Legends Never Die

Battle For the Moon (Part 1)

Perseus woke up and looked at his wife. The blanket of their bed lay sprawled haphazardly across her naked form. He blushed a little at what happened last night. Then grimaced at how little time they truly had left. Grunting, he pushed himself out of bed. He hated giving into fate. He'd been fighting against it for so long, but this was something he truly couldn't fight. He'd seen it with his own eyes in the Cauldron of Fate that belonged to Ananke.

Sighing, he pushed those thoughts from his head and got dressed after quickly showering. He wanted to go check on Annabeth. While she'd now been awake and moving about for a few weeks now, she couldn't get over the idea that this was all just a long dream designed to instill torture on her. They'd had Dionysus look at her, but he said she was beyond even his help. She was truly gone in her madness. He knew he'd always have a part of him that loved her, he wasn't lying when he said he did love Artemis and wouldn't go back to Annabeth, even if she was miraculously cured of madness.

Thalia glanced up from beside the fire, where she sat talking to Annabeth, when he came out of the tent. "How is she today?" he asked.

"The same. Nothing's changed, you and I both know she won't get better."

"Is it wrong to hope your best friend can get better?" he asked.

"No, but you can be realistic. If the god of madness wasn't able to do something, then there's no hope. On another note, I noticed something odd with the moon. Not just the chariot, but the moon itself. It shifted, as if moving itself."

Perseus nodded. "He's coming then. He'll probably come tonight, when he'll be strongest. I'll be long gone by that point."

"Why? Why do you ALWAYS INSIST ON BEING THE HERO?!" she asked, steadily going from a whisper to a yell by the end of the question.

Perseus for his part just shook his head sadly. "I'm not insisting on always being the hero. You know as much as I do, we are all heroes. It's what we do. We wake up knowing that today could always be our last. Do you think I want you guys to have to die needlessly? He is beyond any of your abilities to do anything to. Yes, he's weaker than Gaea, but Gaea we had a prophecy and quest to defeat and knew how to do so. Storm or fire remember? We don't have that with this guy. It'll be solely based on power and skill. I'm not going to allow anyone who isn't at a Titan's power level to come with me. I don't know if you noticed, but we don't have any Titan's on our side so it falls on my shoulders alone.

"I'll fight him, and I'll win. I'd sooner die than let him hurt the rest of you. Especially not when I have a new born here, who's going to disappear her true self is born. Artemis is more than capable of taking care of you guys, but you can't expect her to do so in a battle with a Primordial, can you?"

Thalia looked conflicted. Her heart told her to argue with him, that he would almost surely die. But her head told her he was right. She settled on a growl of frustration, knowing she couldn't change anything. "That doesn't make it any better," she muttered.

Perseus huffed and gave her and Annabeth a hug. "I'm gonna go tell Artemis. I'd rather lure him away from you guys. Plus, if I choose the battleground, I'll have a better chance. I might even be able to set some kind of trap for him."

Artemis stepped up behind him. "I heard you. You truly are going to fight him by yourself, aren't you?"

"I've got Wrath, Envy, and Pride with me. They'll be invaluable in this fight. I promise, I'll win. I won't let him kill you or Apollo. What would the world be without his terrible haiku's?"

"Jokes aren't going to make me any less mad at you. Just promise me you'll come back to me," she said.

Perseus chocked internally. "I promise," he lied. With that, he faded away into mist.

He reformed in a large field in South Dakota. It was empty as far as the eye could see. The grass stood knee high. A good height to hide traps in. He quickly set to work making and concealing a particular trap for a psychotic primordial.

He appeared just as dusk settled in on the field, the light of the moon settling down in front of me. "You ran."

"I did not. I didn't want you trying to use them to get to me. I wasn't going to allow that. You want to kill her, you have to kill me first. If you think you can do that without using them as bait, then I'd like to see you try."

"You know something. I can see it in your eyes. You know that you die! If you die, that means I win! Oh this is too good. You did this to try to cheat fate! Oh, this is just too good, too good, too good!" he shouted gleefully. He truly believed his own words too.

Perseus waited until his faced returned to its more serious countenance and drew his weapon. Kronos' scythe flickered into existence in his hand. "Prepare yourself, Moony, because I'm going to take a 'crack' at you."

The Primordial looked at him strangely. "Okay? Is that supposed to be an inside joke?"

Perseus huffed. "It was a pun. A play on words. I called you an ass. Moon? Getting mooned? No? Jeez, have you been living under a...Moon Rock?" he asked, sliding backwards with Michael Jackson hand flair.

The Primordial was not only confused, but he was not impressed. "I do not understand your strange sayings."

Perseus rolled his eyes. "Fine, then shall we get on with it?" Without waiting for a response, he charged, swinging the scythe with the intent to kill.