PJO Victory Is Within (Annabeth Chase X Male Reader)

Beating Ares. Saying Goodbye. And meeting my mom?

"Percy . . ." Annabeth said "I'm sorry about your mother. I'm so sorry. . ."

"I should apologize as well, I got in my anger" I said looking away 

Percy was quite for a second looking away. We didn't need Grover to tell us he was feeling down, because he wasn't able to save his mother.

"The prophecy was right," Percy said "You shall go west and face the god who has turned. But it wasn't Hades. Hades didn't want war among the Big Three. Someone else pulled off the theft. Someone stole Zeus's master bolt, and Hades's helm, and framed me because I'm Poseidon's kid. Poseidon will get blamed by both sides. By sundown today, there will be a three-way war. And I'll have caused it."

Grover shook his head, mystified. "But who would be that sneaky? Who would want war that bad?"

"Do you even have to ask? Look ahead." I said

There he was, waiting for us, in his black leather duster and his sunglasses, an aluminum baseball bat propped on his shoulder. His motorcycle rumbled beside him, its headlight turning the sand red.

"Hey, kid," Ares said seeming genuinely pleased to see Percy "You were supposed to die"

"You tricked me" Percy yelled "You stole the helm and the master bolt."

Ares grinned. "Well, now, I didn't steal them personally. Gods taking each other's symbol of power—that's a big no-no. But you're not the only hero in the world who can run errands."

What? I thought

"Who did you use? Clarisse? She was there at the winter solstice."

The idea seemed to amuse him. "Doesn't matter. The point is, kid, you're impeding the war effort. See, you've got to die in the Underworld. Then Old Seaweed will be mad at Hades for killing you. Corpse Breath will have Zeus's master bolt, so Zeus'll be mad at him. And Hades is still looking for this. . ."

From his pocket he took out a ski cap—the kind bank robbers wear in movies—and placed in between the handlebars of his bike. Immediately, the cap transformed into an elaborate bronze war helmet. It reminded me of the helmet Athena let old Perseus borrow for his quest to kill Medusa.

"The helm of darkness," Grover gasped.

"Exactly," Ares said. "Now where was I? Oh yeah, Hades will be mad at both Zeus and Poseidon, because he doesn't know who took this? Pretty soon, we got a nice little three-way slugfest going."

"But they're your family!" Annabeth protested.

Ares shrugged. "Best kind of war. Always the bloodiest. Nothing like watching your relatives fight, I always say."

"You gave me the backpack in Denver," Percy said "The master bolt was in there the whole time."

"Yes and no," Ares said. "It's probably too complicated for your little mortal brain to follow, but the backpack is the master bolt's sheath, just morphed a bit. The bolt is connected to it, sort of like your sword and his spear. It always returns to your pocket and his hand, right? He said

Of course the god of war would know about that, but I guess a god of war had to make it his business to know about weapons. 

"Anyway," Ares continued, "I tinkered with the magic a bit, so the bolt would only return to the sheath once you reached the Underworld. You get close to Hades. . . Bingo, you got mail. If you died along the way—no loss. I still had the weapon."

"But why not just keep the master bolt for yourself?" Percy asked "Why send it to Hades?"

Ares got a twitch in his jaw. For a moment, it was almost as if he were listening to another voice, deep inside his head. "Why didn't I . . . yeah . . . with that kind of firepower . . ."