A/N: Hello and welcome all to my first foray into the world of Fanfiction. Or rather, my written and published attempt at creating a fairly decent product. I've read many good and some truly fantastic fanfictions on this site, and not just in the P.J.O section either. After some time, I thought to myself, "Hey, I might as well give it a shot too."

So here we stand, with my first work, Burden of the Curse. Just a bit of a warning, this is going to be straying a bit from the normal universe that Rick Riordan set down, and as such I might confuse or irritate some people with how I choose to handle rules and whatnot that exist in the universe that I'm creating here. Now this isn't a new idea or anything, and the concept for my extended universe has already been used I'm sure, but I just wanted to get that out there.

Alright, with that said I also want to say that I'm very, very sorry if I offend anybody out there with my portrayal of some religions or deities that make appearances in my work. I wanted to extend and expand upon the world of the gods, and as such I added in religions from all around the world, some that have more or less declined to near non-existent worship, while some others are still practiced by many people today. I try to keep myself impartial, and as such, I don't want to bash one religion while glorifying another, and as such I try to portray each with both positive and negative aspects. I decided to avoid Christianity and Islam altogether, considering those wouldn't really work with the whole "Polytheistic demigod creating pantheons" that are practically necessary for creating this world. Alas, the third largest religion will make an appearance, so to any who practice Hinduism, I try to be as accurate as possible, but there will more than likely be mistakes. Feel free to correct me if I make a fatal flaw, that goes for all religions of course. Again, sorry for any offense that I may throw down, but with fanfiction, that is pretty much always guaranteed to happen.

Now to finish it all off, I would just like you to know that I might have a semi-erratic update schedule. I'm currently on break for university, but once the next semester starts well... I might not have a ton of time to write for leisure. Another note, I'm not an English major or anything like that, so I might not be the best writer and craft the best version of the story. I have this somewhat planned out, but sometimes I find it difficult to put my thoughts onto paper the way that it all played out in my mind. I like to write chapters in fairly large chunks, and usually they end up being 7k~15k words. This work is all self-edited too, so if you find major mistakes in my writing please bring it to my attention, because I would like to keep it as neat as possible.

TL:DR: Thank you for reading my first fanfic, and hopefully nobody gets too offended by the way I portray religions and deities in my work. My updates may not always be fantastic, but I'll try to make it twice or so a month. Chapters will usually be anywhere from 7k~15k words, so hopefully twice a month is okay for you all, but again no promises.

Disclaimer: I do not own or make any money off of this work of fanfiction. All rights for the characters in Percy Jackson and the Olympians and Heroes of Olympus go to Rick Riordan and all who were involved in the creation of the novels.

1. Rage, Rage Against the Dying of the Light

Clouds lazily floated across the skyline of New York, occasionally blocking out the sun, then allowing for the chariot of Apollo to be seen once more. Campers at the demigod camp known as Camp Half-Blood busied themselves with various activities ranging from climbing the massive lava wall, to tending the strawberry fields, and even to practicing their swordplay in the arena. The general mood of the camp was similar to the clouds, lazy and in no rush. People were content with the lives that they were leading now, and they tried their damnedest to squeeze every ounce of enjoyment from their leisure time that they could before something thrust them into a life or death situation once more.

They were demigods, children of the Greek gods and mythological beings, which meant that just like their predecessors such as Theseus, Heracles, and Bellerophon, their lives were dangerous and never easy to lead. In fact, the past several years had only enunciated the brutal and deadly life that all demigods seemed to live.

The Second Titanomachy and the Second Gigantomachy had taken an obvious toll on Camp Half-Blood and it's inhabitants. The wars had taken a ghastly amount of lives, and had left many campers missing a few, if not several friends. Most had lost some family too, and that was only taking into consideration the physical aspect of the wars. Many people, demigod or not, simply have a difficult time bouncing back from war. Seeing friends and family being slaughtered at the hands of inhuman creatures would strain anybody's mind, even when trained.

Emotionally, people were having a hard time getting their bearings. Most hoped that they would never be called into service again. Many begrudged the gods for making them, the demigods, fight on the front lines in order to stop extremely powerful beings like the Titans and the Gigantes.

Everybody wanted peace, and everybody was tired of fighting. They wanted to feel safe for once in their lives, and they wanted to pretend that the wars and their aftereffects could just be waved away like a particularly bothersome mosquito. Unfortunately this mindset alienated many demigods who were unable to cope with the mental burden that the wars had placed on them. As unfortunate as it was, there were some suicides, those who simply felt that there was no point in trying to move on. And yet, these were swept under the rug, and not discussed as much as they perhaps should have been. Nobody could be blamed of course, because blaming one would be blaming all. It was just unfortunate circumstances that led to depression and eventual mental breakdown, which nobody seemed to be willing to talk about. Support groups were rare, mostly because people were afraid that if they talked about it, then the memories would come to the front and threaten to drown them.

As such, precautions were taken by only the millennia old trainer of Half-Bloods, Chiron. He had seen more than his share of cases that related to Post Traumatic Stress, and he wanted to lessen the burden on the demigods of the current generation. Unfortunately, as hard as he tried, he was only one man, and he was not willing to force campers to talk about what they had experienced while fighting. He pushed, and made announcements at the amphitheater every week. Flyers were posted on and in the Big House, as well as given to cabin counselors to hand out to their respective cabins.

The average turnout for each support meeting was about seven to ten, and those were simply the older campers looking to support their friends.

Clarisse La Rue was there, and supporting her was usually Chris Rodriguez. A beautiful relationship in Chiron's old eyes, seeing as how Clarisse had stuck by Chris during his bout of madness after his trek into the Labyrinth. Now it seemed that war had finally taken it's toll on the daughter of Ares, and it was Chris' turn to take the mantel of supporter.

Travis Stoll was another, and Katie Gardner and his brother Connor were there to help him through the loss of his left arm. It had been during the final fight between the Olympians and the Gigantes, and Travis had been distracted by lesser monsters. The manticore, otherwise known as Dr. Thorn, had managed to sneak up on the son of Hermes, and had sunk his teeth deeply into Travis' arm, biting through into the bone. It had needed to be crudely amputated in the middle of the battle by a child of Apollo since there was hardly any time to stop and tend to his wound. Luckily for him, a mechanical arm was in the works for him courtesy of the Hephaestus cabin and Leo Valdez.

A few other older campers from the Apollo and the Hephaestus cabins also attended the meetings, though there was more variety for these campers. Rarely was a face seen twice from the other cabins, those campers having just stopped by to see what the group was all about and how it was operated, before they decided that it dredged up a past that was best forgotten.

The only one who went to every single meeting was none other than Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon and Hero of Olympus twice over. He would always be at the Thursday meetings, never once late or too early, arriving exactly at 1:00 p.m. His sea-green eyes and black hair with a few strands of white were always present. The young hero would sit with the others, but never spoke about his own troubles, something that Chiron worried over for many nights. Instead he offered his solemn support, hoping to find a way to lessen the pain that his friends felt. He offered soft spoken words of comfort and small gestures of sympathy and empathy. Even after the wars, he tried to be other people's hero.

The old centaur didn't want for Percy to feel the need to be strong for the others, since that's exactly what was happening. Somewhere along the line the son of Poseidon had gotten the idea in his head that he needed to be strong all the time so that others could use him as a rock, an anchor so that they wouldn't be swept away from the tides of sadness that threatened to envelop them. Chiron knew however, that Percy too had his fair share of baggage to deal with. He had been to Tartarus, and had made it back safely, although what had happened was vaguely described by himself. It was truly unfortunate that nothing was being shared, mostly because as it turned out Annabeth had fallen unconscious shortly after drinking from the Phlegethon.

The reaction was to be expected of course, seeing as the river was literally fire, and the pain must have been immense, but something nagged at Chiron that there was certainly more than met the eye at the convenience of the occurrence. He had no doubts of Annabeth's integrity of course, and would never dream of accusing her of faking her incapacitation so that Percy would have to do all the hard work, but still there was something off about the situation. It definitely didn't help that Percy could only describe what happened afterwards in a very choppy and vague way. There was also an aspect that seemed to be missing from his story, mainly towards the end.

Tartarus had apparently shown up to confront Percy, and stop him from escaping with Annabeth through the Doors of Death. The son of Poseidon had described the primordial aspect of the Pit as a tall man, dressed in a charcoal grey three-piece suit. Apparently the primordial had no face, and instead only had a vortex of darkness that seemed to twist and warp the space around his head. While his appearance was odd enough, apparently his actions were even stranger.

At first, Tartarus had stopped Perseus, and had more or less demanded that he stay in the Pit. But then, after Percy had given his patented sarcastic replies, the primordial had simply laughed and let the two of them go. Chiron highly doubted that the protogenoi of the abyss would simply have allowed Percy and Annabeth to pass simply because Percy was able to, as the kids say, "talk some serious smack."

The son of Poseidon however was quite adamant that what he had said was more or less the sum of the trip, and Chiron was willing to let sleeping dogs lie. He certainly didn't want to stir up memories of that wretched location for his favorite student. The boy had too much to deal with as it was, and trying to fight memories that he didn't want was probably not going to do him any favors.

But the fact of the matter was that Perseus Jackson definitely was not doing fine on his own.

And another fact of the matter was that Perseus Jackson shouldn't have been on his own. But for some reason he was. It seemed that the other campers almost went out of their way to avoid him, their savior. Perhaps he too, was a reminder of the painful wars that had killed so many family and friends. That had left some crippled and scarred in a physical sense, and almost all scarred in a more metaphysical aspect. Maybe it was unavoidable that the campers would turn their back on Perseus, to take his aid for granted and to believe that because he had saved them all before, that he was n unshakable foundation. That perhaps he didn't understand human emotion, and that he could be treated like a simple marble statue, one that didn't need maintenance or displays of affection, however simple they may be.

Chiron tried to help Percy, but when even Annabeth had grown distant, working hard with her projects for restoring Olympus as well as designing additions for both Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter, it made little difference. A full year and some months had passed since the defeat of Gaea and the Gigantes, and during that time people saw Percy as a person on a hill, a hill in an ever distant utopia (1). Something that could never be reached, and something to admire from afar, instead of moving forward to touch it. He was made into an ideal, and with that thought in mind people forgot that he too was human.

The seven heroes of the last great prophecy had gone on to attend their own matters after the war.

Jason and Piper had decided to stay at Camp Half-Blood, even though Jason was a son of Jupiter and not Zeus, and disregarding that Jason was a praetor of Camp Jupiter. The couple had managed to stay relatively happy together, and they were closer than ever before with the life threatening situations having been dealt with. Piper had grown to be far more confident than before with the help of her boyfriend as well as the other seven heroes. She ran the Aphrodite cabin differently than Drew Tanaka had, and she more or less imposed weapon training on the cabin at least five times a week. She wanted to make sure that her half siblings would be able to fight if something else were to ever happen like the Gigantomachy.

Leo had also decided to stay in camp most of the time, along with his own love interest, Calypso. After he had freed her from Ogygia, the two had decided to settle down in camp. While there were some who seemed skeptical to have Calypso there, seeing as she was a daughter of Atlas, most people seemed to be fine with her being there. Percy was extremely disappointed that the Olympians had not freed her sooner, and had profusely apologized to Calypso for not checking to make sure sooner. The girl had understood that Percy had other obligations to deal with, namely stopping a primordial from destroying civilization as they knew it, so it had been easy to forgive him. Leo and Calypso were not always in camp though, as Leo had decided that Calypso needed to see more of the world, and so they often were gone with Festus 3.0 exploring the vastness of the earth.

Frank and Hazel had both decided to stay at Camp Jupiter, with Frank having been made praetor, now serving alongside Reyna. Both had gotten their curses lifted, and Hazel had been allowed to remain in the world of the living. The two were happy together, and were preparing to get into the university that was in New Rome. Chiron didn't know much about what else was happening at Camp Jupiter, but from what he understood it seemed that things were going well for everybody there. Without that legacy of Apollo, Octavian, to incite violence against the Greeks, cooperation was now much easier between the two camps, and there was even talk of a new camp being built in Kansas for both Roman and Greek half-bloods to go to. It would be a good place since it was between both Long Island in New York and the bay area in California.

Annabeth had finally gone about her work remodeling Olympus after the Second Titanomachy, considering she hadn't had enough time to do so what with Gaea rising and Percy disappearing due to Juno's plot to unite the camps. Now that she did have time, she had worked with extreme fervor, planning new temples, monuments to the fallen, better sets of doors for the throne room, et cetera. She had also been asked to help improve both camps for the half-bloods, adding in extra buildings for a variety of different activities that could be done. New Rome was less in need of these kinds of buildings, but Camp Half-Blood was set to have certain aspects incorporated from the Roman camp, such as shops and even a school building. As such, the daughter of Athena spent many of her days on Olympus in order to consult with some minor gods and even some Olympians on whether or not certain additions fell within budget or if they were aesthetically pleasing.

Everybody had gone on with their own devices, and in addition, six of the seven had accepted godhood as their own rewards for saving the world from a vengeful primordial of the earth. Jason had become the minor god of storms and valor, Piper the minor goddess of charm and confidence, Leo the minor god of mechanisms and fire, Frank the minor god of transformations and perseverance, Hazel the minor goddess of precious metals and jewelry, and Annabeth the minor goddess of architecture and planning.

The only one who had not accepted godhood when offered for the second time, was Percy Jackson. He had respectfully declined once again, and instead called in a few favors. As such, both Hestia and Hades had gained thrones that signified their status as Olympians. The rejection had apparently caused Zeus no small amount of grief, and many other Olympians seemed quite displeased with Percy's choice. Chiron was worried for his student, seeing as how he was still mortal, and had now angered the gods twice over in such a way. To make matters worse, Chiron had guessed that Annabeth had accepted godhood in hopes that Percy would follow and do the same. She had made a very risky gamble and it had backfired spectacularly, undoubtedly straining the relationship between her and the son of Poseidon.

Chiron had no doubts that the daughter of Athena had good intentions, if not wholly selfless ones. He could not fault her for accepting godhood, as very few would have the will to refuse such a generous offer. Percy of course was a very notable exception to the case, seeing as he had done it not once, but twice, all in the name of helping others.

It was hard to watch though, as the Hero of Olympus was slowly pushed away by those he once called close friends.

Nico di Angelo was more present at camp, what with him being in a relationship with Will Solace, but Percy's cousin was always somewhat distant to everybody. While his relationship with Will certainly helped him interact with people more often, the son of Hades seemed content to spend his time with his boyfriend when at camp, and travel the world and Underworld when on one of his small excursions.

Thalia Grace of course had to remain committed to the hunters of Artemis, especially with the loss of many hunters during the Second Gigantomachy. Chiron had heard that Phoebe, a daughter of Ares who had been with the hunt for almost two millennia had fallen to Orion. With her and at least ten other hunters lost it had taken a heavy toll on all of the girls, Artemis being hit the hardest of course. Her hunt was her family, and she loved each girl like a daughter or sister. The goddess of the moon had been fervently searching for more members of the hunt since the end of the war, taking her equally as dedicated hunters with her across the United States. With that in mind, it was no surprise that the hunters came by far less often than they had in the past, meaning that Thalia also came by less often.

The one thing that Chiron could say was a positive was that when the hunt stopped by, Thalia would always talk to Percy. It was nice to see that not everybody figured that Percy was just an impossibly strong hero. She saw him as a cousin, perhaps something closer to a brother, and as such she treated him the same as she always had. Those were the times that Chiron could say that he heard Percy laugh and yell insults like a child back at the daughter of Zeus. Truly it was heartening to hear the boy so happy, or at least as close to happy as he could be.

The problem was that the hunters could not always stay at camp. This meant that Thalia could not always be there to treat Percy like a real human, and as a result Percy would often go back to his more reserved and soft spoken persona that he forcibly adopted.

Currently it was 1:25 p.m. on Thursday, meaning that there should have been a support group meeting going on in the Big House. Chiron stared at the clock, the only other occupant of the room doing the same. The trainer of heroes sighed to himself. It seemed that there would be little point in continuing to hold the meetings. Attendance had dropped from a pitiful handful, to next to nothing.

"I guess people are moving on huh Chiron?"

"Don't let appearances fool you Percy. I don't believe that anybody has really moved on from the wars," Chiron said sadly, his eyes giving Percy a knowing look.

The son of Poseidon shrugged noncommittally, his shoulders heaving up and down in a slow manner. The boy leaned back in his chair, tipping it back on two legs while planting his feet on the ping-pong table. He lazily crossed his arms behind his head and let out yawn. "That's true enough, things don't really feel the same anymore do they?"

"No, they really don't." Chiron slumped, running a hand through his hair. He wished that he could help everybody, but the centaur had trained enough half-bloods to know that there was little he could do if they did not want help. No, perhaps they wanted help, but simply couldn't find a proper method of getting help.

Percy must have noticed Chiron's disposition, because he attempted to cheer up the old centaur. "You know, I really do think that Travis and Clarisse are getting past their own problems. I mean, Travis is supposed to be getting his new arm soon. That's a plus." Percy scratched his chin. "Clarisse has seemed to accept that there was nothing she could do to save many of the campers that died. For of daughter of Ares, she's surprisingly invested in saving her comrades lives…"

"Yes, it's good that she understands that not everybody can be saved in battle, no matter how much she wants to. And it is fortuitous that Travis' replacement arm is being completed soon. We'll have to thank Leo when we see him again…"

The Hero of Olympus stood from his chair, and clapped his mentor on the back. Sea-green eyes met tired brown ones, and Percy gave Chiron a half-hearted smile. "Don't beat yourself up over things like this Chiron. It's not your fault, and you can't really force people to relive painful memories, even if it is in order for them to heal. Eventually I'm sure things'll get better."

"I do hope you're right Percy my boy. It's just difficult to watch as the ones that I've trained struggle after their battles have been fought. This should be a time of peace, but all I see are internal struggles within so many campers… within so many heroes."

Percy nodded thoughtfully. "Things will be different from now on, I can already tell that much. But in the end things will probably work out."

Chiron chuckled a bit, causing Percy to give him a questioning look. "You were confident in the statement prior to your last, but then it seemed to have vanished. But you are correct, things will be different, and I'm sure people will move on with their lives."

The raven-haired teenager gave Chiron a lopsided grin, and slapped his back. "That's the spirit Chiron." Glancing at the clock once more Percy sighed. "Since nobody seems to be coming I guess I'll just take off. Doesn't make any sense for me to be the only one."

"Not true Percy," Chiron rebutted with a shake of his head. "I'm sure there are things that you could get off your chest. Things that make it difficult to sleep sometimes?" The centaur prodded.

Percy didn't miss a beat, and quickly responded, "Nah, Tartarus takes a toll on everyone, but there's nothing anyone can do about that. Not really a big deal."

"Even when it looks like sleep has eluded you for a few nights already?" Chiron asked seriously, taking note of the dark circles under his student's eyes.

"Trust me Chiron, I'll be fine." Percy said, waving off his mentor's concern. The hero turned around and made his way to the door. "Thanks for the offer though. I'll be sure to stop by if anything really is bothering me."

With that said, the trainer of heroes watched Percy Jackson leave the Big House, walking out into the midday sun. "I do hope that's true Percy, I really hope it is."

With Percy...

The sun beat down onto Percy's black hair. The few grey strands from holding the sky were made clearly visible in the golden glow of the sunlight. Percy placed a hand over his eyes as he looked out over the camp, watching as campers went about their own business. People ran to and fro, some of them laughing, some others shouting incomprehensible things. Percy looked towards the cabins, and smiled to himself. He still liked to see the additional cabins that had been added for the minor gods and goddesses. Whenever he looked at the Hypnos or Morpheus cabins, or the Iris cabin, he felt like he had made a real, physical lasting impact on the camp.

No longer would children of the gods have to be stuffed into the Hermes cabin. Children were to be claimed by the age of twelve now, and with the new cabins there was no overcrowding in the Hermes cabin due to kids being unclaimed of having minor gods as parents. Those days had passed with the Second Titanomachy, good riddance. Things had changed a lot since Percy had first arrived, and much of the change could be attributed to him, even if he didn't like to admit it.

The son of Poseidon walked towards the beach, and sat down in the sand. He let the sea breeze wash over him, and he closed his eyes. In his mind images of an ancient evil washed over him, chilling the Hero of Olympus to the core. A shiver went down his spine as his eyes snapped open immediately. Percy ran a shaky hand through his hair and cursed under his breath. He fell back into the sand and simply lay there for a few minutes, eyes wide open staring at the cloudy sky.

The nightmares hadn't stopped ever since his fun vacation to Tartarus with Annabeth. While they weren't every night, they would come back at random times, making sleep a crap shoot. Percy wouldn't fool himself into believing that he would be recovering quickly, or anytime soon. He just wanted to be able to fall asleep without wondering if he would once more be thrust into one of his horrifying dreams that seemed all too real.

'Maybe they are real. After all… I met the embodiment of Evil down there,' Percy mused to himself as he tried to relax in the sun. The teen shuddered at the memory of the meeting and the subsequent trip through Tartarus. He felt his breath hitch in his throat at the recounting, and quickly stood up, running into the water. He waded until he was waist deep, then dived into the sea, willing the water to propel him further down into the depths.

Percy eventually stopped, getting the feeling of reaching about one hundred feet below sea level, and several hundred feet away from camp. He simply floated and watched as some of the sea life swam around him, giving the son of Poseidon polite nods as they passed. Percy responded to any that passed him, letting his mind wander to unimportant things, glad that his abrupt panic attack had passed. The teen ran his hand over his face in exasperation and defeat. He felt like screaming, like finding something to kill so he could let out his frustrations with himself for being so weak.

He needed to prove to himself that he was still in control, and that he was still strong. He couldn't afford to be weak, not even in "peacetime", as some people liked to think of it as.

Percy simply felt that it was a short breather before the next big crisis came along and thrust all half-bloods into another war. He wasn't so sure that anyone, including himself, could handle anymore pain and fighting. Loss had been a constant in his life for years, and he wished that he could just feel at ease for once without fear of losing something important to him.

'Damn him, all he did was complicate things even further.'

After nearly thirty minutes Percy decided to resurface on the beach, walking out onto the sand with his clothes still dry. A few nereids waved at him, and he gave them a smile and wave in return, causing many of the to giggle. He rolled his eyes, already used to the treatment that the inhabitants of water gave him due to his parentage. Percy walked off the beach, deciding that he was done swimming for the day. As he was walking to his cabin, a flash of light off to his side signaled the arrival of a god.

Percy turned and saw Hermes tapping away on his phone, undoubtedly doing something related to his work. The messenger of the gods looked up from his device and saw Percy giving him a questioning look.

"Ah! Good I found you quickly Percy. Listen, Zeus needs you up on Olympus though he didn't really say why. Sorry that this is short notice, but I hope you don't mind coming with me," Hermes said, not really phrasing it as a question.

Percy felt as if he really had no other choice, and therefore sighed and nodded. "I guess it's fine, I had nothing else to do. Maybe I'll get to see Annabeth while I'm there too…"

Hermes nodded and flashed the teen a smile. "That's the spirit! Alright, hold on tight, you know how teleporting is for mortals."

With that, Hermes snapped his fingers and flashed both himself and the son of Poseidon away.

On Olympus…

Percy opened his eyes to find that he and Hermes had been transported right in front of the doors to the Olympian council room. Hermes turned around and held up a finger to Percy while he typed something out on his phone. After several taps he put his finger down and smiled.

"Okay, let me go on in there first. You'll be called in once they need you, so just head through once Thunderbeard shouts your name," Hermes said conspiratorially. He gave the teen a wink before pushing the doors open and walking through.

Percy watched as the god disappeared through the doorway and as the gilded doors shut themselves. Sighing, the Hero of Olympus waited impatiently as the minutes rolled by. Looking around, the teen saw multiple memorials around his immediate vicinity. He gave the gleaming statues a once over, and realized he recognized some of the people that were immortalized in bronze. He saw Castor, a son of Dionysus who died during the Battle of the Labyrinth. Another statue was of Zoë Nightshade, the late lieutenant of Artemis' hunters, who died fighting her father Atlas on a quest to rescue Annabeth and Artemis. There was also one of Michael Yew, who died on the Williamsburg Bridge during the Battle of Manhattan.

Percy could vaguely hear the sounds of what seemed to be a heated argument. While the doors were extremely thick, apparently the gods hadn't thought about buying acoustic foam in order to soundproof their very throne room so that nobody could listen in on potentially important discussions. While the thought of seeing wedges of foam glued to the walls of the Olympians council room was humorous, Percy was brought out of his musings fairly quickly.

"PERCY JACKSON!"

A thundering voice broke Percy out of his reverie, and the son of Poseidon strode through the doors, pushing them open with some effort. Once inside the council room, he immediately noticed that his father was missing. The raven-haired teen made a mental note, and took stock of the faces of the other Olympians. He saw everybody else was present in their own thrones, including Hades and Hestia. Both of them looked quite displeased though, if Hades' scowl and Hestia's livid expression were anything to go by. In fact, most of the Olympians looked rather miffed or just plain apologetic, two emotions that set Percy on edge in a flash.

The air was thick with tension, and even Zeus had a look of discontent and discomfort. Upon noticing this, Percy frowned and looked squarely at each god, meeting their eyes with his own. Most seemed unable to hold his gaze for more than a second before it was diverted elsewhere.

Finally, the demigod couldn't take the awkward silence anymore. "So… I'll take it I'm not here for a late celebratory pizza party right?"

That got awkward shuffles from the group of gods, who shifted in their seats as if there was a fire underneath each throne. Eventually it was Zeus who steeled himself and spoke. "My nephew… there is really no joy in this decision, but many of us have come to a consensus." He paused and looked around getting soft nods from some Olympians while others just glared at nothing in particular. He cleared his throat and continued.

"We know you have done much for us and our children, your friends as it were, however we have just received a new prophecy that was given directly through Apollo… it would seem you are once again involved in this prophecy, and that once again the world seems to be in danger."

Percy couldn't believe it. Another damned prophecy was being thrust upon him, and once more apparently he would need to help save the entire damn world. He ran a hand through his hair, and sighed loudly, getting frustrated with the way his life was playing out. So many people wished they could be the hero and save the day, then they would get the girl and they would live out the rest of their days happily and with no worries. But for some reason it seemed that Percy was simply not going to get that kind of ending. Rather the more conflict arose, the more likely it was that Percy was going to get the eaten by monsters bad ending.

"Unbelievable… okay, okay, what's the prophecy then?"

Apollo coughed and rose from his throne.

"Soon a world divided dies

Those who were once forgotten rise

A jaded hero, choose his path

Those who oppose him, feel his wrath

Olympus in flames, the occupants fall

All while the cursed stands proud and tall

They take the pain of humanity's war

A world united, be birthed once more."

Nobody spoke after Apollo had finished reciting the prophecy that had been given. The gods seemed to worry after having been reminded explicitly of the prophecy once again. Percy mulled the words over in his mind as he tried to decipher the meaning of the prophecy.

"So this 'jaded hero' is the villain of this story it seems… and I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that you all think I'm that hero," Percy deduced, observing the gods on their thrones. "In other words, you're afraid of me… so is that what this is all about? Are you going to kill me to try and avert the fate that has been decreed?"

Many of the gods looked slightly offended that Percy would even entertain the thought that they would do something like that. But as they looked back on their past actions, especially those of Zeus, they realized that the son of Poseidon certainly had reason to believe that they would do something so callous in order to stop their downfall.

Percy's face had adopted a frown as he carefully watched the Olympians, his eyes were narrowed, and his hand had already pulled out Riptide in it's pen form. He hid the pen in his hand, but was prepared to uncap his trusty sword at moment's notice if an action were to be taken against him. While he didn't want to fight the gods, and he knew that he probably couldn't win, that wouldn't stop him from defending his own life if need be. In a way, he was glad that Poseidon hadn't shown up to this council meeting. It would have been much harder if he had to fight his own father.

"No Perseus, we do not want to kill you… that would only cause a schism between ourselves and our children. With another conflict looming, it would not be wise to cause such discord within our ranks. No one has suggested that you be killed, not even Zeus or Ares, which must go to show you how much you have changed this council," Athena said, gesturing to her father and the usually petulant war god.

Percy looked at both of them with mild surprise, before he schooled his features and gave Athena a skeptical glance. "Then what, pray tell, have you decided to do? Does anybody else know about the prophecy?"

The goddess of wisdom shook her head. "Nobody else is aware of the prophecy, seeing as we received it only a few hours ago. During that time we have been spending our time trying to decipher the true meaning of the prophecy, and how to take appropriate counter-measures against it. As for what we've decided… well… we would like to make you a god."

Percy clenched his fists at Athena's words. "This again? Listen, I've already turned you down twice, so pay attention this time. I. Don't. Want. To. Be. A. God."

"What's stopping you now though?" Aphrodite suddenly asked. "Annabeth has already become a god, so you have no real reason to stay mortal right?"

At that, many of the gods nodded their heads in assent seeing the logic in Aphrodite's statement. True enough, Percy had turned down godhood the first time because of how he felt at the thought of leaving Annabeth mortal while he would live forever. That and he had promised Luke to make half-bloods feel wanted to prevent something like the Second Titanomachy again.

"That's not the reason anymore," the Hero of Olympus said softly. He unclenched his fist and looked around. "Can I have a chair or something, standing here is getting really old."

Hephaestus grunted and snapped his fingers. The floor behind Percy opened up and a chair was brought up via a mechanical lift. The seat was made of red leather, and Percy fell back into it, sighing with content.

"Thank you Lord Hephaestus."

"Perseus, what do you mean that my daughter is not the reason you don't want to be a god?" Athena asked, getting the conversation back on topic.

The teen scratched his neck and gave a strained smile. "I'm… I'm just tired of being a demigod, I'm tired of all the fighting, and if I become a god I'm sure there will be a lot more to come. I just want to live a normal life… just start a family, grow old, and eventually die. I'm not afraid of my own mortality, unlike some people."

The silence in the council room was deafening, and Percy garnered more than his fair share of incredulous looks. The son of Poseidon shrugged as he saw the looks he was getting. "I know it must be weird to hear, but that's just the way I feel."

Some of the gods nodded in acceptance, while others simply frowned as they tried to understand the young hero's position. Of course, for one who has been immortal for their entire lives, it would be difficult to understand the acceptance of one's own fate in death eventually. This was a very large difference between mortals and the immortals. Acceptance.

Immortals simply did not understand that from a young age, humans come to accept their own deaths as an inevitability. Even if they do not wish to die, they still understand that death comes for all in the end. Of course that isn't to say that they will go quietly into the night, and just roll over and die. Perhaps that is why mortals are so innovative, because their lives moved far to fast. Never ones to settle for standing still or moving back, mortals pour their efforts into moving forward, into building a legacy for the future so that once their time comes, they will be granted a peculiar form of immortality.

Immortality through remembrance. Many mortals have been granted that form of immortality, and they are still talked about to that day.

Sun Tzu, Genghis Khan, Wu Zetian, Attila, Muramasa, Catherine the Great, Cao Cao, Charlemagne, Napoleon, Frederick Barbarossa, Maria Theresa. The names of only some of the most renowned and respected people in history. There were many, many more names to be mentioned of those who immortalized themselves through their actions.

On a very deep level, Percy already knew that he had been given the same treatment, at least for the demigods. He was undoubtedly already in the history books of Olympus, and his story would probably be passed down through generations of demigods to come. He might one day be the definition of strongest half-blood. Or perhaps that's how people already saw him.

Perhaps that's why people avoided him. Maybe they just couldn't understand that he never wanted to be the strongest. It was never his intention to take the glory, and it was never his intention to break the mold. He had always just wanted to make his mom happy, however he could, and to maybe one day find out who his father was. That was what he had desired over five years prior when he first was thrust into the supernatural world. Now though, he had accomplished these things, with him being the son of Poseidon and with his mother finding love with Paul. Now, he wanted to relax, and to just live the rest of his life in relative peace. He didn't care for more glory, nor did he care for rewards.

"Percy, are you being real right now? I mean, immortality is pretty great! Not to mention if you're a god you get some pretty sweet perks, and you'll probably be given some cool domains," Apollo said, nervously trying to convince the teen. Percy frowned as he saw a small amount of sweat gathered on the God of the Sun's brow.

"Stop, you are all obviously planning something if you want me to accept your proposal so much. You might as well come out with it instead of beating around the bush. You can't buy me, why don't you all understand that?" Percy felt his voice rising slightly as he spoke, obvious distaste coloring his tone.

"That… is very unfortunate. We would have happily made you a god, perhaps granting you the spot of the fifteenth Olympian. Certainly not a gift to sneeze at…" Artemis said, leaning forward a bit in her throne, seemingly pleading for him to take the deal.

Percy felt exasperation set into his body. "So what… you'll just make me a god and then what? How do you think this helps the prophecy at all? How will that swing it in your favor, since I know that's what you want to do."

Another uncomfortable silence gripped the throne room, leaving many gods looking to Athena for her to clarify whatever it was that needed to be said. She frowned at her fellow Olympians, displeased with their display of weakness. Percy for his part held his ground, but found himself gripping the arms of the chair quite tightly, and action that did not go unnoticed by some of the gods.

Finally it was Hestia would spoke, her eyes not meeting Percy's when she addressed him. "That wasn't exactly the full scope of it all. Before you were to be made a god the council would wish for you to take an oath of loyalty."

Finally, the full gravity of the situation made itself known to Percy.

They wanted to leash him like a dog, one that would bark and fetch for them on a whim. They wanted him to swear on the Styx, almost as if all that he had done for them already was worth nothing. As if they had no faith in him. Could they really look him in the eye and tell him that he couldn't be trusted to do the right thing?

"Are you kidding me? You want me to swear my undying fealty to the safeguarding of Olympus? You don't think that everything I've done for you already is worth even an iota of trust!?" Percy asked indignantly, his fists clenched and nearly trembling. He stood up and glared fiercely at all of the gathered Olympians. "Do you really think so lowly of me? I can't believe it, you all haven't changed! You can't rely on other people, and you're all letting your damned pride blind you and alienate your allies!"

"Perseus please understand-" Athena tried to start, but she was quickly interrupted.

"Understand what? That you would rather place me under an unbreakable oath than simply let things fall as they may? Has it ever occurred to you that the prophecy may have a double meaning? Or that maybe your meddling might just make things worst than they were originally supposed to be. Have you considered that the prophecy just won't be so easy to manipulate to your own desire, and that you're playing directly into the hands of the Fates with your actions?" Percy asked, his voice laced with disgust.

"Please Percy, we just want to ensure the safety of not only Olympus, but also of our children. If you accept our offer then you can most definitely be helping them, and keeping your friends safe," Aphrodite said softly, trying to calm the son of Poseidon.

"Yes, we are willing to give you the domain that has to deal with heroes, meaning that you would be above the Ancient Laws, so you can protect all half-bloods and heroes, other than your own children should you sire any," Zeus added quickly, hoping to sway Percy.

"Enough! Where's my dad? What does he have to say about all of this?"

Hades was the one to answer, finally speaking for the first time since Percy had arrived on Olympus. "Poseidon was vehement in his opposal of this plan. Many of us don't like doing this nephew. Hestia and I both find this to be quite distasteful, but we were out-voted, and in the end this isn't truly a terrible deal…"

"So dad didn't agree with this… this… whatever the hell this is?" Percy asked wearily.

Hades shook his head. "No, he said he wanted no part of what we were going to ask, and as such he's decided to stay in Atlantis, in an attempt to boycott our decision."

Percy nodded in relief, glad that his father hadn't gone along with the blatant insult. It was certainly heartening to know that Poseidon still had enough sense to see that Percy was always going to be loyal to friends and family. It was his fatal flaw after all. How could he betray those who he cared about, his family in camp? His friends in Camp Jupiter and there on Olympus? How could he do that to them, even if they didn't care about him, he would still care for them. That's what a hero did after all.

Percy shook his head and let loose a wry, sardonic laugh. "You all… man I honestly can't believe this." He looked around the room and his face turned dour. "I refuse to be chained, I refuse to be the hound of Olympus. There's your final answer. No."

Zeus slumped slightly, as did many other Olympians. "You truly do not make things easy for us nephew. Are you sure that this is your decision?" The king asked, rising from his throne and towering over the young hero.

Percy didn't waver from his glare and nodded his head once, giving his answer to the Lord of the Skies.

"Then, as per my authority, I declare Perseus Ajax Jackson to be an immediate threat to Olympus. He is to be detained until he agrees to our conditions, and he is to be temporarily stripped of his blood-right. This decree will remain in effect up until the point when he concedes his folly, which will hopefully be soon." With that, he nodded to Hephaestus, who reluctantly waved his hand.

Chains made of Imperial Gold immediately broke through the marble floor of the council room, and wrapped themselves around Percy's arms and legs. The hero was too slow to move, and therefore never had a chance to actually move out of the way of the chains as they pulled him down onto his knees. The golden objects tightened their grip on his arms and the teen let out a small groan of pain. A final chain wrapped itself around his neck tightly, giving him just enough slack so that he could breathe, although there was no comfort in the act as he felt his adam's apple scrape against the metal.

"We are sorry that it had to come to this, but we need you to accept our offer. We simply want to protect ourselves and our children," Hephaestus said gruffly, though there was guilt detectable in his tone.

"After everything… this… is just… just like you…" Percy struggled to talk due to the chain around his neck. He snarled at the Olympians as they all looked away. "You'll have to… keep me forever then… because… I won't back down on this…"

"Place him in the cell, hopefully he'll come to see reason soon," Zeus said softly, before flashing out of the room. The rest of the gods followed suit quickly not wanting to see the hero that they owed so much to in chains for much longer. Only the God of the Forge stayed in the throne room, watching as Percy struggled against the chains.

Said hero was trying his damnedest to fight against the constricting metal links, though even he knew that he couldn't break out of the handiwork of Hephaestus. There simply was no question, especially since it seemed like he was slowly being drained of his stamina the longer the chains remained wrapped around his body. It wasn't long before Percy felt his head grow light, and his vision go slightly fuzzy. Recognizing the telltale sign of oxygen deprivation, the teen tried one last gambit by calling upon his power over water to try and cut through the chains. He grasped for the moisture in the air, and tried to congeal it so that he could use it as a razor sharp weapon, but he soon realized that he couldn't control the water.

Oh he could feel it, it was there in the environment, taunting him as it seemed so far out of reach. The water wouldn't move to his will, no matter how hard he tried to use his hydrokinesis. Mentally cursing the gods, he coughed a few times before turning his smoldering glare at Hephaestus, who did not flinch under the gaze.

"Apologies are in order young hero. However, we all recall the betrayals of so many demigods in the Second Titanomachy, and none of us wish to see you fighting against Olympus or your friends. We had hoped that you would have seen our offer in a more positive light, though as I try to place myself in your position I can see how it could be considered a slight instead… I ask that you forgive us," Hephaestus muttered, before standing up and walking over to Percy. He shrunk down to a height closer to six feet, and knelt down where Percy was bound.

"I must take you to our holding area, and there you will remain in these chains, which will slowly eat away at your divinity. Your father's powers shall not work while you are restrained by my creations. The chains are designed to slowly chip at your divine power, until it is all gone." Seeing Percy's distress in the teen's eyes Hephaestus raised a placating hand. "Your father will be able to re-grant you your birthright, and of course you will be made a god, and you will gain full divinity. However, we cannot have you trying to escape while you are being held. Meals will be provided twice a day, and the holding cell isn't all that bad honestly. You don't have to be a prisoner Perseus, just accept and this can end."

Percy blinked away tears from lack of oxygen, but managed a half-conscious snarl. He tried to shake his head, but the chain on his neck was far too constricting to allow such movement. In the end he settled for painful silence, leading Hephaestus to sigh. The last thing his saw before darkness encroached on his vision was the god crossing his arms and shaking his head. Then, it all went black.

(1) Reference to Avalon, the ever-distant utopia from Fate/Stay Night.