(Hades POV)
From the moment he was born, Perseus Jackson was blessed with everything a man could possibly dream of. He walked like a God, talked like a sage, and fought like the devil himself.
But in this moment he was stood silent. Silent as death. Silent as the moment before a raging storm.
Hades couldn't even hear him breathing. Percy stood frozen, like he was caught in time.
Hades stood, and watched as the young god's complexion dropped to a sickly pale shade. Percy's chest began to spasm, like he was trying to gasp for air but couldn't.
Perseus dropped slowly to his knees, his eyes glazed over.
Hades waited to see what he would do.
After a long moment Percy finally rasped out a word, sounding like a nearly drowned man taking in air again.
"No."
Hades shifted closer to him. "What?"
Perseus lifted his head, an insane look on his face.
"No!" He growled.
He reached out towards his sword, his hand jolting out mechanically, like he wasn't in control.
Hades rushed forward, hands out. "Percy! I had no say in this, it was Aphrodite. Don't punish me for her crime!"
Percy began to rise on shaking legs, using his sword as a support.
"But... you forced her to be reborn." He said in a slow tone that wavered with anger.
His eyes were black, nothing like the playful sea green eyes of the child who Hades had known before. No, this was not Percy Jackson. This was Perseus Godsbane.
And though his rage filled eyes were set on him, Hades had no answers.
At least, none that would spare him from Perseus's wrath.
(Perseus)
Perseus stood before Hades, but he didn't feel as though he was with Hades.
He felt numb. Empty almost. He knew he was speaking words, yes. But he was unsure if he could have even repeated them if he tried. He had felt this nothingness before. Yes, he had. And it wrapped around him like a blanket of smoke, drowning out everything.
It hadn't left after that day in the battlefield after all. It had just been waiting. Like a dormant sickness, ready to rise when something invited it. From his detached world he watched a young man with black hair and a shimmering sword make his way towards another man in robes who cowered.
The man raised his sword, jerking it up in a spastic motion, like a puppet on a string.
"Percy."
The older man in black robes raised his hands, falling backwards as he tripped over the rocky ground.
"Percy!"
The wielding man began to swoop his sword down towards the cowering one and-
"PERCY!"
Perseus froze mid swing.
That voice. He knew that voice.
Slowly, Perseus turned towards the gentle but persistent voice.
And he found Heista standing behind him. Her hands were out in a non threatening position.
"Percy." She said again, "this isn't who you are. I know the boy you were, and he wouldn't do this."
Perseus, though in shock answered her. Somehow, Heista arriving was not the most shocking occurrence of the evening.
"Heista? What are you doing here," he asked, momentarily forgetting what he was doing.
"I am here to save you, to save us. Remember. You are a good person, Percy. You were always such a kind boy."
"Well, that boy is dead now. He should have died years ago anyway," Perseus said, turning away.
She creeped closer to Perseus and put her gentle hand on his arm. "No, he's not dead, not at all. He's just waiting till it's safe."
Perseus withdrew. "It was never safe. It will never be safe! This is for the best. I'm at fault for the deaths of both my enemies and my loved ones equally."
"No! No, it wasn't your fault Sally died Percy. You couldn't have known."
Perseus looked to her, tears blurring his vision as reality sank in.
"I could have, though," Perseus's voice cracked with sorrow, "I shouldn't have tried to kill the gods, I should have known. I should have know they would outsmart me."
Heista furrowed her brow. "Percy, you were wrong, yes, but you are a god! Gods don't sit back and take the past like a mortal! What are you the god of, coward?!"
"Enough," Perseus growled. "I was wrong to spare you. No god or goddess could ever understand humanity." He raised his sword towards her.
"Percy don't be foolish," she whispered. "Listen for a moment. What are you the god of?"
Perseus scowled. "I don't have to answer to you! I don't have to answe-"
"I'm truly asking," Heista interrupted desperately.
"I- time. Revenge. Loyalty."
"What would a god of time do if things didn't go to plan," she asked, eyes wide.
"They- I would change it..."
"Yes, Percy."
Perseus gasped. "I can change it."
Heista nodded, and fled with a flash of godly light.
What was the point of a world without Sally Jackson?
Perseus knew the answer. Nothing, void, meaningless. If there was anything on the earth that had kept Perseus there after Annabeth had died it had been her.
So he closed his eyes
And he changed the story.
(Hades POV)
Hades watched as Percy closed his eyes and fell to his knees, splashing Aphrodite's golden ichor across the rocky landscape.
Suddenly the pressure dropped, and Hades felt his ears pop.
Then abrupt silence.
No cries of the damned. No wind. No rushing water. Nothing.
As if time itself had been put on hold.
Percy looked up, glowing with godly light.
"This is not how it goes." was all he said.
But the ground quivered as if the universe itself had heard him.
And it listened.
Slowly, mist emerged from the ground swirling around Hades and Perseus.
Before the two gods it grew denser, gathering in one area till the silloet of a woman materialized.
And out of the mist stumbled Sally Jackson.
"Mom.." Percy gasped, rushing forward. For the first time in what Hades was sure was a long time he sounded simply like a boy. Not a god. Not even a fully grown man. A young boy running to the mother he loved.
But before Percy could reach his mother she stumbled back, out of his reach.
"Who- who are you?" She said, eyes wide with fear.
Perseus stopped dead in his tracks. Reeling back as if he's just been shot. "It's- it's me, mom."
"No... no. You're a monster! What did you do with Percy? What did you do with my son?"
"I- I am your son. I am...Percy."
"No.." she said backing up farther, "no, you're not. Did you... kill my son?"
"No- I didn't! I- I-"
Perseus trailed off, eyes wide with terror as he looked down into a puddle of ichor that pooled on the ground near his feet.
He looked at his reflection. To Hades it seemed like the first time in a while.
He surely noted his disheveled hair, black eyes with their sharp gaze and his gold-splattered face. Surely, he saw the madness that danced across his facial expressions.
"...Yes."
The moment he said this the ground began to rumble, and the wind picked up, blowing Sally to the ground and throwing the gods off balance.
"What..." Perseus began, squinting up at the hazy 'sky'.
As the quaking picked up, large chunks of the cavernous ceiling miles above began to crumble and fall, splashing into the rivers around them.
"What's happening?" Perseus yelled over the clatter.
"Did you meddle?" Hades yelled back.
"What?"
"Did you meddle with time?"
"Well, yes!"
"There are no Fates," Hades shouted, trudging his way closer to Percy despite the raging wind. "There is no one to regulate time, and there are no gods to oversee it! Time, and the world's fate itself is crumbling!"
Sally, who was struggling to stand joined the conversation now, "you have to put me back! Whoever you are, put me back and fix this!"
"I can't!" Percy said, shaking hands raised.
"Yes, you can!" Hades said, now close enough to not have to shout.
"NO!" Perseus screamed, and time went still.
No noise, no wind, nothing.
Just Hades and Perseus.
"I can't," Percy croaked out.
"You must, Perseus. You cannot have either of them, but we have to have the gods. You must bring the gods back"
"I just got her back, though."
"Is it worth the end of everything?"
Perseus's gaze went hard. And he whispered coldly, "I have worked too long and have taken too many lives for this to be for nothing."
Hades said nothing. He only shivered with fear.
(Perseus)
The air between Perseus and Hades began to grow foggy.
The mist grew dense, eventually becoming something almost solid.
Out stepped a blonde girl with intelligent grey eyes.
Perseus looked at her like he was seeing a phantom.
She lifted her eyes and gently gasped. "Percy?" She said in a half sob.
"I'm, so sorry-" was all he got out before bursting into a gut wrenching sob.
As the two embraced he half whispered, half sobbed, "I should have been there. I should have saved you sooner," into her hair.
She stepped back, gently pulling away from Percy's arms. "You should never have brought me back, Percy," she said softly.
"What? Why!?" Percy cried out, reaching for her.
"Look around, Perce. The world isn't meant for this kind of power. It's falling apart. There are some things even a god shouldn't control."
"TO HELL WITH CONTROL!" Perseus yelled, eyes bloodshot with tears. "I'd rather the world burn a thousand times over than lose you again!"
Annabeth took his shaking hands in her own. "That's why you have to let me go, Percy. Let me go, love."
Percy sank to his knees, bent over and wept bitterly.
Annabeth crouched down with him and held him as he grieved. Eventually she cupped his face in her hands and said, "it's time."
He looked at her, drinking her in. He held onto her with the desperation of a man on deaths row as he begged, "please, stay. I want you to stay, Annabeth."
Annabeth gently kissed Percy in a final goodbye.
"Something as beautiful as our love was never meant for the world of the living. I have to go now Percy. You have to fix it all."
He rose slowly with her and nodded, face glistening with tears.
He wrapped his arms around her as she began to fade.
"I'd find you in any lifetime," she whispered.
And she was gone with a sigh of the wind. Leaving Percy standing in an empty embrace.
Empty of everything but the memory of Annabeth and the tears she left behind.
(End of chapter.)
///AN// Whew. That was a long chapter for me. 1,791 words if we're being exact. Hope you enjoyed and I hope you get a pasta dinner tonight to recover from the sadness. I worked pretty hard on this one so hopefully it made sense, I kinda packed a lot in there. I still have a few final wrap-up chapters so stay tuned for those. You guys are awesome and tysm for reading! (Also the cover art is by yours truly)////