Kronos sat in his sad excuse of a throne and thought. Soon he would have a much larger, much grander throne than this. It would be seated on top of Olympus and he would be King over the Titans and the gods once more. A bit of a frown crossed his face at the thought that without the blonde girl he could be fighting it out with his idiotic children right now. Of course, waiting until Poseidon's son's birthday only delayed them a bit, and it did supply him with entertainment. Plus, it would be more fun to crush the Olympians hope now when there was no one around to defend Jackson than just put off the inevitable. And this was just so much more fun. This would be his revenge for how much of a thorn in the side Percy had been.
Smiling to himself at the thought he caught sight of Atlas making his way through the tent and closer to the throne. He paused before the Titan Lord and waited until Kronos beckoned him forward with one lazy, crooked finger.
"You wanted to talk with me?" he asked with boredom as Atlas bowed deeply.
"Yes, My Lord," Atlas answered, looking around with what seemed to be worry. "Some of the army is….well they're getting a little….restless."
"So….?" Kronos asked, watching his top general with bemusement.
"They're wondering…what exactly your plan is…" Atlas finished, watching Kronos with nervousness, as if afraid he'd suddenly explode with anger.
"I see," Kronos said, leaning forward. He paused for a moment before continuing. "I don't expect all the dimwits out there to understand what I do to amuse myself. They should know well enough that we can crush the gods and their pathetic army anytime we choose to do so."
"Then why not now?" Atlas asked impatiently. "Why wait any longer?"
"Because they're already playing right into our hands if you would just open your eyes," Kronos explained, finding himself irritated at the obvious annoyance in Atlas' voice.
"I don't quite see it," Atlas declared boldly, causing a spark of fire to rise in Kronos' eyes.
"A few days ago, I made a pact on the River Styx with a girl named Annabeth Chase," Kronos began, settling into his throne. "She had come, thinking I was Luke, her old friend and instead found herself my prisoner. I was planning to just kill her after asking if she would join us and her refusal but she had her own ideas."
"Like what?" Atlas continued impatiently.
"I'm getting to it!" Kronos yelled, his temper flaring as a cold wind swept through the room. A sickening wave of pleasure rumbled through his chest as he witnessed Atlas' bravery crumble before him.
"As I was saying," Kronos continued. "She offered me a deal. As you know, we were going to attack before Percy Jackson's birthday. Our army was bigger and our forces stronger, but we didn't have Jackson. And I knew the Olympians would defend him with every last person they had which would be a waste of time and of resources.
"This Annabeth girl thought she was being clever when she asked me if I would hold off on attacking Percy Jackson or any other member of the Olympian army until Jackson's birthday. She said that in return there could be conditions in which this deal would be broken. The first would be if Percy tried attacking me with an armed weapon the army and myself would be allowed to defend ourselves. The same applied to any other person or creature in the Olympian army. The other was a phrase that Percy would say to her, a set of keywords you could say, that would break the deal."
"Surely you didn't agree to that stupid plan," Atlas scoffed. "Only a fool would be that blind to the advantage it gave her."
"That is what I originally thought too," Kronos said thoughtfully, "And was about to send her off when suddenly Luke stirred inside of me, bringing to the surface memories of this Annabeth Chase and our ever so special Percy Jackson. It was then that I unexpectedly realized that this was the girl that Jackson cared about more than himself. Cared about more than winning this war, and perhaps more than his own life. He loved her. And not in the silly teenaged way. It was the love than burned in the eyes of all the famous lovers throughout the ages. That's when I realized….she was his fatal flaw."
"Go on," Atlas said, still obviously not won over by Kronos' plan.
"That's the way to end every hero, is it not?" Kronos mused with pleasure. "And I finally had the key to end Percy Jackson, and she willingly walked right into my hands."
"Her keywords then?" Atlas asked skeptically.
"A simple phrase that is too often overused," Kronos said dismissively, waving a hand as if brushing away a pestering fly. "I love you."
"Hmmm…." Atlas said, beginning to look more and more grumpy by the second.
"I could see in Luke's memories the look in the boy's eyes when he watched her, especially when he thought no one else knew he was," Kronos continued. "When she first proposed the idea, she seemed so certain that he did not love her, that she could make him not love her, that she would win. But I could see what she could not, and knew that if Percy Jackson was given only a few last words to a dying Annabeth Chase, those are the three her would blurt out."
"But she's not dying," Atlas pointed out.
"Not yet," Kronos smirked as if cherishing a malicious thought. "Jackson knew we had her, and he thought she was kidnapped. I knew he would follow, I knew he would never give up on her. And so I began to set a trap for the tragic hero. And he fell right into it." Kronos smashed his hand into a fist with a gleeful smile.
"Would you just get to the point and tell me what your plan was?" Atlas whined. Kronos glared but continued, too pleased from the thought of his brilliance.
"Percy would come to save Annabeth," Kronos sneered, "That much was certain. But I was under oath not to harm him correct? So I ordered the army to not see him, to invite him peacefully into the camp, to let him think that he was clever enough to make it past my sentries. Then the minute he came to find his love, we would grab the girl and threaten to kill her right in front of him. Give him the chance to see her on the verge of death and the opportunity to say his parting words. Of course, we can all assume it would be "I love you". Then the oath would be broken and an entire army would have our weapons trained on Jackson, alone in our camp, with no help. He would be dead in seconds."
"Not your brightest work, I'll say," Atlas muttered, "But it might work. Are you sure Jackson will say, "I love you"?"
"Trust me," Kronos said, standing up, "He wont be able to resist."
As Annabeth was carried into the Main Circle and laid on the floor to rest until who knew what, she found her mind wandering to Percy. Just pray to the gods, they didn't find him, that he didn't see her, that her hateful words had been enough to make him doubt himself, doubt his feelings. She believed he didn't love her, but the words of Rachel and Aphrodite and so many others lately had given her room for worry. She had to make him believe she hated him so that he would never admit that he loved her. She just had too…. Because if she didn't…. Well Annabeth shuddered….. The thought would be too horrible to bear.
