Chapter Nine: More Explanations and The Fall of the Greeks

Point of view: Perseus Jackson

The next morning

"Perseus." I hear someone whisper. 

I open my eyes slowly and stare at the ceiling. "Death today." I whisper. 

"Who?" I look over to see Artemis. 

"Greek." I murmur. 

"Oh." She says. "A dream or just anticipation of today's events?" 

"Both. You look happy this morning." I comment. 

"I feel my sisters. Are they truly here?" She asks hopefully and a little excited. 

I nod and she squeals, hugging me tightly. "Why are you still in bed if they are here?" 

"I was waiting for you." She answers cheerily. 

"How long have you been up waiting for me?" I wonder. 

"Only a few minutes." She tells me. 

"How do you feel?" I ask. 

"Great." She smiles. 

I sit up and get out of bed. I dress quickly and she follows me out the door in some silver day gown she found in the dresser. "It's early. Are they used to being up this early in the morning?" I ask. 

"I have not yet adjusted to the time here. And there is no sun or moon to help me. What time is it?" She asks. 

"There is no time here. Just morning, afternoon, evening, and night. Trying to tell time here is like trying to catch the wind with the world. It is impossible. By best estimate for you would be around five. That is all I can give you." I explain. 

"Oh, some of them are up and about at this time." She answers thoughtfully. 

"They might be adjusting to my blessing and the atmosphere. You did it quickly because of your being a goddess. They are mortals and demigods that have immortality." I tell her. 

"Partial immortality anyways. They can die in battle." She tells me sadly. 

I don't answer and go to the kitchen. She takes notice of my look. "What is it?" 

"They aren't partially immortal anymore." I whisper as I move around getting ingredients. 

"What do you mean?" She asks in confusion. 

"My blessing made them immortal. You and the gods were unaffected. The minor gods don't have it. They are with my mother. She keeps them stable in this place." I tell her. 

"Did you tell them yet?" She asks me concerned. 

"No. I have not." I say. 

I hear a yawn come from the living room on the second floor, descending footfalls on the stairs, and then padding to the kitchen as I move around. One of them has awoken. "My lady!" The person exclaims. 

I glance back to see Phoebe hugging Artemis and I start making the food. 

"Are you alright?" Phoebe asks her. 

"Of course. Why wouldn't I be?" Artemis replies. 

"Lord Apollo said the man who came and took you with him was angry with you and wasn't adamant on protecting you until he had to due to an oath on the Styx. Now you're married." Phoebe explains. 

"Oh, I see. Remember a few years ago? What I told you?" Artemis asks. 

I start to make more food and hear the others start to move around, the sounds of restless waking. "Yes, I completely forgot." Phoebe answers and sighs. "And this is the man you chose? Is he the same man who brought you here?" 

"Indeed. He brought me here." Artemis replies. 

"Why him?" Phoebe asks befuddled. 

"My past and my former self led me to accept my father's offer. As to why she was unopposed is another matter. It still confuses me." I answer before Artemis can. 

"Why are you still here?" Phoebe asks irritated. 

"Must I remind you that you are in my home, you survive with my blessing, my mother had me reunite you and your sisters with Artemis, and I am making you all food so you don't starve. The only thing here to hunt are monsters and I doubt you want to eat them. Disrespect me all you wish, but I will not be kicked out of my house." I tell her without turning from my task. 

"Oh. Sorry." She says. 

"Don't worry about it. I just do not like the concept of being thrown out of my own home by people I have not yet offended and hardly have had contact with. I merely am here to protect you as my wife wills. It extends from my oath to her. Both of them at any rate." I say. 

"And what are you making?" Artemis asks. 

"Nothing special. It's just food. I don't know if you'll like it because I made it or not or if they'll even trust I didn't do anything to it. So, I'm not going to tell them until after they've are it. I hope you don't mind." I reply. 

"Not at all. Your food is really good." Artemis compliments me. 

My hands still and I look over my shoulder. "It's something I learned a long time ago. And from someone who really didn't care after I disappeared. Like I was erased from history and knowledge. I became a ghost of the past and only now have I resurfaced. Consider it something I am relearning for your sake. You've had some unrealistic affect on me. I am unused to being human. It's a different concept for me altogether." I turn back to what I am making. They can't see over my shoulder or around my frame. 

"Who taught you?" Phoebe asks. 

"My former mother. I believe she and her husband moved to Arizona last I cared. Or whoever told me at any rate. I don't venture out into the mortal world all that much. I normally never leave the Pit. It is all I really know." I answer. 

"What about Lady Artemis? Is she allowed to leave? Are we?" She asks. 

"Of course. I will not keep you here. Nothing will bother you. Not even my brothers. They wouldn't dare cross me. I'm not someone you want to take lightly. I'm too frightening for my own good and it scares everyone to death." I tell her. 

"How do we leave?" Artemis asks. 

"Use my blessing." I answer simply. 

"We are tied to you now. It feels strange." Phoebe comments. 

"Probably because of whack am compared to what Artemis is." I say. 

"How do you mean?" Phoebe asks. 

"Artemis is a goddess, a completely different race than what I am. I am a Primordial." I answer. 

"Erebus?" Phoebe questions nervously. 

I chuckle darkly. "No, I am not one commonly known. Forget trying to name me. I haven't always been a Primordial. I was once a demigod. Well known by many, especially my old enemies. It has been awhile." 

"What demigod?" Phoebe asks. 

"I was sentenced to this place eleven years ago. Ready to die and brought back because my time was not yet over. And now I shall live forever." I answer and turn so I can look her straight in the eyes. 

She looks confused, then intelligence passes through her eyes, making her cover her mouth. "You were wrongly justified. I remember when Artemis came back that day. She was devastated and Thalia wouldn't do a thing. Not even her love for you made her think to help you. She gave up. I still remember her always talking about you. And how Artemis thought of you." 

I smirk. "Yes, my love for others is unequal. But others love for me is easily broken. It's the reason I am always destined to have a tragic ending. But that was when I was a hero. I'm no longer a demigod and my ties cannot be broken now unless by me. I don't care what I do to a lot of people. It's why I'm so terrifying to many and why it's so hard to get close to me. But you have a shortcut. Artemis." I turn back to finish the last of a lot of omelets. 

It's silent for a while and I set the plates down on the table with the food on them while I set mine in the fridge. I leans gainer the counter they sit at, my back to them. I hear small footsteps all along the second floor and then they flow down the staircase. They enter the dining room and I hear mutters of confusion. Artemis and Phoebe to join them and I hover in the doorway. 

"Girls." Artemis says. 

"My lady!" Several of them about and they all run to her. Most of them hug her and the others chatter excitedly at her. She giggles along with them, making me smile and I go back to the kitchen. 

I take out my food and eat it, drinking what I normally do. Monstrous I know, but an almost unbreakable habit. Since Artemis is now fine with it, I'll just conceal the contents of it from sight to make her feel a little better.

"Will you come here?" Artemis calls, speaking in a regular tone. I snap my fingers quietly and my empty plate and glass wash themselves and put themselves away. 

I walk over to the doorway and lean against the frame. The hunters tense up and won't look at me. "What did you need?" I ask. 

"Thanks for the meal...Percy." Thalia murmurs. 

"Yeah, my pleasure." I tell her and turn. 

"Will you join us?" Artemis asks kindly. 

"Is that wise?" I ask without looking. 

"We have to get used to you sometime. And you don't look that scary." Atalanta says. 

I smile a little even though they can't see it. "Not too scary, huh? Then what do I look like in your eyes?" 

"The freaking vision of demonic alluring you see on television." A hunter mutters. 

I snort. "That's what's on these days? Wow, didn't know that." 

They all freeze. "How did you hear me?" She asks quietly. 

"My senses are far better than anyone else's. Not much gets past me. I heard you talk about me the whole entire time. I just choose to ignore it. It's a practice I suppose I'll have to get used to to give you your privacy." I reply and walk over to stand next to Artemis. 

"When are you leaving today?" Artemis asks me shyly. 

"As soon as I know everyone won't die, of course I'm not opposed to Apollo dying today. I'm not too happy with him right now." I answer. 

"We'll stay here. What all is there to do?" Artemis replies. 

"I don't suggest you go outside for a little while. Try the basement." I tell her. "Get yourself out from behind that wall before I throw you out of my house, sun god." I don't look as I tell Apollo. 

Apollo comes out from behind the wall of the other entrance behind me and stands on the other side of his sister. "You really do have heightened senses." He grumbles. 

"Yes, as I have repeated many times since the arrival of your sister. It is getting tedious. I can see a very far length away, hear clear up to five levels away from this place, smell every minuscule scent in the air around me, and feel every fiber of anything near me. I can unmake you with a snap of my fingers." I tell him. 

Apollo pales. Hestia, Hera, and Demeter walk in in the middle of a conversation. Hestia smiles warmly at me and walks straight to me. "It is nice to see you are well taken care of for where you live." She tells me. 

I try a smile for her and her answering smile is brighter, it must not look that bad then. "Yes, my mother and father love it when I am around and I them. My brothers are very hard to keep an eye on and I am the only normal sized one they have. I can go to my Primordial height like my father chooses to do, but my mother likes it when I am closer to her height. She is very sweet. You'd like to get to know her. She's not as evil as we all once thought. I advise you don't talk to my father as of right now. Sparing Apollo will make him murderously enraged at me." 

"Why at you?" Apollo asks. 

"You have no idea just how important you are do you? It burns me that you take it so easily despite your intelligent demeanor behind that mask of yours. I don't care how hard it is after all these years of seeing everything that has come to pass or it is supposed to. You could see to the end of time itself and yet you wouldn't care. You are too shortsighted. I know the outcome of this war and I've ensured the future of those I need to have ensured. The rest will fall into place. But you, you don't care one single bit about anything. Especially now that your sister is safe. How about getting some courage and try to do something for yourself rather than letting fate happen. I changed it when I came into being. I made choices that defied the Destiny set in place for me. I was supposed to die, not be able to move when Luke first tried to kill me. I pushed past it and got to help. I was supposed to die so many times, but I persevered because I could. I didn't throw in the towel. My father wanted you dead because you can turn a tide, an important deciding factor in any war, your children are important, and you are one heir to the Olympian throne. Artemis is before you and she's married to me. I'm the heir to the Pit. My saving you, results in my father being upset and you are in his domain. Watch where you step. Don't go outside. You have my minor blessing, not my full one." I get in his face. 

"Which blessing did we get?" Thalia asks. 

"My full one. You are all immortal now." I answer and move away from Apollo. 

"What?" Phoebe asks and rises from her chair. 

"You are fully immortal. You cannot perish in battle. I can reform you without pain because you are tied to me. It's like dreaming once I find you and you have the choice on whether or not to fade." I answer. 

"How do we have a choice?" Atalanta asks in shock. 

"Better yet, how do you know?" Thalia asks seriously. 

I turn halfway and she tries to take back her words at my pained face. "I-you don't-" 

I cut her off in a whisper, "Before I changed, before I turned to those I once called foe, I was ready to leave this world. Forced," I say. "Into immortality by your father, child of the sky. He took away my voice so I could not defend myself." She looks horrified. "As I fell, I begun to feel empty inside. My ties of loyalty pained me to keep. When I landed, Tartarus was the one who greeted me when I came out of that mud pile I fell into. He brought me to Owen Dabastor and Kronos. I couldn't speak, and I realized there was no point in living and that being immortal, I had the ability to fade and not go to the Underworld or reform in Tartarus in death." They all intake breath sharply and look at me. "I...snapped every single tie I had in my soul. To fade without losing power, I cut my everlasting string, my soul. I should have been left to die. But Tartarus reconnected my soul and I was taken into a dark place where I stayed for ten years." They stare even longer and the room has gone freezing cold due to Hestia. "That's when I knew I didn't have any need to be loyal to Olympus anymore. I lost the blood in my veins and gained new blood. I am truly a son of Earth and Pit. Reborn as who you see. The Perseus Jackson you knew was human, normal, and kind. He is buried so deep within my soul, I don't know if I can bring him out. The person I became is monstrous, terrifying." They try to see a difference in anything other than my appearance warily. "I am designed to draw you in and then take your life. Like a beautiful flower that only desires to kill you. The beautiful things are always the most disastrous. It's the reason I'm always there on the front lines. Because I'm deadly and even my radiated presence in the air draws you in. My purity." 

"You admit to being beautiful?" Apollo scoffs. 

I just look at him with this ancient look. "When I was reborn, I was given an explanation of what it was like to be near me. What I could do without lifting a finger. I've built on that over the years. Just by looking at you, I can break your neck." They all freeze. "Gaea, when she became my mother," They all inhale and wait for it. "The explanation she gave me was the one I just told you. I gave you the same explanation she gave me when I began anew. I am the ultimate predator. I can hunt down anything, I can draw even the most wary into my range, and I can act like I have no interest up until the moment I kill you. Deadly and beautiful. Lightning fast and overwhelmingly strong. I don't refer to myself as anything of the sort. I repeated words once said to me. Tartarus was ecstatic at how I turned out. He figured I would turn into something else, but I retained my original form and my countenance changed. I shrunk to the height of a regular human male for my mother's preference." 

"Oh." Is all Apollo manages. 

"I never asked for this, I never asked for anything. But now I see that living because of my father was the right path for me to take. So, I'm still here. I don't complain. And I certainly like the choices I have made. I'm going to win this war for my parents no matter what it takes." I tell him and then turn all the way around to face Thalia. "When I started to fade, I felt two things. One, I felt it was right and that I deserved to rest. I finally had a chance to live without troubles or fear of those few moments of relief. But, I felt something else. Something that contradicted the fairness of it all. I felt like I was giving up, and it felt wrong because something wasn't finished and it required me to happen. I was ready to leave the world, but the world wasn't ready to lose me. I don't know why. I asked Tartarus why he brought me back, and then I wondered why I was still needed. The moment I accepted his offer, I knew what I was needed for. So I felt right and I felt wrong. Terribly so both ways. Torn. Right for being given what I most deserved and wrong because I would always be needed and giving up just wasn't me. But there was a reason I wanted to die. I was wrongly justified. To do that to someone like me, it does something. Opens some door that should never be opened and it changed the threads of fate. I was never meant to be who I am now. Zeus's decision caused his own downfall, just like his father. But now, Zeus's children aren't dethroning him, his own father and older beings are. Lieutenant, it may not be so long for you and even less for someone like me, but I feel old. Even before I became immortal, I felt old. Used up. This world has made me older than I should be." I smile a little. 

I leave the room and flash away to my father. I knew he was expecting me. "Apollo?" He asks in a controlled tone. 

"Yes." I say and put my hand on my sword. 

"Why?" He growls. 

I move to the side. "The world would die without the light of the sun. Though, I agree he needs to die for particular reasons. I cannot help that he provides life to the world." 

"Did your mother put you up to this? Your wife?" He asks. 

"Mother thought it was a good idea, but she did not send me to do it." I tell him. 

"And your wife?" Tartarus snarls. 

"Wanted me to do it and begged me to spare him, her idea but not out of an intelligent reason. Her bond to him." I say. 

"And whose idea was it that gives you the thought to defy your father? The one who gave you your life that you so enjoy." Tartarus asks, far past rage. 

"I do not want to get them hurt. They were right and you know that. Without Apollo, there would be no world to rule." I try to reason with him. 

"You know what he can do!" Tartarus yells. 

"And I know what I am capable of!" I counter him. 

He pins me against the wall by my throat. "So do I. I know the one thing that hurts you the most." 

"I don't care. Do it. It's only fleeting. It passes as soon as you touch it." I growl. 

"I can make it hurt far longer." He gets in my face. 

"It burns me to think I had to spare him." I tell him angrily. 

"Have you grown soft?" He asks. 

"No." I snap. 

"Then why spare him, even if there was good reason?" His fist tightens around my throat. 

"Father?" Oceanus comes in. 

"Leave." I tell him and he does, fearing what's going on. "You know why. I would have done it, had the point not been made. I would have enjoyed killing him. I still want him to die. I want to rip him apart. But I will not. He can die just as easily down here." 

"And what happens if he escapes?" Tartarus makes my throat turn purple. 

"He won't. He can't even fight in the war. He can't support anyone. I made him swear. He's able to leave, but unable to do anything against us." I tell him. 

"Why haven't you defended yourself?" He looks down at my hand still on my sword. 

"Mother." I tell him. 

He seems to finally realize she's in a corner of the room and turns to look at her. He releases me and I remove my hand from my sword. Gaea's walks up to me and hugs me. I wrap my arms around her. "I'm sorry." I whisper to her. She shakes her head, which is buried into my shoulder. Tartarus gives me this look and I know he wants to be alone with her. I remove her arms from around me and guide her into my father's. I walk out of the room and shut the door. I lean against it and Oceanus comes over. 

"Is everything alright?" He asks. 

"I spared the sun god." I answer. 

He scowls. "Why's that?" 

"There would be no war, no world, no light without him. No one else can hold the sun. The extra was Artemis being happy. Other than that, I want to kill him. Enough said on that point." I tell him. 

"Your neck." He nods at me. 

"Fine." I tell him without looking at the blackened skin. 

"Dad's touch is very painful when he's like that." Oceanus shudders. 

I chuckle. "Maybe to you." 

"Masochist." Oceanus spits. 

"Pretty much." I grin at him. 

"I knew there was something about you." He shakes his head with an amused smile. 

"If Kronos had gotten to me before I reached camp, I would have turned to something like this earlier. I could have been evil. And Olympus could have fell sooner than later. All because they bonded with me first. I was too young and too unaware to know better." I tell him. 

"So, are you going to go to the camp now?" Oceanus asks excitedly. 

I laugh. "Yes. Tell dad I'll be back and I'll accept whatever punishment he deems fit. I've got people to take out." 

He nods and I flash away. 

I stand at the top of the hill that is the entrance to the place I once called home. "It has fallen so far since I last saw it." I muse. 

The conch born blows three times and I see the remaining immortal campers; Nico, Hazel, Frank, Jason, Piper, Leo, and Clarisse; flash in to the front lines in full battle armor. All fancied up. I roll my eyes at that. 

"So what should we do?" The Minotaur huffs. 

The monsters are edging closer and itching to tear the Greeks apart. I place my hand on the magical border, and with the closing of my fist, shatter the magical barrier. "Finish the far too long delayed process." I reply. "Leave no survivors." I order and they all charge, the 147 demigods looking terrified at the mass amount of monsters pouring into the valley. I walk over to the Golden Fleece and take it. Peleus looks at me sadly. I cut his throat and make him fade so he doesn't have to reform in agony. 

I stride right into the mess and meet the immortal campers in the back. "Not like you to hide behind children, last I recall. Of course, we've all changed a little since you last saw me. What happened to your pride? Lose it?" I taunt them. 

They all look pale and Jason steps forward. "You're my brother, if they would have let me, I would have gone to the Pit to save you." 

I bellow with laughter. "That's funny, because they showed me how you all moved on so easily. It takes a lot to voluntarily venture into that place and it takes a lot more to stay sane to keep others together. But you, you don't have the gall to go near an entrance to that place again." 

"We still love you." Piper pleads. 

"Oh no, you don't know what love really is. At least, not outside of your husband." I glance in between her and Jason. "It's not love you feel, but guilt. Because you didn't do anything before or after. Didn't attempt to revoke the sentence. But you knew it was too late." I chuckle darkly. "It's what separated and still creates a huge gap between me and everybody else. I would have reentered that hell and saved you without giving a heartbeat's thought of indecision. But, you're not like that. None of you are. Too afraid of the consequences to. I would have spited Zeus, resulting in my own punishment. But I wouldn't have cared. But alas, you're to frightened. Like a little girl." 

"You have to understand." Leo tries. 

"I understand perfectly. You have always blamed me for Calypso, but it's not my fault. I tried. But the same man who dealer me injustice, defied something he swore solemnly to do a while before he sent me away. And where is she now? Have you even tried? No. You've ignored your promise. I intended to fill mine. They made me believe she was freed and mislead me. I had to go get her myself. And you know, she's happier where she is now." I counter. 

Nico whispers, "And why kill us?" 

"Ah, Nico di Angelo. And you are the one who feels the most guilty of all. And why is that?" I turn my attention to him. The screams around us music to my ears while they all cringe. 

"Because I knew." He says too quietly. 

"It would seem so." I smirk. "You knew that they found out. That my father turned against me. That they were going to kill me but my father begged for me to live, even if I was imprisoned. But I got a far worse sentence than that. Straight to the deity of the Pit himself. I could have escaped had I known. And you knew exactly where I landed, what you could have done to help me, and when you could have done it. But after a while, you lost track of me. Because I cut you off. You're too weak and you always have been. Powers mean nothing if you don't have the mind or the will to wield them." 

He wilts and drops to his knees in shock. "Percy?" Hazel asks. 

"Nothing whatsoever, Hazel Levesque. Not a single shred." I answer her unspoken question. 

"What would Annabeth say?" Frank asks me desperately. 

"Oh, she would never forgive me." I cackle. 

"Then why?" Clarisse asks. 

"I lost my last connection to her after I fell. I don't have that left to keep you alive." I tell her gently. I'm right in front of her in less than a second. I grab her chin and make her look at me. "You see," I turn her head to the side. "I have no problem killing you. No remorse of the end result. It would fill me with glee to see you cold and bloody and lifeless on the ground. It might even make you more beautiful, in my opinion at least. Red does make you look striking. Your late father's color, no?"

She screams and starts crying. "You killed him." She sobs. 

"Yes, I did." I let go of her face and she turns into Frank. "He'll be reforming soon. I promised him I would visit him when I got the chance. We will be very good friends for the rest of eternity. He will never see the light of day again. And neither will any of you. You won't be fading, my brothers want some...quality time with you." I look at them all. "The women especially. I do not condone it, but I will not defy another of my father's orders. I am to let him oversee your time in the Pit. Though I expect to see all of you a lot over the years." 

"That's sick." Jason gags. 

"I completely agree." I nod. "But as I said, I cannot help you. I'm only following orders." I draw my blade. "So, I'll see you in Tartarus." I grin evilly and Jason barely manages to block my blow on pure instinct. His eyes widen and laugh as I overwhelm him. 

I pin him to the ground and take out one of my knives. I drive it into his skull and he shimmers as his essence goes to Tartarus to reform. Piper screams and I take her out easily. Then Leo, Clarisse, Hazel, and Frank. I turn to Nico, who is still on his knees. "So it comes to you at last." I smile amused. 

He stands up slowly and walks right up to me. "I'm sorry." 

"I know. But that's not good enough. And it will never be." I tell him and make him look at me. 

"You're married." Is all he says and he won't look me in the eye. 

"To Artemis. Yes, I am. Is there anything else you'd like to say to me? I'll see you sometime later. Most likely after the war is over." I reply. 

"I'm sorry." He whispers. 

"You keep saying that. But no matter how many times you say it, it will never make a difference." I pat his cheek. 

"Is there anything else I can say?" He asks depressed. 

"Yes." I tell him. 

"What then?" He asks bitterly. 

"I'll let you figure that one out. But you've got plenty of pain filled time to think it over. I'm sure it might help distract you for what they all want to do to you. The monsters always want to tear into Underworld spawn. Something about how they love getting pieces of you that make you so much more delicious than the others. The darkness I assume. Or maybe it's the power over the dead and evil. Whatever the case, I'm sure you'll see what I mean." I tell him and run him through. 

As he fades away, I look around to see the monsters looting, killing, eating, burning, smashing, and jus wreaking havoc of what's left of the Greek encampment. 

The Minotaur comes up to me. "You look like you had fun." He comments. 

"The fun has just begun, old friend." I pat his shoulder and he huffs excitedly. "Go enjoy yourself. I'm going home. Make sure everything is taken care of. I know you can handle that." 

He roars and charges off. I flash into the room where my father is. 

I'm slammed against the wall again. "Any kind, huh?" Tartarus asks. 

"Yes, father." I answer submissively. 

He grins. "Good." 

I walk into the building that was my prison for ten years and he rips into me. But when I don't stop laughing, he reaches into my soul and grabs onto it. He makes his touch bleed into it and it hurts more than anything. The one thing I can't stand. And he knows it too. He makes me relive my worst moments. When I lost Annabeth, when I was betrayed, and the ten years I spent in this place before I joined him. 

I gasp as he lets go and he lets me drop to the floor. I cough as my breath comes back to me and he crouches down in front of me. He makes me look at him. "You're so much like me. It makes me so proud. Shall we do this again sometime?" He asks. 

I cough up blood and he smiles. "Of course, father." I reply. 

He pulls me into a hug and then leaves me on the floor as my soul heals over. Gaea comes in and sits next to me. "You enjoy pain so much. You are starting to like even that punishment." She touches my cheek with her cool hand. 

"Sickening, I know." I chuckle darkly. 

She giggles. "Perhaps, but you are your father's son." She kisses my cheek as I sit up. 

"I'm yours too." I whisper and hug her close. 

"I know. It's why you are more level headed than he is." She laughs.