Betrayal

1

The earth cracked, rupturing from an epicenter in the middle of Manhattan. The only area safe from the destructive force was a five mile radius surrounding the Empire State Building. You could almost a hear scream of rage, disbelief and sadness as the ground stopped moving.

OLYMPUS

"What was that?!" Zeus shouted.

Poseidon's face was ashen and he seemed to be sweating as if exerting himself. "It's Percy. Something's happened to cause him lose control.

Aphrodite looked sick and whispered. "The day has come."

Zeus looked at her. "What do you mean by that?"

Aphrodite shook her head in sadness. "You must make a choice. Perseus has done nothing wrong. Nearly all of our children have betrayed him and banished him from camp. And his mother...she took her new born daughter, and along with her new husband, fled. She couldn't even tell Perseus to his face that she never wanted to see him again.

"He's broken. He needs our help. This choice. If you choose wrongly, Zeus, will turn deadly in the future. This is the trials I told him of all those years ago while he was heading to help Artemis."

The entire council was unsure how to proceed. Zeus spoke up. "Poseidon, could you bring your son here? I fear we may need to learn more of what happened before making a decision." Poseidon nodded as the pull on his domain lessened. He assumed Percy passed out. He got up and flashed away.

-/-

A young man stood in front of the council. He remembered the first time he stood there with the twelve giant thrones. Now, he was back, but there were fourteen now, after he himself pushed to have the other two added. That would be Lady Hestia and Lord Hades.

"Now, Perseus, could you explain what happened earlier?"

Percy nodded. "Another damned prophecy happened. And this time, the campers believed it to be my fault and that I'd be the one to cause the destruction again. Only a few had my backs but were drowned out in the ocean of voices yelling for my death. Luckily they were able to get it down to banishment.

"I'm not welcome in either camp. I went to see my mother. She left a note saying how she could no longer bare the thought of having a violent child such as me. She didn't want me near her daughter. Wouldn't even call her my sister! No, all I am is more worry and just a beat up old veteran to everyone. I've out lived my usefulness to them, and was tossed out like trash."

"That can't be all of it? That caused you to go berserk?" Ares asked. He had a grudging respect for the amount of self control this kid had.

"No...there's more...way more. But you wouldn't believe me if I told you."

Dionysus snorted. "Try us. We are gods after all."

"This isn't the first time I've been before you for this exact issue. Actually, I've done this thirteen times. Every time, I walk away and choose a different life. But the outcome is always the same. Every...time. They turn on me...on all of us. In a little less than a year, something will start to stir and when it does, the Mist falls. Monsters become visible and start hunting humans. Every time I help. And in the end, I'm always held responsible and sentenced to death. Then I wake up on the day of the banishment and repeat it.

"First time, I walked away and went to Alaska. Thats when I found out about the Mist falling. Second time, I couldn't figure out what was going on and tried to go back to camp. I was executed by them. Third time, I tried to warn the mortals. They locked me up and I died when monsters swarmed the area. Third time I joined the Army, trying to do good from inside the system. I was shot in the back by a fellow soldier. I've died at the hands of mortals every single time. This was the first time I lost control. None of the other times had my mother left.