The Gift of Time

2|| What's up with Percy?

Percy's POV
I wake up with a start. I don't feel any different since the dream. I feel like the regular old Percy. I gets out of bed and heads to me bathroom to get ready for breakfast. Upon entering my bathroom, I looked in the mirror and am shocked to see two golden eyes looking back at him. I takes a step back, mouth agape, and thinks about what to do. I can't exactly go around with golden eyes. That would be like having a sign on my back that says 'I'm hosting Kronos.'

I take a step towards the mirror and inspect my eyes. They are in fact solid gold. Just like the ones I was looking into while fighting Luke all those years ago. But now they're mine. My mind starts scrambling as I try to figure out what to do, but that's quickly silenced by a very familiar voice in my head.

"I forgot to mention this part didn't I." Kronos asks

"Kinda. What am I supposed to do? How am I supposed to hide your existence with golden eyes?" I ask frantically. Just then, I hear a knock at my door followed by Jason's muffled voice. I rub my hands over my face and and look into the mirror trying to figure it out. I yell out, "One second!" Before looking back into the mirror

"Okay, don't panic. Changing your eye color is easy. Just think about what color you want your eyes to be and they should change back." Kronos explains

"Should?" I ask "What happens if they don't?"

"Then your fucked." Kronos answers

"Thanks for the support." I say sarcastically as I stare at myself in the mirror. I focus on my normal eyes color and imagine them changing into their normal sea green. I watch as they fade into their normal shade and sigh a breath of relief. I quickly change then exit my cabin to meet Jason.

"Sorry, I just woke up." I say

"No worries. Breakfast is about to start." He says and we start walking over to the pavilion.

I sit at my table and use my plate to summon myself some blue pancakes. I sit there eating and thinking about what my newfound powers may entail when I hear Kronos speak.

"You demigods look rather peaceful here. It almost makes me feel bad for the ones I hurt." He says

"They all died because of you. Siblings were lost, friends of mine, because of you and your greed. I would hope you feel bad." I murmur

"No need for hostility, grandson. I did what I had to." He says

"Yeah? You condemned them all to death and still lost. Imagine that." I say

At this point, I was just poking around at my food not really feeling hungry anymore. Lucky for me, I didn't have any swordsmanship classes today, so I was completely free.

When breakfast ended, I immediately went down to the beach and sat by the shore. My mind was filled with all the memories of the war, and all the people that died because I failed to save them. Throughout this, Kronos was being extra quiet. Since I woke up, he's been making snide remarks about everything, but not now.

I was also silent. Just sitting there listening to the crashing waves and the distant laughs of all the campers. I'm glad that they get to have good lives after the wars. I'm stuck here with all of the guilt that comes with the deaths of demigods. Stupid fatal flaw. All was silent until Kronos spoke up.

"I feel bad." He says

"You what?" I ask dumbfounded

"I feel bad for all the pain I have cause you all. I did what I did knowing what would happen to all of you but I didn't care. My need for power overcame that, and I see the pain I have caused you now." He says

"Careful. Your dangerously close to apologizing." I say

"I can feel everything you do, and it seems your emotions towards everyone are elevated. Fatal flaw perhaps. Either way, you made your choice despite what they would think." He says

"Let's get one thing straight. I took your domains so none of them got hurt. I do not care that you are fading. The world will be much better with you out of it. I do not care for your half-assed apologies because either way people died because of you. And I have to live with that guilt for the rest of my life." I say and that shut him up real quick

It was all true what I said. He wants to give me these half-assed apologies like it's going to bring back the fallen. People died because of him, my friends died because of him. Charles, Silena, Lee, Castor, Luke. They all died because of him, and nothing he could say will fix that.

I was deep in my own mind when I heard someone walk up behind me. I look over and see Jason sit next to me. I look over to him and flash his a quick smile.

"Who are you talking to?" He asks

"There was a school of fish swimming by." I lie

"Right, I forgot you talk to fish." He says

"They seem lonely." I joke

"Hardly. What are you doing down here all alone?" He asks

"I wanted to relax. Though I find that rather hard nowadays." I say

"Yeah, it only it weren't for the wars. Fighting in one gave me some problems, I could only imagine what it must be like having fought in two." He says

"Its not all that bad. Sometimes there are reminds about all the loss, but... its in the past. There's nothing we could've done." I say

"But sometimes I wish that there were." Jason says and I nod in agreement

"Your damn good at lying." Kronos butts in, but I ignore him

I ignore his because I'm not lying. Constant reminders of everyone I lost are floating around everywhere. I can't look at the Aphrodite cabin the same. The Hephaestus cabin. The Hermes cabin. If I do I'm reminded of the sight of my friends dying in front of me. All because of him.

"I have to go." Jason says and I meet his eyes. His brows furrow for a second before returning normal.

"What?" I ask

"Nothing. I better get going. I'm on swordsmanship class today." He says and I chuckle

"Good luck." I say

"Yeah, yeah. Have fun talking to the fish." He says as he walks away

I'm left there thinking, 'What caused him to look at me that way?'