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Perseus woke up to find himself bound in celestial bronze chain. He tried to move out of it when he found he couldn't. He frowned thinking that he was able to break out of celestial bronze before, but what happened now.
"Your efforts are futile, that is an alloy made of 4 distinct metals. Celestial bronze, Imperial gold, Stygian Iron, and mortal steel. My Lord informed me that you were not like any other God or Titan, that you were almost in par with Primordials in terms of strength and power. So he told me a little secret recipe for an alloy, something that could even bind a Primordial." Someone taunted him. Laughing at seeing Perseus helpless.
Perseus raised his head and looked at a figure with his sword resting at Annabeth's neck. Perseus recognized the figure immediately; it was one of the Gods he despised most.
"Heracles..." He growled at the God of Strength and Heroes.
Third Person Pov
Perseus thrashed against his chains, hoping he could save Annabeth's life from the hands of Heracles. He knew that the Olympians couldn't intervene and help him, not until Heracles attacked him first. That's why the bastard had captured him in his sleep, so that the other gods would be bound by the ancient laws. Annabeth and Grover had to save themselves without his help. 'Wait a minute!' He thought 'Where is Grover?'
Perseus couldn't see the satyr anywhere near. Either Heracles had already dealt with the satyr, and he was a plant right now; or he was hiding somewhere. Perseus hoped it was the latter point. Perseus could feel the chains losing its strength; soon he would be able to break it off, though not soon enough to save Annabeth.
Annabeth felt the voice of Heracles more torturous, then his sword pushed against her throat. He kept boasting about his victory over Perseus, and how their master would award him. She could see Grover hiding at the side, behind a bush. Grover pulled his reed pipes out, and took a breath. He played a soft tune, and the plants around them started swaying. She could see vines reaching them from the ground, slithering like snakes on their way. Heracles was too proud of his victory to see them. The vines reached them and wrapped themselves around Heracles feet and pulled, causing the minor god to fall on his face. Giving Annabeth a chance to run away from him.
Annabeth reached Perseus and looked around, hoping to find any weak points in the chains, but she found none.
"No time, you would have to fend him off." Perseus said to her.
"WHAT," Annabeth screamed, she had trained for years in camp, but she never thought she would have to fight a god.
"You would have to, you are a demigod, a half god. Your mother's Ichor runs through your veins. Your mother Athena is the goddess of war, many Gods and Titans have bowed before her skills. You have those skills too, just believe in yourself." Perseus' speech gave Annabeth the morale boost she needed. She could feel something awaken inside her. Her hands went to pull her knife out, but Perseus stopped her.
"Don't. You can't defeat him with a dagger, there is a pen inside my pocket. Take it out." Perseus stretched himself awkwardly, so his jean pocket was accessible.
"You want me to put my hands inside your pant? What if somebody saw me?" Annabeth whispered, shouting at him. Her cheeks were flushed with a dark color of red.
Perseus groaned, he had forgotten how women tended to make things harder than it actually were. "Dammit, who is going to see you? The god currently trying to kill you? Just take it out." He too, shouted at her.
Annabeth with her blush, reached into his pocket and pulled the pen out. She didn't know what good a pen could do against a god. But she figured Perseus might have a plan. He told her to uncap it, and she did. The pen expanded into a beautiful three feet-long Greek Xiphos. The same sword he had used against Poryphyrion. The sword radiated a power that almost made her choke on her own breath. Slowly, the power became familiar, and not deadly to her. She looked at Perseus in confusion.
"That sword was made by the hands of the creator herself, it is older than the birth of Titans. That sword is sentient, it chooses its own wielder. To this day he has only allowed me to wield it, and now you. Fight with courage, and the sword would be the best friend you never had." Perseus said, and Annabeth's eyes widened. The sword was older than Titans? She could not believe it.
Annabeth nodded at him, and turned to face Heracles. He was almost out of the constant growing of vines. Grover looked tired. She motioned Grover to stop, and he did. Heracles got out of the vines looking particularly enraged. He growled and looked at Annabeth, seeing her. His demeanor changed, and he laughed, "You a puny demigod of Athena, is going to stand against me?"
Before Annabeth could answer Perseus shouted from behind her, "Yes she's going to stand against you, and beat you. Oh yess... I can hear the muses singing about the god Hercules, who died choking on his own piss." He laughed, "It's a shame you aren't going to be around to hear it. It is spectacular, I can hear it now across time."
Annabeth rolled her eyes at Perseus; Seriously he should've had the domain of sass. He always has to have the last word. She readied herself as Hercules charged at her. She readied herself for the coming onslaught.
She stood steadily; as Heracles swung his sword; she used the sword to block it. He aimed a jab at her ribs and she back-stepped, acting purely on instincts. She thanked Chiron mentally, for being extra hard on the sword training. Heracles got close, and tried to stab her again. Annabeth side-stepped and swatted his sword away; her movement giving Heracles the advantage of grasping her forearms. He threw her away by using her forearm against her.
Annabeth stood up from the ground only to see Heracles deliver a fatal strike. She gripped her sword with both hands and blocked his strike. The strength behind the strike, made her muscles scream in fire. It felt like the muscles were burning from inside.
Heracles seemed shocked that someone could block a strike with his godly strength behind it. He was the god of strength; it should've been impossible. Annabeth used his shock to her own favor, and kicked his feet. Heracles stumbled forward. Annabeth got out of his way, and slashed at his back. Ichor poured out of the God's back like an old machine leaking oil.
Perseus watched with fascination as Annabeth kept trading blows with Heracles. Her movements were so silent, so furtive, like a skilled ballet dancer, or a trainer bloodhound. Perseus couldn't remember any demigod, going this long against a god. He knew the girl was important from the start. He could also feel the chains getting weaker by the seconds. Just a minute more, and he would be free.
Annabeth was getting tired soon; she may have been a trained warrior. But going against a god was very tiring. She saw a gap at Heracles guard and stabbed him at the side of his waist. Heracles hissed in pain, but locked his sword against hers, and twisted it. Throwing the sword away, Annabeth crouched and rolled forward. She took her dagger, and drove it through the God's heel.
Heracles roared in agony; the pain was the worst he could remember. Ever since he had become a God, he hadn't felt such pain. His Achilles tendrils had been severed; it was painful to even stand. He did the only thing he could do. He unleashed his godly form.
Perseus saw what Heracles was about to do, and the strength to keep his friends coursed through him. The chains snapped, and broke; the Lord of Time once again reigned free. He screamed, "Close your eyes," and made a dome of water appear in front of Grover, and Annabeth so they could be saved.
Grover thanked Perseus, for his help. They moved towards Annabeth to find her unconscious, 'Oh no,' they thought. She had caught a glimpse of God's true form. Perseus stopped time entirely, so they could think of a way to save her.
"She is getting weaker by the second, she's just a mortal. It's only because she's a demigod, that she is still alive." Perseus said as he sat down. He picked her head up and placed it on his lap, as he looked at Annabeth's dying body.
"Can't we make her stronger, give her nectar or ambrosia so she could have just enough strength to survive?" Grover pleaded with him, as tears poured out of his eyes.
Grover's words lit up a bulb in Perseus' head. He resumed time, bent downwards, and kissed the forehead of the demigod laying on his lap. He kept his lips pressed against her forehead as the both of them glowed with a bright gold light. When it died down, Grover could feel Annabeth pulsing with power. He had met Thalia, a daughter of Zeus, one of the big three, and even she didn't give away such a powerful aura. Grover figured that Perseus had just given Annabeth his blessing.
Annabeth's eyes opened up, and there was a change in it. The usual gray eyes now had flecks of gold around them. She looked to see Perseus towering over her; she felt powerful, than she had in her entire life. "What happened?" She croaked out.
"I will tell you later, I have to deal with a pest now." Perseus said, and handed her care to Grover.
Perseus left both Grover and Annabeth behind the dome of water to find Hercules still trapped in time, in his true form. Perseus released him, and grew to his godly height. (True form, and Godly form are different. True form is a god's actual form, where they appear in their divine form. Godly height is just the oversized version of their human form.)
Heracles saw Perseus, and whatever little courage he had disappeared. He knew he didn't have any chance against him. Hell, no god on Olympus had a chance against him. Heracles saw the smirk on his face, as he walked near him. He was lazily moving, making no effort to show restraint. Heracles thought about flashing away, but like sensing his thought, Perseus spoke.
"How did you break free?" Heracles stuttered, questioning him.
"You were creative I will give you that. That alloy was something I hadn't dealt with before, but I have not seen a metal that could stop Fate. Or a metal that could stop me." He said smirking.
Heracles cursed himself, if he had just finished the job, without boasting about it.
"A famous quote comes to mind now, from a very famous Titan, he said and I quote. "I know what it is like to lose. To feel so desperately that you're right. Yet to fail all the same. Dread it run from it. Destiny still arrives." And I am Destiny." Perseus said, and blocked him from flashing away.
Perseus summoned his weapon of power, a beautifully carved, five-pronged Trident. It was a marvelous, silver Trident. Heracles pissed himself at the very sight of the weapon. Perseus never summoned his weapon of power much, but whenever he did, it tasted blood.
Heracles dropped to his knee in front of him. "Please forgive me Lord."
Perseus tsked at him, "Tsk... Tsk... I am a forgiving god, not a merciful one. Your deeds are too big for forgiving you. I have seen your ways of life, betraying those closest to you. Doing whatever it takes for your own gain. But now you have topped it off, betraying Olympus. By the rules of Olympus, and as the God of Justice, I find you unforgivable."
Perseus stabbed his trident through Heracles chest. Ichor poured out of Heracles, as his body lay still. Normally a god would turn to golden sand and go to reform. But not this time. Slowly his body turned gray and he dissolved into thin air. Showing that Heracles had faded.
"May you find peace in the void. May Chaos make your stay beautiful." Perseus gave the god his final rites.
Perseus also felt the domain of Strength and Heroes, stood at bay. Waiting for the fates to grant them to somebody. He looked at Annabeth and mused, "Hmm... Maybe later. "
Perseus went to Annabeth; she was on her feet now. He smiled, seeing her, "How do you feel?" He asked.
"Stronger, More Powerful." She answered. Looking down at her hands, Perseus nodded at her. She looked at him in question. Silently asking how?
"I gave you my blessing. What you can do even I don't know, we would have to see." Perseus answered her question, making Annabeth's eyes go wide. She had just been blessed by the most powerful god to ever live? She didn't know how she felt about that.
"I think this belongs to you," she said, handing over the sword to Perseus. He took the sword and examined it. Annabeth felt like he was seeing whether she had damaged it. After a second he handed her the sword back.
"The sword belongs to you now, it has bonded to you. I can feel that you've also become familiar with the sword," Perseus said.
Annabeth's mind went numb for a minute; he was giving away a sword this much powerful. One made by the creator herself? She accepted the gift and gave him a kiss on the cheek for it. Another question came to her.
"I could not see you, but I heard you. Who was the famous Titan, you got the quote from?" She asked Perseus.
"Thanos," Perseus replied to her.
"Who?" she asked again.
"Are you kidding me? Thanos from the Marvel movies." He shouted, apparently the movie was a very big deal to him.
"Not really," Annabeth frowned, she had been in camp for a very long time. She doesn't know about the movies at the mortal world.
Perseus seemed personally offended, "You and me, after this quest are going to see this movie. We would have a movie marathon, and you're going to catch up with all the popular movies out in the world. Then, and only then I would take you to show the architectures you want to see. "
Annabeth looked down and blushed deep red. She took a deep breath and looked up to see Perseus, "Are you asking me out on a date?" Her face was stoic, but the blush remained.
Perseus too, blushed a deep golden color as he stuttered over his words. Thinking about it, he did sound like he was asking her out on a date.
Grover smirked at both of them. He was loving the drama between these two.
Perseus contained his blush and said, "Maybe."
On Olympus
The gods sat around watching the quest with wide eyes. Heracles had betrayed them? How many more surprises were going to come now? Zeus felt ashamed that his own son had turned against him. Most of the gods had different emotions as the quest continued.
One in particular, Artemis, at first she felt anger. That stupid sword was Perseus' most treasured possession. She had tried wielding it once before, and it had burned her. Like she wasn't worthy to wield it, and now it had accepted a demigod as its wielder. How was she worthier than her, Artemis didn't know. She was absolutely shocked that Perseus gave the sword to the demigod girl, and intentionally at that. Annabeth must have meant a lot to him to give up the sword.
She felt jealous when she saw him cradle her in his lap. Artemis wished it was her in that girl's place. She was particularly burning with jealousy, when she saw Perseus ask the girl for a date. She had never been on a date with him, and now the demigod girl was going on.
'Maybe I should offer her a place in the hunt' Artemis thought to herself, and smiled.