Betrayal and Redemption

Chapter 13

A.N. I don't have anything to say so enjoy the chapter and comments or whatever to show support.

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'Thwack!' Another arrow hit the tree, this one hit right on mark. After weeks of practice and failed shots he did it, he hit a bull's eye.

"Yes! Oh yeah i did that." Percy was dancing around the forest singing to himself. "Maybe it's time now." He sighed he didn't want to do it, but also he wanted it more then anything. He wanted to kill Frederick Douglass. That man took countless lives, he deserved to die. That was his way of coping, that man deserved to die.

The only problem was now he needed to find Fredrick, he was in hiding nobody knew where he was. It was time to offer himself as a champion. He lit a fire in the middle of his little camp, it was his own Hearth.

The fire blazed brightly. "Hestia! Hestia i need to speak with you alone!" He was yelling at fire, he had gone crazy hadn't he? But he kept trying. "Hestia, its Percy Jackson. You said if i needed you to go to the Hearth and call on you. I need you know, i have an offering to make." Nothing was happening, he had definitely gone crazy with all the being alone. Then, the fire blazed red, redder than any flame. Suddenly a little girl sitting in a brown dress stood before him.

He knelt. "Rise Perseus, you have no need to bow before me." He rose.

"Lady Hestia, as the gods have been informed I ran from camp. Before i left, after the war, you told me you would be there if i needed you. Well i need you, i am offering myself up as your champion, i will serve you and do your bidding. I ask nothing in return."

"Why would you do that Perseus? Why offer yourself to me, i am not even an Olympian?" Her head tilted.

"Because out of all the gods you are the most deserving of a champion. You are good and kind and will help those in need. You willing gave up your throne just for peace. I respect you very much. Also please call me Percy."

"I can do that Percy. I am very honored that you choose me and i will take you as my champion, but are you sure you want this? You could go back to camp with your friends, and be happy."

"I can't do that, i wasn't happy there and i'm doing them a favor by leaving. I can't be a burden to them if i'm not there." His eyes we wet.

He hated himself so much, he hated himself more than anything. Why couldn't he have been a better boyfriend, then he wouldn't have lost Annabeth? Why couldn't he have been a better son, than his parents would be alive? Why couldn't he have saved all his friends that die in war? He was never enough and he knew it even if nobody else did.

"You are not a burden Percy, you are the only one who sees you like that. Your friends care for you very much and are very upset over your disappearance. You may think your not enough, but you are. Your are more then enough and we gods don't deserve heroes like you. The world does not deserve people like you. Now if what you say is how you feel. Then i will give you the blessing to become my champion."

"I want to become your champion, i want to do some good in the world."

"I will give you the blessing of the champion of Hestia. You are the first to receive this blessing, nobody has ever wanted to be my champion before."

"Then so many people are missing out." A shadow of his lopsided smile showed but faded quickly. "I, Perseus Jackson will take on the blessing of a champion of the goddess Hestia." She waved her hand and a war feeling spread through him, like his mom had just wrapped him in a hug and held out a plate go blue cookies.

"It is done. Now if you will be my champion we must find you a better place to live besides some old clearing." They flashed away in a warm orange light.

They were in a grand hall, everything about the palace was cozy despite the size. "Where are we."

"Your new home. This was a palace of mine that is not on Olympus. The gods cant follow who goes in or out here so you are safe Just look at these doors a will what you need and behind the door it will be there."

"Anything?"

"Anything in the range of power." She nodded for him to try it. He thought of a kitchen, not his apartment kitchen, but a kitchen with a plate of his mom's cookies.

He pushed the doors open and there it was. A kitchen with food being cooked by invisible servants. That reminded him of Calypso which made him sad. He would have to go get the moonlace and replant it here. He looked around and saw on the counter a plate of cookies, blue cookies. He rant to them.

"Why the blue cookies?"

"My mom used to make them, making food blue was was our little way of rebelling against Gabe. I missed the taste of them, they taste like home."

"If it taste like home to you then the kitchens will be able to make it. Along with any other food, it's magic."

"I don't know if i could thank you enough for this."

"You have given your thanks by becoming my champion. If you ever need me just call my name, i will come to you when you have a mission." He nodded and she was gone in that same flash of light.