The Fourth Inheritor (A Percy Jackson/Chaos Fanfic) [Complete]

Chapter Nine: Decisions Made

Chaos wasn't sure what he should do now. Eternity had mentioned how she stayed here for her time as, well, Eternity, but she'd also mentioned that Order interacted with creation. He knew that he wanted to go and see his friends, but he wasn't so sure that he should. He didn't want them to see how he'd changed, even when they likely didn't realize he'd been gone at all. It wasn't something he could explain very easily. Neither, when he thought of it, was his appearance or any of his new powers, powers he would be sorely tempted to use to help them. He didn't know what all he could do yet; he just knew that helping them because of their importance to him probably qualified as using his powers for personal gain.

"All I want is to see them, though," Chaos said. He absentmindedly wondered if speaking to himself would become a habit. Knowing him, yes.

As if summoned by his thoughts, the stream rippled into a view of the Camp. It was the first time in a hundred years that he had seen color, and he missed those colors almost as much as the place. The familiar pine tree and strawberry fields, the Big House and the cabins, and a certain blonde sitting on a picnic blanket on the hill. Seeming to follow his gaze, the image zoomed in on her. She was bent over a thick book written in Ancient Greek, completely focused, and a notebook sat next to her, thoughts scribbled on it hastily.

"Annabeth," Chaos murmured, smiling slightly. He'd missed her.

That decided it. He was going, even if only for a moment. Even if only to say goodbye. He had a list of people he needed to see, and she was at the very top of it. He would go and see all of them, and then he would come back here, where he couldn't cause any harm. Yes, he decided sadly, this was how it would have to be. Besides, he'd already been away from them for a century. What were a few millennia? He sighed. A long time, that's what. "Eternity was almost lucky. Her important people were gone before she ever got here."

Chaos paced around the platform after that, muttering to himself occasionally as he tried to decide exactly what to do. Just show up? Wait a day or two? No. Annabeth would kill him if he disappeared again, no matter how long or short that time might be. He almost laughed. Could she even kill him now? It probably wouldn't end well. Oh... his wallet. The pictures. He went back to the stream. If it worked to show him the Camp...

The image showed a rundown apartment covered in empty pizza boxes and half-drunk beers. Wow. Classy. The man was passed out on a sunken, old couch, hat covering his face. Chaos looked around the scene with narrowed eyes. There! Sitting on the lone coffee table in the middle of the room, partially buried beneath the lid of a pizza box, this one still having a few slices of pizza in it, was his wallet. Black with a sea green trident. It had been a match to one of his beads, much to his amusement, so he'd gotten it. He'd needed a wallet anyways.

Now he just had to figure out how to get there. Or not. As soon as he'd thought about it, there he was. Without taking the time to look at the man asleep on the couch, Chaos picked up the wallet, checking to be sure the pictures were there before tucking it into his pocket. After that, he took the man's gun, also lying on the table, and disappeared.

This time, he showed up in the nearest NYC police precinct. Walking through, he set the gun on one of the detective's desks, an empty one, noting that no one seemed to notice him. Now he really wished Eternity had given him a better rundown of what all he could do. Deciding it wasn't important at that exact moment, Chaos jotted a note on the post-it notepad also on the desk, just a quick explanation of sorts. Hopefully that man had registered the gun and would get arrested. If not, well, Chaos left an address just to be safe. No one else needed to die because this guy was short on some cash.

With that taken care of, he pictured himself standing beside Thalia's pine tree. He took a second to adjust. The apartment and the precinct hadn't been overly colorful, which he was now grateful for. It almost hurt his eyes, all the colors here. Perhaps the image in the stream before had been muted some. Nevertheless, he adjusted quickly enough, spotting Annabeth still looking over the same book. Chaos took a step in her direction.