Percy

I was on Olympus. I knew I was dreaming. I knew it was Friday, exactly a week from when Leo was tortured in the Cryo Chamber, and that I had just finished my first shift of the day with Frank and Will. I knew that as soon as I got back to the cell I passed out, trying to take advantage of the time I had before the seven o'clock shift. I hadn't had a dream in a long time, so this was strange.

On Olympus, I viewed the gods all in the throne room, arguing. Some looked bored, some worried, others anxious. I cleared my throat, hoping to catch someone's attention. 

"Percy!" My father called, running forward and wrapping me in a hug. I squirmed and pushed him off of me, backing away. The throne room went silent. "Percy..." Poseidon warned.

"Where have you been?" I asked, my voice sounding choked. "We can explain, Percy," Hera reasoned. I ignored her. She still holds the title for 'least favorite goddess EVER'.

When Zeus stepped off his throne to approach me, I knew the matter was serious. "Hades was finally able to summon your consciousness, boy. We've been trying to send a message for months."

I raised an eyebrow. The gods were trying to send a message to me? Was it about how they've been completely nonexistent in their children's' lives, right when we needed them the most? They better have a good excuse.

"Explain then," I said through gritted teeth. I could tell by the sorrowful look Poseidon was giving me that he could see the pain in my eyes. 

"Percy, when Gaia fell and damned the earth, she banished us to Olympus," Athena explained. "We cannot leave until the greatest hero of the age should open the gates of Olympus. We wanted to come and help you all, but we simply could not. We were willing to disregard the Ancient Laws to help. But we can't leave. The best we could do was to warn you."

"Warn me about what?" I asked, catching Hades's eye. "The end is near Percy," Hades spoke. "And you cannot give up hope. Your friends need you. Tell them where we are. Keep them going. And Percy," he said. "Remember."

I was confused for a moment. Then I heard Rachel's voice in my head. 'Perseus, you are not the hero.'

I was very confused about why I needed to hear something my friend drew in the sand during the Second Titan War. I was interrupted by Poseidon grabbing my shoulders and kissing the top of my head. "I love you, son. Be brave."

And then the dream world was dissolving. I was woken up by hands. Hands that belonged to guards. They were dragging me to my feet, getting ready to bring me to my second shift of the day. My fatigue and dread hit me all at once. I groaned, making eye contact with a distressed looking Jason. 

His eyes jogged my memory of what his father told me in my dream. "Jason, the gods-" But the cell door slammed shut before I could finish. An ominous feeling settled in my stomach on the way to the Harvesters. A horrible feeling of dread. I felt sick to my stomach. More so than usual.

When we got there, the guards let go of me and I was too weak to support myself so I fell to my knees. A guard got down on her knees in front of me, getting in my face. I recognized her as Montgomery. 

"Get in the Harvester, Jackson. It'll make it a lot easier on all of us if you just do it." Out of the corner of my eye I saw guards forcing Laurel Victor and Lou Ellen and a few others I couldn't see into Harvesters. 

"No," I whispered. Montgomery frowned. "What was that?" she asked, venom in her voice. "I said no," I spoke a little louder. Montgomery smirked. "I want to hear you beg."

Annabeth's face flashed through my mind of the time after I'd read the Great Prophecy for the first time. 'You're a coward, Percy Jackson!' she had said. 'You always run away from your problems.'

"I won't," I rasped. "I won't beg for mercy. I'll fight for my freedom, but I will not beg."

Montgomery's smile slipped and she set her jaw, looking past me to the guard behind. She stood, kicking my side, leaving me gasping. "Get him in the Harvester," she said. And that was it. There would be no mercy for me.

^*^*^*^

Hazel

Jason was still pacing hours later. "What did he mean, 'the gods'. Did he get a message? Does he know something about them?"

"Jason, we can ask him when he gets back," I said. 

"Yeah," Nico put in, putting a hand on Jason's shoulder. "Chill out."

We sat talking and theorizing for awhile longer. It felt weird, how small our group was. And with Percy, there were seven of us left. We started here with twelve. In the cell, being the only remaining girl, I felt really small and scared. 

I couldn't tell you when I started to feel it. But there was this pit in my stomach, a bottomless hole of dread that grew with each passing minute. Everyone else seemed oblivious to it. That was until I caught Nico's eye. He had been having a conversation with Will, but couldn't seem to be able to focus. 

With that glance, I knew Nico felt it too and that it was something serious, not something I could put off any longer. 

"Guys, something's wrong. Something is terribly, horribly wrong."

My statement caught everyone's attention. "Hazel, what is it?" Frank asked in concern. I opened my mouth to answer when the cell door opened. I stole a quick glance at the clock. It was only 1:47 am. Percy was an hour and thirteen minutes early from his shift. They never let you out early. 

The guards standing there had sour faces. Instead of dragging him by the arms, the one in front, Ross, had him in a bridal carry. Ross shook his head disappointingly and tossed Percy into the cell. Tossed him. Percy was unconscious to begin with, and rolled to a stop in the middle of the cell. Jason and I reached him first. 

The dread I'd been feeling earlier hit a peak. Will stumbled over, Nico, Leo, and Frank in tow, and fell on his knees next to Percy. Nico was crying. 

"Percy?" I asked tentatively. Will's fingers were fumbling along his neck, searching desperately for a pulse. Will bit his lip and rested his ear on Percy's chest. He waited a second longer before coming up. 

Realization dawned on me then. "No," I whispered. Will started to do CPR, pumping Percy's chest, trying to do something, but Nico pulled him away, sobbing. "He's dead, Will. He's dead," I heard him say. Tears spilled from Will's eyes.

Jason stumbled back in shock. I gasped, my ragged breathing turning into sharp sobs. I grabbed Percy's body and pulled him close to me, arms around his chest, crying into his hair. He looked so peaceful, his eyes closed, his lips slightly parted. 

I wanted him to wake up. Laugh and say it was a joke. I suddenly just couldn't breathe at all. Just a few hours ago he was alive. How was he suddenly not alive? I didn't understand. How could someone like Percy, who I had thought to be invincible, die?

It was like a math problem that I couldn't understand. I knew the relative concept and I knew it had an answer, but when I really thought about it, it made no sense at all. Like it was an alien term. The word 'dead' kept echoing in my head and I couldn't seem to grasp what it meant. 

Percy's body was cold. He was wearing his Camp Half-Blood shirt, the one he was wearing when he was taken. We all received extra changes of clothes. It struck me as strange that he would choose to wear this shirt today. 

Leo stood, fists clenched. Tears streamed down his face, but there was a look of pure rage on his face, a look I had never seen on him. "What did you do!" He screamed. Everette appeared from behind the agents. He looked on disdainfully at Percy. 

"I did nothing. It's really all his fault. He was simply too weak to stand the Harvester. He died in agony, all alone. Such a shame, though. He was my only source of water income."

"You monster!" I screamed, jumping up and running at him, screaming and crying. Jason intercepted me and held me tight, though I tried to fight him. Looking back on it, I was thankful for Jason. If I'd attacked Everette, that probably would've meant death for me too.

Still, I kicked and screamed and hit Jason, begging him to let me go. I couldn't stand the smirk on Everette's face. I wanted to rip it right off his face with my bare hands. I wanted to make him bleed. To make him hurt. "Everything is going to be okay," Jason whispered, his own tears soaking my hair. "Everything's going to be alright."

Frank came and took my hand, eyeing Everette. He led me back to Percy's body where I took Percy's cold and limp hand and held it like my life depended on it. 

"Well, say your goodbyes," said Everette as he motioned his guards forward. They approached Percy's body. 

I sprang out of Frank's arms and flew to Percy, wrapping my arms around him and clinging to him. "No! Please! Don't take his body! Don't take him too!"

But they didn't listen to me. They tore him from my arms and they took him. Out of the cell, far away from me. I collapsed in the center of the cell, sobbing, screaming. I felt Frank's arms around me. His cries had dissolved into hiccups. He picked me up and carried me back to the wall and held me for hours. Everyone was crying, everyone was upset. Because Percy Jackson was dead.