Well, for starters, I didn't feel like Titan Slaying material.

I lay there, with a cow-serpent slowly bleeding out on my chest, screaming in pain while a man known for his paper plate masks shook me repeatedly.

"What did you do?!" Pistinemo wrenched the dying serpent out of my hands and kicked the dagger away in shock as he gripped me by the collar. Everyone seemed to be in shock, Atlas and Artemis were silent, Luke was watching, open-mouthed and the Hunters and Perses had stopped their fight momentarily and stared at us in surprise.

Beats me. I could slowly feel my vision clearing as I opened my eyes, no green tint or hazy smoke covered it and I could see a blue glow enveloping my body as the Ophiotaurus dissolved into golden smoke. It was like a small bubble was steadily growing in my chest, spreading throughout my body as my mind went blank at the feeling.

The rogue god threw me down to my feet and backed away, as if my very presence burned. Standing up easily, I didn't even feel the poison from the Lydian Drakon as I stared down the god. This feeling... It was exciting. Addictive. Powerful. Ancient power coursed through my veins, like electricity shooting through my bloodstream as I faced the god in front of me.

Looking down at my hands momentarily, I could see the blue glow fade to an outline that pulsed softly as strange symbols, Greek, Latin and English burned white on my skin.

Perses let out a furious roar and charged at me, batting the Hunters aside in his fit of rage, he raised his spear at stabbed at me.

Dodge. A single word formed in my mind and my body responded instantly, sliding to the side as the spear shot by my neck, centimetres from the flesh. Now counter. My hands shot up and grabbed the Titan's spear, gripping it with both hands. I tore it out of his grasp and threw it aside where it rolled to the feet of Atlas.

Warp. Transitioning into my phase had never been easier, no weapon required as I surged forward and crashed my fist into the Titan's face, sending him sprawling onto the ground. The symbols painted on my arms glowed brightly as I flicked my hand outwards, four Heraldic Arms, the Trident of the Sea, Longsword of War, Blade of the Hearth and Sickles of Agriculture circled around me protectively, their tips pointed to the fallen Titan.

The Titan shot to his feet instantly, pulling twin spears, both completely identical; he adopted a completely defensive formation as he eyed the weapons warily.

Zip. The Titan rolled to the side, the Blade of Hestia flying by and slamming into a tree behind him where it exploded in a cloud of black and blue smoke, melted wood and chunks of dirt raining down onto Perses as he sprung to his feet immediately and charged.

Experimenting your strengths. Do not show weakness. My body followed my mind's instructions as I parried his spear with the Trident of the Sea, locking it between the prongs as his other spear was blocked by the reformed Blade of the Hearth, its blade glowing white as it blocked the swing mid air.

While the Titan was occupied, I immediately sent the two Sickles flying through the air and dodged back nimbly, my powers propelling me back, stopping by the edge cliff and dropping into a crouching stance as the Sickles curved into the Titan's back, exploding and sending him stumbling forward.

"Ha!" Perses laughed, his armor was torn and slightly dented at the back as he stood, unwavering at my new power. "If that was the best you could do, then I'm disappointed." He hefted his spears and beckoned for me to come. "I can easily handle five weapons. I've had hundreds thrown at me before!" He chuckled at the sight of the Sickles returning, their ghostly form glowing brightly in the afternoon sunlight.

Letting out a low snarl of anger, I warped up, scaling vertically into the sky until I stopped, floating in the sky as the Titan blinked up at me.

"Having high ground won't help you, demigod!" He roared, swords from all ages erupting from below the earth, from Eastern katanas to European claymores as the surges up towards me, like a wave of arrows flying up in an arc of death.

I sneered at the attempt and clicked my fingers, every weapon I had at my disposal shielding me from the onslaught that rained by, weapons glancing off the Arms and sending sparks into the air as the Titan's onslaught continued, the wave of weapons surging by my makeshift shield.

"Come down and fight me!" He threw his spear in his left arm, the projectile tearing through my defenses and whistling by, leaving a long thin gash on my cheek. Very well. The voice in my haed snarled angrily at the invitation and I laughed scornfully at the Titan, the new power in my hands making me strong, confident.

"As you wish." And like an angel descending from the heavens, I surged down, phasing through the swords that hurtled by me as I zigzagged in between them, leaving a trail of blue in my wake as my Arms hurtled down towards the Titan. He grinned manically in response and summoned a shield from the earth, my Heraldic Arms crashing into them and exploding on contact, leaving cobalt smoke clouds and crystals in their chaotic aftermath.

"Perses!" I screamed, my hands gripping Riptide as I blasted through his shield with the Blade of Hestia, the arms reforming with the seemingly endless supply of energy I had stored within my body, its ammunition never ending as I sent them into his face. Tearing through the bronze of his helmet, I drew a long gash from his forehead to his cheek and drove the blade into his shoulder.

The Titan roared in pain and grabbed at me as his human-form slowly grew to that of a fifteen foot Titan as he tore the now-tiny blade out of his shoulder and discarded it to the side. I easily let his hand pass through me and reformed to launch another volley of explosive Arms before warping away, the Titan raising his two now-massive spears and stabbing at me.

I backed away and sent another thunderous wave of arms and adopted a defensive position, I had all feeling in my hands and the numbness from the poison had long gone, leaving me completely in control of my body.

"Sparti!" Perses roared in anger at another failed attempt to swipe me from the sky, instantly; six familiar undead skeletons climbed out of a small crevice in the ground created by the Titan's spear, instead of the machete's they had previously been holding, they now carried bows and firearms.

All of the weapons pointed at me.

I took that as my chance to use what I had learned on my first day with the Hunt, focusing on ensuring my body wouldn't be touched as I relaxed all feeling, letting all the tension loose as gunshots could be heard and the twang of bows signified they had fired.

Focus, allow nothing to touch you, phase in any direction to prevent anything from touching you. I allowed my body to dart through the air, always dodging by millimetres as I closed my eyes and ducked, dived and dodged from the deadly projectiles.

Staring down at the recovering Titan and the skeletal warriors as they readied their weapons again, I used my lessons from the second day.

Use your warp to close distance, not to attack. I surged forward, feeling my body react to the currents flowing inside me as I dissolved into the air, allowing the wave of bullets and arrows to sail by harmlessly as I approached the skeletons at an alarming rate, Perses as still hunched over and started to shrink back down into his human-sized form before growing back into his Titan form, as if keeping that state was mentally draining.

Third lesson, I leapt out of my warp and twisted gracefully in midair to avoid an arrow. Use several weapons to mark warp points. I flicked my palm forward again, my rematerialised weapons sinking into four skeletons but not exploding, the Sparti, feeling no pain, ignored the wounds and continued firing.

Warp once, I slammed into a Sparti where the Trident of the Sea had impaled, plunging it even deeper with the force of the warp and beheading it before warping to my second destination, where the Blade of Hestia and torn off a leg on the undead warrior, I lashed out with a savage kick and smirked in satisfaction when the skull burst under my foot. Warp.I landed on the shoulder sof a different Sparti and loped its head off easily with the dual sickles. Warp. I grabbed at the longsword embedded in the chest of the skeleton and dragged upwards, splitting it in half from the ribcage to the head.

Fourth lesson, Bright lights help with situation. The blinding trail I had left in my wake of destruction disorientated the ruthless killing machines as I teleported towards them. Fifth and final lesson: Fight unpredictably. Feinting a stab with the Trident in my right hand before splitting a Sparti in two with the Blade of Hestia in my left as I launched it into the final Sparti, obliterating it in a cloud of black smoke.

I could practically imagine Phoebe's grin.

Shooting back into the air, I allowed myself to catch my breath as Perses turned, somewhat surprised that his killing machines had been, well; killed.

"Demigod! I will kill you!" His anger seemed to boost his own morale as he picked up his discarded sword and spear before turning to me, his anger blazing through his eyes.

"You already tried, you already failed." Thank the gods for Thalia's influence. I grinned cheekily at the Titan and blocked his strike the Sickles of Agriculture, his blade glancing off the sides. Launching my weapons again, I shot up even higher, towards the clouds as my Heraldic Arms returned, lighting up the clouds in a bright blue.

I had a somewhat ingenious plan, warping in between the clouds in the sky, lighting them all up in a bright blue; I couldn't help but marvel my own smartness as I rained down weapons individually frm different directions, fighting unpredictably.

I could see Perses down below, his spear had transformed into a shield and he held it in front of him defensively as he slowly turned, his eyes never leaving the clouds. Letting out another volley, I spotted Zoë and Phoebe helping Thalia up, they had tied Luke with the straps on their bags and he was unconscious beside them.

Waving the dark blue smoke from his face, Perses glared at the clouds angrily, as if I had been irritating him the whole time. "Come down from the sky! Fight me, you coward!" He seemed to notice how the cloud's bright blue tint had faded back to their original gray as he lowered his shield momentarily. "Wha-" I reformed behind him, all four arms glowing brightly as I sent them crashing into his back.

"Grahh!" He stumbled forward in pain as they exploded, tearing through his metal breastplate as if it was paper as I warped back down to the ground, where Pistinemo watched me impassively as I skidded to a stop beside Phoebe and Zoë, both had long since overpowered Luke together during the fight and had gathered Thalia and Bianca by the cage where Annabeth watched the confrontation, her eyes wide.

"Zoë." I grunted, wiping the sweat forming on my forehead as I cast a side glance to the Huntress, her skin pale as she looked up to the Talos-sized Titan in horror. "I can't keep on doing this for long; we need the help of Atlas and Artemis." She blinked as she registered my words, her mouth forming a perfect O when her panic at seeing the Titan cleared in her mind.

"What? But who'd carry the weight of the world?" Phoebe still had her eyes trained on Pistinemo warily, his poisonous green eyes still on me as he watched the fight from his sitting position by the rock formation next to the shattered tank that once held the Ophiotaurus.

"Us." Thalia had woken after Zoë had passed her a flask of Nectar, Bianca was still passed out beside her. The daughter of Hades seemed pale and shivering and shadows seemed to stretch towards her, as if they were trying to grasp her and drag Bianca into the darkness, "We can free Annabeth to help. The three of us can at least hold it for a short while." She drove her spear into the lock of the cage and kicked the door open, Zoë nodded grimly and turned to the Titan, his wounds healing as a massive steel blade slowly materialised in the air beside him, glowing a blood red.

"No." I stopped the trio going to the Goddess and Titan. "Zoë goes too." She blinked at me and raised an eyebrow as I slowly rose into the air again, the Heraldic Arms reforming by my side. "When we free Atlas he'll fight, I don't want you to get caught in the oncoming crossfire." She blinked at my logic, realisation dawning on her face.

"But that t'would mean that thee-" I shook off her concerns and brushed the dirt off my silver suit jacket as I readied myself for the next onslaught the Titan would bring, his blood red blade had finished forming and he crouched into an offensive stance, every step seemed to shake the ground as he edged forward.

"We all know I'll die anyway, I don't want you to die, end of story!" I hurtled forward, ignoring her response and warped between the Titan's feet, occasionally reforming to send a volley of Heraldic Arms before continuing to evade his rapid thrusts and sweeps in the air. "Hurry up! I can't do this for much longer!" I parried the massive blade with every weapon I had and was sent flying back in mid-air from the resonating force as the Titan stumbled back.

Recovering before I could punish him for his unsteadiness, the Titan sneered at me coldly, his eyes narrowing as he scanned my tiring form. "For the power to topple Olympus, it sure is weak." He laughed at me mockingly, his voice echoing down the mountain. "Perhaps this just shows how weak the Olympians are!" I stopped my fall mid-air and propelled myself forward, the word still spinning from my dizzy shock.

"You don't seem to have the knowledge to use the power." I almost dropped out of the sky from shock as the rogue god, Pistinemo, spoke it my mind. "It's all about overpowering your opponent, isn't it? That'd never work with Perses." I turned to stare at the apathetic man as he looked up at me, almost bored as he allowed the demigods right beside him to hack away at the chains that binded the goddess and Titan.

"Focus on that feeling of rage inside you, and utilise it as a tool, not an emotion. Anger is something that can overpower you and control you, harness the energy created from it and-"

"Shut up!" I roared in fury as I stabbed into the Titan's shin, hearing him cry out in pain as the embedded blade exploded inside the wound, sending golden ichor and blackened flesh flying into the air. I'm doing perfectly fine the way I am! I slid over the passing blade and launched another volley, my weapons leaving trails of silver light as the Titan fell to one knee, his face curled up in pain.

I couldn't go on like this much longer, and my initial outburst of energy had calmed down considerably in the last ten minutes as my body, unable to hold so much power, started tiring out rapidly. A time limit? My mind suggested unhelpfully as I stabbed the Trident of the Sea into Perses' foot and warped back out of the blast radius when the blade exploded.

"Got you!" I summoned another volley, ignoring my body screaming in protest as it tried to cope with the repeated onslaught I sent at the Titan, keeping my body in the air and my continuous warping. I could feel the sickness building in my stomach, threatening to overcome me.

"Die!" I sent a final blade into the Titan's exposed skin and smiled in satisfaction as he fell to his knees, his blade clattering down to the earth beside him.

"No." Perses let out a deep chuckle, to my shock; his injuries were gone; leaving only small jagged scars where large gaping wounds used to be. "I got you." I heard Pistinemo sigh in my brain before his presence retreated as the Titan swatted me with a free hand, sending me hurtling down to the earth where I crashed into the ground beside the others and rolled to a stop.

"Perseus!" Zoë momentarily abandoned her job of breaking Atlas' chains and rolled me onto my side, I could feel the adrenaline wearing off as the pain overtook me, my blackened left arm was twisted in an odd angle and a surging pain in my left leg told me that something had shattered inside.

"What the-"Phoebe shattered the final chain next to Atlas and fell to her knees beside me. "What in the name of Artemis-" I stopped her from reaching into her bag for a flask of ambrosia and pointed to the silent Atlas, who stared at me silently, as if he had expected this very outcome to happen.

"Go. World. Free them." I grunted, my head dropping to the side as I watched Zoë send me an extremely worried look –It was really cute, by the way- as she dragged Phoebe to the weight of the sky and rolled beside their mistress, Annabeth and Thalia taking the sides of Atlas while Bianca remained unconscious beside them.

"My girls, I cannot do this to you." Artemis watched in shock as they joined her, arms pushing the rock up into the sky. "You would die!" The goddess of the Hunt had tears in her eyes as she gazed at the four maidens in shock.

"Lady Artemis." Atlas sighed, "If I still know my daughter, it is that she will be extremely stubborn with these kind of things." Zoë flashed a rare smile to the Titan, which he sent right back at her. Artemis still looked uncertain, but a glare from both Phoebe and Zoë quickly made her roll out from underneath as Atlas did the same, immediately, all four girls winced as the weight started to crush them when the other two main pillars of strength disappeared. Artemis leaned down and gave her two Hunters a kiss on the forehead, her face full of guilt.

"I will finish with this as soon as possible; you shall not wait for long." Zoë nodded and Phoebe grunted as she bit down into her cheek to stop herself from crying out. The goddess of the Hunt turned to me and nodded, a strange sort of pride flashing momentarily through her eyes.

"You fought well, Perseus. Using the techniques my Hunters taught you and buying time, you have my respect." With that, she turned away quickly to the Perses, her silver hunting knives appearing in her hands as the Titan and his sword shrunk back down into his human form.

"How charming, a family reunion! I'd hate to break the atmosphere." He levelled the sword with his chest and crouched, his spear shooting from the earth into his left arm. "Let's see if you provide more entertainment than that little pity over there, moon goddess." She snarled and response and leapt at him, her silver knives dancing in a flurry of death as she easily parried, blocked or dodged every swing the Titan sent her way.

Atlas' pin-striped suit disappeared and his silver battle armor reappeared on his chest, his blade; a wicked leaf blade, hung by his waist with several others as he cast a look at his daughter, his expression filled with pride.

"You have come a long way ever since Heracles." He smiled at her ducked head as she too struggled with the weight. "I promise to get you out of there instantly, do not worry." She nodded mutely as Atlas turned to me hurriedly, drawing his blades as Artemis leapt back from her onslaught, small cuts of golden ichor covered her arms as she smirked at the Titan.

"Never did I think I would fight alongside a Titan." Atlas rolled his eyes and adopted an offensive stance, both blades positioned so that he could easily attack and parry at the same time, he stared at Perses, who clutched his shoulder in anger as the ichor that spilled out burned the grass beneath him, turning their vibrant green to a charred black.

"Not something to be told in tales." He muttered gruffly as Artemis slammed the hilts of her daggers together, the blades on each side extending and curving until she held a bright silver bow in her hand, a glowing silver arrow appearing in her fingers. Atlas looked at me momentarily, and then to the rogue god watching the fight beside us.

"You did well, lad. I owe you that." He charged the Titan of Destruction, his blades arcing through the air as both Titans clashed, bronze against steel, swords against spears. Artemis leapt in beside him, slashing with the sharp edges of her bow before pouncing back to release a glittering arrow into the Titan's side, the arrow exploding with the power of moonlight.

-Ante Mortem-

"How fun." Pistinemo finally spoke up, the glint in his eyes betrayed amusement as he looked at our quest members, to the fight between gods and Titans to finally resting his gaze on me as I glared back defiantly. "This was touching, truly. All of this 'I can't let you die, I need to help everyone'" He leapt off the rock nimbly and strolled casually towards my broken form.

"Do you know that voice? The one in your head this entire quest?" He sat down beside me, now that I could see him properly, his high-cheekbone face, the glittering poisonous eyes and the sinister lopsided smile on his face made me pale drastically. "That was me, your father." I let out a loud laugh, completely oblivious to the yelling sent his way from Thalia and Phoebe as he brushed a stray lock from my face.

"How touching. You even have your mother's expression." He chuckled; sadness seemed to flit by his expression, disappearing as fast as it came. "I tried to influence you, to join our side, to see our meaning." He stroked my cheek in an almost loving manner, but his cold hard gaze still hadn't moved from my eyes.

"What-" I managed, as I tried to push him away with my right hand. "What do you want?" I hissed at Pistinemo, my father.

"I want..." His expression darkened as he caught my hand and gently placed it back on the ground. "I want my son to join the side he rightfully should be on." He cradled my face in his hands as I glared at him, the sounds of battle in the background fading as I stared at the man, the man that had left me when I was a child, the man that had been the reason Gabe had come into my life. "I want my son, to be a ruler among rulers, to be powerful and have other bow to his feet instead of letting others push him around! I want a son who isn't a coward!" He gripped my face, his nails digging into my skin painfully.

"Too bad, it must run in the family." I managed weakly as he slammed my head into the ground. "Is this-" I choked against the dirt, hearing Zoë's shout and Thalia's screams. "What they call parental neglect?" I chuckled and grunted in pain as the god kicked me away from him, his foot painfully stepping on my arm.

"You don't see it, do you?" He twisted his foot as I let out a scream of pain, Artemis turned from her fight and spotted the god when Zoë cried out, hurtling over at a frightening speed, I could only watch as the man, the reason I was weak, my father, the traitor; clicked his fingers, a ceremonial bronze dagger appearing in his hands, blades, axes and daggers slamming down into the ground around us, forming a cage of ethereal arms.

The auburn haired goddess released a silver arrow to the god, but... It seemed so far away, moving slowly as it arced through the air as the god lowered the knife to my abdomen. The moonlight arrow slipping through a gap in the cage slowly.

"Yes." He had a crazed look in his eyes as he stared at me distastefully, his son. "I'll just sacrifice you to my master, that way he will receive his power and I get rid of a small stain on my record." The tip pierced my flesh, slowly entering my body as he ignored the agonised cries from Annabeth, the threats being spewed from Thalia's mouth or the fury coming from the Hunters as Zoë and Phoebe rolled out from beneath, leaving Thalia and Annabeth crying out in pain as the ran towards us. They raised their daggers and pounded at the weapon cage, small cracks appearing as Pistinemo drove it deeper.

I stared at the dagger, its hilt buried deep into my stomach, the blade piercing through my body and into the grass underneath. I couldn't feel anything, just a small pain that slowly spread through my body, starting from the wound and amplifying in pain as the man smiled in satisfaction.

"The first blood in the new wa-" Several things happened at once, the arrow slammed into his shoulder and exploded in a blazing cloud of silver as the weapon cage shattered into dark green crystals as he stumbled back, his eyes glazed over in pain. "You bitch!" He screamed in agony as the silver moonlight seemed to eat at his flesh. The Hunters bolted forward, Phoebe reaching into her bag for ambrosia and nectar while Zoë applied pressure to the wound, unwilling to take out the dagger for fear of bloodloss.

"Would you like to take on an Olympian, minor god?!" Artemis sneered at him, her bow splitting in the middle and turning back into her silver hunting daggers. "Run to your master, he'll know what to do." He roared in anger and scooped up the tied up Luke by the ground beside him. "Run back to your master, we have prevailed this day."

"You'll regret your decision of letting me run, moon goddess." He hissed as the flesh on his arm slowly melted, revealing the golden ichor and bone underneath. Edging back to the cliff, he let himself fall off with the son of Hermes in his grasp.

"Pistinemo! Get back here!" Perses screamed from the headlock Atlas had him in as the Titan of Endurance threw him under the sky, both girls still remaining under it immediately ducking the moment the Titan was underneath. "No!" Atlas dropped his weapons instantly and bounded towards us, his face creased with worry as he ignored the screaming Titan who was struggling under the weight of the world.

"Can you heal him?" Thalia crawled to my side and cradled her head, big fat tears rolling down her cheeks and dripping down onto me. "Heal him!" She screamed at the other two Hunters, both of whom were still applying bandages and nectar to the wound.

"Oh gods." Annabeth had stumbled next to me, cradling my broken left hand gently. "It's poison, from a Lydian Drakon." Her eyes widened in horror as Artemis turned to us when the rogue god disappeared from the mountain, his presence leaving the mountain itself.

I wanted to say something witty, like; Duh, Annabeth, aren't you a child of wisdom? But all that came out was a strangles groan when Zoë tore the knife out, instantly trying to fill the gaping hole in my stomach with bandages and nectar. My head felt light, as if I was floating away, with only a small thread to keep me in place.

"St- Stop." I grasped Zoë's shoulder and turned her to me, part of my brain in shock at the fact that she had tears in her eyes. "Don't waste-" I coughed violently, covering my silver jacket with black blood. "-Poison anyway." She shook herself from my grasp and continued to bark incoherent orders to Phoebe, who yelled something back and tore at her parka, using the cloth to stem the blood.

"Girls." Artemis' voice was stern and commanding, both girls looked up immediately at her grave tone. "Leave him; it will not work no matter what." Thalia pushed away the goddess and snarled at her angrily, her electric blue eyes filled with anger.

"I just found him again; he can't just die like this!" She pressed her forehead against mine and shuddered, she felt so warm... So alive.

"Hey," I murmured, my own tears rolling down as she continued to sob. "Hey, hey. It's alright. It's alright." I reached up and patted her cheek gently, ignoring the horrible feeling in my chest when I saw the hand, ashen gray and weak. "I'm going to die, stop it and let me say something." I let out a shuddering laugh and brushed away Phoebe's bandages, their sterile white stained a bright red.

"Phoebe-" She refused to look at me, hiding behind her ginger hair as she stared at anything but me. "Is Bianca ok?" She shrugged slowly, as if it confused her.

"We-" I winced at how emotional her voice sounded. "We don't know, she fired an arrow at your dad and then suddenly collapsed when some shadows got near to her." I nodded, a tranquil smile on my face as my eyelids started to drop. "You owe me ten drachmas." I giggled as she finally stared at me, her eyes a myriad of emotion as she wiped at them, staining her cheeks with a crimson red.

"You're dying from the poison anyway." I gave her a soft smile as she turned away again, driving a fist into the ground beside her angrily. My eyes seemed so heavy, I wanted to give in and rest, to sleep for a long time.

No. Not yet.

"Annabeth, better hurry back," The daughter of Athena looked up at me abruptly when I spoke to her, her own tears slowly dropping as she gripped my broken hand even tighter. "Your mortal family misses you-" The feeling of sleepiness overwhelmed me and I closed my eyes.

NO!

Tearing them back open, I raised my right hand, it felt like lead; my strength disappearing as the thread holding me started to snap. I reached into my storage, hands fumbling as my fingers finally brushed against a sheet of paper, pulling it out; I turned to the last Hunter, the person I had hoped to live throughout the encounter.

The person I loved.

"Zoë." She looked down on me, even if her face showed no emotion, her lower lip quivered and her eyes were filled with unshed tears. I took a final look around me, the mounds of dirt from the battle, the grass stained black and golden, Atlas driving his blade into his ground in silent memoriam, Artemis sitting on her knees, a conjured silver shroud and ornate dagger placed on the soft cloth as she regarded me silently, a flash of guilt passing in her eyes.

I used the last strength in my body, the last ounce of it, and placed the stack of papers in the former Hesperide's hands, a small ballpoint pen balanced on top as I closed my eyes, enjoying the coldness and freedom from pain.

"Happy birthday"

-Post Mortem-

Lady Artemis returned for the Winter Solstice soon after, with her chariot carrying the four quest members and Titan for the meeting with her Olympian Council, where she would contribute the storytelling of the quest members as they bravely stood in the Council, surrounded by deities vastly stronger than them and recounted their tale.

The vote had been close, Hestia had been allowed to vote due to how serious the situation was and the council stopped at six to six, Artemis being the tiebreaker.

The Council approved of the plan to prepare for war, although not much could be done but cautiously prepare for the oncoming war as they knew nothing of Kronos' whereabouts or of what he was doing, the plan was to strengthen the camp defenses and start training more immortals to join the fight.

The reward ceremony passed by quickly soon after, with the four being granted a gift for their bravery in battle, Thalia Grace; although still in tears, was given a new spear and was offered a place in the hunt, to which she immediately agreed to become the second lieutenant, to find a new family or bury the old memories, no one would know.

Annabeth Chase was also offered a position in the Hunters, but she refused, saying that she couldn't leave the son of Poseidon, Theseus 'Theo' Triton, She immediately left afterwards with a new laptop filled with architectural plans by her mother and went to console the daughter of Zeus.

Phoebe had been vocal in her request, telling the council to bring her newest 'brother' back, the council refused and Ares instead took his child out of the council as she was deemed emotionally unstable, they would reward her soon afterwards.

Zoë Nightshade was given the gift of having her Father pardoned, and she bowed once to Zeus, then her lady Artemis, whom looked at her in sympathy before leaving for the Hunt at Camp Half-Blood wordlessly.

Atlas returned to Mount Orthrys, where Perses still struggled and howled to collect the body of the boy, his stilled features tranquil and peaceful, the simple silver shroud covering the gaping hole in his stomach while the ornate dagger was clipped to his chest, by a breast pocket where a small clasp hung. It was something Atlas wished he would never do again in his immortal life, carrying the boy's limp body down the mountain, his daughters crying out in anguish as they surrounded the son of Pistinemo, his ashen white face devoid of all emotion, the warmth in his body leeched by the ground.

Even worse was when the Titan stepped into the Camp's boundaries, although he had been pardoned and given a vital role in the war after swearing allegiance on the Styx, he couldn't help but feel the heated gazes of children in the Camp as he was led by a silent Phoebe to what was the Amphitheatre, her grip on Percy's limp hand.

Atlas had been greeted silently by Artemis with an almost unnoticeable nod as the Hunters sat behind her on the rows of seats, their entire mood was quiet and sullen as Phoebe took one last look at the face of her dead friend before turning away to a camper, a child of Ares with ginger hair, and cried quietly into his chest.

His daughter was nowhere to be seen, but he could hear the cries of some campers, a boy with sea green eyes and an unruly black mop similar to Percy's shoved past the crowd as Atlas made his way down the steps, his eyes wide with the rejection of believing that his best friend had perished. Two identical twins, their faces pale, the one on the left reached into his pocket and took out a small card; it read 'Percy Jackson' in silver writing and to Atlas' heavy heart – Was a letter from his mother, typed in a computer and signed with a small packet of blue cookies.

As he laid the body of the boy on the stage where another shroud awaited him- a dull colorless white, Lady Artemis stepped forward, demanding that the boy would have a shroud akin to a Hunter's, much to the shock of the campers and Hunters alike, and covered the body with a bright silver cloth with a symbol of a bow and sword that pulsated softly in the night's moonlight.

No, Atlas would endure the curse of carrying a thousand worlds rather than see all these children, broken hearted at the sight of one courageous boy who was now lying dead before him.

The funeral had been swift, the immortal trainer of Heroes starting to speak before emotion caught his voice, he had trained the boy personally when he had been suffering through his darkest times, teaching him to be happy, to embrace who he was. And instead refused to burn the body now, as he would burn it in the morning, where he would be emotionally prepared to.

Later on in the night, Atlas would sit by the Amphitheatre, at the very back and brood silently, at how he had been the one to push the boy to go past his limits, even though it would break him. Why did it bother him so much, if he had sent hundreds of men to die before?

He almost missed someone creeping in, a girl with their black hair tied in a braid as the girl who had entered the Amphitheatre, it was as she stepped next to the light of the fire did Atlas recognise who she was.

His very own daughter, Zoë Nightshade.

He watched silently as she pulled back the cloth slightly, revealing the boy's face and brush her hands through his hair almost affectionately, her face pale and hands trembling, she clutched what seemed to be a stack of papers in her hand as she slowly drew the cover over his face and fled.

No. Emotions were never something Atlas and his Family were good at.

You guys hate me. Don't you.

I hate me too. I do

I'll probably brush this up later on but REVIEW ANSWERING TIME! I've decided to shorten the review answering so that I don't end up spoiling something and making my word count much longer than it actually is because that'd make me a terrible person.

SpartanBoy: in Chapter 7: Good chapter, though I would have gone a more dramatic entrance, and possible get the shit kicked out of me.

O.o, art thou'st satisfied now? (Evil laughing)

Pandaz: major apologies for not typing it all out just because of the sheer fact that I am a lazy bum who deserves you everlong hate.

I apologise, call me old fashioned- but I can't do hares or anything more than a love triangle, I simply was not brought up like that and my family would disown me if I even considered the option.

BUT HAVING A WEAK PERCY IS A VERY BIG BREATH OF AIR YEAH? EAT THAT HATERS MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA

And yes- it does sound suspiciously like Noctis, who is Ardin in this, then...? ( 3)

BUT DON'T FEEL DISCOURAGED IF I ON'T TYPE OUT YOUR LONG REVIEWS, I WILL READ THEM AND REREAD THEM AND DISSOLVE INTO GIGGLES BEFORE REREADING THEM

I can't believe I actually have people re-reading my shitty little works. You have my gratitude, respect and love all squished up into one big ball of pasta sa- that isn't the point. But you have my thanks.

: Magnificient chapter can't wait fr more please update soon

Beep boop. Just kidding, thanks for the support!

Dinklebergsc3: My day was sucky then u updated then it was good now its me feeling super excited for the next chapter

I got this at three in the morning, and I'm really happy that I managed to do something with my terrible writing. I hope to make everyone's days better as an average writer with little to no experience.

Y r there no USERNAMES: Great job so far. The characters are interesting and original and I like the way you're taking the story. Great work!

Thanks! I like to imagine that my characters are interesting, but that's my own imagination, sometimes I just take some time and read my own story—bar the cringe—but I like to think from a reader's perspective, like; what would make this scene more interesting? It's like I post a somewhat bare chapter and then work on it after reading it.

KryptertJ: Damn, that was a pretty good chapter you got there:

Damn, I like to think it was pretty good too. Took me 14 listens to Novacaine to get at least a bit of the scene right.

Death Fury: 'Great job' and 'I love it'

I love your small responses, even if they don't have much information- it still makes me really happy that people are taking their time to say these small things, it really encourages me as an author and I'll try to work harder for you guys!

OverLordRevan: awesome chapter, though I think Bianca was a bit cold considering how she was throughout the last chapters.

Yeah, I'm still trying to fix that, but how do you portray someone who knows you're not dead, but is too afraid to tell anyone about the fact that she knows things about death that others don't? I had to take a look inside a book called 'Numbers' to try to at least grasp some kind of understanding. Sorry about my terrible writing dude.

Sparky548: Great chapter and Escaped Titan made me think of Atlas as a good Titan like Bob but not being manipulated by Percy.

I know right? Thanks for your support to me and don't you think Izzybella12 has that kind of way with words that can make the worst villain seem nice or vice versa? I loved the book.

I dunno about the next chapter, I still got my other story going on right now and I've made a bit of a blunder.

Check out my profile for a poll! It's going to list the story ideas I currently have, so go ahead and click on it! I'll form a vague idea of what I want to post tomorrow.

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