"OK, OK, it all started a few months ago, at a School trip from Yancy Academy to a museum. . ." Percy began
"Ooh, interesting" AC said
"It was not," Percy replied, which Chiron gave a small grin for. "Anyway, there I met Alecto"
"Alecto!" Nico shouts
"He says it so casually" Leo said in awe
"Yes, Alecto. She was my Math teacher." Percy explained "Anyway, my Latin teacher, Mr Brunner, threw me an uncapped pen," Percy takes out his pen. "This pen turned into a sword, where I then swung my sword through Alecto killing her"
"No wonder why Alecto is pissed at you" Nico absent minded said
"As I was saying, the Mist was still affecting me, so I wasn't 100% sure what had happened, but I was almost definitely sure that something had happened because my best friend was a Goat Boy that can't lie to save his life" Percy continued
"Hey," Grover objected "I can lie to save my life. Do you remember the second quest?"
"Fine, he can barely lie to save his life. Is that better?" Percy asked
"Much," Grover nodded
"Anyway, Mr. Brunner asked for me to give him back his pen, which I did because I was still in a daze. I asked him about Alecto, but he claimed that she never existed." Percy said "So for the next few months until the end of the year. Over that time, I noticed that the weather was becoming very strange, and I was becoming moody because of it. Eventually I called my English teacher an old sot, which got me expelled."
"I still don't know what it means," PJ said
"Dionysus" Percy offered, which caused giggles from everyone that did know
"So, what does it mean?" Leo asked
"An old drunk" Annabeth told him.
"Oh," Leo realised "Definitely Dionysus."
"As I was saying, I eventually heard Grover and Mr. Brunner talking about me behind my back about something that was stolen" Percy continued
"What was stolen?" AC asked
"Spoilers" Percy, Annabeth and Grover all said
"Once the school year was done, Grover decided to follow me home, where I confronted him about overhearing him with Mr. Brunner," Percy said
"Gave me a heart attack at the same time" Grover mentioned
"Eventually the bus broke down, and we all had to get off, where I saw 3 old women making a pair of socks on the other side of the road, I saw them cut off a piece of blue string, and ball it up, before putting it away. We got back on the bus where Grover started freaking out."
"Why is that important Kelp Head?" Thalia asked
"Oh, they were the Fates" Percy mentioned
"You saw the Fates cut a string?" All of the futures yelled
"How are you alive?" Annabeth cried out
"Because I know whose string it was," Percy explained
After a minute, Travis said "Aren't you going to say whose string it was?"
"Nope," Percy denied grinning, earning a groan from everyone. "After me and Grover-"
"Grover and I" Annabeth corrected
"Grover and I got to the bus stop, I left him because he was scaring me. I made my home to the best woman in the universe, my Mother" Percy said, smiling at the end
"Oh, Aunt Sally is the best," Thalia said
"She allows the hunters to stay for the night if we need to," Reyna said
"She always has an open door at 3 AM if I have been shadow travelling," Nico said, before getting a panicked look.
"You've been shadow travelling?" Will accused his boyfriend,
"Not very far, barely 500 metres" Nico attempted to defend himself
"3 days in the infirmary, Doctors Orders" Will said sternly
"But- But- But- Fine" Nico conceded, knowing he wouldn't be getting out of it.
"Good," Will said grinning, placing a kiss on Nico's forehead, earning a blush from the Son of Hades.
"When I got home, I was greeted by my awful step-father, Smelly Gabe," Percy spat out
"Sounds like a nick-name a 3-year-old would come up with" Clarisse snickered
"Good, a 3-year-old did come up with it, me" Percy said "His smell was so bad, it covered my scent from monsters. An example of this is from just being in his car for a few hours is enough to cover my scent while interacting with other demigods for 2 weeks."
The Aphrodite girls wrinkled their noses, while Annabeth whispered in his ear "That's why you said down there smelled like him."
Percy nodded and continued his story "My Mum eventually came home, where we went to Montauk"
"Montauk," PJ said wistfully
"There, we stayed part of the night, until Grover came to the cabin, where I saw he was a satyr, and we began our journey to camp" Percy began "On the way there, the car was struck by lightning,"
"Dad!" Thalia and Jason groaned
"Yeah, Grover was knocked unconscious, where me and Mum dragged him out the car and up towards the border. There we turned back and saw the Minotaur. Mum told me to go into camp, but I refused to let her be left behind. The Minotaur eventually caught up to us and grabbed Mum. There he squeezed her, and she disappeared in a flash of light" Percy explained, tears threatening to fall down his face, and was met with pitying looks from the other demigods.
"But, if Sally is dead, then how is she alive in the future?" Piper asked
"You will see," Percy said "I got mad at the Minotaur where I then taunted it into running at me, I would then jump out the way and that was as far as I got in the plan, before it went wrong. The Minotaur, made sure I couldn't jump to the side, so my only option was to jump up, where I managed to land on his head."
"Whoa," Leo said in awe
"I then pulled off the Minotaur's horn and stabbed him with it, killing him. I then dragged Grover to the Big House, where I saw two people. The girl there I remember had blonde hair with princess curls." Percy said, looking at Annabeth, seeing her blush, and those of the past looking at AC. "I also remember her saying that I was the 'one'"
"The one you say?" Thalia asked Annabeth, teasing her
"I didn't mean it like that," Annabeth defended, blushing "But it ended up that way and I am not complaining."
"Good," Percy said, grinning at his fiancée
"When I finally came to, I was reintroduced to Mr Brunner as Chiron as he came to my school for a house call" Percy explained
"House call?" Hestia asked, "Chiron hasn't done a house call since the 1500's"
"That's the potential Grover saw in him. He claimed that initially he would have thought Percy was a weak legacy of a minor god, until Grover tripped into Percy and thought that he had met a minor god" Chiron explained
"Anyway, Chiron told me about the Greek Gods and their impact on the West, which I am grateful for." Percy remembered
"Why, I remember you being clueless, did he not tell you about anything else?" Annabeth asked
"No, I am grateful he didn't let me watch the Orientation Film" Percy said, making a face, which was mirrored by all of the futures.
"It isn't that bad" Chiron protested
"It's a masterpiece," Conner said, causing Chiron to agree "In how not to make a film
"It was made by a god, you realise," Chiron said frowning
"Also, a god that I knocked out before," Percy deadpanned back
"When did you knock out Apollo?" Annabeth said, turning on him.
"It was when I was going to pick you up from Boston. He decided it would be fun to teleport into my car while I was driving, causing me to swerve. I calmly pulled the car over got Apollo out and punched him in the nose, knocking him out." Percy explained
"So, what did you do to Apollo," Jason asked.
"I had a box in my car, so I put him in the box and mailed him to Artemis asking if she wanted some target practice," Percy said, grinning at the end
"That was you?!?" Thalia and Reyna yelled, which Percy just nodded to.
"Should we continue with the story?" Chiron asked
"Probably," Percy agreed "After Chiron showed me around camp, yadda yadda yadda. In the end Clarisse decided to show up."
"Are you really going to tell this story?" Clarisse groaned to Percy
"Yep, Jason and the rest who weren't here haven't heard it yet." Percy said
"Oh, fuck me" Clarisse muttered while face palming
"Ok," Chris said, grabbing Clarisse's other hand dragging her away
Every demigod that heard just blanched in reaction.
"What was that?" CLR asked
"Adult stuff," Piper said after a moment, "And a bit of a warning, next time you go to the Weapons shed, give it a deep clean"
"Why?" AC asked. Damn those curious Athena minds
"Err?" Piper said turning to Annabeth.
"Imagine the baby making with no baby involved, and that is what Chris and Clarisse are doing," Annabeth said
"What? Oh- Oh!" AC said, realisation dawning on her face
"Yeah," all of the futures agreed
"Why the weapons shed?" AC asked. Again, damn the Athena minds
"Stimulation" Annabeth said
"And how would you know that?" Piper asked, resulting in Percy and Annabeth turning red.
"The next thing that happened-" Percy began
"You are not getting away from this conversation Jackson," Thalia threatened
"The next thing that happened was Clarisse was trying to give me a swirly in the bathrooms. So, me, being an unknowing Poseidon kid, used my powers to chuck the toilet water at everyone in the vicinity, making everyone drenched, except for me." Percy said grinning
"Awesome," Leo cried out
"Yep, fast forward to the Capture the Flag game, I was on border patrol, where I was ambushed by 5 Ares kids, Clarisse included. They were kicking my ass, until they pushed me into the creek, where I then kicked their asses, knocking multiple out, and breaking Clarisse's spear." Percy said
"Why?" AC asked
"Water gives me a power and energy boost. The best way to describe it is as if I had eaten some double espresso jellybeans," Percy explained
"No Leo," Calypso denied when she Leo's mouth open
"You don't know what I was going to say?" Leo protested
"You were going to ask for some double espresso jellybeans" Calypso dead panned back
"Ok, maybe you do know what I was going to say, but I am still going to get them," Leo vowed.
"As soon as that happened the game finished, and a hell hound attacked, scratching me across my chest with his claws. Annabeth then basically pushed me to the water," (A cry of "I didn't" was heard from a daughter of Athena.) "Where the water began to heal me and Dad claimed me as his son." Percy explained,
"And now we are up to date for this timeline." Annabeth told Percy.
"Ok, so for the next few days I was completely miserable," Percy said
"Why?" Travis and Conner asked
"I was basically being segregated like a disease the entire time. Anyway, a couple of days later I was called to the Big House for a quest. Through my dreams and what I had heard, something very important was stolen, which Chiron confirmed. It turned out that Zeus' Master Bolt and symbol of power had been stolen," Percy said
"What!" most people yelled in surprise.
"Naturally, because I am a son of Poseidon, I was accused of the theft. I then got a prophecy from the Oracle. It went:
You shall go west, and face the god who has turned,
You shall find what was stolen, and see it safely returned
You shall be betrayed by one who calls you friend
And you shall fail to save what matters most, in the end" Percy recited
"Quite a downer of a prophecy," Leo mentioned
"Yep, so Chiron told me that Hades likely had the bolt as he would benefit in a war between Poseidon and Zeus." Percy told everyone
"Which Dad wouldn't," Nico added
"I chose Annabeth and Grover to be my companions, and before we left, Luke gave me some shoes that would allow me to fly, which I had to give to Grover as I can't fly or Zeus will hit me with a Lightning Bolt. Chiron also gave me my sword, Riptide or Anaklusmos, stating that it has a terrible past. On our journey, we lost our bags to the 3 furies, after killing two of them, we killed Medusa, and sent her head to the gods. I faced against Echidna and Chimera. Got poisoned by the Chimera and got cured from it by falling of the Gateway Arch into the Mississippi River, where we were told to go to Santa Monica. At the Gateway Arch, we were also presented as terrorists due to blowing up some of it. We then got to Denver, did a mini quest for Ares to get his shield back, and in return we got a ride west, a bag and the information that my mother isn't dead." Percy explained
"She isn't dead," PJ grinned
"For the Ares quest, did you have to go the Tunnel of Live ride?" Thalia asked
"How did you know that?" Percy and Annabeth accused
"When I was last on Olympus, it was a re-run on Hephaestus TV." Thalia said grinning
"Dammit, we need to get that off the air." Annabeth said
"They won't it creates too much money for Hephaestus." Thalia dismissed
"So, we discovered that our ride west, was actually an animal smuggling ring, so we promise to set them free when we make it. In the van, I have a dream. On this quest I had been having dreams about something talking to me, about getting me to join their cause and raise him from the pit. I believe multiple people began having these dreams at camp. On this particular dream, I overheard a familiar voice talking to voice from the pit. I wasn't able to place the familiar voice, but I heard them call the voice from the pit the Crooked One."
"Father," Chiron and Hestia both said
"We made it to Vegas, where we freed the animals and Grover put a Satyr's sanctuary on them. We ran from the van and into Lotus Hotel and Casino."
This caused Nico to gasp in surprise
"There we stayed for a few hours, and I had dumped the Ares' bag in the bin. They had a credit card which gave unlimited money and had hundreds, if not thousands of games there to play on." Percy explained causing many boys to drool
"I want to go there!" TS, CS, Travis, Conner and Leo all yelled
"You don't," Percy, Grover, Annabeth and Nico all yelled back.
"While there I heard someone say the word groovy and be confused when I said the word sick. So, I asked him what year it was. He said it was the year 1977. He claimed that he had been there for a few weeks. I asked another, he said it was 1985, also only there for a few weeks. And I asked one other person, she said it was 1993 and had only been there for a few days. It was then I realised we were trapped in a prison. I found both Grover and Annabeth and managed to break them out of the hotel. When we got out, I saw that 5 days had passed while we were in there, and yet it only felt like hours. By this point we had 1 day to find the bolt from and return it to Zeus." Percy explained
"Maybe I don't want to go there," Travis said, with wide eyes
"Maybe?" Percy asked
"It sounds awesome and would be so much fun to stay there forever," Travis replied with a shrug.
"Anyway, Annabeth used her Lotus card to pay for a taxi to Santa Monica, where I got 3 pearls from Dad to get out of the Underworld. On our way to the entrance, we got trapped by Procrustes, which we had to kill. We then bribed our way past Charon after Grover's awful lie, and Annabeth did obedience school on Cerberus for us to get past him. On our walk up to Hades' palace, Grover's shoes went haywire, and started to drag him towards a pit in the underworld. Fortunately, Grover's hooves weren't big enough, so he managed to slip the shoes off before he was dragged into the pit. We then continued on our way up to Hades' palace, while I felt Ares' bag get heavier, which had teleported back to me"
"Is it me, or do bags not do that," Leo asked. Many facepalms echoed around. "What? It's a genuine question."
"Ignoring my boyfriend's idiocy, continue please," Calypso asked
All the while Percy was describing Grover being dragged towards the pit, Nico's breath hitched, and he became pale. That's where he fell and his breath then became ragged
Will recognised that Nico was about to enter a panic attack, quickly put an arm around his boyfriend, and twisted him round so that Nico could hear what Will was to say.
"It's OK, you're not there anymore. I'm here for you" Will said calmly
Nico's breath slowly evened out and looked into Will's eyes. "Thank you,"
"It's what boyfriends do for each other" Will grinned back
"I love you so much," Nico whispered to his boyfriend
"As do I Nico, as do I," Will whispered back, pulling Nico into a tight hug, that Nico slowly embraced and continued to listen to what their friends were saying.
"When we got into Hades' palace, he revealed that his Helmet of Darkness had also been stolen" Percy revealed
"What!" Everyone who didn't know yelled
"He also said that I had the Bolt inside my backpack," Percy continued
"What!" Everyone who didn't know yelled again
"Wait, that backpack was from Ares," AC thought out loud.
"Hades then offered a deal for me, I give him the Bolt or Helm, and he would give me back my mother, or he would unleash war on the mortal world. I chose to leave my mother down in the Underworld, because that is what the prophecy said, 'And you shall fail to save what matters most, in the end'. I would fail to save my mother. Me, Grover and Annabeth used the pearls to return back to the surface, where there was Ares waiting for us." Percy explained
"Ares was the god who had turned?" CLR asked
"Yep, though Ares was being manipulated by the voice in the Pit, he still refused to give back the Helmet of Darkness." Percy said
"So, Percy decided to be an idiot and taunt Ares into making a deal. A fight: Percy vs Ares. Percy wins, he gets to keep both the Bolt and Helmet. Ares wins, he keeps both the Bolt and Helmet. Percy won the fight by tricking Ares into the water and stabbing him through the heal while he was distracted. Ares then placed a curse on Percy's sword that it would fail him when it mattered most. The fight was terrifying" Annabeth said
"It was cool!" Grover corrected "The first of many immortals Percy would fight." This caused Chiron to groan. He could tell this demigod was going to be the death of him.
"The furies that were watching the fight overhead saw that it truly wasn't me that stole the Helmet. I then tossed the helmet to the furies and asked him to call of the war. We then decided to fly back to New York, with Ares portrayed as a crazed kidnapper, that blew up part of the Arch. We also gambled on the fact that Zeus wouldn't blow up the plane we were flying on due to having his master bolt. I then sent Annabeth and Grover back to Camp Half-Blood in case things went bad on Olympus. On Olympus, I found Zeus and Poseidon, and gave Zeus back his Bolt. I then told him of the information that we had discovered on the quest, and Zeus did his best impression of an Ostrich and stuck his head in the sand when I explained it. Dad seemed to understand that Kronos was coming back though, and I believe he began to prepare in secret." Percy explained
"Sounds like Poseidon," Hestia mentioned "You seem to have gotten his rebellious streak."
"I also got it from my mother. Speaking of my mother, Dad said that she had been returned, because I returned Hades his helm. When I got home, I found Smelly Gabe being an asshole still, so I gave Mum, Medusa head, which she used on Smelly Gabe," Percy said, with a proud look at the end
"Wait, your mother murdered someone?" Thalia accused
"4 people," Percy corrected "She murdered 4 people. She also murdered Gabe's friends."
"Your mother's badass, you know that?" Piper said after a moment
"Of course, I do," Percy said
"Does Paul know?" Annabeth asked
"Of course, he does," Percy said, "He was almost as surprised about that as he was about the gods."
"I mean it's not every day you find out your wife murdered her ex-husband and 3 of his friends."
"Is that the end of the quest?" AC asked
"Sort of, when I got back to camp, we burnt our shrouds, and everything seemed to be going well for the rest of summer, Mum offered for me to live with her, but would be fin if I chose to stay at camp, Annabeth got back in touch with her Dad and was now going to be living back with him, and Grover left to find Pan. However, there was one line in the prophecy that wasn't sitting right with me. 'You shall be betrayed by one who calls you friend' On the last day of summer, I decided to go for some last minute sword fighting practice, where I saw Luke there, wielding a sword of Celestial Bronze and Steel." Percy began
"That isn't allowed," Chiron said looking at Luke, who was now turning pale "You could hurt both mortals and immortals."
"Luke offered me a drink to go into the forest with him, which I did. In the forest, we talked about quests and stuff like that, until Luke summoned something. A pit scorpion." Percy revealed
Chiron's eyes widened and looked at Luke with betrayal. Most other Athena kids looked at Luke in the same way, but AC didn't. Luke wouldn't do anything like that.
"Luke revealed that he had stolen both the Bolt and the Helm," Percy said
"Why?" Chiron asked Luke. AC looked at Luke, tears in her eyes, shock and betrayal.
Luke didn't do anything other than scowl.
"Luke revealed that he was working for Kronos and tried to convince me to join him. He told me that demigods were feeling abandoned by the gods. When I refused, he somehow teleported away, where I hit away the pit scorpion before killing it. I then looked down and saw the scorpion had got me. Chiron managed to get rid of the scorpion before it killed me, and the prophecy was complete. Annabeth went home with her father and I went home with my mother. That is the quest of the Lightning Thief. Any questions?" Percy asked
"What should we do with Luke?" Chiron asked
"I think that he should stay here and listen to what happened in the future over the next 4 years." Annabeth suggested
"Where would you rate this quest on difficulty level?" AC asked
"For what I did on the quest, I would say that this was one of the easiest quests." Percy said, "Next?"
"We forgot to ask you something with your titles?" TS said
"What's that?" Percy asked, confused.
"What your cupcake name is!" TS and CS yelled at the same time
"Oh, whose cupcake names do you need to know?" Percy asked
"Just yours, Annabeth's and Grover's" CS said
"Oh, I'm Sea Cupcake" Percy revealed
"Wise Cupcake" Annabeth said
"And I'm Lord Cupcake" Grover said
"Lord Cupcake?" AC asked
"Yeah, technically Satyrs and Wild creatures are supposed to call me Lord Grover as I am Lord of the Wild, so Hedge put his own spin on it. However, almost all of us call Hedge Crazy Cupcake" Grover said
"Why?" AC asked
"He's crazy, that's why, though some mortals did hear us call Hedge that, and named a game after it that appeared in a TV show, which is now a real game." Grover explained
"What was the name of the game in the show, again?" Jason asked
"Kwazy Cupcakes," Grover clarified
"So, should we start my next quest?" Percy asked