since when could you control the wind?" Jason asks.

"Since I was six." Percy says and wind blows straight at Jason's face. "Oh, I can fly like you do. What gets me is, children of Poseidon or Neptune, they are children of the Earthshaker, the Stormbringer, and God of the Sea. Seas have raging storms stronger than thunderstorms. The sea eats away at the land.

I can make the ground beneath your feet tremor, crack, split apart just like any Hades child can. But I cannot raise the dead. I can cause storms, make it rain, use wind currents, and create tidal waves and hurricanes. Most of that stuff is what Zeus children can do. I can even electrify you by making the winds and storms bring down lightning. And yet, I'm not allowed in the sky. I'm not allowed in the Underworld. The only thing I can't do that Big Three children possess, is raise the dead. And Shadow Travel. It's ridiculous. Storms are in the sky, yet I can't travel by air. Earthquakes are the ground shaking and ripping beneath, leading down into the Underworld, yet I can't venture there. I can cause every natural disaster humans have ever experienced. I have caused a volcano to explode, made little hurricanes that I can make big and wreak havoc, I can make tidal waves, I have shaken the earth, and so much more.

And Zeus thinks children of his brothers are less than his own. Please." Percy rolls his eyes. "I couldn't care less who the hell his children are, but I have met nice ones. And I like the ones I know. Well, except for Hercules. I'll kill the bastard if I ever see him. Children of Poseidon and Neptune can do anything and everything the other children of the Big Three can, except for raising the dead. We are just as important as the King's children.

Over the years, hearing the stories from my mother, reading them. So many of my kin have been killed for who they are or ridiculed just because we weren't born to Zeus. Treated like dogs because we are bad omens. Especially if you're a Roman child of the sea. I admit, Hades and Pluto offspring are treated as outcasts, but hey, as long you aren't born to the older brothers of the Big Three, you're golden. Except for Hera, she'll kill you. Maybe." Percy says. "I have no qualms with Thalia or Artemis or even you Jason even if you are a little more of an ass than you were when I left."

"Hey!" Jason looks indignant.

Percy holds up one finger. "I'm not done." He says darkly. "We all lose people. I lost so many and I felt so responsible. I wanted to kill myself. I very nearly did that night. I stared at that blade for hours until I decided just to leave and become who I did. They all followed me into battle. Twice. And many died. Both times. I was crushed by guilt, grief, depression, and I was traumatized. Sure, you lost friends, but you weren't responsible. I came up with the plan, I led them into a bloodbath of 14:1, and I heard them scream." Percy says and everybody flinches at the way he says the last word. "So you know what, Grace? Suck it up. You are one of the people they all count on. Piper died. Big deal. I miss her and I hate myself for her death. But there is no bringing back the dead to a life they have passed on from. She's been gone for three hundred years now. She's made her peace. Let her memory lie. I'm not saying forget about her, I'm saying that you should stop making it painful for her to get over you. She sees you moping about for three hundred years and she's going to feel bad for dying. Get your head out of your ass, or I'll make you."

"What about Annabeth?" Jason snaps.

"She's dead and out of my life. I love her and I always will. But I don't mope over her death. I made my peace with it and so did she. I made her see that I was fine, strong without her. That I could live without her. There is no forgetting the dead, but you are disgracing Piper by doing that. And I know Annabeth has moved on. She's not one to sit idly and just be in Elysium. She's most likely in the Isle of the Blest by now. She would have tried for rebirth. And I'm happy for her.

Death isn't something you should be sad about. It's something you should be happy for others to achieve." Percy answers.

"Why?" Artemis asks, crying and curious.

"What's the point in living if you can't die? Life is filled with pain and sure there are bright spots, but a lot of times, people are in pain. Death is escaping that pain. Death is peaceful, tranquil, content. They aren't miserable or in pain when they die or in death. They're safe and pain free. You should be thankful they don't have to suffer anymore.

A lesson Thantos gave up on teaching, as well as Hades. Except to the dead. That's their responsibility." Percy replies.

"Then why were you singing that night?" Thalia asks.

Percy blinks and then sighs. "I may have moved on from Annabeth but I am always in despair. I am no longer able to truly die and I don't have the will to fade. Besides, I don't even know where I would go if I did."

"You would fade on purpose?" Artemis gasps.

"No, I would not. I couldn't bring myself to do it. Feels wrong." Percy tells her, twirling a stick in the hand that is on his knee while his other hand holds him up as he leans back and stares at the flames. His other leg flat on the ground and near the fire.

"Good." Artemis huffs.

Percy smiles a little. "I suppose you do have the real feeling then." Artemis blushes. "That's a lovely color on you by the way."

Artemis's eyes widen. "What?"

"Your Ichor when you blush, it contrasts your skin nicely." He states.

"But you're not even looking at me." Artemis says.

"I don't need to look at you to know you are blushing and I have seen you blush before. My memory is perfect, even though Hera gave me amnesia once." Percy answers. "If I'm going to tell you all about me, I might as well be open. I can feel the water in your blood and your blood rushes to your face when you blush. And your neck. Your heart pumps more and more and races to keep it up there as long as it flutters in either embarrassment or anger. Embarrassment makes your heart beat faster than when you're angry. Adrenaline gets in the picture when you're mad. I can also tell what you look like on the inside and out by your blood but I can't put color to it until I see you with my eyes."

"Why don't you want to be a god?" Jason asks.

"And that right there is why I am very different from my siblings, Jason Grace." Percy answers, still staring into the flames.

"What? Why?" Jason asks, self-conscious now.

"My brothers and sisters, mainly brothers but you get my point, and I are the polar opposite of each other. They are all greedy, arrogant, and total pricks. I don't have a greedy or arrogant bone in my body it seems. I don't have want of anything more than I need. I don't really care how strong I am or how much stronger I am than others. I don't need power but I have it. I can tell you how strong I am but I don't really care about it. And I would turn down godhood for the simple reason of 'I couldn't care less.' I am designed to be a peaceful entity that can strike with a vengeance if provoked. I am quiet, isolated, far different than my loud and obnoxious siblings before me. The only thing I'm really proud of is being my father's son and my mother's. But that is natural and I don't really want anything other than peace. But a lot of people want that, especially after wars. I could honestly tell you that if someone wanted to give me money, I'd give it away the second I found someone who needed it. Whether they need it more than I do or not. I never wanted godhood and I still don't. If my brothers were ever in my position they'd be boasting about how great they were or trying to rape someone. I really hate meeting new water nymphs because that's exactly what they think of me until I sit down with them and talk with them. I don't touch women like that and I would rip off another man's head if he tried it." Percy tells him.

Artemis laughs. "That's nice to know."

"Not to mention all my siblings are really stupid. Powerful, but stupid." Percy says.

"Anything else you haven't told us?" Rose wonders.

"Not that I can think of. Except for that I am sorry I lied to you all." Percy shrugs.

"Percy?" Hazel asks.

"Yes, Hazel Levesque?" Percy responds.

"Did you miss us? At all?" Hazel inquires shyly.

Percy takes a few minutes to answer. "I told you I suppressed the bonds I had formed that were left. But, over time, the others died. I lost some with their deaths and knew they had passed into the Underworld. But, yes, I missed you all. So very much. But I wanted peace and I swore to never return. I have missed you and I missed the Roman I first befriended. My little sister that watched over me during our short time together. Helped me when my memory was nonexistent and made me disoriented. Gave me a home within the legion."

"Dude, we are practically the same age, why do you use our full names like you're older?" Jason asks.

Percy's smile looks melancholy as he stares into the coals. "Child, I am far older than you realize."

"Tell me." Nico says and tears start running down his face. "Now."

"As you wish." Percy bows his head. "As I told you before, Tartarus runs faster in time. A day up here could be a year. Could be. Tartarus can speed it up or slow it down or freeze it if he wants. He is the Pit. His body, his real body, is the Pit. The levels are his bones and his skin, the Five Rivers his blood, the flesh of the depths his organs, the monsters are his parasites. You enter Tartarus, you truly enter Tartarus. You are inside of him. He can form a body within his body. Something to walk around in. Just like Gaea can walk around on herself, he can walk around inside himself." Everyone shakes, especially Nico. "But the red mist you see as a demigod, that is his breath, his very air and he sees you, feels you.

For me, he sped up time to more than a year. He made it many. I am far beyond my years than I should be. An hour up here turned into a year for me down there. And then it became a minute, a second. But he never let me forget. I was down there forever. And I lasted for so long. I got Annabeth out after surviving halfway. He told me if I didn't make the music he so badly wanted to hear, that he would torture her, touch her. So I screamed for him after he let her go through the Doors of Death safely, let her go back to the ship with no harm done to her. And I let him in. Let him bring me true pain. I gave in and screamed my lungs out for him. But I never broke. I couldn't. Not when she was free and was waiting for me.

My cell, it was the same one all the time after so long because I couldn't move on my own anymore without bleeding all over the place. But I crawled to the door after dislocating my shoulder to get freed. I resorted to revealing myself completely to him and used his own atmosphere on the door. I broke out and dragged myself to those Doors and I made it out by running through them. And I could breathe again.

But I wasn't used to the air of the surface world. It was a miracle they were still there, waiting for me. A miracle I wasn't insane. No one would leave me alone and I almost didn't make it. It took forever for me to heal. Whenever we would travel by sea, I would dive over the side to heal faster. We traveled slower on the sea sometimes because of monsters and we were cautious. I kept up and healed and it was great. But I went through so much just to lose everything I fought for. Survived for." Percy whispers the last sentence.

"How long?!" Nico screams at him.

Percy's eyes look up at him finally and everybody sees the ghostly light, the haunted light of them. "I was down there for 3,782 years before I dragged myself out. I am 4,101 years old. So, Jason Grace, you are wrong. To me, you are no more than an infant, perhaps a toddler. I am more Artemis's age than I am yours. Far older than you give me credit for. Artemis is somewhere near the mid four thousands. I'd wager I'm about three or four hundred years younger than her give or take."