A HUGE thanks to the author's Starblade176 for helping me more than you know on this re-write. I also need to thank Solaerius and Zoegurl49 for all the help writing multiple scenes. Please search up all three of those fantastic authors.
Author's Note: Hello everyone! Just to let you know, the start of the story takes place in The Last Olympian. The statue of Hera never fell on Thalia, there is no Grover, and the final battle shall be different. Sorry for my OOCness of characters. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Percy Jackson characters. Some of the text in this chapter is not my own, and comes from The Last Olympian, by Rick Riordan.
Warning: This chapter contains lots of death and gore. "Death and gore are one of the best things to read/write about." -Starblade176, 2013.
Prologue
Percy Jackson
The doors of the palace were big enough to steer a cruise ship through, but they'd been ripped off their hinges and smashed like they weighed nothing. My friends and I had to climb over a huge pile of broken stone and twisted metal to get inside. Kronos stood in the middle of the throne room, his arms wide, staring at the starry ceiling as if taking it all in. His laughter echoed even louder than it had from the pit Tartarus.
"Finally!" He bellowed, "The Olympian Council-so proud and mighty. Which seat of power shall I destroy first?"
Ethan Nakamura stood to one side, trying to stay out of the way of his master's scythe. The hearth was almost dead, just a few coals glowing deep in the ashes. Hestia was nowhere to be seen. The Ophiotaurus swam in his water sphere in the far corner of the room, wisely not making a sound, but it wouldn't be long before Kronos noticed him. Thalia, Annabeth, and I stepped forward into the torchlight. Ethan saw us first.
"My lord," He warned.
Kronos turned and smiled through Luke's face. Except for the golden eyes, he looked just the same as he had four years ago when he'd welcomed me into the Hermes cabin. Thalia looked like she was going to explode in anger. The smell of ozone filled the air as she shook in rage. Annabeth looked torn as she glanced from me to Luke.
"Hello Jackson, come to join the party?" Kronos' voice crackled, sounding like nails across a chalkboard.
"Let's dance gramps," I said as I drew Riptide, my bronze sword glittered in the dim torch light.
Annabeth unsheathed her bronze dagger, the same one Luke had given her years ago. Thalia's spear appeared in her hand, tip sizzling with electricity. Her shield also sprung onto her arm, ready to protect its owner.
Kronos lunged at me, his scythe swinging like a tornado. I jumped into his swing and blocked his attack. The power of his strike sent vibrations through my sword, my hands tingling from the impact. Pulling my sword away I feinted left, and swung hard to the right, only to meet his scythe once again. In the corner of my eye, I saw Annabeth and Thalia attack Ethan.
Quickly, I refocused and kept fighting. I was losing ground fast. Kronos had cornered me against a throne.
"Shall I destroy your fathers' throne first, little hero?" Kronos asked flatly.
He swung at me with a very powerful slash of his scythe. I felt the strength of the sea at my back and I met his stroke halfway. Our weapons slammed together, spraying sparks onto the ground. My strokes became faster and faster. Slowly but steadily I started backing Kronos up. I broke through the Titian Lords defense, and stabbed my blade into his stomach. My blade harmlessly bounced off, causing me to stumble forward.
Kronos took advantage of the situation and proceeded to hit me with a very hard uppercut, sending me flying into a pillar, which collapsed on me. Groaning, my muscles aching and sweat dripping down my face, I pushed piles of rubble off of me. I was saved, once again, by the Achilles curse. Thalia ran at Kronos and attempted to impale him, but he blocked her spear. I looked over to Annabeth to see her kick Ethan in his groin, which caused me to involuntarily wince, before clapping him on the temple with the butt of her knife. Ethan's face looked blank, as he fell forward, faceplanting onto the marble floor, out cold. I jumped to my feet and started over to where Kronos was fighting Thalia. Kronos pushed Thalia back, who crashed into me. His eyes flashed gold, and we froze, unable to move. I strained to move, pushing as hard as I could against the spell, but to no avail. He started towards us, walking slowly.
"Luke stop!" Annabeth suddenly yelled, as she leapt in front of him.
"Luke's gone!" Kronos bellowed, as he swung a powerful slash at Annabeth.
Annabeth brought her knife up in two hands, to intercept his swing. The strike was so powerful that when Kronos scythe met her knife, her arms broke like twigs. The daughter of Athena's knife slipped from her sweaty, impassive hands, clattering to the ground, as she stumbled back. The dagger rolled away from her, out of reach. She sunk to her knees, screaming a horrible scream from the events that took place. Her eyes showed betrayal and disbelief, as tears streamed down her face. This was from more than the pain; she had realised that her Luke, the one she ran away with, the one she loved, was long gone, further than she wanted to believe. His body was a shell, simply a vessel for the Titan Lord. Kronos spun his sword, smiling smugly, as he pointed it to Annabeth.
"You have caused too much trouble, but finally, finally I have you at my mercy, little girl." He rasped.
He prepared to stab Annabeth through the chest, who was making no effort to move, as more than her arms were broken. Her very heart had been shattered at the loss of Luke.
Kronos' sword ripped through Annabeth's stomach. His blade pierced through her back, followed by a splash of blood. She crumpled lifelessly to the ground.
In rage I yelled out and the room shook from my earthshaker powers. The room exploded, flinging the floor tiles all around. Everyone was thrown off their feet and Kronos's time spell broke. Whipping Riptide out of my pocket, I darted forward, drawing my sword and slashing wildly at Kronos who was just recovering. Our swords clashed and I kicked the Titan in the chest. He stumbled backwards away from Annabeth. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end as a bolt of lightning shot past me and hit Kronos in the face. The room smelled of ozone as Kronos was sent flying into the wall.
We rushed to Annabeth's side, and saw something that would hurt me forever. Annabeth's skin around where she had been stabbed was sizzling and slowly disintegrating. Her eyes were wide, staring straight ahead. Tears fell freely from my eyes and I let out a loud growl.
Looking over at Thalia I noticed tears streaming down her face and her eyes were flashing blue.
In a quiet, dangerous tone, I said, "Let's kick this Titan back to Tartarus."
By now Kronos had gotten back to his feet. He stared at us and chuckled.
"You've put up quite a fight, probably more than my cursed children... But this is besides the point. Your time is running short. It was a nice fight, grandchildren."
I noticed Luke's skin was starting to glow faintly golden. He seemed to be glowing from the inside. At that moment, I quickly learned something bad was going to happen.
Thalia met my eyes and we came to a silent decision. We turned and charged.
Stabbing her spear out, Thalia tried to find a weak spot on Kronos body. He dodged Thalia's stab and kicked her in the shin. A sickly sounding snap could be heard, as she fell forward, her shin shattered, not being able to support her anymore. Kronos smacked her in the face, and she was flung backwards with a broken nose. Her spear was thrown from her grasp, and clattered to the floor. She hit the ground and slid before coming to a stop. Thalia didn't move after that. I swung my sword like a baseball bat and smacked Kronos legs out from underneath him, causing him to faceplant into the floor. Since he bore the curse of Achilles no real damage was done.
I glanced at Thalia before I turned around and was met with a golden beam of energy to the face which sent me flying head over heels across the room, before landing in a heap on the floor. My face burned like Hades itself.
"It's too late Percy. It is finished." Kronos said, almost peacefully.
Luke's skin was now glowing a blinding gold. I jumped to my feet and tried to run at him but before I got there, Luke's body exploded in a flash of light, knocking me off my feet onto my back. I slid a few feet across the floor, before staring around in horror. A horrible smell filled the air, the smell of rotting and death. Coating me and the walls was Luke's blood. I gagged and spat out the blood that was in my mouth and slowly rose to my feet, dreading what I was going to find.
"HA… HA… HAAAA!" A loud, evil voice boomed.
I stumbled at the sheer power of this voice. Wiping Luke's internal organs off my face, I saw a sight that made me want to curl up into a ball and die. Standing in front of me was a 10-foot tall being clad in heavy, golden armour. Large, slightly curved spikes rose upward from his pauldrons, his vambraces also adorned with spikes that ran almost parallel to his forearm. Atop his head sat a spiked helm with a golden face guard, and in his hands rested the largest and deadliest Scythe I had ever seen in my life.
"Kronos…" I whispered in disbelief.
"Hahaha!" he chuckled darkly before proclaiming, "You are DOOMED."
Suddenly there were multiple flashes of golden light, along with the sounds of many people marching in. Looking towards the entrance of the Throne Room, demigods filed in, in tight formation. They formed a half circle around Kronos as the 12 Olympians stood opposite of them, surrounding Kronos. Kronos smiled evilly and said, "It is too late, puny gods. Welcome to your deaths. The Golden Age is here!" As he finished, he rose his scythe, first pointing at Zeus. A golden beam of pure energy shot out of the tip of his sword, flying at Zeus. Zeus raised his Master Bolt and attempted to block the beam of pure energy, but his Master Bolt exploded, sending the King of the Gods flying across the room.
Befitting to his name, Ares gave a loud war cry as he leveled his wickedly sharp two handed sword in Kronos direction, before charging. Kronos stood, smirking lazily, making no attempt to raise his own weapon.
My breath hitched, as I looked at Kronos standing lazily, and at that moment I knew Ares was going to die.
The god of War swung his two handed sword attempting to behead Kronos. Faster than the eye can see, Kronos crouched under the swing, while his scythe switched hands. Kronos stepped sideways, as Ares, still sprinting full speed, was met with Kronos scythe to his neck, decapitating him. Ares head flew off his shoulders as his body crumpled onto floor. His head hit the ground, splattering golden blood all over, before it rolled over near me. I stared into Ares now empty lifeless eyes, which had only moments ago been filled with hate. Seconds later, he disappeared into golden dust. All that was left of the God of War was his two handed sword, lying alone on the ground.
The remaining Olympians stared at Kronos in shock. A wave of fear seemed to ripple through the Olympians because of how fast Ares had been bested.
"Even you can not take us all on at once," Poseidon proclaimed.
"Do you really think I am alone?" Kronos said, as he slowly paced back and forth. "There are many things you Olympians do not remember about me, you all forgot over time. And time is my specialty."
Following Kronos words, flashes of deep blue, red, and purple filled the room. Slowly, the colors came together and began swirling in a circle. It looked like some sort of portal. Across the room, Athena gasped.
"It can't be!" Athena screamed in terror.
The Olympians got in a defensive stance, all drawing their respective weapons. The demigods followed suit, getting into their defensive formation. The portal began spinning faster and faster. Small cracking and scraping sounds filled the room. The portal began to pulse violet before an explosion came from within. A light filled the room, so bright that even the remaining Olympians had to shield their eyes. Suddenly the light dimmed and everyone turned to face Kronos.
Standing in front of Kronos were hundreds and hundreds of armored warriors. Each one had flaming hair and a celestial bronze donkey leg. All the warriors held golden swords, and stood around six to seven feet in height. Their eyes glowed red.
"The she-demons of Hecate…" muttered Hera.
"More than the usual Empousa, I'm afraid. These have been blessed with the abilities to kill even gods. Destroy them!" ordered Kronos.
The monsters surged forward with a screeching war cry. I ran in the direction of my demigod friends, hoping to be in time to help. An Empousa jumped out in front of me, slashing its sword in my direction. I swung my sword right through it's sword arm, before spinning around and stabbing another right through it's head. I stabbed backwards, without looking, impaling another through it's chestplate. Ripping my sword free, I kept running. I glanced to my left to see Athena with dual knives. She spun on her knees under a sword slash, before swinging her knives upwards slicing two Empousa's throats. Standing up, she did a 360 spin before kicking an Empousa's legs out from underneath it. She brought both knives down stabbing them through its chest.
I turned away and kept moving in the direction of my friends. I hacked and slashed my way towards the demigods. Cutting down one more Empousa, I caught a glance of the demigods. It was not good. All over there were dead bodies of my comrades. I watched frozen in horror as Clarisse took a blade through the stomach. She gave a growl, decapitating her offender. Two more Empousa proceeded to slash her legs and arms as they ran past. She fell to her knees, blood pouring from many wounds, before falling over dead.
"No…" I whispered.
I then saw Katie get pounced on by an Empousa. I rushed forward, grabbing the demon and threw it off. I stabbed it through its throat before it disintegrated. I looked down at Katie to see her unmoving, her throat ripped out.
I turned away, before running right into an Empousa. It stabbed me in the chest, but it's blade bounced off. Angry, I stepped forward and snapped its neck. To my left, I saw Travis Stoll taking on three enemies. I whipped my sword like a javelin, and in impaled all three Empousa through the chest. They poofed into dust. Travis nodded me his thanks before attacking another.
The fighting continued and more and more demigods fell. It seemed like we were facing an endless horde. Some time later, I saw Travis and Connor Stoll surrounded. I tried to get over to help them, but there were too many Empousa. Travis fell first, missing his arm. Connor bellowed in rage, but soon met a similar fate. I yelled in fury, summoning a small hurricane out of thin air. Empousa were sent flying left and right. All I could see was red. Every monster I killed, it seemed three more took its place.
Across the room, the Olympians were not having much luck. Hermes speared an enemy through with his sword, before getting stabbed in the arm. He sliced the Empousa that stabbed his arm before he got slashed in the side. An Empousa grabbed his arm and swung him into another she-demons waiting sword. Hermes fell to the ground with a sword through his chest.
Athena got stabbed through the back of her leg, which caused her to fall to one knee. She turned and killed the Empousa that was behind her. She stabbed another on the other side of her body, before turning right into an Empusa sword swing. Her helmet was knocked from her head as she stumbled backwards, dazed. An Empousa pounced onto her back, then thrust a knife through her neck. Another then smashed her on the head for good measure. Athena crumpled to the floor, dead.
The fighting dragged on. Slowly, Demeter, Aphrodite, Dionysus, Hera, and Hephaestus joined the dead.
Apollo and Artemis were back to back taking on hundreds of Empousa. Apollo yelled in rage as fire erupted from his hands, decimating a handful of Empousa. Artemis had her dual hunting knives and was hacking and slashing down Empousa with godly speed. Apollo's large flaming broadsword took out multiple Empousa with every slash. Apollo swung his sword, about to take out another group of Empousa before it was met with a giant scythe. His eyes widened before the huge scythe withdrew and swung again. Apollo brought up his sword to block, but the power of the swing was so great that the flat side of his sword slammed into his face when he tried to block it. Apollo crumpled to the floor, out cold. Artemis turned to see Apollo fall. Before Kronos could finish him off, she threw one of her knives with deadly accuracy through his hand. With only one knife left, she was an easy target. Kronos took two steps in her direction before slamming his hand against the side of her head. She fell in a heap, joining her brother on the floor.
"Bind them," Kronos ordered to the nearby Empousa, as he made his way to the next Olympian.
Poseidon was doing the best out of all the Olympians. He stabbed his trident right through an Empusa neck, before spinning which ripped the head of it's shoulders. He kicked the head off the ground right into a charging Empousa, which caused it to stumble, before swinging his trident down, smashing the Empousa flat. He proceeded to shoot a stream of water out of his trident into 5 charging Empousa, which sent them flying into the wall. The power behind the blast caused them to die on impact. Poseidon kicked the next enemy into the air before skewering it through the chest with his trident. He then threw the Empousa off his trident into 2 charging enemies. Poseidon quickly spun his weapon as the demons fell over. He took a mighty leap into the air, holding his trident horizontal, and smashed the Empousa's heads off upon landing.
Jumping to his feet, Poseidon hacked, slashed, spun and stabbed so fast, the 10 Empousa surrounding him fell onto the ground in pieces. More and more Empousa continued to rush Poseidon. He speared one through the chest, also impaling the one behind him. He did a 360 spin, while twirling his weapon. The two nearest demons fell down with large gashes across their chests. One of the she-demons managed to get too close for his trident, and slashed downward. Poseidon caught the demons wrist, before jamming the blunt end of his trident through its abdomen. He then launched it over his shoulder into the crowd of enemies. A sword slipped past his defense, stabbing him in the shoulder. Poseidon's fist shot out like a viper, smashing the Empousa's face so hard, its head flew off its shoulders.
Realizing he was fighting a lost battle, Poseidon summoned the remainder of his power and cast it on the Olympians last hope: his son. Knowing that he had to be discrete, Poseidon released a final wave of energy, throwing the Empousa's surrounding him backwards as his blessing was unknowingly absorbed by Percy. Weakened from the effort, Poseidon's legs were easily kicked out from underneath him. As he fell, his trident slipped from his grasp. An Empousa scooped it up and tried to stab Poseidon. He caught it in between the prongs, holding it from ending his life. One she-demon was trying to stab his chest, but he kept kicking away. Another was on his chest plate, holding his free arm down. Kronos approached, laughing as he walked while the she-demons retreated at his presence.
Reacting with remarkable speed, Poseidon flipped his trident, sending a bolt of energy directly into Krono's chest. It glanced off his armour and Kronos laughed coldly, ripping the trident from his hands. He promptly thrust downward with it, piercing Poseidon's armour and stabbing deep into his stomach. He leaned over Poseidon and said, "Goodbye son" before casually lopping off his head.
As he turned to deal with the remaining demigods, he failed to notice the trident shimmering with a soft golden light, before it dissolved in a sea-green mist.
Kronos loosened his grip on his scythe, until he held it near the bottom of the hilt. He then proceeded to lightly tap the ground. The result was instantaneous. The floor began to glow golden as the throne room shook wildly. Monsters and demigods alike fell to the floor. Only two people were left standing. Kronos stared across the room at a stumbling Percy Jackson. Before Percy could make a move, Kronos froze him in place.
Kronos turned to his troops, his eyes blazing.
"They're mine."
Immediately, all the demons around the demigods backed up, forming a large circle. Shakily, the 9 demigods that had fallen over got to their feet. The survivors included Will, Butch, Chris, Drew, Jake, Lee, Lou, Malcolm, and Nyssa. Kronos slowly made his way towards the demigods, his fiery eyes turning to stare right into mine with frightening coldness.
"Let this be an example of what it means to defy me, boy."
Kronos pointed at the demigods and thin ropes of golden fire flew from his fingers, latching themselves onto their skin. Each demigod screamed at the touch, their skin burning with unbearable pain when the ropes suddenly tightened around their bodies, choking their screams off.
I watched in pain as my friends were choked and roasted alive, rage beginning to boil within my body as I struggled to move against the invisible bonds Kronos had put upon me.
Utter horror and pure rage ripped through my body when my friends' slowly crumbled into little piles of ashes, their unheard screams ringing in my head.
"You…" I growled lowly, straining against my bonds.
"What are you going to do, child? Attack me? By all means." Kronos laughed and clicked his fingers.
With a crash, I fell to the floor but I sprang up immediately, anger coursing through my body as I charged at the Titan Lord.
Kronos twirled his scythe around in his hands as I charged when he suddenly spun around. Before I could bring Riptide down on him, the edge of his weapon slammed against my chest and with an explosion of golden light, I flew backwards, crashing against a wall with enough force that the wind was knocked out of my lungs.
As I painfully straightened up, Kronos was suddenly standing in front of me, his hand on my shoulder and his golden eyes staring deep into mine.
"Goodbye, demigod."
Before I could even react, Kronos kicked me in the stomach. Hard. The wall behind me exploded from the force as I shot through like a missile, the effects of his attacks beginning to affect my vision.
The last thing I saw before unconsciousness took over was Olympus, growing smaller and smaller as I fell through the sky.
"Now that that's done with," Kronos said, turning away from the hole in the wall, "What should I do with you, Zeus?"