Annabeth sighed softly as she leaned into Percy's side, ignoring Alex's jokes of Percy being thrown in a pot of soup or something. He threw his arm over her at once to have her closer with the same troubled frown only easing slightly. Her eyes stayed uncomprehending upon the new chapter title as the coming funerals lingered in her mind.

She tried to push the image away with Silena smiling up at Beckendorf. She'd grin at Annabeth finally getting her silent wish of this moment. The daughter of Aphrodite had been the best of her mother, she always smiled no matter what was going on when she'd seen someone being happy in love, and she tried to keep that thought close as she took a shaky breath to start.

..."Wouldn't, listen. Cabin would, only follow you."

Alex had, mixed feelings about that. Loyalty wasn't something she was familiar with. Blind loyalty sounded absurd in every way.

And yet...it sounded kind of nice too. To have someone so wholeheartedly believe in you...only you...

..."And NONE of you noticed?"

"Yeah, kinda with Clarisse on that one," Thalia grumbled as she adjusted her hood. Had Silena given a rousing speech? Surely she'd pulled the cabin together somehow, long enough for her own siblings to notice something was amiss. They all weren't that dense! She wouldn't be surprised to learn if Clarisse had beaten them all to a pulp not long after.

...but, well, the thought did cross her mind it was more than likely the Ares kids had wanted to come all along. They might have followed a puppet if someone had put a nice boar helmet on it.

It bothered her a bit, that her first instinct would rather the ones who wanted to be there should have ignored their head and snuck out...but then when Silena arrived to pull this ruse Clarisse never would have followed and blasted the drakon. They might not have won at all. She could feel her father's powerful blue eyes spark with joy somewhere in the back of her mind as she understood what he must always feel as a god. Sacrifice from others that lead to his own victory. It made her feel miserable.

The Ares campers developed a sudden interest in their combat boots.

"Making sure none of that monster dust got in their socks," Magnus nodded in understanding.

Alex called him an idiot in ASL, which was a nice change of pace. He had no regrets teaching her that.

"Don't blame them," Silena said. "They wanted to, to believe I was you."

Something that had been mentioned a lot these past days, Jason frowned. Wanting to hope, wanting to believe something even if you knew not to deep down it wasn't true. The idea was a cold, icy feeling he knew all to well, the kind that when it thawed out he wasn't sure what he was going to be left with. It was unpleasant, nauseating even, but almost exciting too to find out what was going to be beneath it all.

...In her palm was a silver bracelet scythe charm, the mark of Kronos.

Percy stiffened painfully as his mind splintered with understanding. He'd known there was a spy for so long, had hated and loathed this unknown face ruining so much...it felt impossible to reconcile all of that with Silena Beauregard. The two wouldn't mash together. Like someone had told him Annabeth was the spy. It didn't compute with the person he'd known.

He waited for the betrayal, for the anger to catch up with him, but he just felt tired. As he thought about Micheal, and Beckendorf, and all the other campers over the years he and Silena had both known, that he and Silena had both had a hand in their deaths. Two sides of the same coin.

With a cold, heavy heart, it wasn't hard for his imagination to cook up the idea he and Silena even could have switched places this day. If Luke had never told him it was his plan, his shoes that had nearly dragged Grover away, Percy would have been none the wiser. Luke could have stuck around camp, kept whispering in Percys' ears thoughts that still floated about to this day of how wretched the gods were and all the horrible things they'd done. He was just a manipulative prick like that who snared up everyone.

The chips had fallen where they did though, and he brushed that aside to instead settle a scowl into place he didn't feel. He was left wondering where her loyalties had gone. He wanted to hate her, wanted to think she'd just been trying to lead more kids to their death with this scheme...but it just didn't match the fact that she'd charged a drakon! She could have sent them on ahead if that was the plan!

... He told me he wouldn't hurt, Charlie. He lied to me."

Annabeth read that...gods she read that with understanding! With hurt and pain, and sympathy all at once!

Thalia wanted to shake her and ask if she was nuts! She knew she couldn't have gotten through that without gritted teeth and having to pinch her own side to stop from breaking down crying in frustration of what Luke had done to yet another person.

...Annabeth looked like somebody had just yanked the world out from under her feet.

She never would have believed that Luke would threaten someone like that until she heard it from Silena's dying lips. Percy had never felt more blue that she finally did.

...Silena took a heavy, painful breath. "Forgive me."

Will swallowed a painful lump in the back of his throat and was glad nobody was going around the room demanding to know if they all had. He'd have said yes, now. With time passing and the hurt easing as he stopped drowning every day after, learning to float in the misery of how empty his cabin was when he went home. He wasn't good at holding onto resentment. He just hadn't cried at Silena's funeral.

Annabeth instantly had, she thought Percy had too, but there was a troubled look on his face she didn't like to see now. He still had his fingers linked with hers, but his other hand was fiddling with his pen again like all he wanted to do was walk off and charge into battle. He liked to blame Luke for everything, and she'd finally been forced to see Percy had been right. Hopefully, that's all this anger was.

... "See Charlie . . ." She didn't speak again.

Jason shivered as he imagined her sightless eyes. The child of Venus hadn't been much of a notable figure in Percy's life before this moment. A pretty girl with a friendly boyfriend.

That day with the mermeks though had already shown she could have been more if Percy had ever spent time with her. Silena's determination to save Beckendorf had been the admirable stuff leaders were made of.

Sonder, the realization that a random passerby was living a life as vivid and complex as your own. They'd spent so long now focused on Percy's life that it felt like a slam in the face to fully realize what this girl had been going through entirely in the background of everything they'd been hearing.

...Clarisse sniffled and wiped her nose. "She was a hero, understand? A hero."

Magnus was used to living in a world of gray. Of knowing better than many a teenager just why people did what they did to be in a sleeping bag under the bridge, of watching it happen from the shadows. He wasn't going to sit around and try to engage the right and wrong of all that had gone on during this mess. People died every day for choices they'd made and decisions they'd been given no alternative out of. He just wished someone out there had a happy ending.

I nodded. "Come on, Clarisse."

Annabeth wasn't sure she wanted to move on for a moment. That she even wanted to hear Percy's thoughts reflecting on this during the rest of the battle. She'd made peace with what Silena had done, but Percy might have a tendency to lean into it as fuel for the slash of his sword.

But Percy sat next to her, maybe a little to calm and put together as his miserable face watched the book. She sighed as she pressed on when he showed no signs of stopping her. He always reminded her of a glass building. Structurally sound, of course, but with nothing to hide inside. He'd never made a single bereft of them hearing every stray thought that crossed his mind.

She picked up a sword. "Kronos is going to pay."

"Ooooh, yeah," Alex drawled out in an amorous tone for the violence about to take place. Gods she wished she could hug Clarisse right now for the visual stimuli about to take place!

The idea that this was all for a traitor mused quietly in the back of her mind. She knew exactly who her mother was in her world, how she, Alex, would be received by anyone of Norse descendants, though she'd never come across another like her before now. She suspected Magnus was only because of Hearth, and he was an innocent white lily too pure to grasp how that's what he should see her as even if she did decide to tell him.

Traitor, the word lingered in the back of her mind as she focused sharply on Clarisse and her crusade to rip every monster a new one for what they'd done for her friend. It was probably as close to redemption as she- Silena of course, would ever get.

... dragging the drakon behind the chariot like a Chinese New Year dragon.

Will hated that thing so much. She'd taken it back to camp and put it up in the forest, her cabin often using it during capture the flag to terrify the opponents. Alex had no idea how close to true her jokes were about chasing kids around with a fake drakon for practice, because sometimes the Stolls really did do that. If he didn't have a heart attack every time he saw it, he would have buried it by now.

..."The blessing of Ares," Thalia said. "I've never seen it in person before."

Alex's laugh was chaotic and quickly drew the others in. It was an ability she proudly used whenever given the chance, and she even sort of hoped that if Oceanus heard it somewhere he at least chuckled a little too.

...Clarisse drove in circles, daring anyone to cross her path.

Meanwhile,

"There is nothing you could follow that up with!" Jason declared. "Unless the gods themselves show up out of the blue, there is no meanwhile, anyways, or also that could top that Percy!"

"I'm sorry my life doesn't revolve around her, I had other things going on," Percy said with a slightly wounded look Clarisse of all people had somehow overtaken his life. He couldn't even be that offended, it really was awesome.

we tended our wounded, bringing them inside the lobby.

"Important enough?" Will mock sniffled into an invisible handkerchief.

"Yeah, yeah, we all know you're a hero too Will, don't rub it in," Jason sighed for his outburst. He'd known it was going to bite him in the ass when he did it.

...Chris said, "I'll watch her. She'll get tired eventually. I'll make sure she comes inside."

"That is easily one of the top five bravest guys around camp though," Will shook his head in exhaustion at the mere idea. Nico was a kitten in comparison to the beast of a task in trying to convince Clarisse La Rue to do such a thing as get tired and come inside.

..."Only Argus and the nature spirits. Peleus is still guarding the tree."

Magnus was rather proud of himself he didn't shiver in dread, after that drakon it really didn't sound as bad, but he was still pretty confident he was the only one thinking that was still bad enough.

... I'm sorry it took Silena-"

"My Hunters will help you stand guard," Thalia said.

"Yeah, not much you can say to that," Jason nodded for his sister. Interrupting awkward silence was the best anybody could do.

"I'm back a few sentences trying to figure out what other friends Chris was talking about her having," Will really sounded odd when he purposefully tried to sound sarcastic. Like a kid at a play having just read his lines. His eyes got so big.

Nico chuckled and patted his hand for the stilted humor anyways.

...His book was facedown on the desk and his chair was empty.

"Well now Percy has no choice but to win this war," Magnus said with a tragic expression. "Can you imagine anything more painful than not being able to finish a book you started?"

Alex chuckled but shook her head. "He might have just gone to the bathroom and he'll be back at his post any second, don't be so dramatic."

"Or maybe it wasn't even a good book, they can't all be best sellers," Annabeth grinned.

Magnus scoffed at the pair making light of this.

..."She died a hero. That's it," I insisted. "End of story."

Jason was a bit surprised at Percy. He'd have thought, given his track with people holding information over his head, Percy would go around telling the whole story of the traitor and what happened, not just the final result.

But then, Percy's loyalty had always been with his camp since the day he woke up there. He might not have admitted it or even instantly realized it, between the shunning and shoving from cabin to cabin and his mom's absence hovering over him every day, but then, Silena Beauregard had made a sacrifice that had bought his camp family enough time to live through another battle.

... the Titan's will have to go up a few at a time. The giants won't fit at all."

"Can you even imagine the determination it must take if they had to use the stairs?" Will asked in horror. His thighs were screaming in pain at just the thought.

"Kronos might have won that day if so. Only the bravest would make it to the top," Percy said with a begrudging look at the book for only a Titan with that level of determination making it up there.

He might not have been one of them.

... Anyone can walk into the elevator now and head straight up."

"Was the doorman secretly the keycard all along?" Alex asked with interest as she narrowed her eyes at the book in thought. "Was he handing out bits of his essence?"

"Ew," Percy frowned at her as he rubbed his palm against his jeans.

"More symbolic of him abandoning his post causing weaker defense," Will offered instead. He had been just a mortal after all. A mortal granted an immortal gift.

... "We'll bottle them up in the lobby."

"What are we calling this strategy?" Jason asked Annabeth. "Genie in a bottle? Message in a bottle?"

"Bottleneck," Annabeth grinned in delight at someone asking her. Percy grumbled to himself for a moment he would have asked too if he hadn't been so busy, but she just grinned and kissed the back of his hand before continuing so he quickly let the thought go.

..."There are no reinforcements," Connor complained.

It was so rare to hear the Stolls being so, serious. Will had shivered as he heard them whispering while visiting some of their siblings in beds about injuries and man power, rather than the usual of whose soda can to shake up and put back. His crush on Connor had been at an all time high as he glanced over at him, but the son of Hermes hadn't even seemed to notice he was in the same room as he went over to check on Katie's fading concussion.

Ah well, he'd always hoped the two would stay happy together, he smiled to himself now without the touch of bitterness it had once held.

... Mrs. O'Leary was breathing against the glass doors, smearing hellhound drool.

There was a nice moment of gentle laughter all through the circular room for that descriptor. Magnus was shocked at himself for it, but it felt nice too, to think next time he saw a dog on the street he might not flinch at the sight of it if he kept her in his mind.

... Her fur was matted with mud, leaves, pizza slices, and dried monster blood.

"Bath time," Percy chuckled. It's a good thing he was water proof, because he might never be dry again afterwards. "You game Alex?"

"Any day," she savored with a laugh of her own. The county might be out of pink scrub brushes when she was done, but it would be worth it.

...I leaned in and whispered in her ear. After Mrs. O'Leary shadow-traveled away,

"You would just gloss over that," Jason muttered in betrayal. "We could call this Percy Jackson and- Anyways!"

"Couldn't even be mad at the title," Percy nodded. "Very on brand for how my mind works."

"Should I even bother wasting breath asking what you asked her to do?" Magnus sighed.

"You can waste hand motions, it would do the same amount of good," Percy said with an impish grin. They both knew he'd play the 'my head hurts' card if they kept pushing this.

"You're a jerk, there, no breath wasted," Magnus smirked.

...spotted Grover kneeling over a fat wounded satyr.

Thalia had been a tad embarrassed to admit she'd been surprised to hear he'd even fought. Some of the Hunters had gotten a bit excited when they heard a lord of the wild had shown up to help, but she'd quickly snapped away that hope by just waving off it was some useless satyr who would probably just stand around yelling insults that weren't even going to make someone pause.

She'd been wrong, and she'd admitted that during the goodbye ceremonies. She hoped her father heard it too.

...a broken spear in his belly, his furry goat legs were twisted at a painful angle.

Will had made notes on each person's file what had happened to them. Morbid curiosity, details he could share with family, some way to counter act the ailment in the future, or a mix of it all had made this a habit since his first day.

He had been, empty, at how many folders were left blank that day. Nobody had seen what had happened to Leneus to sustain such injuries same as a lot of bodies that day. To many monsters, not enough people to watch each other's backs.

..."Grover?" he murmured.

Alex opened her mouth, the crude comment on the tip of her tongue the old lump wanted to insult Grover one last time, but it felt crass. She'd at least hear his dying words before she tore him one last insult.

...Grover was blinking back tears, despite all the horrible things Leneus had said.

He had such a big heart, Annabeth smiled, wishing she could put her hand on his shoulder again like she had. She'd seen it every day while he was guiding them through the streets, a smile appearing at every weed that appeared through the cracks in the sidewalk. Every day at camp when he answered every question she had with only some mild anxiety and tugging at the fur on his legs. He'd grown so much.

They all had after this really.

..."Thanks to you, Leneus. We drove the enemy away."

"He's always been such a terrible liar," Percy's chuckle sounded a tad watery. Whatever. Son of Poseidon. He'd seen a lot of crap those past few days. Nobody was dumb enough to mention it.

"Told you," the old satyr mumbled. "True leader. True . . ."

There was a blurry, nice, delusional moment where Magnus could pretend that Leneaus was talking about Grover. That it was his way of apologizing for all the miserable days he'd put that kid through.

He wasn't naive enough to believe it. He just wanted to.

 . . . I should plant him. In Olympus, in the gardens."

"Can he just, do that?" Jason tried not to look at the book distastefully.

Thalia still gave her little brother a pitiful look he still might respect any authority figure after all they'd heard in here. If anybody said a word to Grover about where he wanted to plant someone even mildly important to him, Percy would shut it down faster than the shovel went through the dirt.

...Easy-listening music played as the elevator rose.

"Which just went so well with the mood I'm sure," Nico muttered at all of their haggard forms slumped against the rails in exhaustion. Like a Greek freeze frame in modern times. Casual Tragic.

... I had a feeling it might be our last adventure together.

"Not one of your gut feelings though," Jason noted with interest, though Grover wasn't in here now so the exclusion might prove Percy right all the same.

"I'm not trusting the thing to win me the lottery, let alone this," Percy said with a tired smile. A part of him, a very large part, hoped it was true. That somewhere Grover was out there kicking it with Juniper frolicking in the forest while he and Annabeth sorted this out to get back and have a nice, peaceful life.

But considering where they were...and how they were nearing the end and he still wasn't even sure what the outcome of all this was...yeah. Jason was probably right he should trust his gut's lack of reaction on this case.

... She kept her eyes fixed on the elevator floors as they blinked numbers.

It wasn't a very wild guess to think she wasn't actually seeing those numbers. Or maybe they were marking all the other times she'd been wrong in her head about him. Thalia sighed and wished Annabeth was still young enough she could hug her until the problems melted from her shoulders.

Annabeth just cleared her throat and brushed her hair out of her face before continuing with the same stoic expression she'd started this with. They all knew she hated saying those words, let alone twice.

 . . . until I heard how he'd used Silena. Now I know. I hope you're happy."

"Why would that make me happy?" Percy asked quietly.

She gave a listless shrug. "Being right about something makes me happy." She was still getting a handle on how that worked for Percy. So far she'd narrowed it down to blue food, (something sacred between him and his mom she didn't partake in much after their anniversary) and her.

At least they were still figuring it out together.

...She put her head against the elevator wall and wouldn't look at me.

Thalia swallowed at the distance she still felt between them. She should have had her head on his shoulder now like at the start, but instead she had suddenly needed both hands on the book as Percy watched her sadly without protest. This still felt like an unresolved conversation she was standing in the middle of that neither knew how to approach. She'd always thought Annabeth talked to Percy about everything, but suddenly she wasn't so sure. Gabe? His constant doubts about her feelings? There was plenty she'd been witness to down here.

. . . sure good to be together again. Arguing. Almost dying. Oh, look. It's our floor."

"Someone get Grover a plasma knife already the way he cuts through you two's tension," Alex chuckled.

"I hate every implication in that sentence," Percy sighed. Why was someone giving Grover a knife? What was a plasma knife? Annabeth had a plenty good knife and it didn't do much to get rid of their tension.

...another golden burial shroud. I didn't know who. I didn't want to find out.

Will was so, so grateful that nobody stopped to turn to him and ask for a name. He'd had more than enough of it. His exhaustion was slowly seeping into something deeper the longer this dragged on.

..."You'll be up and fighting Titans in no time!" I told one camper.

"Might have worked on a Hunter," Thalia sniffed at his giving away all the good motivation.

"You guys had plenty of motivation to kill all the Y chromosome monsters as is," Percy shrugged.

"You look great," Annabeth told another camper.

"Bet you a donut that kid was on fire at some point," Magnus muttered, thinking how that would only cheer up some Aphrodite child. Alex sure wasn't taking that bet.

"Leneus turned into a shrub!" Grover told a groaning satyr.

"He has such a way with words," Will gave a dramatic sigh he wished he'd thought of something half as pleasant to say during all that.

"Really showing off why he's the best searcher over and over again," Jason nodded.

..."I can still fight with the other hand," he said, gritting his teeth.

Percy vividly remembered wanting to get a chain and tie him to that tree. He was pretty sure the spirit within might even help if he told who the request was from.

Pollux promised, and when he sat back down, I could tell he was kind of relieved.

"I bet he had to suspect the reason though," Will muttered. The amount of kids he'd passed all praying to their parents, in some cases just the god they hoped was their parent, had been a lot. Everybody knew Pollux was the only son of Dionysus, and the torrent of feelings it must have caused him to realize his dad had reached out to Percy for this 'personal favor' wasn't something to be fixed with ambrosia. Maybe that's why he'd refused any as he'd diligently assisted.

... Kronos would destroy the throne room, the center of the gods' power.

The place had never sat right in Jason's mind merely for Percy being in its existence in the first place. Every little letter he used to describe there had made an itching sensation all along him.

He considered the hunger to hear it all anyways unhealthy. Like craving something he knew he was allergic to. A part of himself knew he'd hate himself when he got the connecting cord back, making it all make sense. Until then he'd stuff himself on forbidden fruit and deal with the underworld of it all later.

... swam sadly in his sphere, letting out a half-hearted moo when he saw me.

Will wished he could spare a hug for the goddess and the half-cow-half-serpent. He'd had other priorities going on, but the idea of walking into this room and seeing such a sad scene just automatically made him want to open his arms in offering.

...Rachel focused on me as if coming out of a dream. "I found it. It's Pandora's jar, isn't it?"

"Rachel's uncanny ability to just be where I need her most, now with bottomless items, feels like a cheat from the universe," Percy said with the dull confidence of his limited gaming experience. He had one of those gut feelings he wasn't going to enjoy this coming conversation with her.

..."Please put down the jar," I said.

"Did it turn into a grenade?" Magnus asked in concern. He could never even be sure something was what Percy saw it as considering the mist. The spy had been revealed, obviously Rachel wasn't there to blow up Olympus on anyone's orders, but that didn't mean she might not do it of her own accord considering everything else going on.

"The jar itself was dangerous enough," Percy shook his head.

...She held out the jar, and I took it. The clay felt as cold as ice.

Something about that felt, mystic. Alex toyed with words in her mind, trying to place why something felt so deeply powerful about that exchange. Rachel felt, possessed. The way she'd been described was unnerving. Rachel was at the precipice of her story, and Percy watching from the outside couldn't begin to grasp all the intricate details within.*

...Annabeth elbowed him. "Right!" he yelped. "I love traps!"

"Who says you can't learn something new about friends you've had for years," Thalia chuckled.

"Now we need to know what kind of traps," Percy nodded solemnly. "I bet he'd love a good snare to help catch those pesky rabbits."

"Grover still won't consider eating his bullies Percy," Annabeth sighed.

"I've never tried rabbit to vouch if it's worth it anyways," he grinned.

... "I want you to meet someone." We sat next to the goddess.

"How long were those two just chilling in the same room without acknowledging each other?" Magnus asked. Yeah, it was a room for gods to be, so the place shouldn't have been able to get any stranger, but it still managed it.

"Given how perceptible Rachel is and how a goddess can be invisible if she wishes, nobody can ever properly guess," Nico shrugged.

...Rachel blinked. "You've been expecting me?"

Magnus could barely wrap his head around that. Being a mortal in a sea of demigods and having a goddess's undivided attention. Having the feeling, even for a second, that this god could look at her and see her as someone important with no attachment to her dad. It probably made her feel less like a freak given her sight.

He knew from personal experience it could be a very conflicting feeling, when your perspective on life kept being shaken around so you never knew which way to look at something normal anymore.

...I didn't know if Rachel saw the same images, but the tension went out of her shoulders.

She saw Percy, Annabeth thought with absolute confidence. Rachel saw the summer of them together, the times she spent with someone who made her feel normal and seen and alive. Annabeth did not think for a second she was just projecting she would have seen the exact same, it just made sense to her Rachel would too.

..."Wait," I said. "What is she talking about?"

"Percy does not understand," Jason oh so helpfully pointed out.

"Congrats on finally making note of something nobody else picked up on," Percy rolled his eyes.

..."Wait. Now I'm a distraction? Is this because I'm 'not the hero' or whatever?"

Annabeth wanted to yank on his ear and call him a seaweed brain so badly, and only restrained herself because Rachel didn't need her help explaining this to Percy. Still, she couldn't stop herself telling him, "you don't have to be the hero all the time Percy!"

She knew it wasn't his fault, he'd walked into Camp and had that placed on his shoulders mere days later, never to escape it until this coming birthday. She knew why he felt like it defined him in theory.

She still wanted to smack the idea out of his head eventually.

... Rachel just dumped me, which was lame since we'd never been together.

"Give the boy a cookie," Thalia chuckled.

"Glad someone around here admits when I can keep up," Percy sighed.

"Dumped is a strong word Percy," Will said bracingly. "More like she's moving on to other things without you."

"Not better Will," Percy shook his head. He wanted to be happy for her, of course, she always should have had the choice of deciding where her life was headed. He just wished he could be a part of it.

But as he took Annabeth's hand with confidence, he at least felt comfortable knowing which part he wanted. Maybe it was better this way. Rachel doing this now might have made him keep hesitating like a buffoon in that memory where Annabeth kissed him.

...'"Thanks for bringing me to Olympus. See ya'?" Rachel stared at the fire.

"That means yes," Jason was still oh so helpfully narrating to Percy to make sure he got all this.

"Thanks man, where were you when I needed an interpretation to all this?" Percy huffed.

Jason had a funny feeling it was in a vaguely similar situation. Lots of confusing feelings about girls, enemies on his doorstep, the entire world about to collapse if he didn't manage it all. Typical half-blood stuff.

...I wanted to complain that no, I wasn't even close to prepared.

Percy glanced over at the first book again. Instead of his life coming full circle, it felt like he'd never left that closet in Yancy where he'd once hid from Chiron and Grover. No clue what was going on, half terrified out of his mind, and still unprepared for the crazy test to come.

...Surrender whispered in my ear...your home will be destroyed. Your camp will burn.

"Yeah, anyone would lose in the face of all that Perce," Magnus promised. He wouldn't be surprised if the next sentence said he pressed his face into his knees and stayed there the rest of the battle.

"Minor god of the Lake of Despair has a pretty cool ring to it?" Alex offered in some kind of trade at the end of all this. Percy didn't seem to want to go for it for some reason.

Annabeth just shook her head at the pair. It was nice to realize that, though they knew Percy so well, she didn't have a moment of hesitation in knowing what came next. That Percy even considered giving up hope alone surprised her, even though she knew he'd never have gone through with it.

...If Olympus falls, he said, your own palace's safety doesn't matter.

Nico made a spluttering noise like he was drowning over there. Percy looked around in mild concern if he was supposed to do something about that.

As usual, Nico just seemed to be freaking out he'd been mentioned at all, so he was apt to let it go.

He'd never realize how much it still meant to Nico he was mentioned, in any kind of positive way, being included in Percy's reasons to keep fighting.

...came back in and stopped. I probably had a strange look on my face.

Annabeth wasn't entirely sure how she'd describe it if pressed, as Percy looked curiously at her now if she was going to. She wanted to call it, not hope, but the desire to hope. It made perfect sense now, hearing how he'd been thinking of his family, those he cared about most, and how he'd had a moment of weakness in giving in.

... "You're not going to do anything stupid, are you? I mean, you talked to Chiron, right?"

"Those two sentences mean nothing together," Alex scoffed, and it wasn't just her lack of faith in authority figures fueling those words.

"Chiron sent you on your first stupid quest," Magnus agreed at the lack of correlation.

"Eh," Jason said, waving his hand about like he was fifty-fifty on the matter.

Nico watched in amusement as the Campers seemed mildly offended his advice wasn't taken as law in them, but Thalia was suppressing a smile too, clearly still swallowing a laugh from Alex's comment.

She managed a faint smile. "You're worried about me doing something stupid?"

"Pot, kettle," Annabeth honestly agreed.

"Soup, hot tea," Percy grinned like they were playing a game.

"Seaweed brain," she chuckled.

"Wise girl," he was still grinning back.

..."Hestia," I said, "I give this to you as an offering."

"Well you did promise her more offerings," Jason grinned. "Glad to see you holding up to that."

"Does that count as giving up hope?" Magnus asked in concern.

"An offering doesn't necessarily mean giving up, just acceptance of something more happening," Thalia smiled.

..."I am the least of the gods. Why would you trust me with this?"

"Because she said that," Percy chuckled, as if he hadn't been confident enough in his decision before. A god who went around saying they weren't important? Oh yeah, good call Percy. He even gave himself a real pat on the back.

It was pretty hysterical to watch for the others and they couldn't even laugh at the sweet moment.

"You're the last Olympian," I said.

"What a dramatic way to phrase that, would have made a great title," Alex grinned. "So ominous, so captivating when you get to this explanation."

Percy was not the only one grateful these books had not come with titles all of a sudden. As if Alex needed more to blabber on about in the great mess that was his life.

..."Guard it for me, and I won't be tempted to give up again."

Percy had been out shopping with his mom once when he'd seen one of those silly plaques. Home is Where the Heart Is. Right next to one of those live, laugh, love things. He'd rolled his eyes and kept walking and carried all the groceries in one hand and the water on his shoulder up the stairs for her while she protested and made grabs for the bags the whole time as they laughed.

It wasn't hard to guess why his brain had offered up that specific memory as his heart brimmed with love and hope now that his confidence had been renewed with Annabeth and Grover coming back into the room. If Home is Where the Heart is, then he was homesick every time she wasn't there.

... I marched toward my father's throne.

"Neptune's?" Jason's voice came out a squeak of protest like he'd been turned into a gerbil. Percy would know.

"No man, Posideon, keep up," Percy grinned.

"But- you- hot seat..." Jason was struggling to look at him without swallowing.

"You can have my seat if you really want it," Percy shrugged.

"No!" Jason yelped. He didn't know why he was even surprised anymore. It was so, Percy. Was there any line this guy wouldn't cross?

"Well okay then, we're moving on," he chuckled.

...looked like a chair on a deep-sea boat...hunting shark or marlin or sea monsters.

Magnus made a disturbed face at the idea of sitting anywhere near that thing. Fish was a disgusting smell that lingered as far as he was concerned, and he'd never been fishing, nor was he sure he ever could again knowing Percy might hear their tiny screams.

...twenty feet tall, so I could just reach the edge of the seat if I stretched my arms.

"Annabeth didn't give you a boost up?" Thalia gasped.

"I'm about to cut off your head and spike it on Ares's throne," Percy scowled.

"He'd consider that a reward," Thalia scoffed.

"Help me up," I told Annabeth and Grover.

"Ah, there it is," Thalia continued grinning as if nothing had happened. "I was so concerned you were going to start ripping up the leather or something hauling your ass in. Even your dad might not forgive that. This is better."

"No! It's not!" Jason was still fighting off spasms in his hand like he wanted to put Percy in a headlock for even speaking of this.

He was being ignored. "Ah, Thals, I always knew you had my best interest at heart," Percy chuckled. "Okay, fine, lop off your head and sacrifice it to Hestia?"

"Getting warmer," she rolled her eyes.

... I mean like turn-you-into-a-pile-of-ashes don't appreciate it."

"What a shock to Percy this is I'm sure," Alex gasped as theatrically as possible. "Poor innocent Percy couldn't even fathom offending someone before all this!"

"I don't think anyone's ever called me innocent," Percy said in surprise. "Poor, sure, but even my mom's never called me that." He couldn't seem to decide if he was insulted or not.

Alex grinned with delight and nodded as if he'd thanked her anyways.

"I need to get his attention," I said. "It's the only way."

"We need to get you a cellphone," Will sighed. "Surely the gods owe us one that doesn't attract monsters! Your dad has to owe you a favor after all this so there are easier ways to get in contact with him in the future!" He didn't much like the idea of this blasphemous act either, even if he wasn't having a heart attack like Jason clearly was over Percy's newest stunt. Between him and Magnus, Will probably should have had an emergency pouch of ambrosia on hand this whole time.

"I could finally order my own pizza on quests," Percy grinned at this proposition. His mind flickered to Beckendorf with grief the guy couldn't even whip up a prototype. Maybe Tyson would like the challenge.

..."Well," Annabeth said, "this'll get his attention."

"So you're just done trying to talk him out of his crazy plans huh?" Jason's voice still squeaked just a bit as his vocal cords kept trying to cross in surprise while hearing of this.

"Never bothered to try," Annabeth shrugged, "he never gave me the chance. After all these years, I just sort of roll with it." A very large part of her mind had been wondering and calculating if his curse would prevent him from being blasted into kelp, but it hadn't been helping much.

They linked their arms to make a step, then boosted me onto the throne.

There was a quippy comment somewhere on Nico about booster seats and thrones never being a good match, but he didn't really have the heart. It was to admirable. Percy had no fear of his father in the slightest to openly address him.

I felt like a baby with my feet so high off the ground.

They could all easily imagine it too. Percy sitting in a highchair, swinging his feet around with blue food smeared all over his face. Probably something to do with that warm memory of Poseidon visiting him as a feisty tot.

... Why shouldn't he be the greatest of the twelve? Then I shook my head. Concentrate.

"I'd actually like to continue this train of thought," Alex grinned a diabolical look. How the God of the Ocean could be playing the long game to overthrow Zeus with his son at the spearpoint of it all.

"Please keep your theories to your head for now," Thalia sighed. She did not like to imagine the tipping point where she might see that as a good thing one day. She'd had a few close calls in her youth she already feared her father knew about.

...WHO DARES— The voice stopped abruptly.

"Percy dares," Magnus nodded without surprise, on the same level as a god. That was a new one.

... just those two words had almost blasted my mind to shreds.

Percy rubbed the side of his head while repressing a shiver. He'd wondered a lot down here if his dad had done this to him. That wasn't really making him feel better.

..."I'm sorry, Father," I said. "I needed to get your attention."

"And it worked," Annabeth said with a begrudging laugh how he always managed to do that.

... If I hadn't looked before I blasted, you would now be a puddle of seawater.

"Ah, the mystery is finally answered what he'd curse you into," Thalia nodded for a long answered query.

"Yeah, I was happier pretending my dad didn't do that so willy nilly," Percy sighed even though he knew better.

..."Is Tyson okay?" I asked. The question seemed to take my dad by surprise.

"This entire conversation is one surprise after another for him," Will assured as if Percy could be thinking anything else.

"Yeah, I seem to have that effect on the gods," Percy agreed in his own surprise after all these years.

...Though "peanut butter" is a strange battle cry.

"It's very unique," Alex grinned.

"Very Tyson," Nico agreed.

..."You let him fight?" Stop changing the subject!

"It's like you have some kind of attention disorder or something," Thalia chuckled.

"That I get from him, he can't be to mad," Percy sniffed. Annabeth had a pained look on her face for them mocking this. He was a god. He could be as mad as he wanted to.

...My palace will be destroyed. "And Olympus might be saved."

'Might be,' Will still shook his head at that. Percy had been running most of this on faith, luck, and friendship. No guarantees of survival. He really should be the hero everyone thought of first. He hoped the guy at least accepted a constellation before his death.

... The game room alone took six hundred years.

Annabeth actually had a look of sympathy on her face for a moment for his dad. It was nice, and something Percy was sure she'd deny if he pointed it out.

"Dad—" Very well! It shall be as you say.

"Only Percy," Jason said with a kind of deep, respectful awe in his voice Percy wasn't used to hearing when the guy was talking about anyone but the gods. It made him want to blush. His voice went gruff with more gratitude than attitude as he scoffed and brushed it off.

"And don't you forget it."

...The sound of a large explosion shattered our connection.

"I bet Amphitritie still thinks you're a useless stepchild," Thalia easily redirected his ire onto her. "Still holding her husband's attention even in the middle of battle Percy."

"Well at least it's nothing new," Percy shrugged.

...Steam was curling off me. The hair on my arms was singed.

"Now just imagine if you sat on Hepheastus's throne," Nico frowned. "Even one of his kids might not have lived through that unless they were made of pure fire."

"Sounds hot," Alex busted out laughing at her own pun.

"If you'd sat there any longer," Annabeth said, "you would've spontaneously combusted.

"Wasn't very spontaneous considering how long the conversation was," Percy frowned. "I had a whole mini question about Tyson."

"Yes, that was the important part about a sentence involving the word combustion," Annabeth sighed.

"Average day in my life," he reminded as he kissed the back of her hand. "I know you can do better."

...Thalia marched in, her bow snapped in half and her quiver empty.

"Which I'm guessing she was totally fine with and not about to kill the next person who annoyed her," Alex said oh so innocently, before coughing, "Percy."

"I had bigger monsters to fry, otherwise you'd be right on the money," she chuckled.

..."The enemy is advancing. And Kronos is leading them."

"At some point, this has to stop ending on that like it's dramatically new we're all about to die, right?" Annabeth sighed as she passed the book to Thalia.

"I'll let you know," she promised.

PJOPJOPJOPJO

*I personally believe this is symbolic of Racehl giving up hope of fighting against being the next Oracle in this exchange, but it's just a slice of headcannon I couldn't work into the characters. None of them know her that well or have a clue when/ what her motivations really are except Percy