I am currently trying to find my life in ffn while spending half my daily life studying… or pretending to. Close enough.

Pain.

Pain unlike anything he'd ever felt before.

Considering he'd once nearly drowned in the Styx, that is indeed saying something—but the pain was different. With the Styx, it was like being pulled in all directions; he was stretched too thin like butter over bread, so overwhelmed by the Styx that he had nearly lost his sense of self. It was painful, gut wrenching, and utterly destroying, until he found that link to the surface. To this day, he still thanked his lucky stars (or his father) that he'd gotten to know Annabeth.

Otherwise, he'd have been another junk in the bottom of the Styx (and maybe haunt Nico in his afterlife).

This pain was sharp, violent, tasting vaguely like the cold bite of steel. Like being stabbed repeatedly (Gaea? Hadn't she stabbed him already? Can't she stop, this is way too overkill) in his vitals.

After the stab, there was a pulling sensation from the center of that pain, like his essence was drawn inwards to curl into himself, until it felt like he was squeezed too tight, all limbs and toes and ears tangling everywhere (he isn't sure how his ears are supposed to tangle anywhere, but it felt like it). He felt like an overheated, overstuffed package. His skin was burning under the pressure, until the cold feel of iron was almost heavenly in his senses.

The burn then subsided, leaving him numb.

After the pain, and pressure, it was a welcoming feeling. He vaguely felt like wondering if it's the end (how reckless, Gaea stabbed him, how is he not dead yet, howhowhowhow) and was startled to realize he felt fine with that, and then angry that he felt fine with that.

He should really be helping his friends! They were counting on him to prevent the prophecy! Though if Gaea had stabbed him, then she must've been awakened…. All the more reason to stay alive! He's no good to anyone dead, after all… except maybe if Nico would deign to summon him… but that'd be too much of a hassle in the middle of battle… oh well, he'll just deal with searching for his dead half-siblings in wherever he ends up then, if he died.

But as it turns out it's not his time yet (because he isn't dead, and though it's weird, it's no weirder than three old hags weaving destiny like a Bigfoot-size sock).

Just when he thought he'd finally kicked the bucket (there's that darkness… seriously who created this cliché crap?) there was a sharp, sucking sensation behind his navel, like his soul was yanked back to… somewhere.

That somewhere turned out to be the living, because then his dimming (blacked out) vision registered Gaea's earthy face, a few feet away from him, foaming at the mouth.

"Your intervention warrants our destruction, Master of Death!"

Ouch. Woman sure could shriek.

"Maa… it's not like your actions didn't imbalance the world already," a vaguely familiar voice replied. It was stored somewhere in the back of Percy's mind, like a stranger he'd met in strange circumstances. Where did he meet him again?

Unbidden, image of Alaskan ice mountain came to his mind.

Alcyoneus. Ice, ice cold biting wind. A stranger in black fluttering cloak.

Huh. That guy.

And then he remembered his descent to Tartarus (or more like, plummeting to certain death).

Holyshitcraphe'sanangelohmygodhiswings.

He squinted, and beyond the blurred lines he could make out no wings. So, is that thing retractable or what?

And then he berated himself mentally for contemplating something like that when there is a war starting just a few feet away from him.

But still… that guy sure could save them some trouble. Their first meeting ended with a ridiculously easy ridding of a giant, the second made Percy sure he was insane (because, now that he thought about it, Tartarus was rather distracted when they confronted him), and the third… the man was currently being a meat shield for Gaea's incoming projectiles.

It looked like apocalypse rained down on earth. Or at least, raining meteors and quaking lands.

Gaea pulled back all the stops trying to hit the guy… futilely. Big chunks of rocks that looked like they were conjured out of nowhere sped towards him, but he danced out of the way and somersaulted above a particularly large one, making whooping sounds while doing so.

As Gaea's rage animated the very lands, Percy wondered if it was at all possible for the situation to become more chaotic.

Famous last words, son of Poseidon.

Reyna surveyed the chaos below her (while avoiding stray missiles from various parties).

She was somewhat safer, riding Scipio, since none of the monsters that managed to hitch a ride to the surface world was airborne. However, it didn't mean she was safe from the Rain of Chaos ™ Gaea summoned whenever that man irritated her too much.

That man.

Somehow, she had the feeling that the black-haired, British-accented man was the one Percy, Frank, and Hazel encountered during their quest to the godforsaken Alaska. He was clearly in his element, doing impossible acrobatic maneuvers and sending back Terra's house-sized missiles with an extra touch of burn.

What bothered her the most was that she couldn't identify him… as any deity known to mankind. He was clearly no Roman god—no self-respecting Roman god (and they all are) would whoop in joy or make ridiculous gymnastic moves. And she was quite confident in her knowledge of their Greek counterparts… except if there was someone left out when the Greeks migrated to Rome.

A forgotten deity.

Or maybe he was just a lunatic, Reyna amended when the man sent a flock of rainbow-colored canaries (where, where did he get the canaries) Terra's way. To her surprise, the colorful little birds exploded like fireworks upon impacting with Terra's missile chaos, and the flickering flares melted all rocks and earth under the fire shower.

It continued in that vein for a while; the Giga Boss, Terra, was distracted with the stranger magician (because what he did transcends laws of physics) who, it seemed, kept up with Terra's relentless attacks with his own cutting barbs because Terra was looking decidedly more hideous and furious with each passing comment.

And then there were meteors flying, and she saw Percy Jackson submerging half the battlefield under a ton of seawater.

She flew higher, and lost them.

This is getting irritating.

He batted away another power-packed energy jab from Gaea.

This has gone long enough.

He could just feel souls of dying demigods and monsters screaming obscenities as they were ripped from their mortal shells, and while personally he thought it a definite improvement from the limitations of a physical body, they didn't have his power, nor his unique station in the world.

He should just think it as disciplining unruly children.

Now, how to do that…

If you ever thought that Rick Riordan dropped Nico's boy crush on Percy bomb for shits and giggles, review. I see that I have the tendency to torture a single character at a time.