Percy's POV

I walked into view chuckling lowly. Everyone looked at me as I stepped out and gasped as they saw what I looked like now. Two lightning bolts were thrown at me but I just blocked them both. I pulled out Death and Destruction and disappeared. Reappearing on Zeus' chest with my blades at his throat, the red silver causing his skin to blister and burn. Unable to heal. 

"I don't even know why I'm surprised. There you are looking like you want to apologize, and then you try to kill me for a second time," I growled and then let the blade sink below his skin a centimeter or so and he whimpered but did not scream. Then I heard a voice that I haven't heard in a long time just as I was about to relieve him of his head.

"Percy STOP," I froze and slowly looked behind me to see someone that I never thought I'd see again. My blades dropped from my hands,  disappearing and returning to their sheathes before they even got a few inches.

The memories of me and her came back with force. Her blond hair swaying as we danced around the little cabin my aunt had bought for us. Her grey eyes narrowing in concentration as we studied a map. Trying to determine what Gaea could be planning aboard the Argo II. Her form spinning and slashing the monsters on the battlefield during the war.

Then...her death in Gaea's grip.

I flame-traveled over to her and stood in-front of her reaching out cautiously.

"Annabeth," I whispered reminding myself of her name, and she immediately hugged me. I hugged her back growling with gratitude as she wasn't dead. After all this time, she wasn't dead, but how was she not older?

"I missed you," she said as we parted and I put a hand on her shoulder and flashed us to a small forest in Alaska. I looked at her perfection before turning away, my head down in shame, shame because I couldn't save her.

"Oh Percy what did they do to you?" She breathed coming around to my front a few tears hitting the forest floor. Then I felt a hand under my chin lifting my head up, and I saw her face in tears as well.

"I-I thought you had died," I said and she hugged me this time. "I couldn't save you."

"I thought you died," she said in my ear, "it's not your fault"

Pulling away once again and touching my hair she examined how greatly I had changed.

She looked into my eyes and smiled, "At least your eyes haven't changed," she said and I smiled wryly.

"I truest wish that they had, but that's not the only thing different now," I said and made the air condense and turn into a giant dome of water to surround us before freezing it. A myriad of colors swirled around the space inside as the light hit the thin ice. She gasped looking around in awe and after a few moments she looked at me once more.

"What happened to you?" She asked and the Ice shattered around us. Turning into a perfect circle of ice crystals broken like glass.

"I was betrayed. Betrayed and changed by the very gods I had thought cared about me roughly thirty Earth years ago." I said and then wanting to change the subject I asked her a question.

"I saw you die in the war? How—?" I asked and her eye darkened.

"Gaea trapped me in a sort of Earth cocoon the moment we started fighting and I was stripped the chance to fight at your side. When I came back I tried to get to Tartarus but a barrier kept me from jumping in from where we had entered last time. I went to Canada for a while to hide from the gods' eyes and when I came back Hestia appeared before me and asked me to become her champion" She said and I was relieved.

"She blessed me and Hades wanted to as well but I declined. They both knew that the others were making a mistake, but couldn't prove it. So instead they trained me and I was actually on my way to beat the crap out of Zeus for what he did when you appeared.

"Enough of that, we can talk about everything later. I want to know the full story of what happened to you, even after your death." I grimaced trying to decline but she glared at me with her best wolf glare trying to get me to submit and I smiled instead at her attempts giving in.

"You know that doesn't work on me," I said and she huffed in annoyance, rolling her eyes at me and punching my shoulder playfully.

"During the war everything was going fine, but then I slipped up and cut my arm open. Then you were trapped in Gaea's giant Earthen hand as she woke up almost at full strength. She trapped me and the gods in place and you, or I guess your fake got crushed in her grip. She forced me to watch as she slowly crushed you to death. Then your, no the body was dropped and she released Athena thinking she'd already won. She whispered lies to them about me being on her side the whole time, using partial truths among lies due to Apollo having been already enprisoned on Olympus for what he let the others get.

"She somehow knew about the maps that we had taken from Athena's study and told her that it was me that stole them. Then I'm guessing that Gaea weaved her lies about me being a spy working for her and that after I fell in love with you and didn't follow her orders. She killed you saying that I knew about your death coming but didn't do anything to prevent it."

I took a couple deep breaths as the air surrounding us heated up in my anger, and it wasn't entirely my own either. The grass underneath me withered and died, turning yellow, brown, and then black and crumbling to ash and dust in the wind. And the area around her turned into a sea of flames that incinerated all of the ice and a few tree branches.

"I-I was accused of treason and found guilty through majority vote. Zeus then had all of the surviving demigods whip me ten times each" I lifted up my shirt and turned around making her gasp in shock and anger, "None of them refused." I turned around letting my shirt down again and continued.

"Then Poseidon disowned me and tried to take away my powers over water, but that failed and I kept it hidden. Zeus then had everyone bless me for some reason before cursing me with a seemingly stronger spell than the one he used on Lycaon. Who is now dead forever, as my first target when I was roaming around in my free time from the Arena. Then they tortured me, and thankfully Aphrodite used weapons, in a red dress, I guess she didn't want to use the body of a monster." Annabeth breathed in relief at that.

"Yeah it was surprising to me too considering how much she tried before. I am glad that she didn't, but after a couple months they got bored of torturing me and Artemis came by and put an arrow through my heart. Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades did some strange ritual and I was reborn again in Tartarus. As one of those strange egg things we saw during our time down there together. After killing a Drakon with only my claws I was found by Tartarus and asked to be his Champion." I showed her my hands and she slid her fingers along them for a moment before I lifted my hands off as she got to the tips of my claws.

"Don't touch them that way, they'll cut you," I said and she continued to study them as I continued.

"I actually saw the underside of Tartarus' mask," I paused as Annabeth slipped and cut her hand. The smell of blood made my vision change slightly but I held it off and used my fire powers to heal her hands as she watched in awe.

"Told you not to do that," I grinned and she scowled, "After I agreed he blessed me and made me his champion. A little while after I saw him as a father and he cared for me as a son. Apparently he helped me not just because he knew that I was betrayed but because he didn't want to actually kill us when we met before the Doors of Death. Yeah I was disbelieving too until he explained himself telling me that he was angry with his children for causing a set of "powerful demigods" to roam around without a purpose.

"He's where my fire powers come from, and I can use them for pretty much the same way you can: healing others, destroying things, and apparently I can such the energy right out of someone depending on how I use it. I am technically a Minor Primordial but after a few years he tried to make me take his place. But I didn't want to accept his title so he left me alone for a while before going against my back and making me the ruler over the Pit with him as the Jailor.

"I beat his ass so badly that day it took him a year to find all of the pieces. He trained me and taught me how to use my claws and powers effectively, and when I shifted my first time he helped me control myself and trained me to fight in that form too. Did you know that he actually doesn't have a solid form? Yeah, he could change his body into anything he wanted as long as it was working his domain and said he just stuck with the human body because it was easier to do things with.

"Anyways since I was in Tartarus, and blessed by all the gods to making me immortal before all of what happened in Tartarus. My powers over the five rivers strengthened and I gained the ability to freezing water and now I can control ice better than water.

"My wolf form is the color of Tartarus' surroundings as it is my hunting grounds. Due to all of the gods blessing me I cannot be killed by Silver or Celestial Bronze like other werewolves can be, and I am immune to most of their powers. Mainly Poseidon, Hades, Zeus, Artemis, and modern weaponry."

"Can I see you in wolf form?" she asked clearly curious and I laughed. Of course she would want to see it. And she would probably be more awed by it than scared, so I nodded and changed into my wolf form.

"Thanks to the curse, like Lycaon, I can speak in wolf form as well as use telepathy. I am faster and stronger than any other  living mythical creature still alive other than the other Parthenon's animal gods." I looked at her and grinned but she was only half listening as she dragged her hand along my fur. I stood there letting her examine my eleven and a half foot long, seven foot high at the shoulders, wolf form before lowering myself to allow her onto my back.

"Really?" I nodded, "N-no I couldn't."

She started backing away and I rolled my eyes before using my Earth powers to dump her on my back.

"Oh and since I am now a primordial and Gaea is permanently dead. I gained her powers due to the curse that she put on me. Binding her soul to mine to make sure her finally wish was fulfilled. And now that I control Tartarus' former domain I can control his realm and Earth as easily as thinking...now. It wasn't easy getting used to having the entire layout of a bodily prison for monsters appear in my head without the option to turn it off." I said wincing, but she was too shocked to answer. I grinned once again before telling her to hold on.

"Huh?" Was all I heard before I shot off at my top speed and her scream turned into whoops and laughter as she enjoyed the air rushing by and the blur of the world around us as I traveled at inhuman speeds.

For me, this is what true freedom is, I said and I could practically feel the happiness rolling off of her. I opened a portal and ran through with her still on my back as I entered the void, another realm that I could control for some reason. Father said that it was because his family found me worthy but I had my suspicions. I heard her gasp as the rainbow of colors swept around us. Then I stopped returning us to the spot we were first in, and letting her off. I shifted back and hugged her again before taking her hand gently.

"I can make that real for you too," I said, "You could come with me to Tartarus, my new home. We can both could live forever, free from the God's eyes and opinions and live happy immortal lives. Or we could hunt other monsters like I do now. He would never give us a mission to kill a human or a demigod. Which would never happen unless we were captured and in serious danger or in another war."

I could see the longing in her eyes for the future we could have, but then her smell changed to that of regret and she stepped back letting her hands slide from mine as she shook her head 'no'.

"I can't," she said, "as much as I am angry at the gods, I can't go back down there, and I can't join you yet. I'm sorry." She said and a tear dropped from her eyes.

"Then I guess that I'll just have to convince you," I said before looking at her again and opened another portal home as I got the call to come back, "Will you give me a chance?" I looked at her hopeful and she nodded.

"I expect you visit me at least three or four times a month, forever." She said, "And we can spend time together once again." I smiled and hugged her once again.

"That's all I needed to hear," I said, "I'll see you soon." I flame-traveled to Tartarus and stood just outside the doors to Father's office. He was now the Jailor and head Administrator of the Arena so this is where he would be most of the time.

Thanks for reading and I hope that you have enjoyed the changes so far.

Revised: 2-28-22