Maybe kicking Kronos's butt wasn't a wise choice at all.

"So you could control your own thoughts now, eh? Well, see if you can beat this.” Suddenly, Percy found a wound right below his heart, as his eyes widened in horror. 

“Surprised, Jackson? It’s not like in the movies, isn’t it? There isn’t a big spurt of blood and you go flying backwards.” Kronos smirked. His right arm was held upright, tightly holding a gun in his hand. 

It was the first time Percy felt so scared. He felt time slow down around him. Kronos froze. 

“A wound from a gun shot is much more dangerous than a wound from a knife.” Annabeth was walking around him, looking at him with a worried but determined expression. “You do remember me telling you that, don’t you?” 

Percy nodded. He didn’t notice himself trembling in fear. 

“A low velocity weapon, like Riptide or Luke’s knife, is far less likely to penetrate your skull than a high velocity projectile, which is the gun.” Annabeth continued to explain calmly. Percy raised an eyebrow. 

“Can you speak English?” 

Annabeth ignored him. 

“You have three seconds of consciousness before you collapse. Now, think. What would Kronos do right after he shot you?” 

“Uh…” 

“Focus!” Annabeth shouted, as she slapped him hard on the face. Percy blinked in shock. 

“He’s the titan of time, right?” Annabeth snapped. Percy nodded immediately. “Well then, of course, he’ll freeze the time. He won’t let you die like that, he’s such a blood-thristy titan. So now, you’ll have to take advantage of that.” 

Percy gaped. 

“How?” 

“Play along with him.” she answered a-matter-of-factly. “But stay alive. Obviously. You can control your thoughts, seaweed brain!” Percy blinked. 

“So I could imagine the bullet wasn’t there?” 

Annabeth laughed half-heartedly. 

“Um, yeah. Actually. But you’re in too much of a shock you wouldn’t be able to do that.” 

“Okay fine, I’ll play along with him. So, then what do I do?” Percy crossed his arms. Annabeth continued. 

“While you’re doing whatever he wants you to do, you have to think of a way to destroy his presence in your head. What do you think it is?” 

“Killing him.” 

“According to my assumptions, yes.” Annabeth put her index finger on her chin. “But I wonder…” 

Her image dissolved, and Kronos also unfroze, however, time didn’t continue to move. 

“Let’s see what can you do in your precious three seconds of consciousness, Jackson.” Kronos smirked. He fired the bullet again. Percy felt his body unwilling to move. 

Oh my gods, what do I do? What do I do? 

“You can control your thoughts.” Annabeth’s voice rang in his head. 

Percy closed his eyes and with all his power willed himself to move in frozen time. 

Bang.

He opened his eyes. 

The bullet has scraped his face, but Kronos was looking impressed. 

“Wow. That was actually going for your brain.” 

“Since when did you know how to use a freaking gun?” Percy snapped. Kronos cocked his head and smirked, but he didn’t answer. 

Kronos didn’t even give a warning this time. He aimed the gun at Percy’s chest. 

As Kronos pulled the trigger, Percy immediately crouched down and saw the bullet fly into the darkness. 

Kronos shrugged.  

“So now we’re playing with time, huh? No problem. I’ve got plenty. What about you, Jackson?” 

Percy was panting. It was taking so much focus to do that simple move. He took a deep breath. 

“Bring it on, moron.” 

Kronos’s eyes narrowed in disgust as he pulled the trigger again, with Percy dodging to his left. 

“I can’t keep on doing this.” Percy thought to himself. “How? How to kill him?” 

If only he could freeze Kronos.

Percy dodged another bullet. 

“Well, Percy?” Annabeth was suddenly at his side. “Got a battle strategy yet?” 

“If I could freeze that stupid titan, I may be able to win.” Percy scowled as he dodged another bullet. “I’m not getting anywhere with this.” 

“You could, you know.” Annabeth said in a soft voice. “Like I’ve told you a million times, this is your head, you know.” 

Percy raised an eyebrow.  

“You sure I can do it? If anything goes wrong, I would most probably die.” 

Annabeth didn’t reply. Percy sighed. 

“Fine.” 

He focused on Kronos, as he imagined Kronos frozen, bullet frozen in the air, and him walking towards Kronos with Riptide in his hand. 

When he opened his eyes, he saw Kronos looking at Percy with wild, murderous eyes, his gun on the floor. Percy shrugged. 

“Not exactly what I wanted, but yeah.” 

Percy picked up the gun and threw it into the darkness, and took out Riptide. 

“Finally. It all ends.” 

Kronos only smirked. 

“Oh Perseus. You’re so stupid. Don’t you see? Without me freezing time, you’re dying. Look at you.” 

Percy glanced down at his own body. His body was aching with pain from the wounds, especially the wound from the gunshot was flowing with blood. Percy doubled down as he dropped onto the ground. 

“Wha-?” Percy winced.

“You’re dying, Perseus.” Kronos smirked. “Blood-loss. Haven’t you heard of it?” 

Of course I did. Idiot. Percy bit his lip as he placed his hand over his gunshot wound. He was trembling again. 

“Focus, Percy!” Annabeth appeared at his side once again. “The second thing that kills you is shock.” 

“What do I do?” Percy asked desperately. 

Annabeth raised an eyebrow. 

“Don’t go into shock, obviously. There must be something that could calm you down…” 

She disappeared. Again. 

“-if you die,” Kronos was saying, “Your Mommy would cry, Poseidon would cry, your friends would cry, Chiron would cry, and Annabeth. Oh, Annabeth would cry buckets and buckets.”

Percy yelped as the throbbing pain of the gunshot wound pained him more and more. 

“Stop…” he whispered. Suddenly he lost consciousness.

Annabeth appeared almost immediately. She screamed. 

“Wake up! Don’t lose consciousness! You’re dying!”  

But Kronos didn’t stop. 

“You’re going to love being dead, Percy. You wouldn’t be tortured anymore, and you would see the life of your lovely little friends. The life of Jason and Piper, and Frank with Hazel, Leo… he’s going to be with his most beloved Calypso. However, you mommy would be so sad… and oh, you’d see the sad face of your most beloved girlfriend! Your Wise Girl.” Kronos smirked. “Oh, what worries me the most is her. She is going to be in so much danger now that you’re dead. Oh, I’m sure Gaia (Gaea) would never let her go!” 

Percy’s eyes flashed open. 

Fear washed over Kronos’s face, but he kept his cool. 

“Oh! Was it something that I’ve said? You’re not dead? Seriously?” 

Percy growled at Kronos. 

“I can’t… die… Now that I remember G-Gaia is behind all of this.” 

Percy grabbed Riptide and plunged it into Kronos’s temple, ignoring the sounds of Kronos screaming in agony. 

“You’ll regret this, Jackson!” Kronos started to laugh hysterically, like a madman. “This isn’t the end!” 

Kronos disappeared. 

Suddenly, Percy felt his view blur. 

“Annabeth… Please… Help me…” 

Percy Jackson dropped onto the ground, and with a clang, Riptide was loosened from his grasp. 

AN: Yeah lol. FINALLY. I did it. Okay. This chapter was actually inspired by BBC Sherlock Season 3 Episode 3. (The part where Sherlock is shot) So, this chapter is dedicated to the scriptwriters of Sherlock BBC S03 E03! :P I couldn't think of anything, and I watched Sherlock S03 E03 and this came to me. Yeah. Well. It's a crappy chapter, in my opinion. So. Yeah. Ahem. I'll just... go now. Before anyone kills me.