This one gets a bit...gruesome. I wanted more graphics but stuck with this. Have fun, my lovely readers!

Point of View: Percy Jackson

The cell door to the concrete pit we are in slams open and most of the demigods whimper or hide within themselves.

"Who will be Gaea's Champion in the Arena of Blood?" Porphyrion booms.

"We will not fight for your entertainment." Annabeth snaps.

"Then we shall take three demigods at a time to feast on until only one is left to fight." Porphyrion snaps his fingers.

"I'll do it." I speak up and Porphyrion holds his hand up to stop the Laistrygonians from procuring their next meals.

"Percy!" Jason exclaims. "I'll do it. It was my father's kingdom that fell. I should b-"

My hand goes across his face. "It was the kingdom of our family, Jason. Stay put." I turn sideways and look at him from the corners of my eyes, seeing the grin plastered to Porphyrion's ugly mug. "You wouldn't stand a chance, you're just a child. You don't have what it takes to survive, son of Jupiter." I walk up the stone steps and stop next to Porphyrion. "What do you want me to do?"

"It is simple. You do as told, follow the rules, they all get to live and we are pleased. Disobey and I'll make good on my promise, three demigods get taken for food. No arguing, no complaining, no trying to make deals. If you attempt to escape or we think you suspicious, you will regret it. Understand?" Porphyrion explains.

"Yes." I answer. "May I ask a question?"

"One." He consents.

"The reason for turning us immortal is obvious. Your meals will just come back to life later after you reform them. However, I want to know why you would choose the life of the arena for us." I inform him.

"You've been raised to fight, it is in your blood." Porphyrion frowns. "I do not understand the question."

"There are a little over four hundred demigods and we are all here in this prison. Before we fought each war, we figured out options if we were not killed during the attack. Execution or slavery. This counts as slavery, but we do nothing but sit. If you want us to fight, we become useless after enough time without perfecting our skills." I explicate.

"I see your point." Porphyrion looks amused.

"Percy, are you crazy?" Piper demands.

"Be quiet." I hiss and she jumps.

"Fine. For every match you win, I'll set two free to whoever wants to keep them. Any conditions?" Porphyrion replies.

"They cannot be beaten, eaten, or defiled." I say seriously.

"Hmph. Very well." Porphyrion agrees.

"And if I lose?" I question.

"You'll have to deal with the fact that three of them will be eaten, then reformed to come back here. I suggest you win." Porphyrion chuckles.

I look over my shoulder.

"Second thoughts?" Porphyrion questions.

"Hardly." I close my eyes and begin walking. "Let's just get this over with."

"As Champion, you'll be at Gaea's side almost constantly." He informs me as the door closes with a loud creak and bang behind us. "She will expect top behavior out of her slave. I suppose she will give you her own rules. But the main one has already been stated. Do not try to escape."

"Will I be held responsible if they try to escape without me?" I inquire.

"No." He sighs. "But you must prove your innocence."

"And how do I do that?" I respond.

"Either kill one of them or take a beating without whining." He says.

"Fair enough." I allow.

"The beating will be public to all monsters." He tries to taunt me.

"As I figured. My humiliation is all that you are after, but I will never kill one of my kind unless they do the unspeakable against my soul." I reply.

I stop walking when I see her.

My mother.

Porphyrion turns around after pacing five more steps, smirking. "Ah, yes, it is not who you think it is."

I sense the sheer power coming from her and her eyes meet mine, forest green to emerald.

Gaea.

She smiles slyly and her features shift to their original form, but she still closely resembles my mother somehow. It is uncanny. She holds out her hand and her smile shifts to a warm one. "Come here, Perseus."

I resist the urge and study her.

How is that possible?

Is that why she was familiar to me on the battlefield?

I make myself walk forward and reluctantly place my hand in hers, her smaller one closing around mine.

"Good." She laughs. "Now, tell me, are you familiar with the terms of battle in the arena?"

I search my head for the answer and nod.

"I have one rule. They are not allowed to kill my Champion. I had hoped it would be you. Of course, I knew without a doubt it would be as well. So loyal, it is almost sickening to watch. I can see the love in your heart fading. It is because of your father, Poseidon. Is it not?" She tells me.

"How did you...?" I do not finish.

"I have watched you for the longest time. I overheard the fight you had with Poseidon." She apprises me.

"I have always known he never loved me and I was naïve enough to believe I could change that. We yelled at each other. I wounded his pride and he broke my heart." I frown. "And the Balance changed because of it. Then we lost."

"Yes, now you see it. All because he betrayed you. Betrayal is not so easily forgiven nor is it easily repaired. Had your father truly loved you, Olympus would have remained in the sky. It is why Kronos fought so hard to get you on his side, but you were hellbent on getting the attention of your father. Now, I'm going to give you the chance to avenge your shattered soul, mend your broken heart." She explains.

"What do you mean?" I am befuddled immensely.

She waves her hand and double doors open where Poseidon is thrown out, in chains. He glares up at Gaea and then his eyes widen at my hand in hers. His gaze does not unsettle me and I feel comfortable here with Mother Earth.

Mother.

That is why she took on the form of my mother.

Like Rhea would.

Mother Earth is the Mother of all things.

But even then, I should feel wrong.

And I don't.

"Here is your chance to prove to me your will is strong and you'd do anything to protect those that are truly loyal to you. Those that are caged. He'll reform quickly enough, then you may visit him and get the explanation you deserve. Kill him now and right the wrongs the Balance is unable to fix. Forge a path for you to be free of the restraints of his world." She informs me.

I watch Poseidon, neither of our eyes leaving the others.

I do want to kill that traitor.

"You know, after your little fight, he had your mother killed. I have no idea what the reason was, but surely he can give you the answers that are rightfully yours." She tells me.

My blood boils and I know Poseidon heard. He looks absolutely terrified.

I let go of Gaea's hand and grab one of the stupid swords from the table next to her throne. I jump down into the sand and roll to my feet. Honestly, if she is just using me, I really do not care. She is completely right and Poseidon deserves to die and then suffer eternally in whatever excruciating agony his tormentors bring him once he reforms.

"Now, son, I know what you're thinking, but we can make up." He begins nervously as his chains are removed, his guards shutting the doors from him.

The sword goes through his shoulder and I slice down, lopping his left arm off. He screams in pain and I feel so much better. I do not speak, knowing my emotions will get the better of me. Here is the place where I cannot show weakness. Here is the place where I will change forever.

Love cannot survive here.

Loyalty is my only option.

So that is what I'll be. Love will have to wait. Loyalty is their only hope. I will take the love inside for now, protect it. Loyalty is my blade, loyalty is my shield.

I want to dismember him and he whimpers pitifully on the ground as he tries to stop the bleeding. I must make a fatal blow to officially kill him. So I am going to take my time. I swipe his toes clean off and the last of his fingers. I use the sword like a meat cleaver and when he only has stubs left with his head and torso, I still am not satisfied.

I take my sword and stab harshly where it hurts the most for men. He screams bloody murder and I want to cause him more pain. I cut his parts completely clean from his body and the monsters roar their approval.

"I want to know why." I tell him and he looks frightened. "And if I don't like your answer, I'll cut out your tongue. You'll suffer here until I slit your throat or my sword goes through your shell of a brain."

The crowd laughs hysterically and I really want to torture this man, worse than I was tortured in the Pit.

"Perseus, please." Poseidon begs.

My sword sticks straight up where he would take it once he can no longer give it. I draw it out as he screams and wait once he is done to speak. "You said yourself that a demigod's life is tragic." I remove one of his ears. "Do you know what it's like to live through it?" I take the other one. "You fuck anything with two legs and now you can't." The sword goes into his midsection and I twist it, hearing the roar of laughter from the audience. "Now answer me." I draw it out slowly and he whimpers.

"For war." He sobs.

"I actually like that answer." I say casually and he brightens. "Too bad. I decided. Your tongue is poisonous and you don't have the right to speak to me, let alone anyone else." I cut out his tongue and he tries to roll around, but stops when it is far too painful to keep doing. "What should I take next?" I ask and he gurgles blood out of his mouth. "Good idea." I slice his lips off and then cut out his eyes. "I still don't think you've suffered enough." I cut off his waist and then stab his remaining body repeatedly. "And nothing will ever satisfy me enough to say you've been given what you deserve. If I had the choice, I would rip into you in ways you couldn't possibly imagine and I do not want to end your misery." I remove his scalp and this awful noise comes from him. "I hope you rot for eternity and feel all the pain you have caused a hundredfold." I begin to flay what skin he has left off. "It will never be enough when I hear your screams." I break his bones but his neck. "It will never be enough to watch your torment or participate in it myself." I cleave another chunk off. "It will never be enough to watch you get beaten or defiled." And more meat goes flying. "To watch you be devoured, to watch your death every time you set foot on these sands, not even when I can no longer lift a weapon in my defense will it ever be enough to watch you writhe in agony." Only his neck and head are left and Gaea is definitely amused. "All the people you have cursed, every crime you have committed, there is no punishment that will ever be fit enough to give you what you deserve. All the lives you have ruined and justice can never truly be served. Nothing will satisfy the souls you've betrayed, but whatever you get will have to do." I cut his nose off. "And no one who has ever existed hates you more than me." The sword dices his head into little chunks and I fall to my knees.

Polybotes enters the arena and comes over to me. He picks up one of the chunks of my worthless father and drains one of the arms of its blood into a goblet. I know what he wants from me. "Here." He shoves it in my face.

I drop the sword from my death grip and hesitantly take the items from him. The crowd has already jeered to an extent that I will never devour my own father, even if I do hate him more than anything. But the majority cheers and chants for me to eat him and drink him.

I am no longer human.

No longer half-human.

I am an immortal and I will do anything to survive.

I steel my nerves and put the piece of Poseidon into my mouth. I chew on it, very stringy. I swallow it and then down the blood. I feel a whole lot better and something in the air shifts around me.

Gaea snaps her fingers and I sit on the ground beside her throne in the same position I was on the sand. I sit back and slowly look over at her. Her hand caresses my face. "Very good, Perseus. Welcome home."

The End