A/N: My sister gets the dedication for an idea that I almost used in this chapter.
I Probably Give Someone A Heart Attack
"I must say, I expected you to wait a day at least until you came." Once the darkness from the portal cleared, I spotted the bearded face of Chaos.
I grimaced. "Yeah, well. Someone forgot to mention that they wouldn't remember me right away. So, I thought, what's the point of staying if I'll leave in a year? They won't have remembered me by then." I sat down on a plush couch in the room I was in.
It seemed like the classic castle lounge. Fancy chandelier, nice couches and chairs, and a fireplace. I sat there and waited. So did Chaos.
"Well?" I asked. "Aren't you going to do some magic thing and make me your commander?"
He laughed. "Oh! Right. I don't need to do much. First of all, I have something you may want to see."
"If it's from camp, I don't want to see it."
Not even me, boss?
"Blackjack!" I turned around and there he was, in all his black Pegasus glory.
I said I was still with you, didn't I?
I smiled. "Thank you, Chaos."
Chaos frowned, "Now don't get all lovey-dovey on me. I knew you would need a steed and he was more than happy to fill the position. Now, just a few things." Chaos held his hands out to Blackjack and his hooves turned gold. A gold helmet materialized atop his head. A leather saddle made of gold latched itself onto his back, and my flying horse was ready. He seemed stronger almost too.
I could get use to this. Blackjack admired his new gear and his golden hooves.
I whistled. "Sweet. How do you feel Blackjack?"
Like I could fly around the world in a second. He flapped his wings in anticipation.
"He actually can." Blackjack whinnied and in less than a second he was next to me.
Cool.
"Now, swear on The Beginning that you will remain loyal to me. This oath is more permanent than any there is." I swore and immediately felt a small surge of power. I knew it was small, yet it felt like so much. That just showed me how much power Chaos has.
Chaos handed me a black cape with a hood. "Put this on. You're about to meet some old friends. Why not have some fun with it?"
I put on the cape and pulled up the hood, the whole time wondering who they could be. All the old friends I had were either dead, or they don't know me anymore.
"Who?" I asked as Chaos led me out of the room and down many corridors.
"You will see." He didn't say anything else. I shrugged and Blackjack and I followed him. I tried to keep track of where we were going, but I got confused very quickly. I gave up and trusted that Chaos wasn't leading me to my doom.
"They might not be very trusting, but they will when you when you reveal yourself. I will tell when a good time would be." I never knew Chaos would be fun like this. I thought he would be all serious and strict.
"Most people think that."
"Were you reading my mind?" I glared at him. I didn't appreciate him invading my privacy like that.
"Sorry, I'll stop." He apologized and before I could say anything, opened the door we had stopped in front of. When I saw who was inside, I nearly fainted.
Lounging around in chairs or couches, even the floor, I saw my old friends. Inside the room, there was Luke, Beckendorf, Silena, Bianca, Zoë, and Daedalus. Everyone I knew who had died. They all seemed grown up too. Daedalus no longer looked like an adult next to them. They were all about the same age. I looked at myself and realized that I too, had grown.
But there was one person I couldn't place. I could tell it was a girl, but I didn't know who. I had a feeling I knew this person from a few years ago, but I didn't remember.
I almost blew our whole surprise right then. "Chaos, who is this?" Luke, who seemed to be the leader asked. "Is this the new commander you were telling us about?" He obviously didn't think anyone would be more experienced or capable than him.
Start a fight. Humiliate him. Then reveal yourself. Chaos's voice told me. I looked over at him and saw the barest hint of a smile.
"Yes. Ask him what you want." Chaos melted into the shadows, but I could still feel him watching. Blackjack walked in behind me and I heard Luke gasp. Blackjack had the same reaction.
It's him, the traitor! Let me trample him, please?
No, Blackjack. He's a friend now. He's a hero. I had to calm Blackjack in my mind so as not to blow my cover. With some reluctance, Blackjack agreed.
Instantly the door closed behind me and I was surrounded. Luke's sword was at my throat. Zoë had an arrow nocked in her bow and everyone else had their chosen weapon pointed at me. "I know that that is Percy Jackson's Pegasus. What did you do to him?" I laughed and Riptide was in my hand. I made sure to uncap it while in my pocket because that would definitely ruin my plan. In one quick move I flipped the situation so that my sword was at Luke's neck and his was on the floor.
The rest of them took this as starting a fight and came at me from every direction. I blocked dodged and rolled, but occasionally a weapon would hit me. The bearer of the weapon would smile as if they won but I still had the Achilles curse. I would smirk and keep fighting.
We kept fighting like this until I had disarmed all of them and stood there, two swords in each hand pointed at someone. Blackjack was standing on a few of them too so that they could not get up.
Now. Chaos re-appeared. Now.
"I thought you were the best sword fighter at Camp, Luke?" I laughed and shook off my hood.
"Percy!" Silena yelled and jumped on me. The rest recovered from their shock and joined the dog pile. Even Zoë. She must've gotten over the whole "no-boys" thing.
I groaned under their combined weight. "Guys, I may have iron skin but I can still suffocate." Beckendorf, who was right on top of me, pushed everyone off and pulled me up.
"Percy? Why are you here? All of us here are supposed to be dead. Did you die too?" Luke seemed unhappy about that.
"No, I'm still alive. I'm here because of reasons I would not like to share." The pain was still fresh.
"What about Camp? Is everyone okay? Did something happen? What about Annabeth?" I was bombarded with questions.
"Guys!" I yelled at the top of my lungs. The room was filled with silence. "I'll tell you when I'm ready." They realized it was a painful subject and left it alone. Silena hugged me, no doubt using her Aphrodite senses to tell something had broken me.
"Now that you know who he is, socialize. I don't care. Percy is first-in-command, Luke is second-in-command. Luke, show him what to do later." Chaos said and then disappeared again.
"Well? Tell me what has happened with you?" I jumped onto a couch and demanded.
"Let's go in order of who died first." Bianca suggested. "When I died, I was about to cross the river when Chaos showed up. He said Hades owed him and that Chaos was allowed to take any warriors who had died to join his team if they accepted. I did, and I was the first one here. He had been waiting for specific heroes, so there was only me until Zoë died."
Zoë resumed where Bianca had left off. "Chaos came to me with the same offer and I accepted. I also surprised Bianca like you had. We trained until Chaos called us for a mission. Then, Daedalus came."
"Same thing. I died and Chaos showed up. Looks like I'll be cheating death for even longer." He smirked. "Chaos also brought back the Labyrinth. It appears on whatever planet I am on, but a part of it always is here. Meaning, the Labyrinth is right underneath you right now." I smiled at my old sword master. He was still in the form he had taken when he was 'Quintus.'
Beckendorf spoke next. "I came after that when I died and trained with them."
The Silena, "I came when I died impersonating Clarisse and found Beckendorf." She smiled and they kissed while the rest of us groaned.
"Alright, keep it PG." Luke laughed. "Well, you know when I came. You were there when I died. Chaos gave us each a test when he thought we were ready. If we passed, we gained Chaos powers." Luke demonstrated and created a glowing blue orb in his hand. "He made me commander but told us he was waiting for one more person. Until today, we had no idea who it would be and just trained and went on every mission Chaos gave us. It's actually easy. Even if we get captured. We don't need water or food, we heal in seconds, and we barely feel pain."
"Wait, I have a question for you, Bianca. How did we see your ghost? If Chaos recruited you right when you died, how did we see your ghost? How did you send me the IM's? Why?" I was confused.
"Oh, right. Chaos created a ghost from my shadow and let me speak through it. He let me go to Earth and send those messages. I needed you to know what Nico was doing. I didn't want him to get hurt. Chaos understood that and let me do it until I was sure Nico would be okay." I nodded. Makes sense.
We traded stories from there, the rest of them politely not mentioning the question of what happened to make me leave. Blackjack had fun speeding around the room, creating gusts of wind until it got annoying and I stopped him.
While laughing and catching up with my old friends, no weirdness in the air, I forgot. I forgot about Annabeth and Camp, I forgot about the guilt of leaving Grover, and Chiron. In the light atmosphere of the room, I let go.
Then the one person who I thought I knew spoke. She had been silent the rest of the time. "I suppose I should introduce myself. Although, you already know me. I died in the Titan War. Daughter of Hermes. Think you can guess?"
I thought back to all the Hermes children I knew who had died in the Titan War. I recognized the red hair, the orange freckles. I realized who she was.
Staring back at me, was my old bully, Nancy Bobofit.