Percy really didn't know how he kept getting into these messes.

One moment he was sleeping in his bed at home after a long day of studying for school so he and Annabeth. The next thing he knew he was tied down in a cave surrounded by candles and some dude standing the shadows.

That dude ended up being Alabaster C. Torrington, wizard extraordinaire, Titan lackey, and the first ever exile from Camp Half-Blood. Quite the title, I came up with it myself.

Which was great, I actually already knew my enemy for once. The bad thing was that for once, they had already trapped me, normally i encounter them before they trapped me.

Then again, I always fought Titans or Giants, and they're pretty dumb, so maybe fighting a human for once was a new challenge.

Anyways, he had me held down in some weird circle. It had candles all around me, and even though he was trying to look menacing, he was just a lanky dude in a hood, so he looked kinda pathetic.

"Hello Perseus," he said. I could immediately tell he was changing his voice, trying to stay anonymous or something. Which, again, didn't work. I already knew who he was.

"Hey Al. You are Alabaster, right? How life been after the Titans?" I responded casually, starting to think about ways I could escape.

"W-w-what are you talking about? Who's Al?" What're you talking about?" he stuttered back.

I laughed, "Come on dude, I know it's you Torrington."

I heard a small huff before he took off his hood, revealing a slightly flustered and annoyed face.

"You aren't getting out of this, Jackson." he said, before actually placing a cup of water right next to me.

I figured he was letting me to try to use my powers, which meant he'd probably done something to stop his powers, but I figured I'd try anyways.

I thought of the water moving up, creating a tendril that reached up. It didn't work, which didn't surprise me.

"Okay Torrington, what's the plan. Why am I here?" I asked slightly tiredly, I'd dealt with enough of this crap.

"I've been working on this since the Titan War, Jackson. And I can finally use it. I've been waiting for the right opportunity, and it presented myself tonight." He responded with a gleam in his eyes, looking genuinely excited, and a little insane.

Kinda like a Titan, guess that's why he's working for them.

"...And?" I asked. He hadn't actually said anything, he just kinda said he'd wanted to do it for a while. Talk about repressed energy.

"Oh yeah," he blinked, before smiling. "I'm gonna send you back in time." He looked incredibly proud of his idea, and I kinda just stared at him.

"Uh… why?" I asked. Honestly I didn't know why he thought this was such a great idea, but I mean okay sure.

"Because it'll take you from now, duh?" he said, looking at me like I was dumb.

"Okay," I shrugged. That wasn't the worst thing that could happen, I mean at least he wasn't gonna kill me.

He looked at me bewildered. "You're… you're okay with this?" he asked.

"I mean, yeah sure. I've always wanted a do over. Where to?"

He continued to look at me like I was an alien that had just landed in front of him. Which, when you think about it, probably isn't as weird as gods and monsters and power and realms.

"Uh, I think it's somewhere after the Labyrinth." he said, still looking incredibly confused.

"Okay, cool."

"..."

"Well get on with it, I don't exactly have all day. You either do this now or someone's gonna show up and kick your butt." I said, looking annoyed.

He stood there, still in shock, before kicking things into gear, drawing things and chanting. He looked like one of those old witch ladies that movies had all the time.

Slowly though, I began to feel the power that Alabaster was weaving with his spell. And what I felt created a small amount of fear in me.

I recognized it.

There was only one time that I had fully felt this power, and that was in Manhattan, on Olympus. The day that too many demigods had died, and the city slept. The day I fought Kronos.

"Uh, Alabaster?" I asked nervously. "Where did you learn this?"

He looked at me, and again that gleam was in his eyes, and this time I felt fear from it. "I learned it from watching Kronos use his powers as the Titan of Time."

I stared at him, realising that even though going back in time wasn't the worst thing that could happen, messing with a Titan's power rarely lead to good things to those it was used upon.

"Do you know what could happen to me?" I asked. I at least wanted to be prepared.

"I honestly don't know, I haven't done this until today." he said, looking a little unsure.

Wonderful, I thought. I'm getting transported through time to before either of the wars happened, and something might happen to me during it. Absolutely wonderful.

He continued to do his spell, and I could feel the power growing, clouding the room, and beginning to suffocate the room.

"Well then Al, I guess I'll see younger you then. Have a good time here." i said, smiling cheerfully at him. He looked at me oddly, but kinda waved at me, and then suddenly everything went black.

And then I felt nothing.

I didn't know where I was. I could just see bright gold flying by me as I stood stationary. And them suddenly everything stopped. The flow stood still, and I realised that flow was my life. Everything that I had ever seen, that I had ever experienced. Laid out in front of me.

And then it started going back.

At first it was normal, I was just seeing me studying and working after the Giant War, talking with Annabeth and the Camps. The usual. But then I stubbed my toe.

And I felt it.

And it was with a sinking heart that I realised there was a price to pay for going back in time, no matter how willing. I would feel everything that I had felt until I was done going back. I would see it all, relive all of it.

And that meant reliving two Wars, not the best of things to be reliving.

And so I watched with anticipation as time rewound in front of my eyes, and I could feel the wind and cold and warmth, and most importantly, the pain. I had felt lots of pain in my short life, and sadly most of that pain happened after the time Alabaster was sending me to.

Wonderful.

It was going fine, and then suddenly it felt like I had hit a wall of pain, and I focused back on my memories to see that we had finally hit the Battle with Gaia.

Which meant, that place was getting closer, and I was not excited.

The Battle of Gaia hurt, I had got some nasty injuries and done some things, but it was nowhere near the River Styx, or… or Tartarus. Those had been real pain.

And then it felt like I had just hit another level. Another wall crashed into me, and for this one I struggled to not scream. In this place I had felt the most amount of pain in my life, and I did not want to relive it. But I guess I had no choice.

I could feel the acid in my lungs, and the fire we drank to keep alive. I could feel the cuts and tears and the glass in my feet and then we hit the worst part Tartarus.

The Arai. I could feel the pain from each of the curses that I had taken, and without the adrenaline of the moment, I could only do one thing. Scream.

I screamed till my throat was raw before suddenly it was over, and I could feel the time zooming past me at faster and faster speeds. As it got closer and closer to wherever it was going to spit me out, I got hit with more and more sensations.

The wind, the cold, the heat, the pain, the exhaustion. I felt it all at once, and my body couldn't take it anymore. It was too many sensations at one time, and I passed out, right as a golden flash happened in front of me. The last thing I saw was me and Annabeth standing in the attic of the Big House, in front of the mummified Oracle.

And then everything went black. Again.

The first thing I took in was the smell of where I was, and I immediately recognized it as the attic in the Big House. I tried to remember when I might be, but then the last memory I saw came back to me and I remembered where I was.

I had just got back from blowing up the Princess Andromeda, and now I was getting the first Great Prophecy.

Yay.

"Percy?" I heard. "Are you okay?'

I opened my eyes and finally realised that I was laying on the ground, and looked up to find Annabeth looking at me with concern.

"Uh… yeah." I stuttered. "Yeah, I'm okay"

I slowly got up and looked around, taking in the Attic and the Oracle and all the things that were in the Big House. I hadn't been here since this very day. It was weird to be here again. There was so much junk, and Rachel wasn't the oracle yet.

It was weird how quickly he got used to that.

"What happened?" I asked. This hadn't happened last time, so I honestly didn't know what to expect.

"There was a flash of light and then suddenly you were on the ground." she said, looking at me oddly. "You were grunting and moving around and then suddenly you just stopped. Then you looked at me."

I blinked, glad that my screaming hadn't made it out into the world. That would have been hard to explain.

"Oh, well I swear I'm fine now. Can we go to the war council now?" I asked.

She looked at me skeptically, and suddenly I realised what I had just done. I had just went back in time, to before either of the wars I had fought in. No matter what I tried to do, I was different than I was the first time around.

And this wasn't my Annabeth.

Not anymore, at least. My Annabeth had lived through two wars and gone through Tartarus with me. They were so similar, and yet I couldn't reconcile this Annabeth with my own. Her eyes were too bright, and her manner too energetic.

She was simply too innocent to be my Annabeth. And I swore to keep it that way. My Annabeth had seen too much, but now I had a chance to stop that.

And I would. I would go down kicking and screaming before this Annabeth saw what mine had seen.

Even as I made that promise, I also realised just what that meant. This Annabeth was too far from mine. Last time I had been just like her. Just as innocent, and we had went through it together. But I had already been through this. If I did what I could to keep her happy, it may just keep her from becoming my Annabeth.

And I wasn't sure if I wanted that.

Annabeth had been my rock during the two wars. She was who I used when I went into the River Styx, and the only thing that I had remembered when Hera took my memories. I don't really know what I would do without her.

But I couldn't think about myself. That didn't matter. I steeled myself, there was nothing I could do to stop it. This Annabeth was different from my Annabeth, and if I wanted to make this world even better, then she would never become my Annabeth.

And I had to be okay with that.

"Percy!" Annabeth shouted, exasperatedly.

I looked at her sheepishly, rubbing the back of neck. I had been zoned out for way too long.

"Sorry sorry, I was just thinking." I said.

She snorted, "I didn't know you could do that Seaweed Brain."

I huffed as she started laughing, and for now, everything fell back into place.