New Alliances

Chapter 10

A/N Sorry this took so long, for a while I had writer's block and I was stuck on how to finish this chapter. 

The battle raged on, Nico di Angelo was among the camp half-blood campers but they all remained oblivious to the fact that he was a spy. Perseus had told him to fight alongside the campers to keep up the charade that he was on their side. Perseus wanted him to stay at the camp and keep giving him information. He also didn't care if Nico killed a few monsters to prevent anyone from getting suspicious. Pontus and Perseus weren't the only primordials involved in the war, Tartarus was as well, and if it was necessary he could make the monsters reform more quickly than they would otherwise.

Tony Stark was on the ground fighting alongside Natasha and Clint. Tony had added some celestial bronze to his suit so he would be able to fight this battle in it. As the battle continued, piles of gold dust fell to the ground, but so did many demigods. Some were simply unconscious or wounded, but others would never get up again.

Piper McLean was fighting hard, not wanting to let Percy's words get to her, although she didn't like how her mother manipulated people's love lives for her own amusement, and there was also the fact that Aphrodite had rarely done anything to help her, Piper wasn't counting the times that Aphrodite had given her and her friends makeovers. Piper wasn't going to join Percy. He had killed Annabeth, and she had been one of Piper's closest friends. Not just that, but although Percy made some good points about the gods she couldn't agree with his methods.

Piper kept fighting, trying not to think about the fact that their enemy had once been one of her closest friends. As Piper focused on the fight rather than who her enemy was, she managed to shove those thoughts out of her mind. All of a sudden, she was faced with someone that she didn't want to fight. A gasp escaped her lips as her eyes landed on Leo Valdez, She didn't expect him to be fighting for Percy, she assumed that Percy was still holding him hostage.

"Leo!" Piper said in surprise, staring at the Latino boy who had been one of her closest friends ever since they met at the wilderness school. Piper continued, "You joined Percy?"

Completely serious for once, Leo replied, "Yes I did. Piper, think about it, the gods make us fight their battles for them and do hardly anything to help us. Why should we keep being their pawns, Zeus is a tyrant and the other gods usually just go along with whatever he says. While I don't agree with all of Percy's methods, I think we will all be much better off if he wins this war,"

"He killed Annabeth, and he held you hostage," Piper reminded him.

Leo replied, " I know, I don't agree with some of the things he has done, but I am sure that siding with him and getting rid of the gods is the best option for all of us. He may have changed, but I think there might still be some of the old Percy in there."

"Did Percy force you to join him? Is he forcing you to say all this?"

"No, he hasn't forced me to do or say anything Piper. He just wants to make life easier for all of us. Without the gods, we could have relatively normal lives, sure we would still have to fight monsters, I don't think there is any way to permanently get rid of them, if there is, the primordials might do it. But even if they don't, we wouldn't have to go on dangerous quests all the time. Perseus would be the new ruler, and he would let us live our lives in relative peace as long as we continue to worship all the gods who are left after the war,"

"He could be lying to you about that," Piper pointed out.

"I'm sure he isn't," Leo replied.

Piper was tired of hearing how Perseus was supposedly going to make their lives easier, she didn't want to believe a word of it. He had become just another powerful enemy they would have to defeat. Clearly, his time in Tartarus had affected Percy more than he'd originally let on. Or at least that was what Piper was telling herself. Despite her attempts to avoid it, Piper couldn't help but wonder if maybe he was right. Maybe life would be easier without the gods in it. She pushed that thought aside and kept fighting. Leo had moved on, Piper didn't see him anymore, so Piper just fought some monsters who had appeared in front of her.

Perseus watched the still ongoing battle with slight amusement, No more demigods dared to challenge him, the ones who had were either dead or if he was feeling generous, unconscious. He saw Khione not far away with snow swirling around her; he also spotted several demigods that looked more like ice sculptures than actual people. He smiled slightly in amusement. Despite the enjoyment he was getting from the battle, he knew he should end it soon. His forces could have easily killed every demigod in the camp along with the centaur Chiron, but what good would that have done in the long run? It would have left absolutely no one worshiping any of the gods, and many gods would remain even after the Olympians were dead. Perseus already knew that if there was no one worshiping them, any god who remained would eventually fade. Hence why it was necessary for them to leave some demigods alive. Perseus was sure that there were still some younger demigods in the mortal world who were still with their mortal families, oblivious to the fact that they were demigods.

Eventually though, even they would find their way to the camps, and as long as they didn't rebel against him, Perseus would let them live. Demi Primordials were not unheard of, but they were extremely rare. The primordials rarely cheated on their spouses, and when they did it was usually with other gods, not mortals. Most primordials considered mortals to be beneath them. They only really cared about the demigods because they still worship them.

Demi Titans were just as rare as Demi primordials. Not only did most Titans think humans were beneath them, but most of the titans were reforming in Tartarus, and because of that they were currently unable to have children. Once Perseus had decided that the battle had gone on long enough, he used his powers to bring his forces back to him. Then he erected a wall of water between them and the demigods, but quickly let it go before speaking, " I'm giving you one last chance to save yourselves. Don't try and stop me when I attack Olympus, or better yet join me. The choice is yours,"

After that Perseus and his forces left the camp, some demigods who had switched sides during the battle accompanied them out. Once they were gone, the demigods at Camp Half-Blood knew that they would most likely have a head counsellor's meeting to decide what they should do now. Before that though, they took the wounded to the Infirmary where Chiron and the Apollo children started to heal them. Some demigods started to make shrouds for their cabin mates who had died. Other demigods noticed when the golden fleece reappeared exactly where it had been before the battle, however, Perseus didn't return the Athena Parthenos He didn't see the need to. The fleece had kept the camp safe before the Statue was found and brought to the camp. the statue would have to go sooner or later anyway since he wouldn't allow the camp to keep it once the Olympians were dead.

After Perseus and Khione left the camp,  they glanced at each other, smiling. They had both enjoyed the battle although the demigods hadn't been challenging opponents for Perseus. He looked forward to when he would face the Olympians since they would be more difficult opponents, but they wouldn't be attacking Olympus until at least a few days later, although it would probably be later than that.

Once Perseus and his forces got back to his base, he spoke to the demigods who had switched sides during the battle and made sure he had their loyalty. After that, He and Khione left and went to his palace where they were happy to have some time alone.

When the shroud burnings started, Nico did feel a little sad, he hadn't been really close to any of the demigods who had died, but the deaths still saddened him even if they were necessary. There was also the fact that Will was sad because one of his half-siblings had died. Nico loved Will, and he didn't like seeing him upset. Nico was going to try and convince Will to join Percy, although now that he had lost a sibling to this war convincing him would not be easy. Nico didn't regret joining Percy, he was just worried that it would cost him the two people he cared about most, Will, and his sister Hazel. He was also going to try and convince Hazel to Join Percy but he wasn't sure he would be able to. He knew that Next Percy was planning on confronting camp Jupiter, so maybe between the two of them they could convince Hazel to join them, although his hopes weren't high that it was going to work. Although Percy might be able to sway some of the Romans to their side, Nico suspected that Hazel and Frank were too loyal to the gods to be convinced to join Percy. Nico really didn't want to lose another Sister, but he also believed that the Olympians needed to be overthrown.