Hello! First of all, thank you. You have bothered to click on this story. I hope you find it enjoyable. Secondly, some of you may be confused. As of 1/13/13, this story has been overhauled. I have combined some of the earlier chapters to make them longer, and re-edited some of it for clarification. If you are new to this story, know that you are getting the improved version. This first chapter combines the former first and second chapters. Thanks again! I do not own PJO. Enjoy.

Chapter 1

"…My daughter, Annabeth Chase shall receive a set of Iris-linked direct-line magical walkie-talkies." Athena, the goddess of wisdom said.

Annabeth stepped forward. The Seven of the Prophecy, namely Percy, Annabeth, Leo, Hazel, Frank, Jason and Piper, as well as a few of their other friends were all standing in the throne room on Olympus receiving gifts. The battle had been fierce, the journey long, but at last they had defeated Gaea and her crazy Giant army. And now, as Leo had put it, it was 'present time.'

Bowing to her mother, Annabeth accepted her new walkie-talkies and thanked the gods for their gift, then backed into line with the others.

Poseidon, the sea god, stood up. "Percy Jackson!" he bellowed.

Percy stepped forward. "Yes, Father?"

Poseidon looked around a little nervously. "You shall receive your gift in private." The next instant, Percy found himself in a small room with Poseidon, Zeus, and Hades.

"Okay, what's going on?" asked Percy.

Zeus rolled his eyes. "Well Jackson, we have a bit of a dilemma. You see, this is the second time you have saved Olympus from destruction."

Percy nodded slowly. "Yeah…so?"

Hades sighed. "So, are options are limited. The Gods don't like being in debt, Percy. Save us once? We offered you godhood, although you turned us down. Save us twice? Now that's just embarrassing."

"So your pride is hurt," Percy said. "What does that have to do with rewarding me?"

"Well, son," said Poseidon, "That only leaves us with a few options. One is to make you a god whether you like it or not. Most of the gods would be just fine with that, but Aphrodite pointed out that a certain daughter of Athena would probably resign as the Olympus architect if we did that without your consent. Seeing as how Olympus has never looked better, we decided that option is out. Unless you've changed your mind…"

Percy shook his head. "No way."

Hades smirked. "Told you."

"You be quiet," Zeus grumbled. "Well then, Jackson, here is option number two, my personal favorite. We kill you now, and turn you into a constellation. That way, you're remembered and honored forever, your friends can still see you, and you're out of our hair. How does that sound?"

Percy was incredulous. "And what makes you think that Annabeth would like that option any better than the last one?"

"Is that a "no" then?" asked Zeus.

"Yes," said Percy, crossing his arms over his chest.

"It's a yes?" asked Hades hopefully.

"No!" shouted Percy. "I mean, yes, it's a no for option two."

Hades shrugged. "Oh, well. It was worth a shot. Okay, option number three. We grant you a personal gift, just like the others, and send you on your way with the understanding that you try to never save the world again. How does that sound?"

Percy thought about that. "Well, it's better then the other two. Any other options?"

The Big Three all looked at each other.

"Well, Ares was just saying that he needs a new training dummy…" Zeus started.

"I take option three," Percy said hurriedly.

Poseidon nodded. "Very well. What do you wish?"

Percy thought for a moment. Scenes from his recent quest kept playing themselves over and over in his mind; the difficulties of trying to reach the Doors of Death when he wasn't even supposed to be in hades, his troubles with getting to Greece to meet the others when he couldn't travel by air, and all the other things that had slowed his progress, just because it was another god's realm. Percy knew what he wanted. "I've made up my mind."

"Oh, good," said Zeus.

"Took you long enough," said Hades.

"What do you desire?" asked Poseidon.

Percy took a deep breath. "I would like to be welcome in all three of your realms."

The three most powerful gods looked at each other.

"One moment, please," said Zeus and the next instant they had disappeared. A minute later, they were back.

"Okay, Jackson. We shall grant your request. But… it might be a bit painful."

Percy shrugged. "That doesn't bother me. I'm used to pain."

"Well then," Poseidon said, "I'll start." He held out his right hand and clenched it into a fist so that the signet ring he was wearing stuck out. "Hold out your arm, Percy."

Percy raised his arm, palm upwards, and offered it to his father.

Poseidon held the ring up to his mouth and whispered something. When he brought it away, it was glowing green. "Alright. Ready, son?"

Percy nodded, and Poseidon pressed the ring into Percy's forearm. Percy flinched, but didn't pull away. After a minute, Poseidon removed the ring. Where it had been, there was a glowing green mark in the shape of a trident, about an inch across.

Percy examined the mark. "Cool."

Zeus stepped forward. "My turn." He too, pressed a ring onto Percy's arm, right next to the first one. When he brought it away, it left a glowing blue lighting bolt.

Hades was last. He quickly prepped his ring and branded Percy with it, leaving the shape of a glowing black helm in it's place.

When at last all three had finished, they examined their work.

"Yes, this will do," said Zeus after studying the marks. "Now Jackson, here is how they work. You will still be able to travel in your father's realm as usual, but for the other two you will need to use the marks. If you concentrate hard enough, the marks will allow you to turn into a creature that is welcome in all the realms, alright?"

"Hang on," said Percy, "You mean these marks will turn me into something else?"

"Just temporarily. You should still be able to revert to your human form at will," assured Hades.

"Okay, what creature will I be?" asked Percy.

The Big Three looked at each other again. At last, Poseidon answered. "We don't know, Percy."

"What?" Percy yelled, but before he could demand some answers, Zeus waved his hand and Percy found himself back in the Throne room. He blinked, startled. In his absence, the throne room had been converted to party mode.

The nine Muses were rocking out on the dais, which looked a little funny seeing as how they were all wearing togas. One of the gods, probably Apollo, had trapped fire in different colored floating orbs, which were bobbing around like very dangerous balloons. Just as he was examining the streamers made of pure gold, someone called his name.

"Percy!" Piper McLean fought her way through the crowd towards him. "There you are," she said once she had finally reached him.

"Hey, Piper. What's up?"

"Annabeth's looking for you, and she seemed worried."

Percy frowned. "That's not good."

"No, it isn't," Piper agreed. "I'd find her fast if I were you."

"Okay. Thanks, Piper." Percy watched her as she walked away, and then looked down at his arm. To his surprise, the marks were gone. Just as he was starting to wonder if they had ever been there at all, he was distracted by a flash of blond hair over by the buffet. "Annabeth!"

Annabeth looked around, and caught sight of him. She smiled, looking relieved. "Percy! Are you okay?"

Side-stepping a pair of Roman campers, Percy finally managed to reach Annabeth. "I'm fine. I think."

"Oh good," Annabeth said. "I was worried. When you disappeared like that…"

"The Big Three wanted to give me my gift in private," Percy explained. "They weren't sure how to reward me."

Annabeth slipped her arm through Percy's and led him out on the dance floor. "What did they do?"

"Well, they debated three options," said Percy. "The first one was to make me a god whether I liked it or not."

Annabeth looked furious. "What? But they can't, it would—"

"Needless to say," Percy interrupted, "I did not choose that one."

Annabeth nodded. Good," she said fiercely.

Percy continued. "The second choice was to kill me and turn me into a constellation."

"What?!" Annabeth was horrified.

Percy shrugged.

"I don't believe them," Annabeth muttered. "Are the gods really that crazy?"

Thunder shook the room as a response to her question.

"Well," Annabeth said, "Since you're not a god, and you're not a constellation, I'm guessing that you took the third option?"

Percy nodded, but did not elaborate.

They danced in silence for a minute.

"So?" Annabeth prompted.

"So what?"

"What was the third option?"

Unconsciously, Percy rubbed the spot on his arm where the marks were. "Um, can I tell you later?"

She frowned. "I guess so…"

They lapsed into silence again.

"Percy!" a voice called over the music.

Percy turned to find Nico diAngelo standing behind them. "Hey, Nico. What's up?"

Nico shrugged. "Nothing much. I love my new shield. See?" He held up a round shield that looked quite strange. It was black, but it had a weird glass covering that was protecting—

Percy blinked. "Nico…"

"Yes?"

"Does your shield double as a display case for your Mythomagic figurines?"

Nico beamed. "Yup. Plus, it's enchanted to be super light so that I can put as many figurines in as I want and it never gets heavy."

Annabeth smiled. "Cool."

Nico nodded, and then looked at Percy. "So what's your gift?"

"He won't tell me," explained Annabeth, looking annoyed.

"Why not?" Nico asked Percy.

Percy rubbed his arm again. "Listen, I promise that I'll tell you, but not right now.

Both Annabeth and Nico were looking at him reproachfully, but he didn't feel as if he could tell them—especially as he didn't even know what exactly his gift did.

Just then, one of the muses called out that the next song would be the last dance.

Percy sighed. "Annabeth?" he asked, gesturing towards the dance floor.

She shrugged. "I guess."

Percy took her hand, and they walked out on the floor.

Thanks for reading!

Question time! If you could receive one gift from the gods, what would you ask for?

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