Chapter 3: The Race towards Understanding

Disclaimer: I do not own the Percy Jackson series or the Heroes of Olympus series.

Percy POV

I woke up to a sight that would have killed my eyes if they worked properly.

There was a ton of bright lights everywhere, and everything seemed yellow. There were two nurses (that's what they seemed to be) . One was checking a machine that he was connected to, and the other was simply observing him.

When the nurse noticed me moving, she ran out the room. When she came back, I had to close my eyes due to the sheer brightness that the dude was emitting. It must be Apollo, I dryly thought. That means I'm in the infirmary... in Olympus, since the infirmary back at Camp Half-Blood wasn't this shiny, and they definitely did not have cute dryad nurses.

"Hey Perce, finally awake," Apollo said. "Nearly scared us all to fading, that stunt you pulled when you were beating the crap out of Porphyrion and Gaia. You should've seen your dad's reaction. He was stuck between a look of pride, shock, fear, and who knows what else."

It all suddenly came racing back to me; the battle, the arrow, Annabeth's death.

I started to cry, just to let out all the pent up sadness that her death caused. Apollo looked ashamed, like he suddenly remembered that he wasn't supposed to remind me that she died. The nurses awkwardly patted my shoulders, telling me to calm down.

I didn't even notice my dad come in, until I felt a sea breeze that slowly embraced me. I felt the warmth, and the nice sea breeze that my father always had.

"For all it's worth Percy, I'm sorry that I couldn't protect the daughter of Athena. It was my duty to look out for you and her, and I was distracted by other things, and I..."

"Dad, stop. It wasn't your fault. It was mine. I should have been looking out for her, should've seen that arrow coming, should've..."

"Look, Poseidon blames himself, you blame yourself. In the end, it was Gration's arrow that took her life. He was at fault. Don't blame yourself for his mistakes," Artemis said as she walked in.

"How long have you been listening? They were having a perfect father-son bonding time, now you ruined it," Apollo commented, to which he received a roundhouse kick to his family jewels courtesy of Artemis.

"But still, what happened? I remember getting hit by Porphyrion's spear, then... I wake up here," I asked. "Since we're all fine and all and Gaea's not wrecking the entire planet, we won, right?"

They didn't reply, but they looked at each other and they kept pointing at me like I was forgetting something. I think they were doing that telepathy thing. Then Apollo got kicked (again) by Artemis.

"Judging by how Apollo got hit in the balls again, he thought something Artemis didn't like, did he?" I asked.

"Full marks Percy," Artemis replied. She wouldn't look me in the eye though, weird. "Now, if you've recovered enough to talk, we need to go to the throne room, to discuss the aftermath of the war."

Artemis flashed away before I could respond. Apollo flashed away too, muttering something about demon tsundere younger twin sisters.

"Hold onto me, Percy, and try not to puke okay? I just got these clothes dry-cleaned," my dad said, with a smirk. I held onto his shoulders (like a piggyback ride), then we flashed towards the throne room.

I admit, I didn't puke, but what I saw when we arrived almost made me.

There was Zeus and Hera, making out at Zeus's throne, with at least half their clothes on the ground. Poseidon threw me off his shoulders (gently too, if I may add) then proceeded to whack Zeus with his trident. He then ranted at Zeus about doing his... business... at his own home, not at the throne room. Apollo and Artemis soon arrived, with Artemis still not looking at me, and Apollo noticing the current state of his father and stepmom. He connected the dots, and proceeded to run out of the throne room holding his mouth and looking a little green.

Artemis was about to ask Apollo what was going on, then she also noticed the state of the king and queen of Olympus. She then proceeded to face-palm and muttered something about immature and idiotic younger twin brothers.

I would have laughed at the similarities that these twins unknowingly (and if Artemis had any say in it, unfortunately) share. Then the rest of the gods started to flash in, with Demeter and Hades of all people arriving together first looking like they just fought. Hades had a noticeable black eye on his pale face, and Demeter had what looked like a scratch mark on her cheek (it was later revealed that Hades threw a skeletal minion at Demeter, and the minion hit her on the cheek with a dragon claw sword. Needless to say, Demeter disintegrated the minion, got the sword, and threw the sword back at Hades, hitting him in the eye.)

Athena arrived next, still mourning for Annabeth. I was about to walk up to her to apologize, but she saw me coming.

"Stop Percy. There is no need for you to apologize. You did your best to protect her, yet all I did was to force her to find my statue and have my revenge against the Romans. I'm a horrible mother," she cried.

"No Lady Athena, it was my fault. If I was paying attention, if I guarded her well enough, if I took that arrow for her instead..."

"No Perseus. Then your father would have been the one in my position grieving for his son. It was Annabeth's time, as dictated by the Fates."

"Screw the Fates!" I exclaimed. "She didn't have to die, my Wise Girl didn't have to die..." I started to cry. Athena just embraced me, and we just consoled each other for our loss.

Third Person POV

After a while, the rest of the council arrived at the throne room, transporting the five demigods that survived the encounter against the giants with them. After a while, Zeus cleared his throat to start his speech.

"Welcome, and great work from all of you. You have done your best, even at the cost of lives you have not given up. You have pressed on towards the defeat of the giants and Gaea. In light of your accomplishments, the council will reward you all with godhood if you choose to be so," Zeus looked directly at Percy as he said so. The gods exchanged a look of amusement as they remembered Perseus rejecting godhood right at Zeus's face.

"Jason, I offer you this gift. Do you accept?" Zeus asked. Jason replied, "Yes, father."

"Then from now on, be known as Lord Jason, god of lightning and leadership."

Soon, each of the heroes got their reward; Piper joined her boyfriend Jason as the goddess of love and charmspeak, Hazel asked that her curse be lifted, Frank asked for his life to not depend on a stick, and Leo asked for Festus to be fixed again.

Soon, everyone's eyes were on Percy as he was asked next. Almost everyone believed that he wasn't going to accept godhood just to spite Zeus, though there were a select few (Athena, Aphrodite, and Hera) that thought that the boy would accept since his connection to the world died.

They were all wrong, in a way.

"Lord Zeus, I ask to be immortal, but not as a god. I wish to be like the hunters of Artemis; only dying when fatally wounded. I will still like to live in Camp Half-Blood after all, and I have to take up... her post of welcoming the new demigods that come in. That is all I ask," Percy said.

Zeus, while somewhat expecting that the boy would just outright reject the offer, gave a small sigh of relief. "Alright, Perseus..."

"Just Percy, Lord Zeus"

"Oh, alright. Percy, for your outstanding accomplishments and sacrifices in this war, I will grant your request. Also, since you have done so much for our service, whomsoever in this council that wishes to bless him may do so."

"Me first!" Aphrodite squealed. Before Percy can so much as say "Hades No!" he was surrounded with pink dust. As the dust faded away, he looked even more toned and cuter than he normally was.

"I'd like to go next," Hestia asked. "Perseus, as one of the few to receive my blessing, you have the choice: the power of fire to burn and destroy, or the power of fire to heal and provide."

"I'd like to heal and provide, Lady Hestia," Percy replied. Looking pleased by his decision, she proceeded to bless him with the power.

"I'd go next," Hades surprisingly said. "Perseus, as you know I am the Lord of death and riches. You have the choice of manipulating undead to your advantage, or to manipulate precious metals to your whim. What would it be?"

"Since Hazel seemed to dislike anything to do with precious metals," at this Hazel had a sheepish grin, "I would like to be able to manipulate the undead." With an emotionless facade, he proceeded to bless Percy with the power.

"I bless you next dude!" Apollo exclaimed. "As you know, I'm the most awesome god out there," at this everyone in the throne room facepalmed, "and that I have powers over medicine, music, prophecies, archery, and the sun. Since you already have healing powers from Hestia, you have four choices. Choose wisely."

After an unusual time of deciding, Percy replied with this, "Since I already have some sort of prophecy sense from all the demigod dreams I get," at this most of the gods had guilty looks on, "and my archery skill is pretty much non-existent no matter what blessing I get, I'd like the power of music."

He thought he could hear a pin drop from the silence in the room. No one (especially the shell-shocked Artemis) expected him to pick music of all things. Apollo was shocked to some degree, but proceeded to bless Percy with the power of music.

Demeter went next, strengthening Percy's control over the earth and some cereal-related stuff.

Hephaestus went next, offering to create an Imperial Gold replica of Riptide, which Percy was glad to have.

Soon, all the Olympians had finished their blessings with the exception of a select few, and flashed the demigods to the Greek Camp Half-Blood, where a nasty surprise awaited them...

Sup Ladies and Gents! I finally had time to type this up after a long time of not updating. Sorry about that! No worries, I'll update this fic every week, so expect those! About my other fics, Reading the Books will have a hiatus while I finish and paste bomb the entire Lightning Thief to Sea of Monsters readings on my next update for that fic. As for the Demigod Couples' Time Waster, I have 2 chapters that are ready to go and be uploaded, so wait for that! I just need to give them a once-through and edit some stuff. Thanks for your patience!

Dont forget to write a review so I know what you guys want next!