Previously:
"Mr D, not yet. And tell Dad to change everything." Percy said just before Annabeth swiped her hand through the circle.

Pontus jerked on Percy's hair again. "You will pay for that last bit, Jackson. It was a foolish move as that makes you practically useless to me."

"Not completely." Annabeth said with a smirk.

——

"How long until Lord Triton returns?" One of Poseidon's dolphin looking advisors asks.

"Not soon enough."Poseidon answered. "Not with the strategy we are using now."

"My lord, we cannot. The giants wait at every gate. It would be suicide." Another advisor, a mermaid said.

"No less suicide than waiting in this cursed palace." Poseidon spat. He swore to tear down this palace and its tainted walls once this was all over. He refused to live in a place that once housed traitors and that the titans and giants would no doubt set foot in if the demigods did not get there on time. "At least we'd be doing something."

Percy hung from the ceiling. His powers seemed to have given up trying to heal his wrists from the shackles. They were getting increasingly raw with every passing second. The rest of his body was slowly following suit. His left leg had been broken so many times, it was always sore. The last session with Polyphemus was the worst yet. It seems he still bore a grudge for the second loss of his eye.

Some things even miraculous healing powers couldn't fix.

Percy felt the gapping hole where his left eye used to be more intensely with every passing second. Especially since Lynn was still working on mending what was left of his eye socket. The water still held some murky red from his blood. It was hard not to taste it in the water he breathed in. He hoped breathing in bloody water wouldn't have any long time effects on his health. Though, at this point, it might be a pointless worry.

"I have thought about our conversation." Lynn said so quietly, Percy could barely hear her. "About how I'll eventually be fighting my friends."

She seemed to be waiting for a response from him because she remained silent until he grunted. He didn't have much energy for anything more.

"You were right. Even if I decide not to fight them on the battlefield, I would just be leaving them for someone else." She continued. "Which might actually be worse." She sounded on the verge of crying.

"Pontus has you fighting soon, doesn't he?" Percy said.

"No." Lynn grimaced. "Yes—well, I am going to provide healing as it is needed. But all those who have returned before have said they ended up fighting as well."

Percy snorted. "Figures."

"What do I do?" Lynn asked, terror leaking into her voice. "I cannot hide. Pontus would find me."

"When do you leave?" Percy asked.

"In two weeks."

"Prepare as normal." Percy grunted in pain as a spasm went through his nerves. "It will all be over before then."

"How do you know?" Lynn breathed.

"Because unless something changes, the world cannot survive for that much longer." Percy grumbled.

"What?" Lynn's voice trembled.

"Can't you feel it? The sea..." Percy held back a groan. The bloody water was definitely doing something. His lungs were on fire. "The sea is...in agony."

Lynn's green tinted hands flew to her mouth to hold back a gasp. Just as her mouth opened again to ask him a question, the door opened.

"Out."

Lynn didn't hesitate.

Pontus swam leisurely in his cell. Alone this time. His hands behind his back, watching Percy like a cat watching their prey.

"Where is Annabeth?"

"Why? So you can try appealing to her 'better judgement'?" Pontus sneered.

"I didn't want her to..." Percy breathed heavily "...to see me like this."

"How quaint." Pontus sneered again. "She is otherwise occupied."

Percy let his head drop, releasing the tension in his body. A groan came with it. He'd given up a while ago on refusing them the satisfaction of seeing his pain. Now he tells it like it is. Oddly enough, for everyone put Pontus, it weirds them out. The primordial only finds it amusing. Annabeth is the only one he attempts to look tough for. Even though it doesn't fool her one bit.

Pontus now eyed him curiously. "You care for her still."

"Of...of course...I do." Percy was now breathing deep and slow to be able to manage the pain. "Nothing will...change...that."

"Interesting." Pontus muttered.

Percy eyed him right back, waiting for him to continue. When it became clear he wasn't going to, he said, " So, how are...things...out there." Percy closed his eye, fighting back a wave of despair. He wouldn't give in yet. "Winning, I assume?"

Pontus paused his circling around Percy directly behind him. "Your father's palace will last but two days with the demigod back up he received today. After that, the Titans will replace the giants their combined efforts will no doubt eradicate and take the palace—"

"All of the giants? With just Dad, Amphitrite, and Triton?" Percy asked dubiously. "I have...all the faith in my family but...even I'm real...realistic enough—"

"Of course, not just them." Pontus snapped impatiently. "Your half-sister Kymopoleia has arrived to help your father, along with a variety of other gods, Olympian Council and otherwise. They seem to think bringing in help that has no connection to the sea will do any good."

"Really?" Percy said. "Kym came? Dam."

"It will all prove fruitless." Pontus snapped. "The Titan king will lead the second charge, and then you, Poseidon, and I will perform a ritual to transfer all the power of the sea to me."

"Me? I'm just a demigod." Percy said, confused. "I'm not even eligible to inherit Poseidon's throne. Triton is."

"Oh, you may fool everyone else, but I know." Pontus said. Percy used every ounce of self control he could access to not stiffen in anticipation. "I know you have a much deeper connection to the sea than a normal demigod of Poseidon. You are a much better choice than that upstart, Triton."

"Hey!" Percy protested. "He may be a piece of crap brother but he's still my brother! Don't talk about him like that!"

"You will have no need to concern yourself with him anyways." Pontus began circling him again. "My preparations are almost complete; soon, the sea will be mine."

"What are you waiting for, then?" Percy asked.

Pontus, now right in front of his face, smiled. "The alignment of Mars, Venus, the sun, and moon."

Percy frowned. "Huh?"

"The planet Mars, when closest to the Earth, makes the ocean currents stronger. When Venus is close, the ocean is warmer. The sun and moon have an affect on the tides." Pontus slipped into a lecture. "I am waiting for the perfect alignment for the ritual. I will have the perfect opening for only three days in two weeks. Only then will it be best to transfer yours and your father's connection to the sea to me. Then I can restore the sea to its former glory."

Percy just stared at him in dumbfounded awe. "It's about time you gave me the evil monologue." He coughed violently, letting more blood out.

Percy's comment didn't phase him. "I just need to wait for my forces to take Atlantis. Then my preparations can be completed."

"You're crazy."

"Lord Pontus actually knows what he's doing." Annabeth's voice came from the cell doors. "Have care how you speak."

Percy glanced at her incredulously. His body tensed up again. "How can you say that?" Percy snapped. He'd refrained from breaching this topic with her since his arrival in the cells, but something about this conversation broke his resolve. "He's talking about wiping out life on land. This 'restoring of the sea' through his methods completely ignores life on land! Where's the Annabeth I used to know? She would never agree to this!"

Percy didn't see the slap coming, but he sure felt it. His jaw ticked as his teeth clenched together to avoid crying out. That side of his face was burned. He glared at her through the one eye, but stayed silent.

As much as he wanted to be mad at her for slapping his burned face, he was just glad for the physical contact. It had been too long since they'd touched each other at all.

"Message received." He growled. "I'll shut up."

Annabeth held eye contact, and nodded once.

—- —- —-

Percy scowled. He flipped onto his other side on the bunk, pulling the pillow to hug it in his arms. Squeezing his eyes tight, he tried forcing himself to sleep.

Nothing was wrong.  It wasn't too hot or cold, he was sufficiently comfy and tired...but he couldn't sleep. His mind was restless, as if anticipating an event. It was the same as though waiting for Christmas morning as a kid. But he knew nothing should be keeping him up.

Then, even as he was still awake with eyes closed, he saw an imposing white bearded man before him. His eyes held the depths of the ocean and the promise of pain.

"My preparations are almost complete; soon, the sea will be mine." The figure said.

"What are you waiting for, then?" Percy felt himself ask.

The image faded and was replaced with the image of Annabeth standing impassively next to the same figure at the head of a table full of monsters, titans and giants.

"Kampê is not happy to be on the field." A voice from down the table said. "She wants another shot at Jackson."

The bearded figure scowled coldly before the image faded once again.

Now, he stood on the top of Neptune's shrine at Camp Jupiter, watching as an army of monsters tore apart New Rome with Annabeth standing watch with cold satisfaction. The broken statue of Jupiter at her feet.

"No." Percy turned to see Nico fall to his knees just as the image faded for the last time.

He shot up in his bed, breathing hard. "What the Hades?" He sat there for another minute, gathering his thoughts. "Annabeth." He tossed the covers aside and booked it out of his cabin, texting her on the phone Leo had made for them all months ago as he went.

—- —- —-

"Percy, I think I can get us out of here." Lynn said as she tended to his wounds after Pontus and Annabeth left.

"Don't bother." Percy said, tired. "I have—"

"Don't give up hope, Percy, please." Lynn pleaded. "You have to trust me. We can do this."

"No, Lynn—"

"Nymph! You're needed in the med bay! The prisoner can wait. Those fighting for Pontus are more important!"

"Just hold on, Percy." Lynn said as she gathered her supplies and left.

"Well, Styx." Percy muttered into the black dark of his cell.