Gaea's mocking laugh surrounded the group. "Finally! The day of my awakening is here! And you, Perseus, along with a female will awaken me with your blood. Perhaps I will use the lieutenant's blood."

Perseus tensed at her words. This has gone from okay, to bad, and then to worse. This will be a bloodbath.

Perseus...the plan....

"Grab the Son of Poseidon!" The monsters were ordered. Over thousands of years and no one actually knew or remembers his godly parent until this moment. Guess he doesn't have to hide his powers anymore.

...Use my blessing...

As the dirt cage around him fall into the ground, Perseus cried out as his back hit the ground hard. He was roughly grabbed by the biceps, two earthborn holding his limp body up. All he could hear was his heavy, labored breathing.

Thank you for doing this...I will forever be in your debt...

The 'if you survive this' went silent in the pause. Perseus didn't let that go unnoticed.

You will be fine...

I fell in love, Gaea. I was prepared to lose everything, but...I have more than a sister figure and a father now, I have cousins who don't seem too bad. I can make a life here and...I think I'm in love with Annabeth...

If this was the old days, would you marry her now?

Yes. With no hesitation.

Then survive this, so you can 'date' her as the mortals do now. What happened to courting?

Perseus internally laughed. If he were to laugh out loud that would have hurt. A lot. Getting back on topic, he continued the plan.

Father?

There was no reply to his prayer call for several heartbeats.

Perseus? You're still alive?

Perseus wanted to roll his eyes, only he didn't have the strength to. Yes, I'm still alive. I...Lady Artemis, her hunters, and the demigods of the prophecy...they're in trouble...come help with the other Olympians and Hades to...to defeat...the...giants...

Perseus?! What's wrong?!

I...I think...I'm dying...

Perseus!

Behind his closed eyes, when did that happen, he could see flashes of light. Perseus wanted to smile, he couldn't because it hurt too much.

"Perseus!" His hearing came back to him as several voices shouted his name over and over again.

Perseus...say your goodbyes.

With great difficulty, he was able to open eyes. He saw his father, Zöe, Lady Artemis, and Annabeth kneeling around him. What happened to the earthborn and the other monsters?

Perseus coughed, the feeling of blood moving around in his throat made him grimace. "Father?"

"Yes, Perseus?"

"I'm sorry. I should have stayed and explained, but..."

Poseidon held his son's hand. "You have nothing to be sorry for."

Perseus smiled, closing his eyes again. He found it was getting harder to breath. "Zöe?"

"Yes, Brother?" He smiled more at the nickname.

"I have to leave again. I'm glad you found a place to call home." He told the girl who was a sister to him.

Zöe sobbed. "I..." She tried to copy Perseus' accent. He smiled widen and he chuckled a bit at her word. "I only...wished you would have found one as well...Male." He could hear a watery grin in her tone.

He laugh some more before he groaned at the pain he felt. Perseus grabbed at his chest, gasping out his breath. He finally choked, blood coming out of his mouth.

"Apollo!" The Sea God shouted, worried about his lost son.

Gaea's evil laughter sounded from the ground. "Perseus will die! That is a promise!"

At the last word, the earth began to overcome Perseus. As the dirt moved, he took one last long look at Annabeth. In that moment, he really did love her. That scared him more than anything in his last moments.

Perseus was then taken into the earth.

~Why must we kill off the heroes? Because we fell in love with being the villains. We also could have been stupid enough to believe we could be better heroes than the actual heroes. I believe we found ourselves missing the high bar that is set for heroes, we fell in love with the darkness inside ourselves...~

Perseus? Can you hear me?

Yes...Perseus groaned out. What's going on? Did I die?

You're still dead, Perseus, the plan is going as it should. Good luck with explaining this to-

Perseus. Gaea.

Tartarus? Perseus and Gaea asked together.

There was no reply for a second or two. Perseus, if you are letting my wife use you as a vessel, I swear-

Perseus wanted to say something to that, but knew there was only so much time left. Instead he said a few words. I will be there soon.

Not long after those words were there did Perseus see some light again. Gaea pushed back the dirt away from Perseus' body, allowing herself to get out of the earth without using too much of her power. She had blessed him for this reason.

As he distantly heard the shocked voices and gasps at his body being risen from the ground, Perseus couldn't help but to think of a talk he had with Gaea in Alaska.

Gaea had been acting colder than the one he talks to, the reason why? Because Gaea was good and evil. Her good side was in trouble and she reached out for help in the first war. He remembered when he would have demigod after demigod come to him, explaining the same dream they would have in the middle of the night.

The started with the earth splitting in two. One would be the good side of nature; life, a healthy grass green color with so many meadows, a river running through the center with natural spring water, full trees with plants, and animals everywhere. There was a motherly figure tending to it all in a green grass dress with bright green eyes, her wavy brown hair filled with colorful flowers.

The other side was the bad side of nature; death, a unhealthy brown and grey color with unturned ground from natural disasters, a ravine running through the center with lava, dead trees with crows and vultures waiting for their next meal, and fire everywhere. There was a cruel figure scaring the whole environment more in a brown, muddy, and torn dress with dark green eyes, her lifeless brown hair filled with dead sticks and bugs.

Perseus could recall a time when the two would wake him up in the middle of the night, he would gasp for breath every time. It came to a point where he would refuse to sleep. Days later, the final battle happened.

"Impossible!" The other Gaea in the ground shouted. "You should be dead! I killed you!"

Perseus' mouth curled into a warm smile. Gaea... He complained, knowing she was doing it from all the times she would tell him to smile. She always said she loves his smile. "While Perseus had imprisoned you, he had let me stay hidden away from you. I knew you wouldn't stay asleep in your prison forever, so Perseus and I came up with a plan together in the last final battle."

The evil side of Gaea appeared from the earth, her appearance the same as in the dreams. The one difference were her bloodshot, crazed dark green eyes. "You-you asked for help from a mere demigod!" Evil Gaea laughed, her natural sneer leaving for once.

Gaea... She didn't listen to Perseus' warning tone, she replied almost instantly. "This mere demigod is a true hero who sacrificed everything to help me!" Gaea... "You have no right to call him mere when he was more braver than I when it came to you. Perseus was able to overcome your illusion. He was the only one to help me. Perseus is the only male that saw through-" GAEA! "Your disguise of the Daughter of Athena that broke his heart!"

Perseus, even though he was technically dead at this point, could feel the pain of that betrayal. Athea was his right hand, it wasn't common in those days, but Perseus didn't care. He didn't realize her betrayal until...

Wanting to get away from the whole situation like a coward, Perseus' soul left go to the underworld. More specifically, Tartarus.

"Perseus?"

Perseus looked up. "Tartarus..." He started, telling the primordial god of the pit of what was happening. Filling him in on the plan and was happening in Athens while he stood in front of Tartarus' throne in the pitch black throne room that had some red torches and red spots on the floor and walls. Of course Tartarus would have blood on his throne room walls...

~MsPenguingirl1234.

Published: February 9, 2018.