"I hope Mrs. Kerr whipped your butt!" Nancy yelled at him. Her white gotten down shirt was soaked, revealing a purple training bra.
"Who?" Kyle questioned.
"Our algebra teacher," she replied incredulously. "Duh!"
Before Kyle could say anything stupid, Grover walked up to them and asked what happened.
"He fainted," Percy replied with a smirk on his face. "Had some weird fake out about a demon math teacher. I found him asleep on the floor."
Grover gave Percy a disbelieving look and then turned to Kyle who proceeded to tell him what transpired before he fainted. When Kyle finished his description of the Fury, Grover looked to Percy who just shrugged in response.
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School continued on as it did in Percy's last lifetime. No one remembered Mrs. Dodds and all thought that Mrs. Kerr had been their algebra teacher since Christmas. She was just as annoying as the last time she was there but this time Percy would catch her giving him calculating stares when she thought they were alone. She reminded him of someone, he just couldn't put his finger on it...
Kyle was even more annoying than Mrs. Kerr. He talked about how he had a vision of Hell and saw the end of the world. If he only knew how far from wrong he was... He told the story constantly. He changed things, added things, and even got some girls to ask if he was okay. Kyle was absorbing the attention like a soap sponge. Until all the attention disappeared when Percy ruined it by saying, "Maybe it was the magic mushrooms you ate?"
Percy didn't have any idea why, but he and Kyle were told not to return to Yancy next year.
The night before his Latin exam with Chiron, Percy had a dream about one of the last best memories he'd had.
Percy looked to his right to see Thalia's sleeping head on his shoulder. He never realized how adorable or cute or absolutely beautiful she was until now. A splash of freckles that spanned the length of her cheeks and her porcelain skin. Her electric blue eyes seemed to burn themselves into his memory.
Even though he was staring right at her he didn't notice she was awake until she spoke. "Hey," she whispered.
"H-hey," Percy stuttered, hoping to God that she didn't notice that he was previously staring at her perfect lips. "How did you sleep?"
She had fallen asleep on Percy's shoulder as they reminisced about old times and problems in both their lives. Percy fell asleep soon after pulling a blanket on her body, not sparing any for himself.
"Good," she answered while biting her lip. Thalia wouldn't meet his eyes and would stare at something under them. "How... how did you sleep?"
"Better than I have in a while," Percy admitted. Even though it had been cold that night, what Percy said was true. He had the best night's sleep since he was kidnapped by Hera. "Thank you. For being here."
Percy didn't notice that their faces were getting closer and closer but Thalia did. And she did nothing to stop it. She wanted it. Welcomed it. She had had a crush on Percy since the tree. All those fights they've had? It was just her trying to cope with being in love with her best friend's boyfriend.
They were hesitant at first when Percy realized what his body was doing for him. They were hesitant when their lips met. That was until they got a taste of each other. It was intoxicating. Percy's scent and his taste all in one package made Thalia's brain go in circles.
The kiss didn't last long as Thalia seemed to want more. She broke it and climbed on top of Percy, straddling him. Before they could initiate a more heated kiss there was a flash of silver light and Artemis stood there.
"THALIA GRACE!"
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When Sally told Percy and Kyle that they were going to Montauk, Percy had to elbow Kyle into silence to stop him from whining like a bitchy baby. Percy thought- as he used to be a son of Poseidon- that Kyle would love the beach and ocean.
"She talks about the place all the time," Kyle groaned to Percy. "And the water is almost always too cold to swim in. Plus the cabin is filled with spiders and covered in cobwebs."
At this point Percy had enough. "What makes you think I give a shit about what you like. Shut it and go pack." He used his angry leader voice and Kyle shrunk back, trying to dissolve into the shadows.
A little over an hour later, they were all ready to go. To say that the rest of the day was uneventful would be a serious understatement. It didn't happen just like the other lifetime with questions about Poseidon, but it was just as boring. It was only when Grover showed up without pants on that things got interesting.
"I can't believe you," he shouted at Kyle after Sally had opened the door. "Why would you duck tape me to the bed post- Never mind. We have to go!"
There was a roar as loud as the storm that had been raging and Sally led the teens into the car. She stepped on the gas when Percy closed the passenger door.
Sally took a worried look her boys and their protector. Grover looked scared as satyrs weren't usually fighters. Kyle just kept glancing at his mother and Grover, looking for any sort of support (he knew he wouldn't get any from his brother). Percy looked... oddly calm.
"Percy, are you alright?" She asked. He was looking out of the windows, looking bored out of his mind in the passenger seat. He got a curious glance on his face and he turned to Sally, his eyes changing into his. But when Sally blinked, it was gone.
"Who's my father?" Percy asked abruptly. He had been wondering since the museum and since he saw his eyes change in front of a mirror.
"Now's not the time, Percy," she told him.
"Oh come on," Percy said, sort of aggravated. "I might not be able to see you again given the fact that Kyle is a demigod."
Sally nearly had a heart attack right there in the driver's seat.
"You know?" Grover asked from the back seat.
"You tend to do your homework when your teacher turns into something from Greek mythology," Percy lied easily.
"Kyle!" Sally scolded. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"Percy convinced me that it wasn't real!" Came his argument.
"Of course I did," Percy scoffed. "You attracted a Fury."
At that exact moment, lightening flashed and ran them off the road.
LineBreak
Percy stood in front of a man who's he's only seen once. The all-powerful immortal that rewound time and gave Percy a second chance as someone else. Th OP immortal was dressed in a black suit with a red tie that seemed to scream "SlenderMan".
And it should give that vibe. He was seven feet tall and there was a shadow that covered his face, making Percy unable to see it. The immortal's hands extended into claw-like appendages. His skin was a dark chocolate with specks of white, making him look like he was space itself.
"Perseus," the immortal greeted with a tone of amusement in his voice.
"Mr. All Powerful OP Immortal," Percy acknowledged with an unmeasurable amount of sarcasm. "What do I owe this pleasure?"
"Just wondering if you have any questions," the immortal replied.
"Now?"
"Yes."
"Okay." Percy put a hand to his chin in a thinker pose. "Ah, I know: Who the hell are you?"
The immortal laughed a deep booming laugh. "Blunt," he commented. "I like it.
"To answer your question," he said, sweeping into a low bow. "I am Chaos."
He looked to Percy expectantly. However, instead of scrambling to do a bow or stuttering out a "You're Chaos?" he simply said, "Cool."
Chaos blinked. "That's it? 'Cool'?"
"I mean... yeah," Percy said. "You're the first being. Yay. I've met gods, titans, giants, monsters, ghosts, immortal prepubescent girls, living god statues, the great god Pan, Tartarus, Nyx, Daedalus, and Gaia. I think I can add Chaos the First Being to that list as well."
Chaos stared at him. When the Fates said that he had a habit of pissing of immortals without meaning to, they were being serious. "Alright... Any other questions?"
"Why?" Percy asked. "Why give me a second chance?"
"You were- and still are- the best and greatest hero to ever live, Perseus," Chaos explained. "Brave, strong, selfless, and loyal to a fault- literally. So when the Fates took your life away and gave it to another, I thought it was unfair. And there I was."
"And there you were," Percy muttered. "Who's my father?"
"I have no idea," Chaos told him. "Honestly, I just gave you a parent that matched your capabilities. I don't remember who it was though. Weird."
"Great," the demigod huffed. "I probably have an Olympian as a father."
"Most likely," Chaos agreed.
"Why a year older?"
"Thalia." Percy had guessed that answer and he was severely thankful. It would be weird being a year younger than her.
Percy's joking mood vanished like his sword. "Can you make her remember the old life?"
Chaos nodded, understanding, and produced a vial of silver liquid. "The goddess Artemis dunked her in the river Lethe, trying to turn her into a mindless drone. I grabbed her memories and put them in this to preserve them before they were obliterated."
Percy gritted his teeth in hate. "Just pour this around the soil directly next to her tree and two years later- KABLAM, an eighteen year old mind with memories of a nonexistent life in a fifteen year old body."
"Alright," Percy said as he was handed the vial and put it in his pocket carefully, treating it like the most fragile thing in the world. Because to him, it was. After much contemplation at night and a couple painful yet blissful dreams about the kiss between him and Thalia (which he realized was kind of weird, her being in a fifteen year old's body and him being seventeen at the time. It was kind of a big age jump for him), Percy realized that he felt something strong for the daughter of the sky god. "Now what do you want out of it?"
Chaos put a hand over his heart and mocked a look of hurt. "Why, Perseus, you wound me-"
"Cut the crap. What do you want?"
Chaos sighed. "The gods have failed their task. They may be better than the titans, but they have failed to keep this world sage. I want you to kill them and put a new council in place, with members hand-picked by you."
Percy blinked. "What?"
"The current Olympian council have failed to protect the worlds of both demigods and mortals alike." Chaos breathed a sigh. "Though they have done better than the titans, I would like for you to hand pick a new council."
It didn't take long for Percy to say yes. All he had to do was look at the vial of silver liquid in his hand and remember Thalia. How Artemis had dragged her away and made her take a dip in the river Lethe. To make her like Bob the Friendly Titan.
"Anything else?" Percy asked after he accepted. He already had a few people in mind for quite a few positions.
"Yes," Chaos replied. "Warnings. The first is that the Fates do not like what I have done, nor what I am doing. They will try to stop you, confuse you, by changing things from the original time line- you can't let that stop you."
Percy nodded. "Last and final warning: Nothing is destroyed completely. There will be moments or short periods of time that memories or feeling from the other time line will come to this one. At random times when someone does something, says something. You'll need to be careful of those times. Practice your new abilities, whatever they may be. Find new ones too. You'll need them."
"Got it." Percy started to feel anxious. Something was going to happen in the world of the Wake. But before he could go...
"One question?" Percy asked. "How am I going to kill the gods?"
"I'll tell you when I figure that out," came Chaos' brilliant reply.