Chapter Text
Everything was going to Hades.
The ground was tearing itself apart, with pits opening up sending pillars of fire into the air as the Earth itself shakes apart.
We had tried everything, done everything right, and yet it wasn't enough. We'd fought against the Gigantes fruitlessly for what felt like hours, but help never came. The Gods just didn't show up, even after my blood stained the ground and woke up Gaia.
Figures that not even the end of the world could get my dad to be in my life.
I barely dodge Polybotes' trident, jumping up and over the weapon. Just as I land on my feet, I barely have time to intercept Polybotes' net that had been flying towards Frank in eagle-form. Riptide slashes through the net like butter, leaving a hole big enough for Frank to dive through with an appreciative screech.
No problem big guy.
Polybotes' screams, Basilisks falling out of his hair as the Gigante trembles in rage.
"Perseus Jackson! I will have your head!"
As Polybotes rounds on me, I take a deep breath. With the little breathing room I had, I focus on the poison swirling off of Polybotes, reach out and tug.
I'm sorry Annabeth.
As I feel the glass inside me shatter again, I'm knocked out of my concentration by a bloodcurdling scream to my right.
Piper!
Spinning around I see Jason impaled to the ground by Enceladus' spear, the Son of Jupiter coughing up blood as he grips the spear with both hands, the daughter of Aphrodite watching on in horror, kept away by Otis' flailing he calls dancing. Enceladus raises his foot to stomp onto Jason's head, and as the Gigante brings his foot down, time seems to slow. Everything turns grayscale as the vibrant green poison I had been wrestling control over fades to gray and slows with the rest of the world.
As I turn my head and look around, I notice none of the other Seven are moving, similarly frozen. Jason in particular is permanently stuck with a calm look of acceptance as he awaits a death that's been put on pause.
"Perseus Jackson."
I spin towards the voice, Riptide gleaming bronze as I holds it out towards... three strikingly familiar old ladies.
Well, it's not like I thought I was gonna live this anyways.
Riptide falls to my side, still in a tight grip. Fidgeting with my sword, I break the silence. "Uhh, hey? Not that I'm complaining, but is there a reason you three showed up?"
Clotho, at least I thinks it's her, starts speaking. "We're here to offer a second chance. This world is fated to die, yes, but we are not happy with how those fates have been woven."
Atropos cuts in. "Too many strings cut far too soon."
Lachesis fiddles with a ball of yarn. "Not to mention that upstart Thoon. As if he could weave better than we could."
Clotho speaks again. "We come to offer you a deal. It would mean abandoning your friends here to die, leaving everything you know and giving up on all that you have built, but you would have the chance to do it all again."
Atropos cuts in again. "There are many strings you could save Perseus, even ones long since cut in our time."
Images and names flash through my mind. Bianca, Zoe, Castor, Beckendorf, Silena, Jason. I just look at the sisters in disbelief. What?
"Wait wait wait, let me get this straight. You three want to send me back in time, because you're not happy with how you've woven fate?"
Clotho nods while Atropos shakes her head no, with Lachesis shrugging at me. Lachesis, sensing my confusion, explains. "You would be sent back in time, but not sent back to your time. Because this universe is too far gone, and the domain of time is beyond us, we must send your consciousness to a separate timeline. One with changes we are unable to predict. The only beings who could properly do this are Khaos and Chronus,"
I barely hold back a flinch at the name, the walk through Tartarus having reopened old wounds and dragging up memories of Manhattan. Really, I thought I was over this?
Lachesis notices and clarifies. "Not Kronos, Chronus. two separate entities." She scoffs, at least as well as an eight thousand year old is able to. "As if the Titan Lord were on par with a Primordial. As I was saying, the only two who could rewind time in this timeline are Khaos and Chronos, but they are... unwilling to aid us. To them, we are children playing with something far beyond our understanding. So we must send you to a different time, not one you've already experienced, at least not without you losing your memories in the process, which is the entire point. It is a risk of course, that the changes may mean all your forewarned knowledge may become useless as soon as you arrive, but it is a risk we are willing to take. Is it a risk you are willing to take as well?"
I stop for a moment, glancing over at Annabeth who's currently stuck in time sprinting towards Enceladus. "What would happen to the people here? My friends? My family?"
Atropos twirls her shears between her fingers. "The energy it is going to take to send your consciousness to a different timeline is immense. It will tear our time apart, the threads of fate coming undone to fuel the magicks to send you to a different time. Should you accept, this world will cease to exist. Your friends will not die, they will have never existed in the first place. We will have never existed in the first place. You will be the last remnant of our world, with only Khaos continuing to exist between them."
Clotho speaks up. "You wouldn't be abandoning them, nor would you would be going back to save them from their fates. You'd be preventing them from suffering their fates here while preventing their alternate selves from suffering the same."
Lachesis speaks again, offering her hand towards me. "It is your choice Perseus, but wouldn't you want to save them, all of them?"
I pause for another moment, the tension bleeding out of my shoulders. We've lost here, haven't we? Gaia's awake, the Gods are still incapacitated, and the Seven and I are fighting a war of attrition against things that can't die. If what they're saying is true, I can go back and prevent this from ever happening, but it'd end the world as I know it... Athena once told me that my loyalty could doom the world.
I guess she was right.
I take Lachesis' hand.
I shoot out of bed, gasping for air. The moon shines into the room from the open window, granting light in the oppressive darkness of the room as a light breeze flutters through the sky blue curtains. Suddenly, from a lump on the bed across the room, I hear a much younger voice than I'm used to.
"Percy, are you okay?"
Is that Grover? Wait, the last time we shared a room was- I gasp in realization. Yancy academy! I'm twelve again!
"Percy?"
Suddenly remembering I'm not alone in the room, I turn towards Grover who's been getting increasingly worried.
Sorry G-man, I just watched as one of my closest friends almost died and now I'm grieving for an entire universe that's gone! No big deal, I'll just sleep it off!
Still breathing hard, I turn towards Grover. I really need to get into shape! How did I survive my first quest like this?!?
"I- Yeah Grover, I'm okay. Just had a nightmare."
One that I won't let happen again.
"Do you want to talk about it?"
I shake my head. "Nah, I'm just gonna go splash some water on my face."
First, I need to figure out exactly what day it is. Did I already kill Mrs. Dodds? Have I already eavesdropped on Grover and Chiron's conversation?
Grover looks at me in disbelief, clearly not believing that I'm okay but just going along with it. "If you're sure... Try and get some rest tonight. We have the field trip tomorrow, remember?"
Well, mission accomplished I guess. I give Grover a nod. "Sure thing G-man."
As I stumble to the bathroom, I can't help but notice something horribly wrong. Dam short legs! My sense of balance is completely off. This body is so weird, and not just in the 'I-just-lost-6-inches-&-80-pounds' way. It feels like there's something missing, and it got replaced by this buzzing underneath my skin. Ugh, did I really feel like this when I was twelve?
Reaching the bathroom I flick on the light before turning on the sink. Filling my hands with water, I splash my face before rubbing it, washing away the phantom sweat from his fight with the Gigantes. Weird, normally that's a lot more refreshing. I place my hands on the edge of the sink to steady myself before looking up at my reflection. My eyes instantly lock onto my hair.
My hair's a little different. It's a darker black, and it looks like its windswept despite having just gotten out of bed. Weird.
As my eyes drift lower, I stop, locking eye contact with my mirror self.
What the fuck .
Staring back at me aren't the sea green eyes I'm used to. Looking into my reflection, all I see is electric blue.