Life was simple and calm, it was the best it could get for a demigod. There was no war to be fought, no betrayal or death, and there was no god trying to use their children. By the way I'm saying this, I make it seem like it happens often, that's because it does. There's always been something, a war, a betrayal, a god, always something.

  My name is Perseus Jackson, now, don't get frightened by the idea of gods, they aren't the ones to be afraid of. There's monsters, Primordials, and worst of all, Tartarus. While I know that those are all beings worthy of being feared, the most fearsome thing out there, the people you surround yourself with. It can all slowly lead to inevitable grief, betrayal and heartbreak. I've had my fair share of being backstabbed and tossed around, I can gladly say I've had enough of this demigod life. Now, I'm not saying I hate my life or anything along the sorts, I find it better than my child hood.

"Percy?" A voice said in a slightly harsh whisper, looking at me with intense, grey eyes that everyone compares to a storm, which is true, a calculated storm. My wise girl, the daughter of Athena. Annabeth, the girl I jumped into Tartarus for. I shook my head, smiling at her, looking back at the ground ahead of us.

"Yeah?" I asked, after giving her a glance, staring ahead of me, like I was waiting for the ground to cave in with even a slight bit of pressure. By the time I looked up, I realized that we weren't anywhere near where we were before, and Annabeth hand long since sat down at the creek, the border for capture the flag on Friday's.

"Are you okay?" She asked me worriedly after a while of silence, and I nodded, sitting beside her calmly. She didn't seem to believe me, and I didn't blame her for it, I was quiet, lost in my own head.

"Yeah, something feels off but I can't place it." I hummed, wrapping my arm around her waist as she leaned against me comfortably. It was maybe an hour until we decided to head back and face our responsibilities, we both just need a break every once in a while, or at least I do. Sometimes she just sits out because she realizes how stressed I get, I'm not to sure.

What was only 20 minutes felt like years, I couldn't seem to focus. Days were starting to blur together, nothing stood out, conversations were the same, just different words used, every spar was the same, same few jabs and some other techniques. "Wise girl?" I asked on our way back, we travelled father than intended, but I had no trouble with that.

"Yeah seaweed brain?" She asked me, looking back to realize I stopped walking, and she suddenly looked worried. "What's wrong?" She asked again, reading my face.

"I don't want to stay at camp." I said bluntly, and she looked shocked. "I don't want to go to college in Rome this fall either. I'm sick of every day just being the same and blending together." I sighed, but her face made me wish I never spoke up, and I should have just kept my mouth shut.

"What are you talking about? This life is better than a war!" Annabeth said in slight shock. She was trying to process what I said, it was obviously, her eyes were calculating, thinking of anything to say, to convince me otherwise. "This is our home!" She said incredulously. Every hope I had that this conversation would end well vanished, and I didn't want to continue.

"Never mind." I sighed, and continued walking, quickly getting ahead of her. Now more than ever I wanted to get back to responsibilities and mind numbing paperwork. As soon as we were back in plain sight, I calmly walked to my cabin, like nothing was bugging me. Lately, I've always been upset, not depression, I don't think I should call it that when I have no real reason to be sad. Conflicted, maybe? Yeah, conflicted. Guilt ate up at me while I thought, I shouldn't be upset, my life is perfect, I got a great girlfriend and great friends, I'm safe. But while my mind came up with things I should be happy about, I also thought about what I should be sad about. The deaths, the betrayals, the ways, my past, my guilt. This list for things I should be sad about was longer than what I should be happy about, and it only made it worse.

Lunch passed, I didn't leave my cabin. It was time for me to train with newer campers, I never left my cabin. Soon it was time for me to start on paperwork, I never even got off my bunk. Dinner time was when I started hearing knocks on my door, and by the end of dinner, the knocks turned to constant hitting to even trying to knock the door down. My limbs were numb, my eyes were heavy, but my mind was racing far to much for me to finally fall asleep. When it was time for the campfire, I finally sat up, leaning against the wall and stared ahead of me, the thoughts quieting down.

"Percy?" I heard a call from outside my door, opening my mouth seemed impossible, so I hummed, letting whoever was outside know I was still breathing. I heard the door knob twist, obviously they picked the lock, and I looked, seeing Leo, who only looked confused. "That lock was stupidly hard to pick." He huffed to himself, before looking at me, looking slightly worried, but mostly awkward. "You good?" He asked me, and I nodded.

"Uh yeah." I gulped, holding in the wave of emotions that's been being built up all day. Luckily, the loud yell was enough of an interruption, and we all ran out. The sky was dark, the stars were shining brightly, but flashlights were shining brighter. Many shouts were heard, but it died down almost as quickly as it happened. "What happened?" I asked as I pressed through the heavy crown. When I finally reached the centre of the circle, I saw a few slightly bloody campers, only a few cuts, and a man standing, a couple inches taller than me, maybe an inch taller than Jason.

   "Why am I here?" He asked himself, fixing his suit and looking around, until his eyes landed on me. "Fuck." He grumbled, and I was astonished. He and I were very similar in looks, he just looked much older, maybe a half brother? "What's the date today?" He asked me, almost worriedly, "no, what year, probably a better question." He hummed.

    "2011?" I said questionably, we finished fighting Gaea a while ago, but it still feels like yesterday.

  "Damn, 9 years back." He hummed. "I'm from the future, I'm just older Percy." He said, but he looked around, almost bitterly at the camp.

  "Why are you dressed up?" Annabeth asked older me curiously.

   "I became a lawyer, I fight off most abuse cases." He said calmly, before looking at me, "it was a dare." Older me laughed. "But I'm pretty good at it, I enjoy it." He sighed.

  "Wouldn't being in the mortal world put you in danger?" Somebody asked, and I turned to see Piper, who was shocked, and curious obviously.

  "For me, no, I got disowned a good 8 years ago in my time." Older me shrugged.

"Why?" Annabeth started.

  "Hold up, am I the only one confused about the medical mask your wearing?" Leo asked, and it was true, older me wore a medical mask, and wore medical gloves as well.

   "To answer Annabeth first, it was because I left camp without anybodies knowledge, because I was mentally ill, not that I had realized it at the time, Sally recommended going to therapy for a bit and suddenly I was diagnosed with depression. Poseidon didn't like the idea of me abandoning the demigod world but he didn't want to put me a risk, so he disowned me." He stated, and I was surprised.

  "And the mask?" Hazel butted in, and older me nodded mostly to himself.

  "Yeah, 2020 has been a rough year, deadly global pandemic, covid-19, some person decided to eat a bat." Older me scoffed, and I was confused.

  "Deadly?" I asked worriedly and he nodded. "What else has happened in 2020?" I asked curiously and he rubbed his neck.

  "Wild fires, police brutality, some famous people died, people like to say that made 2020 worse, killer hornets, protests, plane crashes, almost started World War 3, a volcano about to erupt, we had a pretty bad president, who had an impeachment trial, but the election passed and I personally like the new guy better, economy is collapsing, uh should I continue?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

  "I'm curious, keep going." Chiron trotted up, surprising older me, who gulped.

  "The whole world went into lockdown, there are protests about Black Lives Matter, defund the police, probably more, but I usually avoid getting involved." He gulped, "there have been cases of Ebola coming back, oil prices fell, theres states going into code red lock down, and there's a few more things but not at the top of my head." Older me claimed, rubbing his neck.

   "How many cases of covid-19?" Will asked,

  "In early November, over 50 million." He sighed sadly, "Sally had gotten the virus a few months back, she had a tumour, and she passed." He said, looking at me sadly, "I'm sorry." He said to me.

  "What did you do?" Clarisse asked with a raised eyebrow.

  "Hold up, I'm gonna sit down before I go explaining, 9 years is quite a bit." Older me said, sitting on a log, and gestured for me to sit beside him, and I did, although I was a bit hesitant.

   "What made you leave?" I asked him, and he seemed to think about it for a minute, looking at the campfire.

    "I was sick and tired of each day blending together. I think I brought I up once, with Annabeth, if I remember correctly, she shot down the idea pretty quickly." He chuckled. "I spent the entire day in my cabin, I skipped lunch, training, paper work, dinner, almost skipped campfire, but something very similar to this happened." He gestured slightly.

  "Percy, isn't that what you did today?" Annabeth looked at me, almost accusingly, although I know she didn't mean that in the tone. All I could do was nod, numbly.

  "I remember the thoughts I had, I had no reason to be depressed. I had friends and family, everyone around me was great," and he was about to continue.

  "But the list of reasons to be upset was longer than the list of reasons to be happy." I said, and he nodded. Everyone seemed to be in shock when I said that.

  "The past weighed to much on our shoulders," he said, referring to both him and I, "there were so many secrets and memories, all behind a locked door that we tried to forget. I've long since healed, and I'm quite open about everything now." He said, looking at me, like I was a kid. "I've healed from many years of abuse as a kid, I've healed from the wars and battles, I've healed from everything." He claimed.

    "How?" I asked, and it almost felt like no one else was there. I need answers, I can't keep bottling this up, it hurts. I looked at my lap, holding back tears

   "After my attempt to take my life, it was when I was still at camp, and if you said that you hid today, that means it would have been tomorrow, it was Chiron, who found me, I stole some pills from the infirmary, and I tried to overdose." He explained, not like he was ashamed, but not proud either, like he was healed from it.

  "You were, suicidal?" Jason gulped, looking at both older me and I. I shook my head, I hadn't thought about taking my life, not since I was very young.

  "No, uh, I didn't want to take my life, I wanted to see all my old friends again. Something happened that day that triggered me, I had gotten a phone call, through the camps throne, none of you guys will recognize the name, at least I don't think, Gabe."

   "What!" I said in shock, and it seemed to surprise everyone, how alarmed I was. "No, that's impossible, he died." I said, calming down, "I saw his body." I said to him quietly.

"I saw him alive, I sent him to prison, life sentence." He nodded calmly. "But he called, said he would kill me, payback for killing him, although he was still alive. I'm not sure how he came back, after he was turned to stone, something must have happened to bring him back." Older me shrugged, he doesn't care, does he? "But I got scared, I didn't want to live life if I were constantly being threatened by him." He admitted.

"You were abused as a child?" Hazel asked me in shock, everyone pieced it together but obviously didn't want to say anything about it.

"Yeah." I gulped. "Wasn't that bad." I mumbled.

"No, it was pretty bad, we were starved for days, we were whipped, kicked, hit, burnt, it was bad, but of course I never admitted that until therapy." Older me shrugged and I grumbled incoherent words. This was something I didn't want anyone to know, I was fine with the secrecy.

"So what's life been like since you left?" Clarisse asked again, only sparing me a sad look.

"I left so I lost contact with everyone here, moved close to my mom where she told me to go to therapy, did some pretty stupid things." He chuckled, "but then I met some great people, who dared me to do lots of things, and I was dared to become a lawyer, so I studied hard and I am actually doing quite well. I'm actually in the middle of a case." He smiled.

"Nine years, any kids?" Piper asked and older me chuckled, rubbing his neck.

"Actually yeah, adopted." He said, and everyone looked curious. "The women I ended up marrying wasn't able to have kids, so we adopted, triplets." He said. "Now, Percy, big reminder is, I'm just one possible future. If I remember correctly, another possibly future you should be here any minute. Within the next few seconds, before anyone else could speak, another flash was seen.

This was nothing like the first time, this version of me was scrawnier, covered in bruises and blood, and looked ready to attack quicker than a heartbeat.

"Where am I?" He asked, drawing out a sword, not riptide, but just a regular, old sword that was obviously not very fitting in his smaller hands.

"Your in the past, or your future, what year is it for you?" I asked calmly, and he looked at me, as if he recognized me.

"I'm a lot older than you clearly, but I'm not sure." He said tilting his head, but cracked his neck, loudly, and started cracking his back and everything. "Being locked away for a long time really makes you-" he started, cracking his neck again, "stiff." He chuckled.

"Uh, what happened to you?" Older me asked in bewilderment.

"Ah, I was tossed to Tartarus for punishment, ended up getting captured and tortured." He shrugged, as if it were no big deal. "I was just down there a few moments ago." He said curiously, standing up with a big of struggle, as if he hadn't used his legs in years.

   "What happened to get you set down to the pit?" I asked him as he sat down on the other side of me so I was in between the two other versions of me.

   "Today was the day, the day where you hid in your cabin, hm. This was the day that many possible futures became possible. For me, I became bitter, I was angry, I made the mistake of almost killing someone while sparring. The gods considered me to much of a threat since I was to angry for them, I was to broken for them to use anymore." He scoffed angrily.

   "How are you still alive?" Annabeth asked him, and his anger only grew, until he realized that this was before what ever happened to him.

  "Simple, they didn't want me dead." He growled. "I wanted to come back, beg my past self to jump, to die before we could be sent to Tartarus, it's why I agreed with the fates, but I guess while there's kids." He cleared his voice, shrugging like he didn't feel bad.

"What kind of torture?" Nico asked, finally speaking up. Mostly everyone was silent, some left, others sat and listened, sucking up as much as they can about me and about future me's.

   "Most of the time they put me under water and electrocuted the water, sometimes whip or burn me, many things. I think the burns were the least painful but after a while, you lose your senses and you can't feel much." He said, zoning out, flinching occasionally. "Either don't become bitter or end it." He said to me sharply. "My fate won't change, but yours can." He looked so broken, so desperate for freedom.

   "I'm sorry that you got the worse fate." Lawyer me said guiltily, he obviously felt bad, so did I, nobody deserves that, even though we are the same person. "We do have one more version of us coming though. I would rather most people who aren't close to Percy here leave." He said, and most people walked away grumbling.

   "Why does it matter?" I asked curiously, looked at him, and everyone else did too, even tortured version of me, although he looked like he knew who was coming but not why they couldn't see.

   "This version of Percy is if he coped differently to the wars, it's hard to explain, but don't say anything about the wars or battles or anything." Lawyer me stated firmly, and we all nodded. After the flash this time, there was no sound of fighting, all that could be heard was a steady breathing.

   There sat a man, sitting cross legged on the ground in a completely white outfit, messy hair, but everything else about his was clean. His eyes were open but he looked like he wasn't seeing anything, like he wasn't a part of the world, he looked like a corpse.

   "Well," he started, causing me to jump, and we all looked cautious, "this isn't the mental institution." He said, and my jaw dropped, I saw everyone else have a similar reaction. "Disrespectful, keep your mouth open and somebody outta rip your tongue out." He scoffed, sitting on the ground still.

   "Mental- Percy what the hell?" Clarisse asked, looking at me with a mixed expression, not knowing I was capable of any of these outcomes, I agreed with her, it was strange.

   "Don't get mad at him, or well me for this outcome. The institution is great, really, when you fight people and you win, you get tossed into your room for a week, it's pretty nice. I got into a lot of fights." He smiled calmly, until he frowned, "but the losers always got extra attention, I found that stupid." He scoffed.

  Nobody knew what to say, we all just shared nervous glances, until I stood up, sitting beside the crazy me.

  "You think I've got something to teach you? Or some tips to make sure you don't end up with me? Well, you are right. I'm not mentally ill, as much as I seem, people like to call people who know what reality is crazy." He said, and I looked at him curiously.

   "What about the whole fighting thing?" I asked him, and he rubbed his neck.

   "It's the only thing from camp I can carry around. But, turning to drugs after realizing you hate your life doesn't help, first it was rehab, then it was jail, and then it was the mental institution. It's easy to say I messed up, and I regret it all. If people cared to listen, where would we be at?" He said.

  "Are you referring to something?" I asked him, and he nodded, turning his body to face me.

   "I'm referring to the one conversation you needed and backed out of! What you wanted was shut down, so you backed out because your used to everything you want being turned down! Every outcome that's here, the only good one is the one that ran away! Don't you realize that?!" He rises his voice, and I was surprised, what was he referring to?

"What conversation?" I asked quietly, but as soon as I opened my mouth, I knew what he was talking about, and I glanced at Annabeth, who hadn't noticed my glance.

"Don't act stupid! As much as people think you are and say you are, you are not! You know exactly what I'm talking about!" He yelled, and I was silent. "You didn't want to stay at camp! You didn't want to go to collage, you were sick and tired of every day just being the same and blending together!" He yelled, and Annabeth now seemed to know, and she instantly looked guilty.

"Percy!" Tortured me shouted, and all of us looked at him in shock, not expecting him to shout like that, he was usually quiet, didn't demand much, at least so far. "You know what, everyone leave!" He growled, and everyone scampered away quickly.

"This wasn't all about days just blending together!" Lawyer me stated loudly, and everyone was just raising their voices, I think everyone was listening from afar.

"Guys!" Tortured me shouted, shocking us all. "Nobody has let the Percy of this time even say much about it! So instead of being selfish asses, let him talk." He said, lowering his voice, and they all started at me.

"What's the part we're all forgetting?" Lawyer me asked.

"The reason I became depressed, the guilt, the stress, my past. Constantly being called stupid or dumb or 'not smart enough'. The feeling that I'm only used by the gods, by my friends, the fact that I do want to die! I've been sick of living since I was a kid! But when life either gets good or too bad you forget about that I guess! Ya, I am bitter! I am angry! I've almost turned to drugs for an escape! I've almost gone to far in a spar!" I continued to shout, all the built up anger just letting loose. "I do wish I had the perfect life, and when I think of a perfect life, no one from camp is in it! None of my friends! No parent figures! No acquaintances! And no girl friend!" I yelled, and I know the only thing heard in the camp was my voice.

"Calm down-" the tortured me started, I saw that all three were getting anxious, none of us did well with people raising their voices at us, but I didn't care.

"Calm down! If you guys didn't come I would have been fine hiding in my cabin! The stupid fates don't give two shits! Neither do the gods or anyone really! I know you guys constantly feel alone! If you really are me, you've at least felt it! We were constantly told that we would never be loved, never me cared for! Well obviously the only one who got past it was you!" I said, sharply turning my head at the lawyer me.

  "Okay! That's enough!" The crazy me growled, standing up, and shoved me, hard, hard enough for me to fall.

   "We get it, there's a lot of built up emotion, but lashing out won't help." Tortured me claimed. I was up quickly, and I glared at the one who shoved me, who glared back.

   "If your going to get all pissy, fight me." He said, shoving me again, not hard enough for me to fall this time. My fists clenched, and before I even realized what I was doing, my fist made contact with his face, and he took it, and that's when we started throwing punches, and he was winning. He was winning until all the built up anger I had went into one punch, and he flew into the ground.

  The two other versions of me took this opportunity to grab me by both arms and drag me to the ground, hitting my head against a log in the process. I only struggled for a few moments before realizing what I had done, what I said. Guilt ate up at me quickly, and I looked at the fire.

   "I am just like Gabe." I said quietly, and they let go of me, and the other me came and sat over, he didn't flinch once when I looked at him.

   "No, you just needed to get it out of your system, Gabe did it for his amusement." Lawyer me said, and the other two nodded. I felt tears gather in my eyes, the anger finally subsided, and in came the sadness, the vulnerability. This feeling was so foreign, I've built up so many walls, it must have been ages since I've cried, since I was a kid.

"Let's go get you some help." The crazy one stated, standing up, before looking at the high moon.

"We're not here forever, dummy. The fates sent us here to change you future." The tortured me frowned.

"What am I going to do?" I asked incredulously, trying my best not to let any tears slide, but I failed, and as soon as they started coming, they wouldn't stop.

"Well when everyone wakes up in the morning, everyone is still going to remember, but at breakfast, everyone will forget. And so will you, but you will have a sense to that this happened, it might feel like a dream." Lawyer me stated calmly.

"Why do I have to forget?" I asked, wiping my face in embarrassment, it's only me, it should be okay.

"Because that fates aren't meant to directly interfere like this, they never intended to until they saw your outcomes, and they wanted you to change it." Crazy me said, looking at the two other versions of me. "But it's time we go." He said, and they nodded.

"Well I'm going first, don't run away just because I did and ended up with a good life, I still feel guilty, for leaving everyone I cared for. Goodbye." He smiled, shaking my hand and fading away. It was silent for a minute or two, until tortured me stood up, looking at me.

"While I said I was going to beg hands and knees for you to end it, I know you won't make the same mistake I did." He smiled, bringing out a dagger, and I thought he was going to lunge at me and kill me, but he placed it on his neck. "I'm done with the torture though. Goodbye." He smiled, dragging the dagger across his throat, killing himself, and I jumped, gasping in shock. His body didn't fade like the lawyers did, no, he got swallowed up by the earth, maybe going to Tartarus, or maybe just a fancy exit to death, he can't go to the underworld until he is in his time.

"And he didn't need to do that in front of you." Crazy me cleared his throat as I started and where he was previously standing, there was so much blood. "It's my time to go now, I hope we taught you something valuable." He smiled, quickly throwing a punch, which dazed me. "That was payback, goodbye!" He smirked, leaning back and fading mid fall.

I sat in silence for what must have been in an hour, I watched at the fire died out, I didn't know I could ever be able to kill myself, but I just witnessed it. When I finally stood up, I rushed to my cabin, quickly grabbed pen and paper, writing down everything in my messy English.

Time flew by, and soon enough it was breakfast. Hunger hadn't hit me yet, maybe if I don't go to breakfast I won't lose my memories. "Percy!" I heard a shout, and I jumped, but I walked to the door and opened it.

  "Hey." I smiled casually, even though right now it felt impossible for it to be real. All my friends were standing there, either looking worried or unimpressed, and I shifted nervously. "About yesterday-" I tried to start, but I was quickly interrupted by Annabeth jumping into me, which surprised me. "You aren't mad?" I asked questionably.

   "We saw what that one older version of you did." Jason said, clearing his throat awkwardly.

   "Well wouldn't be the first suicide I watched." I said awkwardly, rubbing Annabeth's back. Everyone wanted and explanation. "Walked in at the wrong time." I said and they nodded.

   "Let's go get you some food, you haven't eaten since yesterday." Piper insisted while Annabeth grabbed my wrist and dragged me. I was too tired and sore to protest. I did get beat pretty bad yesterday, but I still managed to win.

   "I'm not hungry." I said, although I let myself get dragged to the pavilion, the second we sit down to eat, we're all going to lose our memories about the events of last night.

    "Yeah we're not letting what happened to Nico happen to you." Jason said firmly, and Nico mocked him under his breath, his face red.

  "You just don't want to go to the pavilion because as soon as we eat, we're going to lose all our memories of last night." Leo said pointedly, and everyone looked at him in surprise, I thought I was the only one who knew?

   "How did you?" I asked, looking at him in shock, and he shrugged.

  "It was kinda obvious. They each said they had a similar  experience, if anyone around them remembered, what happened to them wouldn't have happened." Leo claimed, before frowning, "was I the only one that caught onto that?" He questioned, before grinning with a laugh.

"Yeah. I was warned last night." I claimed and they nodded.

"Why do you look so beat up?" Nico asked me, I forgot that bruises existed, and clearly my face was covered, I felt the pain.

"Me and the crazy older me got into a fight." I explained briefly, and we walked into the cafeteria, sitting down. "But I learned some things, and I'm going to go get help, I'm going to finally do what I want to do, I'm going to live my life." I smiled.